The Gauntlet Thrown - Lord Bent's Manor Vol. 2
Copyright© 2025 by Commissum
Chapter 18
Fantasy Sex Story: Chapter 18 - The second novel in the world of Lord Peter Bentencourt, an earth born magic user now living on the magical world of Kreven. Volume two continues after the events of the first novel, Fire and Ice. Beware, the ethics of Kreven are unlike those of Earth. Also, book one has a map of the Mirror Lake region.
Caution: This Fantasy Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Mind Control Lesbian Heterosexual Fiction Magic non-anthro DomSub Spanking Group Sex Cream Pie Masturbation Oral Sex Pregnancy Squirting Hairy Size
Mohennial Sala and Peter, their true appearances masked by the magical projections of Lord Thulgrim and Lady Starval, arrived in a dimly lit and shockingly cold entry chamber. Directly in front was a stone wall. Peter quickly looked both ways to find they were in the middle of a short corridor. To his right stood a pair of heavy doors which were closed. To his left, beyond the Mohennial, were another pair of heavy doors, but these stood open. The room beyond the opening was lit by fae lighting.
An armored figure stepped into the open doorway and spoke. “Lord Thulgrim, Lady Starval, you are both long overdue. The High Minister is most displeased.”
Peter’s heart thudded in his chest. They’d been met by someone wearing the insignia of a death wizard! Worse, that this wizard had spoken so casually with the Reaper and his consort meant he was a significant power. Peter looked to Sala to see how they should respond. To his surprise, Sala, thankfully still masked by his projection of Lord Thulgrim, stepped to her left toward the death wizard and began coughing.
“Pretend to comfort me, Peter,” he heard in his mind as she bent over. Simultaneously, he felt her tighten her grip on his left hand, pulling him beside her.
Peter quickly altered the projection of Lady Starval to turn towards the Mohennial, and had it appear concerned. He concentrated and molded the mimicry to include Lady Starval’s free hand reaching toward Thulgrim’s back as if in support. In reality, he kept his grip on the stabbing wand he held at his side, ready to thrust. His vision swam as his life energies were consumed at a rapid rate to maintain and now actively modify the illusions.
“You forget yourself, Lord Krooga,” Mohennial Sala croaked out gutturally between coughs.
Lord Krooga! Peter had heard of the powerful death wizard also known as Doomslayer. He was also surprised at how well Sala had copied the deeper voice of Lord Thulgrim.
“Peter, we are going to confidently walk right by Lord Krooga,” the Mohennial said into his mind. “Make our projections arrogant and watch him while we pass. When he turns back to face the portal, stab him!”
“What!” Peter sent back.
”I must report to the High Minister immediately.” Sala as Thulgrim croaked to Lord Krooga again.
Sala ignored his mental reservations and began walking forward. Because she had spoken more softly this time, Peter saw the death wizard tilt his head as he attempted to make out what she had said. Fortunately, Peter’s feet responded to Sala’s tug before his shocked brain caught up and he was able to keep up.
They quickly reached the opening where the Krooga stood waiting. This close, Peter concentrated on keeping the mimicry fully detailed and projected Lady Starval looking up from Thulgrim with concern, until shifting her expression to an offended glare toward Lord Krooga. It apparently worked, as the death wizard stepped aside to let them pass.
Beyond the bodyguard at the far end of the ornate chamber knelt a robed figure. Mohennial Sala adjusted their course toward the figure whom Peter assumed was High Minister Orruth. Orruth had his hooded head bowed, either in meditation, or too far into this torpor state to react to their presence. His face was hidden by the hood but Peter caught the unnatural bulge on the back of Orruth’s neck which betrayed the lichthral ogon parasite.
Peter remembered Sala’s instruction and forced his attention from the kneeling figure and back on the death wizard bodyguard. He morphed the projection to show Lady Starval’s image dismissing the wizard with a snort and turning her back to him, but in reality, Peter had turned and was walking backward slowly with his wand at the ready. Krooga continued watching them, not giving Peter the opening he needed to attack.
Behind the wizard, the still-active portal flared as Rager suddenly appeared. The boar troll lunged into the corridor and bellowed, startling Krooga, who spun around to look. Peter acted on instinct and pulled his hand free from Sala’s grip and lunged toward the distracted death wizard. With the broken contact, the strain of projecting the illusions of Lord Thulgrim and Lady Starval increased drastically.
Peter’s movement took his physical body outside the projection of Lady Starval, and even though it was unwise, he activated the embedded spell in his cloak, turning him invisible. His head suddenly flared with pain as the added draw of his life force hit him like a hammer blow. Fighting the pain, he barely managed to invoke the amulet, tapping its reserves more deeply to prevent himself from passing out.
