Summoner 2 Read online

  As it was, he had a mug of coffee on his desk and poured something, alcohol I assumed, from a flask into the coffee as we walked in.

  “Ah, good,” he said. “Right on time.”

  Layla chuckled. “Shouldn’t we be telling you that?”

  “Maybe, Bethel, maybe,” Rori conceded. “Suffice it to say, you were right on time. I, on the other hand, was early.”

  I rolled my eyes as I put my bag down. “Should you really be drinking this early, sir?”

  “I need a pick-me-up, Gryff,” the teacher scoffed. “Don’t you worry, it’s just a little bit of whiskey to liven up my coffee.”

  Braden snorted. “I’m sure it will.”

  Rori ignored that. “By the way, Gryff, congratulations on your victory in Rashni Kae. It’s rather belated since I’d forgotten… but congrats. It’s not often that summoners participate in them, let alone win them. And over that arrogant little--”

  “Are you allowed to talk about students like that?” I asked with a smile.

  He waved that off. “Eh, I don’t teach him, and from what I’ve heard, he’s an ass, anyway. You are adults. I can say what I wish.”

  I laughed. “Well, Gawain is certainly a rich prick, that’s for sure. He needed to be knocked down a peg or two.”

  Mr. Brevens chuckled and then took a gulp of his whiskey infused coffee. “That you did. And in spectacular fashion, I might add.” He adjusted his tie and ran a hand through his whitening hair. “I hope you know what you’re getting into joining that response squad.”

  “Is there something wrong with that?” I asked with a frown.

  “Not necessarily,” Rori shrugged. “It’s just dangerous, though I suppose you have vastly more experience than the majority of first years, what with what you did at Ralor’s Stead and then again when that rift opened up on campus. Those two events are essentially what you’ll be doing on the response squad. So if you’re up for that constant danger, then I am not the one going to deter you.”

  I nodded. “I appreciate that, sir.”

  “I know you’ll do well, Gryff.” He took another sip of coffee, capping it with a satisfied sigh. “Now, let’s begin the lesson, shall we?”

  We drilled for a couple of hours in the main training room, which was a wide-open space like a warehouse, accompanied by dummies and obstacles and replicas of towns and such for practice. I didn’t do much this time though as it was mostly Layla and Braden trying to control the new grade E monsters that they’d bought from the school store. Well, Braden bought them, as Layla didn’t have a lot in the way of funds and Braden was a rich boy. I offered to let them use some of my own, but they declined.

  Rori and I went over ways that basic monsters like speed slugs and bullet bass could amplify other monsters, like give them speed, make them metal, grant resistance to fire, lightning, and so on. The concepts were easy to grasp, but Braden and Layla weren’t used to controlling so many monsters at once, so they needed to learn how to regulate their mana and exert their will over so many creatures.

  This was the first time they were trying this, so I wasn’t overly concerned about their slow progress. I hadn’t always been a great summoner either. I was confident that they would get to my level with time and practice.

  “How do you make it look so easy?” Layla cried as she grabbed her hair in both fists and grunted as she struggled to control all her monsters.

  “You’re still new to summoning so many monsters at once.” I shrugged and grinned at my friend. “It takes years of practice to learn how to regulate your mana and exert your will over so many creatures.” I gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry though. You’ll get there, soon.”

  “I don’t know, Gryffie.” She sighed, clearly frustrated. “I’m not against this method of summoning, but can I still summon my bigger monsters?”

  “Of course you can, Bethel,” our teacher Rori said as he stepped between us. “We are trying to make you a better mage. Gryff’s techniques are meant to supplement the skills you already have.”

  Layla didn’t look convinced, so I put my arm around her. “Summon your monsters, Layla. Let’s see what we can do with it. I mean, I’ve never seen one of your more powerful ones.”

  She shrugged. “If you say so.”

