0 comments/ 9402 views/ 9 favorites Wizard's Bane By: KoreGoddess PROLOGUE In the darkest region of Uunatar, near the southern edge of the dreaded forest that men name the Werewood, a lone girl child sat alone and cried amidst the devastation of her miserable life. Since the day she first recognized her existence, she knew she was unwanted, the seventh child in a family already far too large. From the day she could first walk, she was made to work... and work... and work some more. Her parents treated her little more than a laborer, and there was little love shared between them. Her siblings were no kinder, taking every opportunity to steal her food and make her work more difficult. She wondered often why she had ever been born in the first place, but she was apparently still too young to be let in on that secret! Today was her birthday. She was seven years old. Yet she felt desperately older, and she was more lonely and bitter than any girl of any age should have to feel. In the midst of a great circle of oaks, she burst into tears and fell to the soft earth, and it seemed to her at that moment that she would surely perish, and no one and nothing in the world would be the worse for it. She thought there was no one there that could hear her crying, but she was wrong. The forest was there, and the forest was always listening. The forest heard everything. And perhaps....just perhaps, it even secretly spoke to her. But no doubt she couldn't guess it's language, or even recognize its voice, and so at last it grew silent. The day drew swiftly to a close. Darkness descended on the land, and with the shadows, the girl knew that the larger predators would soon begin to prowl. It was time to go back inside until morning light brought back the illusion of safety once more. Fate is fickle and may change its whims in a moment. And so it went, for even as she watched the moon rising slowly above the treeline, a man was also watching her. Deep in the shadows he stood, and in utter silence. He was very old and very thin, dressed in a worn gray traveler's cloak that seemed much too large for him. His face was beardless, his eyes were deep and piercing and blue as the sky. Now that man entered the glade which encircled the house, and she saw him for the first time. She was frightened at first, but there was kindness written clearly there in his blue eyes that was so unlike anything she had ever claimed from her family that she was momentarily paralyzed with indecision. He stood staring down at her. His hand reached down to touch her. She reached out to touch him. All was revealed to her then, in an instant that could never be fully comprehended, she knew the secret of everything that had ever was or would be. She would go with him. There was never really any question from that moment on. Anything would be better than the drear dull days of drudgery that loomed ahead if she continued her present path. The man stood staring down at the crying child. He didn't seem at all surprised at what he saw. He smiled at her, then lifted her into his strong arms, and without further ado, continued on his way. The glade was left empty once more. I. She now found herself to be one of three young girls living together in the house of a very ancient and powerful wizard. Now, as you might have guessed, sharing the home of a wizard can be dangerous business, and in no way should be considered a sedate or normal family relationship. And this wasn't just any wizard! This was Azimuth Duul, thought by some to be the greatest and wisest sorcerer of that age. Others claimed he was insane. She only knew that he had saved her from the existence she'd been living as a laborer and drudge for her own birth family. He was her savior, her protector, and her teacher, all in one. And though he was too distant and strange for Kore to feel close to, he treated her and the other girls kindly enough. Life there in the haunted depths of Werewood was far better than any other life she could conceive of. And so the girl, who Azimuth renamed Kore, was rarely unhappy. This was the only real home she had ever known. Two other girls lived with the wizard, and both seemed much the same age as her. Melissandra lived in the back bedroom. She was blonde and thin as a skeleton, which enabled her to find her way into tiny spaces Kore could never fit in. She was adventurous and rebellious, and was often in trouble with Azimuth Duul. Zara lived in the loft, and was more than a little strange, with her bright moon round eyes and her raven black hair and her assertion that she came from a tribe of people that lived under the earth! She had no other companions, for no one other than a wizard would dare to live in the depths of a forest as haunted as Werewood. The forest was haunted by ancient specters, and had been accursed by a terrible magic. With the coming of each nightfall, the veils between the worlds grew thin there in Werewood, and the gates to the nether-world was momentarily opened. Thru that gap, with a fury came troops of demons, imps, trolls, werewolves, and perhaps other even worse things. All these roamed freely there in the forest until the coming of the morn. Azimuth Duul had long ago constructed a series of magical wards which kept the army of misbegotten creatures at bay, else they would have devoured them all long ago. As it was, every evening they stood and pounded at the great iron doors, howling and gibbering against the invisible barrier that Azimuth had set against their entry. The girls learned to ignore this horrendous cacophony after a while, as one ignores the howl of the wind and the constant patter of rain upon the roof. The years passed and Kore and her companions grew older. Yet Azimuth Duul never seemed to age, remaining as ancient as he had ever been. He would always greet them with smiles upon the morn, and in the morning, there would always be delicious things to eat for breakfast, though from what pantry the food had come and who had prepared it, the girls could never discover. Sometime after the third year she had started her new life in the wizard's house, he began to instruct them in the ways of sorcery, and the art of dancing. "It's very important that you learn how to dance," Akhmun informed them. "Music is the rhythm of the universe, and to know how to dance is to know the flow and essence of true magic." Each day at one hour past mid day, Azimuth Duul gave them several hours of instruction in the rudiments of those arts which he himself had long ago mastered. Their minds flowered even as their bodies began to blossom into young womanhood. He taught them the words of potency, and how to guard one's self against curses. They learned the names of the god kings, and of the strange celestial beings who gave them their power. They heard tales of the ancient Lemurians and the beings called the Elohim who had come across the star bridge to become masters of the vast empire of Mu, which now dominated all the southern lands. They learned of the spirits of blood and nightmare which fed on the light of living souls. They discovered the essence of nature spirits and