For a Friend (Summoner Fanfiction)

Chapter 1: This Is Trouble, My Friend

A/N: So this is my fanfic for the Wattpad story Summoner, which I have wanted to write for a while, but I refrained from until I could get permission from the author. This is for TaranMatharu's competition. Sorry if its not my best-I wrote this first chapter all in one night.

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Chapter 1: This Is Trouble, My Friend

The waning moon cast a low light over our figures, settling two shadows on the ground. The one next to mine is lupine, about the size of a small horse or large pony, and densely built with long legs, a broad chest and muscled body. A glance back would show sky-blue eyes that contrast sharply with the roan coat of the Canid demon, the effect of the moonlight making his fur appear to ripple and shift like a flame.

I myself am still; never moving, barely breathing. Simply waiting.

I hadn't wanted to come. But something kept drawing me here, back to the academy. Certainly shouldn't have followed the boy and the elf (and the dwarf they were following, who looks vaguely familiar) to the cave; but again I didn't know why.

That is, at least, the lie I tell myself. I know exactly why I did both of these things. Perhaps if I admitted it it would relieve some of the crushing pain in my chest. But I know that admitting it would mean admitting that the boy was starting to grow on me, and that is dangerous; because if I start to care for the boy, it will be all the harder if he dies. And I don't know how many more deaths it will take before I break.

I've seen soldiers and summoners break before. Seen the hope slowly drain from them as their emotions are worn down so far that they're nothing more than hollow shells with anguish in their eyes. I know it's already started in me; I've noticed the way my Candid, Jaspar, flinches when our consciences meet and my pain becomes shared. I dimly wonder how long it will take, then realize that I don't particularly care.

I start to ponder whether or not my services will be needed here, and just as I'm about to slip away, the sound of swords being freed from their sheaths ripple through the air, and the familiar sight of a wyrdlight snaps to life in front of the cave entrance, just as gunfire rings through the air.

Below us, the elf's Canid springs into action, scattering the soldiers that had set up their ambush outside the cave entrance. Jaspar shifts next to me, sensing battle, and I stand silently and quietly draw my sword. I do not, however, intervene; and will not until I think they encounter something they can't handle. Truth be told, I want to see how this plays out.

So I watch.

A short battle erupts, and some fire and throat-ripping and stabbing later, the pair and their demons stand in front of the cave's mouth and are joined by a pair of red-haired dwarfs. Quite the interesting conversation ensues between the guards and my fellow summoners, and after the peasant-boy puts on quite the show, the men step aside and let them pass. I crack a wide grin, feeling triumphant on the student's behalf.

Thats when the fun begins. As the group trots away, voices come from the cave, and a second later more soldiers are on them. They run, the soldiers following, and that is when I finally move.

It takes me only a couple seconds to infuse Jaspar, after which I jump down to the upper branches of a tree and jump to a neighboring one, silently slipping from tree to tree as I follow the boy. It doesn't take long for Fletcher and one of the dwarfs to get separated from the other two, the latter badly wounded, and it is then that the soldiers start closing in by the light of a massive wyrdlight.

I shake my head, knowing that I'll have to do something, and finding that fact annoying. So just as the soldiers are coming over a slight rise, I through my hood up and drop down in front of them, sword in hand.

The slaughter that ensued goes pretty well-for me, anyway, and it provides Fletcher with plenty of time to pull ahead. I take my leave when the battle mage and his demon makes their appearance, the beast angrily charging after me, and I race back to the treetops, the pair now chasing after me instead of Fletcher.

At one point, when I've gained enough of a lead, I climb up and part the canopy, looking to the castle that we my home for two years.

I think of the little salamander demon, curled around the boy's neck as they drag their wounded companion, and I shake my head.

'Baker, my old friend, what have you got this poor boy into?' I think. James Baker's face pops into my head, flashing that goofy smile of his and sending a spark of pain through me. 'But I bet you aren't that worried, are you? You always knew I would help clean up your mess anyway. And I guess since you're gone, it's my job to watch after the salamander and them'.

His memory doesn't answer. I didn't think he would. Not now, not ever again.

I sigh and turn away from my grief-filled thoughts, and without another sound I slip away.

I would later look back and realize that I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

In retrospect, I blame James.