The Divine Summoner: Godson of Altima Page 5

Once the trio left, King Joram spoke up. "Girls, what do you think of Luka?"

  Alexandria and Camellia traded looks. "We're not too sure. We didn't talk to him very much," the older girl admitted sheepishly.

  "That's because you were busy fighting with me over the cute rabbit," Camellia snorted.

  The father laughed because his daughters often fought over the same thing, whether a dress, a doll, or a hairpin. Thus, he wasn't surprised that the two fought over Luka's familiar.

  Camellia tilted her head in the manner familiar to the royal family; as the youngest child, she received the most affection from her sire. In personality and temperament, the youngest child took after her mother, the second queen. "Luka is polite, respectful, and not bad looking," she admitted after some careful consideration. "His magical talent is obvious." Pa! The girl slapped her hand on the table and looked at the king. "Father, I think he's suitable to be my husband!" she declared.

  "That's not fair! I want him, too!" Alexandria protested.

  Camellia raised her tiny fists. "You want to fight? The winner takes him!"

  The older girl backed off. "No, I misspoke. You two are a perfect match!" the older sister said with clenched teeth. Alexandria abhorred physical violence. Besides, the girl was six years older than Luka. Camellia, on the other hand, was only two years the child's senior. Hence, Camellia was a bit more suitable for him as a marriage partner.

  King Joram turned toward his second wife. "Should I arrange for Camellia to become Luka's fiancée?" he asked. "I won't ask Duchess Silverblade without your blessing."

  Queen Marmlova lightly tapped her chin as she considered the proposal. Yarek was the crown prince and heir to the throne. Luka Heavensfell was the heir of a potent dukedom and closely tied to the Divine Church of Light. She couldn't think of a better marriage partner for her daughter. "I have no objection," the second wife answered.

  Her husband smiled. "Excellent! I will bring Camellia to the Heavensfell estate tomorrow and make the marriage proposal," he said.

  Marmlova nodded her approval.

  Unbeknownst to the two, Queen Ariela's eyes held a malicious glint.

  * * *

  While Luka and Juliette sat as passengers inside the royal carriage, the mother asked what happened in the royal garden. She was surprised that Queen Ariela asked Luka to show off his swordsmanship. Additionally, the duchess felt livid when the queen offered to intervene and lighten the boy's daily schedule because Juliette thought this was a malicious attempt to drive a wedge between mother and son. She knew that Ariela hated Juliette because King Joram still had feelings for her. Thus, the jealous woman tried to hurt Juliette through her son.

  But then again, King Joram DID bring up the topic of marriage while the two were alone in the back room. He was curious to know if any man caught the widow's interest. But she reaffirmed her intention to remain single to avoid creating any obstruction to Luka's ascension as head of the Heavensfell duke house.

  Somehow, this answer mollified the monarch, and Queen Marmlova arrived before Juliette could discuss this sensitive topic further. Instead, the duchess talked about her dukedom's problems while the second queen took careful notes.

  Juliette's mind jolted back to reality when her carriage abruptly came to a halt and rocked back and forth. The mother immediately held her son tightly and pushed him to the floor!

  Whoosh! The royal knights screamed as arrows pierced through unprotected portions of their bodies.

  "It's an ambush!" someone yelled.

  Duchess Silverblade stayed on top of Luka and used her body to protect him from any errant arrows entering the cabin. Luckily, they only hit the seats. The experienced warrior listened closely to the sound of fighting and realized that her escorts were losing badly. She began to formulate a plan to escape. "Luka, I'm going to open the left carriage door. While I attract attention, you need to quietly open the other door and run as fast you can into the woods!"

  Luka's mind was in turmoil because he realized her intention to act as a decoy while he escaped. "I understand, mother," he responded while apologizing in his heart for defying her.

  Juliette smiled and kissed his forehead. "No matter what happens, you must run and never look back." She rolled off him in the tight space and waited at the door. When she saw the child crouched against the other side, Juliette smiled again before opening the door. The brave woman hopped out of the cabin and slammed the door shut behind her.

