Ascension of the Warlock (Book 4 of the Death Incarnate Saga)

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  To anyone else, it looked as if he should be limping away or had broken an ankle as he landed on solid ground.

  Cage wasn’t anywhere near done as he bent his knees and somehow jumped twenty feet straight up as if it were an effortless hop and he began running on thin air while sending blasts of power that made the ground shake. Then as he dropped he did a powerful rotation while extending a leg and falling ten feet to do an overhead axe kick on a five foot long, two foot thick rock and the impact completely destroyed it as the power of the move transferred into the body and broke it apart instantly.

  Dust is all that blew away as he got up and brushed the dirt the dust became on his sweaty body.

  “Cage, what manner of magic was that?!” Megdline spoke as she and the three women stood beside her. Sean was busy playing with Ananna inside. “How did you manage to walk on air or break that rock. I saw no spell, but I sure felt the power. How did… what I was taught impossible. That was no levitation and the rock’s destruction should have not happened in such a way.”

  “And I thought I told Sean to keep you inside.” Cage raised his voice. “Why didn’t you all listen!” they all winced. “You four could have gotten yourselves killed. I was too focused on getting everything right to notice you weren’t safe inside. It was stupid of you to be near when I don’t have a handle on what I’m doing. Megdline, you should feel my power by now and know you can no longer resist me. I don’t have a teacher for this and it’s not something you can do.” His black eyes glared. “One mistake, even a minor one, can really kill you, Granny, and my mates’ wards will protect them from me, but I’d not like to risk it.”

  His silence ended a few moments later when the second class sorceress said “Then I must apologize. I felt your magic and it made me curious and I said we should see what you were up to. It was amazing, but I thought there was no danger…”

  “Megdline,” Daku began speaking in a gravely serious voice. “had I too not been solely focused on Cage’s well being as he made his first attempt, I would have thrown myself over all of you for your own protection. Cage’s power is too great at the moment and he hasn’t the control he once had before Raul sent him away. Imagine all the power you have now, but as a ten year old cub. He feels that way. A warlock’s ascension happens all at once and Cage has the greatest power ever seen. And his first attempt had many mistakes. Any one of whom, if directed wrongly, would have been disastrous for you. From now on I forbid you all from being near Cage as he learn the old ways. Frill may stay for he cannot truly die.”

  “Cage Love, we are sorry. We will go.” Brooke said. “When will you return to us?”

  “Noonish.” He said in a much calmer tone. “Look, I need you to all understand that my power is no joke. I’m even a bit frightened of it. I could quite literally vaporize the entire island if I desired. If I don’t learn how to fully control it, I will be a danger to you and I don’t want to see my own loves afraid of me.”

  “We understand. We fear your power, not you.” Tohka promised and meant it. “Return to us when you can and we will make up for disturbing you. Come loves.”

  Before Megdline left she asked “Tell me how you ran on air.”

  “I sent a focused burst of mana from my knee down to the bottoms of my feet with enough force to momentarily make the air itself grow dense.”

  “Are you saying you are using unrefined, pure bodily mana to effect the natural world without tasking it to form a physical spell?”

  “Essentially, yes.” Her jaw dropped. “I’ll let you feel what I’m doing. Sense this if you can.” He did the first set again as he felt her magic testing the air.

  As he snapped his arm and punched the ring of power out into open air it was impossible not to hear the sorceress gasp. Her color drained paler than her bright yellow robe before she hurriedly said “Inside girls. Now.”

  “I think you made your point.” Frill laughed as he watched his master almost tripping over herself to get back inside the safety of the tree home.

  “She now understands that move would have passed through her barrier and slammed her into a wall. Her wards cannot stop raw mana. Only dragons and warlocks can craft spells to do so only because they can see and block it. I have no fear of it.” Daku said. “This is the true threat of the warlocks. Not their overwhelming power. They can send spells that cannot be stopped by any living human mage.” He cocked his head sharply and tapped the book. “Cage, you need much more practice. That was well done for a first attempt, but far from perfect. You began falling behind by the fortieth move in the air and the power of the final kick was a little too fast. You want the rock to crumble, not blow apart like you dropped a rug and blow dust everywhere. Remember, timing and precise measures of energy are essential. You used too much and went to high. You want to go no higher than fifteen feet off the ground. Reduce the effort and refine it.”

  Cage lifted the book and went back to studying.

  Inside the house Megdline shakily sat down at the table and put her head in her hands. Meeka’s warm hands gently grabbed the sorcerer’s wrist and said “Megdline, your heart is racing. I’ve never felt it so wild. Are you well.”

  Against her better judgment she asked “Do you have anything strong to drink?”

  Brooke said “Cage made Meeka pure corn ale he called Moonshine for treatment purposes. It is very strong and safe… so he says. I was tipsy with what he called a shot.”

  “Please may I have some?”

  The former priestess went into the kitchen and down into the storeroom, grabbed a glass and made a single shot. She returned with the mouthful of liquid and passes it over with a smirk the sorceress missed. Megdline threw back the clear liquid and sat it down to then shoot up with wide eyes that instantly watered and breathed fast. Color rushed back and her middle aged tan went red. “Damn! What is that! Is my throat on fire?” she hopped and tried to wipe her tongue on her pristine robe.

