The Thirsty Girl's Guide To Summoning (Fate/Isekai)

Chapter 25

The long-haired woman mounted on the big dragon stood gracefully in her saddle and her voice carried to the ramparts. "Look, Blue, they finally appear. How annoying. If they'd fled like rats we could have ended this immediately."

The slender figure wrapped in violet cloth said something muffled by their mask and, somewhat to Ren's surprise, the long, low figure beside the human stood on its hind legs, laughing like a person.

"What are they?" asked Ren softly.

"Shina has a rain dragon. They're invisible in the sky," said Tora, her voice flat and chilly. "Blue Violet partners with a lionbolt. They fight together. The lionbolt is very intelligent."

Shina raised her voice. "Hail to the fortress of fools! Our Sovereign Lord Kirri Zamaran bid us come and make ourselves known to you, so that you might understand how useless the pathetic protections of the Summoner's Castle are now that you have stolen Lord Kirri's—"

"Eh?" Merlin bellowed, cupping an ear. "I can't hear you! Come closer."

The rain dragon shifted as if to move closer, lifting a foot as Shina reseated herself in clear frustration. But Blue Violet flung out a hand to pause the dragon's movement, and then gave a mocking salute to Merlin. This time when they spoke, their whispery voice seemed to come from the midst of the group on the rampart.

"Heheh, well, you've heard enough. If you decide to surrender before Lord Kirri arrives, we will be merciful."

Startled, Ren looked around, but Jekyll shook his head. "A voice throwing trick only."

"Oh." She frowned, looking down the long narrow wall-walk. Not only did could she fall by stumbling a few steps to the left or right, she felt intensely exposed to Shina's bow. It messed with her head. "I need to get down from here."

A too-long beat of silence and Ren glanced up to find Jekyll and Cú having a staredown over her head. Ren shook her head and said to Jekyll, "You didn't want to be this close to me, remember? Everybody go down the way they came up." Her gaze went to Merlin, loitering in the background while looking out the Sovereign lieutenants. Grimly, she said, "Let's get this over with."

Surprise flickered across the mage's face before he quickly covered it with a smile and moved to her, elbowing Jekyll away from her. "Sure thing. Just hold onto me." And he stood absolutely still, without grabbing her, like waiting for attention from a skittish animal.

Honestly, Ren would have rather he'd just grabbed her and jumped again. At least it would have already been over, and she'd be on edgeless ground again. But she could appreciate him learning from mistakes, too. Unless—

"Are you making fun of me?!"

Once again his eyes widened, and then crinkled at the corners. "Well, now I am. Put your arms around my neck and close your eyes, and I'll make it easy for you."

She did it. Thinking would only complicate things. As she slid her arms around his neck, his hands closed around her waist and she shut her eyes. He lifted her what felt like only a few inches from the stonework; a sweet smelling breeze filled her nose with the scent of lilacs, and Merlin set her down again, whispering, "And we're down."

Ren flexed her toes and opened her eyes and to her great surprise, Merlin had said nothing but the truth. She felt better immediately seeing the tall walls rising around her. It was irrational; the archer rode a dragon who could easily fly over the walls, but nonetheless, the currents of fear muddying her thoughts faded away.

As Cú landed behind her and released Tora, she turned to him. "Cú, I want you to go out on your own and talk to them. Try to get a sense of how strong they are without revealing just how strong you are. As for everybody else... I'll make breakfast and we can work on repairing more of the fortress. Reactivating that protective invisibility thing Saber Artoria Alter broke would be golden, even if it's too late in the current circumstances. So would protecting the Great Hall from rain."