  Juliette quickly assessed the battle and saw over twenty assassins were fighting seven remaining knights! When she appeared, arrows tipped with poison flew toward her face! The fighter slashed the missiles in half and sent ice arrows at the archers. Juliette was disappointed when only two reached her targets.

  The woman bravely charged into a line of assassins, who wore black clothes and wrappings over their faces to hide their identities. But Juliette recognized them as belonging to the Shadow League of Assassins. She prayed that they were only after her instead of Luka.

  Juliette fought desperately to reduce their numbers and ignored the death cries of the royal knights. Soon, she stood alone against a dozen enemies, which formed a tight circle around her.

  The assassins charged toward her when someone cried out, "NO!"

  "Why are you still here?" Juliette asked in despair.

  Luka had opened the cabin door and revealed his presence. The boy watched his mother fight off the assassins and decided to do something to prevent her murder.

  [You're too weak to summon a divine spirit!] The familiar warned his master.

  "I don't care! I refuse to stand by and watch them kill my mother!" Luka closed his eyes and reached into his heart. He felt a strong aura locked tightly and broke the chains via force of will alone.

  Luka saw many divine spirits floating around his soul and grabbed a blue-colored star.

 

 

  Instantly, the world turned bitter cold as a deity hovered over Luka's body, which collapsed due to the sudden drain of his precious lifespan.

  The newcomer drew everyone's attention, and they stopped fighting. The combatants saw a scholarly man dressed in light-azure robes. His hairstyle -- long, jet black hair tied with a topknot -- was unique to the kingdom. A blue wall of divine energy circled the man, and the witnesses felt enormous pressure to prostrate before him. The mortals quickly realized that he was a god but wasn't sure whether the deity was an ally or enemy.

  However, the assassins saw him hovering over Luka, who was their primary target. They began to fire poisoned arrows at the boy while hoping that the newcomer wouldn't interfere with their mission.

  Bel hopped in front of Luka and prepared to knock down these projectiles. To his surprise, thick ice quickly wrapped around these missiles, and they dropped harmlessly to the ground.

  Glacius smiled faintly in amusement before his eyes glowed bright blue. He couldn't believe the audacity of these insects! The ice god casually snapped his fingers. "Frozen Wonderland!" The landscape instantly froze as all the combatants turned into ice sculptures!

  Glacius nodded in satisfaction at his artwork. The divine spirit turned his head and glanced at his summoner lying on the ground and the rabbit who tried to protect the boy. Through their magic link, Glacius determined that Luka was still alive even though the boy sacrificed a portion of his lifespan for the divine summon. Without a word, Glacius disappeared from the newly-created wasteland.

  Bel immediately activated his demonic form and ran over to Juliette, who also turned to ice because of the god's indiscriminate use of his divine power. The familiar started punching at the layers of ice covering the woman. Bel hoped to pull her out before her life expired!

  Miraculously, he succeeded in removing the trapped woman out of her ice tomb. Bel carried her body and laid Juliette next to her son. The exhausted demon king then released his transformation and kept his vigilance until help arrived hours
later.

  Chapter 6

  Recriminations and Escape

  Both the Divine Church of Light and the Morninglory Royal Mages felt the overwhelming divine power when Glacius cast his Frozen Wonderland world spell. The older veterans recognized its similarity to the Holy Judgement launched by Altima five years ago during the Netherese war, but on a far smaller scale. The casters felt puzzlement along with their collective alarm over the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar deity on Zaleron. They secretly feared that this arrival foretold the beginning of a new but devastating religious war between Altima and the upstart god for control over the world.

  The witnesses saw a faint, azure light burst into the heavens from an area close to the castle. The two organizations immediately sent investigation teams. When the separate parties arrived, the investigators were shocked to see over a mile of the frozen landscape!