guardian spirits and spoke to the pale ghosts that wander thru the empty corridors of time. And he taught them to dance, and to weave the integral parts of their essential selves into the fabric of time and space. "It's very important to learn how to dance," Akhmun informed them. To dance is to know the flow and essence of true magic." The three girls were close companions, though none of them would be eager to admit it. Werewood in the light of day provided a welcome haven away from the constricting confines of the wizard's cabin. When they were not studying or doing the labors of the household, they ventured onto the twisted trails that led away from the house into the depths of the haunted forest. They discovered therein a magical and unexpected haven. An endless variety of creatures made their homes amongst those gnarled and twisted trees, and none seemed disturbed by the demonic carnival that ruled the forest night. Kore often wondered how they kept safe and hid themselves when the ghouls crept from the shadows, but she never discovered an answer. When the hour of sunset drew nigh and the stars began to tremble uncertainly in the swift dimming sky, the three girls would wander into the meadow and watch the will o' the wisps dance amongst the flowers in the field. These enchanting orbs of light appeared at the onset of dusk, but always vanished before the chaos that ensued with the encroaching of night. Lambent, flickering ghosts of light, they faded in and out of existence without warning and drifted wherever they would. Nor could even solid objects deter them from their wanderings, as they passed thru trees and brush and even solid earth as they followed their myriad appointed paths. They were a mystery that was wholly inexplicable, much like the rising and falling of the sun and the moon, yet the girls never stopped speculating and arguing about their purposes and origins. "They are ghosts," averred Melissandra, shaking her blonde hair out of her eyes and squinting to see better. "Spirits of the dead... perhaps they are those slain by the demons of the forest. They come here to warn others of their fate." "I think they're faerie lights," argued Zara, playing with her rune sticks as she spoke. Her dark eyes glittered in her small face. "We cannot see their true forms because we would be blinded by their beauty. We see only their lights that trail in their wake as they make their way to the enchanted lands, crossing thru the barrier of our world on their way to a better one." Kore's opinions changed as often as the day, but she was sure that the will o' the wisps were guided by conscious intelligent beings. There was something about them that made her feel as if they were trying to communicate some vast and elemental secret to her, only she was too blind or ignorant to decipher their message. All too soon, the night would encompass the forest, and blackness would encroach. The unearthly lights would flicker out one by one, and no eyes could perceive just where they had gone. The howls of the night creatures would resound thru the forest, and they knew soon after they would overwhelm this clearing, shambling forth from the very heart of mystery. Thus the days passed. It was not an unhappy household. The girls learned new lessons of magic and made new discoveries every day about themselves and their world. There was never any want of food or comforts and Azimuth was a sombre but gentle tutor. Kore often sensed there was an urgency behind his lessons, yet he never explained why he had chosen the three of them as his wards and apprentices in the esoteric arts of which he was master. Though they never ventured far outside the magical boundaries that guarded Azimuth's house, they knew much of the outside world, for it was part of their studies to learn the lore and languages of the people of the earth in the days of the Lemurian lords. The lands outside the boundaries of Werewood were of much interest to them, and the subject of many a fantasy as to what they would do if they could visit those places. They knew that the nearest town was Holdstock, and that it was here that Azimuth Duul went to replenish their many supplies when he went away on his monthly excursions. There was a shadow inside her that she kept hidden from Azimuth Duul, which made itself known as a loneliness that was often more than she could bear. Azimuth, though a great and wise sage, was usually distant and preoccupied. He spent most of his time poring over books, scrawling illegible notes on scrolls, and concocting obnoxious smelling potions. He was no fit companion for man or beast, for the subtle arts of sorcery had long ago made him their consort. Living out her childhood in the shadowy depths of Were Wood, fueled on the esoteric knowledge of ancient Lemuria, perhaps there's small wonder that she became somewhat fey and strange. She practiced her rituals daily without fail. She knew the name and purpose of every herb in the forest. She could converse fluently in seventeen different languages and had learned as well the art conversing with the many beasts and birds of the forest and field. She was well versed in healing arts and the science of illusions. In fact, she was well versed in the all the forces that govern the natural world. But she was wholly and utterly ignorant to the laws which govern human nature, which is another matter entirely, and so after all, she was still naught but a naïve young girl. Her dreams began to reflect the weirdness and uncertainty of her waking life. In her nightly journeys thru forests haunted and still, she was often felt as if she were pursued by some unknown terror. The hours before waking were filled with such strange visions, and there was something more, something more persistent.....a face......a cruel, fierce face, one that both frightened her and excited her into a kind of delicious frenzy, until she awoke from her dreams to find the apparition had been sadly unreal. No dark haired stranger awaited her at dawn. She grew more distant as the years passed, and if Azimuth Duul noticed her drifting into dangerous fancies, he seemed to pay her no heed. Who is to say what is in the mind of a wizard as ancient and as learned as Azimuth Duul? Legends said was near four centuries old, but the legends lied, for in truth he had walked the earth for over nine hundred years. The thoughts which pass thru the mind of such a man must be far beyond our meager comprehension, and so little wonder that he seemed distant. As time went on, there came moments when Kore began to notice certain changes in her body, and these were strange to her, because they had never been proscribed in her lessons. Her breasts began to grow to an alarming degree, and a soft fleece of hair started to sprout above her pubic mound. More than this, she began to feel odd stirrings within, and found it excruciatingly pleasurable to caress herself. She would spend delicious evenings with her body and her fingers delving into the nooks and lines and curves of her body, delighting in the sensations her own touch engendered in her sensitive nerves. Then came a day