Chapter 18

The three men enjoyed their afternoon working together.

Having two people who had learned magic independently of you was always fun when swapping spells. Darcy became the teacher mostly because he had the most experience, but he’d learnt a thing or two as well. He was even more determined that they would have barbies so they could swap knowledge and he could get to know each of the Lord wizards and their people better.

The amusing part came when they went to replace Trae’s items with the new ones they had just made. They got him to sit down and he removed the ring and the medallion. He was sweating by the time Darcy slid the old vambrace off of him.

Collin elected to remove the diadem while Darcy slipped the new brace on. Collin straddled Trae’s left leg and then looked at Trae, “Why are you so worked up?” he asked.

“It was a really unpleasant experience last time I did this. Having the other items off is making me feel sick,” Trae replied grimly.

Darcy grinned and said, “He needs a distraction. Maybe you should kiss him again.”

“Oh, he is just acting like a big baby, maybe he wants me to change to female and stick my tit in his mouth,” Collin replied.

Both me chuckled when Trae’s eyes fastened on Collin’s chest. Darcy winked at Collin, so Collin changed. Trae’s eyes went wide, and he felt himself harden. Collin’s very nice tit that was pressing tightly against his shirt was only centimetres from Trae’s nose. Collin whipped off the diadem while Darcy quickly slid the new vambrace over Trae’s arm.

“Oh Shit!” screamed Trae the moment the diadem lifted from his head. He was panting hard as the vambrace tightened on his forearm and then he groaned as the new entity joined with him and soothed him. He felt a new power flood his body and his hard cock pulsed. He nearly came at the ecstasy of being joined with the new entity.

Collin was surprised when Trae pulled his head down and laid one on him. Trae released him when a voice said, “So that’s what Lord Wizards get up to when you leave them alone.”

Collin and Trae both blushed and looked at Serpin sheepishly. “Sorry, it was the heat of the moment. He was trying to distract me, while they changed the items over,” Trae offered while still blushing furiously.

“Oh, he is very good at that,” Serpin replied with a grin as she wrapped her arm around Collin’s slim waist.

Trae grumbled, “It won’t be as bad for you, as he just has to add the gems to your vambrace.”

“What gems?” Serpin asked.

The three men all looked at each other and realised that they needed to tell Serpin, Paige and Ryne what was going on. “We should get Ayden and Justine too,” Collin said.

Darcy nodded. “Trae, why don’t you go and get them. If I turn up, they will ask too many questions. Put your sword and dirk on first, as it will help make you feel complete.”

Trae nodded and tried to stand. His knees were a bit wobbly, so Darcy helped him while Collin got the belt. Trae put it on and adjusted it to suit his waist and Collin then handed him the sword. It glowed and hummed as Trae took it. This time, Trae grinned and carefully sheathed it. The dirk was just as happy to go to him.

“So was the trouble of changing items worth it?” Collin wished to know.

“Yes, these feel really good. I think that because they know the set is now complete. It’s even better,” Trae replied.

Darcy and Collin were both happy. Trae disappeared and Collin changed back to male. He then introduced Serpin to Darcy and blinked to go get Paige and Ryne.

Serpin looked at the tall, handsome man, “So just what is going on? We peeked in earlier but you three were cackling like three witches over a cauldron, so we left you to it. I came to offer you food.”

“That is a wonderful idea, any chance you can bring it in here? I feel I need to go get a couple of other people. Possibly ten people,” Darcy explained.

Serpin knew something was up, as he hadn’t answered her previous question. She wasn’t sure that she would like it, but realised Darcy wasn’t going to tell her anything until all concerned were assembled. Nodding, she went to get the food and Darcy disappeared.

Trae dropped Ayden and Justine off in the workshop and disappeared again to get his wife, Kat. The others busied themselves with setting up several tables and enough chairs for about eighteen people, which they borrowed from the schoolroom. They soon had the small feast laid out.

Darcy reappeared with four people. His paramour, who was called Blaze and a male he called Speeder, who he said was also his favourite consort and one of his Shield Mages. He then introduced Lord Wizard Huntress with her paramour, Wizard Martian. He left them to say hello and disappeared again.

A few minutes later, he reappeared with five more humans and two flickers. He told the growing company that the humans were High Wizard Gazza, his wife was High Wizard Bette and their consort was called High Mage Nat.

Next, he introduced, High Wizard Stix and her husband, High Wizard Stone. He explained that they were in fact ants who had become Shifters and the two flickers, Basil and Petal were destined to be the other two High Wizards of the sextet.

Collin and the rest of the crowd gasped when Trae reappeared with Kat and Sampson. Sampson was nearly full grown, and he was an exceptionally large cuttail. His coat shimmered with good health and vitality. He stalked up to Collin and the two met eye to eye. Collin gasped when Sampson licked his face. The wide, rough wet tongue covering the right half of his face.

