Battlemage Nonetheless Book 5 AdvocateChapter 7
- 2 years ago
- 26
- 0
The next morning Dusty got up very early, before the sun was even close to coming up, and started packing his pack for the next mission.
As he pulled out clothing to take with him he noticed the suede leather jacket and jeans that he was wearing when he arrived here hanging in the wardrobe in the corner of his room.
Seeing them once again took him back to when he first appeared in this world just under over a year ago.
A lot of things had changed.
First of all he now believed in magic. It was still hard for him to really believe in it, even after all he saw and did when he first arrived because it was such a foreign idea to him, but he had to admit the constant emersion of it and the results of his training proved its validity.
It was hard to discount something when he was able to routinely perform it. He was always amazed at the things he could do.
Melkin took to teaching him what he could do with magic. Lori even helped with his practice when Melkin didn't drop by. He even learned a lot about rankings, what comprised the circles, and what they were. Right now he was third circle in all schools and he felt before long he would be close to mastering the fourth.
The eighth circle spell he pulled off to save the ladies he was unable to duplicate a second time. Melkin said that it wasn't lost to him, he just wasn't motivated enough to use it again. But with time and practice he would be able to do that and many other things unknown to him.
The other thing he learned was that exhausting his magic as a Battlemage was dangerous.
A normal mage would just run out of power and be forced to find other means to fight. But if he exhausted his he would pass out, and how long it was for depended upon how much he over extended himself and how much needed to be replenished.
Also during that time he would be completely defenseless. The best thing he could do would be to find capable companions to watch over him if that time ever arose.
Magic was tied to the core of who he was, and there was a balance to be maintained if he wanted to use it. It was a form of forcing his body to borrow against future power for a short while, but it would demand heavy repayment every time.
Dusty always felt that there was also something else that Melkin wanted to tell him, but often didn't. He kept starting and changing the subject, but Dusty knew that there was something important that he needed to know that Melkin must not be telling him.
Once Melkin even asked him if he was one to believe in legacies and destinies and such, but he wouldn't elaborate on what he meant.
As soon as he understood the basic principles of magic he could correlate them into basic science from his world and from then on it was easier to understand. Simple magic was easy because it was really just cause and effect.
But the more involved magic's seemed to call for him to disbelieve things his engineer training told him couldn't be true. And that made the learning process slower than he would have liked even though he could memorize a spell instantly.
It was the training of his mind to think in a way that allowed magic to work effectively that was the hardest, because if he didn't believe in the result then it most often didn't actually happen.
Even White magic wasn't that hard to grasp the basics of, even though he only had basic first aid training as a member of the Hazmat Team at the plant he used to work at. At the time management wanted someone to be their counterpart to the union members on the team and he was elected.
Now some of the basics he learned were coming in handy for him to use as a basis to grow and learn more. But of them all White was the hardest by far for him to see beyond the basics with.
He easily grasped the principles, but being able to use magic to repair major damage to a body using only their principles was a different story. And while he needed to really learn how they did it to fully understand and master White, they didn't seem to have the same level of knowledge of how the body worked that he did.
But it was the only thing that he found challenging above everything else.
Blue came very easy because he was used to thinking in 3D as an engineer, that same visualization also came in handy with White as well. He found that using his mind to fashion things he could visualize wasn't all that hard.
Red was next easiest because it took very little to make it work as he intended. He only saw Red as raw power and it wasn't that hard to shape it with Blue.
Green wasn't too hard either, but it was hard to believe that he had the ability to make what amounted to a small nuclear power plant with his mind. The raw power of nature was something to never be taken lightly.
Some of his explanations or questions seemed to go over Melkin's head, but because of his industrial training it wasn't all that hard to visualize the effect he was after. He realized that he could recreate Einstein's black hole theory or nuclear fission.
He was sure he could even split atoms using that same power.
Dusty wasn't sure if they knew what they were unleashing teaching him this with his background.
In the end his ability at devastation for Green always surprised him.
Dusty would have thought that Red would be the most devastating of them all. But it was that way with all Green mages because non-mages often didn't truly understand what they could do with nature, and their ability with it was off the charts.
Or it might be that the majority of the Green mages just didn't understand how powerful they really were as well. Coming from a world of science he could see implications that Melkin didn't seem to completely grasp even as someone who had mastered Green.
As it was, it wasn't that hard to master the basics, even if it did take a while for him to gather all the energy he needed to cast. The larger the effects he was after always took more energy to gather.
He was told that he would get faster and it would be much easier with practice, but not to solely depend on magic for his protection. That was the downfall of many a young mage who became complacent in their power as their sole and only defense. As such he kept up his daily training.
