The Phantasm In The Fog free porn video

The Phantasm in the Fog by Tegeli The mountain weather couldn't make up its mind. Despite the nights still remembering the wet cold of the past winter, the only dampness under the scorching evening sun was the sweat on my skin. The desolation around us was tranquil, now that I could no more remember acutely the stench of smoke. Asailki was lagging behind again. Even though I had discreetly tried to take all the heavy baggage, Asai had still managed to weigh himself down. Despite us having had our coming of age at the same time, he still was just as scrawny as a boy. One couldn't really blame him, as that sort of thing happened often with sorcerer-whelps stuck in secluded places, with their life hanging on their dedication to their studies. "We should stop for the day," I said. "No. I can keep going," Asai said between panting. "There is plenty of daylight left." "We aren't in a hurry. Not any more." Asai glanced down the slope. "Don't you think they'll catch us, Reg?" "Were they chasing us, they would have caught up days ago. I doubt they cared about except scattering us, and if they did, they must be busy herding any whelps suitable to serve them." Asai dropped his baggage and wavered like he was going to collapse along with it. "I guess you must be right." I handled enough sorcery to gather good firewood and set it ablaze without tools. We had been on the run for two weeks, so our food was more than a little spoiled, but Asai knew how to purify it. He had studied secrets and origins of mundane things, which now turned out to be not only convenient but vital, while I had spend years playing at being a warrior. Although, separate specialities would be useful for life-companions. That was the way of the Peritian sorcerers. Because we were too dangerous to each other, the mightier ones tended to smash their inferiors, before those low ones could work together to overcome their betters. Nevertheless, nobody could stand alone. Every sorcerer-whelp with a pinch of sense found a companion for life to watch their backs. That bond was treated as sacred, as sorcerers could scarce afford losing it. Even the invincible Tyrant had his companion. I had wondered, how it would be to have a girl for a companion like He did. But what I knew about women, and especially about sorceresses, it seemed like more trouble than worth. Not even the Tyrant had married His life-companion. Asai offered me a small bowl of the cooked food-stuffs in boiled water. Even without ravening from all the exertion, the soup tasted as great as it smelled. That wasn't truly surprising, as Asai sang spells along with his cooking. Most sorcerers grunted their chants, but Asai had a practised singing voice, which he utilised for a great effect. His sorcery rarely faltered. Perhaps spirits were more willing to accommodate songs if they were beautiful. "To be honest, Asai, I envy your mastery. Even in bodily prowess, I bet you'd surpass soon me, if you built up your physique with the assistance of your spells." "You don't like me the way I am?" His voice was oddly brittle, but it was too dark to see his expression. "Huh?" "I mean that it's not that easy! Especially on the road! I'd need to eat and rest a lot, and do some physical exercises and--" "Hey, I get it. I just thought that you have had overly tough time traipsing through this wilderness." I leaned back on the dry moss. "Anyhow, being a porter is not fit for sorcerers, whelps or not. We'll get a pack animals to carry our stuff." The rolling hills reached beyond the horizon. Despite seemingly barren, the land was thoroughly settled: the flocks and herds were large enough to be seen at a distance even without enchanted eyesight. Presumably we didn't seem threatening, unarmed as we were, so a shepherd gave us advice on how to reach the nearest village. We found the group of diminutive tower houses, after considerable effort. The village was hidden on the side of a rocky hill, and despite the cleared farmland, could only be spotted from the bottom of the valley below it. "We shouldn't let them know we are sorcerers," Asai said. "They might weigh their options and conclude that, because we are so young, they should be able to kill us before we start trouble." He looked at me. "We are not going to start, are we?" "No. But we'll need supplies beyond the barest hospitality. So we'll pretend we are travelling entertainers. With my playing accompanying it, your singing should get them to gift us enough that we can reach the next villages without starving." "You really think they'd want to listen to my warbling?" He blushed, showing suitable though unwarranted humility. After the village's men had demonstrated that they were indeed well armed for peasants, we were ushered to the largest hall in the village. The mere novelty of strangers was enough to gather a group of nosy idlers, but when Asai started to sing, the crowd soon filled the hall. Despite its size, I was glad I had carried my instrument with me. While its hefty price was a consideration, more importantly with its sound accompanying Asai, we were almost like a real act. Most towns would have had a better troupe, but in the village we were exotic enough to be interesting. After a while they fed us thoroughly and insisted we continue. The sun had sunk before the attentiveness of the villagers was finally dampened. In any case, we couldn't have lasted longer. Asai's voice was worn hoarse and my fingers hurt from all the plucking. The villagers began to retire for the night. Me and Asai were offered hot drinks and a bite to eat. "Masters Regaseir and Asailki," the husband of the house said. We had introduced ourselves with our real names; the people we were afraid of didn't need to question villagers to track us. The man continued: "I would have offered you place on my planks, but a honoured widow says she has a free bed, a proper one. Would it be suitable for you to sleep in the same room?" "Why wouldn't it?" I asked. "In case you weren't married." I stared at the man. My sluggish mind took a while to reach a conclusion, so ridiculous it was. They must have thought Asailki was a woman, from his fashionably high singing voice and delicate features. Men's clothing could of course be chalked up as travelling convenience or disguise. I glanced Asai, who was staring down and blushing fiercely. He too must have figured the implication. I chuckled. Perhaps he now would realize the use in manning up, if for no other reason than to avoid embarrassment. "No, there would be nothing unsuitable," I said. The room was no more than a closet filled by the admittedly wide bed, but that was alright. The nights were still cold just like they had been in the hermitage, so sleeping next to one another for warmth wasn't anything new or bothersome. Sleep came quick after I had pulled the blanket on us. I knew I was waking up, but I clung to my dream, which involved vague interactions with a lovely girl. A weight was on my chest. I opened my eyes and saw Asai's arm on me, and him huddling against me. My laugh startled