An Ode to Uncertainty Ch. 08

Sigrid was sitting in her tower room in the mansion planning on how to get to her mark when something caught her attention. It may have been a scent on the wind, she was not sure. But she was certain that something was wrong. She had learned long ago to trust those feelings when they came. She stood up and climbed out onto the roof. She needed both hands when climbing, so the daggers stayed where they were. She stayed close to the wall. Moving silently with quick steps.

It was just before two bells and most of the East Side was quiet. A soothing wind alleviated some of the heat, but not enough. Sweat trickled down Sigrid's brow. As she passed over from the tower to the roof of the west wing, she saw it. She pushed herself closer to the tower wall. A figure was perched on the edge of the west wing roof, in towards the garden. It sat perfectly still. Unnaturally still. Sigrid drew a long silent breath and focused on her movement. She made it halfway across the roof before the figure turned towards her. She saw two glowing yellow eyes looking at her. She sprinted. Ten quick steps and she would be there. After eight steps the figure blinked. And disappeared. Sigrid had already initiated the leap towards the figure and now was targeting empty air. She twisted trying to get her feet down on the roof first. And stepped on nothing. She thrust her arms out and caught the edge of the gutter and stopped herself from plummeting to the flagstones below. Breathing hard she heaved herself up on the roof. She pulled her longknife and held it out in front of her. Turning around in a circle. Looking. But not finding. Her heart beat hard in her chest. She climbed up to the ridge. As the towers started ringing for second bell, she caught a glimpse of something dropping down on the other side of the roof. She ran over. The echoes of the tower bells beat with her heart. The figure jumped off the edge of the roof. And was gone.

It had been a week since she last had a day off. Ever since the incident with the figure on the mansion roof a month ago Sigrid had been on her toes. She did not let Jarl get out of her sight. Even when he was with the princess she was there. Hiding. Watching. Listening. She spent the first two weeks after the incident searching for the figure. But there were no traces. It was like... Magic. She had considered asking Jarl but did not want to. Mirja was out of the question. Ever since she had rejected the woman, she had seemed to be avoiding both her and Jarl. She hadn't seen the woman at all in two weeks. Like she had been swallowed by the earth. She didn't know any other magicians. The College was back from summer break and tonight Jarl was with the Mistresses and she had almost ten hours to herself.

The idiot was where he usually was on Sacreday evening. Under the large oak between the dormitories with his little gang of friends. Sigrid climbed up to the second floor of Jarl's dormitory and got a good view from one of the hallway windows. She could not hear what they were saying but it looked like they had ... fun. She caught a word here and there from reading their lips, but it did not give enough context. Sigrid frowned. How long were they going to be there?

When the towers struck eleven bells the little gathering started to dissolve.

Finally.

She ran up to the roof and followed the Idiot over to one of the dormitories on the west side, close to the bookshop district. He entered the door to the dormitory. She could see him walking up the stairs to the third floor. The corridors of all the College buildings were lit during the dark hours and his shadow moved back and forth as he passed the little shining spheres that sat in small alcoves. He entered one of the side corridors. She had a one in two chance that his room was facing her direction. She waited. And there. A light shone up and she could see him through his window. Third floor, fourth from the left.

She made her way to his building using the roofs. One of the leaps challenged even her, but she landed quietly and continued.

Good thing people seldom look up.

She slid down over the edge of the roof and got her footing between the stones. The College buildings were almost too easy to climb. She quickly made her way down to the Idiot's window and peeked in. He was already in bed. The window was slightly open, as was every window in the entire city. The summer was coming to its end, thank the gods, but it was still as hot as in a bullfighter's codpiece. She waited until she could hear him snoring before silently climbing in. She pulled out her longdagger and put it to his throat. She sat down on his bed. His eyes fluttered open and then went wide as he saw her. And felt the dagger.

"I swear, we meant no harm," he wheezed.

The dagger cut slightly into his skin as he talked. She glared at him. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"It was Haleigh's idea."

Sigrid let off the pressure slightly.

"Keep talking. Give me every detail."

The Idiot swallowed.

"She's the one that suggested starting the rumor."

He hesitated.

"Go on," she said pushing harder on the dagger drawing another sliver of blood.

"The rumor that you are one of the Sisters of Infinite Mercy and that Jarl has you bound up in his room all night doing whatever he wants with you."

Sigrid blinked. Well, you got half of it right.

"What's your name."

"Aelric."

"Aelric what?"

The boy looked at her trying to comprehend the question. Then his mouth opened slightly and closed again before answering.

"We don't have last names."

