The Young Mage Ch. 06

"Your friends are quite interesting."

"Yeah, their society is truly amazing... You should visit them one day. The beauty of their lands..."

"Maybe one day I will," Fiona said with a faint smile.

"So..." Magnus started hesitantly, "there is something I wanted to ask you for a few days now..."

"Yes?"

"Well, you see... it is a huge favor, and I feel like I owe you so much already..."

"Magnus, out with it."

"I... I wanted to ask you if you would take Lina as your apprentice..." Magnus said finally.

Fiona stopped in her tracks.

"You want me to teach her magic? Why don't you teach her yourself?" Fiona asked with a look of surprise on her face.

"It would never work..." Magnus said, shaking his head. "She is so stubborn, you see..."

Fiona raised her eyebrow.

"Worse than me, believe me," Magnus said with a chuckle. "I love her more than anything but she would never truly accept me as her teacher. She would question everything I asked of her, she would try things her way just to prove a point... And on top of that, you are a far more competent and a more patient teacher than I am, and a better mage even. I am years or even decades away from reaching your level of finesse..."

"All right, my former apprentice, no need to kiss my ass," Fiona said with a playful smirk. "I'll take her as an apprentice. I already have one, so it will be an interesting challenge to teach both of them."

"You already have an apprentice? Who?"

"It is a long story... I'll tell you later."

"All right... Thank you so much, you are a lifesaver. I want you to know that I will pay the full amount of the usual fee and some on top of that."

"Magnus, it is fine, I do-"

"No, it is not fine. I will pay for everything. You will have your hands full so I want you to be able to live the way you are used to."

"I have my sources of income now but suit yourself. Some extra luxury for a sophisticated sorceress such as myself can't be a bad thing," Fiona said playfully.

"Good," Magnus said, smiling.

They walked for a minute or two in silence, until Magnus decided to broach an even more sensitive subject...

"Err, Fiona..."

"Mmm, yes?"

"Umm, You know, there is one aspect of this future apprenticeship that I would like to discuss..."

"All right?"

"Ehh, I don't know how to say this... You know how we mages have... needs."

"Magnus, do you want me to tell you the story about birds and bees?" Fiona said, a smile appearing on her face. After everything they had been through, Magnus tiptoeing around the sex talk seemed ridiculous, to say the least.

"No, I meant... I know you have strong sexual needs... and I know you like both men and women. But Lina is so young and it would be so weird if you-"

SLAP!

"Who do you think I am?! A pervert, a degenerate?! Answer me, my former apprentice!" Fiona said grabbing Magnus' shirt and pulling him towards her.

Magnus stared at her in disbelief, his hand on his aching cheek. Her slap was stinging like hell. But more than that, he was completely taken aback by the intensity of her sudden fury. She was in his face, her eyes radiating red-hot anger. A few nearby citizens were silently chuckling at the scene.

"I, I didn't think-"

"Of course, you didn't think! You never think!" Fiona said, waving her hands in exasperation.

"Listen to me, Magnus," she said, her words dripping with fury. "She is your SISTER. I wouldn't touch her that way if she was the last person left alive in the world, do you understand me? Do you?!"

"Y... yes," Magnus managed to say, still unable to process what was happening.

"Good!" she said, turning on her heel and then stomping away towards Charlotte's mansion, still somehow managing to make her angry walk graceful. Magnus watched her go with wide eyes, his brain refusing to catch up with the events.

"What the hell just happened?!"

***

"Damn, I'm good..." Magnus said, sitting down on a large rock and wiping the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his shirt.

"You were just lucky," Sela replied indignantly. She was sitting on the ground, the short wooden sparring sword still in her hand.

"Of course I was," Magnus said with a grin. They had been sparring for an hour and they were both sweaty and tired. Sela had been winning at the start mostly due to her tendency to fight dirty, but after several initial defeats, Magnus had won most of their subsequent duels and he couldn't help gloating. Sela was an excellent fighter, although not as good as Lanaya or Voron.

"Pfh!" Sela snorted, glaring at him but after a while, the expression on her face turned into a mischievous smirk. She walked up to him and then sat in his lap.

"Sela..." Magnus said, turning his head to see if any of the soldiers from their group were watching them. The three soldiers from Vistania's Elite Guard were sitting about a hundred yards away and chatting idly.