when she found that she was bleeding from her private parts, and though she was sure she was dying, she kept her shameful secret to herself until soon after the bleeding just stopped. She was driven in her studies to discover more about this new mystery. She found that there was indeed a woman's secret, a knowledge that had much to do with the cycle of the moon. As she continued her studies, she began to realize the truth had been there all along, but it was hidden in subtle innuendos and code words, as if there was some blasphemous secret connected with the whole subject, and that it was somehow a dangerous taboo. Finally, she spoke to the other two girls about her feelings. She knew that they too had been displaying outward charges in their bodies, though they didn't seem to be subjected to the insult of overlarge breasts. She was not surprised to find that they had been having similar experiences, but she was genuinely chagrined to discover that Zara knew more about the subject than she did. "The bleeding is known as a "woman's time" and it signifies that her body is now fertile, that is, that she can have children." she explained. "Does that mean we'll all soon be with babes in arms?" cried Melissandra with some dismay. "Nay!" laughed Zara. "You must lie with a man to do that." "Lie with a man?" asked Melissandra. Does that mean we are to lay with men like those men we have seen in picture books?" "There must be more to it than that," Kore said. "What magic can there be in just laying with a man?" Zara blushed. "It has something to do with the man having putting his member inside the girl's sex, and somehow that makes the babies happen. I know nothing more of it than that." "Where do you learn these things?" asked Kore. Zara hesitated. "There is an old book which tells about it, but I've only seen it once," she admitted at last. "But where?" asked Melissandra. "I've never seen a book like that in the library." "Not in the library," replied Zara. "It was in Azimuth's private study." "His study?!!!" Kore nearly shouted. "But that's forbidden!" "I was only there for a few moments," Zara explained, frowning. "It was open on his desk and I did not even dare to turn the page, but I saw enough." "When did you go in there?" Kore asked. "The last time Azimuth made a trip to the market," Zara answered. "The next time he goes, will you show me this book?" Kore asked. "Kore, no!" squealed Melissandra. "The reason we're kept out of Azimuth's study because it's too dangerous. Who knows what events you might set in motion if you disturb anything in that room!" "I just want to look at this one book," said Kore. "No more than that. Zara saw it and no harm has come from it." "It's madness," said Melissandra. "And though I'd never betray you to Azimuth Duul, I"ll have no part of this plan!" Kore tried to soothe her and convince her that she would give up her idea, but Melissandra knew Kore too well to believe she would change her mind so easily. 2 Melissandra was right of course, and the next time Azimuth left on his overnight journey to Holdstock, Kore was prepared. As soon as Melissandra had gone to bed, she sneaked into Zara's room and woke her. "Show me which book you saw," Kore begged. "That's all I ask. You don't even have to stay in the room." "I think you're mad!" snarled Zara, trying to pull the blankets back over her head. "Come on, Zara," Kore wheedled. "I've done as much for you and would do so again, you know that!" "All right," she hissed. "I'll show you! But why do you want to see? What good will come of it? There are no boys here In Werewood." "I don't care about that," Kore said. "I just want to know. I want to know the truth." "Azimuth always has reasons for what he does," Zara pointed out. "He would have told us about this if he knew. Perhaps it's somehow dangerous?" "Dangerous to know more about ourselves, to learn more of the mystery of our bodies?" Kore asked. "There is danger in all knowledge," said Zara. "Some things are best kept hidden." "I'll be sure not to tell you anything that I learn then," Kore mocked. The door to Azimuth's study was massive oak, and Kore had stood before it many times, but never when the wizard wasn't there. She pushed lightly on the handle and it opened easily. Taking a deep breath, she opened it wider and looked within. The room was smaller than she remembered, or perhaps it was just more cluttered with scrolls and books and other diverse paraphernalia than usual. There were bookshelves along the walls, but the books did not confine themselves to them, but literally covered every horizontal surface. There was a sense of tentatively organized and barely restrained chaos in the meandering stacks, an almost artistic rendering of unbridled lunacy. Everywhere Kore looked, a wondrous collage of amulets, wands, scrolls, crystals, feathers, a sumptuous cascade of magical wonders met her eyes. "There is the book," whispered Zara. Kore saw that her eyes glittered with fear and awe. "It sits on the end of the desk, though its no longer open to the page I saw." "Thank you, Zara," Kore said sincerely. "I'll ask no more from you. Go back to your room now if you like. I'll meet you there in a few minutes to tell you what I've read." "I wish you wouldn't," said Zara. "I wish I'd never told you about it now! Look if you must, but if you find terrible secrets therein, I don't want to know them. Keep them to yourself." Wizard's Bane Then she was gone and Kore was left alone, feeling as if she was on the verge of doing some great wrong. Almost she turned away, but her nearly insatiable curiosity drove her on. She desperately wanted to know what secrets were contained in that book! She stepped into the wizard's chamber. All was utter silence. The only sound was her own breathing, which seemed desperately loud to her own ears. The book was there before her, a heavy bound, thick dark bound volume. It seemed immense in her small hands. Gently, she lifted the thick front cover, which seemed very ancient. Yet within, the pages were white and clean. The inner page spoke it's subject loud and clear. "The Inner Workings of Sex Magic," she read to her self softly "A Practical Manual, by Eros." Carefully she lifted each page and began to read. Then she found a section of full color illustrations and her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open. This was all too much! Yet she knew instinctively that it all must be true. Here was what a man looked like naked and here is what he and a woman must do together when they make a child. But there were other pictures of other acts that she had never dreamed of or considered before. Women were sucking on men's prongs and men were getting peed on by other women. Men were even putting their members inside girl's tight assholes and the girls didn't seem to mind at all from the looks on their faces. In fact, they seemed to be enjoying it! She began to wish she had listened to Melissandra and Zara's advice. These images were forever burned into her mind and her childhood innocence was forever vanished. She'd opened a door she could never close. And yet, haunted and hypnotized, she