Mageslayer Ch. 02

Author's note: First off, I really want to thank everyone for the great support on chapter 1! It's really encouraging to get such a great response. Also to address a few comments I received, yes, Mageslayer is inspired by Toofy (as well as Myka's Tail). I was originally inspired to write it after talking with the author of Toofy, and while this chapter isn't as obvious with that inspiration, it will still be present. This chapter is longer, but also less erotic than the first, there is one sex scene later on in the chapter, but this chapter especially doesn't have much sex. Don't worry though, chapter 3 will make up for it! <3

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Lori was roused from her slumber as the scents of untamed wilds receded, no longer overpowering the rancid mage stench of her master. Gagging as she rose from the curled-up position she had taken in her sleep, her arms reflexively stretched outwards above her head, fingertips brushing against the hard wood of the carriage top. Eter was regarding her with a gentle, if curious gaze, looking up from some document he appeared to have been reading. "I trust you slept well?"

She returned his gaze with another gagging noise as she pinched her nose. A noble's aura she was used to, being stuck in a tight space with one was too much for her though, and she only barely held back from coughing up another hairball. "Lori was, until she could smell Eter again. She is going outside." she explained flatly before turning towards the carriage's door. A quick flick of her wrist left the door open, the moving landscape of farmland drifting by as she hopped outside, easily landing on her feet.

Lord Eter's objection was heard, but ignored by her sensitive ears. Lori would sooner declaw herself then go back into that carriage right now. While the sulfur and piss scent was far from gone, at least it wasn't making her nauseous now. A glance backwards showed the forest line they must have recently passed, and several startled mounted guards, one of the horses rearing back a few feet from her. A pulse of her own pink aura calmed the mounts, but one of the escorts glared at her.

Before he could acknowledge her, she turned and began walking to keep pace with the carriage, and the guards she disturbed also quickly returned to their positions relative to it. The man who was glaring at her then spoke, a thick and gruff voice, deeper than most humans. "You startled us cat, is everything alright?" despite his words, his voice carried no compassion or concern. He wasn't a mage, Lori could only barely smell his aura, weak and flickering as it was. Her fur still stood on end as she did catch the scent of cold iron on him.

He would likely be Lord Eter's guard captain then, no ordinary guard for a minor lord would carry the accursed metal on them. Even just standing close to it caused her fine fur to bristle and a slight sweat to appear on her brow. The rare metal was immutable by magic, as good as her own claws at cutting through it, and incredibly deadly to creatures like her. She didn't allow her voice to tremble though, and to all degree she had control over, kept her demeanor calm. He likely knew the effects cold iron could have on her, and knew she knew as well. She wouldn't let herself seem intimidated that easily.

"Lori just getting fresh air. She not appreciate Man calling her cat. She is his master's mistress." she spoke in a tone making clear that she wouldn't accept disrespect, but her ears still twitched as she heard a comment from another guard.

"I see our lord decided to buy himself a slut, bet she feels real nice." the offending guard had spoken in a whisper, leaning towards a comrade to make the comment. A bolt of magic force sent him from the back of his horse, hanging onto the side by virtue of his strapped in legs as the saddle shifted and his mount reared up, only further destabilizing him. He tried drawing a blade but dropped it just as quickly, and Lori couldn't help but laugh as she saw him flailing from the side of his horse, which after its initial surprise had begun to trot forwards once more, eventually letting him right himself after quite a bit of embarrassment on his end.

To the humans, it appeared as though he just lost his balance, unable to see magic like Lori could, but Lori's flicking tail and laughs made it clear to all she was involved.

"Lori will not be as nice next time." she said simply, a threat she planned on keeping if needed. This was enough to shut up the guards, including the captain, and she distanced herself slightly from the latter and the cold iron he kept. Keeping pace with the carriage was easy for her, when she needed to, she could match the speed of a horse at gallop, afterall. Soon the quality of the road they were traveling increased, and shortly after the estate of Lord Eter came to view.

