The Summoner's Sigil

by Renee Sebastian

“No, she won’t,” Colin said with enough confidence for the both of us.

  Colin then walked into the sigil with us, and I felt a static charge rise up in the air. The hair on the back of my neck rose. He went to the Halbmond seal, next to the Mashu mountain marks, which was precisely the position I needed him to be.

  “What are you?” I accused more than asked.

  “I am what I am, now do your magic,” he said more forcefully. “Many people are depending upon your success tonight.”

  He was right. I took a steadying breath and then knelt down to close the circle. Once that was done, a sheen of blue etheric energy filtered up through the foundation of the earth lifting loose tendrils of hair off my cheek and neck. My body acted like a human lightning rod, spooling and then releasing the electromagnetic energy to charge and energize the circle. Some scientists speculated that the User population had electrons that were smaller than the average person, allowing extra energy to fill up the spaces between them. I didn’t really care right now, so long as I could use it now.

  I looked up at Colin and I could have sworn that the whites of his eyes glowed a bluish tint too. As I stared into them, I said the words that were required for this spell. To casual onlookers it might appear to be a mish mash of words, but the secret, hidden words, which meant something to me, were amongst the other nonsensical words. Once I said them, they would make the sigil vibrate at the correct frequency and then the magic would happen.

  “Andelay fromaleel gringlam thoghairm daya maxia pasagunea,” I said as I laid my hand on the first set of marks and retraced their red ochre lines with my finger. Once that was done, I went to the next set and continued with my goulash of words, until I got to the last set.

  I looked up again at Colin, who was waiting patiently for me to finish. Even though no human sacrifice was required for the spell, it did require a little blood. I said, “It is time for our blood sacrifice.”

  He lifted the sleeve of his shirt, and I was shocked to see the telltale branding of an Eagle’s head. It showed he was property of the Republic of America, much like chattel. That mark was only given to animals and wolves. There would never be any misunderstanding concerning what he was. Doing that to him was wrong, because he would never be accepted as a wolf either.

  I sneered when I saw the mark, and he mistook my expression for disgust. He swiftly lowered the cuff and instead raised his other arm’s sleeve. “Go ahead and take some.”

  I stood and said, “Other arm.”

  He was confused for a moment, so I stepped in close and said, “I want to split the brand open.”

  “If it becomes too altered, they will simply rebrand it.”

  “Did it hurt?”

  “I don’t remember. It was done when I was a child.”

  “Hold it out.”

  He reluctantly held his arm back out and I rolled up his sleeve. Fine brown hairs covered the back of his forearm, and the underside was pale with a flush pink running under its surface. It was very different from my own pale skin, with olive undertones. I thought about using the mysterious athame that Dorian had given me from his personal cache, but thought better of it. It was untested, and since it might lead to unpredictable results, I took out one of my ceremonial athames instead.

  After gripping his wrist in my other hand, I looked up at his light gray eyes and then cut across the eagle in a downward slashing motion. It was deep enough that his blood ran freely, but not enough for me to have hit an artery or vein. I coated the blood on the knife, and then allowed it to drip onto the last mark on the floor. I tore a trim piece off the bottom of my shirt and handed it to him.

  As he bound his wound, he watched me wipe the blade on my skirt. He asked, “Aren’t you worried about catching the wolf’s bane?” I knew he wasn’t referring to the monkshood plant. Unless his genes were so mutated that they could bioengineer mine via an infectious agent in his blood, I was safe.

  I shoved the blade at him, but he didn’t take it. I told him, “No, but do you have any other diseases?”

  He looked at me incredulously and said, “I’ve been living under a rock my entire life and you ask me this.”

  I smiled politely at him while we listened to the snarls that were coming from outside.

  “None,” he finally said. “How about you?”

  “Not that it is any of your business, but I am a proper Southern lady. I am free of disease.” I rolled up my sleeve, held out my knife to him, and then asked, “What are you waiting for?”

  He took my wrist in a possessive fashion and said, “I’m sorry I have to do this.” But I didn’t think he was sorry at all.

  “Just make sure its deep enough, so we won’t have to do this again.”

  He nodded his head in understanding. Then while staring into my eyes, he sliced open my forearm. It all seemed entirely too personal, a forced intimacy of sorts, that I had never felt previously with anyone. I shifted my weight and leaned away from him, suddenly uncomfortable.

  He finished gathering my blood on the blade’s edge, and then he knelt down to allow it to drip onto the marking that resembled a snake with the pitchfork tail. I tore off another piece of the trim off my shirt to bind my own wound.

  He then took the vial with the collected specimen from his pocket. After he placed it at the mark that held an eternity symbol, I felt a sudden charge spark the circle and a pulse of new energy cascaded into me.

  When I next looked down, a thick white cord of light connected my midsection to Colin’s body. I looked at Calidum and a much thinner green one ran from me to him, who seemed oblivious to it. An even thinner green cord connected himself to the man standing across from me. I looked at Colin and he seemed nervous.

  “What is this thing between us?” I asked him.

  “Whatever do you mean?” he asked glancing away briefly. He was a terrible liar.