Melkin asked him quite a few times if he knew or could develop of a way to store a spell and cast only what he needed later, sort of a quick cast ability. But when Dusty asked him to elaborate he said that it was a lost skill and he wondered if he could recreate it.
To Dusty it sounded what he wanted was an executable program that was entirely self contained and precompiled as an application. Not any different than building a computer program and he had taken some programming courses as required by his engineering degree before he graduated not that long ago. With his photographic memory he could easily recall the text books in question.
So that might be possible, but he hadn't given it that much though. But Melkin did seem to keep bringing it up more an more as he worked with Dusty. Dusty knew that he would need to develop it soon, if only as proof that it was possibly for him to do.
Black was the one that both bothered and interested Dusty at the same time.
Dusty wasn't that interested in creating diseases, but after what happened with his STD scare, he was all ears about what someone could do with it. He was going to make sure that he was never caught off guard and infected again.
The other thing that interested him was that he liked a good horror flick or two and the ability to used undead spells fascinated him a little. Not that he would use it, but knowing that if he really needed to it would be interesting to do.
Dusty kept seeing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video playing in his mind every time Melkin started talking about what he could do with Black.
So far Dusty hated that he could only parrot back what Melkin showed him with some of the magic he learned, and he could do the lower level stuff first time every time from memory, but he wanted to be able to expand on it so that he could make innovations if he needed to.
If anything, this world in desperate need of innovations from what Dusty could see.
He had to admit as learned he was hampered by the need to convert it to something he could draw as a parallel from the science of his world before he could then slowly understand more and more of it.
Since White passed as medicine in some form in this world, and Black as the causes of various diseases, he wanted to make sure he was protected from all diseases by understanding both if at all possible.
Even Lori had even gotten Melkin to start to teach her new magic. While he resisted the taking on of a second pupil she was very convincing that as a companion of Dusty's being well rounded would only help protect him better.
Melkin seemed to be the only male Dusty had come across able to resist her charms and Lori managed to get her way with him by being purely logical and using intelligent arguments that he couldn't dispute
She had managed to bring her Red up to sixth circle to match her blue and had learned the complete first circle in green, white, and black. She was learning at a much slower pace than Dusty, but both Lori and Melkin said it was because he was special and not many would be able to learn at his rate.
Lori always told him and others that she did this because she needed to be more rounded for the team, but Dusty knew deep down it was because Magic was always her first love, regardless of what she said about her reason's why.
There was a look of pure enjoyment anyone could see on her face as she learned, and he had yet to see the same look given for anything else she ever did, including chasing him.
But as Dusty thought about that and his arrival here he also thought more about the four women.
Marie for the first few months seemed to always be around and coming on strong to him when he least expected it.
Early on they went on a few dates into town and she seemed to still be all hands as she often felt him up or publicly displayed her interest at the least opportune time. It wasn't unexpected for her to pass him, no matter where they were, and pull him close and use her tongue as a greeting and way to say hello.
Once while he was having dinner in the hall with a couple other guild members she returned back from town, came straight over to him, pulled his chair back with him still in it while he was having dinner, faced him as she then straddled him in his chair in the dining room, and tried to use her tongue to touch the back of his throat as she draped both of her arms over his shoulders.
It was a good thing he had already swallowed the food in his mouth before she did.
Then she got up and casually went in search of her own dinner as if this was something that everyone did every day and it wasn't a big deal. She left a stunned Dusty to try and will his cock down before he could even begin to leave the dinner table.
At least he was quick enough on the uptake to just sheepishly grin, and crack a quick joke about how long it had been since they had seen each other to the other stunned looks he got while he waited for it to happen. Thankfully it was the only time she did that, but he still had no idea why she did it.
But after a couple months of casual dating and a few deep kisses she seemed as if she lost all interest in him.
She didn't seem to try as hard for his attention or try and meet him anywhere.
They still sparred from time to time, but she didn't throw out the sexual innuendo like she used to or even tried to put him in a position where either she, or he, was grabbing the other in some way during practice.
And she didn't appear to Dusty to be too depressed about it either. She started treating him like she used to when they first met. Often he felt more like her brother than someone she wanted to previously bed.
While she was still beautiful, it took stress off of him from having to keep her from putting him in awkward situations. He was just glad that she decided that they were better as friends than if they had gotten involved and then she changed her mind about him later.
Dusty wondered as he thought about it if he only had a small window in which to hold Marie's attention, and since he missed it, it was now gone. Not that it was a problem if that was the case, because it now made his choices easier for him.
