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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/ArcAngel98 on 2024-09-14 21:14:18+00:00.
The Violet Reaper ---- Humans Don’t Make Good Familiars Book 1 ---- The Lonely World
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Suma’s POV
Jake and Lauric returned after some time, but before the sun had risen. They told us that the village had been attacked, that there were few survivors, and about the hostages being held in a makeshift prison.
“Alright then, squad,” Captain Gigoales said, “we leave immediately. Jake, you remain here for now. We cannot take our familiars on this one, but if a fight breaks out, be ready for Suma to summon you.”
“Yes, sir.” Jake said. With that, we all flew straight for the village as low to the ground as we could manage, and arrived just over a minute later.
“That went much faster without needing to ride on a familiar’s saddle.” Lauric said. I sighed internally, because I knew first hand how slow Jake’s travel speed was.
“Neame spotted, forward left. Is that the villager you spoke to, Lauric?” Datahu asked.
“Yes, Lieutenant, it is.” In front of us a short distance was a young Neame girl, barely more than a child. As we got close, I saw through the darkness that she still had some of her down feathers.
“A hatchling? That is who is sneaking us into a prison?” Nine asked.
“It is a familiars’ pen with farmers and shepherds as guards, hardly a prison, but yes.” Lauric answered. We landed, and it was the captain who spoke first.
“Take us.” He said simply.
“R-right, yes. Follow me.” She said, and led us around the village, then through a series of death-trees, larger buildings, which were half crumbled to the ground, and down a deserted street. “This is it.” She said. We hid behind the side of the building that faced away from the large open areas, and was relatively dark. “There are runes inside to prevent magic from being used. How will you carry them?”
“Some familiar have magic, so a pen for them would need to have measures to protect the other familiars, just in case.” Lauric said.
“We expected this.” The Captain said. “Are they tied up?” The child nodded, and Captain Gigoales turned to us. “We carry them. Three per hostage. Lauric, Datahu, and myself with take one. Nine, Fourteen, and Suma will take the other.”
“Wait here, I will distract the guards.” The child said, and flew away. I could not hear what they spoke about when the child landed, but a few moments later, she and the two guards flew away towards the center of the village.
“Go.” The Captain ordered. We all flew through the door, and saw two Neame tied up with vines, surrounded by over a dozen runes carved into scraps of wood and leather. The Captain looked them over. “Not the best rune design I have seen, but it works. Nine, grab as many in your mouth as you can.” He ordered, and picked up three of the leather strips in his own mouth.
“Alright everyone, lift and fly.” Lieutenant Datahu said. Nine grabbed a plank with a rune, and flew over to the hostages; who had been asleep until several Neame started grabbing them in their claws.
“Wait, what? What is happening?!” One shouted.
“Quiet down, we are moving you.” Datahu said.
“Where are you taking us?” He yelled again.
“Outside the village. No one is going to hurt you, so just quiet down.” The hostages were clearly uneasy, but stayed quiet.
It took a lot of flapping and struggling to stay a mere wingspan off the ground, but we somehow managed to move both hostages out of the village, unseen by anyone. By the time we were far enough away that I could summon Jake, all of us, even the Captain and Lieutenant, were essentially gasping for breaths.
“What was the point of all those high-dive drills if we are still this tired?” Nine asked.
“Aireal control.” The Captain said, through his wheezing rasps. “Private Suma, summon Jake.”
“Yes, sir.” I said.
“Jake, I am about to summon you, but we are not in a fight.” I told him through our connection.
“Okay, ready.” He replied. I performed the spell, and he appeared a moment later. “Why is everyone breathing so hard?” He asked, after looking around for a moment.
“Carry the hostages. We will fly away, and then resummon you at a safe location. Keep them safe until then.” The Captain ordered.
“More flying? There are faster methods of execution, Captain.” Nine joked. Fourteen chuckled.
“Yes, there are, Private. Such as complaining during a mission.” The Captain replied, and for the very first time, I heard a small laugh come from Lieutenant Datahu. But she quickly apologized, and the Captain ordered us to follow him. With that, we flew away, leaving Jake to watch the prisoners.