The Summoned
Voyage South
The Light Plane: Darren's Keep
Asa balanced on his horse outside of the Keep gates, waiting
for everyone else to arrive. This alone was a difficult task- Asa had never
ridden a horse in his life. While everyone else had gone into town to get
resupplied, Celeste had brought Asa to the stables, picked out a horse
for him, and began teaching him how to ride it. That had only been about
an hour ago. The best Asa had managed in that time was an extremely slow
pace. Any faster, and he tended to fall off. Celeste was full of effusive
compliments, but it wasn't helping him any. She had finally gone off to
say her goodbyes to Leo. That left Asa sitting on a horse outside Darren's
keep, holding on for dear life. He had practiced alone, and got a little
bit better, but he was certain that he wouldn't be able to do anything
constructive on this horse besides ride it- and he couldn't even be sure
about being able to ride it.
"Hello?" A voice called from one of the parapets above. Asa
looked up, somehow managing not to lose his balance in the process. He
spotted the short wizard who had destroyed the monstrosity earlier that
morning sticking his head out the window and glancing down at him.
"Hello..." Asa replied, not sure what to make of the man.
"Where're you headed?" the wizard inquired curiously.
Asa shrugged. "The Nexus." he said. "Why do you ask?"
"The Nexus, you say! The Nexus? Wait one moment!" The wizard's
head disappeared, and Asa heard the noise of the man climbing down from
the parapet on the other side of the wall. A moment later, the mage walked
through the city gates, extending his hand to Asa and smiling broadly.
"The Nexus! I'm headed toward the Nexus m'self! The name's Dennen!"
"I'm Asa." Asa replied, attempting to shake the smaller wizard's
hand. This sudden motion caused Asa to lose his balance and topple off
of his horse, which promptly glared at him for such stupidity.
"Oh! Terribly sorry!" Dennen attempted to help Asa to his feet,
and nearly got pulled to the ground himself. Finally, Asa managed to get
up.
"Don't worry about it." Asa said, deciding that now would not
be a good time to get back on his horse. He had more important things
to worry about- such as why this particular wizard was talking to him.
"You're going to the Nexus?" Dennen said, looking
up at Asa in a very reasonable approximation of awe. "I'm going too-
I'm exploring the outer reaches of our world! What brings you to
the nexus?"
Asa hesitated, unsure whether to answer the question.
He didn't even know this person. Then again, this had been the wizard
who had brought down that monstrosity while Asa's own elemental had just
stared stupidly. "I've been summoned- I've managed to avoid being
brought directly there, but I must go anyway." he said.
Dennen's eyes went wide. "Summoned?!
I didn't know there were any summoners left! This is an adventure!"
"Who's this?" Leo, who had ridden up behind Dennen
while the wizard had been busy talking with Asa, looked down to the little
man.
Dennen nearly jumped a foot. Terror showed
on his face as he backed up from Leo.
"What's wrong?" Leo said, looking more than a little
confused. "Asa, what's going on? Who is this person?"
Dennen seemed to regain his composure then and stepped
forward, extending his hand. "My apologies, sir- it's just that you
startled me. My name is Dennen, and I am a wizard. Asa and
I were just talking about our respective journeys to the Nexus."
"You're going to the nexus as well?" Leo asked.
He wasn't sure what to make of the wizard, but he did recognize the man
from the night before- it was the wizard that killed the monster.
Dennen nodded enthusiastically. "I didn't
realize that Asa here had company! I wish that I had such a group
t' go traveling with."
"Hey, I know you!" Jamie's voice echoed from
within the Keep. She rode out a great deal faster than Leo had, and
barely managed to stop in time to avoid careening into the three of them.
Elayna walked out of the keep, staying her distance from the rest of the
group.
Dennen looked up at Jamie curiously. "You
know me?"
Jamie shook her head. "Well, I don't KNOW
you, but I recognize you. You're the wizard from the night before!
You killed that thing!"
Dennen appeared as though he was about to blush.
"Well- yes, I did...."
Jamie looked impressed. "I saw that monster
take down three guards! And then you took the monster down!
That makes you all right in my book."
"I didn't see him do a thing." Paul walked
from inside the city, looking suspiciously toward the little wizard.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" he demanded.
Dennen shrank back. "T-Th' name's Dennen...
I'm just on m' way to the nexus..." he blinked rapidly.
"Hmph." Paul said, turning to Asa. "Asa,
what do you make of him?"
Jamie spoke up, preempting Asa's response.
"I say we take him with us! You can never have too many wizards along.
Besides, if we're going to the same place, what's it matter? We might
as well keep him company!"
Asa looked suspiciously toward Jamie. Taking
the wizard along with them would result in no moentary gain, but she seemed
eager to do so anyway. Maybe she intended to charge some sort of
'protection fee'. Asa decided that he didn't care. He turned
back to Paul. "I think Jamie's right. He's a good wizard, and
we need all the help we can get. Dennen?"
Dennen looked up. "You'd want me to come along?
I'd be delighted to! But... I think your friend-" he looked nervously
over at Paul "doesn't want me t' come with you."
"Very perceptive of you." Paul said, his tone even.
His arms were crossed as he glared at the wizard. "I think you're
a charlatan. I didn't see anything last night- no monster.
I did see you, however, claiming to be the hero."
