Chapter 11

Danica waited a moment while the image of her sister in the mirror gave some instructions to another wizard that Danica didn't recognize. As soon as Devan turned back to the mirror with a sigh, Danica asked, "How much worse?"

"This isn't just a confederation of tribes. As near as we can tell, almost every tribe of goblins for hundreds of miles around is converging on the northern border of Normandal. They mean to invade in force and retake the whole country."

"What could have caused all those warring tribes to put aside their differences?"

Devan answered, "It has to be a goblin that's convinced them he's a King. Nothing else could overcome all the generational hatred between those tribes. There are some places we can't even scry yet, because there are so many shaman and mages lurking around out there."

While a large gathering of goblins would certainly have many shaman, more than one mage was a disturbing prospect. Goblin mages were few and limited in their magical ability, but they were extremely cunning — and just as vicious as the rest of their kind. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I think we have it under control. Thakkor has troops on the march right now, and I'm sending some wizards to back them up. Normandal has its own army, and they've been building up to support us. Some of our green troops could use the combat experience, so it might actually be a blessing."

"Well, just use the message bowl if you need anything," Danica said. "I'll contact you as soon as I find a letter."

Devan let out a snort that was part irritation, and part amusement. "It would be a lot easier if your picky valley would just let me use my magic to talk to you when I wanted to."

Danica shrugged apologetically. "This place will listen to us sometimes, but it simply won't let in anyone else's magic most of the time."

Devan's image turned to look away from the mirror for a moment. She nodded to someone unseen and pointed toward something. When she turned back to the mirror again, she said, "I really need to go, Sis."

"Okay. I love you. Be careful."

"You too, Danica. Love you."

Danica let the magic of her mirror lapse as Devan stepped out of her field of vision.

Celes requested, "Come take a look at this, Danica."

Danica walked over to the table and looked at the drawing, a good representation of the central compound of the Forge. "You decided against putting the fortress, the college, and everything else in there?"

"I'm going with Janelle's suspicion. If this Mache is our demon, then we'll draw a tighter noose around him this way."

"Fair enough," Danica agreed as she sat down to prepare her message bowl, pen, and paper.

Ashley stood holding her magical scrying charm over Celes' map. "Ready?"

Danica picked up her pen, ready to write a note and send it to Janelle as soon as Ashley's magic revealed the location of the demon. She nodded, and then concentrated on the map.

Ashley let the earthen sphere fall. A bright red spot appeared within one of the barracks. Danica quickly penned her note and placed it in the message bowl.

Danica's note had barely vanished before the reply from Janelle appeared. Danica opened the note and read, "It's him, or someone very close to him. There's only one group in that barracks right now."

Celes stood and straightened her skirt. "Let's go see what we can learn about him, then."

Noticing that the skirt hugged Celes' curves to good effect, as did her blouse, Danica said, "You look beautiful. Any special reason you aren't wearing your robes?"

"Thank you," Celes responded. "I just decided that it was time to stop looking frumpy when I woke up this morning. I was acting like I was still under Zoraster's curse, with no reason to care how I looked."

"I like it," Andrea said, and then laughed when her tone sounded far more naughty than she'd intended. Ashley and Danica chuckled as well.

"I have my powers and all my magical trinkets, anyway. If I need my Art, I can use spells that don't need everything I carry around in my robe pockets."

Marlena walked in the room and said, "You might consider coming home early to work on the girls' toys. They're growing a bit impatient."

Danica nodded and walked over to her worktable. "I'll take my notes with me. If I have any spare time, I'll work on the spells while I'm gone."

Celes clapped her hands and declared, "Let's go then. You were right; I did need to get out."

Catching a flash of thought from her friend about the dark-haired sisters Nara and Mara, Danica hid a grin as she followed Celes out of the room.

Camilla let out a croak of pain as the needle pierced her flesh.

Slipping the needle free of her hood, Zoraster quickly replaced it with the ring lying on the table between her splayed legs. The open ends of the ring joined in a flash of magic.

