Arcane Tangle

The history of the House of Cillia was interesting enough, even if ultimately tragic. It emerged from its ancestral mountain citadel, and centuries of careful politics elevated them to the status of great dukes. It all ended, however, at the catastrophic Battle of Karling Bridge, where the last of the Dukes of Cillia walked into an ambush and perished along with his entire army. So it goes.

As Niko compiled this, Diane grew more grimly focused. Every problem she solved seemed to lead to five new ones. The hour was also now later than she'd thought.

She looked up, and her eyes fell on Ms Marin at her desk. Maybe it would be better to just ask her for help? Eat up the embarrassment, apologise if necessary, and get her to quietly lend an actual ready-made solution from a serious book on sex magic?

Ms Marin sat there calmly, the crest of Vallnord in the lapel of her frock. Knowledge and Virtue, the marble above her said.

No, Diane didn't need to beg other people to deal with her problems. She was capable of solving them herself. This was her strength, not her weakness, and fuck Louise.

Besides, how would that look to Niko? First she gets into this mess with her own carelessness, and then she can't get out by herself? She knew very well that her confidence and ability were major turn-ons for him. If she couldn't reclaim her magic with her own ability, wouldn't all that wear off?

He left for his afternoon lectures and returned as the night was falling; but though the time was now quickly running out, he found her at the desk with a very unpromising expression on her face.

"How is it going?" he asked.

"Good. I just need a couple more hours."

He clicked his tongue. "It's night already. We need to have the report by tomorrow afternoon. We still don't have a clue what was this talisman doing, you know!"

She sighed. "I only need a couple more hours. I'll keep working. Let's meet here tomorrow at eight, alright? We'll do the ritual, once I have my magic back we'll discern that thing together, and it will be alright."

He watched her get back to scribbling. "You're sure I can't help in any way?"

She didn't respond for a long while, buried in her work. Finally, she answered. "No. It's okay."

"Alright." The scribbling continued. "Alright, see you tomorrow." He picked up his bag and left.

The gas lamps in the park were only illuminating small circles underneath their iron poles. He dropped on a bench and looked up into the sky, where both moons were diving in and out of the clouds, and he felt completely hollow.

He'd never thought of his affair with Diane as something that could last. She came from a good, wealthy, and well-connected family, and was hugely talented. She'd go far, no doubt. He was the first of his small-town small-time kin to go to university. He had no idea what he'd do afterwards, but he was quite certain that their paths would part. The adventure was so impermanent that it already sometimes felt like a memory, even as it was happening.

He rubbed his forehead. Oh no, there's a little session of self-pity coming up. Put a lid on it and bury it like a man, there's no good dwelling on this.

The lid was put on his emotions and remained there firmly for about five seconds, and then blew up under pressure.

Because at least he'd felt like there was some real bond between them, that at least for a time they really shared something together. But the past two days really showed him how much they didn't. When an actual problem arose, she didn't really need his support, magical or emotional or any other kind at all.

One moon hid behind a cloud, and at the same time the other one emerged, causing the tangled shadows of the trees to completely shift. Niko half-closed his eyes.

Wouldn't it be nice if Diane's magic somehow stayed in him forever? She'd be a big-time cursebreaker or channeller or something, and whenever she had a job to do she'd just go to him, and he'd hold her and touch her, for hours and hours, and he'd be wanted and needed.

He shook his head, suddenly angry. He'd be wanted for what he held, not for who he was. And he wasn't like Diane. He wasn't like all those purpose-filled students at the library. When he'd been a little boy, he simply discovered that he was very good at conjuring up illusions of various clothes. He'd proudly walk down the school halls clad in a realistic-looking grenadier uniform, or a princely robe, or... anyway, his schoolmasters were even more impressed than the other children, and it was them that first encouraged him to go on and study magic... and really, that's why he was here. Because he'd impressed a bunch of primary school teachers with funny illusory costumes. Know a good career path for that? It's at a circus, as an assistant to a clown.

