Page 66 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
It did not work on the first try. Or the hundred fiftieth. By evening, my voice had become harsh from my parched throat. I tried again in the morning, and the next day, and the day after.
Blaire finally walked up beside me and said, “It doesn’t have to be roasted chicken. Just summon something simple, like a potato or a small fish.”
Despite her skepticism, secretly Blaire wanted me to succeed. We hadn’t eaten anything decent in a week. If we continued to starve, we would’ve been dead in a day or two.
I nodded to her in determination.
“Come to me, fish and chips!” I slammed my hand on the circle.
Nothing happened.
Not at first.
But then the runes I drew began to light up in a chartreuse glow. My heart leaped at the promise of fish and chips.
But I didn’t summon a fish. Or chips.
I had summoned the fearsome river god himself, the majestic giant carp, Caspian.
Blaire and I cowered in fear in front of the terrifying, colossal creature. Heavy mosaic scales covered his elongated body, thicker than any metallic armor.
But he could not survive on land. The god shrank slowly and began flopping on the forest floor like any fish out of water.
We did the responsible thing and dragged the dying deity back to the river. He might be a smaller carp now, but he was the size of a bear, still bigger than me and Blaire. It was a struggle to bring him back to the water.
Somehow, we managed.
With one final push, we slid him back into the water. The god expanded to his full size, growing bigger and bigger, until he was taller than a coconut tree. “I owe you now, little brats. What do you want?”
We should have made a proper wish. He was a god, master of the long Caspian River, no less. The deity could surely grant anything we desired. But we were too scared. Blaire rose up and faced him bravely. “Give us a fish to fry. We’re hungry.”
“You want me to kill my own family?” the giant carp asked.
Blaire’s legs shook at the question.
“Even half a fish is all right,” I whispered, hiding behind Blaire.
I was certain the giant carp would smash us to smithereens for our insolence. He leveled us a pointed stare.
“Very well.”
A fish floated in the air in front of us. We cringed in horror when its eyes suddenly rearranged and move to one side. It divided itself into two separate halves. The river god carefully placed one side with the eye into the water. It continued to swim freely despite one side of its body gone. I didn’t know how the creature remained alive.
Caspian threw the eyeless part to the riverbank for us. “My debt is paid.”
The giant carp returned to the river with a splash.
We fried the half fish and dug in quickly into our meal, surviving another day in Astefar. That was the first time I learned how to summon. I never did learn how to call out food or inanimate objects, but Shade was able to do it in the sewer.
A limitless supply of weapons without a summoning circle…
“I’m a summoner too, Shade,” I repeat, my gaze darting back to him.
The revelation does nothing to blunt his edge. The assassin keeps staring at me as if waiting for something.
After a while, Shade heaves a long breath.
“Figures…” he mutters under that demonic mask.
