The Source of Magic, page 6
John thought that a bread roll was a rather ordinary dinner and would leave him hungry until he bit into it. The bread was shot through with diced vegetables and a hearty red sauce. With their love of pastry-based food there would be no litter, John mused as they walked down to the outer wall.
“Where does all this food come from, and the material and dye for clothes? It doesn’t look like there are any shortages or any rationing going on," John asked as he looked around and really contemplated on what a city under siege should look like.
Everyone was relaxed and the crowd had a party atmosphere. All the stories of starvation, disease and physical ravages of war were missing. While in general terms the Navy was more concerned with blockades than city sieges, the principles were similar. He had even read about famous sieges like Dunkirk, Tobruk and Beersheba. Nothing about any of this seemed normal.
“Magic, I guess,” Melanie shrugged in an unconcerned way. “I never really thought about it. Grandma and I try to fill totems that can be used in some way for food or other resources so I guess that is what the King has the wizards doing.”
Then something very Nineteen Eighty-Four occurred to John.
“Have you actually seen any wounded solders? There isn’t a missing limb or eye anywhere," he asked.
“We use healing spells for any of the guards in the city. Most of the soldiers are out in the countryside. They say that they are trying to raise a resistance or piece the army back together to fight the savages,” was Melanie’s response.
“This is going to sound strange, but how do you actually know that a war is going on? If you are all stuck behind the Egg and there are no soldiers here, and all the information you receive is from the King or other nobles, how do you actually know?” John persisted.
“We were attacked by those savages last night,” said Melanie as if talking to a slightly slow child.
Melanie looked at John with a concerned on her face as if he had a concussion or some other source of memory loss. And John was not about to try and explain that the government might plant guards in masquerade out side the Egg to kill or incapacitate any citizens that tried to leave. That the Egg itself may be more to do with keeping people in rather than dangers out. So they completed the rest of their journey in silence.
The main gate was wide open, and most of the people in the city occupied the ground outside the wall just short of a line of rocks that someone had laid out to identify where the Egg was.
Melanie wanted John to have a good view and with their new clothes it was a simple matter to bribe a guard with a few silver coins to let the two of them climb a narrow set of stairs and stand among the city’s elite at the top of the outer wall.
From this vantage point John could establish a layout of the city and he didn’t waste the opportunity. As everyone stood mingling keeping their attention outwards John slowly turned on the spot. The castle with its motte-and-bailey design was another high point in the centre of the city with its three concentric rings of deepening privilege. He could make out the Nekovolk’s district pushed up against the industrial foundries and warehouses. The aqueduct snaked its way around the wall for a distance, and in the dark he could make out the river that fed it and into which it dumped a great deal of the city’s rubbish. The convergence, in the little grass field where John was summoned to this world, was on the opposite side of the city from where they were now. The it would be too dark now to see even if the line of sight wasn’t blocked by the castle.
A calm came over the crowd. Melanie grabbed ahold of John’s hand and shook it excitedly, drawing his attention in line with everyone else’s.
In the dark distance small blue lights began to shine. They slowly grew in size to large discs and as they did an expectant murmur ran through the onlookers. The blue discs were darker at their centre, with bright forks of energy shooting jaggedly from their rims. From out of several of the discs emerged giant creatures, howling and snarling. They were semi bipedal, similar to apes, but with huge pointed spines the size of a man running the length of their arms and armour plated skin in pentagonal and hexagonal segments reminiscent of the pattern of cracked dried mud in an empty creek bed.
The crowd on the ground gave a mighty cheer while the crowd on the wall chose to respond to the appearance of the creatures with polite applause.
One of the creatures drummed on the ground in rage, the dull thudding rolling over the city and began to charge on all four limbs. Once the first creature set off the others followed suit, screaming and howling in frustration at something only they knew. Or at least something of which no one in the crowd was aware.
When the leader was just about to reach the crowd, its arms outstretched to scoop up a small boy who was dancing with delight at the charge, it collided with the Egg. The sound was thunderous and drowned out the noise of the crowd. It was if it had impacted a solid surface, its body twisting and contorting with all the kinetic energy its mass and speed had generated forced its snapping bones and cartilage to grind into the Egg. The Egg responded by emitting blasts of magical energy. Blue streaks of plasma more than hot enough to cauterise the wounds it caused licked at the falling creature. Armour-plated skin and flesh were torn from the creature’s body until the force of the Egg’s attack pushed it back out of contact and it was lying motionless, sizzling from a dozen fissures in its hide.
The remaining creatures slowed their advance, having seen what happened to the first. Instead of the sickening impact to make death quick, the remaining creatures stood at the edge of the Egg pounding with their fists and slashing with their spines. They were driven forward by some invisible force desperate to breach the Egg without success, slowly having their skin peeled back and falling away in chunks by the licking tongues of magical plasma. Occasionally blood would splatter across the Egg sizzling and frying while the creatures vainly cried out in pain.