This place was too big and too serious for him. He couldn't keep up with the people who really ought to be here, like Diane. Maybe he should just quit and—

Something cold washed through him. It was some shiver, some strange sensation, that crawled up through his spine and into his brain. It brought with it a strong conviction that no, he should not in fact quit, that he knew very well that he wasn't doing all that bad. The feeling was so oddly powerful that it almost seemed to come not from within him, but from the outside; so much so that his eyes snapped open and he spun around - and only saw the dark lawn and the trees behind him, swaying in the breeze. He extended his awareness outward - but there was nobody, and nothing, anywhere around him.

"Alright. I was just having a moment..." he explained to the absence. He shook his head. Okay, fuck it. Let's think of something else.

He became aware of the weight of the pendant in his pocket. He took it out and pressed it to his forehead. If he could just grasp its meaning, he'd be much less stressed and stop sensing things that aren't there...

Another fragment of another vision. A burnt city. Soldiers, with halberds and flintlocks. Towering above them, on a horse, a huge man in a rich embroidered robe. His eyes white with fury. His shout echoing in Niko's head.

"...no more!"

The vision flickered and faded. Niko sighed.

It was no use trying to piece together the meaning of this talisman from disjointed bits. He had to get there together with Diane, and with their combined magic they'd discern this thing properly.

Next morning for sure.

*

Diane heard soft steps approaching, and lifted up her eyes to find the rectangular silver rims and the slightly concerned smile of Ms Marin above her.

"It's ten o'clock, Diane. Haven't you had enough diligence for today?"

"Just a deadline that I have."

"You'll burn out of you keep going like this. Have you done anything fun this week?"

In a quick flashback, Diane saw Niko's naked body in her bed, and herself cumming hard in one sock with his breath on her cheek. She smiled.

"Thank you, I'm fine."

"Well, good night. Don't stay late." Ms Marin flung her bag over her shoulder and left the library.

Damn, it was ten already. And there were still some major issues that needed solving.

It was around midnight, a tepid cup of coffee in hand, that she finally got the bloody sequence right. It really was the final stretch now. Time to figure out the actual pattern of the ritual.

At one in the morning she was finally chased out of the library and took her notes to the common study room in her dorm. There, gradually, the ritual took its final form. They'd need to find a stone floor - easy - and reproduce with chalk this exact circle of runes. Niko'd step inside, wait for the flow, turn clockwise three times, say the same invocation as on page 78 of the Principles of Channelling, then turn towards wherever the sun would be, invite her into the circle, and tap her on the shoulder, how many times? She solved the final equation.

Minus three times.

Oh what in the name of the everloving fuck.

She leafed back through her notes, crumpling the pages in dismay. Oh. Oh, no. She'd made one small mistake in sequencing the energy flow. All the work she'd done in the past two or three hours was completely useless.

She leaned back in her chair with a groan. The clock on the mantlepiece showed almost three. It would be getting light pretty soon. There was a dull ache behind her eyeballs, and her fingertips were trembling with the last of the caffeine.

Okay. It was okay. She'd still get it. She just really, really needed a little sleep right now. She'd set her alarm for five and finish early in the morning. It would all be fine.

She quietly returned into her room and climbed into her bed. Yes, just two hours of sleep to freshen her brain up. It was all under control.

As sharp sunlight made her open her eyes again, it was just after ten in the morning.

*

When she barged into the library and Niko, who'd been waiting for two hours, jumped up from his chair to meet her, their whispers were so urgent that several heads turned their way. He held back and guided her to one of the lecterns surrounding the central floor, the one in the corner, far away from everyone.

"...it must not have rang or I slept right through it or..." He ran his hand through his hair, and then placed the pendant firmly on the pulpit.

"Okay, we need to solve this. Right now. I've tried, I've tried yesterday, I've been trying the whole morning, I just can't do it alone."

Diane tried to calm down. There was no way she'd have her ritual ready in time. She looked at the librarians' desks - Ms Marin only came in in the afternoon, and so they were now occupied by unfamiliar staff.

"Alright." She closed her eyes. Oh, no. "I need to tap into my magic from within you. We must get naked, and I need your cock in me."

