by D. R. Rosier
A Shadow Thief’s Magic
Author: D. R. Rosier
Copyright 2016. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.
Table of Contents
Prologue:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Afterword:
About the Author
Other erotic fantasies by D. R. Rosier:
Non-erotic Fantasy title:
Book Description
Prologue:
The cabin sat on a hillside close to the lakeshore, isolated from the rest of the world. Still, they weren’t confident in their safety.
“This is a terrible idea Katy,” the young woman said with a scowl.
Katherine sighed in exasperation, “I know Erin, but do you have a better idea?”
They had fled from their enemies many days ago, it was a three days ride to the closest town, and three weeks from where they started. They were fairly sure their pursuers lost the trail but even if they were safe, what could they do now? It seemed hopeless.
Erin shook her head, “No, but the spell…”
Katherine tuned out her lifelong friend, as she knew exactly what she would say. It was desperate, they needed help, but the spell would only summon someone with the ability to help them, not necessarily the inclination, or even the trained ability, but simply the potential to help. There was too much at stake, if this didn’t work she wasn’t sure what they would do, or even could do.
“Hey! Are you even listening to me?”
Katherine blushed, “Of course!”
Erin narrowed her eyes in disbelief, but held her tongue. She realized she was pushing it as it was talking to the lady she’d pledged her life to protect, defend, and obey. Luckily she’d been Katy’s lady in waiting since they were toddlers and was now her bodyguard as well. Close friendship didn’t even begin to describe the relationship between them.
The spell was less something to count on and more a desperate wish thrown up at the gods. Who knew what the result would be?
She sighed and lowered her head, “Your right, but we should probably take some precautions.”
Katy raised an eyebrow; she was always willing to compromise if she could get her way.
“What did you have in mind?”
-----------------------------
Daniel cursed himself, thoroughly but quietly within his own mind. He’d been planning this job for months. Big mansion, old lady with a penchant for expensive jewels, and one lousy servant, what could go wrong? Every Thursday the owner of the house was at bingo, her live in butler driving her. The other staff members were only present during the day and were all gone for the night.
Except here he was crouching at the door inside the old broad’s study. The wall safe opened behind him, and a backpack full of jewels, coins, and cash. He was a careful thief. He limited himself to one job a year, never got too greedy, and always knew when to cut his losses. Just a couple of hundred grand and he’d be set for a long while.
He wasn’t always so careful, his career started at fifteen, lifting wallets, breaking into houses once or twice a month. He learned early in life the only one he could trust was himself. He didn’t trust anyone. Sometimes he felt lonely, but it was better that way. He’d had a few shallow relationships with women, but never found one that changed his mind.
Trusting people was just foolish.
Once he’d reached eighteen, and for the four years since then, he’d only needed one big score a year. He’d never been this unlucky though, and he wondered just what had occurred to end bingo night two hours early.
He should have been gone long before they returned. Worse, they’d come home to an already disarmed alarm, with the keypad opened up. He was a black belt in martial arts, could even fight with a sword, but that wouldn’t at all help against a gun, which the butler had.
He heard the old man, annoyingly calm, “No need for violence young man, the police are on the way.”
Daniel snorted. He never carried a weapon on jobs. The reason why was simple, it was that he was a thief, and not really a very violent man unless provoked to be so. Second reason was it would add to jail time if he ever got caught, not that he believed it would happen, not in a million years.
He was just that good, or so he’d always believed. He had an eye for details, and an almost uncanny ability to keep track of things. This was just… dumb luck. He was tempted to ask what happened with bingo night, it was really bugging him.
He closed his eyes and reviewed the floor plans. There were no windows in the office. There were windows in the master bedroom at the end of the hallway, but it was a good twenty foot sprint to the door, all the while showing his back to the butler.
The butler himself was by the stairs in the other direction, at least fifteen feet away, too far to rush. Honestly he didn’t want to hurt the guy either. The room across the hall was a bathroom with windows that didn’t open, he might make it across the hall, and the glass might break when he jumped through it, and he might not cut his throat on the jagged edges, and he might not break a leg from the twenty foot or higher fall.
He blew out a breath and wished fervently he was anywhere else but here.
He sensed something behind him, and saw a light out of the corner of his eye. He turned and gaped, it looked like a sideways whirlpool of bright white light. He slapped both his cheeks, maybe he was having a stroke?
Something snapped and there was a sound of thunder. He felt himself being pulled toward the light. He reached out and tried to grab the doorframe, but missed. He panicked a bit as he was pulled into the light tunnel and his body started spinning. His last dizzy thought was maybe he shouldn’t have wished so hard, and then he fell unconscious…
Chapter 1
Daniel opened his eyes and groaned, there was a soft bed underneath his body. He shut them quickly as the light felt like a spike going through his head. The light through his eyelids seemed painful, so he tried to move his forearm over his eyes… but it wouldn’t move. He squinted painfully and tried to sit up, he found his body restrained too. What the hell? Had he suffered a stroke and was now tied down in a high secure hospital area?
