A War Dawning Ch. 03

She examined him in all the ways she could see. Any person, when confronted with the uncomfortable or threatened, reacted physically. Their heart began to race, their pupils dilated, and muscles as they prepared to fight or flee. Mages could use their mastery of themselves and their environment to silence those obvious tells to a layman's eye, but not to a mage with enough skill. Bryana could see the energy that bound all things ripple around him as though she had caught a glimpse of the last of the ripples caused by a stone being thrown in the water. He was good already and had more potential to tap yet, but she knew he had what she wanted, and she would get it. What it was specifically and how valuable it'd be were questions, but those couldn't be answered until she knew what he did. "It is to me to ` protect my guild and, to a lesser extent, all guilds from the threat of mass exposure and the carnage that would surely follow. There are reasons we do not act directly against those in power."

"And I can assure you that I have not," Lian said firmly. "That much is in the ledger as it should be. I made certain introductions."

"And healed this woman shortly after the assassination attempt."

"My client, yes." He didn't hide amusement at standing his ground firmly against his guild mistress. "Whether she was involved with that specifically, I do not know and did not ask."

She was just as resolute. "To determine if that is true, I need to know what you do."

He breathed deeply, seeming to count and compose himself before speaking. "I would not betray that trust in any event. Besides that, that you would not take me at my word is something of an insult and continues to be telling regarding where your loyalties really lie."

Bryana bristled at the barb. "Meaning?"

"You have a very comfortable life there, Mistress. You have...deep ties to House Jaye and, therefore, to the queen. I understand that. You could see this as an opportunity for yourself, and for the mages. Evaline has no heirs and the family no spares of full bloodline to have claim enough that Court would unify behind. There would be a fight for power. With House Jaye being what it is in terms of its own power and the fact that Court and the people would know they would have the queen's posthumous blessing, it's likely that a Jaye would find the throne."

He clasped his hands in front of himself. "And you would be there and so would, by extension, the mages."

She tilted her head. She had thought as he did once and didn't forget how to do it. "And you would be there, too. I would be be grateful, is that it? You would see your own power rise, whether by becoming my right hand or," she sighed as it dawned on her, "I would perhaps endorse you to hold this guild."

"But that is not to be," he said firmly and as though there was something bitter in his mouth. "You would rather have your comfortable life there while you pretend to lead this guild and pretend any allegiance to the mages."

She sounded a bit like a teacher quizzing a student. "Tell me, Lian. Evaline dies, and then what? Do I proudly stand before the city throngs and proclaim my power? Do you think they let me? We are a handful compared to them. We couldn't burn them quickly enough or in number enough to stop our extermination. And all because the whelp wants some power himself."

"Don't we all want power, Mistress? A mage is power. Some of us want to seize it while some of us seem to simply want to hide from it and lead a quiet life while they are free to dabble between worlds as they will. That's your weakness. Do you think other guilds don't know? Do you think they don't see it and talk about it? There is an opportunity here, Mistress. Seize it. Seize it with me and allow me to thrive in your shadow. I would be content in that because you are at least fair."

Until you decide my shadow is oppressive. Bryana's blue eyes narrowed at the rest that remained unspoken. "Or?"

"Or get out of the way," he told her, threat in the firmness of his tone. "Many of us feel shackled by the old ways. We are sick of hiding. Many apprentices feel so."

He was dangerous. She knew that now, and not just because he had power. He had power enough to mix with ambition and a young man's mind that still didn't fully grasp consequence. What had to be done would be, not just for Neral, or Erette, but for all the guilds as well. She prepared to draw the magic to her to take the next steps, but as she could see the magic to be tapped around her, she knew he could see the same, so his mind had to be elsewhere before he saw the need to strike back.

"The guild masters are very aware, Lian." She began to move smoothly back and forth, pacing before him "Few of us are so old that we've forgotten what it's like to be young. We thought we knew best and we had grand plans. Reality tends to slap those ideas out of your head. We could afford them because we had not a tenth of the responsibility of the masters. Ours were to do our jobs well, pay our tributes and navigate the politics within our own walls. Those responsibilities have not changed just because you think you are special."