Asai from his sleep. He pulled back, but couldn't get far before pressing against the wall. "Sorry," he said. "I must have felt the cold in my sleep." "It is indeed chilly." Way colder than it should have been, yet the air was awfully damp. "One might have expected the weather to get warmer towards summer." "This plateau is quite high up. And everything, save for the sun, gets colder closer to the stars." "Must be that." I got up and went to the main room. The widow was sitting around a low table with her household. "Good morning, householder. I thank you for your hospitality." She looked at me with eyes wide with fear. "Don't speak so loud. The old ruler is out prowling. Don't you feel his fog?" Asai pulled me around and gave me a worried 'don't you notice it' look. I closed my eyes, sensed around and almost jumped out of my skin. The entity sliding about near the village was puissant yet ravenously empty, like a proper sorcerer exhausted beyond the limits of his vitality, and yet still casting spells. Even perceiving it sapped my morning vigour. I turned back to the widow. "What's this 'ruler'?" "The bygone master of these lands, beyond death for how many generations nobody knows. We pay our dues to the representatives of the despot, but our ruler still demands his share." "What does he want?" The widow's voice was grim. "We leave him food. And other offerings, if we have any. But sometimes he wants... the company of a woman. Then we pray and hope he moves onto another village. If not... Usually the girl survives." I sent my senses outside again. The entity was moving away from the village, and with him went the clammy chill. "He doesn't seem to be coming this way." The widow shook her head. "He will be back with dusk. This visit was merely his message that he wants again." A cry, a sound perfectly mortal but beyond desperation, rose outside. The household gave each other frightened glances. Tiny curses escaped the widow's mouth. "What was that?" "They must have found a sign left by the ruler. Today he won't be satisfied with feast." "We can't just leave," Asai said, as we were alone looking through our baggage. "It would violate our duty to their hospitality." "I know." Nobody expected itinerant musicians to fight against malign entities, but we weren't really musicians. "A sorcerer could handle it. We might be whelps, but there's two of us." "I don't even know what 'it' is." Asai smiled. "I think it's a winter spirit melded with an sorcerer, or at least his corpse. I've read that replacing one's nature --or soul-- with a spirit wasn't unheard of as a way to attempt to gain power and immortality, before the Peritian method was discovered." "Assuming we felt recklessly heroic and didn't value our own lives, how would we go on about killing an abomination like that?" Asai shrugged, nonchalant like we weren't talking about primal festering magic. "If we could disturb the spirit's connection to the body, then the thing would be just a lich. Possibly a moving one but still a cadaver." "And those can be hacked to pieces." I took a deep breath. "Presumably heat would make a winter spirit uncomfortable, if not outright kill it." "I thought so too." He smiled. "You can handle the fire and steel." "I'd need to get close. Unlikely that the thing will just let me take a swing at it." He nodded. "We'd have to set up an ambush. At least we know it wants a girl, so we could lure it." "The villagers seem stout in the heart. One of the women might volunteer as bait." "Too risky. A villager would get in the way of our spells, and they don't know how to protect themselves from the spirit's cold." He rubbed his palm. "I'll have to be the bait." "But you are a guy!" Asai smirked. "The villagers didn't seem to think so. Why would a thirsting undead beast be more perceptive?" I didn't know what I found most dislikeable in the plan. Perhaps the how much sense it made. We went back to the main room, where the household was gathered in silent prayer. Asai walked to the table and, with the right words and a flick of power, turned the flame of the tiny oil lamp into a tower of blue. "Witchcraft!" one of the women screamed. "We are going to destroy the fiend," Asai said. "But we'll need your help." The widow stared at us, before lifting her face and arms towards the ceiling. "Thank the despot! His brilliance sends us the aid of sorcerers!" Rest of the household joined in thanking the Tyrant --a man month's of hard riding away--, for the presence of two overly rash whelps. The guilt and embarrassment were overshadowed by the bizarreness of being seen as the representative of the despot, while being on the run from his representatives. Asai explained that in our plan, he would lure the ancient ruler by seemingly offering himself. The villagers didn't seem surprised by it, so presumably they still assumed Asailki was a woman. I didn't correct them, even when they offered to dress him like a proper bride so the monster would be distracted as far as possible. Again, it was sensible, but I would have assumed Asai to be more reluctant. Or reluctant at all. His willingness to do what was necessary shamed me, so I decided to commit to the plan also. I left my friend to do divinations and other preparations, while I went to scout through the village. The men not already working outside the village were surprisingly amiable when I explained I was a sorcerer-to- be. I explained we were trying to find a way to expel the foul spirit. They were grateful, though the part they liked the most was that the plan didn't involve any of them directly. They might escape unscathed, even if we failed, which I myself found relieving. The news spread rapidly and soon plenty of villagers came to thank me. I received plenty of opinions on the spirit, but no concrete information about its nature. Everyone seemed to have their own wild ideas about the specifics. I could only hope Asailki had made the right assumption. When I returned, it took me a while to recognize Asai, even though the members of the household had moved to their work to elsewhere. He had cleaned and brushed his long hair, instead of letting it sit in a messy ponytail, and was wearing a plain gown a peasant woman might wear in the field. "That's... not the 'pretty gown' they talked about?" I asked. "Oh, no. The women gave me this, so I wouldn't have to wear my 'ugly dirty things' after washing myself." "And you just put it on." He avoided my eyes. "That seemed easier." I sat next to him. "And they didn't notice anything out of place?" "They were gone before I undressed for washing, if that's what you are asking. Apparently there's plenty of sheep that need shearing." I couldn't understand why I was so wary of the villagers realizing Asailki was a man. We hadn't actively lied, and looking at Asailki any such realisation seemed unlikely. It was disturbing how much of a girl he looked with just his hair down. Pushing the thought aside I asked, "Did you find anything with your scrying?" "Not much. If I had ever encountered an winter spirit, I might be able to recognise its