Chapter 5

Darynn looked up from his desk. Aimee' had entered without knocking this time, just as he had asked, and was now scanning his bookshelves at a furious rate. He cast a small spell to examine the titles she was looking at, paying attention to the ones she lingered over. He frowned when he noticed most of them were healing spells. Still, if that was what she needed, she had every right to copy and learn them.

She selected one and pulled it down, reading through it. He paid her little attention, dedicating himself to the spellbook before him on the table; the way of Deists and their spells was still beyond his ken, although he now understood some of what the Essentialists did. He looked up once in a while, noticed her penquill flying at that furious rate that even he envied in her, then returned his attentions to his studies.

The next time he looked up he saw that she had fallen asleep in the chair, her own spellbook open but lying across her chest. He rose from his desk and walked over to her. "Aimee'?" he asked, touching her shoulder.

"Huh?" she said, startling awake. "Oh, sir. Forgive me. I just... needed to rest."

He nodded and patted his hand on the shoulder he touched. "That is perfectly okay, Aimee', I understand." He smiled at her. "So, no more storms at Bethsany's place, right?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. I've got it under control now, I think."

"Good," he said. "I should tell you, Aimee', that you are someday going to be the most powerful mage in the world at the rate you learn, but that power and skill must be tempered with learning and maturity." He smiled at the shock on her face. "It is true, Aimee'. Few people recognize it, because your talent, like mine, is sexual, and therefore generally overlooked. In fact, are you willing to listen to one more story by an old man?"

"Oh, yes sir!" she grinned, sitting up onto the edge of her chair.

"Good," Darynn commented. "Remember where my stories left off..."

It came to pass in the Spring of my 24th year that I left my beloved Ryuchia, just as I had left my beloved Awrthom. This time, however, many of the reasons for going were my own, not those of a master shooing me out the door. It was true; Desa had little more to teach me. I had grown beyond the peak of learning, and all was now a straight and understanding path.

I travelled down the road on horseback, armed with spells of defense for most of the travel. Just once, the day after leaving the mountains of the Megassi, was I assaulted by brigands. There were six of them, all told, who descended upon me and demanded I stand and deliver my gold and possessions. They never got within a horse's length of me before three dragons descended from the sky. [You are protected by the will of Desa, ] one told me. [You will reach Barraminum safely.] They slaughtered the brigands and consumed them, leaving their possessions upon the ground. I learned that day to be a practical man and recovered their gold and their horses. At the next town I sold them all and left a wealthier man.

I made my way across the rocky terrain of the northern steppes and found myself in Barraminum after only two months of travel. It was not an easy two months, but it was uneventful. I learned some hardness on that trip that I wish I had not, but I am also glad that I did. I still have not decided on the good or bad of casting 'Stroke' upon a rabbit, holding the spell while creeping up on it, and then slitting its throat in its moment of ecstasy. The idea still bothers me greatly.

But it kept me fed until I reached Barraminum's gates. The guard at the gate wished to treat me roughly. "What do you want?" he said.

"Directions to the College of Mages."

"Haw! And who's your patron?" He was a foul-faced fellow, all pinched and dirtied. Missing a few teeth, too.

"I have none," I said.

"Go on, get on your way," he swore at me. "Nobody gets to the college without a patron. What do you think you're doing here, anyway?"

I reached into my cloak. "I have here a signed letter from Talen Silisto inviting me into the college as an unfettered student." I showed the illiterate fool the seal and quite suddenly he was nice to me.

"Yes, sir," he said. He seemed more than a little distraught, an effect I found rewarding. "I'll bring a boy to lead you to it." He swallowed and walked away. As he did so, I turned my sense of hearing to him and I heard him mutter, "One of these days I'm going to say the wrong thing to the wrong mage and I'll be spending the rest of my days searching for Mrs. Right Toad." I tried not to laugh.

The guard did eventually find someone to lead me through the city, a young and healthy boy of perhaps sixteen. I dismounted my horse as he led me through the gates and to the College of Mages.

