Second Skin Omnibus

by M Damon Baker

  “Did you find anything interesting while you were scouting yesterday?”

  The beasts of the forest are still far away, Sintári, but they have drawn closer. It is only a matter of time before something finds us here.

  “How long?”

  I cannot say for certain, but at the rate that the elf King’s magic is waning, I would guess no more than a week.

  Ridge might be able to build the wall high enough in that time, if I could learn the spell to keep him working on the task, but we would still have no gate. Perhaps we could come up with something, or maybe have Ridge build some temporary structure, sealing us in. Either way, I needed to figure out the intricacies of the summoning spell quickly if we were to have any protection from the dangers of the wilderness outside.

  Determined to master the powerful magic, I returned to our camp and began pouring over the spell book. I made some progress, but soon the words started to blur in my vision, and I had to set the tome aside. I wasn’t too discouraged, as I felt that I had a basic understanding of the spell’s requirements by then, so I chose to relax for a minute and let go of my concerns, at least for a while.

  I had the camp to myself, as Tási had returned to the immolation of her defenseless practice dummies and Bane was off scouting again. I found the rare moment of peace and solitude comforting. While I enjoyed the time I spent with my companions, I always found comfort in having at least a few moments to myself as well.

  As the day drew to a close, Bane was the first to return to camp. I stroked his scales when he came to rest on my shoulder before asking him for a small favor. His lips curled in a thin smile as he agreed and then flew off into the trees.

  Tási came back a short while later, clearly exhausted from her exertions. I poured a mug of tea and passed it to her along with a plate of food I had made ready for our dinner. She ate ravenously, savoring every morsel as if she’d been starving for days.

  “Thanks, Dreya, I needed that,” Tási sighed as she washed down the last bite with a deep sip from her cup.

  “You’re welcome,” I smiled back at her.

  We left the fire to burn itself out as we retired for the night.

  “Where’s Bane?” Tási asked when she noticed he was not with us.

  “He won’t be joining us tonight, Tási,” I replied, holding her gaze in mine.

  As I stared at her, I traced a single finger across her cheek, lacing the gentle stroke with subtle hints of desire. Tási gasped slightly as I sent the delicate tendrils of passion into her. With a subtle nudge, I guided her into the blankets and trailed my finger further down, gliding it softly across her neck while continuing to trickle my longing over her silky skin.

  Tási trembled under my touch, and I slid my other hand between the folds of her robes, undoing its clasps. I parted the bulky fabric slightly, baring just enough of her skin to let my lone finger continue wandering across her body.

  I teased her playfully, never letting the flow of desire grow too intense or allowing my touch to stray over her more intimate areas. The tiny circles and intricate patterns I traced over her soft skin were infused with warm hints of pleasure. Tási’s frustration only grew as I tormented her, and I held back just enough to keep my passions from overwhelming her.

  “So mean,” she complained breathlessly as her body quivered in delight.

  “Oh, do you want me to finish you already?” I replied mischievously.

  “Soon,” she moaned, confessing her delight at being held under my control.

  I toyed with her only a few moments longer before giving in to her desires. Then, with a slow motion, I trailed my finger across the taut muscles of her stomach, smiling as she trembled under my influence. Gradually, and with complete control, I slowly poured more passion into her, bringing Tási right to her limit, and then gently pushing her beyond.

  Tási’s back arched as her body was finally brought to its release. Her hips pulsed slowly, and soft moans escaped her lips while her knuckles turned white as her hands grasped tightly at the blankets beneath her.

  I let her climax linger, withdrawing my influence slowly as her trembling body unwound from its ecstasy. When she finally lay still, I curled up alongside her, slipping my arm beneath her robes and wrapping her in my embrace.

  “What was that?” She asked in as we lay side by side.

  “I was only following your advice, Tási,” I replied innocently.

  “I don’t recall advising you to torture me like that,” she protested weakly.

  “Are you complaining?”

  “No, not really,” she smiled.

  “I only touched you with one finger Tási. And never anywhere too sensitive. I was able to keep complete control the entire time. Not only over myself, but over you as well,” I explained.

  “Really?” She replied in astonishment. “It felt like you were everywhere, Dreya.”

  “You know what this means, right?” She added.

  “Yes. I’ve gained a tremendous amount of control, Tási.”

  “That’s true,” she replied slyly. “But as you well know, you need your control to work both ways. It means that I get to torment you next.”

  Dammit, she was right. I hadn’t considered that when I hatched my devious plan. I really needed to think these things through a little better.

  “See you tomorrow night, Dreya,” Tási taunted me as she closed her eyes for the night.

  The next morning, I woke up to find Bane fast asleep on top of me. He had apparently snuck in during the night and took up his usual perch while we were sleeping. I shrugged him off as I got up, waking the sleeping Rhastoren roughly in the process.

  “Good morning, Bane,” I whispered as I grabbed my gear.

  You could have woken me more gently, Sintári. He complained.

  “I seem to recall asking you to leave us alone for the night, yet here you are.”