influence. Yet, that's still the best guess, by far. Whatever it is... It's wrong. It wounds reality around it. This whole region is criss-crossed by its paths like a dead tree with insect holes. It needs to end." "I agree." I waited him to turn his eyes to me. "Are you sure about this? Your risk is the largest." Asai nodded. "If we are the only ones able to help, we should. Sorcerers may not be fit to be porters, but they need to be themselves. This is our chance to prove, to ourselves the most, that we aren't just..." "Takers." "I would have said killers, but I guess we won't be proving that, yet." Asai's expression hardened. "The ones who came to the hermitage... I don't want to be feared. To pre?mptively kill or be killed." "That's how life is for Peritian sorcerers." "Perhaps. Yet I would try it to have it otherwise." Asai looked straight into my eyes. "Wouldn't you?" I let my head bob with the affirmative. "People outside the hermitage have turned out to much friendlier than I expected. Hopefully it will last. And besides, imagine how they will reward us, if we succeed. I'm sure we'll get that pack animal." "Indeed." He smiled wide. "Possibly even a horse." I explained what I had figured about the layout of the village, and we decided the details of the plan. It wasn't anything overly complex. A convoluted plan would just lull one into believing everything was going to go according to it. As we went out to do the preparations, I couldn't help but gauge the looks the locals gave us. They didn't seem to believe anything odd was going on with Asailki striding in the open wearing a gown. It must have helped that Asai didn't himself act at all out of place. Afterwards, Asai returned to the house to get ready for the evening, while I went through the weapons of the villagers. Despite being uniformly armed, none of the weaponry was of particularly high quality. The best I could find for myself was a long knife. It's balance was off compared to the short swords I was used to, and I regretted having melted my own during the escape. I also took a throwing spear. While I would have preferred a proper bow, I doubted I could have done much good with the hunting bows of the village. Not only was their design unfamiliar to me, they were rather weak. And the small arrowheads would either cool or melt too fast. I agonized over finding the right words for discouraging the men from trying to help us, without insulting their courage. I ended up playing the part of the Tyrant's representative, and framed our help as long overdue aid from the despot. Obviously, as loyal subjects, they shouldn't be expected to do a thing. They accepted it, though a few sage grunts suggested that the excuse was politely taken as the charade it was. As I was about to return to the widow's house, one of the men pulled my sleeve, rather gingerly. "Lord sorcerer. I'd have a question." I motioned him to continue. "There's all sorts of talk about the powers of your kind. You see, lord, the kind of soul that is my wife is getting on the years and never was the looker worth her inner self. I wondered, thinking how your sorceress is such a fine-boned lass, if the either of you knew witchcraft to spruce up the looks of a woman. If you could also make me look less like a wrinkled turnip, it would only be fair for my wife. I'd pay for the service, of course. I'm not poor, at least among our folk." It took me a while stop staring at the man. "I'm sorry." I had to stop and take a deep breath so I wouldn't sound so unnerved. "I don't think we know such magic." The man shrugged. "It was worth the try. But I guess it might have insulted my wife, no matter how presented to her." He patted my shoulder. "If you can't just turn anyone into a beauty, then you have a fine girl in your hands, lord. So take the advice of this humble but happy old husband, as repayment for listening to my prattle. If she's half as good natured as she seems, don't ever let go of her. You would regret that mightily, I'm sure." I was faintly aware of my walk through the narrow alleys. The villagers believing Asailki to be a girl should have been a humorous misunderstanding straight from a silly stage comedy, yet I found it disturbing for reasons my conscious mind refused to uncover. I was already back in the main room before resurfacing from my thoughts. Though the azure of the modestly cut gown had mostly fainted into steely grey, the white parts were pristine as a mountain top. The narrow waist was accentuated by a wide belt, glittering with weaved silver. While the gown wasn't an intricate garment, its practicality had its own appeal. A woman could conceivably even ride wearing it: she wouldn't have been trapped inside the fabrics. The long hair was braided and decorated with snowy flowers of the early springs. Dark antimony and mineral blue surrounded the wide eyes, and the red on the lips made them inviting like ripe lingonberries. "How do I look?" Asailki asked. My tongue was too tied to say anything but the truth. "Like a comely maid." The smile --pretty, immensely pleased and faintly relieved-- forced me to mutter that I had forgotten something and trace my steps back outside. The chill didn't cool my thoughts. I had perfectly well recognized Asai, yet I had only seen the young woman. Perhaps one more lovely than any I had seen before, though the girls in the hermitage were either unkempt scrawny things or terrifying sorceresses. I shouldn't have been the one fooled. I was afraid, if I could any more look him in the eye without remembering how my chest had been constricted at the sight of him. A few steps, balancing on the stones sunk into the mud of the alley, and I found myself sufficiently alone. People were, as instructed, either inside or working away from the village. I hadn't made sense of myself, before I heard the faint footsteps behind me. I turned to face Asai, and forced myself to admit what I felt. It was dreading the inevitably of losing the sight of that girl. Yet she was just a spectre --a trick of fabric and paint-- masking behind it the real person I should have cared more about. She would be gone with the next dawn, and it would be a crime against Asailki to miss her. "It's already getting cold," Asai said. "Let's go back inside, Reg." He took my hand, and I allowed myself to be lead like a wayward child, or a blind and a little dumb man. The expressions of the household were inscrutably jovial as Asai pulled me to the room we had slept in. "Could we talk?" he asked at the door. I didn't remember nodding, until I found myself sitting next to him at the edge of the bed. Clearly he had sensed that something troubled me, but there was no way I could have explained it. Not without making our continued companionship immensely uncomfortable. "I have to tell the truth," Asai said. "It would impossible to pretend otherwise, after all this. Reg, this is how I am." "What do you mean?" I blurted. The lovely black-surrounded eyes stared at me. "This body, and this face. Do you really think they are a scrawny boy's?" Despite the firmness of Asai's tone, there