The Schooling of the Spell Caster

When she heard Daniel was in the infirmary, she knew she had to risk everything. She had to have him. She had come so close before. She needed her circle back, and Daniel was the star who would make that happen.

She wasn't going to fuck around this time. She pulled out a marking pen, an ingenious gnome invention, and started marking runes around the doorway. In moments, it was done. She would remain undisturbed. Anyone approaching the door would suddenly want to be elsewhere. Pursuing some forgotten tasks or item. But there was one person she wanted to enter the room, and the moment they stepped inside, she would control them.

She went over to the bed and looked down at Daniel. She had to admit he was a very sexy man. Her time with him had been memorable. He could fuck for hours. But try as she did, she couldn't get him to nut inside her. She needed it directly to become pregnant. The act would have also bound him to her.

The whole time she had been with him, something had blocked her. Something within Daniel. Some power that remained elusive. She couldn't pin it down. She had sensed mirth from whatever it was. It still made her angry.

But now Glenda had induced a coma into young Daniel Davies. He was as open as a book. What she was about to do, she had learned from Amanda Aine. This is what she had done to trap her spell caster all those years ago. Stolen his sperm and got herself pregnant with Amber.

It was fitting, Gwydion believed, that she would steal from the heart of Daniel's circle. Right from Amber herself.

She broke that curse I laid on her all those years ago. A delightful little curse that slowly grew in power and blended in with just who Amber was. I designed it to deny her any joy with men, effectively blocking her from forming a full circle.

When the curse had returned to her, Gwydion had been shocked to her core. It had pulled her out of hiding all those months ago. She was being hunted, but tonight all her efforts would pay off. She would once again become the hunter with a bound spell caster with massive power. She would be unstoppable.

Grunting, Gwydion pulled the bed frame Daniel was lying in away from the wall to give her space behind it. Once done, she took out the marker and drew a circle around Daniel. She rushed it, but knew the shape wasn't important. It was all about intent.

After half an hour, she finished and checked her work. Everything looked perfect. She grinned and felt lust swim through her and wet her nether regions. She rarely got sexually excited these days, but at the moment, she was charged with it.

She pulled the thin sheet off Daniel and looked at his cock for a moment, admiring it. Then she bent over him and took him into her mouth and sucked and licked it. It tasted wonderful to her. She drew it deep and swirled her tongue all over the massive head. She felt it swell and lift until it was standing hard on its own. The engorged head purple with desire and tilted upward slightly. She traced the thick veins along the length, full of blood and desire.

She looked into Daniel's face. "I'm going to rock your world, young stud. Give me those swimmers and knock me up. It's all I need. Then it will be me and you, forever."

She pulled out a small bowl and then a small vial. Inside was Daniel's cum, purchased in the city. She had recognised it right away. She placed the bowl on Daniel's chest and poured the liquid into it.

She climbed up on top of Daniel and then positioned his cock to her opening. She dropped down, driving his cock deep into her cunt. He was huge, and she hesitated a moment to allow herself to adjust. She chanted her ritual spell and started her blood magic. She grinned, thinking she should rename it semen magic.

It's almost the same thing, after all.

Then she started riding him. He felt really good inside her, and she lost herself to the pleasure. She was very pleased so far. She only needed one more thing. The heart of Daniel's circle. She was looking forward to this next part.

Her ritual called out to Amber Aine. Amber would wander this way naturally. Her mind would be concerned with Daniel, and she would check on him. It was all so simple. Gwydion had Amanda to thank for the deviousness of it.

She heard the door to the room open behind her. She didn't need to look. She knew it was Amber. She could sense her with the ties she still had with her mother. The door closed and Gwydion felt the spell she had placed on the door lock Amber in and put her at her mercy.

This would have been easier if the curse I placed on her remained.

But a small remnant remained, harmless really, other than giving Amber dark thoughts. But through that small remnant, she could control Amber. When Gwydion turned her head to look, she saw Amber approaching, looking dazed and confused. She was only looking at Daniel, ignoring Gwydion riding his cock above him. Then Gwydion saw the power Amber now held.

By the Gods, she's the strongest witch I have ever encountered. Doubt gnawed at her. She pushed her doubts aside and focused.

"Amber Aine," purred Gwydion. "Look at the power you possess now. You must be so proud of your circle. So much power to play with."

