Fletcher’s finger faded back to pink and he hugged it to his chest. Ignatius purred and leaped to the ground. The demon licked at Fletcher’s finger with a triangular tongue that was surprisingly soft, soothing the strange tingling he still felt on his fingertip.
‘So what did we miss?’ Seraph’s joyful voice rang out from behind them.
Fletcher turned to see Seraph, Atlas and Captain Lovett walking out of the summoning room. They had their demons with them.
Seraph was grinning like a madman, his happiness complete. His demon crawled along the ground beside him, its lumbering gait and stature putting Fletcher in mind of an overgrown badger. Yet that was where the similarity ended. The creature was covered in rough skin that appeared like bark, with a layer of mildew dusted over the top. A thick ridge of spines ran along its backbone, each one an inch long and as sharp as a surgeon’s knife. They reminded Fletcher of the thorns from a gorse bush, vicious green blades that easily punched through the skin.
‘What is it?’ Rory breathed in wonder as it ran ahead of them and sniffed at Arcturus’s boots in recognition. Its short pug snout opened to reveal a strange, ridge-filled mouth. Fletcher could see the pulped remains of leaves within, which were subsequently swallowed with the help of a leathery brown tongue.
‘It’s a Barkling,’ Arcturus replied. ‘They are masters of camouflage, hence why it is so rare to come across one. You will have trouble feeding it; they need to get through at least a pound of leaves a day. I’m sure Major Goodwin will teach you all of this in your demonology lessons.’
Arcturus looked at the demon with mixed emotions, then rubbed its head with some reluctance. Seraph caught up and gave Arcturus a grateful smile.
‘I would have dearly loved to keep this for myself and capture another demon for you, Seraph, but the wily creature shot Sacharissa full of splinters from its back when she got close to it. She was too injured to make a second trip into the ether. Poor girl almost couldn’t hold it down once she’d dragged it through the portal. I had barely enough time to perform the harnessing. It is too late to capture another now. I wish you well of it.’
‘Thank you so much, sir!’ Seraph exclaimed, scooping the demon up into his arms and wincing at the weight. ‘You have no idea how much this means to me. I will name him Sliver.’
Atlas had been lingering behind, a smile plastered across his face. His demon was the size of a large dog, with thick, bristling fur and two sharp incisors that jutted from the front of its mouth. It looked like an enormous, bucktoothed otter, but for a ratlike tail with a spiked ball on the end, in the shape of a morningstar. It was incredibly agile, almost flowing along the ground as it circled Atlas’s feet.
‘Mine is a Lutra. I called him Barb, after his tail!’
‘Barb,’ Arcturus remarked. ‘You might want to think a while on that. It is not a . . . traditional demon name. Why not Barbarous? I know of at least one other demon that goes by that name.’
‘Perfect!’ Atlas replied, sweeping the demon into his arms.
Captain Lovett had disappeared back inside the summoning room, but not before Fletcher glimpsed a flash of brown feathers as the door was closed shut. He wondered what it could be. It appeared that there were more species of demons available to Hominum’s summoners than he had thought.
As Arcturus took a breath to continue the lesson, Fletcher held up his hand. There was one thing he had to know.
‘Where is Sacharissa now, sir? And where are the nobles’ demons? Are they sitting in their rooms, waiting for them?’ he asked, his curiosity finally reaching a boiling point.
‘Do you know what infusion is?’ Arcturus asked, giving him a level look. Fletcher shook his head.
‘Infusion is when a summoner absorbs a demon into themselves, allowing them to heal and rest. The summoner can still communicate with their demon and even use mana, but it remains within them, out of way. When orc javelins are raining down around you, infusion is the best defence for your demon. You will learn how to do it in your summoning lesson with Captain Lovett tomorrow. I specialise in spellcraft, so it is not my place to teach you infusion. Is that answer enough?’
‘Yes, sir. Thank you.’
As Arcturus turned away and began etching another symbol in the air, Fletcher reached for his shoulder, stroking Ignatius. He could feel the flesh and bone beneath his fingertips. Infusion. He would believe that when he saw it.
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