The Rise of the Spell Caster

Rhiannon stared at Jennifer for a long time with a bewildered look on her face before looking at everyone. "Honestly, I have no idea what she just said."

Daniel's party looked at one another. When they looked at Morgaine and Pwyll, they only saw equal confusion.

"Jennifer, can you repeat that?" asked Daniel.

She did and they saw the same response from the Night fae.

Bitty pulled at Daniel's hand and he looked down at her.

"They can't. It's more than a geas. It is inscribed in their very nature. It's like asking a person not to breathe. You could tell them until you were blue in the face. They will not hear the words. Their paths are set."

Daniel looked at Grace.

Bitty chuckled. "She's not Night fae or Light fae. She's more like Maeve. Don't you see?"

Suddenly Daniel understood.

The Circle gathered round Bitty as she spoke. "They are blind to what is happening. We can do nothing more here. Grace has her answers. I suspect, in time she will know what to do."

Daniel sank down to Bitty's level and looked her in the eyes. "Bitty? What do you know?"

Bitty looked abashed. "Not much. I've been putting it together and speaking with the other gnomes across our network. They all agree. We have witnessed and recorded all the fae wars and Maeve's actions for centuries. This is different. Someone has put the phoenixes into play. This has upset the balance. If we don't do something to stop this, the world will burn. With you, Daniel, as the match."

"For fuck's sake," swore Grace.

* * *

A week later, they were relaxing in the suite provided by Rhiannon to them. Grace spent time with her sister and mother talking every day, determined to get them to see reason. No matter how hard she tried, Grace could not get through to them. Frustrated, she returned to the suite and sat next to Daniel and started fumbling at his waistband.

"Um, Grace? What are you doing?" asked Daniel, doing nothing to stop her. His witches looked on with amusement. Daniel was already hard.

"I need this right fucking now."

"Okay."

"I can't get through to any of them. It's like I'm speaking gibberish! Do you know they're all prepped for war? All the engines and weapons are readied. They feast every night now. This only happens when the order to war is about to occur. War is coming and soon. It's way too early."

Jasmine was staring at Daniel's cock and licking her lips. "Okay, wow. Then we should go warn the King, no?"

"Yeah, Arbuckle needs to know. He needs to stay clear." Grace took Daniel's cock into her mouth and buried it down her throat. She swallowed around his bulbous head and Daniel moaned and thrust into her mouth.

"So, we're leaving?"

Grace popped his cock out of her mouth and stood up. She started working on her own pants. "Yeah. Soon. It may already be too late. Fuck, I need that inside me."

"So, we leave now?"

"As soon as I fuck you, yeah."

Just then blaring horns sounded across the Night fae realm, echoing through the tunnels until it was cacophony. Daniel looked at Grace in horror.

Grace swore. "It begins." She looked wistfully at Daniel's throbbing cock and started doing her pants back up.

Chapter Eleven

MORGAINE LENT THE Circle use of Night fae mounts to hasten their journey north to the realm of the humans. Jasmine had to be coerced to mount up in front of Daniel. The mounts looked like a cross between a lion and a tiger and were called ligers. They were pure black, with glossy fur, but their eyes glowed red and they had an unmistakable smell of burnt flesh about them.

The mounts were extremely nimble and easily ran down the mountain sides, leaping from outcrop to outcrop. Jasmine had long since stopped screaming in terror and lay back in Daniel's arm, whimpering. He felt bad for her, but time was of the essence.

Grace said it would take six days to reach Whitehaven to warn the King. Once they cleared the mountains, the ligers made excellent time, requiring little stopping time to refresh themselves. After two days, Daniel was sick of the motion. It was unlike any horseback ride. Brian was begging to be let off insisting he could quite easily walk the rest of the way.

They broke through a forest and out into a sprawling plain, with tall grasses. The ligers sped up and then Grace called out for a halt. It was unexpected and they travelled close to a mile before they were able to stop the ligers.

"What's going on?" asked Jason, scanning the area, and looking for threats.

Grace ignored him and looked around. Finally, she pointed to the east. "That way. Follow."

Grace led them at a much slower pace. Then she stopped and waited.

Up ahead a figure stood up and stared at them. Then a second figure stood beside it. Daniel could see them talking to one another and it seemed like they were arguing. The first figure raised what looked like a bow and waved it.