Amber blinked and focused on Gwydion. She gasped, but her words were slow and slurred. "You! Get off him!"

Gwydion ground her pelvis into Daniel and purred at the friction on her clit. "Now, why would I do that? He has yet to cum and splash my womb with his powerful seed. I want you to watch. Perhaps I will let you lick my asshole as he pumps into me. Would you like that, Amber Aine?"

Amber seemed to be in a daze. Like sleepwalking. She moved around the bed and then stepped into the circle Gwydion had drawn.

Trapped! thought Gwydion, cackling in her head. Now to cast the Heart Freezing Spell.

It was a simple spell. It targeted the heart of a circle and froze it solid, effectively breaking their bond to the circle and the spell caster. It left the spell caster free to be bound.

Amanda used it on each other all those years ago until Glenda interfered.

Gwydion cackled and chanted the spell. The words formed, twisting in her mouth, and tasting of snow mixed with dog shit. Her tongue was lacerated, and her teeth twisted in their sockets. Blood poured from her mouth, but she kept her focus on Amber.

She pushed through the words and finally, with gleeful darkness in her soul, she fired the spell at Amber Aine. The spell hit her in the chest and drove deep and then, before Gwydion could think or react, the spell rebounded, stronger than before, and slammed into Gwydion.

Her heart turned to a solid chunk of ice. The pain was excruciating, and she opened her mouth to scream just as the ice flowed through all her veins and arteries and froze her lungs solid. Her life was extinguished.

She fell sideways off Daniel and landed hard on the floor and slid across the ritual circle line; the sound strange but not unlike ice breaking against stone.

Amber gasped and clutched her heart. Her mind was suddenly clear, and she growled and ran around the bed to finish Gwydion. She skidded to a stop on seeing her corpse. She looked horrific. She turned her eyes away and spied Daniel.

He was still comatose. She held him and shook, tears pouring freely.

She heard a chant in the hallway, and then Amy, Jasmine, and Glenda burst through the door. They rushed to Amber, ignoring the clearly dead witch on the floor.

"Amber!" cried out Amy. "What happened?"

"I-I don't know!" wailed Amber. Amy had never seen her so distraught. "I was in a d-dream. I wander in here to find D-daniel and found G-gwydion on t-top of him. Our spell caster and she was fucking him!" She growled at the last part. "She cast something on me. It was so cold! It was there and then it was gone, and Gwydion fell over! She's dead, isn't she? Please tell me she's dead!"

Glenda looked up from where she was squatting next to Gwydion's remains. "Oh, yes. Dead as a doornail. Her spell backfired on her."

Amy was staring at Daniel's hard cock, still standing upright but covered in Gwydion's foulness. She shuddered and grabbed the bowl of water that happened to be close by for giving baths. She soaked a cloth and cleaned him up. "What happened, Glenda? Do you recognise this?"

Glenda nodded and looked at Amber, who was now sitting next to Daniel on the bed and being held by Jasmine. Tears still flowed and she could see Amber was keeping a hand on Daniel's skin.

"Sadly, yes, I do. This is how the witch war ended. I'm sorry Amber, this will be hard to hear. Gwydion's circle killed your mother's spell caster. It was horrible. Your mother had truly loved her spell caster. In grief, or so she told me, and I honestly believed her, your mother attacked Gwydion's circle. She stole Gwydion's spell caster away from them by breaking the binding long enough for him to cum inside her. You were the result. Your mom left the spell caster for Gwydion. She couldn't kill him. But years later, Gwydion tracked Amanda down and, well, you know what happened.

"Where it went wrong tonight is, I suspect Gwydion believed you were still the heart of the circle. With your power, she wouldn't normally be wrong, but this circle is different. It was built from Amy's love for Daniel here. The spell expected to find the heart of a circle. When it failed to find one in you, it found the nearest one. Gwydion. The heart of her former circle. This was dark magic. Very evil. I'll have to track down her source. I'll have to leave for a time. I can't let it fall into another pair of hands."

Grace showed up then and was brought up to speed. She arranged for Gwydion's body to be removed and left with it to make sure it was properly incinerated and disposed of.

Glenda looked around at Amy, Jasmine, and Amber. They were all sitting on the bed and touching Daniel in some small way. She sighed.

