Jake’s POV

Ever been woken up because of screaming? It isn’t fun. In a jolt, I was awake. Wish I could say that my armor was on and a weapon in my hand in a split second, but that would be a lie. Rather, there was a lot of floundering and confusion for a solid five or six seconds before I even considered it. “What’s going on?!” I yelled. After a moment of fear, the screaming stopped. There were no explosions, no spells being cast, none of the others even seemed to notice what was happening. Actually, only Nine was even moving. He was still on the floor like he was earlier, but now he was flopping around, trying to get up. He’d been the one yelling.

“My… my familiar!” He whined.

“What? What happened?” I asked, still groggy from being woken up.

“My familiar died…”

“Just now?”

“Yeah. I was guiding him through a forest area, and he got attacked by wild animals. My connection with him was just suddenly cut off while he was fighting.” Nine said, in shock.

“Oh. I’m sorry, buddy.” Realizing I wasn’t about to be able to go back to sleep, I rolled onto my butt and leaned against the wall.

“It all happened so fast. Maybe… it’s still alive?”

“Ummm… maybe, but I don’t know much about how familiars work… ironically.” His familiar was probably dead, but how was I supposed to know for sure? Didn’t wanna hurt his feelings. But still. “Does the connection sever for any other reasons?”

“…No.” He sighed.

“How long has he been your familiar?”

“Since about a year before I joined the Drakes.”

(Okay, so two years my time.) I thought. “I’m really sorry, Nine. Losing a pet… uh, familiar… can be hard.”

“Thank you, Jake. I just wish I’d taken you up on your offer to name him.” Not knowing what to say, I stayed quiet. As Nine spoke, his voice cracked a few times. Neame don’t cry, they sing, and he sounded on the verge. “It might sound dumb, but I was really close to my familiar. Sometimes I would even fall asleep on its head. It always seemed to really enjoy whenever we spent time together.”

“No, I get it. Besides my mum, Suma is the person, or Neame, I’m closest to. We’re pretty much always together.” I looked around, no one else had moved even an inch. “I doubt anyone else can hear you, and I’m not going to judge. Frick, I broke down crying in front of Queen Ompera and a bunch of Royal Mages.”

I spent some time consoling Nine, he told me stories about his familiar. Really, I never realized or even thought about how other Neame besides Suma treat their familiars, unless it was happening right in front of me. A while later, the others ‘woke up’ from their spells. Nine said that they can’t hear or see anything while in that state, which is why they have a lookout. Apparently, their job is to cast a spell on everyone if something happens, which will wake them up. For his sake, hopefully that’s true, because he was very distraught.

Once everyone was awake, the Captain wanted us to debrief on what we found. The only person who wasn’t participating was Suma, since she was still on guard. Captain Gigoales went first. “I found nothing of substance. Only the burnt remains of a single village, but that is to be expected. What of you Lieutenant?”

“There was a patrol of autonomous familiars. That could indicate a base nearby. We should avoid it if possible.” Datahu said.

“What is an autonomous familiar?” I asked.

“It is what you are.” The Captain said.

“Meaning?”

“A familiar that a master does not directly control. But simply gives orders to and allows it to follow them in its own manner.” The Lieutenant said.

“Oh. Wait, how could you tell they were autonomous?” I asked.

“Their eyes were not glowing.” The Lieutenant said. “If they were under direct control, their eyes would glow.”

“Did you find anything else?” The Captain asked.

“No sir.” He nodded, and Lauric went next.

“While traveling near the river, Loyalty happened across a surviving village. They were recently attacked by Southern Union forces, but were not destroyed. Instead, they have begun paying a tax of sorts for their continued survival. Three Neame and three Vedel cat familiars were sent to collect the tax. I believe we can infer the strength of the average forces using this as a reference.”

“Excellent work. We will go over that in more detail later.” Captain Gigoales said. “Nine, your turn.”

“Um. My familiar was attacked by wild animals, and didn’t survive, sir.” Nine said sheepishly.

“I see. You have my sympathy. The loss of your familiar is a blow to our fighting strength as well. Do you have a secondary familiar?” The captain said.

“I do not.”

