Tales of the Apprentice 01 Ch. 02

She nodded.

"That's how it usually works. And that's also what makes it so dangerous."

"Dangerous? How?"

"Galen, your spirit lives inside your body. That's not nearly all there is it, of course, but for now it will serve as a description. The problem is that if the spirit leaves the body in that way, it doesn't always find its way back. It doesn't always want to. But the body cannot live without the spirit. As soon as the spirit leaves the body, death is only a matter of time."

"So... Do you mean I was dying?"

"In a way. If your spirit had been lost, your body would have died in a day or two at most."

"But I wasn't alone. At least, I don't think I was."

Suddenly her eyes held his.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I'm not sure how to describe it." He hesitated. "There was a... presence. Not a person, but... It was something else, something bigger. It was all around me. Inside me, even..."

She gave him another sharp look.

"What did it feel like?" she asked.

"It was... It felt like light. Warm. Golden. It was everywhere."

She nodded slowly.

"Yes," she said. "She is. What you sensed was the Great Mother herself. Or rather, one of her aspects. She takes many forms. She is life itself, Galen. She surrounds us, she permeates us, she sustains us. All life springs from her."

"So how did I leave my body? Was it the Great Mother who did that?"

"I'm not entirely sure. You shouldn't be able to do this on your own. Not yet." She looked at him, her eyes boring into his.

"That's not all of it, is it?" she asked finally. "Tell me the rest."

He nodded slowly. And he told her of what he had seen: the darkness, the citadel, the hall, the men, the altar, the woman, the knife. Her face went white as he spoke, and she shivered in spite of the morning's summer warmth. When he had finished, she sat there in thought for a few long moments. His description was hauntingly familiar: the images of a dark citadel that she had seen in her own Vision had not been this vivid and detailed, but there was no doubt in her mind that hers and Galen's were one and the same.

What did this mean? She wasn't sure, but one thing was clear at the very least: the pace of Galen's training would have to be stepped up.

"The Great Mother showed you this for a reason," she said finally. "I need to think about this. How do you feel?"

"Well... Confused, more than anything, I guess."

"But physically? Any dizziness, weakness, nausea?"

"No. I feel fine."

"Good. Then I suppose there's no reason why you shouldn't continue working for the rest of the morning. But don't stare at anything for too long, and if you start to feel distracted or light-headed, close your eyes until it passes and then come inside immediately. Do you understand me?"

He nodded, a little taken aback by the intensity of her words. He rose, took his cup from beside the water pail and dipped it in. Dutifully he took the little vial from his pocket and added a few drops of the tonic she'd given him before he drank. Then he took the hoe from where he'd left it and returned to the garden.

Serana watched him thoughtfully. What had happened carried great significance, she felt sure, but exactly how she couldn't say. There was no doubt in her mind that this was a message from the Great Mother, but it was entirely possible that it had been meant for her, as much as it had been for him. At any rate, it did tell her that whatever was to come, Galen would play a significant role in it. The Great Mother would not have worked through him if it were otherwise.

Should she induce another Vision? Maybe. But she already knew that she should be focusing her efforts on his training right now. And while she continued to grow stronger as his Energies continued to sustain her, she was still dependent on them. Perhaps it was time for them to start working closer together.

She rose from the bench and stepped into the kitchen. It was lunchtime anyway, and a few more preparations might not hurt. She opened one of the cupboards and selected a few rather special herbs before putting a pot of water on to boil. What she had in mind just might tax his stamina a little.

The midday meal she prepared for both of them was light, and it was followed by several cups of the strange tasting herbal tea that had been brewing while they ate. Galen was not surprised when she told him to start a bath for her before taking the dishes to the scullery. He was even less surprised when she returned somewhat later, smelling of fresh soap and a flowery hint of something else, and wearing her white robe.

"Put the gardening tools away for the day, Galen," she told him. "Then go bathe, and meet me outside the kitchen when you're done."

He did as he was told, holding his questions. She was sitting on the bench in front of the cottage when he returned. Wordlessly she gestured him to sit down beside her, and he did. She was silent for a few long moments before she spoke.