"Who's that?" asked Daniel.

Grace smiled. "Glenda and Roger. Come on." She urged her liger forward and it bolted toward the distant couple.

As soon as they reached them, they dismounted and gathered for a group hug. Kisses and back thumps went round and finally they just smiled at one another.

"Well met," said Roger. "How have you been?"

Grace replied for them. "Good, bad, and worse. The fae are at war. They march now."

Glenda covered her mouth in horror. "No! It's far too early!"

"Aye, it is," grunted Brian, rubbing his backside.

Roger cursed. "Whitehaven is only a few days behind us."

Grace wheeled on him. "Whitehaven? What do you mean?"

"The King is marching his army south. He blames the fae for the loss of the phoenix egg. He seeks to reclaim saying the fae cannot be trusted with it."

Grace stared at Roger dumbstruck. "That's not possible. They'll encounter the fae at war. It'll be a slaughter. For the humans, I mean. They can't hope to stand up to the fae armies."

Glenda clucked. "We know. We tried to warn him. He wouldn't listen. He's far too focused on that egg. It consumes him."

Grace sat down hard on the grass and held her head in her hands. "This is wrong. All of it! How can this be happening?"

Daniel looked to his witches. They looked scared and reflected his own fears back to him.

"What can we do?" asked Daniel.

Grace looked up at him. "We try to stop this."

"How?"

"How the fuck should I know? At least we know where they'll be. The Fields of Change."

* * *

The Fields of Change turned out to be a location between the Night and Light fae lands. It was a large area devoid of trees, hills, or mountains. It was a flat grassland that stretched for miles. No one dared enter the region. The fallen of the fae lay beneath the soil stretching back centuries. The fae never gathered their fallen. They were interred where they fell. Grace explained it was all part of the cycle.

The fallen fed that cycle. Daniel just shook his head. Glenda tried to explain it one night while they rested enroute to the historic battle site.

"Humans are not from this world, you do know that, right?" asked Glenda from where she and Roger had been enjoying Brian and Jason's company.

Daniel looked up from where he lay with his witches, Grace, Bitty and Jennifer. Steam rose into the night air from their sedated bodies. Whether from the fear of war and death or something else, they had been going at it pretty regularly. "Yeah, it's been recently explained to us. We came from across some other kind of sea."

Glenda chuckled. "Sort of. Humans escaped from another world to this one. They built strange ships that crossed a sea not made of water. But where they landed was not idyllic to survival."

Grace nodded. "True. And they found Maeve waiting for them. It was a slaughter."

Glenda sighed. "So, they regrouped and tried again. This time they gained a small foothold. I've been told Maeve had something to do with that."

"She did," confirmed Grace. "She wanted playthings. The fae were too predictable. Humans surprised her and excited her. She gave humans access to fae magic to spice things up and here we are today."

Daniel mulled that over. "And the Wilds? What about them?"

Jennifer answered surprising Grace. "They are Maeve's playground. She taught humans how to access magic and then enticed them into her world to fight her monsters. Maeve is old. Really, really old. Syn thinks she is bored with life. Nothing surprises her anymore. Everyday blurs into the next without end."

Daniel thought about that. "So, this is likely all Maeve's doing."

Grace nodded. "Yup. Which means we're fucked."

Bitty looked at Daniel and his witches for a long moment. "Not necessarily."

Two days later found them just outside the historic battleground. From the ridge they stopped on, they could see all three armies approaching. The Light fae rode massive stags with towering antlers. The Night fae rode on massive ligers. The humans approached on horseback with wagon loads of supplies stretched out behind them. Three massive dust clouds rose into the still air.

Animals of all kinds fled the grassland, rushing without heed to predators. It was a mass exodus from the region. The Circle could only watch in rising horror as the three armies grew closer together.

"What do we do now?" asked Jasmine. "We are nothing compared to the might of these armies. Daniel? What do we do?"

For some reason everyone turned to Daniel for the answer. He had no idea. He had his powers and his witches, but little else. He felt insignificant in the grand scheme of things. He looked out onto the grass plain and could see the focal point.

He started to speak and then stopped. His thoughts horrified him. He would be ordering all their deaths if they followed him. But he looked and saw exactly where all three armies would focus. The phoenix in him pushed him mentally to accept this action despite it going against his common sense. She seemed desperate. It was all he could do to stop himself from running right there.

