Summoner 3

by Eric Vall

  “We have to land!” I yelled, but silence greeted me, but then I remembered the earmuffs, cursed, and gestured wildly with my hands to grab everyone’s attention. With a large sweep of my arm, I pointed to all of us, then clapped my hands horizontally. I looked at Layla, then to Varleth, then Nia, but none of them understood what I had tried to relay.

  Arwyn, however, stood abruptly and ran to the cockpit. The landing would be rocky, but it was better than the alternative. I felt the gears of the ship shift as Arwyn came back through the double doors a moment later. Her mouth moved, then stopped when she realized that none of us could hear her.

  This non-verbal communication thing was going to make the battle difficult.

  Arwyn raised her arm and rotated her hand to round us up, then looked at each of us. She tapped her wrist where her communicator was, then brought a hand to her neck and air-sliced her throat. Our communicators would be useless if we couldn’t hear what the others were saying.

  She then turned to Varleth and moved her hands to her side to mimic where the banisher kept his sword. He nodded and unsheathed it, which was apparently all Arwyn needed to see. She moved on to Nia and held her palms out. Nia reciprocated and produced a fireball in one hand, and the crackle of lightning in the other. When Arwyn was satisfied, she stopped at Layla and me.

  With a little more enthusiasm than what was necessary, she pounded on her chest. I knew what she wanted. It was where I kept my crystals. I tapped my bag, then reached in and grabbed a handful. Layla, who kept hers at her hip, did the same. We were all equipped for a fierce battle.

  The ship rocked once more, and Arwyn didn’t need to tell us anything. We all reached for something to hold on to as the ship swayed. Our speed increased as our altitude dropped, and we plummeted toward the marshes. All I could do was pray to the Maker that we would make it out alive so that we might have a chance for an honorable battle. Honestly, as much as it would suck, being able to go into the afterlife, and say that your cause of death was by a soul-eating monster was much cooler than death by impalement upon impact.

  The deck of the airship began to tilt beneath my feet as if we were about to roll. Between the turbulent descent and the pyrewyrm’s onslaught on the airship, we were tossed around like beads of water in hot grease. Anything that was loose clattered to the floor. It was surreal to watch events that should make a substantial amount of noise happen without so much as a peep. If I were able to take anything away from this, it would be the knowledge that the earmuffs worked like a charm.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw the pilot emerge from the cockpit with a panicked look about him. I saw his mouth move. He had yelled something, but with the earmuffs still attached, I couldn’t make out what he had tried to relay. There was an intensified look of horror on his face when the ship lurched, and he had just enough time to grab onto a storage rack before impact. That was obviously a cue to brace. Layla was the closest person to me, so I clutched her to my chest. I wasn’t certain what my thought process was, but I knew that if I was going to die here, I was going to try to save someone.

  The ship’s bottom split as we landed in the marsh. I felt the shrill scream of our collective fear for our lives. The last thing I remembered was bouncing so hard that my grip on the rack came loose, and Layla and I slammed to the ground.

  It was dark when I came to. The earmuffs had been removed, but I could still smell the nearby smoke before I heard the crackle of a fire. I sat up, startled, but Arwyn’s gentle hand on my chest kept me from panic.

  “You’re okay,” she smiled calmly, but I couldn’t help but look for the others. I saw no one.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Safe. You needn’t worry,” she consoled. Her hands moved over my face, then down my neck and my shoulders.

  “Ack.” I winced when she applied pressure on my collarbone. A fracture, no doubt.

  “I’ll take care of this.” Arwyn set to work as the golden glow of her healing magic added to the firelight. In seconds, the tension released, and the bone I hadn’t had a chance to realize was broken was healed.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked again. My head felt heavy, and my mind was hazy. I wasn’t sure if it was just the fog coming off the marshes, the smoke from the ship, or something else.

  “Only a few feet away,” she reassured. “They’ve sustained a few cuts and bruises, but nothing that can’t easily be fixed.”

  It was then that I saw the long gash on her cheek.