Zoraster stepped back to admire his work, passing the needle to the wickedly smiling blonde woman at his side. Her wounds from Camilla's torture now healed, she took great pleasure in seeing the sadistic woman's pain.

Camilla's nipples glowed angry red, silver rings passing through the nubs of flesh. A third ring pierced her navel, set with a fire agate. Twin rings set with sapphires dangled from her labia. The onyx ring through her hood completed the set.

Enchanted with Zoraster's Art, the jewelry would provide a formidable defense against nearly any form of magic, mimicking Danica's collection. Naturally, the baubles would provide no protection from his magic.

Similarly, the runic structures that would soon adorn her flesh would likewise fail to respond in his presence, but would otherwise rival his own — still incomplete — rune tattoos. Zoraster needed a weapon that could counter the abilities of Danica and the rest of her brood of females.

Camilla would be that weapon.

To his surprise, she did not immediately cover the stinging portions of her anatomy when he released her from the magical bonds securing her to the table. Seeing the look in her eyes, Zorsater smiled and nodded his head. "You can feel the power, can you not?"

"Yes, Master Zoraster," Camilla croaked in a mixture of pain and awe.

"This is but the beginning." He waved his hand in a sweeping, dismissive gesture and ordered her, "Go."

Wincing with each step, Camilla hurried to obey the command.

Zoraster glanced at his assistant and asked, "Did you enjoy that, my dear?"

"Yes, Master Zoraster," she replied with smug enthusiasm.

He curled his fingers around her wrists, guiding her to place her hands upon the table Camilla had just vacated. She didn't resist him, but instead panted in anticipation. She let out a gasp of surprise when his magic shredded her robe and panties, letting the cloth fall in ragged strips to the floor. This, she followed with a moan as she looked over her shoulder to see him tug on the belt of his robe.

Zoraster let out a hiss of satisfaction as his engorged manhood pierced into her saturated sex.

Nara shook her head, her long black tresses swaying. "I have not penetrated his defenses. I fear to reveal my power to him prematurely. For now, he could only know that something seeks to enter his mind — not what or whom."

"I know little of witchcraft," Terran admitted. "Could your magic tell us more?"

"Probably," Celes answered. "I'd have to find the right spell, and he'd know what I was doing — same as Nara."

Terran's strong thoughts about Celes drifted to Danica, prompting her to plan a private discussion with the wizard as soon as possible. Now that he knew her curse was responsible for her refusal to join in the sexual fellowship the group had once shared, desire surged within him. He had no way of knowing that Celes would never return that feeling.

Danica let out a sigh of frustration and said, "We may need to risk one or the other if we can't find out what we need to know some other way."

"It may be possible to pierce his defenses when he is distracted without the danger of him discovering the source," Nara suggested.

"When he's asleep?" Danica asked.

"Perhaps, but he appears to sleep little," Nara responded.

"At least we know it's him," Danica said with little conviction.

Celes smoothed back her hair and said, "We'll just have to keep an eye on him and see if he slips up. I'll see if there's anything in my family book."

"I think I'm going to see if I can't learn anything from the people around him," Danica mused. "They may have noticed something important that they don't even realize."

"Always possible," Celes said.

Nara stood up from her chair and said, "I'll speak with Janelle and Venaru to let them know what we're doing."

Danica stood as well, turning toward Terran. "Could I talk to you for a few minutes, Terran?"

"Of course," he said with a smile, rising as well.

Danica noticed that he glanced at Celes as he stood, and decided that she'd picked a perfect time to break the bad news to him — before he found out in a far more embarrassing manner.

Surprised she can manage to walk upright with those tits.

Bet if you pounded that hard enough that those tits bouncing around would black both her eyes.

Danica pulled her thoughts away from the two young men she'd singled out as cohorts of Mache. I'm not going to learn anything from them at this point. She knew it was her own fault. Distracted by the sight of all the well-muscled, shirtless men wrestling, she'd not controlled her powers as well as she should have. Though the men couldn't have known that she was listening in on their thoughts, they'd sensed something and turned to look right at her.

