Summoner 19, page 5
part #19 of Summoner Series
“We can handle everything else,” Layla added. “We’re much more equipped than we were the last time you went into the Shadowscape.”
“Are you sure?” I insisted. “If you aren’t, I have no problem with waiting--”
“We wouldn’t have offered it if we weren’t positive.” Erin smiled at me, and then she looked around the room at the rest of our family. “We’ve got this, don’t we, ladies?”
“Hell, yeah, we do.” Cyra grinned.
“Definitely.” Ashla nodded.
“We’re going to miss you like crazy, Gryff, but we can handle our babies,” Nia insisted, and the ashen-haired elementalist’s blue eyes glittered with adoration. “If there’s even the slightest chance that you’d have an advantage over Carth, you have to take it. The sooner her alliance falls, the closer Mistral will be to being safe.”
“That sounds incredible,” Cyra noted.
“Thank you all,” I said to my women. “Your support means the world to me. All I want is to make sure you all have the best lives possible. Once the Archons are no longer an issue, we can start building a normal life for our family and our children.”
“Well, as normal as a giant family can be,” Layla teased me, and the room erupted into laughter.
“I’ll watch over them while you’re gone, Gryff,” Arwyn promised me once everyone settled down. “In between child care, I also plan to study Carth’s book more intently. I haven’t had a chance to study the contents, but I’m certain the research team and I should be able to translate something that could be worthwhile to our side.”
“That’s a brilliant idea, Arwyn.” I smiled at the professor, and her porcelain cheeks grew rosy at the compliment. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to capture Carth, and then we can use her knowledge to fully understand the book. Not that we’ll really need to once she’s subdued, but then again, whenever one villain is defeated, another pops back up.”
“At least we keep it interesting.” Ashla shrugged, and her dark-brown eyes glittered with amusement.
“I will also help with babies,” Freya declared with an uplifted chin. “I may not be a professor, but I know how to help care for the infants. You will have nothing to worry about, my husband. We will make sure Layla and Erin are taken care of.”
“Thanks, Freya.” I smiled at the hawk princess. “I really appreciate it.”
Our moment of love and support was interrupted by a knock at the door, and moments later, Meriden stepped back into the infirmary.
“I trust everyone is better now?” she asked with an amused smile as she glanced at the bed we’d all taken over in her absence.
“Definitely,” I answered, and a few giggles snuck out of my women.
“Good.” The healer nodded, and her spring green eyes shot over to the windows behind us. “It’s going to be getting dark soon, so I’d suggest some of you head home and let the girls get some rest. There’s no sense in everyone staying overnight when you live just down the hill.”
I followed the direction of her gaze and was surprised to see the sky had taken on a yellow hue, which indicated the sun was soon to set. Amidst all of the excitement of the day, I hadn’t even realized what time it was.
“That’s not a bad suggestion,” Nia agreed with the healer, and she raised her lean arms above her head and stretched out her lithe body. “We left the kids with Maelor, and he could probably use some relief right about now.”
“You left the kids with Maelor?” I repeated back to the multi-elementalist, and my voice betrayed my shock. It wasn’t as if the old man who’d raised me hated children, but it was hard to imagine him alone with four babies.
“We didn’t have a lot of other options.” Nia shrugged. “He’d stopped by the house to see you, but you and Cyra were gone, and then all of a sudden, Layla and Erin started having contractions, so he offered to watch the children while we were gone.”
“Is he still at the house?” I frowned. I didn’t remember seeing the summoner when we’d ran into the mansion.
“He’s up in the nursery with the little ones,” Meriden answered before my wife could. “They’ve been asleep most of the day, so Maelor decided he’d just stay quiet and remain there with them.”
“Huh,” I remarked. I hadn’t heard a peep out of the old summoner, but then again, we hadn’t yelled throughout the house or gone upstairs when we came back from the field.
“Gryffie, will you stay?” Layla asked me in a small voice as I went to stand up.
“Of course,” I replied, and then I glanced over at Meriden. “Is that alright?”