He lifted an arm and pointed to the spot. "We head there and wait. We raise a white flag and ask for parlay."

Grace snorted. "Parlay? That is a human concept. The fae will not pay any attention to that."

"They will if we give them a show of force."

"Force? What force? What can we show them?"

"I don't know. The phoenix is pushing me there. She's pretty insistent."

The others started arguing amongst themselves. Daniel looked toward the approaching human army and felt the phoenix yearn for something in that direction.

He urged his liger forward and started toward the spot. Jasmine, sitting in front of him, slapped his knees begging him to stop.

"Daniel, stop!" screeched Jasmine, trapped in front of him.

"Daniel! Where are you going?" demanded Amy and Amber.

"Come. We have to be in the right spot."

Amy and Amber looked at one another and then kicked the flanks of their ligers to join Daniel. Bitty screeched, also trapped in the liger saddle in front of Amy.

Jennifer smiled and looked heavenward. She nodded once and her liger ran to join Daniel. Brian was close behind her.

Glenda, Roger, and Jason looked at one another. "What now?"

Jason snorted. "Well, I'm part of The Circle, so I guess I have no choice, huh?" Jason's liger ran after the others.

Glenda sighed. Roger looked at her. "Any visions?"

She shook her head. "I haven't had any since that last one, you know that."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning the fates are undetermined. We've done all we can up to this point. Come. We should join them. It's where we belong."

"I love you, Glenda."

"I love you, too, Roger. Let's see the of end this."

The Circle stood together having sent the ligers away. Glenda and Roger stood behind them. All of them watched the approaching armies. The ground rumbled and shook. It took hours but eventually all three armies halted and looked out over the plains toward where the small party of adventurers stood under a white flag lifted high on Roger's longbow, which could extend beyond the shape of a bow if he wanted.

To Daniel it seemed the armies didn't know how to take them. They stopped and stared for a long time before he noticed some movement. Almost as if cued, three groups broke off from each of the armies and headed toward them. Daniel recognised Rhiannon, Pwyll, Titania, Oberon, Arbuckle, and Sylvan.

Amy, Amber, and Jasmine took their normal position around Daniel and waited. The others formed a half-circle behind them.

Grace swore. "The queens should not be here. This has never happened. They must remain in their realms."

Glenda muttered watching the heads of the armies approaching. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

All three army heads stopped about fifty feet from Daniel and his party. They all stared at one another for a long moment.

Rhiannon was the first to speak. "What the fuck is going on? Why are you standing in the way? The fae do not tolerate humans interfering with our affairs. You especially, Arbuckle."

Titania frowned, glancing at Rhiannon with distaste. "Yeah. Leave this field if you know what's good for you. You won't stop what's about to happen. What is it you want?"

Arbuckle, not about to be ignored, added his own commentary. "Daniel? What is The Circle doing here? Did you recover my egg?"

Daniel looked over at the King. "I would ask you the same question, Your Majesty."

Sylvan snorted. "How impertinent."

Both fae queens regarded the King and Sylvan. Rhiannon spoke first again. "This matter does not involve the humans. Depart at once. You interfere with events beyond your ken."

Titania nodded her agreement. "For once I agree with my Night fae counterpart. This war does not concern humans. Depart or die. The choice is yours and honestly, I couldn't care less which one you decide."

Arbuckle surprised them all by laughing. "Long have we suffered to the whim of the fae. That time is over. We will watch you fight each other, and when your forces are depleted, we will strike and eliminate you both. Your time on this world is over."

The fae queens and their consorts looked at one another in surprise and then broke into laughter. Pwyll's stag pranced a little before he spoke. "You are very amusing. I could slaughter your entire army with a handful of my Light fae."

Oberon was nodding at his words. "It would be a slaughter. Really, you have no idea."

"I beg to differ, Oberon," came a new voice that startled them all. Oberon looked up and saw Maeve descending from the sky on a chariot that flew. She landed with ease and leapt off and stood before them.

Arbuckle grinned at Sylvan and then at the fae. "It seems my newest ally has arrived. Have you all had the pleasure of meeting Maeve?"

* * *

To make matters worse, Daniel was having a hard time concentrating on what was happening right in front of him. Maeve appearing startled him and gave him a strong sense of foreboding. He felt the walls closing in hard and fast.

