Summoner 19, page 9
part #19 of Summoner Series
“Look, my delivery of the message may have been in poor taste, but I meant what I said about the Archons,” Crystyn insisted. “The goddesses are dangerous, Gryff, and the more and more you utilize their powers, the closer they drag you in.”
“And what would you know about it?” I challenged her.
“I know enough,” Crystyn replied with narrowed eyes. “I’ve been around a lot longer than you have, kid, and I met the Archons long before you were even born. It doesn’t take a genius to realize those monster goddesses are back-stabbing, manipulative, and vengeful, and the moment you cross them or betray them, they’ll turn their backs on you. It’s only a matter of time before they do to you what they did amongst themselves so long ago.”
“You’re wrong.” I shook my head. “They aren’t using me, and they certainly aren’t manipulating me. The Archons in my mind are under my command, and they have no intention of betraying me--”
“See, that’s what you think now,” Crystyn insisted. “But just because the Archons have a woman’s form, it doesn’t mean they have human feelings. It’s all a part of a very elaborate ruse to get you on their side.”
“Not that this conversation isn’t totally thrilling or anything, but it might be best for us to move on from it,” Varleth proposed softly, and his dark eyes darted around at our surroundings. “We’re wasting time going back and forth, and at this point, we need to--”
“Find Carth?” Crystyn finished for the banisher, and Varleth’s pale, angular cheeks flushed red.
“No--” He tried to shake his head, but his complexion betrayed our true intentions.
“Why else would you be here?” the Guardian inquired, and she crossed her arms against her chest. “You can be as vague with me as you wish, but I’m no fool. I’ve been alive for quite some time, so I’m not nearly as gullible as you seem to think”
“Look, Crystyn, just go back to whatever you were doing before you came upon us, okay?” I said. “This really doesn’t concern you.”
“Do not dismiss me as if I am just a nuisance,” Crystyn declared with narrowed hazel eyes. “I don’t think you understand the severity of your actions--”
“Ashla was right back in Dassian’s Keep,” I interrupted my aunt. “You’re supposed to be some badass Guardian who does everything for the good of Mistral, and yet, every time we take strides to save the human realm from monsters or Archons, you’re always there to try to interrupt us. If you care about the fate of humanity so much, why are you so opposed to me fighting Carth?”
“I’m not opposed to you fighting Carth,” Crystyn shot back. “I’m opposed to another Archon residing within you.”
“Well, I’m not nearly as weak as you seem to think,” I insisted. “I’ve handled six Archons already. What’s one more--”
“Gryff, why is it so hard for you to realize capturing all of the Archons isn’t the answer to winning this battle?” Crystyn interjected. “It’s not nearly that simple.”
“Why is it so hard for you to trust me?” I demanded.
“You’re clearly blinded by those you hold dearly in your consciousness.” Crystyn said. “They have fed you lies and treasonous ideologies, and I fear they have manipulated you beyond repair. That’s why I don’t trust you.”
“What’s it going to take to change that?” I wondered. “Name it, and I’ll do it. I’m tired of my character being judged by a woman who’s supposed to be my only family. So, what’s it going to take for you to finally bury those feelings of yours and get you to finally accept I’m not a bad guy?”
“I don’t think you’re bad.” Crystyn shook her head.
“So, what’s it going to take?” I repeated back to the Guardian. “I’ll do it, right now.”
The Guardian thought about the question briefly, and my heart raced with adrenaline as I awaited her answer.
“A battle,” Crystyn declared with a proud tilt of her chin. “I wish to battle against you one-on-one. You think you are beyond their influence? Demonstrate it to me. Show me that when things get tricky, the Archons won’t step in to defend their pawn, as I know they will.”
“They won’t.” I shook my head. “And besides, I don’t need them to defend me in the first place. I am more than capable of kicking your ass all on my own. Not to mention I’m their master, and they can only leave my mind at my command, not the other way around.”