"I'm not sure exactly what happened this morning," she finally began. "Not yet. We must find out, of course. But that will take some work, and we'll have to take it one step at a time."

"Alright," Galen said. "Tell me what you need me to do."

She looked at him, saw the way he trusted her. She was grateful. That would make things a lot easier. He was such a good lad. He would not let her down. And she must not let him down. She couldn't. She hoped the Great Mother would see to it that she wouldn't.

"You have been masturbating twice a day since you moved in here," she said calmly. "That little vial of oil I gave you must be almost empty by now."

Wordlessly, he nodded.

"So here's a new one," she continued as she handed it to him. "This one's a little stronger. You will find it more... challenging, I think. I'd like you to give it a try right now. Take off your clothes."

He stared at her.

"Here?" he finally asked.

"Yes, Galen, here," she said calmly. "Here. If I had wanted you to take off your clothes inside the house, I would have taken you there. Instead we're here. So take off your clothes. Here."

"But..."

The look in her eyes shut him up. He put the vial of oil on the bench and began to undo his tunic.

"What if anyone sees us?" he asked as he hung it on the peg by the kitchen door.

"Nobody will. It's part of the spell that keeps me young. My unnatural youth would almost certainly attract some unwanted attention, if it weren't for the fact that the spell discourages that sort of thing. It also protects the house and the area around it, and everything and everyone included in it. If someone walks past, they just won't be interested. If anyone sees us at all, they simply won't notice anything out of the ordinary, and they won't remember any of it as soon as they've passed. Not that many people come this way to begin with, of course. I promise you that we'll be safe from prying eyes here."

"Ehm... Alright."

He took a deep breath, then removed his hose and hung it on the peg.

"Your breechcloth, too, Galen."

He did as she had said. Putting the garment on the bench beside him so it was still in easy reach, he sat down next to her.

"You look uncomfortable," she said. "You shouldn't. Nudity and sex are both natural things, and this is a natural place. Houses are artificial. While they are comfortable and safe, they also remove us from nature, and right now we need to be as close to the natural world as we can be. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

"Good. Now masturbate for me."

"What?"

"You heard me, Galen. I want you to masturbate. Right here, right now. You've been doing it twice a day since you moved in. I know it's usually done in private, but you've got to stop thinking of it that way. You're going to do it in front of me quite regularly from now on, and almost certainly in front of others as well at some time in the future."

He looked at her, apparently at a loss for words.

"Galen," she said patiently, "I've fondled your balls and sucked on the head of your cock until you came in my mouth, and that was only for starters. At this point there's not much left to be embarrassed about, wouldn't you say?"

He smiled.

"Well, if you put it that way..."

"I do. Unless you know of a better way to put it."

He shook his head.

"Good," she continued. "And I hope you understand that there are good reasons for what I'm asking you to do. First of all, I need to see how your skills have developed. There are other reasons as well, but we'll get to those in a little while."

He nodded slowly.

"Alright," was all he said.

He slightly spread his legs as he reached down between them, and with the tips of his fingers he began to caress the shaft of his flaccid cock. His movements were slow and his touch was light, but she could tell that he completely focused on the feelings it gave him. As she watched his cock began to respond to his touch, growing longer, then thicker. With practiced ease he encouraged it, and it swelled and swelled, then began to grow rigid. The tip of it began to extend beyond the foreskin, until suddenly the skin rolled back past the crown, leaving the head exposed. With every beat of his heart more of his blood filled it, and it began to rise, all the while growing harder, larger, more and more rigid. Before long it stood up hard and proud, gently nodding with his pulse, and the swollen head was shiny with the pressure within.

Once again Serana couldn't help looking at it in admiration. He had such a nice cock. So hard, so straight, and just the right size... But these weren't thoughts she should entertain right now. She would be able to indulge herself in a little while, though, before the real work started.