Krooga managed to get off a spell at the onrushing boar troll. The death magic blast hit Rager in the chest, causing a splash of scintillating energies and knocking the boar troll to its knees. The beast’s warded mail shirt and magic-resistant hide deflected enough of the spell to keep it alive, but the damage was sufficient to cause Rager to bellow in pain.
Enough of the deflected death spell brushed Peter that he became suddenly nauseated. He powered forward and reached Krooga just as the death wizard let loose a second blast toward the troll. Still invisible, he reached his sharpened wand around Krooga’s shoulder, and stabbed deeply into the death wizard’s neck.
Peter felt an almost electric shock where his arm brushed the wizard’s cloak, but still managed to twist the shank upon extraction, causing greater damage. Krooga had warded his clothing against magical attack and Peter was fortunate he’d struck at the man physically instead of attempting this attack with potions or some other magic.
Blood fountained and Peter stepped back quickly before Krooga could counterattack. The death wizard spun around, looking in all directions for his attacker. He quickly dismissed the troll who’d collapsed to the floor before turning back to the projected image of Thulgrim and his consort. Krooga hesitated, but seeing no closer attacker, raised his hand to send a death curse toward the Mohennial.
Peter turned and saw Sala was concentrating all her attention on the still kneeling High Minister. She was about to be struck in the back! Without thought, Peter lifted his right leg and kicked out, impacting Krooga’s chest and sending the death wizard stumbling backward. Peter’s foot went numb from the contact with the death wizard’s still-active defensive wards but he managed to remain invisible.
Krooga hit the ground and rolled backward to land against the still unmoving troll. The death wizard realized what he was now touching and scrambled about attempting to separate himself from the large beast. Rager didn’t react to the wizard, either dead or unconscious from Krooga’s second death magic blast.
Krooga climbed back to his knees and Peter readied himself to lunge forward and attack a second time. He paused when the death wizard faltered and collapsed back to the floor, blood loss from his severed carotid artery finally taking its toll. Peter waited a few seconds until it was clear the man was out of the fight for good. He then dismissed his invisibility before it drained him completely and smiled at having survived yet another encounter with a death wizard.
His relief was short-lived, however, as a hissing voice came from behind. “Lord Thulgrim! What have you done?”
Peter spun around to see High Minister Orruth rise to his feet. The undead man moved not like the elderly person he had been, but instead rose nimbly like a gymnast.
“Commander Constance, bring the slave through at once!” Peter heard the Mohennial order in his mind. “Hurry!”
“Mohennial,” Peter sent, before Constance could reply. “My reserves are failing!”
“Drop Lady Starval’s projection now, Peter, ” Sala replied.
Peter immediately ceased projecting the mask of the enchantress. His head swam with relief as the immense outflow of his life force became a much smaller net inflow as the amulet worked to recharge his depleted reserves. In front of him, the projected image of Lady Starval faded. The hooded figure of the High Minister took note of Thulgrim’s consort vanishing. Orruth then turned slightly, now facing toward Peter, now fully visible.
“What is this?” Orruth said more loudly, “Deception? Trickery!”
Peter felt the flow from the amulet halt as Orruth directed his blood magic toward him and began siphoning his remaining life force. He dove to his left, placing himself behind Mohennial Sala, trying to break the line of sight to the High Minister. As he moved, his projection of the Thulgrim mask over Mohennial Sala faded as the residual magic powering the spell reached zero.
Mohennial Sala took advantage of the distraction by launching her own mental barrage toward the undead High Minister. The life force flow from Peter halted as Orruth was forced to suspend his blood magic attack and defend himself. Orruth stiffened, holding up both hands in an attempt to weave a mental defense.
“Peter, use your cryo grenado!” Sala said into his head. Her mental voice sounded strained and much fainter than before.
The blood wizard must now be draining her more substantial power! Peter scrambled to extract the glass sphere in his pocket and moved further to the side so that he again had a clear view of the High Minister. Orruth briefly turned toward the movement but quickly dismissed him as Peter had also been backing away, appearing to retreat. Orruth returned his focus to the now fully exposed Mohennial.
“The deception continues,” Orruth hissed. “Greetings, Lady Sala, I now realize the depth of Lord Thulgrim’s failure. For you to be here means that you were able to break his mind. Such a shame.”