“That sounds lovely and all, but might I remind you that I’m a Guardian,” Crystyn pointed out in an arrogant tone. “Sure, you might be a powerful summoner, but my existence has preceded you by quite a bit, Gryff.”
“Then what do you have to lose?” I smiled at her.
The Guardian narrowed her hazel eyes at me and took a moment to consider. I had a feeling she hadn’t expected me to accept her proposal.
I could feel the stares of the rest of my team as they bored into my back, and it took all of my willpower to keep my facial expressions as neutral as possible. The idea of fighting against my aunt was stressful, but I had to finally put this conflict to bed for both my sake and hers. I still didn’t think I could trust a word that came from the Guardian’s mouth, but then again, she was my last remaining blood relative, aside from my children, and the only tie I had left to my parents and my mysterious past. I needed her to trust me if I was ever going to get any type of information from her.
“Fine,” Crystyn agreed after a short amount of time. “We shall fight. But I will not hold back against you just because you are my brother’s son. If you want to prove your worth to me, you’ll have to do it fair and square, Gryff.”
“Of course,” I said. “But shall we sweeten the wager?”
The Guardian frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“You know what we seek,” I began. “We only have one problem, and that’s the location. You somehow knew about Carth’s book, so I have a feeling you know precisely where her castle is hidden away. If I defeat you, in addition to your trust, I want you to tell us where the castle is.”
“Any other demands?” Crystyn asked in an amused tone.
“Yes,” I said. “I also want you to tell me more about my parents and the rest of the Guardians.”
“Gryff, do we have time for this?” Braden wondered. “We really need to track down Carth.”
“I know,” I said quietly to the other summoner. “But any other information we could possibly get about the Guardians will only help us down the road, and who better to get the information from than an actual, real-life Guardian. The books we retrieved from the library are good and all, but we can’t even translate them ourselves.”
“That information could be quite valuable,” he admitted. “Okay, never mind. Sorry, Gryff. I just wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing.”
“I appreciate it, Braden.” I smiled at my ox-like friend.
“And if I should win?” Crystyn interrupted our conversation. “You’re asking for quite a bit in return for your victory.”
“As you mentioned, you’re a Guardian.” I shrugged. “I already have the odds stacked against me. Why shouldn’t I ask for a larger prize?”
“I suppose that’s fair,” my aunt decided. “Should I win, however, you must leave the Shadowscape forever and return to your home in Mistral.”
“But--” I began to protest, but Crystyn waved me off.
“Those are the terms,” she declared. “If you do not wish to accept them, then my answers and my trust will remain my own.”
I mulled over the idea. I was confident in my abilities, but was I biting off more than I could chew?
How dare that woman think of us so poorly? Utuni interrupted my thoughts. Who the fuck does she think she is?
A Guardian, Xan answered the snake goddess in a calm tone. Let us not forget, sisters, Crystyn was our enemy all those years ago. Of course, she speaks of us poorly.
She’s no saint, Veopa scoffed. And besides, she’s completely wrong. Master, we would never manipulate you in the way she acts like we would.
“You wouldn’t?” I teased them with a raised eyebrow. “Is that not what you’re doing right at this moment?”
Hey, this is purely defense, not manipulation, the succubus goddess argued. We are standing up for ourselves, and there’s a huge difference in that.
“Do you think this is wise?” I asked them. “Be honest. Can I handle Crystyn?”
We don’t know her nearly as well as we did some of the other Guardians, but Crystyn always had a fire about her that made her a formidable opponent, Xan clarified. When I say this, though, master, I do not mean you cannot handle a battle up against her. Just know the fight isn’t going to be an easy one. If I know anything about how the Guardians live, she likely isn’t rusty when it comes to battle and strategy, so you must remain alert at all times.
You must also take risks in your strategy, Sera noted. She might be a human, but she was one of twelve of the best mages in Mistral, and that has to count for something more.
I don’t think she’s a threat at all, Miralea announced in a lazy tone. I think she’s a brat who needs to be put into her place, that’s all.