Though they now lay dead without penetrating the Egg, their attack had a small level of success and drained of some of its protective energy it drew on power from the convergence under the Academy of Light. A white beam of swirling light shot up into the sky and trickled down the dome of the Egg like water.
The glowing discs had not changed; however, out of them shot comets headed directly for the city. Huge bass sounds that vibrated into John’s bones were produced each time one of the comets hit the Egg. Each successive comet seemed to hit with more force than the last. Eventually there was an accompanying burst of heat that washed over the crowd.
John was starting to worry that the defence of the Egg would be insufficient but the crowd laughed and clapped at each explosion as if they were watching a New Year's Eve fireworks display.
“That will be the end of the first attack. We might as well go home. It will be too long to wait for them to try another," Melanie explained.
“Is that what that was, the savages attacking? And there are more to come? Why doesn’t the King or Academy or Guard or whatever you haver here do something about it?”
John was overworked. The day had left him worn out and instead of the fun evening of pyrotechnics that the city citizens had experience his body was coursing with adrenaline after witnessing a horrific battle with real casualties. As brainless as the giant creatures were, it was obvious they felt pain and suffering. It was one thing to kill your enemy cleanly, and it was another thing entirely to watch him slowly flayed alive and clap at the end.
John shook his head trying to get the sound of those screams of pain out of his head. Maybe that was why he joined the Navy. These days you were unlikely to see your enemy through binoculars. It was all over-the-horizon engagements where a small dot on the radar screen just disappeared.
“In the morning I’m going to look into this war of yours," John declared, “Sitting behind your magical wall waiting for things to turn out okay in the end is a death sentence.”
Having a course of action put calmed his nerves.
“Okay,” Melanie responded in her cheerful manner, and then touched the pearl at her throat, “I have a present for you at too. It’s back at home.”
Due to his new clothes John blended into the citizenry more easily than he had earlier in the day, though his height and physique was only matched by the largest of the city guards. It meant that he no longer had the bubble his oddness had created and it made returning to the Nekovolk’s district slow going. Once there he was still an oddity, no humans dressed as well as him ventured there especially after dark. But they were no longer completely avoided’t either, preferring to just slip around him in their dextrous fashion.
The shop was closed up for the night. Melanie took John by the hand, holding him so close to her he could feel the heat of her body, and led him up the stairs.
As they reached the top of the stairs, John could see a faint light coming from underneath the door to Olga’s room. There were also voices, at least three, speaking so low that John couldn’t make out what they were saying. Though Melanie was moving as silently as ever, John’s weight made a floorboard creek and in response there was a pause in the whispers and the light from under the door immediately went out.
“She has visitors at night sometimes. I think I know who one or two of them might be but she never talks about it," Melanie whispered in his ear then continued leading the way.
When they were in her room, Melanie produced a thin candle and two small stones and a large shard of mirror from a box under the bed. Placing the candle in the earthenware basin on the bookshelf, and placing the mirror behind it, she struck the stones together a few times, making them spark. One of the larger sparks landed on the head of the candle and it was enough to make it catch.
The small flame produced enough light, along with that reflected off the mirror, for John to see Melanie and avoid tripping over anything. He still fell, though.
Without warning Melanie gave him a shove with both hands. She had used quite a bit of force and the bed behind him left no room to step back and he ended up on his back on the bed with his feet still on the floor.
He snapped his head up to demand an explanation just in time to see Melanie slip her dress over her hips and arse and let it drop to the floor. Next she reached down and pulled her blouse up over her head. The tight bodice snagged her breasts momentarily causing them to rise with the material until the force on them was too great and the flopped down heavily to their resting position.
In the dim light, her curves were made more pronounced by the shadows cast across her body, the dark underside of her breasts and the cleft where her legs met hiding the hot wetness within her folds.
Her first step showed only the tiniest pause of hesitation, then spurred on by his wry smile, Melanie took up position between John’s legs and gracefully lowered herself down to kneel on the floor.
Her nipples were standing plump, erect and sensitive, flowing with the blood that was also making her clit throb and lips sensitive.
She clasped the buttons on John’s new breeches and looked him in the eyes. He could see that she was ravenous, barely holding herself in check. He clasped his hands behind his head so he could relax and watch, and when he nodded Melanie ripped the buttons open and freed his now raging hard-on.
Melanie held the member at its base, tilting it slightly one way, then the other, watching the flickering candle light play off its swollen head. With her free hand she let her fingertips gently slide access her slightly parted lips as she forced herself to savour the moment.
Suddenly she lowered herself down and in once fell swoop enveloped his head with her warm mouth, a tsunami of saliva that she had collected as her mouth watered for him streamed down his shaft and soaked his balls.
He could feel the silky weight of her breasts sliding along his inner thighs as they dangled from her tiny frame.
Melanie swirled her tongue around the head of John’s cock, the tip of her tongue tracing around the ridge. Satisfied that all the nerve endings that focused there were firing, she proceeded to lower herself, a small distance at first before rising up so that her lips hit the ridge, then further and further down each time.