Not so stupid after all.

"Who are we?"

Aelric studied her for a blink before a slight push with the dagger made him answer.

"The Pureborn."

Sigrid looked at the boy. The fear was retreating in his features. He was still afraid of her, but at least he thought that he had a chance of surviving the night. She had seen it so many times before.

"Tell me about the Pureborn," she said easing the dagger off his throat.

Aelric took a deep breath and looked at her for a long time.

"You won't kill me?"

"Depends. Not right now at least."

He looked at her apparently trying to find out if she was serious. She was serious. He swallowed again.

"The Pureborn are the results when two trained magicians agree and act on a magic enhanced union. The goal is to create the offspring with the highest probability for significant magic potential. The offspring is then raised in the creche and taught according to rote starting at eighteen months."

He paused. It sounded like he was reciting from a book. He likely was. Sigrid frowned and fear returned to the Idiot's features.

"So, you're an orphan."

She said this without a hint of a question. The Idiot, no Aelric, she corrected herself, blinked twice.

"Don't make me poke you again," she said holding up the dagger in front of him.

He nodded.

"Yes. Yes. We are all orphans. Or. At least our parents are not officially known to us."

She raised an eyebrow.

"You know who your parents are?"

Aelric looked at the dagger. He seemed to be considering something. He was not good at keeping his emotions off his face. He nodded. He did not elaborate. She briefly thought of forcing the answer out of him, but she was simply not that interested.

"Why are you here? In my room?"

The question came as somewhat of a surprise. She shouldn't have been surprised. It was the obvious question.

"I have a proposal for you."

The question was visible in his eyes.

"Wha-"

She put the tip of the dagger to his throat again.

"The proposal is as follows. I do what I want with you and in return you do not tell a living soul, or I cut your fingers off. One by one."

He opened his mouth and seemed about to start talking several times. She looked at him. That was not fear on his face. No. He was curious.

"And if I say no?"

She shrugged.

"I might let you go. Or not. Haven't decided yet."

She was telling the truth. She hadn't decided. She hadn't even planned for what would happen if he said no. She could let him go. Or drop him out the window. The fall from the third floor should break his neck. It couldn't be too uncommon with suicides, not given the living conditions and the stress from the Masters and Mistresses.

"Okay."

Sigrid hesitated for a moment. She studied him. He was definitely curious now.

"You understand about the fingers? One. By. One."

"I understand," he said nodding.

"And not telling a living soul, I mean that. And I have ways to find out."

He nodded again. Sigrid put her dagger away and stood up. She looked down at him. Was he naked under the thin blanket? She thought she could see the contours of his legs. He kept very still. She sat down on the bed again and slid her hand under the blanket. Her fingers were met with naked skin. Aelric gasped as her hand traveled up along his thigh and her fingers brushed his flaccid member. She bit her lower lip and then she took it in her hand. She looked him in the eyes as his cock started growing in her hand. Breathing harder she slowly started stroking it. The feel of his flesh in her hand was ... fabulous. She could feel herself getting wet as he got harder. She continued jerking him under the blanket, his mouth had fallen open, he was truly handsome now that she took her time to look at him. High cheekbones and a sharp nose. And deep dark eyes. Even that silly hair didn't look too bad.

Remember what Irese said. Don't fall in love. Just use him.

She nodded to herself and pulled the blanket away. She drew a breath as she saw his naked body. He was gorgeous. She let go of his member and it continued to point straight up as one of the standing stones of Fellish. She quickly got up, undid her belt and dropped her pants. Before he could react, she had impaled herself on him. A shiver went through her entire body. By the gods! How she had missed this. She started moving up and down using his cock to get herself off. It didn't take more than two drops until she came in a quake of an orgasm. She sat panting on top of him with his hard cock still inside her.

"Was it good?" he asked.

"Shut up. Don't say a word. And don't move," she said and started riding him again.

Not five drops later she came a second time. It felt like her entire skin was electric. Shivers leapt from limb to limb and she let out a scream that probably woke the entire dorm. Still shivering she sat on top of him. It took her a drop to realize he was still hard. She looked down at him. He still obeyed and was completely still. She thought about riding him to another climax but instead she got off and took him into her mouth. As she felt his flesh against her tongue, she remembered how much she loved to take a man in her mouth. She sucked hard and jerked his shaft with her hand. He started making small noises, she didn't tell him to stop and after a few drops more she felt how he started pulsing and soon he shot his seed into her mouth letting out a small moan. She swallowed eagerly. By the gods, how she had missed this. She continued sucking him making sure that nothing was left inside him. Then she slowly licked his shrinking member. He shivered from every touch of her tongue. She looked up at him.

