Chapter 35: Saving June

For the next two weeks, Henry worked continually to save June’s life. After the needed books were brought in, the sorcerer banned everyone but his apprentice and seneschal from the reception area.

May stayed by his side during all her waking hours.

Maxwell brought in two cots for them to sleep on.

May never saw her master use his once. She never saw him sleep during this emergency session.

For the first few days, when he wasn’t researching or spellcasting, he was beating himself up. “How could I be so stupid?!” he moaned. “I knew that human spells don’t work in the Faerie Realm, and June is made up almost entirely of human magic.”

“It was an honest mistake,” said May. “It should have occurred to me as well.”

Not seeming to hear, Henry continued, “You look at her and see how strong she is. But, in reality, June is quite fragile. She is made up of hundreds of spells, all perfectly balanced to keep her whole. From early analysis, only three of her spells failed. If she had stayed on the other side a few seconds longer, I would have lost her completely, and had to start over. All her memories and personality would be gone.”

The apprentice nodded, “Then we got lucky.”

June seemed to be aware of what was going on. She could not speak, and did not move, per her master’s instructions. Her eyes were visible, and could answer questions with one blink for “yes”, and two blinks for “no”. The rest of her was a pile of vaguely human-shaped pink clay.

May did not have the first clue of the spells Henry was casting. The words in the books were cuneiform, which she had not studied yet. What the spells did, were equally mysterious. It was obvious that what her master was doing was way out of her league.

It made her realize that she had just scratched the surface in the world of magic.

The gray, dimly lit room gave few clues on the passage of time. Only Maxwell’s food deliveries clued the two in on how much time had passed.

On day two, Maxwell delivered the two plates with scrambled eggs and bacon on it.

Henry ate his without looking at it, while pouring over a large scroll.

May noticed a folded piece of paper under his plate. She retrieved it, “Oh, look. Your slaves wrote you a note.”

The sorcerer glanced up, “What does it say?”

“‘We are wishing you success in bringing our friend back to us. We love you deeply.’ Then it is signed by all nine of them.”

The seneschal cleared his throat, “They all miss you horribly, especially your sexual attentions.”

Without looking up Henry said, “You can fuck all my girls, except May. I hope you can help satisfy some of their carnal needs.”

The young man nodded his head, “Thank you, Sir.” He then turned and left the reception room.

The next day, Maxwell returned, looking tired. “I can’t keep up,” he confessed. Trying to satisfy nine girls is too much for me.”

Henry smiled, “I can imagine so. My libido is fueled by the magic I cast. Without that I’d not stand a chance either.”

“Could we bring in a few of my sisters?” asked May.

She was having trouble keeping up with her master’s sex drive. After each arcane spell, he would fuck her mercilessly, sometimes for up to an hour before he was sated.

Afterward, he’d be so intent on going back to fixing June, he would forget to magic away her soreness. She knew that his work was important and didn’t want to complain.

Henry shook his head, “But I do have something that will help you, Maxwell.

“Apprentice, go to bookcase 10E. In the middle, on the top shelf, you will find a small lacquered oak box. Get it and bring it here.”

May did as she was told. She tried to open it, to no avail.

When she gave it to her master, he opened it easily. Inside, there was a silver ring with a small shiny emerald in it.

“Put this on, and you’ll find that you should have no problem pleasing the ladies.”

Maxwell slipped it onto his ring finger, and immediately broke into a grin, “Thank you, Master.”

The sorcerer nodded, “You are quite welcome. You will have to return it when I am done here. Your own natural sex drive is more than sufficient for you, under normal circumstances.”

During this time, the sorcerer cast dozens of spells, most of which seemed to have no effect on June.

May figured that they were diagnostic spells that showed Henry what needed to be done. Of course, she could be wrong.

Finally, on the fifth day, Henry stood up, “I am ready to reestablish one of the dispelled enchantments.

“Apprentice, could you go get Bonnie. I will need her stored up magical energy. And with me ignoring her these past few days, she should be overflowing.”

True to Henry’s prediction, Bonnie was indeed glowing a deep red-orange. It spread out of her body about a foot. “I didn’t want to bother you with my problems,” said the blonde gymnast. “I don’t want to be the cause of June not getting fixed.”