The fields of farmland, presumably owned by the Lord stretched for at least a few miles behind her, before meeting the surrounding forest with a somewhat shoddy looking wooden stakewall. The land was poor, Lori could smell the scent of blight wafting along the farmland, and even without disease crops would struggle to grow in this soil. Lori could feel it, hard and lifeless, rocky and cold.

It was strange, that this land would make for such bad farmland, the surrounding area was rich and fertile, the strength of the scents she caught earlier were proof of that. Lori continued in silence towards the more noble collection of buildings, deep in thought about why the land may have been plagued when suddenly she caught a scent that answered for her. Floral and citrusy, with a hint of maple.

This land was the domain of a dryad then, she must have been displeased for some reason or another with her master, or at least those who toiled below him. She kept it in mind, planning to find the fae later. She already knew Eter's estate was failing, ridding the crops of their blight could only help. Lori allowed her mind to wander and contemplate as she and the carriage continued, allowing her ears to flatten against her head and tail to lower, swaying only a few inches above the ground.

When they did arrive properly, the expected fanfare occurred, several bowing guards and servants, with Lord Eter stepping gracefully out of the carriage, several younger looking men who smelled of dung unharnessing the horses and leading them to the stables, before doing similar with the mounts of the guards. The place smelled strongly of horse in fact, and the stables were large from what she could see, connected to the side of the manor that stood in front of her.

Lord Eter was glaring at her, and quickly made his way over, placing a hand on her shoulder before addressing any of his staff or retinue, speaking in a whisper only Lori would have been able to hear. "Do not embarrass yourself, you will show me and my estate some level of decency Lori. I do not wish to make myself seem a fool." his voice was stern, clearly he was upset, but Lori could only nod. It was hard enough to avoid gagging with him this close without talking. Thankfully, he withdrew, approaching a bowed man in servant's attire.

"Gabriel, let it be known that I have returned with a Mistress, Lady Lori of House Rose. Find a suitable handmaiden for her and ensure she is situated within the household. Is there any news you have for me?" Lori saw her master speak with authority she saw the servant seemed to respect. Presumably he was the head of staff, his aura wholly uninteresting and unreadable. He nodded his head and rose before speaking.

"Yes M'lord, while you were away Lord Zahle Azari sent a message by way of familiar. He requests a scrying audience with you as soon as you are able. If that will be all, I will attend to the Lady." he was lowborn, maybe even picked from the populace of this estate, his speech indicated as such at least. Young too, for a head of household, Lori guessed he was only in his third decade. Regardless, her master's face fell when he heard the news of Zahle seeking an audience with him.

Lori recognized the house name, Azari was a powerful house, contending for a council seat. They also believed all half fae should be executed on principle, which made them an enemy. It didn't seem like they were an ally to her master either based off his reaction, but he dutifully made his way into the manor, a hint of regret in his aura. Lori smiled to herself as she realized he had been intending to spend more time with her, but in truth some time to establish herself here would be a good thing.

As Eter departed, Gabriel approached her, making a smaller bow of respect before speaking. "I take it you are Lady Rose? Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Gabriel, head of the staff for Lord Eter's estate." He left the bow at this, to his credit speaking without hesitation, not questioning his lord's choice in mistress. Lori liked him, or at least didn't hate him, and she simply purred an affirmation of his first not actual question. Even if he seemed respectful and loyal to her master, Lori couldn't read his intentions or emotions with her aura sense, which naturally made Lori cautious.

Her ears perked and eyes narrowed slightly as she once more caught a scent of the dryad, stronger this time. Dryads were skilled at concealing their aura, but to someone with as keen an aura sense as Lori, they were detectable whenever they actively used magic. Lori glanced towards the direction of the smell to the confusion of Gabriel, and almost burst out laughing at the sight she was greeted with, which soon drew the gaze of everyone in the manor's courtyard.

The stables were engulfed in chaos as the horses all started bucking and whining, one of the larger ones seeming to have pushed an attendant aside to run free, practically trampling one of the guards in its wake. What Lori found most amusing though, was the cause of the chaos, invisible to the humans was a female figure in the nude with glimmering skin and forest green hair hanging down to her waist.