  I only returned after you were asleep. I did not think that would disturb you.

  “Well, now that you understand, Tási has something planned for tonight, so you will need to sleep elsewhere for the entire night.”

  I will do as you ask, Sintári. He replied dejectedly.

  “Stop moping,” I said as I stroked his scales.

  I picked him up and placed him on my shoulder as I left the tent. After tending to the fire and putting up a pot of water, I studied the spell book again while I waited for it to boil. Tási soon joined me outside, pouring cups of hot tea while I continued to read over the spell.

  The magic was intricate and complex, requiring that I both summon the elemental while binding it into my service at the same time. Each time I read through the spell, I seemed to discover some new nuance that I hadn’t noticed before. The subtleties of the incantation were overwhelming, but I was beginning to feel that I had finally grasped them all.

  We resumed our training after a light meal, while Bane flew off to scout the forest outside the valley. I took a break from reading the spell tome and practiced my sword forms once again. After spending so much time with my face buried in the book, the physical exertion felt like a relief. I added a few parries and strikes, and soon worked up a sweat as my swings became more intense. My mind conjured up imaginary foes and I fought off their invented attacks, slaying each of them in turn. I fought on relentlessly, stopping only when the flashing icon of my depleted Endurance brought me out of my reverie.

  “That was some display,” Tási noted from where she had been watching me.

  “How long have you been there?” I asked her between deep breaths.

  “About ten minutes,” she replied. “But you were already a sweaty mess by then.”

  Right then I became aware that Ridge had returned to wherever he had been summoned from, and we dropped our conversation. We were both anxious to see how much progress he had made, so we hurried off to inspect the wall.

  The previous day, Ridge had to complete the unfinished foundation before he was able to focus on raising the wall itself. Even so
, he had managed to span the entire mouth of the canyon with a low wall just over two feet high in that single day. But on his second day of work, his progress was even more amazing.

  Without having to deal with building the foundation, Ridge had raised the wall by nearly another four feet. It now rose well over Tási’s head, and I could only peer over its highest point while standing on my toes. While it would not keep out anything that was able to climb the rough stone, the wall was well on its way to becoming a formidable barrier.

  “There’s only one charge left on the summoning stone, right?” Tási inquired, apparently reading my mind.

  “Yes,” I answered her. “He won’t be able to finish if I can’t summon him myself.”

  “How close are you?”

  “Actually, I think I’m ready to try it now,” I replied.

  Tási looked at me doubtfully, but said nothing.

  I ignored her skepticism and focused on the land around me instead. As the spell’s description advised, I called upon the earth below to offer me its assistance. Imagining Ridge’s form in my mind, I requested his help again as I poured my own Aura into the invitation.

  Suddenly, a loud explosion echoed through the narrow ravine. Shards of rock and dust flew through the air, pelting us with tiny bits of shrapnel. When the air finally cleared, I saw Tási dusting herself off and staring back at me reproachfully.

  “Perhaps a bit more studying before your next attempt?”

  “You may be right,” I agreed as I brushed the dust and small shards of rock from my hair.

  Bane picked just that moment to return. As he landed on my shoulder, he related what he had found. It was not good news.

  Some creatures are approaching, Sintári. I could not see them clearly through the trees, but they are humanoids. They will be here soon, no more than two days.

  “Were you able to tell how many of them there were, Bane?” I asked him, hoping the number would be low.

  At least a dozen, but probably more. I can go back and look more closely Sintári, but I wanted to make you aware of them as soon as possible.

  Great. There was no way the two of us could simply fight off so many. We needed a plan. I sent Bane back out to gather more information on the approaching threat and began brainstorming a strategy for our defenses with Tási.

  We came up with several ideas, but no solid plan. The one thing that all our ideas had in common was the need for the wall to be as formidable as possible before our enemies arrived. Reluctantly, I summoned Ridge again and watched as the heartstone crumbled to dust in my hand when he rose from the ground at my feet.

  “Ridge, I am sorry to call you back so soon,” I explained to him. “But we have discovered enemies approaching, and we need you to build as quickly as possible before they arrive.”

  The elemental wasted no time replying to me and immediately started to raise more stone blocks from the ground around us. I left him to his task as Tási and I returned to plan for our enemy’s inevitable assault.

  The only thing we could come up with was utilizing a series of traps in conjunction with the defensive advantages that the wall provided us. The opening in the wall that Ridge had left for a future gate would become the key to our strategy. We would line the gap with several traps, hoping to snare most of them as they tried to take advantage of the obvious hole in our defenses, but we knew we couldn’t count on those traps taking care of all of them. Although we did not yet know what we were up against, even the dullest of humanoids could scale the rough surfaces of the barrier, and once they were aware of the danger in that opening, we would be facing threats all along the face of our wall. So, in addition to the traps in the center, I would have to stretch my Aura reserves as thin as possible and place as many as I could across the entire front of the wall. With any luck, the traps, along with Tási’s Spells and my bow would repel the invaders.