He pursed his lips in an attempt to remain composed as he weighed his words. "And the guild masters like it that way. We do the work and take the risks, while the masters get rich and issue orders."

"Apprentices have a say here. Indeed, they do in most guilds," Bryana countered, focusing on her words as much as she used them and their intonation to begin to weave. "That you don't always get your way, child, is not a sign that you have not been heard. It is a sign that there are concerns around you that you get to continue to be truly unaware of because of the very safety net provided by the guild you decry."

His dark eyes seemed to darken further. "Child?"

Her tone turned dismissive as she became more aggressive with her weaving. Energy followed her command and bent and twisted into a web of power. "Or, perhaps, simply, a proposed idea is stupid and we should be thanked for entertaining it at the expense of how ever many minutes of life we sacrificed listening to it. I do not wonder why some masters are far more strict. I know children that are easier to deal with and more open to reason than some apprentices."

She smiled at him as she began to circle him, letting her spell do the same, but it was a mirthless and disdainful smile. For his part, he tracked her, waiting for her to strike. It was all over her face and in the way she moved. He could see the faint traces of power pull and ripple. He wouldn't underestimate her, but it amused him that her demeanor showed clearly that she underestimated him.

You'll learn.

"But you, Lian, you and your ilk are so special. We are old and blind and it is to you to show us the way. But it is you with your attitudes that are the greatest danger to us all. Life has yet to temper you, so we add babysitter to the role of leader and teacher until learn some wisdom."

"We know, Lian." Her voice found an almost sultry tone with the anger. "Do you think the masters don't talk? In the conclave we don't toy with one another, because at the end of the day, we all need one another." Her eyes narrowed as continued her orbit of him. "I was warned about you, Lian. I was warned by the other masters to simply end you. I had to stop Master Sius from ending you for attempting to poach his apprentices to your own ends. I defended you. I defended you and what I get for my trouble is 'get out of the way.'"

She stopped in front of him. He was half a head taller than she, but she managed to look down on him as one would a bug. "We laughed, Lian. We laughed at your ridiculousness, your arrogance, and your posturing. We wiled away the evening, in part, imagining scenarios where we would face off with you and the ungrateful like you. We picked apart your weaknesses and ended you all in spectacular fashion. It was a joyful evening, whelp."

"You have no grasp of true power, Mistress." He hissed the word, nearly shaking in rage. He pulled power to him. He would show her. He may not win, but she would see. He would teach her to respect him.

She watched him pull the magic she had weaved about him into himself as he prepared to strike.

"I know power, little man," she tormented. "I have witnessed it and wielded it. I wield it still. You have skill but you don't have the mind to hone it. Drive it. Command it. I would trust the likes of Artis and Vale over you any day; because they know they don't know everything and know they never will.

"You like them because they will be happy lackeys."

She laughed. "I like them because they know," she thought of Vale, "or are at least learning that the greatest of force is often the most subtle. Man enough and mage enough to teach me different, pouting whelp?"

Power coursed through him and he coalesced it within himself as a coming burst of fire. He raised his hand to give her her first lesson in respect. His hand rose, palm beginning to glow red like the rage inside him, power highlighting the fine lines in his skin.

Bryana responded by letting three fingertips touch his flesh, bringing them up to his fingertips with an almost frightened gentleness, as though he might shatter if she applied too much pressure. The power about to be loosed faded away. Lian froze, save his eyes that widened and pupils that dilated as though they sought to absorb all light everywhere. "There, Lian. Isn't that better? We don't have to fight. We can talk. All I wanted to do was talk."

Her voice sounded like a sultry purr to his ear. It sounded like the deepest love in the greatest romance novels. It sounded like love and passion hot enough to make the world turn. It sounded like sex. It sounded like fucking. It sounded like the hottest, most wicked fucking felt. It sounded like the fucking where he had to stop thrusting like a mad dog just because he didn't want the sex to end.