She was facing the stables, concentrating as her aura surged and waxed, but Lori still only barely managed to keep track of her, losing sight of her several times as she lost track of her aura. So that would be the dryad she had sensed earlier, and by the looks of it, she did have something against the humans here. Even though she was hard to track, as an untethered fae even a human could tell their emotions if they were aware of them. Some amusement at the chaos she was causing, but mostly anger and frustration, with a twist of fear. Lori sent out a magical prod at her, causing a sudden stop to the horses acting mad, and the female figure, still fading in and out of Lori's senses, to turn. When the dryad saw her, new emotions surged, hope, surprise, confusion, and especially curiosity.

The nature spirit allowed herself to properly appear to Lori. Untethered as she was, she was only an aura, and as such no human could see her. In this state Lori could tell she was faint, fading in presence, she must have been untethered for some time. As the dryad allowed herself to be found and perceived, Lori knew some of the weaker willed humans nearby would begin experiencing an empathic link with her, her own emotions influencing their own. "Good Neko, why are you at this accursed place? If brought here I can aid your escape." She spoke in faetounge smoothly in a way no human, or even Lori could. Despite that, Lori still replied in the language of the fae.

"Neko is Lori. She not want escape. This is her master's home, and Lori wants Dryad to stop fucking it." She winced as she spoke the language, the taste of blood in her mouth as her tongue sliced itself, moving in more directions than existed. Not as bad as fiendspeech, but for the non pure fae, speaking it properly was impossible, and speaking it at all was painful and draining. It wasn't permanently damaging for Lori as a half fae, but it stung and slightly drained her aura. Still though, its impossible sounds were inaudible to those who couldn't understand the language, and it would give an impression of weakness to the dryad were she not to speak it. Lori needed her to know that she was not broken or tamed by the humans.

The dryad cocked her head at this, taking a few steps towards Lori, who mirrored the action, Gabriel ignored for now. As he tried to address Lori she dismissed him with a wave, mentioning he should help with the horses, which was enough to get him to leave her alone. "You choose a human as your master? You do not sound of submission or corruption. I'm afraid I can't release the curse upon this land even if I wanted to. I am weakened greatly, and struggling to even stay in this realm." She spoke in a still crystal-clear voice, cutting through all other noises to reach Lori's ears.

"Lori know that, angry tree woman! Lori want oath. If she rebind Dryad, Dryad serve her for as long as live, and end stupid farm curse on Master's land." Lori practically spat out, or well, as close as she could get in the ancient language, managing to actually spit out a bit of blood as she spoke. Even if she wanted to continue this conversation, she couldn't, it was getting harder to speak and she could feel the flow of her own blood in her maw. Any more and she'd be mute until she recovered.

As for the dryad, she was surprised by the offer, curious about it, and that original hint of hope flared, large enough that it even made Lori feel a bit more optimistic. She was also unsure of how Lori intended to do that, but in her defense, so was Lori. To rebind a nature spirit the scale of a dryad, she'd need a point of binding, a large tree in the case of a dryad, a magic circle, and not one of those arcane human ones, the type used by druids, with big rocks and star alignment and other stuff Lori only half understood. And she'd need a second caster, and considering that druidic magic was strictly outlawed, and she only got away with it because she had legal immunity to it as a servant of the council, that would be hard. It's not like she wanted everyone to know she had circle magic either,

Eter knew of course, he had seen her dispel the binding on her collar, but even if technically it was legal for her, it wasn't exactly practical to explain that to a guard trying to kill her with a cold iron blade. Regardless, it was her best chance to end this land blight, and get herself an ally, she'd try to figure something out.

"I will agree to those terms, if you rebind me, I shall serve loyally." The dryad spoke with a nod and smile, before once more escaping Lori's senses. It was at this same time that the horses had been restabled, and the chaos died down, Lori noticing the guard captain from earlier berating one of the stable boys, but paying little mind to the strings of curses and insults as she noticed Gabriel once more approaching her, brushing some dirt from one of his tunic's sleeves. "Apologies about that Mistress Lori, I assure you such dis-" The young man dipped his head, showing a degree of formality and politeness Lori could hardly stand, and she interrupted him without hesitation.