read on. Moments turned to hours, and even then, she continued to read. So fascinated was she that she only looked up when the candle began to gutter and she knew then by its failing that many hours had passed. Swiftly and quietly, she picked up the candle and gently closed the book, then passed from the room. She was sure that nothing within had been disturbed except for the book, and even Azimuth could have no way of discovering her fingers had caressed its pages, or could he? Perhaps he could. Wizards were known to possess powers that no one could begin to guess at or comprehend, and Azimuth was indeed a mighty wizard. She went to Zara's bed and sat there silently until she knew Zara had roused enough to be aware of her. "What time is it?" asked Zara, rubbing her dark ringed eyes sleepily. "It's not even dawn yet." "I read the book," said Kore. "You were right about what you said. But there is more, so much more." Now Zara was more fully awake. She saw the haunted look in Kore's eyes. "I told you not to look in the book," Zara reminded her. "I warned you, and now its too late! What did you see?" And then Kore knew that Zara was secretly as eager as she to learn these new secrets, and she told her all that she had learned and even more that she had guessed. Long into the early morning they talked, and each hour more breathless and heated their mood became. "Do you really think all this is true?" Zara asked at last. "Yes," Kore replied. "It must be. My only wonder now is why Azimuth Duul has so long withheld these teachings from us? When did he plan to initiate us into these secrets, and why has he waited so long?" "Perhaps he's grown too old," suggested Zara. "These lessons seem........ extremely strenuous." But when Kore saw Azimuth later that week, she wondered, for he seemed no older in mien or figure than when she had been no more than a child. Their lessons continued without change. The days passed by, and at times those things that Kore had read in Azimuth's chamber had the semblance of remembering a dream. Zara and she talked secretly long into the nights that followed, but they came up with more questions than they answers. But the wonders she had discovered were not without their effect. Late at night, she began to experiment with touching herself, the soft rounded flesh of her belly, the taut smoothness of her thighs and ass, the silken fleece of her mons, the wet silken cleft of her vulva, the inner joy she felt when she pushed her fingers inside herself, the tremulous quivering of her clit as she stroked her finger tips gently across its hood. These experiments often had explosive results, and more than once she had to rise early to rinse the bedsheets free of the wet stains that occurred after her ecstatic emissions. During these frantic moments, her head was filled with images from the book, and she imagined herself doing the things with men and women that were depicted therein even as her moment came. She found soon that some images aroused more than others. She began to wonder if Zara was also exploring some of these same strange fantasies, for she too was in a dreamy mood and had an odd look in her eyes that Kore thought she recognized being similar to her own when she gazed into a mirror. If Melissandra noticed anything strange in her two companions behavior, she never spoke of it. Indeed, she was more silent, more closed off from than usual, and Kore began to think she suspected what was going on with them. The days passed. Kore's moon time came and went. Lessons were learned. Meals were cooked and eaten. The will o' the wisps continued to dance every eve in the meadow, and Azimuth made no sign that he knew aught of Kore having ever entered his chamber. The three days when the wizard made his journey into town grew ever nearer. Kore already knew what she was going to do when night came once more and Azimuth's chamber was empty, and she knew that Zara knew her feelings as well as she knew them herself. Her intentions made her all the more afraid that the wizard had already discovered her earlier transgression. One afternoon after lessons, she thought her fears had come to fruition. Azimuth called her alone into his study. Trying not to appear guilty, she followed him silently. He sat down behind the desk and Kore saw the book she had been studying remained just where it had been when she had left it. She breathed a sigh of relief. Azimuth's gaze caught hers. In that fleeting moment, she was sure the wizard knew everything she had done and every thought she was thinking. But the moment quickly passed. Azimuth Duul leaned back in his chair and lit his pipe. The thick smoke rose up in fantastic curling strands, forming small amusing pictures before they disintegrated. The smell of the herb was like blueberries and honeysuckle in the room. "I go soon to do my monthly business in town," he began, and there was no sign of subterfuge in the open honest face of the old man. "Long have I delayed discussing certain matters with the three of you, but I think soon you will be ready for new lessons, at least I pray it may be so." Kore's heart was in her throat. Any moment now she knew he would reveal the truth, that these new lessons were inspired by his knowledge of her intrusion. "Do you think you are ready for these lessons, Kore?" Azimuth asked suddenly. His grey blue eyes were startling clear and seemed to gaze directly into her naked thoughts. Kore could not meet those eyes and tell the lies she had prepared. And she hadn't prepared at all for a question like this! "I don't know, master," she said, her gaze seeking the floor. "There is already so much to learn, so much to know." "You've learned your lessons well, Kore," he said. "And perhaps I should have given you other lessons long ago. Worry not about this now. We shall discuss this amongst the four of us when I return." And then at last, the mage departed and was gone from the house. Kore was now sure he knew nothing of her nocturnal intrusion, and this made her more eager than ever to look into the book again in order to delve deeper into its mysteries. Zara knew what was in her mind of course, but she said nothing. She knew Kore would come to her room after her reading, and Kore knew she was eagerly anticipating that moment. At last the night came, though she thought Melissandra would never go to bed. The light was burning under her door until nearly midnight. Finally, when Kore's patience was nearly exhausted, it was extinguished and she felt safe enough to creep quietly down the hall past her door. In the distance, she could still hear the thoom thoom thoom of the were-beasts and ghouls incessantly pounding against the wizard's protective shields, but she paid them no mind. So used to these nocturnal sounds was she that they were to her no different than hearing crickets or frogs in the dusk. She went once more into Azimuth's chamber and took up the book. Again, she became enwrapt and the hours flew by, but at last she turned away, and her mind filled with new revelations, her heart racing with new implications and imaginings. She went immediately to