  I turned to Calidum and asked, “Do you see a white cord connecting Colin and I?” There was no need to scare him about the green one connecting us together yet.

  “No, I don’t Mistress.”

  I closed my good eye and saw the cord. I closed my damaged eye and I couldn’t see the cord. Then it occurred to me that my milky eye not only provided me with limited second sight, but it also allowed to me see certain things. It reminded me of the Wedjat, the ancient Egyptian all-seeing-eye.

  “Is this part of you being a Terrologist?”

  He stared at me, and I saw blood pinked his cheeks.

  “This is what you see all the time, isn’t it?” I asked him. “And don’t lie to me, I’ll know.”

  He reluctantly said, “Yes. Every connection that people have to each other I can see, especially how they relate to me.”

  How terrible it must have been for him to see all these lines of varying thicknesses and colors as an overlay to the world. It was even worse than trying to see the future, because at least there was a choice to be made most of the time. I could have asked him about the one between us, but I didn’t have time for that conversation while there was a war erupting outside my house.

  He couldn’t change what he was, as much as I could myself. “I am about to seal the sigil. Prepare yourself.” He appeared relieved by my response. He might have been off the hook for now, but not forever.

  I slammed my hand in the middle symbol, which was a series of five circles, one each for fire, air, water, earth, and spirit. Then I said, “Ayzhm!”

  I dragged my foot through the main marking and felt the energy rise up through the soles of my feet. Suddenly, a doorway of sorts popped into existence. Colin and I formed the two door jambs, and between us, the outline of a blue gate shimmered into existence.

  Colin took a small pebble from a pocket, and then he put it into the vial that held the sample from the dead creature we found out in the Red Forest. I listened to the rattling sound it made as he shook it around inside of it. Then he poured the pebble back out into his hand. It gave off a red luminescence.

  Colin then said to Cali
dum, “Go ahead and take this.” He handed him the pebble, and once Calidum held it in his hands, a shot of light red streamed out from it. I followed the beam of light, which led directly into the newly formed gate.

  “That should lead you to whoever created that creature out in the forest,” Colin told him.

  Calidum looked to me for guidance, as I handed him the wooden disc. He took it in his wide, flat palm, closing two fingers with razor shape fingernails around it. Then I urged him on by saying, “Go ahead Calidum. It’ll be all right.”

  “Where does it go?” he asked, sounding unsure.

  “I don’t know,” I honestly answered.

  “You will fetch me back though, won’t you?”

  “Of course I will, even if I have to travel to the fourth dimension to do it.” That dimension had been closed to Summoner’s for as long as I could remember. “I will use the mirror in my room’s closet if I have to.” I just hoped it wasn’t broken. My train of thought jumped around and then I asked, “Can you be killed?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Well don’t get killed. Just do a quick look see and get back home,” I instructed him.

  “Is this my home too?”

  “It can be if you want it to be.”

  The wolves outside started to howl. “Hurry, our time is running out,” Colin told him. I nodded my head in agreement.

  “He is right. You have the token?”

  “Yes,” he said as he raised his fist grasping it before me.

  “Good, now go my fire demon. Go swiftly and return safely back to me.”

  Calidum leapt into the void and disappeared before our eyes. I didn’t think the pebble would allow him to find his way back to us, but I had to trust that this wouldn’t be the last time I saw the little tyke.

  “Now how long do we wait for him?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I say we wait for as long as we can, but I fear it won’t be long enough.”

  “Because of the wolves?” I asked.

  “No, the draugs.”

  “Can you hear what is going on outside?”

  “Maybe only a little better than yourself.”

  “What is this cord between us?” I asked, ready for him to pay the piper.

  “That didn’t take long.”

  “We’ve got time to kill. I need something to distract my mind from Calidum and the draugs outside.”

  He sighed and said, “Sometimes I see potentials just like your eye can.” Wendy must have told him in detail about the capabilities of my eye.

  “You can see who has the potential to be your friend even though you haven’t met them?” I asked.

  “Exactly.”

  “So what does a thick, white cord mean?”

  He clenched his jaw and blinked his eyes several times, before he finally said, “I can hear that the draugs are winning.”

  “What?”

  “We’re going to have to close the sigil down.”

  “We can’t! Calidum is still out there,” I said resolutely.

  “We’ll use the token Basil. Now do you want to do the shooting, while I go down and defend the entrance?” he asked.

  “No. We have to wait a little longer.”

  I could tell that he was conflicted, but he finally said, “A little longer then.”

  We didn’t say anything as we listened to the ensuing fight outside. Thuds and growls were coming farther and farther apart as the wolves were either defeated in battle or they fled. Personally, I hoped they were fleeing. I didn’t need any more deaths on my hands.

  I distracted myself by looking at the green lines leading into the gate. If they were still connected to Calidum, then he must have been alive. Right? If only he could have seen them too, then he could have followed the green line back to me.

  “Now?” he asked impatiently.

  “A little longer,” I urged.

  Then Colin blurted out, “The white cord means that we are extremely compatible.” Compatible?

  I scrutinized him closely and watched him flush again. Compatible. I then felt the blood leave my face. I calmly asked, “Did you know that before you met me?”