  “You’re hurt,” I uttered dumbly and traced the line with the pad of my thumb.

  “I am fine, Gryff,” she said as she took my hand in hers. “Right now, we need to be ready. The pyrewyrm will soon realize that we’re still alive, and it will come back to finish what it started.”

  I stared at her for a moment, lost in the sharp angles of her jaw and the warmth in her eyes even with how dire the situation was. She snapped her fingers to grab my attention again.

  “Sorry,” I laughed quietly. Then I looked down over my chest to where my crystals were kept. Everything was accounted for. “Am I good to go?”

  “As fit as you’ve always been.” Arwyn stifled a laugh and stood. She offered me a hand, which I gladly took even though I really didn’t need the help. As she said, the others weren’t far, just out of earshot of where Arwyn and I now stood.

  Our movement must have attracted their attention because Nia and Layla, who were huddled together next to one of the fires from the ship, waved us over. The pilot stood nearby and raised a glass of whiskey to me. Varleth even raised a hand in camaraderie.

  I smiled and nodded back at my friends.

  The ship hadn't fared nearly as well as we had. That seemed to be a recurring pattern with the pyrewyrms. The hull of the vessel was nearly shredded. Wood splintered in all directions, and if it wasn’t on fire, it was smoldering. It was a miracle we didn’t meet the same fate. There were little fires in some other spots, but for the most part, it was contained. I wondered if Nia had something to do with that. That would have been a sight to see.

  We joined the others, who already had their equipment gathered.

  “What’s the status of our wyrm friend?” I asked and sat between Nia and Varleth.

  “He’ll be back,” Varleth mused, “and he’ll probably be pissed.”

  “I reckon so,” I laughed.

  “What should be our next course of action?” Nia asked and eyed Arwyn, who stood before us and watched over us like a mother hen. I didn’t have an answer, but the pilot cleared his throat.

  “We wait. If we seek it out, we run the risk of losing an offensive edge.” We all turned to look in the direction of the smooth voice. He set the glass of whiskey from the bottle that had survived aside and brandished a gun from a holster on his hip. It looked different from any gun I’d seen, with a wide barrel and a number of weird slots and tubes. He twirled it around a lean finger with ease. I wondered if he had ever actually used it or if it was simply for the aesthetics.

  “What makes you say that?” Layla grimaced. “It’s a freakin’ winged wyrm! You know, high ground always wins, that sort of thing. We’re sitting ducks here. Also, uhhh, aren’t you just a pilot--”

  “He’s not just a pilot,” Awryn laughed. “Team, allow me to introduce you to Keith Almasy, expert pilot and as it so happens, a very powerful elementalist.”

  “I’ve heard you.” As Nia stood, her eyes lit up with excitement. “You’re the Groundbreaker from Garvesh!”

  “A lousy name for a man who seeks freedom in the skies,” he jested and looked Nia up and down. “You’re that Kenefick girl, right?”

  “I am,” Nia confirmed with a tense tone as she also stood. If there was any trouble, she knew she could handle her own. “What of it?”

  “Chill out, princess,” he chided and laughed at his own snide remark. “I’m not after your name or anything. I heard that you folks were headed to my hometown because of this monster. I asked Arwyn if I could be her pilot for this mission,
you know… in any case, my help was needed.”

  The guy was a quick talker, but I could relate to the desire to help people. If I could have done the same for my own home, I would have. I had a new home now, and I would do anything I could to protect it.

  “The Groundbreaker?” I asked, and Almasy turned to me.

  “I’ve heard of you, Gryff of Njordenfalls.” He smirked and folded his arms over his chest.

  “Nothing good, I’m sure,” I shot back at him and reached out my hand, which he took in kind and shook.

  “To answer your question, I’m called that because, in layman’s terms, I can shift the ground beneath our very feet and use it as a battle tool,” he explained.

  “Cool!” I gasped, and I didn’t mind that I probably looked dumb being so excited. I’d always liked earth mages. “We are glad to have your help.”