Zara's chamber and found that she was awake and awaiting her. For long hours they spoke in the dark. Then came that time before dawn when there is somehow still hints of light in the sky, and they could see each others eyes and bodies in the shadows. "These things excite me so," said Zara, but they frighten me as well!" She held Kore close and Kore could feel the softness of her small breasts pressing against her own. "Why did Azimuth keep this magic hidden from us? Perhaps it is dangerous and we risk our immortal souls by dabbling in such magic!" "Have you never touched yourself in the dark, when you were all alone?" asked Kore. "Have you never imagined or dreamed of a man touching you, even doing whatever he wished to do with you and doing whatever you wished to do with him?" Zara's sigh was deep. "These things I have imagined more than once." Kore smiled. "I knew it was so," she said. "Show me how you touch yourself, Zara! Show me how you bring yourself to the moment of pleasure!" "What?! Here? Now?!" asked Zara, glancing around. "Why not?" asked Kore. "Melissandra, that old sleepy head, won't be up for another two hours if I know her habits, for she went to bed nigh midnight last night, and she's is not used to staying up late as we. We shall be all alone." Still Zara hesitated, giggling and blushing. "I don't think I should...." "Why not?" asked Kore. "Be not ashamed. I do it as well every night and I will show you if only you'll show me." They were both soon stripped of heir night clothes and they watched each other touch themselves. Kore's body was strong and large boned and blonde while Zara was more thin of frame, but still not as thin as Melissandra. She had generous breasts, whose dark rose colored nipples she was now lightly plucking with the tips of her long slender fingers Kore's hands were quicker and freer to go to more intimate areas, but Zara's methods, though slower to gain their goal, were delicious to watch. Before she knew what was happening, they were touching each other. Zara's flesh felt hot and smooth and tight against her fingers. Their mouths sought each other, and their lips met in a clumsy kiss which nonetheless still sent instant shivers thru Kore's body. Her fingers found the cleft of her sex, her mound was swollen, slick with moisture. Her finger entered easily. She looked into Zara's eyes, half opened, accepting and quiescent, filled with all the allure of the mysteries of the cosmos. They kissed again........ A sudden scream broke the passion of the moment. They both jumped and nearly screamed themselves. "Melissandra!" said Kore, and swiftly throwing their night shifts over their shoulders once more, they went down the hall to the door of Melissandra's room. The door was open, but Melissandra was nowhere to be found. Her bed seemed to not even have been slept in. They called around the house for several minutes, and panic began to quiver in Kore's heart, but there was no answer. It soon became all too apparent that she was nowhere to be found inside the house, and now the howling of the demons and the pounding at the gates they had hear the night before did not seem so insignificant, and the implications were very terrible indeed. "Where can she be?" asked Zara, nearly in tears. "If she is not here within the house, she must be somehow without....." Kore went to the living room, and Zara followed her. There on the mantlepiece above the fireplace were three crystals. Each one was glowing bright green. "Here are our life crystals, green as ever!" said Kore. "That means that Melissandra is still alive, wherever she may be." "But where could she be if she's not within the house?" asked Zara. "She wouldn't have gone into the forest alone!" "That is what we must discover," said Kore. "I think we've gotten in enough trouble already!" argued Zara. "You never should have read that book! We should wait for Azimuth to return before we do anything more!" "I don't think we have a choice," said Kore. "We must try something." "Your mad as a loon!" snarled Zara. "This is all your fault for meddling in Azimuth's book. I'll have no more part in this!" and with this, she stormed from the room. Kore returned to Azimuth's study. Many times, she had beseeched Azimuth Duul to teach her more of those darker arts whose secrets he was most reluctant to impart. "Those that deal in the more malevolent aspects of magic eventually fall victim to the same forces they have unleashed," Azimuth Duul had patiently warned her. "There's a price to be paid for all sorcery, and the price of black magic is far too dear for any of mortal kind. Even those who deal in those arts from necessity find that there is always a price most dear that must be paid." Azimuth's warnings hadn't fallen on deaf ears. She knew she risked her life and soul dealing with such dark forces. But she felt she no longer had a choice. She would gladly surrender her own safety to free Melissandra from whatever terrible nightmare had befallen her, for she somehow knew that she was responsible. Long did she study the dark and forbidden arts. She read for many hours from tomes that Azimuth Duul had expressly forbidden. She delved deeper and deeper into those evil writings of black magicians and demon worshipers, some of which had been written in letters of blood on a parchment of human flesh. After many hours of such studies, she began to feel befouled inside, as if some filthy hand had reached into her soul and tainted her with a poison. But at last, she thought she had found an answer. Deep into the middle of that night, just as the moon began to rise over the treetops, she began the ritual as described by Azimuth's hand himself. First, she sealed herself inside a sacred pentagram. This was to guard her from the malevolence of any of the spirits she evoked. Then, after stripping herself naked and painting her body with certain vulgar esoteric symbols, she began the incantation that was said to summon one of the minor demon lords from the seventh level of the underworld, a foul being known as Zhagmyr Khan. Zhagmyr Khan, sitting on his throne in the netherworld, heard her summons, but at first he ignored her. He had better things to do than answer every summoning cast by every inept sorcerer or sorceress on the earth. But when he saw the voluptuous beauty of the crimson-haired young sorceress who had cast the summoning spell, he changed his mind. It had been almost a week since he'd had a virgin. He manifested himself before her in a fury of flame and smoke, not because it was necessary, but because that was what he always did to let neophyte magicians. It was what they expected, and it was good to let them know what kind of forces they were dealing with. To his utter chagrin, she seemed little impressed by his sorcerous fireworks. She faced him unflinchingly, her green eyes cast straight forward, her feet placed firmly within the boundaries of a sacred pentagram. "Why have you called me from those dark lands wherein I dwell?" asked Zhagmyr Khan. His face was carved from a block of iron, crimson eyes flaring upward inhumanly, and his form was massive, the body