was a plea in it. "Does my speech sound merely high, for a man?" The girly voice lowered. "How about now?" It didn't sound any less feminine. "But why?" Contradictory hopes and fears bounced in my mind, and I felt guilty for the whole mess of it. Asai looked away from me. "I did this to myself. Ever since I knew it was possible, I was going to be a woman. First I stopped myself from growing into a man, and later I tried my best to change myself into a girl. But it's hard, Reg. And yet I want to go all the way, which is harder. And dangerous, due to how much I would have alter my insides." Our hands were still idly clasped. I wanted to squeeze, but my body was stiff from confusion. "You did say that I looked like a maid. Did you mean it?" I forced myself to nod. Asai put his free hand on his chest. "Could you accept that's how I am, inside?" Like a mute I nodded again. I had always trusted Asai, and there was no reason to not believe her words now. "I love you, Reg." An expectant silence followed. My voice failed me. In the morning I would have gladly said I loved Asai, like a brother. That feeling was not gone, only compounded with attraction and the intense desire to wipe away her wistful frown, to make her smile again. If that wasn't the love she was talking about, I didn't have the experience to know otherwise. Still, the only thing I could do was to squeeze her hand. She leaned forward and pressed her lips on mine. It broke the curse that had petrified me. For a brief clumsy embrace I attempted to communicate all of my feelings for her. I pulled back. I needed say it. "Yes. I love you." Her smile was precious enough to make in comparison trivial the difficulty of saying the mere three words. A terrible shiver wrecked through her. She leaned on me, and trembled with slow sobs. Perplexed, I asked, "Did I say it wrong?" She lifted herself. The moisture had spread the colours around her eyes, making her appear, if anything, even more lovely. "No... No. You did everything what I hoped you would. But..." She breathed deep a few times. "I was scared, afraid that by pushing my foolish desires on you, I was ruining our friendship. You didn't have any duty to accept my feelings." "I wouldn't have had the right not to." I sighed. "In fact... I considered risking our friendship... by asking you to continue wearing that dress." Her smile turned giddy. "Do you like it? The bust is a bit loose without proper tits..." "It's delightful, but I like the girl inside it more." I pulled her to lay on the bed. There was a number of things I wanted to do with a girl I loved, though some of them wouldn't be possible with Asai, at least not yet. But I could tentatively start from the beginning of the list. I pulled her close and tried to find the grace with which beautiful women like her should be kissed. After the worst heat was extinguished, Asai cuddled next to me, as she had when I woke up. This time I let my hand stay on her rump. "I'm sorry I didn't get it earlier," I said. "You can't read my mind." I frowned. "If you had trusted me, fully, you would have been comfortable telling me." "Stop blaming yourself for something that's quite irrelevant now. My fear wasn't all rational. I needed the words of the villagers, this plan and the gown and your compliment to find the required courage." I brushed her hair: another thing I had wanted to do. "Is the plan just an excuse? I still think it's a good one." "I think so too. But even if you hadn't agreed, I would have insisted." She paused for a while before continuing: "Though... It is odd you never noticed." "Assuming that you were merely shy and skinny, from all your studying hidden indoors, fit my preconceptions. After all, I was always the dim one." "But only relatively." She pulled my head so she could kiss me. "There's still time to dusk... They say sorcerers, who are intimate form a deeper bond." She bit her lip while reading my expression. "Don't worry. I don't expect you to fondle my... parts. They don't even work properly; my spells must have broken something. And besides, I can't get out of this gown in timely fashion, but there is a thing we could do." "Maybe we shouldn't..." I said, yet she had already move to above my groin. Asai opened my trousers, and my ready member did not agree with my affected hesitation. "It looks so different now that's it's mine," she said and lifted her eyes to me. "This will serve two purposes. Releasing your tension and giving you another reason to look forward to us surviving, and thus fight harder." Despite her confident tone she stopped to wait for my reply. It was one of the things from my list, yet I was intimidated. We were moving fast, and the package of earlier perceptions was still moving with me. Additionally, I was faintly aware that only a door separated us from our hosts. "Are you sure you want to do... that?" She pouted. "You can't understand how good you have made feel, by treating me as myself. I want to try repaying even a bit of it. And who knows... I might like it." I motioned her to do as she wished. The way she wrapped her fingers around my member made it seem big, which it wasn't. With another hand she peeled down the hood. It hurt a bit, as the skin was awfully tight. The head under felt sensitive to even the mere air. I was about to suggest stopping, when Asai wrapped her lips around the head and poked it with her tongue. I winced from the sensation. She let the head out of her mouth. "So tender! Like a virgin." "I am--" "I know. As am I. So, I'm sorry, if I'm a bit clumsy." She took only a small part of me in her mouth and rubbed with her hand, all the while staring at me with her amused pretty eyes. I didn't require much to go over the edge. She took the seed inside her mouth, swallowed and sucked a bit more, which sent a shiver through me. After she was done, she said with a wide smile: "Not the taste I expected, although it is my favourite now. I wonder if it's true that no sorcerer can't resist changing the taste of their slime." "It's kind of a rite of passage, isn't it? I mean... didn't you do it? Her gaze lowered. "Yes. Until I realized I didn't want anyone to taste it, so I made it as tasteless and odourless as possible. At that point, I reckon, my experiments had already made the stuff useless for its purpose." "I'm sorry." "Why?" She got up. After whispering a chant of cleansing, she flushed her mouth with water from the jug on the corner stand. "If I ever get children, it will be in a way that doesn't require my own slimy discharges." Asai clambered back to my side. "Did you like it? Are you feeling any less tense?" "No." I wrapped my arm around her. "I'm still afraid of what could happen to you. Possibly even more so than before. I still don't want my friend Asailki to get hurt, but now I also fear losing the girl I love." "That's sweet. But Asailki... These villagers, bless them, might not have noticed, but it's not really a girl's name." I gulped. I hadn't even thought of that. "What do you want to be called?" "Asai is fine, at least for now. It could be the diminutive of any number