Unwilling to continue the conversation, I turned to face the rest of my team. I needed more opinions on the matter, specifically from unbiased humans. “Well, guys, what should we do?”
“If you think she could tell us where Carth’s palace is, and believe earning her trust is important, you have to do it,” Varleth said, and the surly gypsy’s tone was serious as he glanced over at the Guardian. “We’ll be here to back you up if you need it, but I have no doubt you could take her.”
“You’re the leader, Gryff.” Almasy shrugged. “If this is what you think we should do, you gotta do it.”
“I agree,” Orenn chimed in, and the metallogue lifted his mask to give me a smile.
“Me, too.” Braden nodded. “I think you’ve got this.”
“Same here,” Mur replied with a puffed-out chest.
“As do I, summoner,” Gawain agreed. “We’re lost without any type of clues. If this will help, I have your back.”
“Thanks, guys.” I nodded at my team. “I appreciate your support.”
With their blessings in mind, I turned back to face Crystyn, and my aunt’s arms were crossed against her chest as she waited for me to answer. There was a strong chance I was making a big mistake, but at the same time, the larger mistake was not trying at all. I had to get those answers, and I had to find Carth.
“Shall we?” the Guardian prompted me.
I took a last deep breath and then raised my chin.
“Fine,” I decided. “Let’s battle.”
Chapter Five
Crystyn removed her cloak with a graceful flourish, and as the black garment fluttered to the ground, my eyebrows flew up in surprise. Over a high-necked blue-gray jumpsuit, the Guardian wore an intricate black leather harness that was a more feminine version of my bandolier, but it was studded with far more essence crystals than I’d ever seen on one person. It took all of my strength to keep my jaw from plummeting as I attempted to count the gems that adorned her chest.
“What, did you think you were the only summoner in the family?” My aunt smirked when she noticed my expression, and the amused twinkle in her hazel eyes surprised me almost as much as her crystals. I’d only ever seen the Guardian in two moods: stoic and angry, but never mirthful, and she appeared to take delight in my shock.
“Were all of the Guardians summoners?” I wondered with widened eyes. The twelve Guardians had been the most powerful mages in all of Mistral, but I’d never taken the time to think about their mage classifications before.
“No, not all of them.” Crystyn shook her head. “But the Porter family has been made up of mostly summoners for generations. My father was a summoner, as was his father, so on and so forth.”
“And my father as well?” I asked, and my heart thudded inside my chest. The idea of my dad being a summoner gave me a strange feeling, though not a bad one by any stretch of the imagination. I had few memories of my parents, so any type of ties I could have to them were important to me, and this new information almost made my magic feel more special to me.
“Best me, and I’ll tell you all about it,” my aunt declared, and she swept a lock of caramel hair behind her ear as she raised her chin. “Until then, enough small talk. I certainly don’t have all day, and neither do you.”
I was newly determined to win this battle, and my hand hovered near my bandolier as Crystyn eyed me with a proud expression, but before I could retrieve an essence crystal, I heard someone clear their throat behind me. When I turned around, I caught the eyes of my teammates and noticed the urgent way Braden’s eyes darted between Crystyn and me.
“So, uh, how will we determine a winner in this situation?” the ox-like summoner brought up. “Obviously, this isn’t a match to the death or anything, right? There probably need to be some rules so no one gets hurt.”
“We definitely don’t want to face the wrath of your women if we bring you back home in a million tiny pieces, summoner,” Gawain agreed with my former roommate, and the haughty fire mage gave Crystyn’s crystals a quick look-over before he returned his gaze to mine. “And not to discredit your talent or anything, but that Guardian is packing a serious amount of monsters.”
“There’s also the fact that if you get wiped out, we’ll have no way to return home,” Varleth added dryly, and I reached out and punched the banisher’s arm in response.
“Gee, thanks for the support, buddy.” I rolled my eyes playfully at the surly gypsy.