He couldn’t think of anything else it could be. But the bed wasn’t right, it didn’t feel like a hospital mattress, it was too soft for one, and he still felt his regular clothes. Slowly his eyes became accustomed to the light and he looked around. The walls were made of roughly sized stones with mortar holding them together.
The blinding light turned out to be a candelabrum on the wall next to the bed, and there was other furniture in the room. There was a dresser across from the bed that looked like it would be at home in a castle. There was a window, but there were actual wooden shutters closed over it, so he couldn’t see outside. He squirmed and tried to move his other arm, but he was tied down to well to get free.
“Hello! What the fuck?” he asked in a loud voice.
A few moments later the door to the room opened an
d two women walked in. His eyes widened as he took them in. The first one through the door had raven black hair done in an intricate braid, a few loose strands hung around her face. She had gray eyes, and a hard look on her face. He could see she was very attractive, but her bearing almost contradicted that.
After that, his eyes weren’t making any sense. She wore black leather armor. Not fetish wear, but real armor. He also counted two daggers and a short sword on her belt, and a larger sword across her back.
The second woman was… gorgeous, sexy, hot, mouthwatering, graceful, and any number of other things that went through his mind. She wore a long flowing dark blue gown that clung in just enough places to tease about the lithe athletic body underneath it, her breasts stood high, and while not incredibly large they were more than eye catching on her smaller frame.
Her face was heart shaped with a cute nose and full lips. She had large dark green eyes, and had strawberry blonde curly hair that went all the way down her back. She didn’t have a sword, she had a staff of some kind, and he must have a concussion because he could see a faint blue nimbus around it.
There was something else about her that he didn’t understand, she had… presence, a commanding one and he couldn’t figure out why. She was a slip of a thing, incredibly beautiful, but hardly intimidating, or at least, she shouldn’t have been. Despite that feeling, she looked nervous, and a little guilty.
Had he been kidnapped by two crazy Ren fair chicks? That didn’t make sense at all… yet. There they were. Maybe he did have a stroke, and his dreams were mixed up, if he thought really hard maybe they’d be the ones tied up.
He smiled charmingly at them both, “You know, I’ve had dreams like this, but it wasn’t usually me all tied up.”
Leather armor woman put her hand on one of the blades faster than he could track, and the one that looked like a dream actually blushed and covered her mouth. Seriously, what the hell was going on here?
He cleared his throat and sounded a bit dubious, “So… I’m Daniel. It’s not every day I have a dream of two beautiful women tying me up… do you think you could untie me sweetie?”
The one with the leather narrowed her eyes, and after a moment seemed to relax a little, though he missed the cue as to why, but she left her hand on the dagger.
Leather armor woman said, “I’m Erin, this is Katherine, although she prefers Katy. We apologize for tying you up, but we needed to make sure you weren’t violent, the spell that brought you here doesn’t guarantee that.”
He whistled low and wondered how to call the padded wagon in this day and age, “Uh huh, right… the spell. So umm, can you untie me now, clearly I’m not dangerous.”
Katy frowned, “Lie.”
He furrowed his brow, “I meant, I’m not dangerous to you two. I only hurt someone if I don’t have a choice. Come on Kat, give a guy a break.”
Katy looked angry, “That’s Katy, not Kat,” she turned to Erin, “He’s telling the truth, he means us no harm.”
Erin didn’t look convinced, but he smiled slightly at her and shrugged.
Erin asked, “What kind of magic does he have?”
He coughed trying to cover a laugh. What the hell was wrong with this picture?
“I don’t have magic.”
Katy shook her head at Erin, “He’s telling the truth but… it’s not true. Is there no magic where you came from?”
He grinned, but didn’t give the obvious reply. Too bad these women were nuts, they were kind of cute.
“No… we have no magic on Earth… so, where am I then?”
Katy stood up taller and threw her shoulders back, he was finding it hard to keep his eyes above her neck but figured he’d better play nice until they untied him. Then he could ogle her before he got the hell out of here, wherever here was.
“You’re in the kingdom of Lendaran. I’m afraid my spell took you from your world, and you do have magic.”
He nodded, “Right, so why am I here? And really, can you untie me please Kat?”
He winced, probably should’ve used her name, but he couldn’t help it. He’d like to… Nope, crazy woman, none of that. Last thing he needed to do was have a stalker.
Katy looked over at Erin, “We should untie him now. To answer your question, his magic is limited to the illusion and shadow spheres, but is quite powerful in those disciplines.”
Erin scowled, “Illusion and Shadow, how the hell is that supposed to help us.”
