The Summoner's Mark (First Draft) (Book One)

Falling from the Sky

Days passed since Sin and the others had first set foot upon the path that would bring them to the village of Caso. Even though Soren was able to travel faster than the horses, for the most part Sin had chosen to travel with his companions.

During one of the occasions that Sin had chosen to scout ahead of the others, he found himself hovering near the border of the village which allowed him to be the first amongst his group that saw the three ships that were docked within Caso's port. At first glance it would have been possible for anyone to mistake these ships for ordinary ones though upon closer scrutiny, it was evident from the black sails that these were in fact Raider ships.

Upon sighting the ships, Sin felt the urge to send Soren soaring towards them so he could wrest control of the village from those who had taken it. Before he was able to allow himself to give in to the urges that he felt, Sin remembered the warning that Sylris had given him which told him that he should only observe unless he had no other choice.

With an unspoken promise to return, Sin turned himself and Soren away from the village. Tapping upon his Griffin, Soren soared forward once more. As his Familiar's wings cut through the sky, Sin kept his gaze firmly placed upon the ground in search of anything that he could report back to those who were leading this mission. While he hadn't really expected anything, his eyes caught notice of a slight movement that was coming from a small thicket of trees.

While he noticed the movement, his stomach started to growl which prompted Sin to begin to hope that what he saw would be an animal that he could dine upon.

Motioning once more to his Familiar, Sin sent the creature gliding towards the thicket of trees. As Soren neared the tops of the trees, the Griffin concealed itself amongst the branches of one of the trees which allowed both Sin and his Familiar to keep themselves hidden from what they were tracking.

With his eyes glued below them, Sin was able to determine that the hope he had that he had found something that he and Soren could feast upon; had been a false hope.

Above what he assumed to be a camp; Sin set his gaze upon three beings that were armed well beyond the typical traveler. Sensing that something was off about those that he sighted, he kept Soren and himself concealed within the treetops so he could observe those that stood below them.

"Are you sure that we should be doing this? The captain's orders never included slaughtering travelers." A masculine voice called out.

Hearing about the slaughter, Sin started a closer inspection of the camp which brought his eyes upon a section which was painted with dried crimson. Following the trail of crimson, Sin found himself staring at a bundle of corpses that were thrown unceremoniously into a pile. At first glance, Sin thought that every being within the pile had already passed onto the next life though as he was about to move his eyes back to those that were the cause of this death; Sin noticed a small twitch coming from one of the corpses.

With everything that he had just learned, Sin knew who these beings were and assumed that this would be one of the times that he would be able to disobey the instructions that Sylris had given him considering that a life could be at risk if he stayed hidden and did nothing to stop those that were within the camp.

After what these Raiders had done, Sin knew that he couldn't allow them to continue to draw breath. Stepping on this path, Sin started to formulate an attack plan that wouldn't leave himself the one passing onto the next life. As he did this, another of the Raiders started to respond to the words that the first one had spoken.

"If all we do is follow the commands of our Captain, then how can we call ourselves true Raiders..." the being snarled in a tone that was more feminine than the first. "...and if you are willing to give up your share of the loot that we have gathered thanks to those corpses, then by all means please scurry back to the captain like a good little soldier!"

The Raider that was being berated by the other, must have decided that giving up their share of the loot wasn't going to be an option considering that he had taken a seat upon a nearby log.

By this time, Sin had already come up with a plan that would send terror rippling through the camp. Grasping ahold of his dagger while he motioned for Soren to descend towards the camp, Sin kept his gaze firmly placed below which allowed him to notice the Raider that had chosen to step into the path of the rapidly descending Griffin.

From the shrieks of terror that rung through the camp, he knew that Soren was noticed by those that stood within the camp though due to the speed in which Soren was descending towards the ground; it was too late for the Raider that had placed themselves in their path.

Soren smashed into the body of the Raider and due to his razor-sharp claws, ribbons of flesh were peeled from their body which caused a crimson spray to paint the ground. Noticing that the remaining Raiders were attempting to flee, Sin unsheathed and flung his dagger in one fluid motion. The blade cut through the air and as it did so, Sin watched as the Raider he had targeted; took the blade directly in the leg which caused the being to come crashing to the ground.

Considering that he was only able to target one of the Raiders with his dagger, he knew that the other had managed to flee. Assuming they went to report what had happened to their Captain which could cause the captain to start slaughtering villagers, this was something that Sin couldn't allow to happen.

Flinging himself from his Griffin, Sin called out an order to his Familiar. "Soren! Hunt that filth down!"

At first the Griffin didn't take to the air and turning to see what the holdup was, Sin watched as his Familiar swallowed a chunk of flesh from the Raider that he had killed. Before he needed to give the order again, he watched as his Familiar took to the air in pursuit of the Raider that had managed to flee from them.

No longer needing to focus on the Griffin, Sin turned his attention back to the Raider he had struck with his dagger. This allowed him to see that the Raider had managed to get themselves back to their feet.

Sprinting forward, Sin sent his body crashing into the Raider which sent them both crashing to the ground and as their bodies tangled in one another; Sin used his body to repeatedly attack the Raider. One of the blows took the Raider in the nose which caused the sound of crushing bone to echo around them.

The Raider immediately brought their hands to their broken nose in hopes of trying to stanch the blood that was flowing from it. With this, Sin was able to free himself from the Raider and wanting to inflict the same level of pain and terror that these Raiders had caused to those that they killed; Sin grasped ahold of his dagger that was still embedded into the flesh of the Raider. Twisting the blade, Sin pulled a scream from the Raider that sent pleasure rippling through his body.

This scream was matched by another that broke through their surrounding a distance away from them which told Sin that Soren had managed to track the filth that had fled from them.

"Unless you wish to feel my Griffin ripping into your flesh while you are still alive..." Sin snarled as he twisted the dagger once more which sent another earth-shattering scream echoing around them. "...then I would recommend following every order that I give you!"