Dragon Spirit Hunter 3, page 7
For many reasons, not least of all Efasia’s betrothal, only Looly knew about our relationship.
I grinned. “Just so you know, I am the type of guy who will only be louder when you say stuff like that… I’ll give you a pass this time, though, since you clearly had to train late.”
“I chose to train late,” she corrected with a slight smile. “But yes, I am starving.”
“You could’ve gone straight to the dormitory to eat,” Looly pointed out. “Your grandfather always makes sure there’s plenty for you there in case you train late.”
She smiled at her affectionately. “I’ll deny it if you ever tell anyone I said this, but I do like eating with everyone here. Even Gerrin. Sort of.”
I nudged her shoulder.
“Is this you actually admitting you like having friends, Princess?” I said teasingly.
She hit me back harder than I thought was strictly necessary. “I’ll deny that, too.”
“I don’t even believe it happened,” I joked back.
We got settled into our meal after that, but no one was in a hurry to get to bed tonight. It was the end of the week for us, and since we were all adults, the Academy allowed wine or ale to be served with the evening meals once term was really underway. It was never anything too wild, but it was definitely a nice way to end a hard week’s training.
At least, it was nice until a sudden hush fell over the room.
We turned and saw two Sergeants at the entrance to the hall, and they looked as though they were searching for someone.
Which was unusual. The food hall was a space for the cadets to relax and hang out without the Sergeants overseeing them. The Academy officials had their own spaces further into the building.
I wasn’t even surprised when they walked over to our table, and hundreds of cadets’ eyes followed their progress.
“Cadet Hawkins,” one of the men said.
“Sir?” I questioned.
“General Carnelis wishes to see you and your comrades in his office,” he replied. “Now.”
Kerym lowered his wine glass. “Comrades? You mean… us?”
The man checked the piece of parchment in his hand. Then he read off the list of cadets, and sure enough, me and all of my friends had made the cut.
“What for?” Efasia enquired.
“I’m sorry, miss, but I’m not sure. Please, if you wouldn’t mind following us?” The elf stepped back ever so slightly.
I bit back a slight smile at his tone. Obviously, Efasia’s standing within the Academy had immediately put his balls in a vise, like just about everyone who knew her lineage.
The rest of the group just exchanged blank stares.
Nobody knew why we’d been summoned, but I knew that if Carnelis was ordering us to his office, shit was well and truly about to hit the fan.
Chapter 4
A strained silence descended on the group as we headed to Carnelis’ office without speaking. We were still hungry, especially Efasia, since we’d barely gotten halfway through dinner, but we were a bit buzzed from the wine already, so morale was so-so.
The summons had sobered me a bit, as did the sight of my mentor waiting outside the General’s office.
“Hey, you lot,” she said cheerfully.
“Prianna?” Kerym’s eyes popped open wide. “What are you doing here?”
She sighed and strolled forward until she was eye to eye with the blue-haired man.
“That’s Sergeant Dallanis to you, cadet,” she said sternly.
“Sorry, ma’am,” the half-elf responded as he snapped to attention.
“I forgive you.” Prianna broke into a teasing grin.
“But what are you doing here?” I asked her.
“Same thing as you, I imagine,” she said. “General Carnelis has summoned me, so here I stand.”
“Do you know why?” I asked.
“I think I’d better let the General explain,” the Sergeant said. “I don’t know much more than you do, in all honesty.”
Kerym, quite possibly to avoid any more conversation with Prianna, raised his hand and knocked on the heavy doors to Carnelis’ office.
“Come in,” Carnelis’ voice boomed from the other side of the doors.
Inside, a set of chairs had been arranged in front of his desk and were set up in neat little pairs with tiny side tables between them. The tables were stocked with small plates of fruits and pastries and pitchers of wine.
“Ohhhh, thank the gods,” Kerym moaned. “Food.”
“Food,” Efasia sighed with relief.
“And wine.” Gerrin grinned.
“I realize I’ve called you all away from your dinner,” the General said. “For that, I do apologize, but please do help yourselves. Efasia, darling… your favorite is at the end there.”
Efasia made a beeline for a giant plate of what looked like mostly steak and other various meats, and I smiled as she started cutting her steak apart before her butt had even hit her seat.
General Carnelis grinned as well before he gestured to the furniture. “Sit down everyone, please.”
I wasn’t surprised at how the group paired off once we’d filled a few plates and glasses.
Jas and Erlan sat together, as did Efasia and Looly. Gerrin grinned at me, and with a subtle tilt of his head, invited me to sit beside him, which left Kerym to sit next to Prianna.
I bit back a smile at the half-djinn’s antics and claimed the chair before Kerym did.
It was about time someone turned the tables on him.
Prianna had already settled comfortably into her seat and smiled invitingly at Kerym, who was the last one still standing.
“Don’t worry,” she said as she smiled flirtatiously. “I don’t always bite.”
I thought Kerym was going to faint as he sat rigidly in his chair and stared straight ahead at the General. He only moved to raise his wine to his lips, but other than that, I’d never seen a man so statuesque and uncomfortable-looking.
I shared an amused glance with Gerrin.