Katy frowned, “I don’t know, but I know the gods believe he has the potential ability to help us, we just need to train him. Obviously he knows nothing of magic, and you can teach him how to stab people.”
Erin shook her head, “Stab people? Really? That’s how you describe your guardian, someone who stab…”
“Ladies!” he interrupted loudly. He smiled as they both looked at him in shock, “Perhaps you could untie me, and we could discuss why I’m here, what you want from me, and what compensation is available? Hmm?”
Katy nodded and waved her staff at him.
He almost started laughing, except that he felt the ropes as they started to uncoil from around his body, arms, and legs. He’d also felt that strange presence she had magnify for a moment, then settle back down. His mouth dropped open, it had to be a dream, because there was no way she had magic, and that he could feel it… because he did too?
But then, if this was his dream, why wasn’t the woman in the fancy medieval dress naked yet? Neither option really made sense to him.
He put his arms around behind his head and stretched, he felt his back pop and winced. No… he was awake.
“So let me get this straight. You did a spell, the gods pulled me from my world, which has no magic. But here I have shadow and… illusion magic I think you said. Which apparently… sucks? And not in a good way.”
Katy blushed but he kept going, “You have magic, Erin there is a body guard, and you want something from me which the gods think I can deliver. Is that about it?”
He always had a good eye and ear for detail, even when it was crazy talk.
Katy nodded and turned toward Erin, “He doesn’t believe us yet, maybe if we show him the rest of the cottage, and the outside?”
Katy turned back to him, “Yes, all of that. Something was… stolen from me, and we need to fight to get it back. Shadow and illusion spheres aren’t really known for fighting, more for… street entertainers. So… we’re having trouble making sense of that.”
He nodded slowly, he got right away they were still playing their cards close to the chest. He couldn’t blame them really, he wouldn’t trust himself either, at least not until they had some kind of deal on the table. If he agreed to help them, he would. He hated to back out on a job. Besides, as delusions go this was a pretty good one.
He wondered if Katy would spin for him if he asked, then shook his head.
He asked, “Spheres?”
She nodded, “Nature, life, death, destruction, illusion, summoning, and shadow. I’ll be teaching you about two of those, but we’ll touch on the other five during your training, if you agree to help me… us, help us.”
He snorted, “So you know about all seven of them then?”
Katy shrugged as if embarrassed. The beautiful woman seemed to go back and forth between regal and in charge to flustered and too young. He guessed she couldn’t have been more than nineteen. Crap, he was staring at her again, he needed to cut that out. He reminded himself it was just another pretty face, and possibly had a job for him, that’s it, especially because she’s nuts.
Erin clarified, and he could tell by her tone of voice she had a lot of pride in Katy, “Yes, Katy is a grand sorceress, someone who can access all seven spheres, though the death sphere is banned, mostly. There are six tiers of sorceress, or sorcerer in your case, obviously you’re a tier two sorcerer.”
Katy shook her head, “What’s important is that you believe where you are, then we can talk about what we need, and your compensation. Please do not run
off, I wouldn’t force you to help us, but I can’t let you get yourself killed because of ignorance either, so don’t leave the cabin without one of us with you until you’re more familiar with this world’s dangers.”
He stood up slowly, he’d humor them for now. It seemed crazy but… he had just seen magic. So he was either nuts as well, or on another world. He was sure he wasn’t dreaming, Katy still had clothes on after all.
“Show me your proof?”
Katy turned without a word and walked out the door, he followed and noted that Erin still had her hand on the pommel of a dagger at her belt. It made his shoulder blades itch, but he’d humor them, at least until he could get out of this nuthouse. When he followed Katy outside he stopped and gaped up at the sky. He wasn’t an astronomer, but he’d done well in the subject at school, always been fascinated with space.
The stars were just wrong, and there was a big ass nebula where there shouldn’t be one. Also, there was a second moon in the sky, which meant… what exactly. He remembered wishing to be anywhere but in that mansion, and there had been that swirling light that had sucked him in. Could this be real? He decided to go along with things for now, follow the flow, because if there was one thing he was sure of, the two women standing close to him believed it. He knew how to read people.
He looked down from the sky and took a look around. They were standing in front of a large cabin, he could make out forest and mountains around him, and what looked like a large lake close by. It was nighttime, but the two moons meant he was able to see fairly well, even in the darkness.
He cleared his throat, “Okay, so magic from you, Erin’s going to teach me to dance with blades, and then we will be doing… what exactly?”
Katy shrugged, “I can’t really tell you, not until you agree to help, and you have to mean it, I can tell when you’re lying if you haven’t picked that up yet.”
He grunted, “Nature or life?”
Katy smiled and tilted her head, “Nature. Life is more… healing magic.”
He shook his head, “How can I haggle for payment if I don’t know how dangerous it will be, or how long it will take?”
