Those who Favor Fire
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Four: Egin's Rome
The next 'day', as they resumed their trek across the hellish land, the attacks began.
A fire-drake, a two-legged dragon barely larger than a turkey, swooped down on them breathing flames. Rin yanked his sword from it's sheathe, in the movement of drawing he cast a bolt of flames at the beast. For a moment blue and red flames mixed together then the blue overwhelmed the red and the drake turned to ash.
Angel sensed movement beneath the ground. He stabbed Caliburn deep into the soil and twisted the massive blade. When he pulled it free, a small amount of magma welled up in from the hole, but there was no more movement. "A cherufe and a fire-drake," he said. "I doubt they were alone. Okumura, keep in mind that if you die we all do. Stay close to your aria."
Bon saw another fire-drake dropping toward them. "They surround me like bees," he spat. "They were quenched like a fire of thorns. For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them." The fire-drake vanished in a puff of smoke only to reappear a few meters off. "Well… Fuck." Bon said.
"What did you expect?" Angel asked as he dispatched the demon with a minor blast, a few strands of hair falling to the ground. "A fatal verse forces a demon back to Gehenna."
"I don't have an unlimited supply of bullets," Bon pointed out.
"I know," Angel sighed. "Conserve them as much as possible. Verse that weaken should still be effective but they tend to be more broadly targeted than a fatal verse; Okumura and your familiar are also of the Flame Kingdom."
"Don't worry," Rin said with a grin. He spotted another trail of sifting dirt and cut it off with a bolt of flames.
"Bon thinks ahead. We already sorted out which ones are safe for me and Karura. Plus he's good at playing the barrier maiden."
"You get way too much entertainment out of that," Bon complained.
"At the rate we've been moving we won't reach the cliffs before they're on us enmass," Karura reported drifted back down after a quick aerial survey.
Angel glanced across two dozen kilometers of basin left before they were free of the treacherous terrain. "If we try to fly the drakes will be on us instantly."
"Let me try something," Rin said. He took a deep breath, the flames around him brightened as he drew on his power, projecting as much authority and strength as possible he glared at the drakes wheeling above them. "Leave!" he commanded.
The drakes ignored him. "The ifrit that sprung the trap confirmed it was Iblis' doing," Angel said. "He is the King of Flames, you can't countermand his orders."
With a look of determination, Bon stepped forward and started chanting, his prayer beads clasped between his hands. A barrier formed across the surface of the ground. Still chanting, Bon stepped up onto his barrier, it spread around him until it covered an area of about seven square meters. The barrier moved along with him as he walked forward, straight toward the cliffs. It didn't float in the air but it distributed his weight over a large area making it unlikely that they'd break through the surface crust. Rin and Angel glanced at each other then stepped up on the barrier-platform as well. They patrolled the perimeter. Karura flew overhead. Smaller and more agile than the drakes, he darted through their ranks pelting them flaming feathers. Bon marched forward, his pace steady but measured so as not to disrupt his chanting. After a few minutes he started to feel the barrier vibrating beneath his feet as the cherufe tried to break through from beneath.
After repeated failures to break through the barrier one cherufe grew bold and began pulling itself up on top. It's stout claws glowed with a malignant light and the barrier hissed where they touched it. It's questing snout tapered smoothly back into broad powerful shoulders, if it had a neck it was lost in the muscles bunching beneath it's glistening orange skin. Rin darted across the platform and cleaved its skull from crown to jaw. As the corpse slipped off the barrier, Rin turned and flicked it's blood off his sword with a sharp movement, the burning droplets struck several of the drakes like bullets. Angel spotted a concentration of cherufe gathering to cut off their advance, he lopped off a thick lock of hair and sent a massive shock wave into the ground, knocking them away like bowling pins while throwing up great gouts of superheated mud and billowing clouds of steam into the air.
They continued their advance throughout the day. The path behind them was littered with the bodies of the lower class demons who'd tried to oppose them. When they reached the base of the cliffs Bon changed his barrier to create a dome around them. "I'll take the second watch and renew it then," he said.
As Angel drifted into sleep that 'night' the feeling of being watched that had been with them all day intensified.
"Who are you?"
"So thanks for hearing my side, most people don't bother," Okumura scuffed his foot on the floor awkwardly.
