Lord Amplevine's Revenge Pt. 01

They both jumped as the door to the parlor suddenly burst open with a crash. There was a man standing there, wearing a long, purple cloak that was all too familiar to her.

"Synnøva!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Halvar! I told you never to show your face to me again! What are you doing here?"

"Taking you back!" cried Halvar as he drew a long piece of wood from his cloak.

"With a stick? Halvar, what on earth-" She noticed the rapier hanging from his belt. "Halvar, why is your sword bloody? What have you-"

Several things happened, all in the space of a few moments. Halvar pointed the bit of wood at Synnøva and cried, "Sting!" At the exact same time, Astrið leapt from her chair and cried, "Watch out!" There was an explosion of blinding blue-white light, and Synnøva felt herself knocked to the ground. Halvar screamed. She could see nothing but blackness and stars for a few moments, and when her vision started to return to her she could just make out Halvar standing over them, frantically trying to pat out the flames that were licking at his clothes.

"Synne!" he cried. "Synne, come with me! Return to my manor!"

"Fuck off!"

He glared at her, and at Astrið, hatred and confusion in his eyes, and then he ran, trailing wisps of smoke and burnt fabric.

And then, quiet.

The fire had singed the carpet and parts of the ceiling, but luckily the house was not burning. Synnøva let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "What... What happened?"

"Spell," said Astrið. She was on the floor next to her. "Aimed at you, but it hit me instead. I threw some fire at him, but..." She coughed, for the room was now full of smoke, though it was quickly dissipating. "Fuck. What was he trying to do? Did you do something to piss that man off?"

"I gave him his ring back. He was my betrothed, but he-"

"My lady!" A serving girl had appeared in the door, her face pale. "Are you alright? I heard a terrible commotion, and I saw Lord Amplevine running down the hall with his cloak all aflame!"

"I'm fine, but Lord Amplevine has just assaulted myself and a Master of the University. Alert the household guard and the City Watch. Tell them to apprehend him! And send for a healer to tend to Master Astrið. She's been wounded!"

"Of course! At once, my lady!" She hurried out of the room.

"I think I'm fine, actually," said Astrið as she stood. The sleeve of her robe was singed and frayed at the end, near her wrist, but she looked perfectly unharmed. "If that was a killing curse it probably would've done it instantly, unless it's supposed to be a slow, painful death, but..." She took a deep breath, stretched and looked down at herself. "No, I feel perfectly alright. Near as I can tell, that spell didn't actually do anything at all. Curious."

"Could it be that it just didn't work?"

Astrið shook her head. "God-magic always works. And it has to have been god-magic. It's not possible to imbue an object with sorcery. Not like that, anyway. So either the spell did something to me that I just haven't noticed yet, or it's designed not to take effect until later, or it was only meant to work on you, or any other number of things." She noticed something on the floor that hadn't been there before. "What's this?"

It was a small figurine, perhaps five inches tall, made of some sort of whitish crystal, perhaps quartz or opal, depicting voluptuous woman sitting down in a meditative pose. There was writing inscribed on the base, and it glowed with an inner light that seemed to shift between all the different colors of the rainbow. "This is magical," said Astrið at once.

"Gods and demons," Synnøva muttered, and her face went pale. "He brought that... That thing with him?"

"You know what this is?"

"Halvar bought that, before I ended our betrothal." She was struck with a horrible realization. "I... Don't think that spell was meant to kill me. I think it was meant to incapacitate me, so that he could use it on me."

"This writing is Shalian... 'Great bounty be upon you.' Frustratingly vague, as is the way of the Shalian gods. Hmm..." Astrið picked the figurine up, and though Synnøva winced when she touched it, nothing happened. "This is Vela Shei's female aspect, I think. What's it do?"

"According to Halvar," said Synnøva through gritted teeth, "it would make my breasts bigger. A lot bigger."

"Really." Astrið held it up and looked at it with an expression that Synnøva couldn't quite read.

"He spent twelve sovereigns on the stupid thing, and then was amazed when I told him I didn't want to use it."

"Honestly, if it actually works it was probably worth much more than twelve sovereigns. Putting god-magic into an object is incredibly difficult, even with a god who is as generous with their power as Vela Shei. I only know of a handful of people throughout history who were able to do it. I take it that Lord Amplevine was aware that you actually want your breasts to be smaller?"