  Moreover, they encountered a carriage with the royal crest riddled with arrows. The church officials recognized Duchess Silveblade and Luka Heavensfell lying on the ground near the ruined vehicle; the healers immediately assessed their injuries and tried to treat the VIPs. However, neither person awoke. The church officials sent text messages via magic parchment to their higher-ups for further instruction.

  Meanwhile, the royal knights performed a preliminary survey of the area. They discovered the dead bodies; the rescuers' hearts filled with sorrow as they identified each fallen knight. The investigators saw numerous arrows pierced through the unprotected throats and faces. The rescuers realized that the victims encountered an ambush while accompanying the Heavensfell nobles back to their family estate.

  The seasoned warriors noticed the frozen enemies surrounded and faced toward a particular spot with broken ice on the ground. The detectives soon discovered a set of demon-like footprints leading away from this area toward the survivors. From these clues, they speculated that the duchess also turned into an ice statue. But somehow, an unknown demon intervened to rescue the woman and left her with Luka.

  The knights sent a scout to deliver a grim report to King Joram regarding the attack and its location just a few miles from the castle. The investigators identified the attackers as members of the infamous assassins group and asked the monarch for reinforcements to secure this crime scene.

  Also, thick ice on the ground made passage through this route treacherous for horses and wagons alike. Thus, the knights wanted to block this highway until the court mages could melt the ice down with fire magic.

  The scout arrived at the castle an hour later. The monarch awoke from his sleep and entered the private study to receive this report. When the messenger departed from the king's study after answering various questions and clarifications, Joram unleashed his temper tantrum. With a sweep of his arm, the enraged man knocked the pile of papers off his desk. "DAMNIT!" He watched as the pieces flew in the air like confetti before they settled on the ground.

  The monarch trampled on the papers like trash as he paced back and forth in front of his desk. King Joram began to think deeply about various aspects of this assassination attempt. Who would dare to hire assassins and target people under his royal protection? Moreover, how would the employer know about the unscheduled travel between the castle and the Heavensfell estate? Who would benefit from killing the two? Which parties had the financial resources to hire the Shadow League?

  As King Joram slowly shifted through his list of suspects and eliminated them, his heart froze when he reached his conclusion. Since the king planned to propose a marriage between Luka and Camellia, his second wife would not harm the duke family. After all, her faction would grow in power and prestige from their formal relationship with the Heavensfell clan and its church backers.

  But the first wife, Ariela, may oppose this union because the church could, theoretically, use Luka to reach into the heart of the royal family. This entanglement would likely diminish the crown prince's future rule over the Morninglory Kingdom. Thus, Queen Ariela had a powerful incentive to murder Luka even if this meant the end of the divine summoner bloodline. Also, his wife was jealous of Juliette as a woman. If the duchess died while protecting her son, then Ariela would be quite happy at this outcome. Finally, the queen possessed the wealth to pay the Shadow League's enormous fees without dipping her hand into the royal treasury.

  King Joram became convicted that Ariela was the culprit behind the Heavensfell assassination attempt. However, he decided to bury this secret in his heart. The husband couldn't confront his first wife over her foolish action and tear the kingdom apart. Nor would he publicly declare her a sinner and execute the woman, as justice demands, because Joram loved Ariela and didn't wish to harm her. Besides, this action would breed resentment in Crown Prince Yarek and diminish his power and prestige as the successor to the royal throne.

  King Joram felt conflicted between his duties as the ruler, a father, a husband, and his guilt toward his deceased best friend, Tsunka Heavensfell. At the same time, he admitted that ignoring Ariela's treason against the Heavensfell family was a betrayal to Tsunka. But Joram believed that he could not jeopardize Yarek's succession by casting a dark cloud over the son's primary backer.

  The monarch prayed to Altima that Luka and Juliette would make full recoveries inside Lumina, where he assumed the church would shelter them. Joram walked over to the window and stared at the floating city hovering above the royal capital.

  * * *

  When Pope Demetrius received the magic text, the church leader issued many orders immediately. He arranged for Father Roujan, the nearest church to the attack site, to receive the injured parties. The pope also alerted Lumina's teleportation room to prepare for their imminent arrival.