As his girth started to encroach upon the back of her throat, she would moan with the unexpected pleasure of having her mouth so totally full and she rose only more determined to surpass that point upon her very next journey downwards.
John could not control himself to stay motionless and started to buck his hips as guttural sounds came from deep in his throat.
Spurred on by his enjoyment, Melanie slid her hand down to feel herself, her cunt already sopping wet to the point of running down her inner thigh.
As he approached his climax John’s muscles began to clench, all over his body as if out of his control. He could feel the buildup in his balls and in his chest. Unable to give warning, he came, and all his muscles released.
Melanie gave a small choking sound and then began swallowing furiously over and over, in addition wave after wave of magical energy also exploded from his core. A furious golden light pulsating outwards. Similar to the fight, but mellowed and extended over the course of his orgasm.
The totems lining the headboard burst into their full glowing glory, overflowing with magic as wave after wave of flowing, cloying streams of energy were drawn to them. The magic which could not be absorbed cascaded down the walls and bed frame through the floorboards, continuing downwards to seep into the earth.
Chapter 3
Morning came and the couple dressed and then gathered up the glowing totems from the headboard. There were twelve little glowing stone carvings of varying shapes and colours.
“Is it safe to take all of these downstairs?” asked John, “Even if no guards see them, people gossip and this seems like something to talk about?”
“It’s too early. Grandma doesn’t open the shop until she has had the first drink of the day," Melanie explained.
John knew better than to be surprised that Olga was a lush, even though she appeared sober upon their last encounter. He’d known a number of high-functioning alcoholics in his time.
They headed downstairs, carefully cradling their cargo which was casting a rainbow on the walls as they went. When John reached the ground floor he paused in mild surprise when he saw Olga.
On her workbench she had set up an odd looking copper tube consisting of three segments. Each of the segments was attached to the others by means of a hinge that allowed them to swing out and open, independently of the others. The bottom segment had a number of large holes around its circumference each cut to a different but interlocking pattern. It housed red hot coals which in heated the second segment which housed water. Olga had packed the final dome with a back ground substance. A fourth domed segment had a long tube slanting downwards finishing just above a delicate china cup and saucer.
When John and Melanie had reached the shop, Olga was concentrating on the cup and tube occasionally blowing on the coals which responded in a small burst of heat and light. Without looking up she held up a hand indicating for them to wait until she was done.
The hot coals boiled the water up through the grounds and the pressure then forced the water up into the dome and it then dripped, now black and viscous into the cup. Olga wasn’t a lush, she was a caffeine addict. And no amount of wonders magic could compare to her first cup of the day.
John was growing impatient but was kept in check by Melanie who was standing silently when she normally couldn’t go thirty seconds without speaking or bouncing around. Finally, when the small cup was two-thirds full and the black drips had all but stopped, Olga raised the cup to her lips and threw back its contents. She paused with her eyes closed for a moment to savour the taste before looking at John and Melanie.
“Now, how did that happen?” she asked.
“Last night,” John paused, the knowing smile he was receiving made him to consider his words, “when I was in Melanie’s room, I felt a swelling of energy and all the muscles sort of stretched and released it out of me.”
“Sounds like a good time was had, but what about the totems?” she was giving a deadpan performance.
John shrugged and dumped the totems on the workbench and decided to start again. He was far more comfortable talking straight and to the point any way. He was getting the impression that Olga did as well.
“Last night when I came, I felt a burst of energy coming from inside of me and it seems like it charged up all of these totems. I had that feeling once before when I was fighting with some savages that attacked when I was summoned to this world outside the Egg.”
John wasn’t sure what he was expecting as a reaction. He had prepared himself for a number of explanations including being a wizard himself or the fulfilment of some ancient prophecy. However, the one thing he wasn’t expecting was a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders.
“I haven’t come across anything like this before. Are you special in any way?” Olga asked.
“I was kind of hoping you would tell me that. Just for reference, we don’t have magic where I come from. The universe works on laws of physics and chemistry. We might not understand everything, and we can do some pretty amazing things with atoms and electricity, but there are no glowing stones or convergences. The only people who believe in magic tend to have odd fashion sense and a bedroom of crystals that don’t do anything but cost a lot," he explained.
Olga continued to sit at her bench with a quizzical look on her face. She would look at the totems then up at John. She also spent some time drumming her fingers on the workbench with her head on her arm like she was a bored teenager.
Melanie took the time clear away the coffee cylinder. John gave up on receiving an explanation any time soon and sat down on the stairs to wait.
Eventually, after staring at some of the knick-knacks on a shelf, a thought occurred to Olga and she slid a drawer out from a workbench. She produced what looked like a set of old fashioned keys on a ring. Each of the ‘keys’ was made from a different material and had a head carved into a unique shape. She motioned John over and stood up so John could take her seat.