  Others in the room laughed. Meeka gently pulled Megdline’s staff away and sat it against the table and sat her back down. “You asked for it. My patients hate it, but the alcohol burns infection like the throat. He made me only a little Moonshine, but even Brooke cannot tolerate drinking it often and she has a stronger constitution than I. Now that you’ve drank you’ve calmed, but even that much will show effects soon enough. Care to tell us why you need a drink for a person who can hardly drink sweet wine without complaining how it reduces your spells?”

  Megdline’s grey eyes closed for a few moments before looking at Brooke, Tohka and Meeka sitting together at the table with her. “Had I sent my magic to sense what he was doing I would not have dared leave this room.” She visibly shook. “I endangered all of us and for that I am sorry. He is doing magic more advanced than any I’ve ever known or heard about. I thought he was playing with his new powers, but I was so… so ignorantly wrong. I’m deathly afraid of him now. He’s doing things I cannot defend against and now that he can actually see magic I know that no spell in my cache can kill him. Zikon maybe, but not me. Not anymore.”

  “So you’re saying you are finally like us?” Brooke said.

  “Yes.” Megdline said as she understood the depth of the comment.

  Brooke continued. “He has a way of proving everyone is no better than the other. Heritage, magic, wealth… he proves people are people one way or another.” Her sister-mates agreed wholeheartedly. “I do not like how he yelled at us though.”

  “Be thankful he did.” Megdline said soberly while wiping her clammy forehead. “I’m surprised he didn’t use a spell to throw us back inside. At least with that I could be mad. If it were anyone but Cage doing what I just felt I would be either trying me damndest to kill them or running back to Twilight to cower like a child in my own home. Only now do I fully realize why warlocks were so feared. Why the First Council were so completely beside themselves when I bought news of him. I never took it all with seriousness and now I feel a fool for being so impudent. Only the fact that I know Cage ha
sn’t changed deep down am I still here.”

  “Oh I wouldn’t say that.” Meeka said to lighten the mood. “Last night’s sex was better than we ever had. He didn’t tire at all and he made us three very happy women.”

  “Very sore women.” Tohka added with a laugh.

  “But you wouldn’t say no if he were stiff and standing right here with us.” Brooke teased.

  “You’re right about that.” Tohka said and the three of them laughed together.

  “The three of you are stronger than I. Here I am about to piss myself and you three are talking about having sex and baring his babes.” Megdline whispered.

  “That is why we are Utala and you are not.” Brooke stated not unkindly, more as a fact. “It is his strength that makes us desire him and want to have his baby. We are strong females. What could be more natural? We have always known the danger our mate embodies, but that only makes us desire him more… so are you certain you cannot make a spell to get us pregnant faster?”

  “As I said, I will damage your ovulation tubes to force one of your eggs out. Yes, it can make almost certain pregnancy, but the women who chose to do this never had another child because the magic harmed the channel.”

  “Egg? You make it sound like we are chickens?” Brooke wrinkled her nose.

  Megdline couldn’t help smiling. “In a way, we are. A hen can have eggs all her life, but I’ve seen your coop. You separate the rooster and some females so they can hatch chicks. When we have our moon-flow, in all that blood is a very tiny egg our eyes cannot see. Trust me when I say the egg of a woman and a hen work much the same way.”

  “Like how you have given birth to twenty five babies?” Meeka smirked.

  “Twenty five!” Tohka’s jaw dropped as she gawked at the magic woman.

  “I must admit, about half were twin birth. Six birthings to be precise resulted in twelve. Twins run in my bloodline. My youngest son is forty six.” She added. “Oh my! The drink is working.” She laughed as she never mentions her age.

  The others smirked till Meeka asked “So your saying our best chance to be with child it to wait…”

  “And make love at every opportunity. If you find yourself on the moon-flow you are too late and must try again.” Megdline interrupted.

  “We plan on mating just that way.” Tohka admitted. “All three of us had our moon-flow while Cage was gone so we must wait months till we are certain we failed when another moon-flow comes.” Megdline nodded. “But what about me? Meeka can only mate with Cage and has only recently enjoyed what it means to feel like a woman in love. I though have been mated since I was fifteen, after my first moon-flow and I have never conceived or cried when the child came too early. But my former sister-mates have been blessed multiple times. Do you have a way to know if I’m broken, never able to be a proper mother?”

  “Women are much more difficult to find out if they are infertile. My livelihood hasn’t led me down the path of healer, though I can mend the body without difficulty. I wouldn’t know how to determine if you can, Tohka, but my aides might be able to hire an expert on such matters.”

  Meeka spoke on Cage’s behalf. “Then please do so, but discretely. What costs this mage healer wants, we will pay. We must know so as to not worry for our woman. And we want the very best.” Brooke and Meeka held the nurturer’s hand.

  “I will make sure all remains confidential. You have my word… He’s at it again.” Megdline said as she felt sudden bursts of magic and the women understood.

