(Continued from Ch 60, Baladus)

The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 61, The Fallen Angel


Charles Norwit marveled at the mosaics and objects of
art adorning the walls of the grand foyer of Jordell
Manor.  Every few minutes another couple arrived at the
post-tournament ball and a herald announced them amidst
a fanfare of trumpets.  Charles had arrived alone
because his date, Bernadine Belgado, was helping Lord
Jordell with the preparations for the ball.  Often
Belgado came to these affairs with Jordell, but this
time he knew Lord Jordell was inviting someone else,
thus it had been Charles' chance to invite Belgado.  No
sane man would pass up that kind of opportunity.
Belgado was one of the three beauties of Vargrend's.

The trumpet fanfare once again interrupted conversation
in the room. "Announcing Lord George Gransward and Lady
Bianca Bristol," The Harold shouted.  Charles smiled
suavely in spite of the way Gransward practically
glared at him from across the room. Charles could hear
Lord Jordell greeting the new arrivals.

"Lady Bristol, Lord Gransward, Welcome to Jordell
Manor.  It is so marvelous to see you tonight.  The
banquet will begin in a quarter hour.  We have just a
few more arrivals and then the servants will open the
dining hall and we will begin the first course."

"Thank you Lord Jordell.  I apologize for being short
with you at breakfast this morning," Gransward said.

"There is no need to worry about that, Lord Gransward,
nor should Lady Bristol worry about that slight at the
rankings ball.  Tonight is about fun.  We must all wipe
the slate clean of petty slights.  Our king needs all
of his vassals to work together like a well-oiled team,
otherwise what good would we be to him in times of
war?" Jordell smiled gaily.

"You are right Lord Jordell and thank you for being so
magnanimous," Gransward said.

"It is nothing.  Please enjoy the ball." Jamie Jordell
smiled sweetly.

About fifteen minutes later Jordell strolled to the
foot of the richly carpeted stairs that led to the
balcony overlooking the crowded foyer. Suddenly the
music of harps filled the air as musicians positioned
above on the balcony began to play.  An elaborate horn
fanfare was added to the music of the harps and a small
chorus sang a hymn about angels, the servants and
messengers of the gods.  Bellany appeared at the top of
the staircase from a second floor hallway and slowly
walked down the steps clad in a gown of sumptuous
autumn red brocade with angelic silver accents.  The
sparkle of diamonds and rubies set in platinum added
fire to her breathtaking ensemble.  The flattering
lines and sumptuous décolletage marked the dress as
something Jordell had a designer create for her rather
than anything her mother would have approved of.

Bellany blushed and held back a sneeze as a score of
delicious tingling waves of sensation permeated her
body.  It had been far too long since she had felt so
much lust. It caressed her like a long lost lover.  Her
body responded, resonating in its element and
accentuating the gawks and robust inhalations of the
assembled guests.

At first, Bianca Bristol stared at Bellany in utter
shock and then after a brief moment of jealousy she
turned to Lord Jordell.  Her face was the image of
rage.  Jordell met her anger with a gay smile.  A smile
that told her she had got exactly what she deserved for
slighting him.

Bellany was not sure if Jordell's primary reason for
helping her was to curry her favor or if he was just
using her to get back at Bianca Bristol for deciding
that it was her job to determine with whom Lord Jordell
could speak at the ratings ball. He might also be
getting back at George Gransward for his slight at
breakfast.  Yet Jordell had certainly planned the ball
long before this morning.  He might simply have given
Gransward enough rope to hang himself with because
Jordell had already known what was going to be
happening at the ball.

There were quite a number of people Jamie Jordell might
have talked to who wished to see the snub broken;
practically all of them were men.  He could have made
each of them feel that he was doing them a personal
favor.  Bellany smiled.  She knew Jordell fancied her
brother and Charles would be one of the major social
debtors.  After all, he was a member of her family who
had earlier solicited Carnarvon's aid in helping
Bellany reenter society.  Perhaps Carnarvon had talked
to Jordell because he wanted to be able to see Bellany
socially and only a man who outranked Bristol could
remedy the social situation.  That probably also went
for some of the other emerald men since Bellany could
not seem to resist tugging at their lusts.



Jamie also secretly fancied women as he did men and had
curried favor with her.  If Bernadine wished to see
Bellany socially then perhaps he was doing her a favor
as well.  Thus most of the young noblemen at Bristol's
Academy and two of the most beautiful women at
Vargrend's Academy now owed Lord Jordell a favor.  The
cost to Jordell would be little since Bristol and
Gransward could not afford strong retaliation when it
was obvious that Jordell was punishing them for social
slights that everyone knew about.  Jordell could also
easily take the high ground and admonish them that the
king's vassals must work together and at all times set
aside their differences for the common good.  Jordell
did stand to lose favor with the Bristols, but since
Red Jack was already attacking the Avengenes, the
Bristols could make no serious claim that the Jordells
were against them.  Bellany smirked.  It stood to
reason that Red Jack was an estranged Jordell.  Cunning
seemed to run in the family.  After stepping off the
final stair, Bellany took Lord Jordell's proffered arm.