Peter had been attempting to restore Sala’s mask, but now that Orruth had seen through the deception, he instead obscured the Mohennial with an opaque shadow. This took far less life energy and he felt himself recovering even further. He took aim and prepared to throw the grenado. At the last second, he realized he’d forgotten to remove the weapon’s protective spell! Cursing silently, he aborted his throw and muttered the spell to break the protection charm.
Sala had not been idle while he fumbled and hurled a device of her own toward the High Minister. Her attack hit Orruth in the chest and exploded with a wash of fire and heat. It had been one of her fire crystal weapons! He remembered her warning that the High Minister would be prepared for her fire magic attack and was confused that she had actually attempted to use one. He sensed Orruth use a new spell, which caused the fire to begin to diminish. Sala’s warning had proven correct!
“Fire!” High Minister Orruth cackled. “You dare use fire magic against me, Mohennial Sala? Foolish woman! I am fully prepared for your abilities with fire.”
Peter saw the unnatural green glow emanating from Orruth’s eyes, which were now visible beneath the remains of his burnt hood. The undead minister shoved one still-burning fist forward, hurling a blood magic attack toward the Mohennial. “I will now finish what Lord Thulgrim and Lady Starval failed to achieve.”
Sala bent over as if punched in the gut, crying out audibly, “Oof!” before sending into his mind, “Peter, now!”
He hurled the ice grenado at Orruth, who noticed the projectile too late to dodge. The glass sphere struck the undead wizard in the shoulder and exploded with a spray of cryogenic magic and ice. Orruth stumbled back as the ice encrusted his legs and much of his torso. As the High Minister had still been in the midst of dealing with Sala’s fire attack by actively cooling himself, the sudden, unexpected, rapid exposure to the freezing magic inadvertently made the cryo attack even more potent and Orruth was overcome.
Peter felt the ice crystal embedded in his cloak working to protect him from the overspray of cryogenic magic. The Mohennial was also unfazed as the ice crystal in her electrum crown acted to protect her similarly. He was about to ask what he should do next when Commander Constance and Nahuul arrived through the portal.
“Commander,” Sala yelled to the new arrivals, “bring the Northlander woman here quickly!”
“At once, Mohennial!” Constance replied. “Beware! I hear activity coming from the closed doorway beyond the portal!”
“Peter, please go deal with that, ” Sala sent to him as she directed another mental blast toward the High Minister still struggling to recover from the fire and ice attacks.
Orruth’s robe and underclothing were coming apart, either burning off from Sala’s fire or shattered by his ice grenado’s cold. The undead’s exposed flesh was showing minimal damage from either the heat or cold, likely protected by the blood wizard’s magic or the lichthral parasite. Peter hesitated, wondering if he should slip in close and attempt a strike with his wand.
“We will deal with Orruth, Peter!” Sala sent mentally. “Rager is recovering and will help you at the outer doorway! Go!”
Peter nodded and ran toward the outer hallway. He passed the wide-eyed commander, who was pulling Nahuul behind her. Constance noticed his worried expression and frowned but kept moving toward Sala. Sala’s portal collapsed, exposing her troll, which was attempting to climb to its feet, and the heavy doors beyond, which were beginning to open.
Peter fumbled inside his cloak and pulled one of his vials of quicksleep potion. Remembering his near-blunder from earlier, he primed the vial before tossing it toward the doorway just as two battle wizard guards wielding normal tridents entered. The first battle wizard slid to a stop, noticing Lord Krooga’s corpse lying in the pool of blood near the feet of the now-standing boar troll. He also detected Peter’s thrown potion vial just in time to dodge.
The second wizard also spotted the incoming glass vial and instinctively tried batting it aside with his trident. The weapon connected, causing the vial to shatter and spread a magical cloud of vapor over the man. The wizard was unable to prevent a surprised inhalation and stiffened as the fast-acting potion took effect.
The first wizard observed the collapse of the second and turned back but not before Peter triggered his cloak’s invisibility. Because of his low life force levels, the spell took effect more slowly and the battle wizard was able to see where he vanished. Peter lunged to his left and barely avoided the trident blast the wizard had launched toward where he’d last been visible. The missed shot continued on and struck Rager, causing the boar troll to collapse yet again.
Peter winced in sympathy for the troll who was having a bad time of things, but appreciated that Rager was taking damage meant for him. The wizard’s trident attack had far less effect on the boar troll than Lord Krooga’s death magic, and Rager quickly scrambled back to its feet. The troll then bellowed in anger and recovered its dropped war club, which had landed nearby.
Behind Peter came the sounds of a skirmish as Constance joined Sala in the fight against Orruth. Peter wanted to look but dared not turn away from the battle wizard. His focus was pressed when he heard the Mohennial call out to the commander, “He’s getting to his feet! I can’t hold him mentally! Shoot him!”