Before Dennen could frame a reply, Asa came to his
defense. "Paul! There was something there! We all saw
the monster last night- it was real. Just ask those three injured
guards! Dennen isn't a charlatan, and I, for one, would like to have
him along."
The group was silent for a moment- Asa rarely spoke
up about anything concerning the group, but he had done so now.
Paul sighed. "Very well. This quest
is for your benefit, after all. I suppose you should have some say
in who can come along." Asa fought the temptation to smile at that
remark- it had been Asa who let Paul join their group in the first place.
Paul glared down at Dennen again. "Just because Asa wants you with
us doesn't mean I have to trust you, though." With that, he walked
back into the keep.
About fifteen minutes later Paul emerged from the
castle, a horse following behind him. He looked at the rest of the
group and nodded to the south. "So, are we prepared to journey?"
Leo nodded. "We were awaiting your return."
he informed Paul. Dennen sat astride a horse much too large for him,
and seemed to be having problems similar to Asa's in staying balanced upon
it. He saw Paul reemerging and tried to cower back, which of course
caused him to fall from his mount. Paul didn't even glance in his
direction.
"Let's go." he said simply, and began to ride southward.
The rest of the group followed at a slower pace, allowing Dennen to catch
up.
"Me, you, Leo, Asa, Paul, and Dennen." Elayna
said. "There are six of us in this group. That's a bad number
Jamie... we should have stuck with five."
Jamie looked back to Elayna, who was sitting directly
behind her on the same horse. "Numbers, Elayna? I didn't know
you had made a study of numbers..." she trailed off, deciding not to tell
Elayna what she thought about numbers.
Elayna shook her head. "No... It's just something
that... my father... used to say."
Jamie kept her mouth shut, deciding not to mention
any more. She personally disdained most of the magic-users who claimed
to be able to use numbers to do things. But if Elayna's father had
posessed even a token belief in such things, then it was apparent that
Elayna was going to pick it up. It wouldn't be a good idea, Jamie
decided, to share her opinion with the girl.
Dennen's horse was in front of Jamie, weaving back
and forth. Dennen hadn't said anything on the journey once it had
begun, most likely because he was too afraid of risking Paul's wrath again.
So he had kept quiet and concentrated on staying on his horse- a task he
soon found to be more than enough to keep him occupied.
Leo rode in front of Dennen- at Paul's request.
Paul had quietly asked Eastman to keep an eye on Dennen, just in case.
Leo had not forgotten Dennen's strange reaction to him when they had met
earlier. It puzzled him why the wizard had seemed so terrified in
his presence. Leo had agreed to Paul's suggestion. He didn't
entirely trust the newcomer either.
Paul and Asa rode up front. The had been riding
now for a few hours, and Paul had been less than friendly to all of them.
For the most part, he had rode up ahead of the group. Asa finally
decided that he needed to apologize for his actions earlier, and had rode
up to him to do so.
"Paul..." Asa began. "Listen- I'm sorry about
yelling back there, it's just that-"
"I know." Paul interrupted. "I've been giving
it some thought, and it was I who was in the wrong here. You don't
need to apologize, Asa. It's you're life that's on the line here.
You're the one being summoned. I all came along with you voluntarily,
and just because I don't trust someone is no reason not to admit them to
our little group. I am at fault."
Asa didn't say anything for a while. He was unsure
what to say. Paul just looked off into the distance, not saying a
word.
"Did you read any of that summoning book you gave
me?" Asa finally said, glancing toward Paul.
Paul took this as an indication that he was forgiven,
and looked over to Asa. "Very little. Summoning is very complex,
and I have my own magic to study. But yes, I read some of the book,
and I know a little of summoning from what Seeker has mentioned.
Why?"
"Well... you have to give permission in order to
get summoned. Usually a summoner asks permission to summon as payment
for a job or something. Whatever you promise, that's what the summoner
can summon. So if you said that I could summon you three times, then
I could summon you three times, each time being as long as I wished it
to be, and ask of you anything I wished. If you said I could summon
you three times, for no more than an hour each time, and only to cast a
fireball, then I could only summon you according to that." Asa explained.
Paul nodded. "Okay, I understand that much.
I was a little unclear on the rules, and I'm a lot more unclear on how
exactly to do it, but go on."
"Okay... My problem is this: Obviously, I
didn't give permission to be summoned. But if you don't want to give
permission for yourself to be summoned, you can delegate it to someone
willing, or something you own. If you had a pet demon, for instance,
a summoner would be much more interested in that than in you, and you could
delegate the summon to it so you wouldn't be interrupted someday."
"So-" Paul interupted. "You think that someone
delegated their summon onto you."
Asa nodded. "Exactly. In fact, I'm sure
of that. The thing is, I keep asking myself 'Why would someone in
my family turn me over to Norax? Why would we ever pursue the aid
of someone evil like that?"
Paul sighed and looked down. "It's a long
story." he said.
"What do you mean, 'it's a long story'? You
act as though you knew the answer to-" Asa trailed off as the implication
hit him. "You do know, don't you? Somehow, you know why all
of this is happening."
Paul reluctantly looked up to Asa. "Yes, I
do. If you will listen, then I will explain how this all came about."
Asa nodded his agreement.
Paul sighed again. "Very well, if you will
know the story...."
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