“You’re more than welcome to stay, Mister Gryff,” the healer responded with a soft look in her green eyes. “I can fetch you a chair if you’d prefer it, but since you’ve already occupied that bed, I don’t mind you using it for tonight. Thus far, we haven’t had any major injuries or illnesses this year, so you all should be totally alone here.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at the auburn-haired nurse. “I really appreciate it, Meriden.”
“Perhaps we can go downstairs to the dining hall and see if we can rustle up some food for you all,” Arwyn suggested to the group. “It’s been a long day, and I’m sure you’re probably famished.”
“You know, for once, I really hadn’t thought about food,” I noted with a laugh.
“And that’s precisely why we should go find some,” Ashla replied.
The girls all climbed out of the bed and straightened themselves out.
“We’ll be right back with some dinner for you three, and then we’ll leave you to get some rest,” Nia declared. “Between childbirth and the quartzriel, I’d say your day has been eventful enough to warrant some sleep.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” I trailed off, and the women all laughed.
“Okay, we’ll be right back,” Arwyn decided. “Cyra, Freya, Nia, Ashla, would you care to accompany me?”
“I will.” Nia nodded.
“I will come as well,” Freya chimed in as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.
“Layla and Erin, is there anything I can grab from the house for you?” Cyra inquired. “You all must have rushed here, so if there’s anything that would make you more comfortable, we have no problem getting it for you.”
“A change of clothes might be nice,” Erin said as she glanced down at her rumpled cotton nightgown.
“Definitely,” Layla agreed with a vigorous nod. “If it’s not too much of a hassle, I could also use the pillow from my bed. These ones are nice, but I sleep a lot better with my own.”
“We can grab whatever you need.” Ashla smiled. “Don’t worry about the specificity of the request. You two have been through a lot today. Let us take care of you.”
“Thank you so much,” Erin sighed as she looked around the room. “All of you. We couldn’t have gotten through the day without all your support.”
“It’s no problem at all,” Cyra said with a wave of her hand. “Okay, well, we’ll be back. In the meantime, you guys just sit back, relax, and enjoy those cute little babies.”
“Oh, we will,” Layla remarked, and the petite summoner leaned down and kissed Daphne’s forehead. The baby was fast asleep in her arms, and the way Layla clung to our daughter was downright precious.
The rest of my women offered one last wave before parting ways, and Meriden excused herself a few minutes later, which just left Layla, Erin, the babies, and me.
As I looked between the pair of gorgeous mages, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly blessed. There were times where life felt so overwhelming I wanted to give in, but moments like these gave me hope for a better future.
I got up from the bed beside Layla and took a seat in the chair Meriden had set up between their beds. I offered a hand to each of my women, and after they both accepted them, I leaned back and closed my eyes.
Tomorrow’s struggles were future Gryff’s problems. For now, I wanted to take in as much of this bliss as I could.
The next day, Layla and Erin were cleared by Meriden to go home, and once I was sure my girlfriends and our newborns were situated in the mansion, I rode my pyrewyrm back to the Academy to meet with the Headmaster. After my discussion with the group the day prior, I’d asked Arwyn to get a message to Sleet, and we soon received word back from the headmaster about meeting with the mission team in the afternoon. While I wasn’t quite ready to leave my children so soon, we had a duty to Mistral to take down Carth, and as I prepared to leave, Layla and Erin had taken a second opportunity to give me their blessings.
The long trek up to Sleet’s office was just as tiresome as usual, and when I finally arrived at the top of the tower’s staircase, a sheen of sweat covered my forehead. I silently cursed the headmaster for not choosing a more easily accessible meeting place, and then I knocked on the door.
“Come in!” the headmaster’s voice called out from the other side of the door, and when I entered the room, I was surprised to see a whole team of familiar faces.
It was if the Headmaster had sent an invitation to all of the men in my wedding party: there was the pilot and earth mage, Keith Almasy, the haughty fire mage, Gawain Maddox, the metallogue, Orenn Vascarti, Varleth Prost, our resident banisher, and then Braden.
