Heir Apparent - a Summoner FanFic

Rumours and Tactics

"...still missing."

"Who's still missing?" Dorien asked as he sat down, speaking around the slice of toast in his mouth. In the space of a few months he had gone from being suspicious of everyone's motivation in talking to him, to developing genuine, if not quite friendships yet, colleagues.

Poppy and Moira sat listening to Celia as she told her story. All of the girls seemed to be mostly over the class divisions. The commoners now sat on the same table as the nobles, though the boys sat at opposite ends and rarely spoke.

"A search party went into the jungle to find that missing team. You know, the one that went to that pyramid to destroy the goblin eggs." Celia replied, red to her roots. Good old shy Celia.

"And they didn't find them?"

"No, and two of the searchers died in the process."

"There's talk of the sending in more Vocans adepts after the tournament this year if they haven't been found by then." Moira added "And as the second year's are already a few down because their classmates were part of those teams in the first place, the strongest first years are likely to be sent too."

"Well with there being so few of us too, it's gunna be slim pickings for the generals." Dorien remarked. After all, with only four commoners and he himself being unlikely to be allowed to go with Alfric still holding the reins, that meant only eight first years.

"Well the others will be back next week." Tilly replied matter-of-factly.

"Others?" Dorien asked, confused by her out of hand tone.

"Well yeah." Tilly seemed almost shocked by his confusion. "The two elves and the dwarf? They joined at the beginning of the year and went back to test for more adepts among their own people the week before you started."

"I thought that was going to be done by eleven and dwarves graduates?" The plan had been proposed by Harold, officially so that the Inquisitors weren't spread too thinly, unofficially to ensure a fair representation of all three races attended Vocans. Graduates from each race would be sent to find the next year of cadets and provide them with their own demons.

"It was," Poppy chimed in "but the dwarves and Sylva were in the missing team."

"So who are the elves and the dwarf?"

"Traeliorn Elatris," Nadia reeled off "fulfilment level twelve at the last check. He was gifted with a Nanaue. It's a bit gross but powerful and incredibly rare." She paused as Moira made a disgusted noise. "Almithera Daevan, fulfilment level fifteen. She's a scarily fast etcher, a bit over reliant on the lightning spell though. She was gifted with a Petryon. The dwarf is Azdok Odul, fulfilment level eleven. He was given a Minotaur."

"Those are some really powerful and rare demons." Dorien was surprised, most summoners would never gift such rare demons to adepts.

"They were all gifts from King Harold." Moira shrugged "Maybe he wants to show the races are equally valuable to him or something."

"I can't believe you don't know any of this." Tilly teased "The great Prince Dorien, out of the loop?" Her face almost instantly dropped as she caught his expression. "I'm sorry. You don't like it when people do that huh?"

There was an awkward silence up and down the table. "Forget about it." He took a swig from his morning juice "My place on the council is nothing more than a play in the great game."

"Great game?" Micca asked. Dorien shook his head. He'd already said too much. No one knew about Harold and Alfric's ongoing battle for power, and that was how it should be.