But he also found that he was really hoping that Marie was only curious about sex with him and decided to move on to a more willing partner. That would mean that he didn't hurt her feelings by not choosing to be with her.
One of his biggest problems with being with her was that since sex wasn't that big a deal to the people around him, he knew it wasn't any of his business to ask her about her previous partners, but he knew he would have been desperate to know given how he caught his last disease if they became involved.
Dusty also noticed that once they arrived at the guild when he first joined Marie didn't seem to be hurting for men trying to kill each other to get at her, both in the guild and in the city when they went out, but she appeared very selective.
Men seemed to stare and drool as she went by without her armor on, so he knew her self confidence or if she ever questioned her attractiveness, would never have been an issue for her.
To be honest he found that all four of them were quite popular with the men trying to get dates with them. But only Suzan had never dated any of the men.
Dusty noticed that some of those same men took offense early on that he was their main focus, especially because in the case of Suzan as they felt they had more right to being the first man to be with her as they had tried longer and harder than he had, and put in more time with her.
It didn't help his popularity with the other men that he was assigned to the girl's team as well, at Marie's request.
Rachel attention for him appeared to Dusty to be another matter entirely. He was sure that she would be the most hurt by his decision to be with Suzan exclusively.
One of the things that often bothered him, once he reached the guild, was that she often tried to play both sides of the fence to give him the appearance that he was her sole interest, but didn't seem to realize that some men often talked in depth about the women they slept with every chance they got.
So Dusty was always aware of what she was doing.
He found the fact that those kinds of men often bragged about their conquests to be a universal truth even here.
Rachel had already slowly worked her way several times through all of the men she found really attractive in the guild well before Dusty ever arrived.
Dusty felt that was really only her business who she slept with and who she didn't. What she did on her own time still didn't detract from his willingness to be her friend. While it wasn't his business what she did, it was his choice to decide if he wanted to be a part of that life she decided to live.
He knew that he never would be able to accept it because it was also that same freedom to experiencing as many men as humanly possible before marriage that she was doing was also something that he knew would prevent them from ever being a couple.
Not with his fears of what could be transmitted and given to him again.
Even though he still knew it was all in his mind, living with the knowledge he could have died if it had gone untreated from what Lindsey gave him made him determined to never be in that situation again. Not in this backwards world.
It was a new phobia that she created with-in his mind that he found hard to escape from. He knew it would be the same if he had almost drowned and couldn't see his way past his fear of water again.
But what bothered him later on, as he found out more of what was going on around him, was that she tried to give the impression while she was with him that that she had no interest in any other males but him, and as he later learned that was only while he was around.
During those dates she tried to make her time alone with him as hot as she could, she really was quite good with her tongue as well.
But no matter how hard she tried Dusty wouldn't go back to her room, or let her into his, for a quick romp. She always tried to use her warm brown eyes to stare deep in his before she made her request each time.
If it wasn't for his history with someone who looked similar to her, that probably would have worked on him. Lord knows it always worked for Lindsey when she did the exact same thing. No wonder the men around her didn't stand a chance.
As Dusty lowered guard around her, he did realized that there were some key differences between her and Lindsey, and she did seem to have more personal integrity and never once "claimed" to be celibate, and she seemed really good at her job as a tracker.
But like Lindsey he could see where she could also suck him into her revolution if he wasn't careful.
Often times when they used to go out, she always managed to get his arm around her as she pulled him close to her with her arm around his waist. And at some point she always managed to maneuver him into a dark area on the street somewhere that she could push him against a wall and rub up against him with her body as she deeply kissed him.
He didn't want to give her false hopes, but he would be lying if he said she wasn't good at distracting him so she could do this. She really knew what she was doing.
She wasn't as overtly up front and out there in her desire to get him to be with her as Marie or Lori was, but she was more aggressively publicly than Suzan was by far. Rachel just wasn't as bad as the other two women.
Some of the men who knew about Rachel's public interest in Dusty, and were irritated by it, couldn't wait to tell him about the different late at nights, both in the past or the ones since she had returned, where she had either met with them somewhere or when she had them come back to her room when Dusty was out doing something else.
They wanted to make sure that Dusty wasn't going to stop them from enjoying her time while she was back, and they hoped he was the jealous type because a few wanted a fight with him bad enough that they could taste it. They wanted to put the newbie in his place.
Of course they also wanted to make sure that he knew they had dibs long before he ever got there and would continue to do so, but if eventually he wanted his turn in the rotation with her he was welcome to a turn, but he would need to go to the back of the line.
Dusty just ignored them all because it wasn't any his business how Rachel spent her free time.
