Tales of the Apprentice 01 Ch. 07

Tales of the Apprentice - Book 1

Chapter 7

Serana was sitting at the table in the living room, holding her tea cup. Slowly she inhaled the sweet herbal aroma before taking a sip, and she savored the flavor of it. The warmth of it ran down into her body with every sip, soothing her inner turmoil.

Great Mother, she was getting too old for all this.

The journey had taken more out of her than she had expected. It had been quite a while since she had traveled, and she had not grown any younger since. More than anything she longed for rest, for peace and quiet, and for a chance to live out her days tending her vegetable patch until she would return to the earth from which all things sprang. But she couldn't rest now. The Great Mother had given her a task, and she would complete it; there was no question about that. But she wished it could have been someone else.

She found a sigh without looking for one. She felt as if her work had just become a lot more complicated. Something had changed. She knew it, even before Irya and Galen returned to the room. Galen was frowning; Irya looked troubled.

"Are you alright, Serana?" Galen asked. "You look tired."

Serana tried to smile, but she didn't quite manage. The lad was right. She felt exhausted. Great Mother, she felt like she could sleep for a year. Or forever.

"Well?" Ayden asked, looking at Irya with an amused look on his face.

Irya smiled.

"He'll do," she said.

"High praise," Ayden said dryly.

Irya chuckled. Then her expression became more serious.

"There is something we need to discuss, though," she said.

Silently, Serana rose and poured herself another cup of tea. Then her eyes found Galen's.

"So what happened?" she asked him.

"I, ehm... I'm not sure."

"Don't feel uneasy about it, lad," Ayden said. "Speak freely. Jealousy has no place in sex magic. Or embarrassment, for that matter. We should all be comfortable with each other."

"He's right, Galen," Serana said, her voice weary. "Irya wanted to find out for herself what your current skills are when it comes to giving a woman an orgasm, and it looks like you didn't disappoint her, or at least not too much. But something else happened as well, didn't it? We need to know what it is. So tell us. All of it. Details are important here, Galen."

"You'll get used to it, lad," Ayden said. "We have to be able to discuss these things frankly among ourselves. Serana already knows you quite intimately, and Irya and I have been giving one another orgasms for centuries in more ways than you could possibly imagine, so there's very little you can say that will surprise any of us. Did she take your cock in her mouth? I hope she did. She's great at that. I love the way she puts her lips around it and then she finds just the right places with her tongue before she begins to suck..."

"Ehm... No... She didn't," Galen stammered, taken aback by the other man's directness.

"Oh? Well, you're still in for a treat then, believe me. So what did she do?"

"Well, we, ehm... That is to say, she..."

"Oh, get on with it, Galen," Serana snapped. "You came to me, remember? If you want to learn about sex magic, do what it takes. Don't dawdle. Or have you changed your mind about wanting to be a mage?"

But when she saw the look on Galen's face she regretted the harshness of her words. Why was she feeling so out of sorts? For some reason the countless centuries weighed heavier on her today than ever before, and she resented that. But that wasn't his fault. And yet something within her blamed him for it. It didn't make sense, and that only made her irritation worse.

"Very well," Galen said with a lets-get-it-over-with look on his face. "You want details? Fine. She got into the tub with me. She used her hand until I had an orgasm. But after that my cock stayed hard. Very hard. That's never happened to me before, not like that. Then she sat on the rim of the tub and I licked her until she came. She got back into the water and I went inside her. We both came at the same time. Then we cleaned ourselves up and here we are. Is that good enough for you?"

"It's a little concise perhaps, but it's a start," Ayden said calmly as he looked at Irya and smiled.

"I trust you didn't rush things quite that badly, my love," he chuckled.

"Not really, no," Irya said. "But Serana is right: there is a bit more to it than that."

She gave the other woman a long look.

"Are you sure you're alright, Serana?" she asked.

"Of course I am," Serana said curtly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Go look in a mirror, dear. There's one in our bedroom."

Serana sighed. Why couldn't they all just leave her alone? She was getting to old for this ridiculous nonsense. Suddenly she felt like walking away from it all, just to have a little peace and quiet.

"Go on," Irya insisted. "Or shall I bring the mirror here?"

"Whatever," Serana grunted.

Wordlessly, Ayden got up, stepped into the bedroom and returned with a small hand mirror. He handed it to Irya, who held it up before the other woman's face.