“The High Minister’s blood magic is nullifying my trident, Mohennial!” came Constance’s reply.
“Then move in and grab him!” Sala ordered.
“Do what?!” Constance exclaimed.
It sounded like Peter was missing quite a battle. He was forced to ignore the fight with the High Minister when the battle wizard sent a second trident burst toward him, bringing his attention back on his own battle. The blast missed Peter and also Rager, who managed to dodge the hastily aimed attack. The wizard then scrambled back toward the door as the armored troll advanced while swinging the huge war club over its head menacingly.
“Lieutenant!” the panicked battle wizard yelled back to someone still out of sight. “We need more wizards!”
Peter fumbled in his cloak and found his last vial of quicksleep. He primed, took aim, and threw the potion at the retreating wizard. The man was too quick, however, and the potion hit the edge of the doorway. The brittle vial burst, forming a spreading cloud directly in front of the oncoming boar troll.
“Rager!” Peter yelled. “Beware the poison cloud at the door!”
The troll was intelligent enough to understand his verbal warning of ‘poison’ and stopped, turning to snarl in the general direction where Peter stood still invisible. It then sat on its haunches to wait, likely still weak and recovering from the previous attacks.
Beyond the doorway, Peter heard more shouting. Additional forces had arrived and were assembling for a second rush. Peter wanted to run forward and shut and bar the great doors but had to wait for at least another dozen seconds for the quicksleep cloud to dissipate.
“Mohennial!” Peter called back, “More guards are coming! We do not have much time!”
“Hold them, Peter!” Sala called back. Again, her voice sounded strained.
Just then, he heard the commander scream as if in great pain! Peter glanced back to see the tall woman now standing behind the High Minister. She had her strong arms wrapped around the undead minister and was pinning his arms to his sides. What the hell was she doing? To be in direct physical contact with a blood wizard meant she was exposed to the brunt of his life force magic and would be fully drained in seconds! If her body was too weak to trigger the resurrection spell as she expired, she could die permanently!
Sala was kneeling in front of Orruth. The Mohennial’s hands were held out toward the undead wizard, indicating she was locked in mental battle. Nahuul was standing beside the Mohennial, her arms wrapped around herself. Peter sensed the slave was frozen in fear!
Motion outside the doorway caught his attention, and Peter turned to see a larger group of battle wizards cautiously approaching the opening. He quickly scrambled to extract and prime a firesplash potion before lobbing it past the troll and through the open doorway. The vial burst upon hitting the polished stone floor beyond, spreading to cover the threshold with liquid fire. The reserve forces skidded to a halt just on the other side of the inferno. The fire burning on the noncombustible stone would quickly consume itself, and Peter realized the delay would not be for long.
“Rager!” Peter ordered, “Close the doors! Quickly!”
The boar troll snarled but jumped forward toward the door. The sight of the onrushing troll made the wizards forget trying to extinguish the fire and they backed away. This gave the troll the opening it needed to heave the first heavy door shut. Peter ran forward and grabbed the heavy locking bar, ready to slide it closed as soon as the troll closed the second door. Once it too boomed shut, he slid shut the bolt and locked the doors. They had done it!
Peter stepped back and disabled his cloak’s invisibility. As before, his head throbbed at the abrupt change in life force usage. He was unaccustomed to using magic while so drained and he checked the electrum amulet. To his surprise, he found it nearly empty, with only a dozen seconds of charge remaining before the device was ruined forever. He debated for a moment before severing the link, electing to preserve the priceless artifact, and gambling the lack of those last few seconds of life force reserve would not come at the cost of his life.
“I’m completely drained magically, Mohennial!” Peter called back to the others.
Before Sala could respond, a heavy hammer blow rang against the barred doors. The firesplash had run out and the wizards were now attacking the barrier with magical blows. More thuds sounded; this time accompanied by a cracking sound in the thick wood. Peter estimated from the number of wizards he’d seen and the pace of the magical blows, they had at best about a minute before the doors were breached.
“The doors are again locked, Mohennial, but they will only hold for a minute!”
“Hold that door, Peter!” the Mohennial shouted back.
He then heard her say, more quietly, “Slave! Do as I instruct!”
Peter looked back to see Nahuul was still standing frozen beside the Mohennial.
“What do you need her to do?” he yelled to the Mohennial.
“She needs to physically touch Orruth’s parasite, Peter!”
“No!” Nahuul cried out. “Vile! Foul!”
“Mohennial!” Constance cried out. “Orruth has nearly drained me completely! I’m starting to pass out.”