While he disliked the rumors, he always gave Rachel the benefit of the doubt that they may have been just making up stuff because he never saw her do anything that led him to believe they were true. To him it just appeared that she seemed to be working hard at getting him to choose her over the other girls.
But it was once he got up early in the morning, or late at night depending on your point of view, because something he ate didn't agree with him, and it was on his way back to his room that he saw a man backing out of Rachel's room in the wee hours of the morning. So he knew some of the rumors were true.
He had to admit then that he was secretly hoping it wasn't, but it wasn't because he wanted to secretly be with her, but because he hoped the men were just being crude to scare him off. He was hoping that how she acted around him was her real personality, one of a shy girl who only just flirted too much.
Regardless of what he saw he didn't start to treat Rachel any differently and he still went out to dinner with her from time to time, but it was strictly platonic as far as he was concerned, and would never be one that was any different.
For him she was still one of the persons who tried to make him feel comfortable in a new world. But he did often wish that she wouldn't try so hard to lead him to believe all the time she was still waiting and holding out for only him, especially while in her free time she was still seeing other men.
At times it made him feel that she might think he was too stupid to know what she was really doing. But he forced those feelings away from him.
Before lunch had been served Dusty had already spoken with the King. Even though he tried hard to keep the crystal phones they created a secret from the public, the King while bragging about them, had shown his off to a few of the nobles and visiting dignitaries. That was enough to spark a huge interest in them. Suddenly it was seen as a favor to the crown to have a few people outfitted with them, and a few others tried to curry huge favors with him to get one. Dusty and his friends kept...
While Kat had waited that morning for the three of them to arrive quite a few men had tried to "chat her up" as they passed by her going either into the city or as they left. Even in her generally loose fitting travel garb they saw the gem that she was. Somehow she managed not only to talk to them in a friendly manner, but she also managed to get some useful information while not offending anyone or giving the impression that she was willing to go to bed with any of them. Even though she...
The four women entered the large city and quickly blended in with the rest of the inhabitants. Suzan was just a little unhappy Dusty wasn't with her though it had only been a little over a week since she left Dusty and headed out for the mission. Although she missed her husband, she was also really charged up to be here and was well ready to take on a new mission like this. It took them several days of travel by ship and a few more days of hard riding and just barely stopping for anything...
Amber came into the house and kicked off her boots. She then put her pack down beside the door, took off her twin swords, and then leaned those swords against the door next to her pack. Her parents would be around somewhere, and after she found something to eat she would go find them. She had dropped Logan off in town, as he wanted to visit, but she only wanted to go home and unwind. As she walked down the hallway she had the same thoughts she usually did when she passed through...
Dusty felt like he was submerged in warm water. It was strange because while he couldn't see, he could feel everything. The feeling made him feel like he was surrounded by nothing and yet at the same time by everything. He could feel shapes, colors, sounds, even smells. He could sense everyone around him and as strange as it sounded he could sense himself. It was like he was looking at himself but he wasn't looking at himself. As Dusty was trying to puzzle that out, he felt child like...
Dusty and Suzan reached the double doors that lead to the council chambers. They had passed a few offices that the council members and others made their own. Now they were at their destination. There was a single desk outside the council chambers, and at it sat a very striking and attractive red haired woman. She looked to conceivably be in her mid-thirties, but with mages that didn't mean anything. She was dressed in similar robes as the guard out front with the same sash over her...
Nathan and Ariel were at the city of Lake's End walking around and speaking with the various people who lived there as they waited for their contact to get in touch with them. Someone had sent a work request notice to the guild about a two person job that needed to be done, and they requested the two of them by name. It was a simple escort job, but the request that accompanied it asked that both of them come a few days early before hand and discuss the job, as it was private and sensitive...
Wolfgang wouldn't admit it but he was really looking forward to Kat's visit shortly. She had just called to say that she was close and would soon be at his home, and once they broke the connection he found he was rotating the crystal phone around in his hands and staring at it as he thought about her. Ever since Dusty's phones started to be the rage it had made his life far easier. Of course he wished he had access to these phones a long, long, time ago but Dusty wasn't born during the...
Dusty and Suzan quickly made a few plans between them, agreed on them, and then set about separately doing them. First thing Dusty wanted to do was make sure the kids were taken care of. He knew that getting DJ started on his training was important right then and so he made a quick call to Lori. Talking as fast as he could Dusty then explained what was going on and why he needed to send the kids to her home. Telling Lori he had the emergency covered he made the plan to send their kids,...