of girly names. And I don't mind my old name too much. Yet it's..." "I understand," I only partly lied. "I'm thankful that you try to." There was no need to talk for the moment, so I closed my eyes. I concentrated on her warmth next to me, the scent of her hair, the soft breathing. Yet I couldn't push away the dread from coming threat. The air was too cold and clammy for that. Asai couldn't rest easy either. She sat up. "Dusk can't be far off. We should prepare. I will have to touch up my warpaint, for one." I cleaned my face and went to the main room. The women were working wool with practised, tantalizingly steady rhythm. Their smiles were amiable yet knowing, as if they were aware of more than they could politely let on. Perhaps they knew, and were happy for Asai and even me. Asai arrived face flustered. She didn't explain anything, yet the widow and another woman dropped their chores and started to fix Asai's hair, clothes and face paints. They didn't seem annoyed, and their amused looks at me gave the impression that the initial work on Asai's appearance had done its intended main purpose. Neither of us could yet sense the winter spirit's approach, so after she was again pristine, Asai sat on the same bench as I. She leaned on me and took my hand. I had close my eyes, and only heard the faint whispers among household. If they knew the truth, they would have wild gossip to spread. I wasn't sure if I would have gone out, if Asai wasn't going to. At the moment, holding her hand was more than enough for me. It was foolish to risk that for the chance of meagre glory and treasures of sheep-herders. But Asai wasn't facing the beast for those. She had a proper purpose, one I couldn't earnestly share. Helping her was as righteous as I could hope to rise. "Do you feel it?" Asai asked. I squeezed her hand. "I wish I didn't." She kissed my cheek. "Let's start." Our chants commanded the spirits of air to guard us from cold, and asked the small gods of hearth and household to do the same. We sang to our ancestors pleads for granting us both luck and courage. The widow's household blessed us in the name of the despot and his high gods. Their convictions almost convinced me that the Tyrant could reach with his influence over the vast tracks of plains and hills. Perhaps he could. The thought was more terrifying than it could ever have been reassuring. I rechecked the steel of my knife and javelin. Still they were like hammered by a farrier. The clumsy thickness and crude tempering were a blessing of sorts: the blades might be able to handle reheating and cooling without being instantly ruined. Outside, the temperature had dipped into freezing, and the mud was stiff and puddles already covered by ice. I was glad Asai had a sheepskin goat to warm her upper body. We went to the place were the spirit had left its mark. Like all the alleys in the village, it was a great choke point, though nothing guaranteed we wouldn't be the ones hemmed in. I hid in the shadow and tried to obfuscate myself as best as could. The winter spirit, creeping through the alleys in the distance, was obvious even without trying. I wondered if the villagers could not feel its emptiness that was worse than a mere hungry stomach. My breath was steam, and any courage I thought I had was liquid inside my bones. Asai sang to herself. Not a spell, but a dolorous air, which a forlorn lover might recite to keep herself company in the night. Despite the depressing lyrics, the delivery made me dizzy with its beauty. The air stirred, and I realized she was luring in all the close-by entities of even tiny potency. Like most places inhabited by humans, the village was filled with unseen folk of mostly minor importance, who would by the virtue of their living location have the tendency to be favourable to humans. The fickle things might help out, or merely entertain themselves with the sight of human folly. I wouldn't know which: it took concentration for me to be even vaguely aware of them. And then they were gone, along with Asai's song. The winter spirit was near. From my vantage point I could see in the thickening mist a hulking form, which moved on more legs than four or none at all. Yet what came out of the icy fog was a man, tall and richly dressed in gold and deepest blue. The style of his attire, while opulent, was crude and presumably very archaic. He spoke in what must have been a refined dialect of the regional language, before it was extinguished even from the mouths of peasants by Peritian supremacy. I could only understand that he was greeting Asai, introducing himself as the prince of all under the stars, and complimenting her extravagantly. Jealousy tinged my fear. Asai, always keen with languages, answered without stumbling on the odd pronunciation. With a coy smile, she expressed the desire for closer acquittance with the personage of such high status as the prince. His voice was suave, though I couldn't understand much anything of his murmuring. Asai answered with similar tender tones, while herding the prince with movements that affected bashfulness. The spirit-prince's attention was glued to the woman. I began a chant under my breath, to remind the steel of my javelin about the heat of the forge. The blade turned red and soon glowed with heat that made the chill air a tiny bit more tolerable. The prince was in place, and Asai could go back no further. She stalled with a demure look and low words. The prince grasped her arm and she screamed with agony. I fought down my terror. During my training, if I had worked to instil the overbearing battle-fury into my being, courage would have come easy. I hadn't. Such loss of control was dangerous to a whelp like me. The prince clutched the front of Asai's gown and ripped it. My incandescent spear flew through the air and sunk through the prince like as much fog. Yet the heated weapon's passage disturbed him, turning his growl into a scream of pain. He brushed Asai away and turned to glower at me. With a pained stave Asai released the spell surrounding the large frozen puddle, on which the prince stood. The water boiled and blew into a cloud of steam. The spirit's wail rose shrill. I chanted to my long knife of the heat of its birth, and of the skill of the smith in forming the blade, hoping the steel would hold together for a few good swings. I strode towards the dissipating steam. The air was thin ice in my throat and burned in my lungs. The prince was sunk into ice and frozen mud over his ankles, with his face twisted into a stiff inhuman grimace. "Reg!" Asai shouted. "Don't go closer!" I couldn't have walked any further towards prince. My breath failed like I wasn't surrounded by air at all, but the lack of it. I stumbled backwards, and let Asai help me away. The prince wasn't moving. "It's not a spirit of winter," Asai said. "Or of any season. I think it's a spirit of the night sky. A god, Reg." "What's it doing?" "The steam-trap caught it by surprise, and hurt it bad, so now it's recollecting itself. Seems it froze its physical body in place, even before getting out of the