There were only two of my groomsmen missing: Nia’s brother, Nayveth Kenefick, and Mur, the moose shapeshifter I’d basically taken hostage in Vay and brought back to Mistral. A pang of guilt ran through me at the thought of the moose shapeshifter’s name.
Poor Mur.
Between our honeymoon, the battle against the herd, my nine-month absence in the Shadowscape, and the ordeal with the book, my mission to help return Mur back to his human form had slipped through the cracks. It wasn’t that I’d intentionally forgotten about him, there were just a good too many things occupying my time, but I vowed to pay the shapeshifter a visit once I left this meeting with the headmaster.
The group greeted me with wide grins, and despite the circumstances, I was excited to see my best male friends
“Well, well, well, look who it is!” Varleth drawled as I closed the door behind me. “It’s about time you showed your face around here again, summoner!”
The gypsy’s normally surly face was bright with a genuine smile that was infectious, and I grinned right back at him.
“Hey, Varleth,” I greeted the banisher as I sat down in an empty leather chair beside him. “Sorry to keep you waiting for so long.”
“You should be,” Varleth mock-pouted. “I thought we had something special here, and yet you’ve been back from the Shadowscape for a whole week or so, and I haven’t heard a word from you.”
“Yeah, Gryff, what gives?” Almasy chimed in with an impish smirk. “Too good for the boys now that you’re a married man?”
“In my defense, things have been pretty busy,” I countered.
“Oh, we’ve heard,” Varleth snorted.
“Congrats on the new kiddos, Gryff.” Orenn winked at me. “Hopefully, they take after their mothers in the looks department.”
“Thanks, Orenn,” I laughed. “Luckily for everyone, my kids have inherited more things from their moms than they have from me.”
“My brain still can’t wrap itself around the fact you’re the father of six children.” Gawain Maddox shook his head slowly, and his silky gold hair flared out around him with the gesture. “I don’t know how you handle it all, summoner.”
“It honestly blows my mind, too, and I’m the one living it,” I joked, and my fellow mages all cracked up at the sentiment, especially Gawain.
The haughty fire mage and I had once been enemies and rivals, but as the years passed by, Gawain and I became great friends, and I was genuinely happy to see his face again after so long.
“I hope you find this selection of gentleman suitable,” Sleet spoke up, and the storm mage’s silvery-white eyes glinted with amusement as he peered around the room. “The Grand Mage and I thought their particular skill sets would aid you on your mission in the Shadowscape.”
“Eh, I suppose they’ll do,” I joked, and I could see Gawain roll his emerald eyes from all the way across the room.
“Well, now that we’ve moved past the greetings, I suppose we should get to the heart of this conversation,” the headmaster decided. “Now, Mister Gryff, with the nature of the atmosphere in the Shadowscape, it is crucial you reach Carth’s palace with haste. When you were staying in Carth’s palace, did you see any notable features that would help us better narrow down the location?
The headmaster had a very valid point. The air in the Shadowscape was toxic to human lungs, and it had been proven too much inhalation of the noxious fumes could lead to mental insanity. While I had the advantage of the Archons’ power assisting my lungs, the other members of my team did not, and the gas masks we usually brought into the shadow dimension were adequate enough, but not perfect for long-term exposure.
“The only thing that stood out to me was an old cemetery just down the path,” I recounted as I tried to picture everything I’d witnessed. “Aside from that, there was nothing too extraordinary about the grounds.”
“And the castle, can you describe it to us?” Sleet asked as he sat forward in his chair. “I seem to remember you telling me about it when you first returned, but I wanted your team to hear the description from you personally, in case there was something I missed.”
“Absolutely,” I said. “The entirety of the structure is carved out of black marble, like Phi’s castle, except less tarnished. In fact, it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in the Shadowscape. It’s surrounded by these ornate wrought-iron fences and a huge spiked iron gate. It almost looks like it was some sort of pre-war fortress, but Carth never revealed to me who’d built it.”