Anyone else might have had to ask what was happening. He knew, but it didn't matter. He only knew that he had to flee until the spell faded on its own or he could find a way to dispel it. Where to go. He looked around, using all of his will to focus on where he was. His eyes latched onto his salvation. Door. There's the door.

He turned, rushing towards it in his own mind, but in reality it was more of a stagger because already his body didn't want to leave the effects of that voice that just kept making love to him just by being carried on the air.

She followed behind him casually, "Don't leave. We're just starting to get closer." One foot in front of the other until she saw him reach the door and fumble for the knob. The Guild Mistress breathed in, then blew delicately into his ear.

Lian doubled forward as though he'd been punched. His left arm pressed hard into the thick wooden door. He scrunched his eyes shut several times in an effort to maintain himself. "How?" His voice scraped against his throat in a harsh rasp as though he was trying to regain himself after a long, hard run."

Her voice carried an edge as her head tilted to the right and down ward to examine him "How, Lian? How did this happen to you? Because I am a Guild Mistress. While I am still magic's loyal student, you think you know every fucking thing and, like any young man who has reached maturity in years before his emotions have caught up, you have no interest in being told that you don't, hence the need for your lesson."

She touched her hand to his cheek, caressing. With each pet of her thumb on her flesh he shuddered and a little more control slipped to it and that sweet voice, even as it dressed him down. "The sad part is that you were actually skilled enough to see the spell but you weren't calm enough to see it. Rage blinded you. Ignorance blinded you. The spell was in the air all around you and you pulled it into yourself without a second thought." She allowed herself a snicker, "Or a first, eh, Lian?"

His body felt alive in a way he didn't think was possible. Everything was brutally sensitive, but it wasn't painful. Her voice was a tidal wave of pleasure. Her touch brought another. "I'll...tell you...what you wish to know."

She moved to the other side of him as she spoke, a trace of genuine sadness in her voice, for him and for the memory of the time in her life when she would have had none for what was about to happen. "It's too late for that, Lian. Trying to reason with you here was the first and last chance. You are a danger to me, to the guild, and to all the guilds. What you know is almost secondary at this point."

She took his hand and he moaned. He resisted with all the force of a feather on the wind as she turned him and pressed him to the door. He slid down slowly as his legs were overwhelmed by the task of supporting his weight. Now she towered over him and it was an effort to hold onto his rage. She was beautiful in a way he'd never noticed before. Oh, certainly, as a virile young man he'd noticed with those sparkling blue eyes and that golden hair, and that long, lithe body when she revealed it in even small ways invited the occasional lewd thought, but never had he found her so simply captivating as he did now.

She stood over him for a moment, sad that it had come to this, but still just a little proud that all went as she had hoped. "Almost."

Bryana dropped to her knees just above his, straddling him and began to unbuckle the thin, black, leather belt. "Are you going to try to claim me?"

"I will claim you and rebuild you as I see fit." Her tone was almost clinical as her delicate fingers clawed his pants down. Her fingers against his thighs made him buck upward, which only helped her expose him. "You won't be a threat to me or the guild anymore, you get to live, which is more than some of the other masters wanted for you, and we might be able to have fun now and again. It won't be so terrible for you, I assure you." She looked at him. It was up and proud and twitching to the beat of his heart. What it lacked in superior length, it made up for in girth with balls already full and drawn close to his body, prepared to unleash his seed. There would be fun to be had for herself soon, but first things first.

He wanted to kill her then and there almost as much as he wanted her to touch it. "I will fight you."

Those eyes grabbed him again. "Not for long, I think. My voice staggered you to the point where you couldn't turn a knob. I speak to you now and I know it sings to your mind... and your cock from the way it shivers listening to it. I take your hand and walking is beyond you." She gave him a dirty smile. "And all of this before I have even touched that key to the male mind."

"Not to my mind," he hissed.

He watched her churn her jaw left and right, over and over before positioning her mouth just over his cock while still keeping her distance from it so he could watch a waterfall of saliva fall and drench his cock in a bubbling white foam of slick. The light caught his now glistening cock and rivers of spit rolled over his balls and down the insides of his thighs. His heart raced. He told himself that it did so in rage, but for his cock there was pure anticipation.