briefly melted mud." "How do we kill it?" "We can't. Not while its domain is above us, unconquered by the sun." I looked up, as if to make sure the faint stars were brightening for the coming night. "But it's barely past dusk!" "Yes. We need to keep it trapped through the whole night. Come, we need to work fast, before it recovers and breaks loose." Asai stayed behind, singing to the glory of the Daylord, while holding up a tiny vial of bottled light that now pulsed like a star. I banged the doors and shouted until I got enough villagers together to spread the new plan. Scarcely anyone hesitated, though for them even the presence of the god could be deadly. All available firewood was gathered and large bonfires were built on the both sides of the stuck prince, at a safe distance. Their heat kept the temperature bearable to the villagers and boiled kettles of water, which were dumped on the god. Along with the imitated daylight, the heat and cloud-like steam disturbed the recuperation of the spirit, while some of the water froze at his feet. Perhaps if he had been a winter god, he could have moved ice like water, but now he appeared shackled by it. Yet there was only so much wood to burn in the barren land. Furniture found its way to the fires, which still diminished. Those without thick furs and thicker constitution couldn't remain close, though many remained to carry water from the stream below. The prince's mouth began to move. First I thought he had started to breathe, until the attempts of forming words was obvious. "He's trying to chant spells!" "Y-yes..." Asai said. She sat on a bench brought for her, trying to recover from the exhaustion of forcing daylight on the night. I asked for a bow and set an arrow ablaze. The fire obeyed and roared in my hand, yet didn't burn me as I drew the bow. Even though the distance wasn't great, I felt pride when the arrow sunk into the gasping mouth of the prince. It didn't appear to damage the spirit itself, but kept the physical body from intoning power. I took over holding the light as Asai rested over a hot spicy drink inside the one house heated for the benefit of the sickly, the young and the elderly. But with my lesser mastery the spell was noticeably draining. I doubted that my strength would suffice for the work needed at dawn. Fortunately for us Asai soon returned, determined if with her bruised features pallid and drained. I guided her to sit next to me on a bench, and held the vial of light with her. The night was endless, and we were forced to ration of the fire lest we would have to start burning doors and stairs. The fog felt frozen and the cold became intolerable to anyone without heaviest of furs. I had once climbed to the highest of the holy mountains of the nearby range, yet the air of the village was harder to breathe, than it had been above the clouds. When the stars finally began to fade, the prince was knee-deep in ice. The repeated gruesome burns on his head were gone, and the agape grimace had closed into a friendly smile unperturbed by the arrow. The eyes stared at us with the resplendent flames of the night-sky. "It would be easier to tolerate, if he moved --reacted with-- his physical body and not just his spirit," I whispered. "Don't be unnerved. That's why he does it. He knows we are Peritian sorcerers and that there won't be any mercy for either us or him." I stood up and gripped my knife. "What is it waiting for?" "Funnily enough, the dawn's warmth." Asai's chuckle was tired enough to sound like sobs. "It doesn't want to waste too much of its force to break free. But see, the ice is already melting." The prince's movement startled me. He clutched the charred arrow, pulled it out his mouth and spoke. His voice was gasping growl, the words incomprehensible, mocking and cruel. "I'll kill it." Asai might have told me to be careful, but I couldn't properly hear her. For the latter half of the night, I had been trying to prepare to sink into a battle trance, similar to the fury employed by proper warrior- sorcerers. Now that I forced myself deeper, I found myself slide into the trance like a child's foot into the boot of a grown man. I sang my blade into molten rage and commanded it to keep its edge. The god of the night sky had lowered some of its influence, perhaps due to being forced my the dawn, so I could breathe close to him. Not easily, but breathe nevertheless. The ice and frozen mud cracked around his legs, and the monster I had seen in the mist surged at me. Very little was left of the man of the prince, yet I was beyond enough reason to fear. I dodged under a sweeping arm of glass-sharp claws and sunk my blade into the his breast. Though the mistake was immediately obvious. When a forearms length of steel did little to hamper the prince, I merely acknowledged it, and pulled the cooled knife out. Mighty arms wrapped around me, and ice poked through the skin of my back. The agony would have smacked me unconscious, if the trance hadn't taken fully over. Uncaring that the claws in my back wouldn't dislodge, I moved out of the grasp, letting chunks of flesh be ripped from me. My free hand shot to constrict the still very human throat of the prince, not to strangle him, but to stop him from intoning his annoying spells. The icy talons raked me. I wouldn't let go. He pushed from my feed, but dragged the beast down with me. A wrestler scarcely could have been more outmatched than I, but I kept the prince in the ground. Screams of horror swelled around us. I found it funny. The damage I went through wouldn't have killed a sorcerer. But I wasn't one. Though my wounds didn't yet bleed, I knew I was dying. Humans needed their bodies intact. I merely didn't have the time to care. The most beautiful lament heralded the dawn, as its light and warmth crept over the rooftops. The prince's attack changed into a desperate struggle. I lifted myself to press the prince down, and sang to remelt my blade. I sliced through the limbs, smashed through very much corporeal bones. What I mashed in the handsome face with was nothing more than a deformed rod of steel. "Heap up the wood. We need to burn the remains!" Must have been Asai's voice. But Asai had been a boy, and the voice was much too pretty. But then again, I had been alive. Now I was staring at the sky, surrounded by mud as a corpse ready to be buried. A radiant maiden spirit, such as in stories came to warriors foolish enough to die instead of returning to their loved ones, leaned over me. My soul was lifted towards the pitch black heavens. The afterlife was nothing like I would have expected. I woke into fits of screaming in pain, surrounded by blood-soaked rags and faces twisted by shadows. Incomprehensible prayers and chants drummed by ears. In unreachable glimpses I recognised Asai, and though it part of my punishment, I allowed myself to hope. I woke up from the strangest dream. I had fallen in love with my best friend and then died fighting some beast menacing the village. It would have been funny, if it hadn't been so tender and horrifying. The weight on me was the arm of