"I'm not sure he was, honestly, though I talked to him about it plenty of times. That man has a habit of only hearing what he wants to hear."

"It wouldn't have worked anyway."

"What? Why not?"

"Vela Shei's magic only works on the willing. That's part of her teachings- no person gets to decide what happens to your body but you. No spell that originates from her will violate that rule." Astrið tucked the figurine away in a pocket on her robes. "I have more questions about this, but we now have more pressing things to deal with. His sword-"

"The blood! We should..." Astrið was already hurrying out the door.

---

The blood, as it turned out, had belonged to Ulv, one of the doormen, and by the time that they found him he had lost an alarming amount of it. He had a nasty red gash in his neck, and another even worse one was on his leg.

Astrið, as it turned out, happened to know a good bit about medicine, which was a good thing, because Synnøva hadn't the slightest idea what to do when she saw Ulv lying there in a pool of his own blood. A runner was already on the way to find a healer, but the nearest one did his business five city blocks away, and Ulv was bleeding out fast. Luckily, Astrið had taken charge immediately.

"You!" she had shouted at one of the servants who had heard the commotion and followed them to the front of the house. "Go get a big pot of water and set it to boil! You, if there are bandages in this house, go get them. If not, cut up some strips of clean linen. Put them in the water then bring them here. You, bring me the strongest alcohol in this house, vodka if you have it. You, hold his neck and his leg above the level of his heart. What? Yes, you're going to get blood on you, but this man's at risk of bleeding to death! Just do it!"

Ulv was barely conscious, and he winced in pain as Astrið cleaned his wounds with the alcohol, then pressed and bound them with the bandages. "Was just followin' orders, m'lady," he muttered to Synnøva. "Wouldn't let him in, just like you told me. Didn't expect the bastard to draw his sword, beggin' your pardon. Caught me by surprise..."

"Don't apologize. He is a bastard," said Synnøva.

"Got me in the neck 'fore I even had my sword out, then my... my leg..." That was, apparently, all the strength he had left in him, for Ulv passed out at that moment. For a brief, terrifying instant Synnøva thought that he was dead, but his breath was still coming, shallow though it was.

Astrið worked methodically and quickly, and by the time she was finished the bleeding had stopped, and though Ulv was deathly pale, he was still alive. The healer arrived just as she finished, red-faced and panting from rushing over from five city blocks away. After having Ulv carried to a bed in one of the manor's many chambers and tending to him, he complimented Astrið on her quick work. "He probably would have bled to death before I arrived had you not stepped in."

Just after that, a city watchman came along with a magistrate to take depositions from Synnøva and Astrið. Synnøva recognized them both. The watchman was Captain Eadwig, who used to patrol the neighborhood back when she was a girl, and he was still Corporal Eadwig. The magistrate was Sigrun, thank the gods. She was the one who had presided over the severance of her engagement, and she was the one magistrate that Synnøva knew that she could trust. They told them about everything, including the reason that Synnøva and Astrið were meeting, and the figurine that Halvar had dropped as he fled, as well as its purpose.

"And this figurine," said Sigrun, "you still have it in your possession?"

"Yes," said Astrið, "and I shall be keeping it."

Eadwig frowned. "I'm afraid you can't do that, Master Astrið. It needs to be taken in as evidence, and possibly studied, to make sure that it does what you claim it does."

"And where will you send it to be studied?"

"To the University, to be examined by a Master." He looked at her, and he blinked as realization struck. "Ah..."

"We will need it back once your investigation has been completed, Master Astrið," said Sigrun. "And of course, we will need a different Master to verify your findings. One who is not involved with this case."

"Not a problem. This has been officially elevated to a case, rather than an incident?"

"Of course. Assaulting a noble and a Master of the University is a very serious crime. What Lord Amplevine has done could carry very severe repercussions. Of course, it will be his word against yours, but the wounds that your doorman has suffered are compelling evidence. At the very least it warrants an investigation, though with depositions from your servants I don't think that he will be able to provide a very strong defense for himself."

Synnøva pictured her former husband-to-be locked up in a dungeon, or even consigned to servitude, and was surprised to find that the thought did not distress her in the slightest. But not that surprised.