The image of her in the two men's minds immediately told Danica that she'd made a mistake. Dressed in a blouse and skirt, she was a sharp contrast to the few serviceably dressed women training here. Her brassiere presented her breasts in a way that almost challenged men not to look at her, and her skirt showed off long expanses of smooth leg.

The men continued to glance her way frequently, though they did their best to hide such from the eyes of their watchful instructors. Soon enough, the other men noticed, and Danica found at least one pair of eyes focused on her every second.

The attention from all the attractive men did have an effect on her, however. Already tingling from observing them, she couldn't help but react to the sexual thoughts and feelings assaulting her. Her nipples stiffened beneath her bra, and she felt the tingling of her sex moistening.

A crooked little grin tugged at the corners of her mouth as arousal crept through her. I could probably browse their thoughts like a library for as long as I wanted if I fulfilled their fantasies.

For a few seconds, she indulged in that fantasy, feeling her passions rising. Then, a dark-haired man turned to grin at her lecherously. Danica's stomach soured as an image of Zoraster's face superimposed itself over the leering man's face.

Danica spun on her heel and swallowed, fighting to keep her breakfast where it belonged. What was I thinking? Gods, I'm acting like I'm still Zoraster's toy, forced to use my body to serve his insane plans. How much did he twist me?

Memories of her dance and the following night with the Pharaoh in Osiramun reminded her that this was not the first time she'd considered — and acted — upon those impulses before. No matter how good the cause, she'd taken the easy route and used her body as a weapon — exactly as Zoraster had taught her.

Nauseated and trembling, Danica crossed her arms over her breasts to hide them. She didn't look at anyone around her as she hurried back to the privacy of the college.

"Danica? Are you alright?"

Danica narrowed her eyes against the light intruding from the open door, letting out a long sigh. "Not really."

Celes closed the door and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim illumination filtering in around the doorframe. "Terran said that you came back looking distraught. What happened?"

"I just realized something about myself that I'm a little frightened of — and disgusted by."

Now able to discern her surroundings well enough to do so, Celes crossed the room to sit down next to Danica on the bed. "You know I'm here if you need to talk."

"I know. I just needed some time to come to grips with it."

Hearing the distinct sound of depression in Danica's tone, Celes reached out and took her friend's hand. "Is it my turn to remind you that hope is the one thing that nobody can take away from you?"

A slight smile crossed Danica's face as she remembered all the times that she and Celes had bolstered each other's spirits during their captivity to Zoraster. Whenever she reached the limits of her endurance and willpower, Celes had always provided the anchor of strength necessary to endure. The same held true when the harsh reality of Celes' curse had threatened to sap her will to go on. "I guess so," Danica replied, feeling a tear running down her cheek.

Though there was no way Celes could have seen it in the faint light, the witch reached up to brush away the unseen tear. "So talk to me."

Danica sighed, and then took a deep breath. "I'd found a couple of Mache's puppies, and I was trying to see if I could learn anything from them with my mental powers. I was distracted, and they managed to feel something. They looked right at me and their heads filled with lecherous thoughts that drowned out everything else."

"You have that effect on me too, sometimes," Celes interjected in a sympathetic tone, with just a touch of amusement.

Danica's smile grew a little wider for a moment, and then turned downward again. "I started thinking that I could probably learn anything I wanted if I took one of them off to some out of the way place and coaxed all of the blood out of their brain to somewhere else. One second I was so hot that I felt fit to burst, and then the next I realized what I was considering."

Now, well understanding what Danica was thinking, Celes responded, "Considering — that's the important part. You didn't."

"But I have. I remember seeing it in your eyes now, when I talked about Pharaoh. I'm starting to wonder if I ever really escaped Zoraster at all, or whether I'm just fooling myself."

"The madman played on your own desires, Danica. He made you do things that you wouldn't normally do, but he tapped into your unconscious desires to do it. Somewhere, deep down, we all want to throw the rules away and just do what's easy or enjoyable. We all make mistakes, Dearie."