Ah, the College. I'm sure by now you're as familiar with it as any student, but at the time the high stone walls and the beautiful spiraling towers within were enrapturing to me. I was entranced by the mere silvered appearance. The open-air main building, it's roof nothing more than magic itself, allowing in the sun and air but not the rain, framed with great stone pillars. All wonderful to me.

Once my invitation was acknowledged to be genuine, I was given a place to stable my horse and then led into the Main Hall, through a hallway and to an office, where I waited for Talen Silisto to meet with me.

Finally, he did. "Ah, Darynn, you have arrived. You have no other name?" I shook my head. "Fine, fine. I am Talen Silisto." He was a tall man, reedy thin, with fine, strong feature. A well- shaped face with a sharp nose and inquisitive blue eyes. "Come into my office, would you?" He directed me towards the door, walking behind me; once he was in, he locked the door. Needless to say, this made me nervous.

He sat back in his chair behind his desk and examined me closely. I felt probed, inspected, dissected by his careful vision. He finally pressed his fingertips together. "So you have recently come from Desa Megassi."

"Yes, sir."

"How is Desa?"

"Fine, sir, although in his dragon form he does not get out much these days. I only saw it twice in the 25 months I lived there, and both occasions were very brief."

"I see," he said. "Still, it is nice to hear that he is alive and well and teaching again. For a while I though I should never hear from him. Instead he sends me you. A student not even 25 who has already created an incredible spell base. And, he tells me in private, you have mastered another spell base that has been nobody's knowledge for centuries."

My jaw dropped when I heard that. "Sir?"

"The genetic bases. Nobody has been able to learn those; they're almost strictly dragon lore, and now you wander into my college knowing them! Inconceivable!" He leaned forward. "Tell me. If I asked you to, could you write them down?"

Taken by surprise, I nodded. "I could. Given time."

"Do you think anyone else could learn them?"

"Sir, if you're asking me to pass on my knowledge, I will gratefully to students who can use it. But I will not simply turn my studies over to a book for irresponsible students to leaf through at their whim."

His expression took on a pall of surprise, and then he leaned back in his chair. "I see. Desa has taught you very well."

"Thank you, sir."

He clasped his hands together on the table. "I have no illusions about your first spell-base. 'Pleasure' is as powerful and as dangerous a Base of the Mind as any I have ever seen. Most of the mages who viewed it felt the same way. We have downplayed its existence because of that very power. I also understand that your power is channeled by sexual arousal, so I will be sure that your teacher is one of discretion in this matter, as well as one acceding to your needs. I would take you as a student myself if it were not for my age and my preference for buxom young women instead. You have all the makings of a researcher, Darynn, but you must learn to protect yourself as well."

"Sir?"

"I am assigning you to Lien Pappen. Lien is a sexual spellmaster of no little skill who will teach you the ways of defensive and offensive magics. We will work around your trance- state methods."

"None of the other students here will have knowledge of who you are. Many are here on anonymous patronages; the patrons don't wish their neighbors to know they are financing a household mage here at the college. You will simply be one of those, richer than the rest, I suppose, because of the accumulated patronages you already have. Yes, indeed, both Awrthom and Desa have forwarded to me significant amounts of remuneration to keep you here." He smiled. "I have my doubts, Darynn. You are young, undisciplined, and overpowerful. Your power derives from that most dangerous of all human drives, sex, and not only that, the release of that power proffers you to be a sodomite!" He pounded the table with his fist while shaking his head. "Your life is going to be difficult, Darynn. Your teachers are putting a great deal of trust in your hands. Do not disappoint us.

He reached into his desk and pulled out an envelope. "Here. This is your new-student orientation material." On the back, he wrote out a name. Opening the packet, he pulled out what appeared to be a map and wrote on it. "And this is where Mage Pappen lives." Finally he wrote out a note and placed it in an envelope. "And this is the letter of introduction to Mage Pappen." He rose from his desk; sensing a cue, I rose from my chair as well. We shook hands as he handed me the packet. "Welcome to the College, Darynn."

