Spells of Old (Ancient Dreams Book 2)

by Benjamin Medrano

  Despite her best efforts, Diane found herself falling deeper into Wenris’ words with each passing week. It had taken only two short days before she’d found herself appearing in her reshaped body during her meetings with the succubus. It had been a shock, and yet she’d so quickly found herself comfortable with what had changed. Of course, it didn’t help that she’d always quietly wished to be as beautiful as the bards had made her out to be.

  It was an incredibly unpleasant sensation when she thought about it, which grew more and more uncommon over the weeks. Days and nights began to blur together in many ways, and the only comfort Diane had was that Wenris couldn’t touch her through her mental shields.

  The day that everything changed, Jaine went to the temple of Tyria with her guards. And when she came back, she was wearing the holy symbol of Tyria, the robes of a priestess, and the same brand that Elissa bore herself. And the sight made Diane’s restraint snap that evening.

  “I thought you said you were going to hold back with Jaine!” Diane all but spat, standing up with both hands on the table. “What do you call that? She went and joined the priesthood of Tyria!”

  “I call it Jaine being herself,” Wenris replied idly, buffing her nails with a napkin. The succubus seemed bored by comparison. “It isn’t my fault that she’s young, easily swayed, and went for controlling the only thing she could think of in her life. If you hadn’t been constantly worrying about me, maybe you could have kept her from converting. But that’s hardly my fault, since I barely had to do anything.”

  “But you did do something?” Diane asked, glaring at the demon.

  “Of course I did. I gave Jaine a few gentle nudges here and there, just barely enough to comply with my own orders,” Wenris explained patiently. “I told you that I have no choice but to try to do what I was ordered to do.”

  “You…!” Diane cut herself off with a growl, taking several deep breaths and turning to stare into the distance. As she did so, her anger intensified as she realized that some of the details in the distance had faded. So, grinding her teeth for a moment, she came to a decision. “Fine. But since I don’t believe you, I’m not going to listen to you anymore. I’ve gone along with your games for long enough.”

  “That would be a mistake, Diane.” All laziness vanished from Wenris’ voice, and the succubus sat forward in her chair, eyes narrowed. “I don’t think you would like the result if you go through with this.”

  “Why? Are you going to tell the Archon, that bastard, about this? That’ll just make you look bad, and how much worse can it be for me?” Diane spat back at the demon, glaring. “Besides, you can’t touch me. Get the hell out of my mind.”

  “Oh, you poor, foolish woman. You think that I’m in your mind?” Wenris asked, her tone dangerous as she stood up, smiling. “Think about it. If your shields can keep me from touching your mental avatar, how could I possibly break into your mind every night?”

  Diane felt worry welling up as the demon spoke, taking a step backward nervously as the demon began to step toward her. And at that moment, the world around her darkened, twisted… and moments later, they weren’t in the gardens back at the palace. They were in a dungeon, and she had her back to a stone wall with chains dangling from it. Wenris spoke in the same tone, explaining almost patiently. “You’ve been coming into my mind each night, Diane. I’ve allowed you to shape our surroundings, but everything is part of me.”

  “S-so? That doesn’t change the fact that you can’t touch me! Leave me alone!” Diane demanded, her voice starting to tremble and her heartbeat quickening as Wenris stopped only inches away from her.

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” the succubus purred, and leaned forward. Her hands and face paused only for an instant before Diane felt something break, and the demon’s hands closed around her shoulders, pinning her to the stone wall as the silky, warmth of Wenris’ lips met her own.

  Panicking, Diane tried to struggle, pushing at Wenris and trying to pull away. The demon didn’t move from any of Diane’s efforts, simply leaning in until they were breast to breast, and quelling the squirming with a few careful steps. The intoxicating warmth of the demon began to seep into Diane, a pleasant sensation like nothing she’d ever felt, causing her struggling to weaken… and it was at that moment that Wenris broke the kiss, grinning as she stared into Diane’s eyes from inches away.