of an ape with overlong arms and heavy muscled chest. "There is a task I would have you complete that is within your power," she replied. "Can you perceive the image of the girl which I now envision?" "Aye," said the demon. "I see her clearly." "She has vanished. I would have her found and returned." "That will be no difficult task," said Zhagmyr Khan. "But what is the bargain? What would you give me in return?" "I am prepared to pay the traditional price," Kore answered calmly, "The living essence of my soul." The demon laughed. "Human souls are petty things," he said. "Their worth is highly over-rated. Nay, if you would have me do this thing, it's not your soul I desire, but your body, for you are young and beautiful, and it has been long since I have enjoyed the taste of a mortal female." Kore flinched. She hadn't expected such a request. Gazing down at the demon's immense, scaly member, she doubted if she would survive the ordeal of submitting herself to his lusts. Still, she had been and still was prepared to give up her life in order to achieve the means to gain revenge on her family's slayers. "Agreed," she said finally. "If you can bring Melissandra back, I will grant your desire." "Your blood on it," hissed the demon. "The contract must be sealed by a drop of your own mortal blood." Kore had been prepared for this. Sliding the thin poniard from the sheath that hung from her belt, she lightly pricked he finger and let a few drops of her life essence fall upon the curling, questing tongue of the demon Zhagmyr Khan. "The bargain is sealed," he said. "I go now to complete your task. Be ready when I return." Then he vanished once more in another display of smoke and fire. Only moments later, he reappeared. "I have discovered where she is," said Zhagmyr Khan. "But I cannot go there to retrieve her myself, for she is in a domain guarded by fierce magic. There is but one choice if you wish to save her. You must venture into the Forbidden Realm and seek out the magical artifact known as the ebony box. Only it holds the means to trap a demon inside it for all eternity." "This was not in the bargain, demon." said Kore. "You were supposed to rescue her yourself." "Once you retrieve the ebony box, I can help you to defeat the demon lord that kidnapped your friend. Otherwise, I am powerless." "Tell me how to find it," said Kore. The demon smiled slowly. Then it made a series of passes thru the air, and each finger trailed arcs of fire. "It is just thru this door," hissed Zhagmyr Khan. And there was a door there where there had been none before, a door of dark oak with an iron latch. Kore turned the knob, and it opened. Within, a long hallway was revealed, lined on all side with deep crimson carpets. 3 The intricacy and design of the architecture was more complex than any capable of any known craftsman. No joints showed in the gleaming walls. There was no mortar, nor cracks in the intricately woven tiles of the floor. A dim illumination emanated from some invisible source ahead. She knew she should have been wandering through a blackness darker than the darkest night, but the mysterious, sourceless light led her on, deeper and deeper into the vast depths of the alien structure. Kore raced down the last length of the corridor, her hair shimmering like wind blown flame in the red tunnel. She came to a portal shaped like a triangle. Within, all was darkness. The mystical light which had led her this far extended no further. But Kore was not to be deterred. Casting a quick spell of illumination, she peered into the shadowy chamber. There on a raised pillar was the ebony box. Even with her light magic, it was difficult to make out any details of its facets. Kore saw that the box itself was exuding darkness, and the darkness was blocking her light spell. When she realized this, she enclosed the box in a temporary spell of concealment. After she had done so, light flooded the room from the crystalline walls and the box was revealed as a completely featureless black cube. She pored over it for several moments, but could discover no way to open it, if indeed, it could be opened at all. Wizard's Bane There was no help for it but to return to Zhagmyr Khan for advice. Surely he knew a way to open the box. She tucked it under one arm and began to retrace her steps. She heard foot-steps coming towards her in the ancient corridor. A lone man approached her, but he was like no other man Kore had ever seen. He had long golden hair braided down the center of his broadly muscled back. His body was that of a god, lithe muscles limned in the eerie light, and his face was both masculine and beautiful. He was entirely naked, and his penis was nearly as perfect as the rest of his body, thick and smooth and long enough to satisfy any but the most jaded women. He filled her instantly with desire. "Who are you who wanders the corridors of the Masters?" he inquired. His voice was like a soothing melody, a song heard as in a dream. "I meant not to intrude," Kore replied timidly. "But I was compelled to come here to seek a seek the ebony box by a demon." "What is the name of this demon?" the man asked. "Zhagmyr Khan," Kore replied. The golden man smiled. "I know him well. Fear him not, for it is within my power to protect you from such minor entities. There are nether lords far fiercer and more terrifying than the insipid Zhagmyr Khan!" A strange and overwhelming desire was washing over Kore to touch the penis of this god, to stroke his cock until it hardened in her hand, just as she had seen in the pictures in the book in Azimuth's study. Compelled beyond conscious action, she went down on her knees before him. His huge staff rested along his thigh, and she reached out to grasp it. Her fingers stroked it and she felt the thick veins bulging along it's side. She was fascinated. Never before had she felt anything more perfect in her grasp. His cock was enlarging, pulsing, filling her hand and growing harder. Instinctively, she stroked the thick shaft up and down, feeling the soft silken flesh roll along the iron within. "Serve me, wench!" the god laughed, and their was cruelty in his eyes. "Serve me and you'll think and I will be the master you have always craved!" His words brought her back to reality. She wanted no master! She hesitated. She had almost forgotten what she had come her for! She knew then that the golden man was a demon himself, and had woven a spell of seduction about her physical form. "Who are you?" she asked. "Why do you attempt to lead me astray?" The golden man laughed. It was a hollow, inhuman laugh, without feelings, without a soul. "I am your master, and you are my slave," he replied. "You need know no more." The golden man was no longer golden, nor was he a man. Slowly, he was trans-forming back to his true form. His flesh was black as the night and in form, he was much like a great terrible and monstrous bear, covered with a thick, coarse hair, and with a face of lunacy and nightmare, resembling a pig except for the huge white, bulbous eyes, which shone like two pale moons in the midst of the starless night of its hideous visage. "I said