Dusty, Suzan, Daniel, and Rachel all suddenly appeared on the pad next to Lori's home. The pad was large enough to accommodate five riders on horseback, but it was the four of them standing next to Dusty and Suzan's horses. Waiting while Dusty and Suzan took their horses to the stable, the four of them returned to the front of the door and knocked. "Lori seemed pretty excited when I called her, I wonder why," said Suzan as they waited "Bet she's discovered something new again. She...
"Thank you for the horses," said Marie as she looked over at Seth smiling. "I'm happy to loan them to you all. I'm just sorry how you received them, but not that you have them," said Seth. "I am too. I wished those men didn't have to die while helping others as they did, but I know those people in the town appreciated their sacrifice," said Marie to Seth. Seth just nodded as he rode. They rode in silence while they were sticking to the main roads in the forest so that they could...
As the five of them worked their way through the dungeon, they were surprised that they no longer found any opposition. There just didn't seem to be anything that approached them or tried to attack them. That bothered Dusty. They had just gone from having wave after wave of ghouls attacking for over an hour to an eerie quiet. The only thing that made it worse was the occasional dripping sound of water from somewhere in the distance as they made their way deeper into the dungeon. "This is...
Melkin had to admit that Dusty was coming up in the world. When he brought him here he was someone who had nothing and had to start at the bottom. The council thought that this was the best way to do it and that it would make him more dependant on them for things he needed to survive while here. But not only had he started with nothing and grown, but he had been knighted, received a title and land, and was now turning a pretty decent profit. No one had expected him to be able to prosper...
"With us not finding any trace of what's happing during the day it looks like we're going to have to venture further into the woods at night," said Suzan as she looked at Dusty and Seth. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean we've still not found a single trace of what is taking off with the people from around here," said Dusty as he turned to look at her. "I say we give it at least one more day, maybe two tops, before we go looking for any danger that we may not need to buy for...
Dusty started to run into the room, but he stopped and took a good long look around first looking for traps. As he stepped into the room he saw Galvin as he basically finished hanging his wife next to Daniel and Rachel from a hook by a chain around both of her wrists. When Galvin stepped back he could see that her shirt was ripped badly in the front and one of her breasts was in danger of spilling out of her already heavily overworked bra. He watched Galvin seem to take a good long look at...
Two men stood looking at the prone form of their leader. They just received the report that the man wanting to join them, a Christopher Jones, was just killed by someone a very powerful. It didn't look like magic that killed him, but they also had no idea at this point how he died. The men weren't too broken up about it because they felt the fool was wrong to be experimenting on children and they wouldn't miss him. He contacted them before with a deep desire to join their ranks and said...
"Mmmmmmm ... do you really need to get up and go work out so soon? The sun isn't even up yet. You really should come back to bed. I need you. I mean I really need you. You could just as easily work out with me instead you know," said Suzan softly but in her deep raspy voice. Even with just barely opening her eyes, she knew that she had her husband's complete attention. They had gone to bed the previous night in the buff and she could see his response to her request instantly. He was...
During the first week that Dusty and the others had left Marie and Seth had met with the King and Marie trained in the yard to keep up her skills, tone her body, and generally keep busy. The King gave her one of the outer rooms that faced the parade yards so that she was well away from the other nobles but close enough that she could work out in the yard and visit with Seth. King William gave her a knowing smile as his secretary briefed her where she would be staying. Marie smiled back at...
Once out of the chamber Dusty smiled and raced down the hall to grab Suzan's hand as she was still storming down the hallway, and pulled her trembling frame into an embrace. As he did he noticed that her face was unreadable, but he could see as he did this that she was still very much pissed off. While pulling her close he buried his face in her hair. "I'm sorry honey, but should have told you that you broke nothing. If I hadn't been so caught up in self pity I would have spoken up...
"Well my dear it has been almost two weeks, I don't believe they are coming back before the time limit," said Queen Morigan as she looked over at Rachel while she stood apart from the other women. Rachel was sitting and trying to look at ease, but it was an effort with all the various other Lady's and ladies in waiting around. All the various forms of nobility were hanging around the audience chamber making light conversation about nothing and gossiping. As Rachel tried to look like she...
Dusty arrived with his friends at the kingdom of Stelmore. The first thing they did on entering was to head straight for the castle to talk with King Roland about the attacks. Reaching the city gates it was obvious that the city was on high alert. On trying to enter the capital city they had to get off of their horses at the gate and lead them into the city. The guards then separated them, and two guards checked them one at a time. One held a serviceable pike on them as the other one...
A bloody and very upset Suzan and Anita made their way back to the palace just as the Sun was cresting over the horizon. They had already made the stop by Tabitha's mother's house the night before to inform her of what happened. Needless to say it wasn't something they wanted to do, but knew that they had to and it was something they owed the only real victim to pay the ultimate price. Even though Suzan felt she should tell her, Anita insisted that because her death was her fault she...