  “H-how? This isn’t…” Diane gasped, shock and the psychic drug of the demon’s presence addling her mind.

  “Possible? Oh, it is. Think about it, Diane. How many cups of tea or wine did you drink while listening to me? How many sandwiches or other refreshments did you consume?” Wenris asked, smiling broadly. “Each of them formed of my mind. You willingly consumed items made of my own demonic energy, over and over again. Eventually, it built up to the point where your shields are essentially nonexistent where I’m concerned. I can do whatever I want to you.”

  “No…” Diane breathed, terror lancing through her, as well as a hint of warmth from that intoxicating kiss reacting to the promise in the demon’s words.

  “However, that isn’t any fun, Diane. I’ve been enjoying our little game. So, you have two choices. You can go back to obediently listening, and also accepting kisses from me for your little rebellion earlier, or I can actually try to change Jaine as I’ve been ordered.” Wenris’ smile almost vanished as she continued, her voice soft. “You’ll be stuck here with me either way. But your daughter isn’t as resistant as you are. Her mind is as soft and malleable as clay. Make your choice quickly, Diane, else I lose patience.”

  “I… I…” Diane gasped, her mind spinning. But as she thought about it, her anger and defiance slowly died. She’d sacrificed herself for the next generation of Yisara’s rulers. What was another sacrifice for her own daughter? She sagged in defeat, and murmured, “I’ll cooperate. But I’m going to argue.”

  “Good girl. I’d expect nothing less of you,” Wenris purred, her tail slowly lashing behind her. From the look in her eyes, Diane was desperately afraid that the demon wouldn’t be content with mere kisses for long. Nor was she certain that she would be able to stop Wenris when it reached that point.

  Chapter 47

  In Sifaren, Queen Calath did her best to begin preparing for the war that was coming in the spring. The unexpected message spell from Desa had caused both consternation and worry, and she quickly communicated with Yisara to confirm the information to the best of her ability. When Queen Beryl and Archpriestess Nadis confirmed much of what had been described, her efforts grew even more desperate.

  Her spies immediately began to search for any information on Medaea’s whereabouts they could find, and she could only wish that Kelvanath wasn’t on the opposite end of Kelvanis from Sifaren. If it’d been closer, she might have risked a preemptive strike on the capital in an attempt to destroy them before whatever plans they had matured.

  As it was, she had little choice but to hope that they could locate where Kelvanis was keeping the goddess captive and find some way to free her. In the meantime, she was hoping that Reva would be able to reach Phynis and Sistina.

  Fortunately, most of the nobles were finally starting to take the situation seriously, allowing her to rally additional support. Reva Lucien seemed to be doing well as he gathered a force that was somewhat smaller than she’d initially expected, but with most of Phynis’ former guards among them.

  “I’d recommend destroying this outpost before crossing the lines, Sir Lucien,” Captain Vendis explained, indicating a small outpost between Kelvanis’ two western-most forts. “While on a map, it looks like a fairly straight line from either fort, the terrain between them is rocky and it’s very hard to get a force to their assistance quickly.”

  “Hmm… The question is whether the terrain will slow us down. Thoughts?” Reva mused, considering the situation, looking at the scout captain. As her company had rescued Phynis to begin with, he’d thought she was ideal to help plan and execute his task.

  “No,
the difficult ridges are mostly in north to south strips. If we destroy the outpost and keep going another ten miles, our path is somewhat masked by a set of hills and is clear until that point. It’s the route we used to infiltrate Kelvanis this spring,” Vendis answered with a slight smile. “We didn’t destroy the outpost that time since we were in a hurry, though. I expect it’s been reinforced since then, but none of the scouts have reported much as of yet.”

  “I see. What about the terrain between there and this new town, Granite Point?” the knight asked, looking at her, then to Sergeant Berys, promoted after her return from the dungeon. “How hard is the passage between those points?”