Asai, who was huddling next to me. I laughed, and my torso felt sliced open. Asai was startled awake. Instead of backing away, she pressed against me. I would have wrapped my arm around her, if breathing alone didn't hurt too much. I didn't want to speak, and neither did she. After a good while, Asai asked: "How are you feeling?" "Like a mauled corpse," I answered. "The villagers thought you were one, with your open but unbleeding wounds. A lot of them were rather spooked by the sight, though I--" Her voice cracked. "--found it much more terrible when you started to bleed." "You saved me." "Possibly. I certainly couldn't have, hadn't you been a sorcerer." "I'm not." "If your condition isn't Peritian immortality, then it's close. But such specifics do not matter, so let's not debate it now." I agreed, relaxed my eyes and quickly fell asleep. Asai changing the dressings of my wounds woke me. I felt marginally better. "How mutilated am I?" She smiled. "You will have quite a lot of scars." I touched the bandages on my face. "Don't worry," Asai said. "I made sure to save your looks as best as I could. Out of perfectly selfish reasons. But there will be a dashing scar under your right eye." She moved a finger from her temple to her lip. Only then I properly acknowledged the swollen purple bruise covering half her face. "Are you alright?" "Oh, this?" She rubbed her face. "Doesn't hurt a bit. And nothing's permanently broken, so don't you worry about me." Her bruise reminded me of what had happened before she got it. Despite my condition, excitement stirred in me. After she was done with the bandages, I asked with my best innocent voice: "Could I see your tits?" She flustered scarlet under her tan. "I don't have any!" "Yes you do. I saw them when your dress was ripped. A lovely pair, no less." "No... At least, they aren't proper ones." "Would you deny the wish of a dying man?" "You aren't dying!" I smirked. "What's the matter? You have seen me naked plenty of times." I realized I hadn't seen her nude since we were tiny; a week before I would have chalked the realisation on her shyness. "It's different for girls. But..." She tried to look coy by biting her lip, though clearly she was more than a little intimidated. "Alright. But you aren't allowed to criticise them. I'll make them bigger when I figured a good way how." She climbed on top of me and lowered her weight on my sore body. The pain was a fitting punishment for my shameless request. It was a price I was prepared to pay. Frustratingly slowly she untied the top of her gown and lowered it. The small mounds of flesh, covered almost by the cute wide areola, were much lovelier than what I remembered from the glance. I wanted to squeeze them, manhandle them a little, but reaching up was too daunting of a task. "Are you finished ogling?" "Yes. They are pressed into my memory." She smiled as she replaced her gown. "Do you really like them, or are you just grinning to mock me?" "I'm grinning, presumably like an idiot, from a girl being so bashful about her pretty self. Also, not to grimace from pain. Get off me, please." It took me several days of rest before I could rise from the bed without help or leave the spare room. The widow was a resolute host and kept everyone wanting to visit me out, so I could spend time in the main hall without too much excitement. I made myself as useful as I could: I helped the household by holding stuff for their woolworking. I was napping in the spare room when Asai burst inside. She was visibly agitated. "What's wrong?" "Oh, nothing's wrong." The tremble of her voice didn't agree. "They are holding a spring festival. To celebrate the death of the lord of winter, as they call it. They have made me look through a lot items they threaten to gift us during it." Asai rubbed her palm. "The word about our scuffle has spread to the surrounding settlements, and the whole region is gathering here to celebrate together. It's obviously going to be a big fertility rite, and there's talk about plenty of weddings." She took a deep breath. "What I mean is: will you marry me?" Though I had passingly assumed that a marriage would only be considered after the question of children became relevant, the answer couldn't have been easier. "Of course." EPILOGUE Not much food was left after the winter, though mutton was plentiful. The cacophony of the multitudes of musicians often coalesced into one song that filled the hills like the eerie choirs of the heavens. Dizzying groups intermingled; dancing, worshipping and playing games, often all three at the same time. Asai and I clumsily participated with the other to-be-weds. Neither us knew how to dance with any skill, and the unfamiliar rhythm made sure we were by far the clumsiest pair, despite one groom missing a foot. The rites were more straightforward, though many of them pertained to the fertility of the bride. Asai pushed through despite flustered awkwardness, while I could not stop myself from grinning. Before the final rite, it was apparently customary that the pair was separated for last moment advice from friends and family. Despite not really having either available, I found myself surrounded by a group locals, eager to jest instructions. Some of them had managed to get drunk despite the thinness of the beer, and the rest were too jovial to be overly serious. I couldn't understand much beyond the shouts and roaring laughter. They scolded me for tarrying with 'my responsibility', joked that they would have taken my bride if I had been any slower and finally commended me on my luck. I was relieved to get back to Asai, even though the most intimidating part was ahead of us. We walked over the threshold of the ceremonial gate, and a priestess announced us married according to the will of the gods and laws of men. Straight out of the portentous declaration, she informed us that she would write the necessary legal document for the union during the following week. First I thought she was only saying it due to mistaking us for officials, yet she also repeated it to the other newly weds. The Tyrant's grasp truly was inescapable. The gifts were abundant, and fortunately the local custom allowed for immediate regifting of anything unneeded. We delegated most of the jewels and garments to the other wedded pairs. They were most tactful and thanked the original gift-givers foremost. In the end everyone made a show of being pleased with the mutual generosity and all the new wives being adorned with silver and gems. I did keep a small mirror, and used it to survey my face. The yet unhealed scar was nasty, but it was low enough not to droop my eye and didn't twist my mouth. It was easy to be vain, when you were about force someone dear to share a life staring at your face. Asai took the mirror out of my hand, and kissed me to stop me from protesting. The honoured widow went well beyond necessity to provide us privacy. She had instructed her household to spend the night with their families and friends, and told that she herself was going to to sleep on the other side of the house. The consideration was