"Who are you two?" asked Rory quietly as he stared at them. "Rory we're still your friends, but we're also different people than who you know. I promise I'll answer all your questions later. I'll meet you back here in about an hour or so. "Watch over Terrance. I don't believe he'll die, but if I'm wrong come get me. But for now I need to hurry and get Ariel to our room. I'll explain why I need to do this as fast as humanly possible when I return," said Nathan quickly. Moving...
"Everyone, you are here for a reason and it is something that has an effect on your lives both in the past and the future," began Brianna as they were all seated around the living room. As the last to arrive, once Matt and Rayne showed up it was time to get started. As they looked around at their children and their spouses, they both couldn't believe how much the boys took after their father, even down to having the same silver forelock now in their hair as well But knowing this would be...
Galvin sat on the cliff side with his legs dangling as he sat overlooking the city. It was a very prosperous city that originally had been a town that was built against the side of a cliff so that it could only be raided from one direction, and all the defenses had been developed to protect from that direction. But over the years the town had grown, as well as changes in modern warfare. Now if someone wanted to give the city a good pasting they could do it in relative safety from where he...
Aric was sitting the table mentally going over preparations for dinner. It was his week to cook. While Brianna was coming along with her cooking, he was still far better he thought with a smile. But she was getting better, and she was better at cleaning and laundry so he had no complaints. He was glad they took turns switching on and off each week. Even though he tried to stop it, his mind kept drifting back over the last few seasons. After Brianna and Aric were settled in they traveled a...
"And that all happened just a little over ten seasons ago?" asked Nathan slowly. The way this young man was acting he thought it was all recently at least in the last couple of seasons. Not something decades ago. "I left the city and I've not returned. Not even to see my family," said Elliot nodding yes. "But what happened to Kathryn after you left or the man she was with? Did you ever find out? Did you even want to know?" asked Nathan. As he thought about it, he realized that he...
Suzan could tell by the rising and setting of the sun that she had been here at least a week and a half so far. She wasn't sure what was going on with Dusty and her friends, but she really wanted to see them again. The first few days she was there she refused to eat, though after awhile she decided starving herself before she found a way out didn't make sense. But she refused to eat with the Queen and Prince under any circumstances. She just flat out refused to see them. Everyday she...
Once they came to the city they asked for directions and they headed for the address they were given. They found themselves in front of a very large museum with rod iron gates that were swung wide open. They entered and were shown into a very nice, but a very cluttered office. There were books stacked on every table. But at least the center desk was clear. As the secretary showed them in she smiled big at Dusty and offered him her hand as she showed them all into the office. And once he...
After making their way to the address in question they noticed that there was a light coming from what looked to be a cellar door. As they opened the door they saw there was a lantern lit by the door but the others close by it were out. But a few feet after those the rest were lit again. Marie said she was going first, and they followed her down a narrow passageway that seemed to go down for about two stories then leveled out. As they leveled out they realized that they were headed to a...
Dusty and the others made pretty good time over the last day and a half to the huge mountainous expanse in the desert. Dusty would never have expected this if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. It didn't make sense, but he was still learning things. There was one point when Kat called them close and said they were being followed. Dusty leaned over his horse, using just one stirrup to support his weight, reached into an inside pocket, and then hung like that as he buried something close...
Dusty got up early the next morning and found that not only was DJ up, but he already finished some light stretching, completed a run around the house a few times, and was now seated at the kitchen table entertaining himself as he waited for everyone else to get up. Laughing to himself he found it interesting that the boy had similar habits as himself. "I see your up early, any reason for that?" asked Dusty as he got a cup of something out of the icebox and then leaned against the counter...
"Hi welcome to the Winters, Taylor and Owen law firm. How may I help you?" asked the extremely beautiful young lady coming down the hallway. As Dusty stopped to get a good look at her he found his breath taken completely away. She was about 5'9" in some nice shiny black four inch Patten leather pumps. It didn't appear she was wearing stockings, but her legs were tanned and very well formed, but he was trying not to stare and only took a very quick look at them as she approached...
Early the next morning found the group of six riding away from the castle as they hurried to the Kingdom of Patella to speak with the Queen and see what was going on in that land. As the rode down the road, Dusty started talking about something that was on his mind. "Was it really wise to leave Marie alone with Seth?" asked Dusty to everyone as they rode their borrowed horses towards the Kingdom of Patella. He waited until they were well away from the capital city before he asked so no...