  Her fingers gripped a large essence crystal from the belt around her waist that hung low on her left hip, just above the edge of her skirt. The crystal was wide and a swirling dark blue, nothing like any of my own. The largest crystal I had was the sun giant, my mentor, Maelor had given me before I came to the Varle Academy, and I doubted I had the mana to use it. Whatever Layla had, it was strong. The larger the crystal, the more powerful the monster inside, after all.

  She chucked the crystal. With a brief flash of light and a puff of smoke, her monster appeared, and I took an involuntary step back before I could stop myself from retreating any further.

  It was a hyppocrans. It had a large body like an elephant, with massive, muscled front legs that were practically arms. Huge fists as wide as a horse’s torso sat on the end of them. It was hunched on its back legs, which were bent, knees folded, ready to leap what I imagined was a terrifying length. Its skin was rough and thick like a rhino but dark blue, with yellow dots riddled throughout the length of it. Finally, it had a snake-like head, wide and thin, with a flat snout that I knew housed a long, coiled tongue.

  Hyppocrans were some of the wildest and most dangerous monsters one could encounter, and it took a lot of mana and skill for summoners to tame. Still, my friend must have had a great deal of control over it because it stood there silently, head cocked as its orange eyes stared at me curiously. It was unnerving, to say the least.

  “Layla, this is amazing,” I told her. “Where on earth did you get one of these?”

  She wagged her finger at me. “Ah-ah, mages don’t reveal their tricks.”

  My roommate Braden snorted beside her. “No, it’s ‘magicians don’t reveal their tricks,’ but those are harmless street performers.”

  “Oh, hush, Flint,” she said before she stuck her tongue out at him. A moment later, she turned back to me. “What do you think?”

  I stroked my chin and studied the magnificent beast. I knew a lot about them already for I’d read about them in one of the books Arwyn had asked me to read.

  “They’re incredibly strong and can leap tremendous distances,” I began. “They’re fast if they’re going in a straight line, but they can’t move laterally very well, nor can they turn quickly. They have a long tongue too.”

  “How can I make it better?” she pressed with a devilish twinkle in her eyes.

  “Well…” I paused. “Hyppocrans are already immensely powerful though I’ve read that they’re not good when fighting multiple opponents, especially if those opponents are bigger.” I turned to Rori. “Mr. Brevens, do you have three of anything that’s big?”

  He grinned. “I have just the thing, actually.” He pulled out three essence crystals from a pouch on his robe and threw them clear across the room. They disappeared in a flash and a puff of smoke, which is what happens whenever a monster is summoned. What came out were three giants, nearly as tall as the ceiling, all long, lean limbs and weathered skin. They had white skin with patches where it almost blended into gray and brown. Long muscular arms stretched down almost to their knees. They had stubby noses, huge fangs that stuck out of their lips, and long scraggly beards. They groaned like old dying men, their voices gravely and coarse like sand.

  “You want me to fight those?” Layla asked incredulously.

  “No, I want you to beat them,” I told her. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

  “D-d-don’t giants h-have near d-d-diam-mond hard skin?” Braden asked meekly, and I could tell his fear of monsters had cropped up in the presence of these petrifying beasts.

  “They do, but I have a plan for that.” I nodded. “We’ll do this together okay?”

  “Sounds good, Gryff.” She smiled at me. “What’s the plan?�
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  I whispered to Layla, and she grinned. “Got it.”

  With that, her hyppocrans was off in a sprint, its huge arms propelling it forward. I summoned a speed slug and attached it to the hyppocrans back. It suddenly blurred, too fast to see, but that wouldn’t help its lateral movement, though that wasn’t what I wanted it to do, anyway. I summoned a couple of ice imps, their stubby little bodies only barely held up by their small leathery wings.

  As the hyppocrans dove in between the giants’ legs, narrowly avoiding their slow, sweeping swings, Layla’s creature came back and scooped up the imps. Then the hyppocrans used its powerful back legs and newfound slug speed to launch itself onto the nearest wall. As soon as it touched the xanyarstone surface, it propelled itself to the next one, and then the next. Soon, it was bouncing from wall to wall like a ricocheting bullet.