“Then you will need to summon a new one. We will need to make preparations beforehand, but we can manage it.”

“Begin considering your criteria. If you have preferences in mind, the process will go quickly.” The Lieutenant said.

“Now then, Fourteen. Report.”

“Yes sir. I found a group of what I think to be survivors from the initial invasion hiding in the forest. They have made hollowed out trees their homes, and were using native animals as pseudo-familiars to do patrols and guard the area.” They all looked at me like they expected me to ask another question.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. Moving on.” The Captain said.

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“Did you guys expect me to not know what a pseudo-familiar was? I’m not completely uneducated, you know.”

“Moving on.” The Captain repeated, more sternly.

Over our private connection, I contacted Suma. “Suma, what’s a pseudo-familiar?”

“What? Oh… it is a familiar that you can control, but not summon, and has not yet been permanently bonded to a master. Only Neame who do not possess enough mana to regularly summon a familiar use one. Traditionally, all familiars start out as them.” Suma explained.

“Does that make me a pseudo-familiar?”

“No. I can summon you, but not control you. Technically, you are a rogue familiar. Why?”

“No reason, it just came up. Thanks.” I said, turning my attention back to the group and ending the connection.

“So, we have two main goals. One, investigate the survivors in the forest, and find clues to locate the guardian, Völundra.” The Captain said.

“And two, capture a member of the Southern Union to interrogate.” Lieutenant Datahu said.

(I missed something.) I thought. (Something important.)

Suma switched out for watch duty with Fourteen after a while so she could sleep. Once everyone had rested, we began traveling under the cover of darkness the next night. We grew enough fruits to last the day, and I was asked to store them in my bag so they did not need to risk using magic again. Crossing the island wasn’t easy. We all had to stay low to the ground, which meant no flying. So, after summoning their familiars, we started walking. Well, I walked. Everyone else rode. Suma and Nine were both perched on my shoulder as I trapesed through the mud, bushes, and thickets. My trousers had more holes than a net by noon, and more rips than Van Winkle in a graveyard.

It took a while, but eventually we arrived at the village Lauric found. Hidden past a hill, under the cover of night and foliage, they all started surveying. Small lights flickered in the village, which Nine said were small fires.

“So, what do we do?” I asked.

“We need to make contact. Lauric, you know the village’s situation best. You will enter the village, claiming to be a survivor looking for food for his family. Gather as much information from the locals as you can.” The Captain said.

“Sir, I recommend sending Jake as well.” Lieutenant Datahu said, to my surprise.

“Why?” I wondered.

“I can handle it alone.” Lauric said.

“He will act as another set of eyes, and no one will question a familiar, as long as you do not speak and do not wear your metal garments.” She explained.

“What about his normal-” Nine started to ask. I did not let him finish.

“You can stop right there, because I am NOT going naked.” We were all whispering, but I whispered a little louder that time.

“It will be fine. Some Neame like to decorate their familiars, for a variety of reasons.” The Captain said.

“Yes, Captain.” Lauric said. Suma and Nine flew down, and Lauric landed on my backpack.

“We will wait here until sunrise, and then move to the tree line. May the winds meet you.” The Captain said.

With that, we went into town. As we got closer, the light helped me see better, since there was no moon out tonight. The village was a mess. Nothing like Suma’s hometown. Actually, it was more like a war-torn village from some bad Hollywood depiction in movies. And the smell was strong like burnt charcoal and wood ash. There may not have been any smoke, but the smell itself was enough to make me choke and water my eyes just getting close.

“Was it like this last time you visited?” I whispered to Lauric. We were still far away from anyone, but to be safe I kept my voice down.

“No, it has gotten worse.” He whispered back. “I wanted to take a look around, but now I think leaving you alone would be a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“There are signs of an attack. If I leave you, they may mistake you for an invading familiar, and kill you.”

“Yeah, let’s stick together then.” I said. Soon, we heard singing in the distance. Turning a corner, there were a half dozen Neame gathered around several small fires, all singing.

“May your tree catch Ashem’s eyes, my child.” One of the voices said, standing over a body, and then cast a spell that caused roots to grow out of the ground, and wrap around it. Where the body was, a small tree grew, until it was around the same height as I was.