Holding his throbbing shaft with one hand, Galen took the little vial of oil with the other and used his thumb to pop off the stopper. Holding the vial above the head of his cock he carefully tilted it until a drop of oil ran out of it and fell on his engorged flesh. A second one, a third... He put the vial down next to him on the bench and replaced the stopper before spreading the oil across his most sensitive part. The head of his cock, which had already been shiny with tension, now glistened in the sunlight as the oil coated it.

Inwardly, Serana smiled. Any moment now...

"What... Ooooaaaahhhhh!"

He gasped when he felt the effect of the oil on his most sensitive flesh. She had been right: the effect was stronger than before. A lot stronger. The rather exotic ingredients in the oil were intended to spread a warm, almost tingling sensation through the head of his cock, the shaft, through the root and into his balls, and from the looks of it its efficacy left little to be desired. He shook as if a jolt of pure pleasure shot through him, and for a moment he looked like he was close to losing control, but he fought to hang on to it, and somehow he managed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath until the danger had passed. It had been the surprise more than anything else that had brought him so perilously close to the edge.

He took a firm hold of his now rock-hard shaft with the one hand, pulled down the skin, and began to stroke the head with his other hand, lubricated by the oil. He moved his palm in a slow, gentle motion, paying special attention to the ridge and the area just below it. Gradually his breathing began to deepen.

Serana nodded in approval. His technique was good, and she could see how he managed to keep himself at the proper level of arousal as his cock swelled even further under his stroking hand, the shaft growing slightly thicker and even harder than it already was, the bulbous, engorged head swelling up even more than before and turning a deep red, then almost purple as the pressure within it built and built. Gradually his strokes changed, becoming lighter, more subtle and more precise as he kept himself right there at the edge, but not yet allowing himself to climax.

With some effort she dragged her attention away from the temptations of his flesh and turned her Vision inward. In the darkness behind her closed eyes she could see the blue cloud of his Energy burning brightly within him. He controlled it well, she noted, although he was not yet able to manipulate it, of course. That would come later. However, there seemed to be a small imbalance somewhere. Nothing too serious, but it shouldn't be there at all...

His Energy continued to build within him, until she suddenly understood what was going on. She smiled ruefully. She should have known... It was only natural for him, after all.

"Galen," she said. "Don't think of me. Focus on your Energy instead. Fantasies of me won't help you at this point, you know."

He groaned softly, and she saw him struggle to keep himself under control. The blue cloud of his Energy suddenly expanded, but he managed to get hold of it and forced it back into its proper place, its proper dimensions. Serana had to admit that she was rather impressed with his efforts. He was good, there was no doubt about that, and both his skills and his control had improved markedly. More than that, he had both the aptitude and the attitude, and those are things that can never be taught.

As his Energy built more and more, she could see the moment approaching when he would have to let go. She couldn't help sneaking a peak at his face as he got closer and closer to that inevitable point of no return. He had his eyes closed, and his breathing, while controlled, was deep and labored as he continued to stroke himself, slowly but mercilessly, until his teeth clenched with the effort of holding in his moans. Within him she saw his Energy rise and rise, and she expected it to erupt any moment now.

But somehow he managed to hold it for another few long moments, until his body grew tense and he let out a long, low "OooooohhHHH!!!" when his pleasure simply would not be contained any longer. His body shook as his fist gripped his rock-hard shaft, and his fingers blurred as they moved up and down across the purple, swollen head, sliding back and forth across the crown...

Then he groaned as a huge spurt of cum, thick and white, blasted out of him. It traveled at least three feet before hitting the ground in front of him, and the next spurt was even more powerful. He gasped as his cock pulsed and pulsed, shooting out one thick rope of cum after another. Even considering that her herbal preparations had obviously not failed to have their effect on him, Serana was impressed by how far he shot his cum, and how much of it there was. But the outburst of Energy that she expected didn't come. With her inner Vision she saw how he held it inside him, tightly controlled, tightly compressed. Yet it continued to feed his release somehow, and he shuddered with the intensity of his climax.