"Lori don't care. Does he know where groundskeeper is? Lori need them." She spoke quickly, noticing him flinch as he was first interrupted, but quickly dipping his head once more, a mildly concerned, or confused look on his face, Lori found it hard to tell, allowing her tail to coil around her leg for a few moments, waiting his response.

"I can fetch Alexander for you, but first the Lord wished for me to show you your quarters and assign you a handmaiden." He informed with a calm demeanor, still formal despite the brashness of his lord's mistress. If Lori could talk with the groundskeeper, he could likely lead her to a suitable tree, and if she were lucky, a magic circle. The forest around them was certainly infused with quite a bit of primordial magic, and while the magocracy did destroy any magic circles they could, most didn't actually know what they looked like. Lori wasn't positive either, but figured she would be able to sense the magic of one, she could at least follow the scent of magic to find a suitable place to form one.

She knew some circle magic, mostly from instinct, but she was limited in her ability to study it, and the more technical details of it were simply lost on her, with enough time and books she may manage to form a magic circle, but it would be far from ideal.

"Lori pick her own handmaiden, and later. Need Alexander now." Lori insisted, and with a short moment of hesitation, Gabriel seemed to oblige her request, stepping away and presumably to grab the groundskeeper. Her attention quickly snapped as she heard the sound of a slap coming from near the stables, seeing a young woman seemingly knocked to the ground, clutching her cheek as the guard captain huffed, walking away. She looked perhaps 20, though Lori was surprised to think to herself that she was actually 19.

She had an aura then, not as strong as any mage she had encountered, weak enough that it passed by Lori's conscious attention, but she still could sense and read it. She was concerned for the younger stable boy who had been being abused earlier, and angry at the guard captain. The younger boy quickly came to her side, helping her up, speaking of thanks and apology.

The woman hugged him, picking him up gently off the ground and assuring him he, and she were okay. Love flashed across her aura, causing it to flare for a brief moment, but not the love of partners, the love of motherhood, or in this case based on age, likely sisterhood. After this surge, her aura receded enough to where Lori could no longer pick it up, as though she had only possessed magic for that brief moment of emotion. This puzzled Lori, the closest thing she had experienced was certain mages or magic creatures hiding their aura, but unless she possessed the skills of an archmage, it couldn't be that. Lori began to approach, uncoiling her tail as she listened to the end of their conversation.

"It's alright Sam, I'm not hurt, and neither are you. You didn't do anything wrong, Eric just lost his temper." she spoke in a sweet voice, stroking her brother's short black hair with one hand, embracing him with the other. The captain's name was Eric then, Lori took note as the siblings left the embrace, the younger brother going back to attending the horses. He smelled of dung unsurprisingly, but his sister smelled faintly floral. She almost certainly wasn't wearing perfume, and it wasn't the floral scents of certain magic. A gardener perhaps?

That would make the most sense. Regardless, Lori was curious, and that meant she would talk with her, the woman finally turning to look at the approaching neko, briefly surprised, before quickly stepping back in deference, recognizing that Lori would be the Lord's new mistress.

"Gardener girl, what should Lori call her?" She began simply, asking for a name as she glanced at her own hand, rubbing at some dirt wedged between her fingers.

"I'm Maddie, Mistress. Is there something you'd like from me?" she asked carefully, her voice hesitating for a brief period before answering. Was she nervous about something in particular, or just nervous in general? Without her aura it was hard to tell.

"Yes. Maddie has magic, but not like others, subtle, faded after she stopped being emotional." Lori didn't ask a question, but stated a fact, in a softened voice ensuring only she and Maddie would hear her words. She struck a nerve of some kind, as the woman's eyes widened and she sweat formed on her brow, Lori's ears perking at the sound of her swallowing before speaking again.

"Yes.... I... am not a powerful magic user... but I practice it." She spoke in a similarly hushed tone. Practicing arcane magic as a simple commoner, without tutorage of a proper mage was already illegal, but she was nervous enough that her aura once more flicked into sense, ironically being what allowed Lori to smell the fear the she'd be called on her bluff, meaning Lori did exactly that.