Usually, this last sentence would sound fantastic; under the circumstances, it was a terrifying prospect. Where are they going to find a safe space in such a short time? Maybe some dark, secluded nook in the medieval courtyard... he remembered the owlish acolyte. People everywhere, eyes everywhere, wards everywhere. Vallnord was full of cellars, attics, classrooms, stairways, hallways, crypts, and storerooms, but to get into one unnoticed—

Niko looked around. The bookshelves were arranged in such a way that the spaces between them could be seen from the desks in the middle. Besides, people often wandered around them looking for books. The lectern they were at right now was probably the most secluded place in this reading room.

These lecterns had probably been commissioned a long time ago to serve as pulpits from which the professors would deliver lectures. Their tops were slanted, ideal for placing those great old magical tomes. From the front and from the sides they were built up waist-high with thick dark wood, carved with Vallnord's crest, so that each looked like a small scholastic fortress. If they both dropped their pants and he stood behind her, it actually didn't seem that unlikely that they could fuck here without anyone noticing. But the energy flow between them would be interrupted by their clothes, and there was of course no way they could get naked here with all those people around, no way at all—

"I don't know..." she said, and her voice was unusually shaky. "Let's go to the old wings, maybe we'll see some opportunity, maybe—"

He grabbed her by the wrist.

"Wait. We can do it here." He tapped at the pulpit. "Right here."

She frowned. "We need to be naked, remember?"

His heart was beating very fast as he looked all around him. The library wasn't busy at this hour; there were maybe a dozen students seated at the desks, mostly with their backs to them. The librarians were in the far end of the room. Upwards in this enormous space there were the upper floors, like stands in an amphitheatre, and several people were browsing the books up there. Fifty feet above him, the round skylight shone bright in the middle of the domed ceiling.

"I..." he started. The thought of undressing here overwhelmed him for a moment, but there was no reason why it wouldn't work. It was quiet here, and nobody would bother them as long as they were careful. "I was always good at making illusions of clothes."

She stood astonished as he dived under the lectern's walls and started hastily undoing his buttons. Her jaw dropped a little as he threw everything - everything - off himself. Then he touched his forehead and muttered something, and a faint shadow seemed to fall on his skin. And then he stood up.

His bare, toned body was on full display, and sunshine fell golden on his skin. She blinked and took a few steps back.

The shadow, barely visible from up close, thickened as she moved, and took shape of a Vallnord uniform. She craned her neck, trying for different angles. If you knew that it was an illusion, you could kind of tell that the light and shadow in the folds of the fabric was a little weird, that the way it wrapped around his form was just a little stiff. When he moved his hand, the illusion was a fraction of a second slow to follow, and his bare skin briefly clipped through it. But on a whole - it was really, seriously good. Without paying careful attention, nobody would notice.

She came back to him, and up close the uniform dissolved again into a mere hint of colour. She looked at the room. At her desk, one of the librarians lifted a teacup to her mouth, and her gaze fell directly on Niko; and it didn't linger on him but, disinterested, wandered off to the window.

Niko looked at her and, for the first time in two days, he smiled. She gave him a little incredulous snort.

"I can't believe this," she whispered, and crouched down behind the lectern. After a minute of wriggling, she was kneeling naked in that dubious little safe space. He placed his hand on her forehead, whispered the spell, and the shadow fell on her too, hiding nothing from him, and everything from the world. She gasped and held still for a moment - him placing his hand on her head as she was kneeling in front of him sent a surge through her body that made her legs very, very weak - but finally she rose up, and they stood side by side, two flushed but normal students in the back of the reading room.

They were very aware that there were a few people - at the desks, among the bookshelves - who could see them at least from the corners of their eyes. She instinctively covered her breasts with her hand.

"Don't do that," he whispered. "It doesn't look natural."

She bit her lip and persuaded her hand to drop. He took a glance at the room and gave her unprotected breasts a quick squeeze. She gasped and gave him a chiding look.

"Had to," he explained, with just a touch of guilt. His semi-erect cock twitched heavily just inches away from her hand. She didn't even decide to grab it - she just found herself holding it the very next instant.

"Okay, study partner," she said, giving him long, careful strokes. He was hardening rapidly in her grip, and she felt warmth pool up within her. "I see you can't wait to study."

Then, with the exact same smirk that he liked to picture at night in his bed, she turned around, rested her hands on the pulpit, and arched her back a little. He stood right behind her. He reached down and dragged his finger along her labia, wet and swollen. She was as ready to study as he was.