  “The area is heavily forested, and the loggers haven’t cleared much. It’s also got some bandits, but I suspect they’ll have moved south for most of the winter,” Vendis spoke first. “While the forest is fairly wild, it isn’t that bad. We’ll definitely move faster than orcs or humans, even if the snows are heavy.”

  “Granite Point also isn’t a large town, or wasn’t when we left. There was a single company of soldiers stationed there, and they didn’t even have a palisade, only with a small barracks with watchtower.” Berys spoke up to give her own report. “I have to assume that after what happened to the attackers it’s been reinforced, but if they’re preparing an assault against Sifaren, they can’t have put too many people there. Besides, there simply wasn’t time to build another barracks. I’d assume no more than three companies at most would be there.”

  “Excellent. Unless they’re the most elite soldiers in Kelvanis, we’ll be able to deal with something like that easily.” Reva nodded in satisfaction, studying the map intently.

  For a long minute, he was silent, then he nodded slowly, his voice soft. “While I don’t claim it will be easy, I think we can carry out what the Queen has asked of us. Captain, your opinion?”

  “I believe you’re right, sir. I can’t say that I’m entirely confident, but unless they dramatically increase the forces in the area we’re looking at, it should be possible,” Vendis agreed, though he noted a hint of worry in her eyes.

  “Is there something wrong? You seem worried,” Reva asked quietly. After a moment, he added, “If you have a concern with my plans, go ahead and tell me.”

  “It isn’t your plans, sir. My worry is Sistina.” Vendis sighed, shaking her head. “I did not make the best of impressions when I visited her, and depending on how badly she views us, I’m just worried that we won’t even get a response when we try to contact her.”

  “While Sistina reacted badly, I don’t think she’ll ignore us. I don’t think Phynis would let her,” Berys interjected softly. “Sistina values her opinion too highly.”

  “Perhaps so. She did even when I visited,” Vendis replied, chewing her lower lip.

  “Regardless, we have few choices other than to try. As long as there’s a reasonable chance of success, I’m not giving up,” Reva spoke again, his own emotions conflicted. “Her Majesty chose to entrust this to me, and I don’t want to fail her.”

  “Agreed,” Vendis spoke more firmly, her worry lessening at the reminder.

  “Good.” Reva smiled at her, then nodded. “Now, I’d like your opinion on the best units to choose for the job.”

  Chapter 48

  Sistina’s experiment with the bats didn’t go well at first. Her primary instinct was to share her own fear of fire with the adventurers delving into her dungeon, so she was trying to create fire breathing bats. She’d separated the bats into groups for her experiments, since this was the first time she’d tried adding an elemental ability the creatures didn’t already possess.

  The results had been unpleasant. The first batch were doing fine for a while, and then they began to explode in miniature fireballs as the elemental energy overloaded their bodies. Sistina had winced and tried to fix the mistake in the second group. That group had done much better, right up until they tried breathing their tiny jets of fire in mid-flight. Since they were flying forward, the bats plunged right into their own flames, which proved disastrous since they weren’t fireproof.

  At about that point, the air node had slowly drifted into Sistina’s domain, which she’d gleefully claimed. She couldn’t have stopped it if it kept going, but fortunately the node seemed to be slowing down, possibly even stopping in her territory. The air spirits had been happy, and its presence helped Sistina alter and move the air and other gases within the dungeon more efficiently. She certainly wasn’t going to argue about it, since it also gave her a tiny boost to her mana accumulation.

  Once the air spirits were settled in the node, Sistina went back to trying to get the bats right. It wasn’t easy, but she would be able to manage to make the bats essentially immune to their own fire, and not explode.

  After the disasters with the bats, Sistina was disinclined to experiment too much with the mountain lions. Instead, she simply convinced their fur to turn black and made the same general changes she had to the bears and wolves, allowing them to grow bigger and stronger than they had been before. Modifying creatures to simply be more powerful versions of themselves was relatively easy by comparison.