“It looks like you’ve done a good job keeping your storage level down,” said the sorcerer.

She nodded, “I’ve stayed away from all fights and arguments.

“Also, Maxwell has been fucking me hard these past two days. That has seemed to help.”

“Interesting,” said Henry. “Right now, I need your energy in my first attempt at repairing June.”

“Of course, Master.”

May watched, and right before her eyes she saw June’s body reform itself into a shape that was definitely human. She was no longer just lumps of clay. She developed nipple-less breasts and a wide mouth, but just slits for a nose, and no hair or teeth.

The homunculus spoke loudly, “Master! I can read your lips, but I can’t hear you!”

Looking directly at her, Henry said, “I know. We’ll work on your hearing next.

“You don’t need to shout.”

May asked, “Can you move?”

“I think so. But Master told me not to move. I hope I am not disobeying by moving my jaw.”

Henry smiled, “You’re doing fine. But I don’t want you to try moving anything else. We don’t want body parts to drop off, before we get you put together.”

“I am so sorry I am putting you through this, Master.”

“It is not your fault. I should have foreseen you not being compatible with the Faerie Realm.”

“But you have so many things more important that you could be doing...”

The sorcerer placed a finger on her lips, “Hush. Just rest right now. Nothing is more important than you.”

He turned to Bonnie, “Thank you for your help. I will be needing your help again in the next few days.”

The blonde blushed and bowed her head, “Can I tell the rest how June is doing, Master?”

“By all means,” he replied.

Three days later, Henry cast his second spell on June. Bonnie again was present, providing him with her extra energy.

When it was completed, the homunculus gained her rudimentary ears, nose, and pussy.

“Let’s see if you can move. Raise your fingers off the ground, one digit at a time.”

For the next few hours, Henry went over each joint, making sure that nothing would fall off. In the end, June could sit up on the floor. “I don’t want you to try standing until I finish with the last structural spell on you.”

June nodded, “Yes, Master.

She brought her hands together, like she was praying, “Please, Master, may I change my appearance. I hate this blank face and body. I can change to anybody. I don’t care who.”

Henry shook his head, “Sorry, I don’t want you shapeshifting until I am sure all your spells are properly integrated.”

The homunculus nodded sadly, “I understand.”

After another three days, Henry cast the third and final spell. Bonnie was there to lend her magical energy to his efforts.

The result gave a feel of realism that had been missing before. There were tiny wrinkles around her eyes and texture to her skin, that had been missing before. May had not been conscious of the fact that they were missing. But the additions made her truly come to life.

“Now can I take a new shape?” begged June.

“Not yet,” said her master.

“Aww!” she moaned.

“You have to understand, when I add a new spell to your matrix I have to make sure that all the other spells are connected correctly to it, and the other spells are still connected to each other.

“Think of it as a jigsaw puzzle, where when you add a piece, all the other pieces shift and can get dislodged.”

Things started to make sense to May. She had thought Henry was being overly cautious, taking too long casting each spell. But obviously creating a homunculus was a very complicated matter.

Finally, after another three days, Henry stepped back from his creation and said, “June, you can stand up now.”

Still devoid of any details, the homunculus sat up and then rose to her feet.

The sorcerer walked around the mannequin-like figure and nodded. “Any feeling of dizziness or imbalance?” he asked.

“None, Master,” she replied.

“Very well; one more test and I’ll declare you repaired: Copy May.”

Instantly, she complied. An exact copy of the nude May stood before him. Only the extra-wide mouth was different.

The apprentice gaped, “I’ve never seen you copy me before.”

June shrugged, “I do it for Maxwell all the time.”

That made May feel queasy.

“I don’t usually do copies in front of the original. They usually find it disconcerting.” June’s voice sounded just like May’s.

She nodded, “You’ve got that right.”

May slowly walked around June, examining her doppelganger. “Is this what I really look like?” she asked Henry.

He nodded his head.

“This is so weird. All I can usually see is a mirror image of myself and only my front. To see me from all angles is very enlightening.”

“So, what is your verdict, now that you’ve seen your body from all sides?” asked Henry.

“I look ... spectacular. The body alteration spell I put on myself worked better than I imagined.”

The reception room suddenly turned back to the grand ballroom it had been before.