“Sergeant Dallanis, do try to put our cadets at ease,” the General said in a reproving tone, but I could see the twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “You know we like everyone to feel comfortable here at the RTA.”
“Apologies, sir,” Prianna said, but that delicious smile still hovered on her lips. “Cadet, feel free to make yourself very comfortable next to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kerym swallowed so loud, the entire room heard it, and the General even snickered a bit before forcing his expression into a serious one.
“I am sorry to have to call you all in so late like this,” he said. “But I feel you are best suited to what I need right now.”
“We should have our own squad name at this point,” Gerrin said and nudged me.
“That might not be a bad idea, Cadet Haweel,” Carnelis said. “As we all know, the world is changing, and this means the Legion needs to adapt as well.”
He laughed softly, but the sound was tinged with a bitter sort of undertone.
“There was a time when I never would have relied on first-year cadets for this.” He looked again at each one of us. “I’m sorry if the weight of the responsibility seems a bit much, but times are rapidly changing, and the fact is, I believe you’re best suited to the mission.”
We all made quiet murmurs assuring him it was no problem and that we were ready and willing to do whatever the Academy, and by extension, the Legion needed from us.
Even though I was inwardly groaning. How the hell was I being sent on a mission, right when I’d just gained a second dragon rovkin? There was no way I was ready to use the pair out in the field together.
The General’s expression grew serious and almost melancholy then.
“Vel Trosca is being plagued by a rash of monsters,” he said.
The weight of his words had more of an impact on the others than on me, but even I knew that wasn’t a good thing.
Vel Trosca was the kingdom to the south of us, and it was where most of the food for the entire Sundered Realm was grown. Probably about eighty percent of it. It was home to miles and miles of magical and non-magical rolling plains, and unlike the dense forest that surrounded the Academy, their landscape meant that the monsters usually had nowhere to stalk around or hide.
Monsters rarely caused their region trouble, but that usually meant they were less equipped to deal with the larger, more violent collections of monsters or the resulting rovkins.
It had a more temperate climate than anywhere else in the world, too, so the established crops were active much of the year. I could understand why it was vitally important to ensure the area was as safe as possible.
“Can’t the Arbor School deal with it?” Prianna asked bluntly.
“The trouble has been left long enough that there are now more than they’ve ever dealt with before,” Carnelis said.
“They… what?” Prianna sat forward, and Efasia put down the giant turkey leg she’d been tearing into.
“Of course they did,” she scoffed. “Those mages don’t have the foresight to defend so much, and their king is busy gathering prized hogs instead of sending for the proper defenses from the Legion.”
“I’m sure the king does his best, darling,” her grandfather said with a subtle smirk.
Efasia pursed her lips and then tore a chunk out of her turkey leg.
“Vel Trosca has been very bold with their lack of defenses,” Prianna agreed.
“Well, the king has placed it on the Arbor School to lead things for the last few weeks, but things aren’t going very well,” the General continued. “They’ve specifically asked for help from the RTA, given the fact that our cadets tend to out-perform in the highest number of areas when compared to the other academies…”
“Including theirs,” Efasia muttered behind her wine glass.
Looly giggled but then promptly covered her mouth and apologized for it.
The General took on a very grandfatherly tone. “You all have to remember that the Arbor School focuses primarily on honing their cadets’ magical prowess rather than their physical fighting grit, and there has thus far been nowhere near as many monsters for them to practice against where they are. Sure, there are those select few who train specifically as battle mages there, but the majority train as mages only.”
“Forgive me, sir,” I said. “But what do those graduates of the Arbor School tend to do for the Legion, if they aren’t as savvy in physical combat?”
“They excel in combat of another kind,” he replied. “Combat fighters of the Legion rely on the power of our rovkins to aid us in battle, and in a similar way, we also rely on the power of some select mages in battle and other areas as well.”
“I see.” I nodded. “Because I’d been under the impression that most mages didn’t join the Legion, but then I saw the Arbor School’s cadets at the midyear duel…”
“Ah, yes.” Prianna smirked. “How could we forget?”
She sent me a proud smile, and the General chuckled a bit.
“The battle mages are the only cadets who come to the mid-year duels,” he explained, and I inwardly rolled my eyes. Of course Merrel fucking Hardwick would be a fancy battle mage. “But that does bring us to the unique focus of the Arbor School. You see, every mage who does hope to join the Legion tends to come from Vel Trosca’s academy. Their cadets’ aim is primarily to hone the direct influence of their rovkin’s magic, rather than that rovkin’s cleverness, ferocity, or what have you.”
“Like how Gerrin’s Ember Paw Fox is an excellent distraction, as well as a fierce fire element?” I asked.
“I hear he’s quite clever,” Prianna agreed, and Gerrin sat up straighter at the praise.
“Yeah, I’ve been training him to practice certain patterns in the circles he runs so I can track how distracted my targets are and when,” Gerrin said.
“Precisely what we like to see here at the RTA,” Carnelis said. “But a young cadet mage of the Arbor who obtained your Ember Paw Fox would concentrate their efforts on connecting magically with the element of fire specifically. Their rovkin opens the door to that element. They would study all of that creature’s magical fire capabilities and all the conduits, enchantments, spells, and whatnot capable of forcing a power like that to behave in several different ways.”