Angel shook his head. "Don't thank me," he said. "One day the Grigori will order your execution. I will almost certainly be the one to carry out the sentence. Given your rate of improvement it will be damnably hard to kill you in another year or two. Unless they want to assign an entire team to the endeavour, it will have to be me."
Okumura drew back.
"When that day comes I expect you to fight me with everything you've got, everything you've learned," Angel stated forcefully. "Because on that day one of us will die."
Okumura shook his head, his expression one of simple denial. "Why? Why would you teach me to fight if you're planning on killing me?"
"I don't question my orders," Angel replied. "Even when they make no sense to me."
"Why would you want me to fight if you're out to kill me?" Okumura asked.
Angel stopped. "It will be better that way," he said after a moment.
"Why?" Okumura demanded.
"I-" Angel scowled. 'If the Grigori ordered Okumura's execution shouldn't he want the boy to simply accept it?'
"I loath games. You shouldn't thank me," Angel finally answered. As he spoke his words came faster and faster. "You are a demon. I am an exorcist. When I am given the order to kill you I will follow my orders as I always do. You should never forget that. Do not allow me to kill you out of some misguided notion that I could possibly grow fond of you. I always follow my orders, the only thing you'll accomplish is disrupting my sleep afterwards. You are a demon. You cannot change that fact by refusing to act like one. Get out of here! I don't want to see you anymore! Get out!" For a long time after the door slammed shut behind Okumura Angel stood there staring at the door
Eight months later Angel stood at Rin's side and met the Grigori's disapproving frowns unflinchingly. "I attest to Okumura's good character and his dedication to Assiah. He is already a skilled knight. Ordering his execution because his rote memorization skills are poor… Excuse me if I am being dense, my grades as an exwire clearly show that thinking is not my forte. But I cannot see what Okumura has done that his life should be forfeit."
Angel stirred restlessly in his sleep. His brow creased, for a moment his hand tightened on Caliburn's hilt.
The fourteen-year-old exwire carefully straightened his dark uniform jacket then flicked his long braid out of the way and re-settled Caliburn's sheath across his back with a long practiced movement. A second, smaller falchion blade hung at his waist. He took a deep breath and sternly reminded himself that fidgeting was unbecoming a scion of the Angel family. Still it was taking the class bell forever to ring. He dreaded getting back the results of the Exorcist Exam he'd taken a few days earlier, but not knowing was sheer torture.
Arthur had heard that students in the newly opened Tokyo branch of the True Cross Academy were allowed to take the Exwire Exam after only four months as a page. It had been ten months after he'd enrolled before he'd been given the opportunity to take the first exam. No matter how well he did on the Exorcist Exam he knew his mother wouldn't be impressed. There were people in Japan taking the Exam after only ten months of study and Arthur had a sinking feeling that he hadn't scored well even after a whole sixteen months as a student at the True Cross Academy of London not to mention studying at home to be an exorcist for practically his whole life.
The class' instructor, an ancient priest who'd retired from active duty as an exorcist more than a decade earlier, stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. "All right children, I know it's pointless to ask you to concentrate on anything else, so the first order of the term will be the results of your Exam."
The class stared up at the old priest expectantly.
"We have several councilors who will be going over your scores with each of you individually to help determine your plan of study for the next year. Now remember: This is your first time taking the Exorcist Exam, it is essentially a practice run. To pass you'll eventually need to score a minimum of 70% on each segment and demonstrate sufficient practical mastery to be awarded at least one Miester. I'll call you in alphabetical order. Arthur Angel, room twelve…"
Arthur jumped up toppling his chair in the process. His classmates snickered as the normally graceful boy paused to right the chair then all but ran down the hall to the office set aside for visiting professors. Arthur's eyes widened when he saw the red robed man waiting for him. "Your Excellency!" he exclaimed pulling himself up sharply and bowing.
Ernst Frederick Egin gave the boy a grandfatherly smile. "Sit," he said waving to the chair across the desk from him. Arthur's test lay face down on the desk, he refrained from snatching it up but couldn't tear his eyes from it. "Go ahead," Egin said with genial amusement.
Arthur grabbed the test and turned it over. On the written section he'd received 68% for verses, 23% on Demon Pharmacology and 88% on Demon Lore. On the oral section he'd received 73% for recitation and 36% for Demon Classification. Nearly in a state of shock, Arthur looked up at Egin, "Are you here to expel me?" he asked in a shaken voice.