"I don't understand how you are the way you are. Witch circles are intrinsically bad. You can't start something good when you emotionally enslave someone against their will to your purpose. I put down the last two circles and ended a witch war. What you've seen here is only a small taste of the evil that used to exist in the Realm.

"It's like sinking in quicksand. First, it's just your feet and you think one little bad thing will only make me sink a little more. I can afford the cost. But little by little, you sink a little lower until you are up to your neck. At that point, you will do absolutely anything to not sink anymore. Anything, if it means saving your own life. You will do any deed at that point. Evil thrives then.

"You must avoid this at all costs. Stay true to yourselves. Love each other. And take care of that man. He's special."

Glenda looked long and hard at Daniel. "He's an enigma. For good or bad, I don't know. But I sense much good in him. See that he stays that way. I'm glad your circle is complete. Keep friends close to keep you grounded. Daniel will wake in the morning. He's perfectly fine, but his mind needs time to recover from the injury the body received. Be gentle with him for a bit. I would recommend waiting a time before you explain what happened here tonight to Daniel. He's under enough stress. But you must tell him. Eventually.

"Good night, ladies. See you in the morning."

⭐

Daniel woke. He was on his back and comfortable. He kept his eyes closed and waited to feel the pain return. Curiously, he felt nothing. He felt pleasantly rested.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes. He stared at a white ceiling, not recognising it. He turned his head and saw Amy sitting in a chair next to his bed, asleep. He felt the weight on his left side and saw Jasmine lying beside him, her arm draped across his chest. He expected to feel pain from his wound, but he felt nothing. He felt normal. He looked around and saw he was in the infirmary.

Judging from the light outside the nearby window, it was morning. Jasmine was making a soft whistling sound through her nose as she slept. To Daniel, she looked beautiful. So did Amy. He hadn't expected to waken. The strike from the sword had been a mortal one. He should be dead, he figured.

But they healed me, didn't they? All of them at once.

He heard a door open nearby, and he looked up. Grace stepped into the room with Glenda beside her. She saw he was awake, and a smile splashed across her face. For a moment, Daniel was lost in her beauty. Grace had that effect on him.

"Awake, I see! Good. Time to get out of that bed. Amy, Jasmine. Wake up. Daniel's awake!"

Amy and Jasmine stirred. They blinked groggily and then spied Daniel looking at them with that little smile on his face they loved. They squealed and were all over him. Kisses landed all over his face, and he spluttered and pushed at them.

"Stop it!" he complained, but they only laughed and continued the assault.

"We thought you were going to die," declared Jasmine. Her hand shot under the thin sheet over him and found his cock with a precision born of repeated exposure and access.

Amy's hand joined hers and Daniel groaned as two hands worked on his hardening cock. He looked at Grace and Glenda through the few windows of sight the girls allowed while kissing him.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Grace sat where Amy had been. "Amy and Jasmine. Let up. Let him speak."

Amy and Jasmine continued to kiss him and stroke his cock. "No!" declared Jasmine. "We almost lost him!"

Glenda placed a hand on Jasmine and Amy and muttered something. Through the bond of the circle, Daniel could sense she had what he had done after the orgy. Glenda's spell was more subtle, but equally effective. It was like a cold shower over all of them. Amy and Jasmine gasped and sat up, stopping their actions.

"What the fuck was that?" asked Amy, looking angrily at Glenda.

Grace laughed. "A dose of cold water to calm you down. There'll be time enough for that later. We need to talk."

"What about?" said Amber, walking in with Bitty in tow. "Daniel! You're awake! How do you feel?"

"Um, well, actually. Really good. I was stabbed, wasn't I? Big sword in the chest? How am I alive?"

Amber sat on the bed beside Daniel and took one of his hands in hers. She held it tightly and through the bond, he could feel her concern for him. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"You're alive," explained Glenda. "Because your circle kept you alive. That was an extraordinary display of healing magic. Amy was the focus, but once they all saw how to help, they did. I've never witches work so closely before. It requires a massive amount of trust."

"Wow," said Daniel, and sent a feeling of warmth through the circle bond and smiled at them.

"Grace is the new headmaster!" squealed Jasmine with happiness. She grinned at Grace.

"Thanks for spoiling that little announcement, but yes, I am, but only for a short time. Until the King can find a suitable replacement for Quinten."