"I just wonder if I can avoid making those mistakes over and over again. I hate it, but I enjoyed all the attention that letting go brought. On top of that, I fight the Awakening every waking moment. From what I remember of them, I fight it in my dreams too. I feel like my desires are some sort of monster that's always threatening to consume me."

"But it doesn't," Celes countered and squeezed her auburn-haired friend's hand. "You have a burden that I can't even begin to understand. Despite that, you still do the right thing. Even when you don't, you do your best to make up for it. You did that even when Zoraster had you in his web, and he punished you dearly for it.

"Who did you hurt when you went to Pharaoh? You? Him? Maybe there was another way, but what you did surely made a mess of whatever Zoraster had planned there. Nothing ill came of it. If you're going to make a mistake, that's not a bad way to go about it."

"I can't even think straight," Danica lamented. "A lot of good I'm going to be right now."

"Why don't you go back to the manor and see about catching up on the girls' toys and the cottages? Wrap yourself in your magic until you're ready to handle this. It always seems to straighten out your head."

"We need to find out..."

Celes put her finger over Danica's lips to cut her off. "Nara can go peeking into heads. We have plenty of eyes to keep watch. Mara, Terran, and I can handle any magic. We can do this, Danica. You need to worry about you right now."

"You're probably right."

"I know I'm right. Now get along." Celes leaned in and tenderly kissed her friend.

Danica melted into the kiss, and only noticed the little light Celes had conjured once she opened her eyes. "How did you do that?"

Celes grinned and said, "A little trick I found in my book. Go on, now. The girls will start getting fidgety soon, and we want them to keep doing their part. They need the reward right now."

"See you at home tonight?"

"Aye, and I'd better find you in the lab or the bed when I get there."

Danica chuckled, genuinely feeling a little better. "I promise."

Celes slipped into the brogue she'd used when she and Danica first met as Danica stood to teleport home. "Ye'd best bet I'll be holdin' ye to it, Dearie."

Zoraster carefully closed the box containing four hairs — two red, one pale blonde, and one raven-dark. He placed the ornate box in a pocket of his robe and stood. "Excellent, Ebonar. Now, let us examine the chambers."

Ebonar bowed his head slightly in deference to his Master. "Of course, Master. All five chambers should be in place by the time we reach your laboratory."

Zoraster held out his hand to his blonde assistant, one of the few true living beings that inhabited his hidden sanctuary. "Come, Caterina. You will play an important part in bringing this great magic to fruition. You should see what your aid is to create."

"Of course, Master," Caterina responded, taking the offered hand.

A hungry smile spread across Ebonar's face as he took notice of the woman for the first time. Zoraster had given the woman a gown of the finest, most transparent silk to wear. The form-fitting material left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and Caterina may as well have glided on his arm unclad.

The Archmage led his two servants through the halls of his grand estate, once more restored to glory by the tireless hands of the dead and his clone slaves. Caterina winced, as she always did, upon passing through the false wall that concealed a steep, descending staircase hewn from the very bones of the world by Zoraster's magic. Better acquainted with his Master's powers, Ebonar stepped through the wall confidently.

Hundreds of feet below the world above, Zoraster's vast personal laboratory spread in all directions. Bright magical lights illuminated the immense library, the center of the underground lair. Hidden amongst the shelves were doorways leading to dozens of chambers, each with its own purpose. Angry runes of warding glowed above many of the doorways, and the sense of power Ebonar felt let him know that even he would be barred from entering some of those chambers.

Caterina shivered as she stepped into the room that would house the necessities of Zoraster's cloning magic. A half dozen animated corpses, the horrible wounds that had slain them plain to see, placed the last of five chambers upon the pedestal prepared for it. Five more pedestals awaited their own chambers, which would arrive as soon as Ebonar replaced the wizards that now functioned as undead pack mules. Zoraster refused to allow any other to live with the knowledge of even the preparatory spells of his cloning magic.