  The giants stood around confused. They tried to attack, but the hyppocrans was moving too fast. Now it was time to see if my plan worked. As the hyppocrans whirled around the giants, I had my imps, still clutched in the monster’s grip, unleash their ice magic. Slowly, the giants began to freeze despite their struggles to lash out at the bouncing hyppocrans, their long limbs freezing over with ice until they were finally frozen solid.

  Once they were immobilized, the hyppocrans ceased its mad dash and dove for the closest target. It released my imps, reared its fist back and punched the giant with the force of a train. The giant exploded in a spray of broken ice and guts. The guts thankfully evaporated almost immediately, or else we would have been covered in giant goo. The hyppocrans repeated this with the other two until the floor was covered with shards of melting ice and chunks of blood and viscera.

  Layla whooped and pumped her fists in the air. Rori laughed and clapped enthusiastically. “Well done,” he said.

  “Now, that, is what we can do.” I turned to Layla and put a hand on her shoulder. “What you can do.”

  “That was awesome,” said Braden with an awed smile. He didn’t look as scared as he had at the beginning of the fight.

  “It was.” I dropped my hand from Layla’s shoulder. “To do what you did took incredible control and concentration. If you can do that, you can do what I do.”

  Her smile was bright. Her cheeks flushed with pride. “I sure hope so.”

  “Don’t worry, I know so.”

  Chapter 3

  After lunch the following day, instead of continuing to train with the Major, Nia and I were excused for our first training session with the monster response squad. I was happy to have a break from our usual workouts though I wasn’t quite sure what we would be doing at this particular training session. It could be far more grueling than the regular training.

  As we walked, I asked, “Do you have any clue what we’ll be doing today.” Nia and I hadn’t spoken since she’d kissed me briefly two nights ago. There was a tension between us now, and I didn’t like it, but at least we had something else to worry about for the moment.

  “I do not know. This is my first time too, remember?” She ended that with a smile which made me exhale a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

  “True,” I said, “I just figured you’d have some insight since all your family has done this.”

  She shrugged. “I know what goes on when we actually go on a mission, but the training leading up to it is a mystery to me. I know it can vary from squad to squad. The squad leader has a lot of say in what goes on, so it’s up to Miss Arwyn.”

  I nodded. “I see.”

  Nia nudged me with her elbow. “Don’t worry, little yokel. She won’t teach you anything that will hurt that tiny brain of yours.”

  “My little brain can handle plenty, Kenefick,” I replied with a chuckle. We both smiled, and my heart pounded heavily in relief. I was glad that things were starting to get back to normal between us, or so it seemed. I wasn’t about to ask her about the kiss though. That could wait. For now, we had work to do.

  We walked to the southern end of campus where the response squad training grounds were located. They had been established in a wide, open-air building that looked a lot like the school arena, though a lot less flashy in its architecture. There were no arches or intricately carved columns like the arena had. It was large and practical, not flashy and ornate.

  The entrance was little more than a pair of plain double doors that opened to reveal a dark tunnel. Through it, I could see Arwyn and the other members of our squad already waiting for us. I swallowed hard and lengthened my stride, my mind and body full of determination. I had to make a good first impression.

  Our footsteps echoed off the brick tunnel and announced our arrival for Arwyn and the rest of the team. They turned as one when they heard us. Arwyn smiled and put her hands on her hips.

  “Ah, Nia, Gryff. There you are.”

  We emerged from the tunnel and into the bright practice arena where the sun reflected off the golden xanyarstone. It was blinding, so I shaded my eyes with my hand until my eyes adjusted to the light. Then I saw that though the training arena looked as wide as the official arena from the outside, it was actually larger, for there were no cumbersome bleachers taking up space. Here, it was only the outer wall and nothing else but a flat surface filled with simulated debris, walls, and obstacles like the summoner training room.

