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

Chapter 52: Castle Break

When night came early to the Summoner's Castle at Chalice, there were thirteen within: five children, four Servants, 3 helpers from the village and Tora, keeping watch on the walls as the others had their dinner. Diarmuid had pointed out there wasn't much point to fortifications if they weren't manned, especially in a world where people had flying mounts and other strange magics.

As it turned out, he was right about that, although a lot more right about the strange magic than the usefulness of manning the fortifications.

The early night that fell over the Summoner's Castle was the night of sunlight fading away, of thoughts sliding off emptiness, and above all of not noticing. And Tora wouldn't have noticed at all, except for her little night lizard familiars, which knew true night from illusion, and how the wind changed when the sun set. It didn't change here. They chittered wordlessly in her mind as they swarmed over her, waking her from a confused daydream she was too happy to forget.

She didn't shout a warning. Instinct told her it wouldn't matter. Instead she sent the night lizards scurrying away from her as she concentrated hard on the empty spots in her vision. The fortress's entrance... where was it? She knew where it should be but when she looked directly at that wall, all she saw was...

What was she looking for again? Her mind, with no input to latch onto, slipped away once again into daydreams.

.

.

Artoria Alter flattened herself against the top of the wall. She could sense no more than her host, but her innate magic resistance made her much better able to think about what she couldn't see. Something was invading. She could see flurries of dust and flickering shadows, but nothing else. Rolling back to her knees, she put her back against the rampart. Brute force would be ideal here, but she wasn't sure if or when she'd be able to use Morgan Excalibur again. For the moment she would keep her Master safe, and wait for an opportunity to do something useful.

The night lizards skittered across the courtyard garden, pouring into the Great Hall through the cracked door. While the volunteers from the village had preferred to eat in the kitchen, everybody else ate at the table in the Great Hall.

At a glance it looked like a school meal, with seven children, Diarmuid as the headmaster and Hyde as the really bad example. It sounded like that, too, with the children all talking on top of each other as they discussed their day.

Diarmuid was eyeing Hyde uneasily, wondering about leaving him with the kids for a few minutes while he checked on Tora. The Berserker been better than his counterpart had seemed to expect with the little ones. He mocked and sneered at them freely, but he seemed to find them less irritating than Diarmuid secretly did. But it had been concerning how he'd eyed young Kay, eldest girl among Ritsu's orphans, as she left the table to run to the hall beyond where there was a water closet.

"Diarmuid, look," said Gil, pointing as the night lizards scuttled around the door. The little familiars so rarely appeared with Tora, and almost never without her.

Diarmuid looked, and frowned as the vague foreboding he'd been feeling flowered into a certainty. "Something's wrong." They'd heard nothing from Tora, despite the night lizards and the dimness outside.

"Oh goodie, something's finally happening," said Hyde happily. His red eyes acquired green glints and he disappeared into the cloak of Presence Concealment.

The Great Hall doors creaked open a little more, revealing an empty corridor and and the big keep double doors opening onto a courtyard full of stomach-churning emptiness, distortions Diarmuid couldn't focus on. He moved toward the open door. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew how to react.