Zoraster released Caterina's hand and moved to examine the nearest chamber. With both the naked eye and his Art, he carefully searched for even the slightest imperfection. A similar inspection of the other four chambers followed, culminating in an amused laugh from Zoraster as he clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"Excellent. I should be able to begin in mere days. You have done well, Ebonar. I trust you are prepared to take action in Normandal?"

"Of course, Master. Even now, Egoria's troops cross the border and seek a suitable camp. Our agents are in place."

"Maintain my empire as I regain that which was lost," Zoraster ordered by way of dismissal.

"It will be done, Master," Ebonar responded as he gestured to the six undead wizards. As soon as the walking corpses gathered around him, he vanished.

Zoraster walked to a large glass tube atop a rune-scribed pedestal and stroked it with his hand. "Come Caterina, we shall begin." He then walked to the edge of the room and the large stone table there as his assistant followed.

Pouches, bowls, and boxes covered the table, surrounding a silver bowl covered in spidery sigils of magic and a small glimmering knife. Zoraster took up both bowl and knife, and then turned back to Caterina.

The blonde shed her silken gown and took a deep breath as Zoraster held out the knife to her. She heard the sound of approaching footsteps, but did not turn to see who approached. She knew it was either a clone servant or one of the dead. As she accepted the knife, Caterina took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The footsteps ceased, and she could sense the presence of someone behind her. To her relief, she didn't smell the corruption of death.

Zoraster nodded and reached out to stroke the swell of her left breast above the nipple. "Fear not, my magic will ensure that the blade leaves no mark upon you. The momentary pain will fade immediately in the ecstasy of the magic."

"I am ready, Master."

"Good," Zoraster responded, and then fell into his magic. The spells he cast were far beyond her capability, so he had no fear of her hearing the words and seeing the gestures. She could never know that, however. The fear that she might meet an end such as those of the six corpses that had just vacated the chamber would keep her tractable.

Motes of magical power, puffs of smoke, and crackles of energy emerged from the bowl as the Archmage added the necessary ingredients and worked his Art. Finally, only one element remained to bring the spell to completion.

Caterina took up the knife even as Zoraster moved the fog-filled bowl beneath her breast. She swallowed, and then drew the razor sharp blade over the swell of her breast.

As the blood flowed across her smooth skin, Caterina's hands dropped to her side and the blade fell to the floor from her nerveless fingers. She shuddered and gasped as the clone servant behind her thrust his arms beneath hers to support her. Her blood dripped from her now stiff nipple into the bowl, each drop causing an eruption of the swirling fog within the container.

Caterina's head snapped back to thump into the muscled chest of the clone and she cried out as the ecstasy of the magic overwhelmed her. Untouched, she climaxed — her juices dripping from her nether lips even as her blood trickled into the bowl.

At last, the fog in the bowl took on the crimson hue of blood, and Zoraster passed his hand over Caterina's breast, whispering words of magic. As his hand covered the wound, a flash of brilliant red light emerged. Caterina let out a sharp squeal as her body shuddered in climax once more.

When Zoraster moved his hand, the wound had vanished, leaving her skin smooth and unmarred, but still stained with her blood. Leaving his assistant still lurching from the magical orgasm in the clone's arms, Zoraster swiftly crossed the room to the glass tube.

More words of magic passed Zoraster's lips as he held the bowl over the tube, tipping it as soon as he completed the chant. Though the bowl could not possibly hold enough liquid to do so, it impossibly filled the large glass container with swirling, ruddy liquid. A final word from Zoraster completed the magic, causing the liquid to lose its bloody color, becoming clear as water.

The runes on the base of the tube glowed with brilliant yellow light, and the liquid within bubbled. Zoraster returned the now empty bowl to the table in front of the still gasping Caterina, and then retrieved the box Ebonar had delivered from his robe pocket.

He stroked the box containing hairs from Danica, Celes, Andrea, and Marlena. Once all the apparatus in this room were enchanted, those hairs would provide the necessary catalyst to clone the women. "I will possess you again," he growled, and then laughed.