"Look, Serana," Irya insisted.

Serana looked, more to be rid of all this nonsense than for any other reason. But when she did, she realized with a shock that something was wrong here. Very wrong. The face she saw reflected in the mirror had aged at least ten years since she went to sleep last night. Or was it closer to twenty?

"I see what you mean," she said slowly. "I'm sorry. I thought I was just tired. I felt irritable. But this..."

"This fits right in," Irya said. "What just happened was that Galen didn't release any of his Energies during either one of his orgasms. Or rather, he immediately reabsorbed what he released. And not just that; he absorbed mine as well. He should be bursting at the seams with it right now, but he isn't. And now you're being drained somehow as well. I think we can rule out coincidence here.

"But..." Galen protested. "I didn't do anything!"

"Not consciously," Ayden corrected him. "But what's happening right now is very much like what Raven described when he mentioned the effects of the spells that had been laid upon him. In fact it looks to be exactly the same thing."

"You mean it's contagious?" Galen asked in disbelief.

"No...." Ayden said slowly. "That's not how spells work. It's not that simple. I'm thinking there might have been more to that warding spell we encountered last night than we realized. When we tried to examine the nature of the enchantment, we obviously triggered some sort of defensive reflex. And you were the one closest to him when we set off whatever it was. I'm talking about physical proximity here, of course. It had enough of an effect on you to trigger a nightmare. It looks like it did more to you than just that, though."

"So I'm now under the same spell as Raven?"

Ayden thought for a moment.

"That's putting it a little inaccurately, but yes, in a way you are currently under the same influence, at least as far as the absorption of life force is concerned."

"Then why is it affecting Serana so badly? You and Irya are fine... Are you?"

"Oh, we'll also be affected soon enough, Galen, if we don't do anything about it. Serana is simply the first to show the symptoms. You have a certain bond with her, and she's already spent a lot of time with Raven. That, on top of everything else....

Serana smiled a tired smile. Her old friend was always so considerate.

"What he's so politely trying not to say, Galen, is that I'm about ten times as old as anyone else I know," she said. "I don't exactly have a lot of reserves left at this point."

Galen stood up.

"I'm going to have to leave, then," he said resolutely. "I'm endangering you all."

Serana put her hand on his arm and managed a smile.

"My dear boy," she said. "Thank you. But you shouldn't go. There are other ways, and you know that. In fact, this is probably the enchantment talking. I suspect that a part of it is intended to isolate you. Most likely that is why Raven left."

Ayden nodded.

"That sounds about right," he agreed. "But we can analyze it later. Right now the enchantment will have to be removed. The sooner the better."

"Let me have a look first," Irya said, rising from her chair. "Galen, come here, please."

She stood close to him, put her arms around him and pulled him tightly against her.

"Relax. This will only take a moment."

She held him, and Galen felt her Energy coming off her in waves, enveloping him, engulfing him. How did she do that?

Then she released him and nodded.

"You were right, Ayden. He's absorbing," she said. "And judging from the strength of the flow, it will take all three of us to fix this."

Ayden looked thoughtfully at Serana. She looked back at him and smiled ruefully, then she slowly nodded. He was right: she was in no shape to do anything right now.

"So what do you think, old friend?" she asked. "How shall we do this?"

"You know that as well as I do," Ayden said calmly.

"Yes," Irya said. "We'll have to restore your Energies before we can do anything else."

She looked at Galen and thought for a moment.

"Galen," she said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you were at least partially right. It would probably be best if we got some physical distance between you and Serana for the next hour or two, if that's alright with you."

Galen nodded.

"Of course. I'll do anything you need. I never wanted to be a problem..."

"You're not," Ayden told him. "This enchantment is the problem. But it seems to work as a factor of proximity. The closer you are, the stronger its effect. So if you are here, absorbing our Energies while we are trying to restore hers..."

Galen nodded.

"That makes perfect sense," he said. "When should I return?"

"Two hours should do it," Irya said. "And you don't have to go far."

"I'll just go for a ride, then," Galen said. "It's a beautiful day for it."

He looked at Serana.

"Take good care of her, please."

Irya smiled at him.

"Always," she promised.

Galen looked as if he was about to say something else, but instead he turned and resolutely walked out the door.