  Things were stabilizing inside the dungeon as well. She’d built a temple to Medaea that met the requests of the Priestesses, and it had been fascinating to watch some of the rituals that were performed. They stirred memories, as though Sistina had seen similar rituals before, but they were nowhere near as familiar as those of Balvess to her. A few inquiries had led her to understand that Balvess had perished in the Godsrage, which brought a deep sorrow welling up from within her.

  The three survivors were intriguing to Sistina, and she chose not to mention her requirement to them. There were only three of them, and it was the middle of the winter. Kassandra had immediately returned to her research, trying to find a way to cure her vampirism. Despite everything, Sistina couldn’t help but think that the woman was looking at the wrong approach with trying to use resurrection magic. Cortin and Nora’s relationship had cooled rapidly after the disaster, and oddly enough, Nora seemed to have a fascination with Earl, of all people. It bemused Sistina that an ancient elf would be attracted to the human, but it just showed how little she sometimes knew about relationships.

  Cortin was the odd one out, doing a little research and flirting by turns with every woman he met, including the priestesses. She wasn’t certain if it was just the way he was coping, or his actual personality. Either way, unless someone got upset, she wasn’t going to interfere. The only person he hadn’t dared to flirt with had been Sistina. Which was good, since she was taken.

  That had come of a small conclave between the Jewels and Phynis, once the former princess had finally decided she was comfortable with the other women. The gathering had amused Sistina, but not as much as the fact that they’d gathered together and made their decision without inviting Sistina herself.

  The group had decided to split the time with Sistina as fairly as they thought possible. While Phynis had priority, due to the… needs of the other women, they each would have time with her over the course of two weeks. Sistina wasn’t sure it was entirely fair to any of them, since Phynis was going to have almost half the time to herself, but she also wasn’t going to argue. She’d given the ultimatum and refused to sleep with any of them until they came to the agreement, so it was partially her fault. They also were rather determined to not let anyone else into their little circle without a unanimous decision, which seemed rather unlikely to Sistina.

  Regardless of the situation, Sistina was happy that Phynis was getting along with the Jewels, and had gone on to work on an odd project that was compelling to her. Fully rewriting Marin’s Codex felt almost like a compulsion, and she found herself working on it every day for at least a few minutes. It was slow work, as she dredged her mind for the precise formulas and how to express them in a language that others could understand. Several times, Sistina had caught herself writing in a language that none of the elves could understand and had to start over on t
hose pages. It was during one of her periods of writing that Ellis and Zarenya finally found the information they’d been hunting for.

  “Is this…?” Zarenya’s voice broke the silence of the academy library, and Sistina glanced up, blinking as she did so, looking over at the two researchers. Librarians, really, but they were researching, so the title fit.

  “I think it is!” Ellis’ voice was filled with excitement, and he raised his eyes, looking around the room before his gaze settled on Desa and Phynis. “Desa, Phynis! Would one of you come show us your brand? I think we found which demon it belongs to!”

  “What?” Desa dropped her book and stood up, quickly approaching as Phynis followed at a more sedate pace. “Really?”

  “Ellis got ahead of himself. We believe it may be the symbol, but we’d like to compare them to be certain,” Zarenya corrected, glaring at her assistant. “Ellis. Confirm first, then allow them to get their hopes up.”

  “Right, sorry about that. It’s just that I was so sure of it…” Ellis flushed red, looking down for a moment before muttering, “I’ll shut up now.”

  “It’s not a problem, Ellis. Just keep it in mind,” Phynis told him kindly, then looked at Zarenya as she asked, “So, you just need to compare the symbols? Aren’t all of the brands different?”

  “While they’re all different, they each have a common core to their structure. That’s what we want to compare. While we have drawings, I’d rather compare them to one we know functioned,” Zarenya explained.

  Desa nodded and spoke quietly, “I’ll do it. Just a moment…”

  The mage pulled up her shirt and undid her trousers, and as she did, Sistina went back to writing. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Ellis and Zarenya comparing the book against the brand adorning Desa’s skin, but she didn’t think anything of it as Ellis murmured, “Yes, this looks the same. Zarenya?”