Danica doggedly concentrated on her work, creating the elements of Edna's cottage from tiny pieces of balsa, and then fitting them in place. She cast the necessary preparatory spells as required, and the cottage quickly took shape. On the other side of the table from where she worked, Ashley's cottage sat ready to accept the whole of Danica's Art. She had finished it earlier, and the feeling of accomplishment had helped her tremendously.

Her focus on the magical crafting helped Danica push her troubling thoughts to the back of her mind. She didn't run from them, but instead let her subconscious mind mull over the unwelcome revelation that had crashed down on her earlier in the day. The technique had served her well during her enslavement to Zoraster, and she prayed it did so now.

Danica knew that Celes had managed to pass word to her friends back at the manor, letting them know that she needed solitude. Edna kept the girls busy, while Andrea, Marlena, and Ashley took turns making sure that Danica always had a full cup of water and some fruit to snack on at her side. Marlena also assisted in keeping Danica's stores of spell components prepared so that she didn't need to leave her worktable.

Each silently let her know that understanding ears were available if she needed to talk. Danica's empathic powers enhanced the smiles and small gestures of friendship to remind her that even though she sought solitude, there was no need for her to face anything alone. The strong desire to help her in any way touched Danica each time someone visited her for a few moments as she worked.

With her emotions quiet and her passion for creation filling her, Danica continued her work in peace.

Celes could tell from the looks on Nara and Mara's faces that the sisters had fared no better than anyone else in their quest to learn more about Mache.

Nara smoothed back her long dark hair and sighed. "The man has remarkable resistance to the powers of the mind. I can discern nothing from discrete touches, and if I push harder, he notices."

"He is just as sensitive to magic," Nara added.

"I don't think we're going to find out anything without him knowing about it," Celes grumbled while tapping her nails on the table in front of her. "I think we're just going to have to accept the risk in confronting him directly." She then turned toward Janelle and asked, "Have you talked to the Commander?"

"He trusts our judgment," the blonde archer replied.

"At least we don't have to worry about stirring up waves there, then." Celes slapped the table to punctuate the statement.

"How is Danica?" Janelle asked.

"She'll be fine. She's been through far worse, believe me. I talked to Andrea, and she said that Danica hasn't left the lab. She's hard at work, which is how she gets through things like what she's struggling with."

"So what do we do?" Bear asked, shrugging his massive shoulders. "Even with the Commander's approval, it isn't going to look good if we just walk up and start accusing a trainee of being a demon."

"We need to get him away from everyone else," Celes suggested.

Janelle cocked her head for a moment, having thought she heard her child. When she heard nothing further, she said, "I could call in some favors."

Celes yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Maybe we should all just sleep on it. He's obviously going nowhere. I'll have another chat with Edna and Ashley. Maybe they've come up with something new. They know far more about the craft than I do."

Murmurs of agreement sounded from the gathered friends, as the hour was growing late.

"Off to bed with us all, then." Celes stood, stretched, and then smoothed out her robe.

A wail from down the hall brought a chuckle to Janelle's lips. "How did I know that was going to happen?"

Bear kissed his wife and stood. "Go lie down. I'll change him and bring him in to nurse."

"You are such a dear," Janelle sighed.

Celes hugged the lithe blonde as Janelle rose to seek her bed. She then bid farewell to the remainder of her gathered friends and rode the wings of magic back to the manor.

Danica sat back with a satisfied sigh, knowing that she couldn't keep working tonight. She was simply too tired to continue the detailed work without making mistakes.

With Edna's cottage half finished, Danica thought that she could probably finish it tomorrow, enchant both of them the next day, and then move on to the girls' toys. She chuckled when she realized it was but a fraction of the list she'd filed away in her head of magic items she wanted to make. Even with Damian taking on some of the projects, she still had a lot of work ahead of her.

"You have been busy," Celes called out from the doorway of the lab. She walked over and sat down to examine Ashley's completed cottage. "I'm surprised you're using balsa for such strong enchantments. I'd think that you'd need to use something more substantial."

"It's the paint. There's a fortune in powdered gems and precious metal dust in there."