"He is such a good boy," Serana said with sudden tears in her eyes.

"A little more than a boy, I think," Ayden told her. "He's a good man."

Irya nodded.

"Definitely", she agreed. "He still lacks experience, but his enthusiasm more than makes up for it."

Serana smiled.

"Yes. I have noticed that a few times myself," she agreed.

Ayden chuckled.

"That's not what I meant, dear ladies. But speaking of such things..."

"Let's use our bedroom," Irya told him. "The bed's much larger."

Ayden nodded and held out his hand to Serana. She took it and let him help her up. Just feeling her old friend's arm support her as he led her to the bedroom gave her some strength. She was in good hands, no matter what.

Irya had been right: the bed she shared with Ayden was large indeed. Serana approved. A couple of sex mages would of course need a proper workbench to practice the Arts, and this would do nicely. Ayden closed the bedroom door, then reached out of the window to close the shutters while Irya lit a single candle. Serana smiled wanly at the memories it all brought back.

"How long has it been since three of us last did this?" she asked.

"Too long," Ayden replied. "I trust we haven't forgotten any of it, though."

He began to unfasten his tunic. Irya walked over to the bed and began to remove Serana's dress.

"You really should try one of mine, dear," she said as she helped the other woman out of her serviceable woolen garment. "Mine are so much more comfortable, and they fit our climate. It's really much more practical that way."

As if to prove her point, she raised the hem of the light, thin dress she wore and lifted it, then took it off in one smooth movement. She wore nothing underneath. She put all clothing on a chair in the corner, then took Ayden's tunic, hose and breechcloth.

Serana smiled at the sight of her friends, standing there naked in the warm light of the single candle that dimly lit the room. They didn't look bad for their age. Not bad at all.

"Well?" Ayden asked with a smile, as if he could read her thoughts.

Serana smiled at him. He did look good. His body, like his face, was a curious mixture of youth and maturity. On the one hand it had some of the vigor of youth, while on the other there was the reassuring presence of capability and experience that come with age. She had known many male sex mages in her life, but among all of them he was special, and not just because he was a good friend. While he wasn't exactly muscular, his arms and hands were strong. Although the hair on his chest was gray, his skin was unwrinkled. While his stomach was flat and hard, his touch was soft and caring.

And Irya... She could never look at Irya without feeling both admiration and good-natured envy. What an amazing body that woman had! She was petite without being small, lithe without being thin, voluptuous without having any excess fat on her, and what little padding she had was all in exactly the right places and there was just enough of it. Her beautiful figure somehow always seemed to show off her best features: her narrow waist, her beautifully shaped and perfectly proportioned breasts, the smooth curve of her hips and the round swell of her buttocks.

"You'll do," Serana chuckled, repeating Irya's earlier words about Galen.

"I'm so glad," Ayden said dryly. "Irya, how do you think we should go about this?"

Irya thought for a moment.

"I think I'll get you ready," she said slowly. "Serana should probably expend as little energy as possible. Can you take care of yourself, dear?"

Serana smiled and nodded.

"I'm sure I'll manage. I've done it before, once or twice."

"Good," Irya chuckled, walking over to the bedside drawer and opening it. "Feel free to use whatever you need."

Serana's little collection of tools-of-the-trade had always been rather modest: a sable brush, a feather and her beloved glass dildo had been all she'd needed for more centuries than she cared to remember. Irya preferences obviously ran along different lines, if the contents of her drawer were anything to go by. There were several dildos in various shapes and sizes, beautifully carved from exotic woods and smoothly lacquered, as well as brushes, feathers, pieces of leather with tassels on them and with holes in various places. There was also an interesting object made from a soft, malleable material she didn't recognize. On the one end it was cylindrical and smooth, the other end was studded with small, rounded nubs. She took it out of the drawer and examined it.

"Interesting," she said. "Now if I only knew what or how..."

Irya laughed.

"It's really one of my favorites," she said. "The smooth end goes inside you. When it's in place the nubs rub you across all the right spots. I'm sure you can work it out."

"But what is it made of?"

"A lot of things," she said. "But mainly it's the sap of a certain tree that grows many leagues south of here. The sap is mixed with some other things and then cooked before being cast into a mold. When it cools it becomes stretchy and springy like this. It feels really good."