  “This wyrm monster is no joke,” he claimed, “but we’re mages. Since I am here, we can make our ground rise up to meet the monster.”

  We didn’t have to wait long for the pyrewyrm to return, but this time, we had a plan.

  Its head crested over the horizon, its deathly pale flesh a stark contrast to the peaceful night sky. I threw out one of my wallerdons, and Nia and I waited atop its broad shoulders. Opposite us, Layla and Almasy stood atop Layla’s hyppocrans. On the ground between us, Arwyn and Varleth waited. Arwyn conjured her sword, and Varleth drew his. Dull black dregs of energy swirled around the blade. They would be the brute force of our attack.

  The pyrewyrm looped around and dipped. Its screech vibrated within me all the way to my bones, but we heard nothing thanks to the earmuffs.

  It was time.

  Nia and Almasy raised their arms to the sky, then swooped them down in deep, jagged motions. I watched in complete awe as the ground shook, and a platform rose beneath Arwyn and Varleth’s feet. They rose into the sky, and the pyrewyrm screamed again, sending a rush of dark energy at them. At first, it didn’t look like the attack had done anything, but then I saw the blood drip down their forearms through their now torn clothes. Their skin was dried and pale from where the black energy had touched them, and their flesh began to crack as though they had begun to decay where they stood. They were able to hold their own this round, but I had to do something. If the pyrewyrm attacked them again, they would lose their balance and plummet to their deaths.

  I threw down a crystal, and my bullet bass sprang forth. Weigh them down, I thought, and the monster obeyed. It shot over to Varleth and Arwyn and coated them in weighted armor, which would make it harder for them to move, but it would protect them, and that was much better than the alternative.

  The pyrewyrm reared back to attack again, and Arwyn veered left while Varleth went right. They leapt off of the earth platform and onto another one then another as Nia and Almasy created massive mushroom-shaped earth steps for them to advance and flank the monster.

  As they kept the pyrewyrm busy, Layla and I set to work. She tossed out two identical crystals, and they clashed to the ground. Two of the same monster that I hadn’t yet seen in person before popped out of them, but I recognized them from the textbooks Arwyn had me read. They were lavender in color with an almost sickly gray undertone in their skin. Their teeth were jagged, sharp, and oozed with a sticky acid that dripped from their fangs. Their eyes were yellow and large and bulged out of their small skull. Venotox, they were called.

  The venotox were small in size, but they could absorb moisture from the atmosphere and redirect it as acid rain. Sure, it was a gamble, but as soon as Layla mentioned she had a pair, I knew what we had to do. As they gathered moisture, I summoned my speed slugs. They latched onto the venotox, and the moisture collected at a rapid pace, so much so that my chest hurt because the air was so dry.

  The venotox were fully enlarged now, but as I looked around, I noticed that they had gathered so much moisture that the pedestals Arwyn and Varleth stood on began to desiccate and crumble. Nia and Almasy must have noticed this, too, because their faces were strained and twisted, as they pumped as much mana as they could into their efforts. Sweat dripped from Nia’s brow even though the air was chill in the dead of night. We had to end this fast.

  I motioned to Layla, and she nodded. I saw her scream rather than heard it, but it was fierce. I’d never seen her with so much energy before. Even when we fought the chatteroshi over the holiday, there was still reluctance and apprehension. Now, she fought with determination and confidence, and I was admittedly proud of what I’d created.

  The venotox began to deflate, and with the speed slugs attached to them, the moisture that had gathered shot out at the pyrewyrm like acidic needles. The flying worm writhed and thrashed in the air as the toxin pelted and sizzled its flesh.

  In a swift movement, Nia refocused her energy, and she bellowed as she twitched her fingers, and a giant, jagged wave of electric blue streaks cracked through the sky. It struck the pyrewyrm dead on, and its body writhed as it plummeted from the sky and into the marsh.