that I would protect you from Zhagmyr Khan," the demon said. "And so I shall. For what is a minor demon compared to the great Tarim Baal? It's true that you've but traded one master for another, but I promise that your servitude to me will be far more pleasurable than bondage to that fool, Zhagmyr Khan." A hairy paw stretched forth to grasp her breast. But Kore was no longer where she had once been. Her spell of illusion had been completed just in time, and the demon grasped naught but empty air. Tarim Baal snarled. "Your reprieve is but temporary," he promised. "I know well that you are a sorceress, but I also sense your weakness. A fledgling magician is no match against me." Kore paid him no heed. Clutching the ebony box beneath her cloak, she began to weave the one spell that might save her from Tarim Baal, the spell that summoned Zhagmyr Khan. A great, cold wind sprang up. It seemed to course through the center of her very soul. "Hello, Tarim Baal." It was the voice of Zhagmyr Khan, but it had issued from her own mouth. Her lips had spoken with the voice of the demon! "Zhagmyr Khan!" the demon roared, laughing madly. "This is an unlikely guise for you! Do you now desire to become a mortal female?" "I take any form I wish to further my ends, as you well know, Tarim Baal, just as you do. Do you still think me a petty demon, my doomed brother?" "Your tricks mean nothing to me," replied Tarim Baal. "I'll crush you into the slime whence you were spawned! Your power is nothing compared to mine!" Zhagmyr Khan laughed with Kore's voice. "Once that might have been so," he snarled. "But now I have the energy of this girl's untainted soul from which to draw new wells of power!" Kore's Took the ebony box from her cloak and her hand held it high, but it was the demon who used her hand. She made a gesture that was impossible for a human eye to follow "Stop!" gasped Tarim Baal. "Are you mad? This sorcery could destroy us both if you unleash it!" "Only if I were here in demon form," Zhagmyr Khan. "Here, clothed in the body of this female, I will be safe from the black vacuum of limbo. You, however, are here unprotected. And so, farewell, my brother!" Kore's hand opened the box, and an eerie, misty light spread from within, enveloping the form of Tarim Baal. "No!" screamed the demon lord. "This cannot be! You're naught but a minor imp! A being so lowly as you can't vanquish me!I The idea is impossible!" "Naught is impossible," replied Zhagmyr Khan." Even imps can have ambition!" Some terrible transformation was taking place in the shadowy form of Tarim Baal. He was dissolving into a thick black tar. Huge pieces of his grisly form began to break free and splatter against the tiles. "A curse of hate upon you!" cried Tarim Baal. "And upon thy human accomplice. My doom will one day be your own!" Soon there was naught left but a crumbling mass of black slime, then it too was vanished, and Tarim Baal was no more. Zhagmyr Khan laughed, and Kore's body shook with that laughter. "I feel you struggling, my helpless slave!" he growled. "But for now, your body is mine and mine is the essence which inhabits it. Soon your ego will reassert itself and I shall have to return the control of your limbs to your own meager consciousness. But as time goes on, my strength will grow. After the passing of three years, my dominance over you will be complete. The bargain is fulfilled, and your body is now mine." "I made no such bargain with you." Kore objected with the voice of her own mind. "Ah, but you did! Don't you remember? You gave your body up to me! Did you think I somehow only wished to experience physical pleasure with a female? Fool! There are a million whores in hell who would do anything to please my every desire! Now, you shall be my passage into the world of the mortals. I shall absorb all your knowledge of sorcery and become a demon goddess such as the Lands of Lemuria have never seen!" Slowly, Kore felt Zhagmyr Khan's influence leaving her. She knew she would soon be able to move of her own free will again. "I bid you farewell, for now," said the demon through her own lips. "Good luck in finding your friend!" The demon laughed . Then she was alone, and at last her body was once more her own. Kore raced down the last length of the red corridor, her hair shimmering like wind blown flame in the crimson tunnel. She came to a portal shaped like a triangle. Within, all was darkness. The mystical light which had led her this far extended no further. But Kore was not to be deterred. Casting a quick spell of illumination, she peered into the shadowy chamber. There on an immense raised dais was Melissandra. Like some lost princess from a fairy tale, she lay unmoving on that slab of stone. Kore went to her, her heart stopped in her chest. Only moments were needed to discover that she was still alive, though unconscious. It seemed to take forever, but at last, Kore was able to rouse Melissandra to wakefulness enough so they were able to stumble back to the iron gate. But to her dismay, she found the red corridor wreathed in flames. Choking on the black smoke and searing heat, she only barely managed to drag Melissandra the last remaining yards to safety. Swiftly, she shut tight the iron gate, and then, wearied beyond the limits of her strength, she fell beside Melissandra. Darkness rolled over like a wave, and for a time, she knew no more. 4 She dreamed, and in her dreams, she saw herself in many different forms, many different places and times. But always there was eternal struggle, battles beyond counting against enemies beyond reason. In endless realms, in countless times, a thousand hordes of relentless foes came against her. Always, she somehow fought on. But she didn't fight alone. She sensed someone fighting by her side, protecting her from countless blows, each one which would surely have slain her. Somehow she knew instinctively that it was a male that fought beside her, though she could never see his face. Through the swirling chaos, she relived these battles again and again. Swords flashed like silver lightning in a midnight sky, and blood flowed in crimson rivers. It seemed as if she had been fighting such battles for all eternity. Yet, intermingled with these scenes of red ruin were other visions; endless verdant forests, waves of the living sea, flowers blooming in open fields, will o' the wisps dancing above starlit meadows. The memory of the soft touch of Zara's lips upon her own brought forth other memories (or were they only part of her dreams?), and even in that moment, she realized that she was dreaming. The scene changed. She stood in the midst of a deep forest at the bottom of a golden stair which seemed to ascend to the very heavens. Down that stair a familiar figure trod. He walked slowly, but with each step down, he became clearer and less vague. "Azimuth!" she laughed. All her terror and despair were suddenly forgotten. The old, thin wizard smiled as he approached her. "Ah, Kore," he said. "You were ever my greatest bane! I knew you would spell my doom the moment I laid eyes on you. That is the curse of a wizard, to know too much of the