"Right," Ayden said, rubbing his hands in a workman-like fashion. "Enough technicalities for now. Shall we get down to business?"

Irya gave Serana an amused, long-suffering look.

"That's Ayden for you. Ever the romantic."

Serana laughed. While she was still as weak and tired as he had been since early this morning, she already felt better, knowing that her oldest friends were here for her and how well they were able to handle this. Everything would be alright soon.

She took a thick, soft long-haired brush from Irya's drawer and moved over to give her friends some room on the bed. Ayden lay down on his back next to her. Irya walked over to the side of the bed and held out her hand. He took it to steady her as she straddled his face, facing his feet. Serana turned and lay down on her side, watching the two them while she gave her pussy its first gently caress with the brush. She wasn't really in the mood for any form of sensuality right now, weak and tired as she felt, but with the self-discipline that makes a sex mage what she is she focused on her most sensitive spots and began to persuade them to respond to her touch.

Irya glanced at her and smiled before bending down and taking Ayden's flaccid cock in her hand. She began to stroke it, softly and gently, and under her expert caresses it only took moments before it began to swell and harden. She gently ran her fingertips across his balls, and his cock responded by swelling even more rapidly. It wasn't long before it stood up proudly, large and hard in her hand.

He still had quite a good one, Serana thought as she felt herself begin to respond to what was going on right before her eyes. It was beautiful: straight, just the right size and, as she knew from past experience, both hard as steel and soft as velvet. Not quite like Galen's, though. He had such a nice cock, too. There was something very special about that young man... Now why was she thinking that? With some effort she forced her focus back on the here and now.

Irya, meanwhile, had slowly parted her thighs to lower herself upon Ayden's face until his mouth touched her pussy. He put a loving kiss on it before he began to lick it, slowly and gently, while the palms of his hands caressed the swell of her buttocks. Serana smiled when she saw how his lips, tongue and hands quickly found Irya's most sensitive spots as they moved with that relaxed competence that comes only with long experience. Irya's fingers, meanwhile, stroked his rigid cock, which was much larger now than it had been before. Her fingertips lightly caressed the hard shaft, tracing delicate patterns across the blue-veined skin to trace those points she knew would do him the most good, and her thumbs gently caressed the exposed head. These two were not just experienced sex mages but also old, old lovers, both familiar and comfortable with each other's bodies.

Irya's breathing deepened as Ayden's fingers probed between her nether lips and gently parted them to give is tongue access to their insides. Slowly, taking his time and obviously enjoying what he did, he ran his tongue across the velvety surfaces that hid between those delicate folds. Then he extended his tongue until the tip of it found her entrance and began to draw slow, gentle circles there.

Irya's body shuddered gently as his tongue found her pleasure button. She closed her eyes for a moment, obviously savoring the feelings that his tongue sent through her most sensitive spots. Then she smiled and looked down on his hard cock, which visibly nodded in her hands with every beat of his heart. She bent down until her lips touched the engorged, bulbous head and placed a gentle kiss on it. It twitched at the contact, and her smile grew broader.

She began to lick the object of her desire, running her tongue around it, then down along the length of the shaft until she reached his balls, teasing the skin of his sac with the tip of her tongue. Then she moved up again, slowly and fondly licking his hard shaft with slow, gentle swipes. His breathing changed when her tongue reached the underside of the head.

As she reached the tip of his cock she took his shaft more firmly in her hand and let her lips slide down around the head. Slowly she took him further until she had the engorged, bulbous knob completely inside her mouth and her lips grasped it behind the crown. Then she began to bob her head up and down, slowly, in a gentle and steady rhythm that spoke of love more than anything else.

Serana smiled as she saw how Ayden involuntarily moved his hips in response to his lover's oral caresses. While her own ministrations with the brush had not had all that much effect so far, she now felt her body respond to this display of loving intimacy: her nipples slowly grew firmer and she felt the first tinglings of arousal between her thighs. She carefully probed between her nether lips with the tip of her finger. Feeling the first traces of moisture there, she knew she would be ready when the moment came. This time she would be completely on the receiving end of it, so all she had to do was simply to accept what Ayden and Irya were about to give her. Still, it would help a lot if she were in the right frame of mind, and that she could do: long experience as a sex mage and the help of her two most loved friends, not to mention the memories of the pleasures she had shared with both of them on many occasions, would be more than sufficient.