"What?" she said innocently, running her hand across his chest and nuzzling his neck gently. She could feel his whole body respond to her touch. "Mmm, I can feel your sexual energy, Magnus... How long has it been?" she whispered in his ear, lightly nibbling at his earlobe.

"Huh... weeks," he moaned. "I was caring for my sister and..."

"You never tried to give yourself some release?" she said, her hand straying towards his crotch. Magnus tensed and barely stopped himself from moaning loudly as her hand brushed against his already hard cock.

"You know I don't do that..."

"Aww, so principled... I bet these balls are aching for some release, aren't they?" she said, biting his neck lightly, her hand caressing his sack and going up and down his shaft with the lightest of touches...

"Sela, you are killing me..." Magnus said, once again turning to see if any of the soldiers were looking at them.

"Wouldn't you like some release, Magnus?" she said, kissing him on the lips, and shifting so that she was rubbing his crotch with her ass.

"Gods, yes..." Magnus said, his breath ragged, his tongue warring with Sela's... The warmth of her body, the taste of her delicious lips, and the touch of her amazing ass on his cock... he felt so primed for release. Sela kissed him aggressively, grinding her ass against his cock, her chest rubbing against his... Magnus felt his body tingling with desire, his arousal building up suddenly, inexorably.

"Are you ready to come?" Sela said, breathing hard and grinding her ass harder. "Are you?!"

"By the gods, yes..." Magnus said, his hips responding to her dance and grinding into her ass with urgency. His face was flushed, his balls churning and ready to explode...

"Maybe next time..." Sela whispered and then jumped up quickly and started towards the camp.

"You... you little demoness!" Magnus said through his teeth, his orgasm stopping at the very precipice. With a remarkable force of will he restrained himself from finishing himself off and just sighed at the laugh and the kisses she was blowing him from afar.

"Damn it, I'm going to need a swim in an icy river to cool off after this..." he said, rolling to the ground and stretching his arms and legs, his mast still proudly pointing up.

***

The next morning, the group split up once again. As usual, Sela went to the east, on foot. The three guards went south on horses and led Sela's horse as well, leaving Magnus to scout north. That had been their routine for the last couple of weeks, the group moving constantly to the east and angling north. They were deep in Fluvia territory now, somewhere northeast of Charobny. The other groups were scouting the western and southern parts of Fluvia, and so far, there had been no news from any of them.

"Nobody found anything yet, I guess..." Magnus mused as he rode his horse through the meadow. He wasn't much of a scout if he was being honest with himself. The elite soldiers were very good at it and Sela was in a class of her own, but he also had his ways. More specifically, he had his magic. He used air magic to augment sounds from the direction he wanted to scout and he would usually set some earth magic triggers to both sides to avoid being surprised. He felt pretty confident about his setup.

"I'll have to go through this forest, it seems," Magnus said to himself, staring at the line of trees that appeared to the north. "Going around would take a lot more time."

With a reluctant sigh, he nudged his horse forward. The forest would hide him from unwanted eyes but it also prevented him from effectively placing his triggers. "I'll just augment the sounds coming from the north... There is no reason why anyone would travel through the forest towards east or west while there was a perfectly fine meadow right next to it..."

Satisfied with his reasoning, Magnus continued his ride, marveling at the tall pine trees that stood like pillars supporting the skies.

"I hope we find these bastards in time to stop the ritual. I can't believe anyone would resort to summoning a High Demon just to take power," Magnus thought, enjoying the crisp forest air. "And all this elitism they are preaching... To think that being gifted with magic makes them think that they are entitled to rule the 'lesser' humans." He was getting angry at the very thought of it. Magic should be used to help people, not to enslave them. "The Remaker... 'The Conqueror' is a better name, but those bast-"

"Stop right there!"

Magnus jerked his head towards the voice, cursing his stupidity. "I am the worst damn scout in the world..." he thought, eyeing the person who had issued the order. The man had an air of authority about him and was flanked by four companions, all of them armed with swords and crossbows. They seemed to be heading west when they ran into Magnus and were now standing about a hundred feet away with their hands on their weapons. Only the man in charge seemed to be unarmed.

"Hello there," Magnus said, trying to keep his voice level.