“Oh, gross Sampson,” Collin cried as he wiped his face, but his grin was huge. To the surprise of the others, he wrapped his arms around the big Cuttail’s head and hugged him. “I’m glad you like Trae’s sword, it took a lot of effort to get your eyes just right.”

Sampson’s purr was more like a low rumble and he rubbed against Collin. He then lay down beside Collin’s chair so that Collin could pat his fur while he and the others talked.

Stix and Stone eyed the huge cuttail off with some apprehension. Ants had an inherent fear of Cuttails, as the ones on their island liked to rip their legs off and suck out the flesh. However, Sampson’s non-threating pose and the pictures they received from him of his friendship and him protecting them let them settle down.

Trae shook his head at Sampson’s actions with Collin. “He really is impressed by the sword and he asked to come to see you.”

“Thank you, he told me that he likes the new me. However, now I’ll have the memory of Sampson slobbering on my face in actuality, etched in my brain,” Collin chuckled. He was sure that Sampson was sniggering beside him. He then got a picture in his head. “Oh, Gods no; Sampson, you are never doing that,” he said in horror, as he shuddered.

“What did he say?” Paige asked as she eyed the big Cuttail with awe.

“He sent me a picture of him licking the sole of my bare foot,” Collin said with another shudder, as they others laughed.

Food then took precedence, and everyone ignored the fact that Collin and Trae were happily feeding Samson too. They were all a little surprised when the two flickers took a fancy to Sampson and sat between his huge paws.

They all realised the three of them were happily conversing. Stix and Stone had also settled down. Once they had some food, they had sat beside Sampson, so they were touching him. It was obvious that they were silently communicating with Samson and the flickers.

Darcy realised that he and Trae may need to have more of a discussion about the role Cuttails may play in the future on his Island. He was beginning to believe there were a lot more beings that were sentient on this planet. He will also need to go have a serious chat with a certain wheelship controller. So much for thinking, he was going to be having a quiet life.

Ryne asked Ayden how things were going at home. He told her that they had made some headway now that he had the younger generation in his camp. He also mentioned what Derek had said about needing Wizards and a Guild Mage.

None of the locals from Boa Island missed the looks that passed between Collin, Darcy and Trae. They had all guessed something was up by them all being together. The girls were apprehensive, as they all knew something had changed. The presence of Darcy had them both worried and intrigued.

The looks that passed between Darcy and the man called Gazza from Ant Island also gave them the idea he knew some of what was going on. They all found it fascinating that his sextet had Ant-shifters and would eventually have flickers in it as they hadn’t realised either species were sentient, let alone magically gifted.

Once they had emptied their plates and the tension had heightened, Darcy decided he had better put them out of their misery. He wasn’t sure how the wives were going to take what he wished them to do. He stood and introduced himself more formally and explained what an Overlord was.

He then surprised them by saying, “Due to the number of provinces on Boa Island, I need two Lord Wizards. As you may have guessed, Collin is one of them and Ayden is the other.”

“Personally, I think Collin should keep the North and Ayden the South. I know you’re having trouble getting the South to accept you at present Ayden, but once you are the Lord Wizard and Justine is the High Wizard of Slidervale it should help.”

Surprised he wasn’t getting any objections, he went on, “Ryne, I know you are very young, but you need to take over as Justine’s Wizard and as the Guild Lord for the South. Collin has told me that Paige has been training you.”

“I’m sure we can find you some competent assistants to help. Paige will be Serpin’s Wizard and you and she will help Collin and Ayden by finding and organising the training of Mages and Novices for them. We don’t expect you to do it all yourself.”

Ryne looked around the group and back to Darcy, “So I have to join with Ayden and Justine and give up my studies.”

Ayden told him, “Ryne, you don’t need to join with us as such until you are ready. We can always find you some teachers and we will support you, as you will be one of my decad. If you wish to choose others to love, then that is your prerogative.”

“Darcy, when Collin made the boxes, he made it so Ryne’s box would be bonded to us, can we change that?” Ayden asked.

“Well, my preference was to have the Wizards not bonded so tightly to their High Wizard, so yes. If he still wishes to be with you and Justine, then that is fine too. I can’t control who loves who, I just prefer that it is that person’s choice rather than being forced by magic,” Darcy replied.

To their surprise, Ryne teared up. “So, you don’t want me?” he sobbed.

Ayden and Justine both got up and hurried to the younger man. “Oh, sweetie, we just want you to make sure that you wish to be with us,” Justine said and hugged him hard before kissing his cheek.

Ayden kissed his other cheek and patted his shoulder, “At least if you are with us and working with us, we will get a better chance of getting to know you. We won’t push you, but we would like to see if things can work between us as a triad.”