  It was less marsh now, more like deadlands, but it was the vantage point Varleth and Arwyn needed. Almasy doubled his efforts and created two singular platforms that gave the illusion that they were able to surf on rock. They rode their respective platforms and reared back their blades and took aim. When they were close enough, they leapt. The tips of their swords punctured the head of the pyrewyrm, Varleth’s black banisher energy reacting violently with the wyrm’s flesh, and ebony mist gushed from the wounds.

  It was then that I released what I hoped would be the final blow. I smashed a single crystal on the ground, and my kalgori emerged with a beautiful flutter. She danced in the air before me, and I closed my eyes, focusing all I could on this one attack.

  Swarm, I thought, and she flew off into the fray, multiplying by one, then two, then more, until there were thousands of kalgori leading the charge. They swirled around the head of the pyrewyrm, and the crack of a scream that tore from the beast’s body. It was so powerful that it must have penetrated even the thick bandersnatch hide around my ears, and I thought I could feel a small trickle of blood seep from my ear.

  I pushed through the pain.

  We were so close. I could feel it. The kalgori had amassed, and even though there had been a decent number of them that had been taken out by the wyrm’s deadly noise, they continued their assault.

  Nia charged another lightning attack and glanced at me knowingly. I didn’t need to hear her to know what she had in mind, so I spared a thought to command my bullet bass to spread its power over the entire swarm of kalgori. There was a sharp pull of mana in my body, but I hung on as the deadly butterflies shone with bullet bass steel.

  That’s when Nia let fly with her air magic. The metal-covered kalgori absorbed the energy in their tiny bodies. Now, they were like little electrically charged spin blades, slicing the skin of their prey centimeter by excruciating centimeter. With the acid needle rain still raining down and teeming into the hundreds of open wounds, the pyrewyrm was helpless. It cried in pain, and my stomach dropped from the frequency used in that cry.

  I gritted my teeth and yelled again with a final push of all the mana I could, “Engulf!”

  I watched in stunned amazement and horror as the storm of kalgori picked away at the pyrewyrm piece by piece. What was once a horrible monster was soon nothing more than a whittled corpse with only bone remaining. Its body continued to ooze, even as it fell from the sky and landed in a heap in the marsh beyond. With what concentration and mana I had left, I called off the kalgori. They dispersed in small clusters until all that remained was one. She fluttered back to me and landed on my hand with a warm buzz about her.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, and she retreated back into her crystal.

  Besides me, Nia had dropped to her knees. Her chest heaved as she panted, her skin clammy and pale. I knelt and put my hand on her cheek.

  “We did it!” I cheered, and she smiled even though she couldn’t hear me through the earmuffs. My face must have sai
d everything she needed to hear. That, or she could read lips. I laughed and took the earmuffs off, then took hers off as well.

  “That was some good work, summoners,” the beautiful elementalist complimented, and it was then that I heard Layla and Almasy saunter up behind us.

  “You did awesome,” I said as I turned and scooped Layla up in my arms. I couldn’t begin to describe the amount of pride I felt for her right then. This was a great victory, not only for humankind but for summoners. It was proof that if given the opportunity to prove ourselves, we could do anything.

  “Thanks,” the petite brunette giggled as I held her, and then she pushed her face into my neck, gave me a quick kiss there, and then whispered, “I’ll thank you more later.”

  “I guess everything I’ve heard is true,” Almasy grinned ear to ear and clapped me on the back. “Maybe you summoners are exactly the kind of force we need in the military.”

  “Thanks, man.” I set Layla back on her feet and shook Almasy’s hand. “I guess there’s a reason you’re called the Groundbreaker.”

  He laughed and looked around him. The ground was definitely not what it used to be. It now wore deep scars of an epic battle fought, and I hoped the damage to the swamp wouldn’t impact the livelihood of the Garvesh Enclave. Almasy didn’t seem terribly concerned, though.

  As I glanced around, I saw Arwyn and Varleth hunched over the pyrewyrm. I might have had a sense of dread, given their injuries earlier in the battle, but aside from their cuts and pale appearance, they seemed well enough. Arwyn’s sword had already retracted back into her arm, and as our group approached them, I spied a vile of liquid clutched in her hand.