"Drop the pleasantries, stranger. What are you doing here?" the man said in a no-nonsense tone.

"I am simply traveling..."

"Going where exactly?!"

"I was told that the Elven Lands are this way to the north. I always wanted to see the elves."

"Is that so..." the man said, eyeing Magnus' sword and his gear. "The way to the elven lands is farther to the west. But you don't seem to be carrying enough supplies for such a journey. So I wonder what you are really doing in the middle of nowhere."

"Well, it is not really middle of nowhere..."

"Isn't it?"

"You are here as well," Magnus said with an innocent smile.

"Clever. But you aren't fooling me," the man barked, waving his hand.

Magnus saw the kinetic push the man was about to fling at him and he dove to the side, getting off his horse and rolling on the ground. The push missed him, startling only his horse.

"He saw that one coming, he is a mage!" the leader of the group shouted, his companions scattering to the sides and moving to surround Magnus.

"These are no ordinary travelers..." Magnus thought, coming to his feet and sending a kinetic push into the nearest swordsman. The man flew back, colliding with a tree and then sliding to the ground. Magnus rushed to take cover behind a large tree, deflecting a lightning bolt sent by the mage, just barely.

"Surrender or die, stranger!" the mage said, sending a fireball at the tree Magnus was hiding behind. Splinters of the tree bark exploded in all directions as the fireball collided with the tree, setting it ablaze.

"I was about to offer the same!" Magnus shouted back, running out from behind the tree. Two of the soldiers peeked from behind their cover and Magnus took a glimpse of their crossbows. Never breaking his stride, Magnus erected an air shield in a wide arc around himself, just in time to stop two crossbow bolts aimed at him. He sent two quick lightning bolts back at them but only one of them found its target. The man released a short scream of pain and then went silent.

"Dead, likely... I don't have the luxury of using non-lethal magic, these are no amateurs," Magnus thought, zig-zagging among the trees in an attempt to confuse them.

Another lightning bolt hit the tree just next to him and Magnus dived to the ground, cursing.

"To damnation with this!" he roared, rising to his feet and rushing straight at the nearest enemy. The man gaped at the sight of Magnus charging like a bull at him and after a moment of indecision, dropped the crossbow he was about to reload and reached for his sword instead.

"Yaaah!" Magnus cried out, waving his hand and pulling the moisture from the air that instantly froze into an icicle. The enemy soldier barely managed to raise his sword hand when the icicle pierced his left eye, going deep into his brain. His body twitched uncontrollably and then collapsed to the ground before the man even had the time to cry out in agony.

As Magnus kept zig-zagging, trying to get to his attackers from a different side, a kinetic push grazed him and sent him slamming into a tree.

"Argh!" Magnus cried out as his ribs creaked in protest. One or two of them were cracked, at least.

"That fucking mage! I would love to unleash everything at him but he is likely the one who will have some answers for me..." Magnus thought as a cooling sensation ran through his side, healing his wounded ribs. Taking a few moments to catch his breath, Magnus ran out of his cover, sending kinetic pushes and lightning bolts randomly, trying to divert the enemy's attention. He spotted the enemy mage and just rushed at him, conjuring a shield in front of himself and roaring like a madman.

"Yaaaaaaah!" Magnus cried out, barreling towards the surprised mage who managed to send a few spells into Magnus' shield, before Magnus collided with him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"I don't know if I can stop his casting so I'll just punch his lights out!"

Unleashing a couple of blows towards the mage who was trying to wiggle out, Magnus managed to connect with his face once, but before he could knock him out, one of the swordsmen attacked him, swinging the sword at his neck. Twisting his body, Magnus managed to deflect the blow by swiping with his arm, but the blade cut deep into his forearm, making him scream with pain. The man pounced on him, trying to pin him to the ground and angling his sword to stab into Magnus' chest.

"Raaargh!" Magnus roared in agony from his wounded arm and unleashed a kinetic push that lifted the swordsman off him and then sent a pair of overpowered lightning bolts, topped with his anger and pain, into the swordsman and the mage who was trying to get off the ground. A smell of charred meat pervaded the forest air as Magnus stumbled to his feet, fighting a spell of dizziness.

"Gods damn it!" Magnus spat as his vision cleared and his wound started closing. "I wanted this bastard alive..."