“You know, your friends bring up a good point,” my aunt called out to me, and when I turned back to her, she placed her hands inside the pockets of her jumpsuit. “It is customary to set boundaries before sparring. And I don’t seek to destroy you today.”
“So, name your terms,” I replied with a jutted chin. “You’re clearly the more seasoned of us both, and this battle was your idea in the first place. How would you care to proceed with it?”
The Guardian brought a finger to her lips as she decided what to do, and my breath halted inside my chest as I waited for her to make the call
“Three monsters,” she determined with a firm nod of her head. “Any of your choosing, however, per our earlier discussion, you may have no assistance from your Archons.”
“Are we talking Grade-A, Grade-B…?” I tried to clarify. “It wouldn’t seem right for you to unleash Grade-A’s and knock me out immediately.”
“Are you saying you can’t handle three Grade-A monsters?” Crystyn asked, and if her tone hadn’t been so serious, I’d have assumed she was taunting me.
“Oh, I can keep up just fine,” I assured the Guardian. “I just don’t want to wipe the floor with you too badly.”
“You’re awfully cocky,” my aunt laughed lightly. “Relaude was, too. I hope you have the skills to back it up. Now, let’s see… Grade-A’s will only draw too much attention from anything else in the Shadowscape, so I’d propose nothing larger than a Grade-B. Does that sound fair?”
“Sounds do-able,” I agreed with the caramel-haired Guardian. “Fine. Select your monsters, and I’ll select mine.”
As Crystyn examined her crystals, I considered which of my summons was the strongest, and which I could best handle in a battle against the Guardian. My cache was pretty extensive, and I had quite a variety of different grades of monster, but I needed to select ones that would do the most damage and display my summoning ability sans Archons.
There was my baroquer, of course, an enormous monster with an armored body and a flaming sword. My roosa was also reliable, as was my arachness and my kalgori, but I couldn’t discredit my pyrewyrm or the maripor. If we’d been surrounded by water, I would have summoned my duvarku, but the otter monster fared the best in aquatic settings.
I decided Dio was going to be one of my safest bets. While most of the time, my monster opted to be the size of a kitten, his true form was massive, and he could really inflict some damage. Lethal abilities aside, Dio was my familiar, and if I was going up against a Guardian, I wanted him at my side.
Aww, I love you, too, boss, Dio teased me, and I could feel the vibration of his purrs through the fabric of my hip pouch. Now, lemme at ‘er! I can take that lady down no problem!
“Well, we aren’t trying to take her down,” I corrected the saber-toothed cat monster. “We’re taking down her monsters.”
Can Veopa use her magic like she did in the battle against the quartzriel? Dio wondered. Or is that considered cheating?
“Crystyn told me I wasn’t supposed to summon the Archons, and I’m assuming this also applies to using their powers,” I sighed. My familiar had a great point, but the last thing I needed was losing the information I needed due to a technicality.
Booooooo, Dio groaned.
“You’re telling me,” I scoffed at the saber-toothed tiger.
Finally, Crystyn selected a crystal, and once it was hidden away enough that I couldn’t see it, her hazel eyes blinked at me.
“Have you chosen yet?” my aunt asked me in an impatient tone. “Or do you need more time--”
“Oh, I’m ready,” I assured the Guardian with a cocky smile. “So, how do we do this… throw them on the ground at the same time?”
“Precisely.” Crystyn nodded, and then she raised her hand up into the air.
I mirrored the motion, though I didn’t have a crystal to throw, per say. Dio preferred to ride along inside my pouches or in my pockets rather than his essence crystal, so my hand was entirely empty while Crystyn’s was wrapped around a medium-sized, periwinkle blue, and flower shaped crystal.
Crystyn muttered something that made the crystal glow, and when she smashed it down onto the burnt ground, a hissing sound rang out, and a trail of dark smoke streamed out from the collision sight.
As her creature manifested, I opened up the pouch at my hip wide enough for my cat monster to hop out.