“Yes, whereas Gerrin interacts with, and is training his entire rovkin,” Prianna added. “He focuses on how to align himself with his fox in all ways, and to wield the element of fire side by side, in the same way that two soldiers who are as close as brothers might approach a battle– side by side, with their most lethal weapon in hand.”
“We require more from our cadets here at the RTA,” Efasia summed up in a haughty tone. “And of our rovkins. The Arbor School has their uses, but a true soldier of the Legion is made for so much more than a mage could ever dream.”
General Carnelis raised his brow at this, but chose not to respond to his granddaughter’s judgmental remarks.
It was just as well. I already knew the rivalry between the primary academies was pretty intense. And I could kind of see why, in this case. Right down to the fundamentals, Arbor School cadets had entirely different approaches and values when it came to rovkins and magic.
“Now, that brings us to the threat in the south,” the General continued. “At present, most of their top instructors and stronger mage cadets are making sure the many crops are safe. I understand that the threat has already cost us quite a lot down there.”
“Alvius, you goat,” Prianna groaned, and although I wasn’t sure what that meant, the General seemed to.
He gave a grim nod of agreement, but then continued.
“They’ve begun sending some of their scholars out to monitor the veil strength in that region and see if they can find out where it’s thinning. The surplus of monsters is becoming inordinate enough that we fear that may be the case.”
“Can’t they just ‘magic away’ the monsters who are invading?” I asked.
“It’s not that simple, Charlie,” Erlan broke in. “Magic takes time and energy, just like the Arch Mage showed you. It takes almost as much effort to do something magically as it would with your hands or your back, just in a different way.”
“Think of it this way,” Prianna said. “If you wanted to move a boulder, you’d probably get a spade and dig it out of the ground first, yes?”
I nodded and wondered where the half-moon elf was going with this.
“Plenty of mages wouldn’t get the spade,” she continued. “They’d move it all with their magic and then wonder why they didn’t have any power left to fill in the hole left behind by the boulder. Hence why most mage schools are considered rudimentary at best, and the mages who leave perform only the most basic everyday tasks.”
“But do not forget, Charlie,” Carnelis said, “The Arbor School is not some ordinary mage school. They are a top competing academy, and they are good at what they do. More importantly, if the veil is thinning, that is a problem for all of us. Relying solely on mages against live, wholly formed rovkins, especially an abundance of them, wears very, very much on the spirit of those mages and their rovkins. A war like the one the Legion fights takes the contributions of all styles of fighters working together. That is what I’d like you all to learn from this mission.”
Gerrin pursed his lips, but didn’t reply. I could tell most of us weren’t excited to see the Arbor School cadets showing off and proving how useful they were, but I understood his point.
And I was intrigued.
Fighting battles beside rovkins was already cool enough. But beside mages, too? That was something I wanted to see.
“We don’t know what you’ll be facing out there,” the General continued. “But they require some skilled monster slayers to assist their scholars and cadets in following their leads on the veil there.”
“So, we’re expected to serve as guards, essentially?” I asked.
“Essentially, although not quite,” he said. “We know the risk in the area, and we know that wherever the scholars go, there will be an incredible swell in the number of monsters. You’re going to dispose of those swells as best you can, while also helping the scholars on their way. The Headmaster there will have more details when you arrive, and hopefully by your journey’s end, we’ll have learned where, why, and how these monsters have increased.”
“Great…” Jas said faintly, and I sent him an apologetic look.
Hunting rovkins meant he’d need to summon his Arachiapod to deal with them. For an arachnophobe, the spider-like Arachiapod was quite possibly the worst rovkin he could have gotten, and I knew he avoided having to bring the damn thing out as much as possible.
“Don’t worry.” Gerrin grinned. “We’ll protect you from the scary monsters, Jas.”
Jas’ moody red eyes slid to the half-djinn, and he looked anything but amused.
“Sir,” Efasia said and dabbed some wine from her lips. “May I ask why you’re sending us for this instead of your own soldiers?”
“You are my soldiers,” he said with a roguish grin, and his battle-scarred face had an edge of the devil-may-care in the old General. “The Arbor School told me to send my best, and I was very pleased with your efforts at the College of the Moon Elves. Legion soldiers didn’t lead that mission, did they? And we’ve never had such swift and thorough results on their side.”
I nodded in understanding, but Efasia narrowed her eyes. Then she returned to her meal without a word, but I made a mental note to ask her about that later.
She clearly thought something else was being left unsaid by her grandfather.
“I know you are a solid team and that you’ll work together as best as you can,” the General continued. “It also helps having two dragons on our side, and I’d personally feel better knowing you all are in Vel Trosca and ready to respond to any threats quickly.”
I looked around at my friends. Their faces shone more eagerly now, and yet also with a certain amount of apprehension.
We’d been on missions together before, but on a scale of seriousness from ‘zombie coyotes’ to ‘fighting a Blood Dragon,’ I figured from the General’s tone this fell somewhere on the upper end.