But what had his full attention was not the squabbling leaders of the fae and humans, it was the female phoenix within him. She wanted him to launch into Sylvan. Several times he almost started casting a spell at him and his ladies were noticing and sending him curious looks.

What? he thought at the phoenix.

He has it, replied the phoenix, stunning Daniel. She had a most pleasant and sensual voice that immediately gave him a surprisingly hard erection. He winced.

He quickly recovered from his shock on hearing her voice in his head. Who has what?

The Wilds Child, Sylvan! He has the egg! Can you not feel it? How can you not feel it? We've grown so powerful together!

Daniel looked at Sylvan. Behind him, the human army was positioning themselves on the field, forming long rows of pikemen, swordsmen, and archers, with calvary forming on the flanks. Banners were lifted and fluttered in the wind. Looking at Sylvan he felt nothing of an egg, but then he tried to focus. He knew what the phoenix felt like inside him, and he looked for that. And there it was. A bright beacon of power hidden inside his robes. The egg!

Daniel thought quickly. He had to tell his companions what was happening. He knew he could use the bond he had with his circle and that could probably include Grace and Bitty. He had wondered in the Wilds if he could somehow extend his bond to others. In the Wilds, he knew somehow that this connection had kept him and his witches safe from Maeve's manipulations. He now wondered if he could extend that bond to the others.

No time like the present, he thought. He imagined those bonds extending to all The Circle of adventurers and included Glenda and Roger. He pushed his will and watched tendrils form and reach out to join everyone and he grinned to himself. Focused as he was, he didn't see Maeve's small smile.

He took a breath and projected his thoughts. Everyone don't react! Okay?

Despite his warning Glenda and Roger jerked in place and looked right at Daniel in surprise. Grace slowly turned her head to regard him with a raised eyebrow and then smiled at him. Bitty grinned from ear to ear and whispered "Yes!" under her breath.

Listen up! We don't have much time. The egg is with Sylvan. It's really strong; like looking directly at the sun. We need to get it because if we don't' everyone is going to be wiped out here. I don't know what Arbuckle thought he was going to do here but having the egg here seems really stupid and dangerous.

Grace was staring at Daniel in surprise. Please tell me you're kidding. How do you know this?

Daniel was staring at Sylvan, who was noticing his stare. He could sense the egg like he was holding it. The egg contains both the female and the male phoenixes. I don't understand what's going on, but I bet someone wants that egg to erupt here.

WHAT!? screamed Grace.

Everyone winced. By the gods! Keep it down! chastised Jennifer.

Daniel could feel the eagerness from the phoenix inside him. She desperately wanted him to fetch the egg. Hold on guys, let me speak to her. He turned his thoughts to the phoenix. Explain, he sent her. Now.

She mentally rolled her eyes at him. What's to explain? Maeve and Sylvan tricked my mate and I. Sylvan forced my emergence from the egg and attracted my mate. Yanwey was destroyed as a result. I should have emerged beautiful and powerful, but Sylvan trapped me, and I was pushed back into the egg with my mate. That has never happened before. We didn't know it could happen. I can sense that me and my mate are in that egg. One of us has to emerge and Sylvan can force that to happen.

How can you be inside me and the egg at the same time?

I'm a memory? I'm incomplete. Inside that egg my mate and I are probably fucking like crazy. I'm so jealous. But fucking through you has been fun. I never had a dick before. It's really fun. Oh wait, I can see you're really worried about people dying, so I suggest you get the egg and then leave. Go someplace safe and boom! One of us emerges and our normal cycle returns. Easy.

You do realise that the boom will kill everyone?

Not if we go someplace safe. Well, safe-ish.

Where would that be?

Yanwey.

You already destroyed Yanwey.

No, the man you call Sylvan did that. You need to listen better. He works for Maeve. He's a Wilds Child. Everyone should be able to see that. Except you and everyone else. Stupid humans. And fae. And dwarves too. Probably the gnomes too, but they should know better.

He's a what!?

A Wilds Child. Maeve created him. A minion. He went to Yanwey and caused my egg to hatch. When I emerged, he used some arcane magic from Maeve to trap me in the male egg. I bet my mate and I were very happy about that. But not so much the death of so many. That was not our fault. Sorry. But now that Yanwey is no more, there's no harm to emerge there now.