  “Ridge,” I asked before we set off back to our camp. “Are you able to fight for us?”

  “No, Mistress, I cannot,” he replied. “I am prevented from taking harmful actions against any life forms.”

  Although he spoke the words in his usual monotone, I felt a certain hint of remorse in them. It was as if he was more than willing to help and regretted whatever it was that kept him from doing so. With no choice but to leave him to his work, Tási and I went back to camp to refine our plan and await Bane’s next report.

  While we waited for Bane’s return, I couldn’t help but go over my failed attempt at casting the summoning spell. The magic had backfired rather violently, and we were lucky that neither of us had been injured. Reviewing the tome again, I simply could not understand what had gone wrong. I reread the spell over and over and saw no reason why my request for aid had failed.

  Then I remembered Tási’s explanation of how the spell required that I combine not only elemental magic, but shadow or ‘dark’ magic as well. While the natural magic called the creature, she had told me that it was the shadow magic that would bind it to me. No, that wasn’t exactly right, I realized. She had said the shadow magic let me dominate its will.

  With a sudden insight, I read through the spell once more, and as I scanned the words, my error became all too clear. I had framed the magic as a request, a mere appeal for aid. But that was not how this spell worked—this was no mere petition; it was a demand and needed to be treated as such. The summoning magic was no polite inquiry; it was an order to be obeyed.

  Reading through the spell one last time, all of its intricacies suddenly became obvious. With my newfound understanding of the principles behind the incantation, the subtle nature of its magic made perfect sense to me. I knew that when Ridge’s summoning ended the next day, I would be ready to bring him back yet again.

  Ding!

  The chime had barely stopped ringing before I had my notifications window open.

  Quest completed – You have completed the optional quest Higher Learning. You have learned a talent on your own. It is not easy to be both student and teacher. Your efforts have been rewarded with 220 XP.

  I quickly closed the notifications tab and pulled up my personal sheet. Looking over the Spell section revealed what I was searching for.

  Spells

  Enhanced Sight – May be cast on self or ally. Improves visual acuity of the recipient in dark or obscured conditions. Cost – 20 Aura. – 45%

  Create Trap – Place a magical trap upon an area. Size, type and trigger of traps is determined by your proficiency. Cost – 40 Aura. – 47%

  Elemental Arrow – Your next arrow is imbued with elemental energy and causes additional elemental damage accordingly. Cost – 30 Aura. – 26%

  Bolt – Release a Bolt of pure Lightning at your target(s). Cost – 40 Aura. – 22%

  Find Weakness – Highlights vulnerable points on the target. Modifier – Intelligence. Cost – 80 Aura. – 6%

  Summon Elemental – Summons an Elemental creature. If you succeed in binding it to your will, the creature will serve you faithfully until the spell’s expiration. Modifier – Charisma. Cost 100 Aura. – 1%

  The description for my new Spell was both informative and yet strangely cryptic. As I already understood, the magic was not a request for help, but a demand. But something about the way the description was worded gave me pause.

  From the way it was described, it seemed that the summoning and binding were two separate steps. First an elemental would be summoned, then I had to succeed in binding it. If I did manage to bind it, the creature would serve me for the duration of the Spell, a period of time that was not defined. But what if I failed? What happened then? Ridge had told us he could not harm a living creature, but would that restriction also be true for an unbound elemental? It seemed like the high rewards for a successful casting of this Spell might be balanced by some equally high risks should I fail.

  I was just about to close the window when I realized one final thing. This time, it wasn’t the words that gave me pause, but the lack of words, or at least one particula
r word. The description did not specify exactly what sort of elemental creature would be summoned. Focusing on the words brought up no additional information, so I was left with the mystery when I finally gave up and closed the window.

  Just as I stood up, Bane returned from his scouting. He flew down out of the sky and began to relay his report before he had even settled onto my shoulder.

  There are twenty-two of them Sintári. Orcs.

  “Are they well-armed?”

  Yes, very well-armed. But you are in luck. Only one has a bow.

  Nothing about an impending assault by more than twenty well-armed orcs seemed lucky, but he did have a point. With only a single archer to account for, I might be able to thin their numbers a bit before they even reached the wall.

  “When will they get here, Bane?”

  They seem to be exploring. They advance cautiously and the archer scouts for them, but they are definitely coming this way. At their current pace, they will be here sometime tomorrow.

  His thorough response reminded me of just how much Bane had grown after I had leveled the other day. Rather than hearing something like ‘Many greenskins, big fight soon,’ he had given me a complete description of our enemies, including a tactical analysis of their combat capabilities. The Sintári bonus I had once thought to reject was proving to be not only an incredible asset, but a valued friend as well.

  “Thank you, Bane,” I said as I ran my hand along his shiny scales.

  I considered just how much I truly appreciated him and realized that, other than affectionately rubbing his scales, I had no way of showing him just how much he meant to me. Before his recent transformation, such an inquiry might have been frustrating and pointless. But now, with his increased intellect, it should be a fairly straightforward conversation.