She watched the rows of desks, the green lamps, the students engaged in their work. She felt his hand at the small of her back, and the tip of his cock snuggled up to her opening. She drew in breath. Ahead, a girl turned in her chair, and looked past them at the bookshelves, pen in mouth. Niko pushed himself in. Her toes curled as her body took his firm girth. The girl glanced at Diane. Diane held her gaze, propped herself up on her elbows and tried to look indifferent, even as her nerves sang, as more and more cock slid into her. The girl looked away. Niko's hips pressed against her, and his hand fell heavily on the pulpit right next to hers. He breathed out shakily.

And from her brimming underbelly some current rose up through her spine, and the numbness that she'd felt for the last few days was gone. She looked at the pendant and lifted up her thumb; the pendant, obedient, floated an inch up in the air. She gasped with gratitude. She thought that after this was done, she'll never take magic for granted again.

The pendant landed in her open palm. She half-turned to him with a smile.

"All good up there?"

Over the pounding of his heart, he chortled. The quiet library air was cool on his back and buttocks. He was stark naked right in the middle of one of the nation's pre-eminent public spaces, his entire cock burrowed snug in Diane, with all those people watching them without seeing. Yeah, things did seem to be all good, in a certain ridiculous sense.

She beckoned him with her fingers. He took her hand, and they clasped the pendant together.

She'd learned a trick for compound discerning at the Natural Magic Club. She felt Niko's awareness within the talisman, and guided it to the wisp, showed how to accurately parse the strange vibrations of its mind. What was your purpose, she tried to inquire. Reality blurred—

Dark forest, night time, armoured men on horsebacks. Nearby, a beech tree, wet in the drizzle. Its bark smooth and veined, its trunk beautiful and hefty and hard, standing erect in the night—

Diane blinked. The vision slipped away. Niko cleared his throat.

"It's a little hard to focus..." he whispered. She sighed and backed up against him a little. Turned out it was extremely difficult to concentrate on the pendant in hand while her entire body wanted really bad to concentrate on the penis in vagina. But magic is all about concentration. With all her willpower she pushed back, emptied her mind, and went back in...

He, too, slowed his breath, tried to ignore the pangs of bliss he got from the twitching of his cock, and dived into the silver...

The chamber. The hearth, the courtiers, the silks. Hearth, warm. Silks, smooth. Diane's skin against his, smooth and warm. No. Focus. Map on the table, the noble lady refusing some offer, her guests and aides both frowning and muttering. At the door a guard, in ceremonial armour, bright blue plume atop his open helmet, sword at his belt. Sword in sheath. Sheath of soft leather, matching the sword perfectly, wrapping it tight, snug, to the hilt, feeling so good—

He groaned quietly.

Off at the side of the room a doctoral student lifted her head up from her thesis and let her eyes wander. They fell briefly on the two undergrads working on something behind one of the lecterns. They were standing a bit weird, her bent over and he close behind her, kind of like...

The student smirked to herself. My, what a dirty mind she had. She pondered for a moment the strange trick of light that made the shadows on the undergrads' uniforms look like they didn't really match the lighting in the room, and then she turned back to her dictionary of runes.

Niko, breath shallow and mouth watering, was now losing his battle against the sheer want. With the tips of his fingers he brushed the skin between her shoulder blades, and slowly skimmed down her spine. She sighed and for a moment gave in, his touch and his attention unravelling her. But they had to push through, somehow.

"Niko, come on. One more try."

He nodded, and they both dragged their rebelling thoughts back to that talisman, well-warmed now between their hands. And the third vision came, the burning city, the soldiers, the raging man on horseback. She tried to make sense of the chaos. The air was hot, like a lover's breath. No. The city stood on a hill, and over the rooftops and the haze she saw a large river below, a great stone bridge joining its banks. The view was obstructed by a city gate with a tower, from which white smoke was rising, a great circular tower standing there and ejaculating a huge mass of white stuff into the sky... No! Niko's attention meanwhile was drawn to the nearest building which dominated the square, a beautiful light construction with twin domes... oh, no, no, no.