skeins of the future, even his own! Yet I had little choice. I could not leave you to the mercy of that which might have been. And though I knew all that would occur when I decided to take you into my home, I knew what fate would be yours if I did not. Yet, perhaps it would have been best to let you die rather than to have set you on the path you must follow now. I feel that I have been no more than a tool in the hand of fate. Curse all gods and demons!"" "I don't understand," said Kore. "What has happened?" "I dwell in this physical realm no more. I concentrated much of my power in the strength of the wards. When they came down, all the hungry and malicious creatures of Werewood broke through at once. I fought against them, but it was no use. They were too strong. They had been awaiting such a chance for a long time I fear. And so I perished in the final conflagration. But I took most of the demons with me, and by all the gods, what a battle it was! And no one there to see it! Nevertheless, they will return, and you must be safely out of Werewood by then." "But where shall we go?" asked Kore. "We know naught of the land outside Werewood!" "You must learn. Now listen well. Whatever you do, don't give up the ebony box. Hide it and make sure that only you know where it is. Go east until you reach the sea, and the port called Nantarri. Take ship there on the boat called the Sea Demon. You must learn the secret of the ebony box.." He turned to go, but Kore wouldn't let him. She flung her self on him, hugging him close to her. "Don't go, Azimuth!" she cried. "I need you." "Your apprenticeship is over, Kore," he said. "Now the true contest begins." Even as she held him, she felt the flesh melting away as he slipped from her grasp. He turned to look back at her. There was naught but a grinning skull where flesh had once been. 5 She woke up screaming. Rising, she stared wildly about her for a moment, unable to remember where she was. Then she remembered everything. She was back in Azimuth's study, but Melissandra was gone. Her strange dream lingered in her mind. Then she smelled smoke and saw bright blue flames in the shadows of the hall. There was a stink of sulfur on the wind. Afraid of what this might portend, she raced through the house, heedless of the thick black smoke. Blue flames flickered everywhere and she saw that their home would soon be engulfed by this mysterious fire. "Zara!" she cried. "Melissandra!" But her only answer was the crackle of the flames. Her eyes strove desperately to pierce the haze of the smoky conflagration, but it was no use. There seemed to be naught but burning embers. Then she saw Melissandra, and she doubted her senses, for she saw that Melissandra was lighting the fires herself with a wand she had picked from Azimuth's chamber! "Stop!" cried Kore. "Are you gone mad?" Slowly, Melissandra turned towards her, and Kore could see that her eyes were no longer the eyes of the girl she had once known. They were eyes filled with lunacy and terror, and they were not pleasant to look upon. "Mad?" the familiar sepulchral voice of Zhagmyr Khan spoke thru Melissandra's beautiful face. "Of course she is mad! She was used again and again in rites so abominable it would drive any mortal female to lose her mind, or even to give it away! Melissandra surrendered easily, and the two of you have become the chief weapons I have used to throw down the house of Azimuth Duul! Do you not note the silence? The demons no longer pound upon the door. Now they wait in anticipation, for they know they'll soon be able to enter! The wizard's shielding wards are now almost vanished, and dawn is a long hour away!" And then, horribly, Melissandra spoke with her own voice. "You thought you were the first to look into Azimuth's secret books!" hissed the strange and eery creature that had once been her friend. "You were easily duped by my acts of shocked innocence. But it was I that first felt the thrill of sucking demon cock, felt the sweet fire of their sperm filling my cunt. I was studying the dark secrets of lust magic with Tarim Baal long before you even discovered what that hole between your legs is used for!" This was all too much for Kore. "Where is Zara?" she asked. "I don't know," replied Melissandra. "She's vanished the moment I entered her room. I think she had long suspected me, but there is no escape from the demons of Werewood. She'll soon be dead if she is not dead already." Black tears streamed down Kore's soot-streaked face. "You betrayed us!" the agonized words were torn from her. Melissandra laughed, and the sound of it was not pleasant. "Was it I or was it you? When you chose to summon Zhagmyr Khan, you opened the wards so that any one could command them, and I commanded them to be taken down!" "Bitch!" hissed Kore, and she advanced upon Melissandra, her heart filled with a rage overwhelming....... "I'll not kill you now, little sister," Melissandra snarled. "Zhagmyr Khan wants to play with you for awhile. You are his toy now, your body is his, and soon your soul will be his as well. That is the bargain you made that you signed with your own blood. Do you like the results? I leave you now to contemplate your future. It is decidedly grim." Kore's rage leapt out like lightning, a psychic blow of smashing force, but Melissandra had vanished into thin air and was no longer there to receive it. She was alone again, and everyone she'd ever cared for her were now forever beyond her reach. She felt as if she were dying and she realized she no longer cared. Darkness rolled over like a wave, and for a time, she could do nothing but sob uncontrollably. The full horror of her situation returned to her. The moon now hung low in a sullen gray sky, but night had not yet failed. She would have no chance at all when the wards fell and the were-creatures attacked enmasse. Her only hope now, she knew, was to do the unexpected. She would flee into the forest. By traveling light and swift, she should be able to get beyond the borders of Werewood before the coming of the next nightfall. But she could do that only if she survive this last remnant of this night in Werewood! She knew there was one item in Akhmun's study that could help her. Quickly, she made her way up the stair and into his room. In the east, the sun was already lightening at the edge of the sky. She grabbed found what she was looking for, a cloak of concealment that she had always yearned after. She slipped it on and was amazed at how it blended in with every facet of the environment she moved thru. Wearing the cloak, she was able to slip quietly out of the back door unseen. She didn't hesitate, but melted swiftly into the dense forest. She saw naught of dark devils, and laughed to think of them crowding around the main gate waiting for the wards to fail. She knew from her study of maps that east was the shortest route to the edge of the forest. Thru darkness and horror she must now journey before she could reach safety. Then, perhaps she could begin to unravel the twisted mess she had made of her life and make her fate once more her own. Her journey had just begun. THE END