  Once I took it all in, I waved to Arwyn and my two new squadmates. “Hello.”

  Nia stood next to me, rigid and stiff, and waved awkwardly at the two other students. Arwyn chuckled at this.

  “Welcome to monster response squad 46,” she said with a wide smile that made her cheeks even more defined than usual. “Allow me to introduce--”

  “Orenn Vascarti,” one of the men said as he put his hand out for a shake. He was a hair shorter than me, with bright gray eyes and a strong stubbled jaw. His hair was thin and receding above his forehead though he couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me. He wore an adept’s white robes, with bronze trim that told me he could manipulate his body in some way.

  I shook the offered hand as Arwyn put a hand on Orenn’s shoulder. “Orenn is a metallogue, so he can do virtually everything your bullet bass can do.”

  “Except I’m not fireproof,” he said with a smirk. “Plus the transformation enhances my strength.”

  I nodded. “I’m Gryff. I’ve heard some of you can make weapons from your arms and legs. Can you do that?”

  He frowned and shook his head. “Unfortunately, no, but perhaps one day my skills will advance to that level. I can encase my body in metal like you did in your fight with Gawain. Once I do that, I’m impervious to most non-magical damage, plus the strength I mentioned.”

  “That’s amazing,” I said with a smile that Orenn matched.

  “Quite.”

  Then Nia pushed past me. “Nia Kenefick,” she said, extending her hand. They shook, his face stern and smirking, while he greeted her with a nod, though she didn’t seem interested in chatting. Around these people, she’d reverted back to the cold and reserved woman I’d first met. We’d have to coax her out of that. That shouldn’t be too hard, not with me here.

  The other student stepped forward, his arms behind his back. If Orenn was a metallogue, then this man must be the banisher.

  “This is Varleth Prost, our banisher,” Arwyn announced.

  Varleth was short and broad, his shoulders bulging through his gray robes that were trimmed in black. I’d never seen robes like his, but as he was the first banisher I’d ever met, I wasn’t too surprised.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said, and we shook hands.

  His narrow eyes pierced through me for a moment. They were dark brown, almost black. His thin lips were set in a severe line, his angular cheeks were as sharp as knives.

  “I’m sure,” he said in a low, monotone voice that sounded like he didn’t care at all. Just what I needed, someone else who was cold. At least I knew Nia had some fire and a personality though I’d had to work hard to make it appear. I didn’t know if I want
ed to work that hard on Varleth.

  Nia introduced herself. “I’m--”

  “Nia Kenefick, I know,” he cut her off. “A pleasure, I’m sure.”

  She scowled at him, and I didn’t blame her. His emotionless voice made it hard to tell if he was sincere or being sarcastic. I hoped for his sake that he was sincere. Neither Nia nor I would put up with a bad attitude.

  Arwyn clapped her hands together, all smiles. Her attitude was infectious. “Okay, now that we’re through with introductions, let’s begin.” She walked past us all to the center of the arena, so we followed suit. Our boots echoed against the stone floor and filled the silent air. Arwyn clasped her hands behind her back before she stopped and swiveled back to face us.

  “Miss Kenefick,” Arwyn began, “I assume you pretty much know everything about how a response squad operates, considering your lineage?”

  Nia bristled for a moment before nodding. “Yes, ma’am,”

  “As expected. Now,” she said and turned her gaze to me. Her smile was gone, replaced with a stern expression. “That leaves you, Gryff. Orenn and Varleth are veterans so we’ll have to bring you, and Nia to a lesser extent, up to speed.”

  I inclined my head, my hands flat against my side. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Arwyn snickered, and that made me feel better. “Don’t worry, you’re not starting from scratch. You two have essentially been through what we typically do when you went into the rift here at school. When a rift opens in or near a town, we arrive and enter. We keep monsters from crossing over while Varleth searches for and destroys the Catalyst.”