Finally his body began to relax a little, and she watched with amazement how the Energy within him seemed to dissipate. But where did it go? It took her some effort before her Vision revealed to her what was happening: his Energy was still inside him, but less concentrated. It was diluted somehow, but it continued to permeate him without being released. Any young man such as he would simply have expended his Energy in such an orgasm, releasing it without being even aware of what he was throwing away, but Galen somehow managed to conserve it. It he hadn't, she would have noticed his progress long ago, because a release of such an intensity would never have gone unnoticed to anyone with even the least bit of sensitivity to the Energies. But he had progressed further than she had thought possible, and she had managed to miss is completely.

She watched him as he sat there, panting, his cock slowly shrinking a little, but not much, not yet, which she knew had a lot to do with the herbal mixtures she had made him drink so liberally over the past few months. She smiled at him when he finally opened his eyes.

"Not bad," she complimented him. "Not bad at all."

She dipped a cup into the pail of water standing next to them and handed it to him. He took it and drank. Slowly his eyes refocused and his breathing grew normal again.

"Alright," he said finally. "So what's next?"

Serana laughed; a light, musical sound. For some reason she suddenly felt lighter than she had before, and she felt the first twinges of anticipation within her.

"You play a good solo," she said. "Next, my young and eager apprentice, we'll see how well you do in a duet."

"You mean..."

"Yes, Galen, I do. And before we're done you'll be singing in a choir as well, trust me. But that's something for much later. First things first. If you're going to be a sex mage one day, you must learn about sex, and right now that means you and me."

She stood, went into the kitchen and returned after a few moments with a rolled blanket. She put it on the bench, parted the front of her robe and took it off. As she turned to hang it on the peg that already held his tunic and hose, she felt his eyes on her. She held the pose for a few long moments, and even though she had her back to him, she could feel his eyes on her.

"Staring is impolite, Galen," she said, but the tone of her voice robbed her words of any sting they might have had.

Inwardly, Serana was delighted. His admiring looks told her everything she wanted to know. It had been too long since men had looked at her that way, far too long. She felt excitement bubbling up inside her, no matter how much she told herself that it was inappropriate. Yes, she should be focusing on educating her apprentice right now, but it had been so long, and she could not help looking forward to this afternoon's exercise.

Slowly she turned, making sure he would get a good eyeful of her profile as she did so. The high, round shapes of her buttocks; her slender waist, the firm fullness of her breasts with their softly curving tops and their full, plump undersides; the slenderness of her waist; the curves of her hips... As his gaze wandered across her body she felt her nipples harden with joy, and between her legs a familiar warmth began to build.

But that wouldn't do. She was going to have to control herself, right now, before she let herself get completely out of hand. Taking a deep breath and making a conscious effort to get a grip on herself, she finished her turn, looked at him and smiled.

"I'd ask you if you like what you see, but it looks like you've already answered that question."

His face reddened as her gaze pointedly dwelled on his erection, which had began to flag a little after his recent orgasm but now suddenly reasserted itself. A small drop of his cum still hung from its tip, glistening in the sunlight.

"Don't worry, Galen," she said. "And don't be embarrassed. In a situation like this, an erection is the most sincere compliment a man can give a woman."

"You are... so beautiful," he managed.

"Why, thank you," she said, looking down. "And it looks like you're ready, so I think it's time we continued. Come."

She held out her hand and he stood, his hard cock standing up straight and proud before him. For a wild, undisciplined moment she was tempted to take his cock in her hand and lead him by it, but he held her hand firmly, and she felt slightly amused about the way he unwittingly protected herself from her naughtier impulses. A part of her was slightly concerned about how much out of control she felt, what with all the excitement and joy bubbling up in her, but another part of her couldn't care less.

She led him down the gentle slope at the edge of the kitchen garden, where the grass was thick and tall and the trees provided some shade from the heat of the afternoon sun. She spread the blanket and knelt down on it. For a moment his hard cock was only inches away from her face and she fought own the impulse to grab it, take it into her mouth and suck it. Great Mother, how much she wanted to... But that would have to wait.