"My watchmen have spotted Lord Amplevine returning to his manor in singed, smoking clothes," said Eadwig. "I already have men on the way there to apprehend him."

"I would like to accompany them," said Astrið.

"Ah... That is not advisable, Master Astrið," said Eadwig. "From what you have told us, this is a dangerous man, and-"

"He cast a spell on me, and I need to know what it did, or if it did anything at all. I could work it out myself, given time, but it will be much faster to just ask him. He may not tell the truth, but it won't hurt to try. And anyway, I am not scared of a man with a sword. Swords are no threat to me at all."

"Master Astrið, I really must insist-"

"Is it against the law for me to accompany them?" She asked this to Sigrun, not to Eadwig.

"It would be unusual, but it is not against any law, no."

"Then that is what I will do," she said, and when Eadwig opened his mouth again she ignored him. "My lady, do you have a spare set of clothes that I could borrow? These robes are a mess." Indeed, they were covered in Ulv's blood, both on her sleeves and from her knees down, where she had been kneeling in it.

"Yes, and I will come with you. I would like to have some words with Halvar."

"My lady, that is really not advisable," said Eadwig.

"Sounds like a plan," said Astrið.

"But-"

"You are dismissed," said Synnøva to both Eadwig and the magistrate. "Carry out your duties. Astrið and I will meet your men at Lord Amplevine's manor."

Eadwig looked uncomfortable, but he and the magistrate both bowed and took their leave. They ended up following Astrið and Synnøva out of the bedroom door, because they were already on the way get a change of clothes.

"I don't think that any of my dresses will fit you, but I have a few old tunics and hose that might, if you don't mind them being loose about the chest," said Synnøva as she led Astrið through the halls.

"If that is all you have I will take it. I've no time to be picky. I still don't feel any effects from the spell he cast upon me, but if it has some sort of delayed component I would rather find out about it before it happens. Although I suspect that I was correct when I said that the spell was only meant to work on you. I doubt that he would have risked forcing his way in here and murdering a doorman for something that wasn't instantaneous."

"You don't know him," said Synnøva darkly. "Halvar does things without thinking them through. At all. Why else would have he bought that figurine when I told him so many times that I want my breasts to be smaller?"

"About that..." Astrið pulled the figurine from her pocket and held it up to light from the hallway windows that they were passing by. "Did he tell you how to activate it?"

"No, and I didn't ask. Why do you..." She stared at her. "You aren't thinking of using it?"

Astrið shrugged. "Not now, of course. But if I can figure out how to work it, I might try to convince the Watch to let me use it once this is all settled. I bet that I could, even if your former betrothed isn't willing to tell me. Vela Shei is a very amenable god, and she usually makes her magic easy to work with." She looked at the inscription on the base again. "Hmm. Probably all I'll have to do is say something like 'I accept your bounty' in Shalian or something."

The glowing, multicolored light in the figurine suddenly went out. Both women stopped in their tracks, eyes wide.

"Did you just-"

"Oh dear. Apparently Vela Shei understands Norðmol."

They both looked at Astrið's chest. A tense, quiet moment passed. "I... don't feel anything? It's possible that it's only meant to work on one person, like that wand- Hrnk!" She doubled over all of a sudden, her back against the wall and her arms wrapped around her chest. "O- Ooh! No, it's working! Where is your room?"

It was just down the hall. They rushed inside and Synnøva closed the door behind them while Astrið collapsed onto the bed. Her robes, which had been loose and billowy before, were now very, very tight in a certain place. She tore them off of herself. The band of silk that she had apparently been wearing around her chest was in tatters, and her breasts were...

"It's still going!" she gasped, and it was true. They heaved with her breath, rising with each inhalation... but then they didn't seem to fall again when she breathed back out. Both of them watched as purple skin grew and stretched, as they grew fuller, and fuller, and fuller...

When it was done, when the growing stopped, Astrið's breasts were bigger than her head. They were bigger than Synnøva's. They were, quite simply, enormous. Though they were full and plump, they still hung so low on her torso that they hid her navel with every breath she took. Her nipples had grown to match- they were each the size of the last digit of a person's thumb, and not a person with small thumbs, either. Her areolas were slightly puffy, and as big as her palm.