"Galen? Galen? Yes I know of him. He's one of those mages who seated themselves on their useless council. Don't you know that his meeting you was no accident? He was assigned to watch you. He also wanted to make sure that you didn't go power mad and crazy. While you may be stronger he's always hidden his true strength from you. "And you do know the reason that he took so long to help your son and his wife when her powers truly activated was because the council really didn't want to...
While still stunned from Gemma's story, Brianna looked down at the table and said "But, but, I don't know if he even likes me back. What if he doesn't think I'm attractive enough? All the other women here are so beautiful, and I'm not that special. I don't know how to walk around like they do or how to flirt with him. And I don't really know how to cook very well. Everyone else is better than I am at everything." Gemma, looked at her stunned for a moment, paused and then started to...
Andrea sat next to the bed looking down at the face of a sleeping Daven. It was hard to believe watching him that this was the same face of the young man who was the terror of husbands and fathers alike. Likewise it was hard to believe this was the same face of the young man who was well known as well for his uncommon attractiveness. If it wasn't for his barely hidden arrogance, that few who got close enough to him could see, she herself might have found him more attractive. He always...
DJ slowly came to, and as he did, he tried to get his bearings based on the last thing he remembered. The last thing he clearly remembered was hitting the ground hard and then ... nothing. While DJ lay there trying to figure out what was going on, he noticed a couple things. One he could hear an argument going on in the distance. He tried to focus on it, but he was distracted because his head was at an odd angle. It wasn't the fact it was unpleasant or anything, but he was lying on...
When everyone arrived in front of the home of Lori and Mark Miller, DJ was suitably impressed. To him it pretty much screamed mage from the start when you looked at it. He had seen lots of movies, books, and animations, and some of the designs gave him that impression. Their house was what he would have called a one story ranch style wrap around that had the front door and porch in the center of the structure and what looked to be separate rooms, or wings, on either side of it. It wasn't...
Reaching the edge of the city, just past the market square that she often visited, Suzan and Anita noticed that hardly anyone was around the homes there. Looking around as they reached the edge Suzan could see that something had gone horribly wrong. There were doors that were broken in, overturned stands, and destruction everywhere. Trash and broken items littered the road. Still in shock Suzan asked "What happened here, what is all of this?" "This is what happens when Trolls raid our...
DJ, Amber, Logan, Marilyn, and Jason reached the last city just outside of Lori's home without too much of a problem. They would soon be at her home to start DJ off on his training in magic. The trip was eventful with many men who kept asking after Amber and Marilyn to do everything from sitting with them, asking for a dance, to the blatant request to visit their room. Some didn't even want to wait for nightfall for that to take place. Marilyn often got most men to leave her alone by...
"Are we ready?" asked Marie Seeing everyone nod at her they started out of the gathering hall and headed down the road in the general direction of the city that they would eventually start their assignment. Marie knew that this mission was one that was given to Dusty by the council, via their guild, and she knew like always he would fill them in. He always shared all info with the team, but away from prying eyes and ears. As they walked Dusty was surprised at how Marie didn't seem to be...
Almost seeming to leap over the mess she had just made by the door, Lindsey jumped for Dusty and he just barely caught her before she tackled him. Dusty suddenly found himself holding a hysterically crying Lindsey as she seemed to break down in his arms. Not sure why he did it, Dusty couldn't help but notice that she was dressed in the same short brown outfit as the rest of the serving girls. She couldn't have been there all that long as her tanned and well formed legs only made the...
"Did you get what you needed?" asked Lori as they left Chris's home "Yes and no. I reported in and let them know what I found, but I know now even less about him than I did when I started," commented Dusty to Lori. Lori realized that Dusty probably wanted some privacy to ask some questions. One being why Lindsey was here and another about Chris, and she was sure he didn't want an audience. "Well thank god you came back when you did, we were running out of things to say to him while...
The night of the party was amazing. Somehow the ladies knew just who to see to get outfits for the party. Most missions didn't even include a party so they didn't pack dresses, but were still happy to find some to use to get dressed up for the occasion. Even Lindsey was happy with the outfit for her. It wasn't a large party or even a grand one, but it was a chance for them to talk to others and let their hair down for a bit. It was being held at the summer home near the edge of the town...
As soon as Marie closed and barred the door to her room she started to sweat again. Even though she was sure that at the time the cramps would kill her, she was used to getting the mild form so she was able to endure, but now she thought she was going to crawl out of her skin. She had to have sex and she needed it now! That was the only thing she wanted to do right now. That drug in her system was making it slowly her sole desire and the only thing her mind focused on. She couldn't...