Nervous, it took me a moment to remember my voice. "Thank you, sir," I finally managed to say to him.

I followed the directions on the map, walking high and low amongst the buildings until I found the one I was looking for. A short wooden building on a stone foundation, it had a comfortable look to it. I walked onto the porch and rang the doorbell. The door opened to reveal a young woman wearing nothing more than a short skirt about her waist, and that skirt was made of leather. The only other mark on her was an intricate scrollwork tattoo over her heart. "May I help you?"

"I am Darynn, late of Megassi. I was instructed to hand this to Mage Pappen."

"Allow me." She reached for the envelope.

"Are you Mage Pappen?"

"No."

"Then I will not hand it to you. My instruction say to give it to Mage Pappen."

"Brand, let him in." The new voice came from a taller man whose age was indecipherable. He looked twenty, thirty, even forty. He looked strong. "I am Mage Pappen. What did you identify yourself as?"

"Darynn, late of Megassi."

He descended the stairs and crossed the room to peer at me. "The dragons?" He seemed surprised.

"The same."

"There must surely be some mistake. I've no ken for dragon lore." He opened the letter and began reading it. "Or, perhaps not." He smiled at me. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-five, sir."

"Brand, leave us." The woman, without so much as a blink, turned and left the room. "Now then, Darynn, Unbalance me."

"Sir?"

"You heard me. Unbalance me."

It took me a moment to get up the courage to follow his command. I have never simply demonstrated my skill in public before; it's not often one is commanded to masturbate publicly. Which, in effect, is what I needed to do to move that spell at that time.

I dropped my pack and robes. Leaning against my staff, I reached into my pants and found my penis, stroking it softly. It came to life quickly, and in less than nine seconds I found myself breathing hard enough to summon power. One second later I formed the base in my head, the second after that I built an Unbalance over that base, and in the twelfth second I opened one eye, looked at Mage Pappen, and released it.

The Mage looked happily unbalanced. "You are he!"

"Yes, sir. I created the 'Pleasure' base." I blushed, embarrassed. "I realize I have achieved a bit of notoriety from that."

"Yes. We'll have to work on that arousal pattern you have, get it down from twelve seconds to one." He grinned. "You'll have to find your arousal in the satisfaction of the act, not the other way around. We'll manage." He looked at my staff curiously. "Is that staff yours?"

"Yes, sir. It was given to me by Desa Megassi, Master Mage of Hakkana."

"Well then, Mage Darynn, welcome to my home. You are once again Student Darynn as well, you understand." I bowed my head, agreeing to the term. "Excellent. Brand! Come show Darynn to room three, would you?"

The woman returned. "Come with me."

Lien Pappen, it turned out, was considered the sexual mage on Campus simply because he was the only mage of advanced skill who could do sexual work. Sex was a consuming passion with him and what he preferred, but it was not what he did best. Where his expertise lay magically was in process work. When I described the spell I had cast on myself and my beloved Ryuchia, he positively glowed. "Darynn, I must ask that I see you perform this spell process."

"With whom, sir?"

"I would ask that you perform it on me. I cannot ask you to perform it on Brand since she is a woman, and therefore not to your liking."

"Yes sir."

I explained the procedures necessary, and he agreed to them. We arranged a space in his basement in which to build the equipment necessary. I felt relieved to be in my own element again; it had been three months since my arrival at the campus and I had begun to feel depressed. I was without lovers here, a state not to my liking and certainly discouraging to a mage of my studies. Unlike dragons, the people in Barraminum regarded my preferences as disagreeable and limited my attentions to the boyhouses by the waterfront. Although my allowances would certainly allow me to wander down there once in a while for relief, I did not relish the idea of purchasing relief. I craved friendship and a friendly bed, not what these places offered.