"Gods and demons," said Synnøva.

"Fucking hell," said Astrið. "This is a lot more than I expected."

"Yes, I think that's more than anyone would expect!"

"Gods above, look at these things!" Astrið squeezed them between her hands and bounced them up and down. "Ooh, they feel so good! And they're so heavy!"

"Yes, I can imagine! What are we going to do now?"

"I'm going to put some clothes on, we're going to go to Lord Amplevine's manor and confront him, and then he'll be tried for assault. Then we can get back to finding a solution to your problem. Nothing's changed. Now, do you have anything that will fit these? I'm bigger than you now, I think."

"Hopefully. Look there in the wardrobe. I hope that we can find someone who can fix this, now for your sake as well as mine."

"For yours, anyway." Astrið stood, stumbling a little bit as she acclimated to the new weight that she was carrying. "Oof. Heavy. I didn't think that I would get quite this big, but I can't say that I would mind if they stayed this way." She started rummaging through the clothes in the wardrobe.

"What? I think I must have misheard you."

"I could learn to like them is all I'm saying. Honestly, I think I might already like them, but it's only been a few moments, so I'll think on it for a while. In the meantime, we've got other things to worry about. Oh, here we are!" She held up a dress. Synnøva had bought it years ago from a tailor who had misread the measurements that her apprentice had taken for her to work from, and the whole thing had ended up being much too big for her, everywhere, including the chest. It was something like wearing a bedsheet when she had put it on, but Astrið was taller than her and, now, bigger around the chest.

"How could you... They're so... They're enormous! How could you possibly like them?"

"I like enormous," said Astrið as she wiggled into the dress.

"But you must have the biggest chest in the world now, at least for someone who isn't a giant!"

"You say that like it would be a bad thing."

"It would!"

"Mm, not to me. But anyway, I definitely don't. You remember the friend of a friend I mentioned who can help you with your chest? Wait until you see hers." She finished putting on the dress. It fit her perfectly except for the chest, which was, incredibly, too tight. They bulged out from the neckline (which was entirely too low for Synnøva's taste anyway), smooth, twin hills of purple, contrasting sharply with the white fabric. Astrið looked at herself in the mirror next to the wardrobe, and her eyes went wide.

"You see? They're immense!"

"They are, aren't they?" There was a little catch in Astrið's voice as she said it, a wavering, as if she was in awe of her own body. She touched them, running a finger down the crevice of her cleavage (there was a lot of it), and Synnøva actually saw her shiver. "Well! It's a bit showy, bit it covers everything that needs to be covered." She turned on her heel, then stumbled, because moving so suddenly had caused their weight to shift. They wobbled mightily, and she steadied them with her arms. "Wow... That will take a bit of getting used to. Are you ready to go?"

"Are you? Do you want to... I don't know, talk to the healer about those?"

"There's nothing that he'd be able to do about them even if I wanted him to."

"Well, I suppose that's true," said Synnøva bitterly. If it wasn't, she wouldn't have to have called Astrið here in the first place. "I will call some of my father's guards to accompany us. Halvar's never been all that skilled with that sword of his, but he was good enough to nearly kill Ulv with it, and he's impulsive enough that I wouldn't put it past him not to try assaulting me again if we should run into him on the streets somehow."

"Please, my lady, give me some credit. He caught me off-guard the first time, but that won't happen again. I can defend you better than twelve guards could." Astrið was, as she said this, pressing her hands into her breasts from below and watching them bounce with a giddy smile on her face.

"Forgive me, but you seem a bit distracted at the moment."

"You think so?" She winked at her, and all of a sudden the air around Synnøva hummed. Astrið took a pillow from her bed and threw it at her. "Catch!"

Before the pillow even came within arm's reach it changed course in mid-air, flying suddenly away from her with even more force than it had been thrown with originally. It bounced off of a bedpost and fell to the floor.

"That will repel anything that comes near you. Pillows, swords, arrows, even most spells."

Synnøva crossed her arms over her chest. "Alright. Impressive, I'll grant you, but how long can you maintain it?"

"The longest I've ever done it for was seven hours, but I think that I could do it for longer if I had to." She was already touching her own breasts again, running her fingers over the lines where they bulged out from her dress.