Dusty and Lori managed to get to the farm in question and find what they needed. After convincing the farmer and his wife they weren't nuts and they did have a valid reason for why they wanted the stuff, they managed to get them to help them distill plant into a pure liquid form. Dusty promised that the Mayor would take care of the cost and that they just needed to let him know what to pay Asking for the use of a horse and wagon to carry back the large barrel, it was well into the...
The event in question was the night Dusty and Lindsey went to a summer party two months ago at one of their mutual friend's house. To be honest Grace was more Lindsey's friend than his, but he got along well with her husband Peter. Their friends had setup a barbeque pit, games, horseshoes, volley ball, among a few other games, and they had a very large turn out. Dusty was talking and hanging out with some of the guys he felt more comfortable with even though he really didn't know anyone...
The next morning as Dusty slowly awoke he noticed that a slender arm was now draped over him from behind as he faced the window. It wasn't like he didn't know who it was without turning over. He would have to start locking his door at nights it would seem. As he got up he could see that Lindsey had fallen asleep next to him and had obvious worn only her towel into his bed from the night before, and now it had now fallen open. Without meaning too, he looked and was disgusted to realize...
Eventually Dusty was able to find and move into his new apartment. Regardless of how he looked like on the outside to anyone, he was finding it hard to stay civil when every fiber of his being wanted to throttle Lindsey whenever she was near, and it was slowly starting to get to him. Going to the gym and getting into a good scrap at first seemed to help with his frustrations, but lately as the months drug on that was starting to not be enough. There were times during that last month that...
"I'm going to kill that old man," thought Dusty as he groaned painfully and rolled over. When he came to, he found himself face down in a field of grass. He looked around, and he could see what looked to be a dirt road to his right and trees off in the distance. As he stood up he realized that it looked like he was no longer in the city of Indianapolis anymore. He couldn't see anything like skyscrapers or building in general. All he could see was a big open field with a tree line off...
Three things happened after that first night they all spent in an Inn. First as they traveled during the day Lori came out of her shell and would talk with Dusty. Even though she still had her quiet moments, she no longer scowled at him and now that they traveled together Dusty found that she often would walk beside him, look up at him, and inquire about his life before he met them. She would sometimes even smile at him from time to time. Second was that while Suzan would still play pranks...
"OH MY GOD! WHAT WAS THAT!" thought Dusty as he waved his hand around at the dust in his room. "Did a bomb just now go off in here?! If so it was a bad one, it only took out the wall." There was a very large hole in the wall where his bed used to be and the bed was now a pile of heavily burnt and damaged kindling. But Dusty was without his towel and he was standing there on display as naked as the day he was born. Lori might have appreciated the view if she wasn't staring stunned at...
"Yes right there, right there Dusty. Oh my god yes! That feels wonderful. You really are as good as you said," moaned out Lori as she smiled down at Dusty. Lori was lying on the bed completely naked and looking unbelievable as she played with her large breasts with both hands as Dusty toiled on. Dusty smiled up at her as he was working hard at pleasuring her. He was hitting all the right spots and he knew that she was enjoying herself immensely it seemed. As he felt her twitching and...
The museum was having a party a week before the showing and Dr. White decided to allow the guild members to come as guests. Marie thought he really must be desperate to have them work for him since normally the help wasn't invited to these things. The main surprise was that the museum paid for them to all get new outfits for the night as well. Dr. White said that it was so they wouldn't feel pressure to find something. He just told them to mingle and meet new people and see what the museum...
"Tell me again what you say you saw?!" asked Dr. White shocked. This was the first time anyone had any information on the deaths. Dusty had gotten the girls up as he headed to Dr. White's room. It was on the second floor of where they were staying. Dr. White came down to view the room then he sent word to Dr. Carmichael that there was another attack and he took everyone to his office, and while he waited Dusty covered what he saw again. "Like I said, it was a wolf made of fire. But...
"So it went well?" Suzan asked as she sat and brushed her hair at the vanity. She could tell by Dusty's large smile that he had a good testing. The vanity was the only furniture she had brought with her when she moved into Dusty's room and it was small enough that it took up no real space in the corner. Dusty always enjoyed sitting and watching her work on her hair. While she only wore makeup for some of their special times together he still enjoyed watching her movements. To be honest...
As they approached the castle they were struck by how "clean" it was. Most castles Dusty had come to notice were really dusty, dirty, old buildings. Since everyone who lived or worked at some of the various castle didn't have private bathrooms or running water to their rooms, an idea Dusty was still wrapping his head around, they often threw things they didn't want into the moat surrounding the castle. They did this for "convenience" instead of heading to the bathroom in the middle of...