“Beauty in the Shadowscape,” Varleth mused. “Not something I ever thought I’d hear about.”
“Trust me, I was just as surprised,” I assured the banisher. “The inside is just as elaborate.”
“Gryff, would your Archons be able to take us there?” Braden wondered in a thoughtful tone. “Headmaster Sleet mentioned to us that one of your new goddesses used to be a part of Carth’s alliance. Would she know how to get back to the palace?”
Of course. How had I not thought of this before?
“I’m sure she would be able to lead us there,” I agreed with the ox-like summoner. “The castle was her primary residence until Carth and the other two Archons arrived. And if Xan doesn’t know the exact way, I’m sure Sera would.”
Sera had been the one to smuggle Carth’s mysterious book out of the Shadowscape, so she would likely know the way, and with the Archon’s portal magic, it would be simple for us to enter the Shadowscape right at the entrance to Carth’s castle.
“Oooo, Xan?” Almasy drawled with a raised eyebrow. “What’s she like?”
“Is she as eerie as Carth?” Gawain asked, and then a shiver ran through the fire mage.
While he would never admit it aloud, I knew the elementalist was still wary around the Archons after Phi had possessed him once.
“Not in the slightest.” I shook my head. “Xanrith is an ally.”
“We can trust her?” Varleth clarified in a way that sounded both like a statement and a question.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Okay.” The banisher shrugged, and he leaned back in his leather chair. “That’s all I needed to know.”
“So, we ask the Archons to take us to Carth’s palace, take out her herd of monsters, and then you capture her within your consciousness,” Almasy repeated back slowly.
“In simplified terms, yes.” I nodded, and the earth mage raised a dark blonde eyebrow.
“Sounds great,” he remarked simply as he sat back in his seat.
“So, when do we leave, Headmaster?” Varleth asked Sleet in a respectful tone.
“Mister Gryff?” Sleet called on me to answer. “When do you suggest your team head out? As the team’s leader, I trust your judgment on this matter.”
“Tomorrow morning, if possible,” I said to the whole room. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get to Carth’s palace and whittle down her herd. She has a lot of mega-sized monsters at her disposal, but she’s significantly weaker since yesterday’s fight, and I don’t want her to regain any of her power before we can get there.”
“I’m ready to leave whenever,” Braden noted.
“Me, too,” Varleth agreed.
“I as well,” Gawain chimed in.
“Same,” Orenn stated
“Yep.” Almasy nodded.
“It’s decided, then,” Sleet declared in his most official-sounding voice. “You will gather your belongings, and tomorrow, enter the Shadowscape and try to subdue Carth.”
“Sounds good, sir.” I nodded at the storm mage, and once the time and meeting place was established, my team and I parted ways to go home and pack our things. This turnaround was a little fast for my tastes, but as students at a military academy, we knew sometimes battles occurred with little to no notice.
Once I stepped out onto the Academy’s grounds, I decided to go straight to the stables. While I needed to get my supplies together, I didn’t want to leave for another mission without visiting Mur. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to the shapeshifter, and I hoped he wasn’t going to be too angry with me for leaving him behind.
But when I reached the Academy’s stables, I was immediately greeted by a fuzzy brown face galloping straight toward me.
“Gryff!” Mur bellowed in the language of the Southern clans, and his nub of a tail waggled in the air like an excited puppy.
“Hi, Mur!” I greeted the shapeshifter with a warm smile, and when he finally reached me, I patted the top of his furry head.
“It’s so good to see you!” Mur gushed. “They told me you went into the Shadowscape, and it’s been so long I got worried that maybe you’d gotten lost or something.”
“Nope, I’m right here.” I smiled at the boy as I leaned against a wooden post. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting for so long.”
“It’s alright,” the moose replied. “I’ve been keeping myself busy enough. Miss Hamner and Miss Ashla come down to visit when they can, and sometimes Miss Hamner tutors me a bit. Oh! I’ve started to learn a lot more Mistral. I’m not quite fluent yet, but I can at least understand everyone better!”