“Jake, follow my lead, but remember not to talk.” Lauric said, leaving my head and fluttering forward. He called out to the mourning group. “Azhdaha’s blessings.” Many of them looked startled as their feathers puffed up, and some screamed.

“Are you with the Southern Vikings? Have you come to slay what is left of us?” One of the elders asked, angrily.

“I mean you no harm. I heard the rite, and offer my mana and my familiars mana for their trees.” He motioned for me to come closer, and there were some murmurs in their small group.

“We have nothing to offer. Not anymore.” The elder who made the tree from the body said.

“I’m searching for someone. A Neame named Völundra. She might be with a younger Neame.” Lauric said.

“I’m sorry, we do not know any named Neame.” The elder said. But when he did, I noticed one of the other Neame, younger looking, in the crowd looked away, towards one of the few remaining intact buildings. But they quickly looked back, refocusing on Lauric. “But if you are still willing to offer your mana, we would greatly appreciate it.”

“Of course.” Lauric looked to me, “my familiar, put some mana into their death trees.” I walked over and put a hand on the small trees, then flowed mana into them for a few seconds, then repeated this with each of the nearby trees. Not really sure how much to put in, I just did it until the leaves changed color.

“Your familiar… seems to be quite extraordinaire. To be able to imbue so many trees with a season’s supply of mana each…” The elder said, sounding nervous. “Are you a Magus of some kind?”

“No,” Lauric said. His voice was uneven; upset in some way. “I was just blessed with a rather magically strong familiar. Regarding my request,” he said, changing the topic back, “is there anyone in the village who might know where we could find someone capable of helping us locate our friend?”

The elder looked at me, his natural glitter dulled significantly. “No. I’m sorry we could not be of any help. All we can give you is our thanks.” He said, bowing and spreading his wings. Although, unlike what I’ve seen Neame do before when they bow, he pushed his wings straight backward, rather than to the sides.

“I see. Then we shall take our leave. Be well.” Lauric said, and fluttered up, landing once again on my backpack. “Come my familiar, let us go to the next town.” With that, we walked away. Once we were far enough that I could talk again, I did.

“Lauric, did you notice that Neame in the crowd’s reaction earlier, when the elder said they didn’t know any named Neame?”

“I did not.”

“They looked over at that building. It was in pretty good shape, despite the rest of the town looking like it had been bombed.”

“Bombed?”

“Uh, like ruined.”

“Hmm.” He thought. “Perhaps- wait… shhh. Someone is coming.” Lauric said, suddenly whispering and looking behind us. Through the darkness, I heard flapping and saw the faint outline of a Neame flying up. It landed nearby, and called out too us in a hushed tone.

“Stranger! Stranger!” He loudly whispered. “You said you were looking for a named Neame?”

“Yes, Völundra.” Lauric said.

“Our elder did not lie, we do not know this Neame, but I must know… are you an enemy of the Southern invaders?”

“And if I am?”

“Then you could not be an enemy of mine.”

“Why did you come here, young one?” Lauric asked.

“Yesterday, our village rebelled. Those Vikings took everything we had. Food, daljars, even our mages, all to feed their war. What few of us were left fought back. You saw the result.” The Neame said.

“Admirable, but why tell me this?”

“Because we may have lost, but we did take something from them. We have two of their soldiers held in our old familiars’ pen. They may know where your friend is.”

“You did not answer my question. Why are you telling me this? What do you stand to gain?” Lauric asked, more intensely.

“Your familiar… one of the trees he filled was my mother’s. She was the one who captured one of those two. We were just going to kill them, or ransom them back in trade for seeds and supplies. But you… you know that is pointless.”

“Indeed. The SU would never trade supplies for men, unless they were the ones getting the supplies. They would simply ignore you. Or, upon realizing you had their people held hostage, would send a force to kill everyone in the area.”

(Frick,) I thought, (these Southern guys really don’t play around.)

“Take them. Find your friend. At least that way my mother’s sacrifice will not go to waste.”

Lauric nodded, and told the Neame we would be back by morning, with a few others to take the hostages. The Neame agreed to help us sneak in and out of the pen.