“You may find that I’m a pompous arse and you only wish to be with Justine. If that’s what works best, as long as you realise, I wish to be with her too, then we will work it out. As Wizards we will be around for a long time, so nothing has to happen between us until we are ready.”

“But you do need me to accept the box and become the Southern Guild Lord sooner rather than later,” Ryne said.

“Sorry, but I agree with Darcy on this, I know it will settle a lot of the problems I’m having. Having you as the Guild Lord will also make people happy since you are Ivana’s daughter. Them knowing that you have a lot of say in who is worthy of being a magician will settle a lot of the bickering. I think I already know who some of the other Wizards are. Once I have the Lord Wizards items I’ll know for sure.”

“I’m not sure how the North will take to Collin as the Lord Wizard, but Serpin is related to Duchess Silvia and many believe her family should be ruling the North as they once did, so I believe that will soothe a lot of ruffled feathers. I also hear that many are quite taken with Paige and Collin and the new school here so they may receive even less opposition taking my place than even I think.”

Serpin chuckled, “Ayden, all the students love Collin and half of the parents as well. I suspect when they find out he is the Lord Wizard of the North it won’t worry them as much. He has also been wandering around all over the city with the students fixing things, so even the multitude, love him.”

“What! The curbing and road fixing exercises are great for teaching them control of their Earth, Physics and Energy elements and even the Nature Novices have been having fun fixing up the verges and parks,” Collin protested.

Paige giggled. “Yes, that’s why they love you. You take them on excursions and make magic fun and as well as practical. They all like the people thanking them for making their city look and smell nicer too.”

Collin grinned, “Magic should be fun. While it can be practical, there is no harm in learning to have fun while doing mundane tasks with it. I think they get more of a kick out of helping others this way too, and they are more willing to help the next time.”

Serpin, Paige and Ryne had to agree with him as they had all been on Collin’s excursions. Ryne smiled, “I think I’ll take the idea with me. I’ve learnt that in the past the reason the Guild liked their students to work for them was so they could go and do tasks for the community. If we make it fun, they won’t even realise that they are actually working for their keep.”

Serpin chuckled, “Oh, I think they realise but surprisingly I get of lot of them asking me if they can do more. Collin’s methods of teaching may not be standard, but they are effective. The fact he asks them what they covered in the other classes and then puts it into practice makes them study harder too.”

“It’s a good method. I’ll have to make sure I find a couple of teachers who like Collin’s method. It will be a challenge,” Ryne said as a thoughtful look came over his face. They all guessed that Ryne had decided to take on the challenge and they were relieved.

Trae and Gazza, and their people were taking notes on how the Boa people were handling the teaching of new wizards, as it gave them a lot of ideas they wished to try. Trae and Gazza, and their Guild Lords had similar problems to Collin. Stix and Gazza had found that a lot more of her people were capable of magic and had been trying to get a new university started in Southern Boa.

All of the wizards looked at each other guessed that they would be having a lot more discussions about training when they went to Darcy’s boot camps.

Serpin’s next question caused some discomfort.

“So, if I’m Paige’s mentor, who does Collin get?”

“Well, it would be best if he picked someone from a closer City. Paige will also be the Wizard for Dirks since you get Rockslide. He should probably pick whoever it is for Fortune,” Darcy replied.

Serpin frowned. She didn’t really like that idea at all. “Can I have West Keep and Collin can have Paige?”

Collin looked thoughtful, “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. You have a lot of ties with West Keep and you still have the smithy. Jordyn Grayson is not a bad Lord and he does have a Novice’s vambrace. The only problem I have with him is that he is sweet on you Serpin. But I don’t own you so if anything happens between you, I’ll live with it. I know you’ll always come home to me eventually because of our bond.”

Serpin frowned even harder. She had not thought of either of those issues. She had been so worried about losing Collin that she had never questioned her own fidelity. She knew Jordyn was sweet on her but had never pursued the issue. If she were his mentor, then she would have to have a lot of contact with him. “Nuts,” she said.

Collin got up, and went and knelt in front of Serpin. He took her hands, “My love, we are Wizards. We have certain needs that other people can ignore. You will use a lot of magic while training Jordyn and you will both find you need relief. We are capable of loving many people and in some cases even having deep feelings for others, that are akin to love.”

“I will love you no less if you do spend time with Jordyn. I just ask that you don’t have his children without talking to Paige and me first, if it goes that far. When you need to be with me just ask and I will try my hardest to be there for you.”

He then turned to Paige and took her hand in his other hand, “The same goes for you. Since I’m to be the Lord Wizard of the North, there will be times, when I must be away from you both for extended periods. Paige, you may not be aware of how close I came to not pushing you away, when we were at the mine that time, and I thought you were Alison.”