  The church leader channeled his frustration at King Joram towards ensuring that Luka Heavensfell, his familiar, and his mother safely reached the fortress city. He sent a valkyrie squadron in addition to a templar unit to guard the church building because the pope feared that the assassins would make a second attack. Demetrius then entered the chapel and prayed for Altima to protect her Godson.

  The rescuers followed their church leader's instructions. They placed Luka, Bel, and Juliette on separate horses and slowly traveled to Father Roujan's church. Although the priests could cast Sanctuary and magically teleport to the nearest church, the pope explicitly forbade them from doing so.

  Demetrius warned them that the Shadow League might attack a second time; therefore, they should not separate the party. If the church officials cast Sanctuary, the spell couldn't bring sufficient protectors along.

  Fortunately, the group reached the church while encountering only a small wolf pack during the journey. The templars, protected by plate mail armor, disposed of the predators without suffering any injury. But as they brought the VIPs into the church, the party heard an angry roar!

  The scouts looked around and quickly located the source: a black dragon coming from the east! Furthermore, a tamer sat on its neck and guided the beast toward them!

  Before the attackers reached the church, a group of valkyries riding pegasuses intercepted the dragon!

  "GO!" a heroic rider yelled from the sky as the winged horses harassed the dangerous monster and prevented it from approaching the building.

  Father Roujan activated the portal inside the church and quickly pushed Luka, Bel, and Juliette through the magic gate. Before the church officials could follow, the ceiling suddenly collapsed!

  The survivors escaped from the destroyed church building and watched helplessly as the valkyrie squad valiantly fought the black dragon, who had knocked a pegasus through the church roof with its enormous tail.

  Surprisingly, the tamer ceased his attack and ordered his dragon to leave. The assassin possessed a magic compass to locate Luka Heavensfell. But now, the instrument's needle pointed toward Lumina, meaning that the boy had teleported out of the church. There was no way for his tamed beast to break through the holy city's defenses. Thus, the tamer accepted his failure to accomplish the mission and declined to
waste his time playing with the valkyries.

  The captain ordered her squadron to land instead of chasing after the black dragon. She was anxious to learn how badly its crash into the building injured her comrade's steed.

  Father Roujan remained a respectable distance away from the women and bowed deeply. "Thank you for protecting us," he said.

  "We were just following Pope Demetrius' command," the squad leader replied with a salute. "Did the Godson of Altima escape safely?"

  "Yes. You delayed the black dragon long enough for us to facilitate his departure," the priest confirmed.

  The men watched as the female knights treated their injuries. They waited for the pope's next instructions while feeling relieved for surviving an encounter with a black dragon.

  * * *

  The officers felt nervous because Pope Demetrius himself was standing inside Transportation Room A. This large, underground chamber was one of several inside Lumina city connecting to various churches within the Morninglory Kingdom. The church leader rarely used this transportation spot; thus, the officials were on high-alert as they wondered what happened and why the pope came out personally.

  Phew! The portal shimmered in rainbow colors as it activated, and something passed through: a woman, a boy, and a rabbit.

  Bel sniffed the air and looked around with its red eyes before relaxing his guard.

  Pope Demetrius carefully approached the rabbit and said in a low voice, "Bel, I'm going to take your master and his mother for treatment."

  The rabbit stared at the older man for a moment and nodded. Although Bel didn't know this person, the stranger knew his name and relationship with Luka. Given the holy essence saturating the air, Bel realized that this place was another church facility, and the men here belonged to the religious organization. Thus, they wouldn't hurt Luka.

  The pope felt relieved because he knew that the innocent-looking creature was the vassal for Belphesto, the Demon King. According to the church archives, Belphesto ruled over the eastern portion of this continent over two millennia ago. But the summoned heroes attacked him and successfully sealed the demon king with Altima's divine power. For some unknown reason, Bel broke through his imprisonment and formed a magical bond with Luka. Thus, the Divine Church of Light could not kill this creature without hurting their Godson in the process.