  Chapter 14

  “If I’m to visit, rather than you coming to me I expect daily payments if twenty five gold pieces per day, plus the cost of any potions the client might require.” A middle aged woman with kind eyes said through the sight mirror. She wore a blue robe and sat alone in a room full of multicolored vials.

  “Granny’s aide said you were the best fertility expert in all of Vlara. What assurances do you have that would prove your qualifications and not simply gouge for so much money?” Cage asked as his women sat beside him, listening silently in their bedroom.

  The woman was unfazed by the direct question and spoke back with confidence. “Though I am a third class witch who has seen two and a half centuries, no other mage in the world is my equal when it comes to pregnancy. I assume the one you call Granny is Lady Megdline… so then you must be Lord Cage, her apprentice. Your reputation is known to most and what you do to those who deceive. But you should know I have personally given birth sixty three times in my comparatively short live compared to other, stronger mages. No other woman in the world can boast to have personally carried so many by the time they had reached my age. If it is you or a woman who wants your baby, I am the best chance you will have of doing this. As to my wages, they are the same as they have been since I was twenty years, since I too had a difficult time conceiving children. I love sex and bringing new life into the world. If you question my results, look to King Tate and the former queen Eleia. It was my hand that aided them to conceive Princess Amy for the queen had many miscarriages, which all citizens know and mourned. I will not tell you what I did for the late queen, but it was I who allowed her to carry to full time. And I have dedicated my life to being the very best at succeeding in making children strong and healthy.”

  “Sound like she knows what she is doing.” Meeka said.

  Cage said “Likely because of her lack of power she chose the best profession that she could make a name for herself. If she can have so many children after learning the age slowing spell and make couples have such a high success rate then her status will be highly sought after indeed.”

  “And I do not disagree.” The specialist said calmly. “Yes, I’m not powerful, but my whole life is focused on the strongest magic in the universe. Making new life. My personal life and those I’ve touched are my record that stands behind me.”

  “Very well.” Cage decided. “I will alert my aide to begin transferring coins from my account to yours in Twilight on the day you arrive and begin working. How long will it take for you to arrive at my island?”

  “I must first make sure my current client’s fetus takes a proper root in its mother’s womb, which will take two days at most. Then I will charter a boat from Vin’re to your island. Likely I will arrive in six to eight days.” The witch calculated.

  “Can you not move instantly from one place to another? Wouldn’t that be faster?” Tohka asked.

  “She cannot.” Cage informed. “Only first class wizards and witches and up can Jump from one destination to another and even if she had help, she wouldn’t survive the exit. It’s why I’ve not Jumped anyone alive other than Daku and Granny. If I sent you girls, you wouldn’t make it.”

  “As he says. Lord Cage, I will arrive as soon as I am able, under disguise, as we agreed for your and your wives’ privacy.” With no more being needed discussed, he closed the sight mirror.

  “Do you think we can trust her?” Brooke finally spoke, uncrossing her long legs.

  “She did sound capable.” Meeka offered.

  “I found no hint of reluctance or deception.” Cage voiced. “At least she did seem confident that even if you are infertile” He looked at Tohka. “she can still get you pregnant. All we need to do is see what she has to say.”

  Brooke took Tohka’s hand and offered a smile. “And if your eggs cannot make a child I will gladly give you one of mine.”

  Tohka was so grateful she gave her a kiss. “Thank you for doing all this for me. I do not deserve it.”

  Cage smirked. “Of course you do. After what you do to me and them, you deserve to be a mother in every experience… if only there was a way for Daku to at least have a chance at reviving his race.”

  “But all that could be done, has. You know this.” Daku spoke sagely, over on the balcony. “You are young and in love. The passion to make young is natural and I am flattered you worry for me, but I’ve long accepted this. But I do have something I would like to show you four while you aren’t mating.”

&nbs
p; “What is on your mind?” Cage asked as the griffin stepped into the room.

  “Come outside while light still remains.”

  The four looked to each other curiously before standing and following him out the door and down the stairs. In the dining room they found Sean carefully mixing herbs while following Meeka’s recipe to the letter. They all smiled, but Sean held a finger over his lips and pointed at Ananna curled up in a blanket, on Daku’s bedding by the fireplace. They took the hint and secretly walked outside.

  Daku skirted the house and they followed him to the trees behind in the late afternoon sunlight. Many rocks had become dust, the piles were proof of Cage’s constant practice and proved he wasn’t close to perfection. Some patches of the hard ground lost grass in his quest to learn the proper fighting skills of his people in the century long war at the nexus. Cage was grateful for his new mind because he knew he would have tripped repeatedly as he couldn’t avoid watching his loves’ jaw dropping breasts’ bounce, the curvy sway of her hips and how the sunlight glistened off their sex induced sweaty bodies he’d given after he took a break at noon. They’d made him happy until Megdline sent word of the fertility witch. Still, he wanted to get right back to ravishing them and the glint in their eyes said they wanted it just as badly. Brooke and Tohka especially seemed excited as they didn’t know which they wanted more, Cage’s lance or Meeka’s striking breasts.