"What happened to him?" asked Daniel.

"He's run off somewhere. Loki is helping him and covering his tracks. He'll show up eventually and I'll put him down," declared Grace. "I can't believe all this time he was working for Loki."

"The Trickster."

"Yes, the very same. We all knew something strange was going on with Quinten, but he did all the normal paladin things. Like helping people. But always there were doubts. People looked at him in strange ways, not knowing why they did. It was because of Loki. He can't truly hide himself away, but he came close. Who knows what harm he has done or why. I've called for a complete audit of the school. Johnson is leading it. He's thrilled right now. Poor man.

"I have dropped all charges against you. I ruled against Duke Garcia. He wasn't happy despite him having used those same rules for his own gain in the past. He's a hypocrite and gone from the school for now. But I should warn you all, he's capable of a great many things. He has power and the money to make things happen."

Daniel thought about that. There was nothing he or they could do for now. He would have to be ready when the duke came back knocking. "I understand. Anything else we should know?"

Glenda was stroking Jasmine's hair. She looked at him. "You have a power inside you. It shouldn't be there. You almost lost control of it when you were dying. Did you feel it?"

Daniel thought and then remembered. "A burning feeling. It wanted free. I almost let it go."

"You were about to, actually. So I knocked you out. I've kept you unconscious until now. You needed to sleep after all that healing. The body may be healed but the mind will always carry scars."

"What was this power? Where'd it come from?"

Grace answered with a soft voice. "We're pretty sure it's the Phoenix."

"The Phoenix? How?"

"We're still trying to figure that out. Pieces are missing. But Glenda and I agree that the power we saw rising in you was the power of the Phoenix. The female Phoenix."

"I thought the Phoenix was just the one."

"No, there are two. Male and female. They mate to complete their life cycles. We think something is going on with them. Someone or something has been interfering with that. But we've no details."

"Like whom? And why?"

Grace glared at him. "I just fucking told you we don't know. Yet."

Glenda looked between Grace and Daniel. "Easy, you two. Daniel, all we know is that we suspect you have some of the essence of the Phoenix in you. I think it's the female Phoenix. It would explain a lot."

"Like what?"

"Why you ooze sexuality. The Phoenix is a very sexual animal. It lives in the passion of sex and fire. You have both in case you hadn't noticed."

"It can't be the male?"

"No. If it was, you would be killing everyone who even looked at your women. Without hesitation. The male Phoenix lives off dominance, aggression, and death. He makes for a perfect mate for the female. Some say that together they cancel each other out. But it's more than that, I'm sure."

Daniel was more confused than ever. "So what now?"

Fifteen

AFTER A LOUD knock on the door to the suite, Bitty opened it and Grace and Jennifer walked in to find Daniel and the ladies lounging on the couches in the main living room. They rose and exchanged hugs and kisses. Daniel found that Jennifer seemed very excited and kissed him passionately for a long moment.

Amy watched the exchange with a glint in her eyes. Her eyes roamed over Jennifer's sculpted body. Her arms were muscled, but in a good way to Amy's eyes. Strong but feminine. She caught Jasmine smiling mischievously at her and stuck her tongue out at her.

"What?" laughed Amy. "She's gorgeous!"

Jennifer narrowed her eyes at Amy. "Are you talking about me?"

Amy smiled larger and sidled up to the blonde paladin of Syn. Her arm snaked around the armour at her narrow waist and pulled her in closer until her breasts mashed up against her plate mail. "So hard and soft," murmured Amy and pressed her lips against Jennifer's.

Jennifer, a devote follower of Syn, kissed her back and probed her tongue until it slipped past Amy's lips and found her tongue waiting. They kissed for a time, the room watching.

Jennifer could feel the heat in the room, but now that she knew the likely source, her eyes slanted sideways to observe Daniel. He was watching. He liked to watch, she knew, and she kissed Amy more ardently and grinned into Amy's eager little mouth at his reaction. He approved, and that set her heart to flutter a little more.

As a follower of Syn and as her champion and paladin, Jennifer knew her calling was to seek justice and spread her love of the world. Her calling from Syn had brought her here to this moment. Before, the calling had been merely to help this circle find it's strength and to bring Amber into the fold. When that task had finished, she had been sent south.