  “I suspected, since I could see familial ties between myself and your relatives. I have never seen that kind of a bond between myself and anyone else before then.”

  “Never?” I asked, trying to hide my open curiosity.

  “Never.”

  We both cringed when we heard a particularly vicious bang against the side of the house, followed by lots of splashing sounds. Then the howling and the barking stopped, but there were still plenty of knocks and clangs that followed in the eerie silence. I checked for my athames at my waist and found their shapes reassuringly sharp and pointy.

  We could tell when the draugs entered the house, because we could hear their wet sloshing footsteps along the wooden floorboards downstairs. I glanced over at the opening in the attic ceiling. The ladder had been pulled up, but the ceiling panel had not been replaced. Sloppy Basil, I could hear my Grandfather’s voice in my mind. I was a constant disappointment to him and myself. Regardless of how many levels of power I attained in the Summoning world, I would never be good enough.

  I looked up at Colin, and saw something close to wonder on his face. It was as if I was something precious, to be cherished, and fiercely protected. He didn’t know me very well; I would let him down one day too.

  I heard the water zombies coming up the stairs. To leave the circle would break the conduit door, but I needed to get to that rifle.

  “We need to break the circle Basil.”

  I hesitated. I knew that he was speaking truthfully, because the only thing I could hear from outside was the occasional whimper. The battle was lost.

  I would use the token, but there was always the chance that it wouldn’t work on a demon. I also didn’t think summoning would work if we were both on the same plane.

  “Basil, I will break the circle. Damn the consequences!”

  Were they in the hallway now?

  I said, “Wait!” He might injure himself if he broke such a strong sigil.

  “Blast it!” Then I broke the sigil’s circle. The blue light that encapsulated the doorway popped out of existence. Whatever power enabled my milky eye to see the white rope connecting us disappeared along with the much smaller double green ones.

  “I’ll get the gun!” I called out as I dove for it, while Colin stomped on the first hands that reached up through the hole for us. Thank goodness at least the rope ladder had been pulled up earlier.

  Chapter 7

  Goliath Headaches

  Rule number three: Listen with your left ear to what your foe tells you, but listen to what your inner voice is telling you with your right ear.

  After cocking the rifle, I ran over to the hole in the floor and aimed it at the first of the draugs trying to find purchase. It had algae coating its hair and yellow lichens sticking to its leathery and wrinkled face. He wore only britches, which were held up by a rotting rope that had been tied into a knot around his waist.

  I aimed the gun, and thought it was a good thing that the draugs were down there and we were up here. I didn’t want any of their blood and guts splashing into our faces after shooting them. I shot the first one and his head split open like separating segments of an orange. With a stroke of luck, he fell over, taking another one of them with him to the ground. Then they really started coming.

  I shot one after another until I expended the ten shots. It was fast becoming obvious that each draug was going to take several shots a piece to kill, as I only managed to put down three of them. I grabbed a handful of rounds and began the process of reloading it.

  Worry that they might be able to make it up by the time I ran out of bullets was making my aim wobbly. Colin took out his revolver and shot a few at point blank range. By the time I needed to reload the rifle again, the draugs had cleared the room below us. We quickly jumped down and closed the hole up before we secured the room’s door opening.
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br />   “Where did they all go?” I asked.

  “I heard a noise outside, and then they all shuffled out.”

  “I didn’t hear anything. What did it sound like?”

  “Like that.” I still didn’t hear anything other than the shuffling of feet and furniture crashing in the rooms downstairs.

  Then I heard the one sound I didn’t want to hear: the sound of glass shattering. It sounded like it had come from the direction of my old bedroom. So much for using that mirror for a portal opening.

  “We’re trapped,” Colin said, stating the obvious.

  Then I heard a deep throated roar coming from the lake outside. Oh that sound. I ran to the window and peered through a crack between the wooden boards. Out of the water in the pale moonlight came a bear of a man that looked all too familiar. It was the very same goliath draug that Wendy had attempted to kill with a sac of stingray venom several months ago. The last time I had seen him, he had fallen over the side of the boat, where we all hoped he would die in the fiery ring that we had set in the water. Apparently, it had not worked.

  “What is that?” Colin asked.

  “Something that needs to die if we have any hopes of surviving the night.”

  I raised my rifle, ready to put a bullet in him, but then several other draugs stood up in the water and encircled him, making a living shield of sorts. I may as well start picking them off now. I lifted and aimed the rifle, and then I shot it over and over again. Several of the draugs fell, but never the goliath one.

  “Can we try to reopen the gateway?” I asked between shots.

  He took out the vial and said, “Not enough fresh blood.”

  “Then I’m going to try and summon him using Verlangen Teufel token now.”

  We climbed back up into the attic and I took off my bandage. I went to the cabinet and opened up a Mason jar that held saltwater. After dipping my scrap of cloth into it, I next set to work wiping the initial sigil off the Rosewood floor. Once I was confident that all the markings had been properly erased, I set to drawing the new sigils needed for the new spell to work. After completing it, I took the matching Verlangen Teufel disc to Caladium’s chip and casted it in the middle of it of the seal.