He knelt next to the charred body of the mage, and overcoming the urge to puke, started rummaging through his pockets.

"The cult's pamphlets... I should have taken him alive. This is the second fuck-up I've done today..." Magnus thought with bitterness and then turned sharply, startled by the sudden choking sound. Several paces away, he saw the fourth cultist, the one he had taken out with kinetics, gape at him, holding a primed crossbow in his hands. The man slumped to the ground, the arrow protruding from his neck killing him almost instantly.

"That was sloppy," Sela said, coming out in the open and moving towards Magnus.

"Third fuck-up..." Magnus mumbled to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Magnus said in resignation. "How did you get here?"

"I was following them..."

"You were?"

"Yes... Earlier this morning, I came upon what looked like an abandoned fort, something from the times of the Old Empire probably. I was about to dismiss it as a potential hideout since it looked to be in serious disrepair but then this group emerged from within... They were cultists, weren't they?"

Magnus nodded. They could have gleaned some information from them. But at least they found their hideout.

"How far is this fort?"

"About a dozen miles to the east... We should probably head towards our companions."

"Yeah, let's go."

"First, I'll take you to a stream I saw. You are all bloodied up like a butcher."

"Fine," Magnus said with a sigh, and then they headed southeast on foot, Magnus leading his horse by the reins.

"We need to contact the other groups," Magnus said after a moment.

"Yes. I'll take care of it as soon as we reach camp."

"How? They are hundreds of miles away."

"We Elves are children of the Goddess, Magnus," Sela said, taking his arm. "Nature speaks to us... and we can speak to Nature as well."

"Huh, that is quite a useful skill."

After half an hour of walking, they reached the stream Sela mentioned. Magnus sat on a rock and started splashing himself with water. He was considering using a water spell to try to remove blood from his body and clothes when Sela pushed his arms away.

"You are so clumsy. Let me do it."

She took out a cloth, and after dipping in the stream, she started cleaning his bare chest and neck. The water wasn't cold, and closing his eyes, Magnus sighed at the pleasant touch of Sela's deft hands. Even if she was cleaning his body with a cloth, she was using her other hand too, casually caressing his chest and his back and Magnus had to suppress a moan of his emerging arousal. He felt his face stretch into a satisfied smile and he opened one eye to catch Sela's knowing smirk.

"Close your eyes."

Magnus obeyed, knowing she was up to something. He could feel her coming even closer to him, touching him with her hip and her shoulder. Her hands roamed all over his body, grabbing his ass lightly and brushing against his cock that ached for her touch. The tingling and exhilarating sensation of her warm breath on the skin of his neck and chest was enough to send his already aroused mind into overdrive. Just when he thought that he couldn't possibly get more aroused, he felt the touch of her lips on his chest and shuddered. The touch of those soft, moist lips on his skin was maddening, and as her kisses ascended towards his neck, her hand kept giving only the lightest of touches to his tormented cock. A torrent of soft kisses covered his neck and ears, while the touch of what had to be her naked chest against the bare skin of his back made him moan uncontrollably. When her lips finally touched his, he was ready to beg for mercy...

"There, you are all clean now."

The words registered somewhere in Magnus' madly aroused brain and he felt her move away from him.

"What? Oh no, you won't!" he exclaimed, opening his eyes and throwing himself at her, tackling her to the ground. She laughed, pretending to resist, biting his shoulder and neck until he managed to lay on top of her and pin her down to the ground. Mad lust was in his eyes when he attacked her lips aggressively and felt her respond in kind. Like a sex-depraved lunatic, he kissed her neck, moving down her body, resolved to taste her light-blue skin everywhere.

"Mmm, yes..." she purred when he started sucking her lovely purple nipples. He would normally spend a long time savoring every part of her beautiful body but the pressure of his own arousal and the ache for release was inexorable. He took off his pants in a hurry but then resisted the urge to push into her. The exquisite taste of her purple pussy was still vivid somewhere in his memory and he knew he had to get his fix before he would allow himself release. He slid down her body and spread her athletic legs, finding her treasure cave bathed with fragrant juices. The artist in him wanted to gaze at its beauty but his hunger took precedence. He dived in with his mouth, his tongue swiping the delicious juices, his lips becoming immediately glued to the wonderful honeypot.