Egin laughed. "Nothing of the sort. Everyone fails the first time," he assured the boy. "It was your practical performance that caught my eye. Generally we pair first year students against ranked exorcists simply to ensure that no one gets hurt during the testing. Can you picture the chaos if two of your classmates had been allowed to go at each other with live blades?"
Arthur felt the knot of terror in his stomach loosen a bit.
"You, however, defeated a Middle Second Class Knight," Egin continued. "And you did it with a standard blade. Correct me if I am wrong about your family's traditions, but the fact you keep your hair braided indicates that you haven't sacrificed anything of yourself to the demon blade you inherited two years ago?"
Arthur nodded.
"I understand that it is customary to, shall we say, seal the deal by giving the sword several drops of your blood when you take custody of it."
"It's not required," Arthur said defensively.
"Oh you mistake me," Egin replied. "I am highly impressed that you've resisted the temptation and undoubtedly pressure from your family to make use of your demon sword's powers. I came because I wanted to personally invite you to continue your studies at the Academy of Rome."
"But-" Arthur gestured to his test.
Egin brushed it off. "Too many exorcists pollute our cause by relying on demons to do their fighting for them. In the next five years I expect to be named to the Grigori. Then the True Cross can be remade in a more pure mold. I need people like you supporting me."
Two months after Arthur began classes at the True Cross Academy of Rome a nervous-looking woman took the podium while their regular instructor stood of to one side and looked on. "Today we'll be testing you for Tamer aptitude," the woman said in a whispery, apologetic voice.
Arthur looked up in surprise. The Academy of London had stopped training Tamers five years earlier. It had been his understanding that the miester had fallen out of favor with Rome.
A boy in the back row raised his hand. "Do we have to take the test?" he asked. "I mean, if you don't want to be a Tamer what's the point of everyone knowing?"
The woman glanced toward their regular instructor before answering. "Even if you are able to summon a familiar you can opt out of training as a Tamer. But you have to take the test."
"The test is simple," the woman continued. "I've prepared a number of seals for you. Just prick your finger, touch the blood to the seal and say whatever comes to mind. If a familiar answers your call you can send it back to Gehenna by tearing the paper. Now form a line along the wall and come up one by one."
Arthur promptly followed orders while most of his classmates dawdled and ended up at the front of the line. "Don't you dare," Caliburn rumbled in his ear. "I won't be cheated on."
"As if I want to be saddled with another perverted demon," Arthur hissed back, "but orders are orders." He walked to the front of the room and accepted a seal from the woman.
"You'll regret it," Caliburn snarled quietly.
Arthur pressed his bloody thumb to the seal. "Um- Come forth. I, Arthur Auguste Angel, command you," he tried with grim determination.
"He's mine!" Caliburn shrieked for the whole class to hear. "I will not share him! He is MINE!"
The other students eyed Arthur and Caliburn warily. "You might have mentioned that you already had a familiar," the woman murmured.
"He is not my familiar," Arthur declared. "Caliburn is my family's burden and prisoner."
"I could be your partner, dear Angel, if only you'd accept my gifts," Caliburn cooed.
"When Hell freezes over!" Arthur snapped.
"Parts of Gehenna are quite cold my Angel," Caliburn returned before subsiding.
"Er, you can sit down," the woman said and proceeded with the testing.
Out of a class of nineteen three students summoned familiars. Once the testing was done the students had divided themselves into three groups. Arthur returned to his original seat after being dismissed, but he was the only one. The three students who had been identified as potential Tamers clustered together near the front of the room and the woman who'd been brought in to test them, presumably a Tamer herself. The students who hadn't summoned anything put a deliberate distance between themselves, the three potential Tamers and Arthur.
When classes started up again the following fall Arthur would be the only one of the four thus singled out still enrolled at the Academy.
Note: A cleaver falchion has a shape like a meat cleaver, as close to Caliburn as I could find in a real sword, but they were only a yard in length. Using the outstretched hand to nose estimate of a yard, I'd guess Caliburn is roughly a yard and a half.
Psalms 118:12 - They surround me like bees. They were quenched like a fire of thorns. For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.