Her fingertip played with his cock, circling the head and mixing the pre-cum with the saliva before sliding down the shaft and doing figure eights at his testicles. His cock demanded that he give voice to its pleasure and he obeyed.

"Hmmmmmmmmm," she purred, "your body seems ready and anxious. Let's see if your mind is in the same place." She put her hand around it with a gentle firmness as though she were milking a dairy animal. Bringing her hand up his body lifted lifted only in the smallest way that he could manage as he convulsed against the pleasure. He groaned and for those moments his hatred was subsumed to the point where he had to grab the memory of it for those fractions of a second before her hand moved again.

"See, Lian? You are all emotion; all need. You are an easily distracted bull. You are all power and ache, but you need that tempered. I will temper that in you. I will mold you as I need and you will thank me for it. You will love me for it."

"Stop. Please," he panted. He wanted to close his eyes against what was happening to him, but he couldn't tear himself from that wicked smile, those almost sapphire eyes, and the way she was, quite literally, single-handedly controlling him. More saliva dropped from her mouth to drench him and he grunted in anticipation of the increased slickness. He formed more words even as the sensation was everything his cock dreamed. "You've prove...proven your power, Mistress." The title already began to take on a new meaning in his mind, filling him with dread and excitement. "I yield. I yieeeeeeeeeeeeld."

It came out as a wail of pained ecstasy. It was so beautiful in that it was pleasure like he had never known, but was nearly overshadowed by the pain as his muscles locked throughout the wash of pleasure keeping him the satisfaction of unleashing his seed. As the orgasm faded, leaving him hovering near the edge of another, he whimpered with each pant, leaving Bryana concerned, "What's wrong, Lian?"

He looked down at her hand working vigorously from base to tip with a wet squick as she added more saliva to her play. Biting his lower lip he tried to flex those muscles and will it to happen. "Can't...can't cum."

"Of course not, and you won't be able to until you surrender. It does add to the experience, doesn't it? From those extra spikes of pleasure adding to the experience, to that fountain of seed proving your virility, not having that final expression of lust sort of ruins it for you men, no?." Her voice was sugary sweet and sultry all at once, "I'm so sorry that I have to prevent that, but that can end quickly. It's up to you, Lian."

She saw the look of desperation and frustration cross his features and decided to stop her ministrations long enough to come to his right to bring herself nearly nose to nose with him as he turned his gaze upon her. She spoke softly to let her voice have its sway. "You are a pragmatic young man, Lian. You know there is no way out. You cannot escape me and you know that I will not release you until what needs to happen does."

He tried to think of something to say to sway her. He tried to think of a spell that might buy him a moment even if he could distract her enough to cast it, but he felt her magic all through him, wrapping him more and more tightly in warmth and desire. She weaved the spell around me with little more than her mind and weaves it still. He pondered how until he accepted the truth: She was right. She is my better. The realization was a bitter one, though he had to admit it was tempered by that fact she was better and he hadn't simply slipped at a critical moment.

And, if he had to belong to someone, she was at least beautiful...which led to other thoughts. Resignation and lust mingled into a single word: "Fuck."

Bryana grinned at him, bringing her lips closer to his. "There will be time for that once I've made you more...reliable and pleasant to deal with. But I need you to give me your will. Your will is," she urged as she put tiny kisses on his cheeks, "what you will release for me from your cock. Your manhood...the very core of your being; you want to release it to me. Then we can fuck as you wish."

"Hard."

"Yes, Lian. Hard. You may have my body. Tell me to suck your thick cock and I will. Bend me over the desk, lift my robes and have your way. Release your will. Let it erupt from you in great bursts, then fall cold and useless against your body."

"Mistress, Bryana."

"I was before, and always shall be. Only more so now, but you know that already. Tell me what you need to sate yourself and I will obey." Her hand continued at pace as she considered the immediate future not unpleasantly, "I suspect it will prove fun for us both. And while you satisfy your body's needs I will have my way with your mind."