amusing if misplaced, I thought. After a moment of appreciating Asai's naked form with my hands, I closed my eyes and found myself surprisingly eager for sleep. The jolt of a gentle slap woke me from the brink of dreams. Asai pouted. "You can't be tired yet. How about the consummation?" Maybe I was half-asleep already, because I could not understand what she meant. "We can't quite do it the correct way, but we can it in another," Asai said and pressed herself against me. "I have better form of those inner enchantments you have that made taking care of you a significantly smaller hurdle. I don't think it would be disgusting." My dick worked it out faster than my mind, and Asai wrapped her hand around my erection. "I don't know," I said. "Would you even like... that?" "No way to know without trying. Besides, I want to do my marital duties so you'll stay faithful, even while I'm changing my body." "I wouldn't betray you." "Easy to say now, but a young virile husband with a prude for a wife does not seem like a lasting combination." The slight guilting was enough to get me over my doubts, until they were drowned in my desire. Asai handed me a vial of concoction she had prepared, and got on all fours. I kneeled behind her; I wasn't nearly as ignorant as she might have believed. The hermitage had had all sorts of literature. I began to 'open' her and spread the concoction, but my doubts rose again. Even pushing in one finger was met with resistance. Her stubby near-limp member twitched. Without thinking much, and I wrapped my hand around her member. She yelped, and my hand recoiled. She asked, voice quivering: "What are you doing?" "I thought you needed some help to relax." "But that's--" "A part of you. Just as cute as the rest. But... I won't touch it, if it makes you uncomfortable." "I just... It's... You know, continue, please." I did, and some of her sighs turned into moans. I managed to get another finger in her. "St-stop! Don't milk me. I don't want to come before you are inside." I obeyed, though it soon became clear that I wouldn't be able to coax her looser. I made my member for entrance, waited her to signal her readiness with a frustrated moan. As I slid into her tightness, for the first time I was glad my member wasn't large. She moaned and pressed her face against the bed. I let her recover, half-sure we would be stopping. Whispering under her breath, she got her arms under her again. "Are you alright?" I asked. "Yes. Yes. I didn't expect it to feel like this. B-but it's not bad! You need to call me a girl now. It's crucial. If I'm fucked, I need to be a girl, not some boy... Not some brothel-toy being degraded." Talking about anything was weird while already inside her, yet her tone was serious, almost desperate. "You are already my wife, so..." I pulled out. "Is this from something you have read?" Asai lowered herself on her side and curled her body. She didn't look at me. "Yes... There was texts from people like me. I'm not the first sorcerer-going-ress." She swallowed a sniff and whispered: "Please don't think that I merely pretend for the excitement." I lay next to her. "I don't." She ignored me. "That's why I didn't want you to touch... it. Real girls don't have those, even if mine is useless." I clasped her hand. "I don't know the words that would make you feel better, but trust that I'd say them, if I knew." She turned to look at me and smiled. "That's dumb. Is it from something you have read?" "Yes. From a book on women, vapid phrase to say when one can't understand them." She chuckled. "I'm the one being dumb here, aren't I? Making lusty demands, then offhandedly insulting you and sulking for no apparent reason." "It's fine. That's how the book told women are: silly and difficult." Asai smirked and pulled me into a kiss. We tried to find position she would feel more comfortably 'girly' in, but in the end she decided to be on her knees and elbows again. I was determined to please her, but it took a while. I had to pause several times not to go over myself. Asai sighed, and I stopped my thrusts. "Damn..." she whispered. "It feels... nice. Like you were pushing my groin from the inside. But it's not getting me any closer." She twisted to look at me. Her mouth twitched. "Could you..?" "Sure, my little moonstone." I leaned and braced myself, so I could wrap my hand around her nub. Despite my movements being clumsy, she didn't last long. Her body trembled, and she let out a low dainty whine. My dick was constricted by her pucker, and another two thrusts pushed me to climax. I lay down and embraced her. I feared she might feel unsatisfied, disappointed or worse, so I needed to show how much I cared for her. Fortunately she didn't sulk, but smiled at me. "Did you enjoy it?" I asked. "Yes." She sighed. "I was afraid it would hurt and leave only the feeling of having been used to enjoy." She pressed her head against me and stopped speaking. I too fell asleep soon after. Asai woke me close to dawn. Before I could say 'good morning', she was climbing on top of me. Her face was inscrutable in the gloom. "Stay still," she commanded. With some fumbling, she managed to place my erection to enter her. After lowering herself, her movements were forceful, and I was quickly pushed near ready. I reached for her, so she wouldn't be left hanging herself, but she forcibly took my hand into hers, and used to her other hand to keep me down. I groaned from my release. She got off and huddled next to me. "You you love your wife?" she asked. I was baffled by her behaviour, yet I said: "Of course. But why--" She placed her hand on my mouth. "I want to make you feel good, and learn to love it. I know I can do both." I didn't want to start arguing, but instead embraced her and let my hands roam on her body. Eventually her excitement grew warm enough for her to allow me to fondle her, until she too was satisfied. We stayed in the village for a week. I had to still recuperate, before I felt confident to travel, so we spend the time walking the moors and performing small sorceries to help the locals. We pondered the possibility of staying in the village, if not for good, for some time at least. Yet there was only so much for us to do there. We were already becoming parasites. And with wandering would come chances to learn. In the end, our plan was to start circling the Peritian periphery and see where that took us. Despite the wet wind, a crowd of villagers came to say their farewells. We rode down the hill on the sturdy mountain ponies we had been gifted. AUTHOR'S BELLYACHING: I had some ideas that I wanted to write about, but which weren't worth a story (mainly due to the ideas being so thoroughly played out), so I combined them here. As a result, the narrative structure is rather clumsy. I considered removing the last chapter altogether, but ended up changing it into the "epilogue" instead, for several (mostly self- indulgent) reasons. Again, I had trouble figuring out the Categories. Sorry about any errors and poor reasoning, pre-emptively. Thanks for reading. All rights are waived on this text, CC0.