"Remember. Not a word or those long fingers will be history."

He nodded.

It took another week until Jarl was at the Mistresses again and Sigrid could go visit Aelric. They had bumped into each other a number of times over the course of the week, but Sigrid had completely ignored him, even throwing in some good glares when he and Jarl had one of their shouting matches. It was the second week after summer break and Jarl had started two new classes that Sigrid immediately forgot the name of.

She slipped into his room while he was still sitting outside with his friends. She got undressed and got into his bed. She had planned to hide somewhere in the room, but the room was basically just a bed, a small table and a cupboard. You could fall down anywhere in the room and still have a good chance of falling into bed.

As he entered, she looked up at him. He didn't see her. He started pulling his shirt over his head.

"Stay perfectly still or I run my dagger through you," she said in a hiss.

Aelric froze the shirt covering his head and shoulders, his hands pointing straight up. Sigrid sat up on the bed and reached for his pants. She undid his belt and let his pants drop. With one hand she coaxed his member out of his underpants. She stroked it once before putting it in her mouth. Oh, by the gods, it had only been a week and she was craving his flesh in her mouth. She couldn't stop herself. She devoured his flesh and sucked and licked until he came, his face still covered by the shirt. Sigrid almost came herself as his seed ran down her throat. She licked him completely clean before she allowed him to take his clothes off.

"Can you get ready again soon?" she said as he was laying naked beside her.

She slowly ran one finger down his sternum. He nodded.

"Just give me a little while," he said panting.

"Good."

She rested her hand on his chest seeing it rise and fall. She looked up at him. A thought struck her.

"Is there some kind of magic that can turn a person invisible?" she said looking him straight in the eye.

Aelric looked at her for a few moments before nodding.

"Of course. However, it requires a high tiered phantasmancer to make someone invisible in broad daylight."

Sigrid considered this.

"Is it easier at night?"

Aelric nodded.

"The harder it is to see someone due to normal circumstances. Darkness. Fog. Clothing that melts in with the background. The easier it is to use Phantasmancy to become invisible. Even I may be able to do it during the best of circumstances, even though I haven't even passed the first-tier tests yet."

She looked at him. He was looking up at the ceiling. He had such a perfect face it was unfair.

No. Don't you start to like him now, she told herself.

"Phantasmancy has a great weakness though. It cannot affect the Id."

Sigrid looked at him. She hated the fact that she only understood half of what he was saying. She did not like being in the dark.

But. I don't have to care. Because he will not tell anyone. If he wants all his parts attached to the rest of his body that is.

"What's that?"

Aelric turned towards her. She just kept looking at him until he started talking.

"The Id is ... like your subconscious. The part of your mind that you do not control yourself. Instincts. Phantasmancy only affects the Ego and the Superego. That's why it's useless against simple animals. They only have an Id. And if you can learn to use your own Id you can penetrate the Phantasmancy."

"How do you know all this?"

He smiled at her.

"I'm majoring in Phantasmancy," he said with a smile.

She looked at him for a long while. He squirmed under her scrutiny.

"So how would I accomplish it in practice. Penetrating the invisibility, I mean."

Aelric sat up a little more in the narrow bed pushing against her.

"Well. We train ourselves in using our peripheral vision. It is not controlled by the Ego."

Sigrid considered this for a moment.

"So, you're saying that by not looking directly at whatever is invisible I can see it?"

He nodded.

"It may sound simple. But it's not. The Ego is strong. It takes years of practice to conquer your own Ego. But, the further out in the periphery the easier it is to detect it. Only problem is that the further out the less detail you get."

Suddenly he went completely pale.

"Please. Please, don't tell the Masters that I told you this. This is forbidden knowledge for anyone not of the craft."

Sigrid raised an eyebrow. He was worried that she would tell? It was clear that he didn't know her. And not surprising either.

"I won't tell if you keep your end of the bargain."

He exhaled and visibly relaxed. They both looked up at the ceiling for a while. It was a truly boring ceiling. Flat boards without any defects. Too perfect to be interesting. Invisibility. She had thought she had been hallucinating that night on the roof but now it all made sense. Whoever it had been must have been a mage.

"Why are you so interested?" Aelric asked after a long silence.

Sigrid shrugged.

"Just curious."

Aelric studied her. She moved her hand down to his crotch.

"Looks like you're ready for another go," she said starting to move her hand.

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A big thank you to our new editor Shy_girl_whore for the editing.