"Does it not astonish how stunning she looks in a real
dress?" Jordel asked loudly enough for everyone to
hear.

There was a hum of assent from the other guests and
then someone started to applaud.  It proved infectious.
Soon most of the people in the room were clapping.

In a hushed voice Jamie whispered, "This dress makes
Bristol's garment look like a burlap sack." Without
missing a beat he continued in a loud conversational
volume as the applause died down, "By the way, I am
impounding that eyesore of a dress you arrived in, Lady
Norwit.  It was a crime against fashion."

Bellany giggled.

Lord Jordell led Bellany to the dining hall to begin
the banquet.

As they walked, Jordell whispered in Bellany's ear.
"The look on Bristol's face is priceless. If the cloud
above her head gets any darker, we will have rain.
Bianca is a beautiful woman but she does not have the
sort of figure that turns men into drooling idiots.
You do." Jordell smiled.

"Way to go, Lord Jordell," Carnarvon whispered into the
future count's ear as he passed.  Saint Varlans added,
"Great fashion sense Lord Jordell."

It was surprising how many claps on the shoulder and
whispered words of praise or gratitude Jordell got
about Bellany as the young men filed by.  With the
exception of Bernadine Belgado, the women did not seem
very pleased with Lord Jordell and many gave him stony
expressions or turned up their noses as if he were a
sell-out.  Jordell seemed to think this was funny.

"Isn't it delicious when scorn becomes tainted with
envy?" Jordell said breathlessly and quietly enough
that the nearest chaperone did not hear it. "Perhaps
you can turn them all into bad girls."

Bellany was seated near the head of the table on
Jordell's right.  Bernadine Belgado sat on his left
with Charles on her left. Bristol sat close to the foot
of the table next to Mayor Eagan's wife who was acting
as the chief chaperone.  Most of the other chaperones
were eating at a separate table while Mrs. Eagan and a
chosen few monitored the conversations of the many
young ladies, lords and athletes who sat between her
and Lord Jordell.  Bellany noticed that the seating
arrangements were such that they kept the various
allies of Avengene and Bristol apart so that divisive
politics would not be discussed.

Once everyone was seated, Jordell stood with his glass
of wine in hand.  "Welcome Ladies, Lords and Gentlemen.
I would like to propose a toast to the king and to the
unity and solidarity of his vassals."

"To the King and to the unity and solidarity of his
vassals," the assembled ladies and gentlemen intoned
before drinking from their cups.

Bellany noticed a scowl on Bristol's face, but she
drank the toast just the same.  It stood to reason that
a future Count such as Lord Jordell would be interested
in keeping the barons from bickering.  Yet Bellany
doubted that Jordell would have raised a finger had she
not proved interesting to him and had the young emerald
men not wished her free for social interaction.

"Lady Bellany, I do not think you have met my sister,
Lady Larissa Jordell.  Lady Jordell, Lady Norwit."

"Pleased to meet you Lady Jordell," Bellany said.

"It is good to see you, Lady Norwit.  James says you
are not at all like a vindicator girl is supposed to
be.  It was not right for Bristol to keep you away from
the other peers.  This feud between Avengene and
Bristol is not your fault."

"Thank you Lady Jordell.  I used to be a walking
vindicator stereotype, but I was forced to grow up.
Grrsh rrr G'ugflieche!"

"Grrsh rrr G'ugflieche?" Lady Jordell asked.

"It is orcish.  The literal translation is, 'work or
stew meat.'  Those are your two options as a slave of
the orcs.  If your value as meat exceeds your value as
a worker then you become dinner."

"How barbaric," Lady Jordell said.

"They have a certain brutal efficiency.  Orcs eat prim,
proper, chaste, and naïve vindicator girls stewed with
potatoes," Bellany said.

"That sounds like a tolerable dish," Saint Varlans
broke in in a hushed voice.

The smile Bellany gave him should have brought the
entire table full of chaperones to their feet, but the
comment was spoken too softly and the chaperones missed
Bellany's reaction.  Saint Varlans feigned wiping sweat
from his brow and chuckled.

Dinner conversation centered on the events of the
tournaments.  The peers of the realm had done well as
usual, but there were many nuances to discuss including
Steefl's saving performance at the jousts and "Bulls-
eye Norwit's" come from behind victories in the
crossbow events.

After several delicious courses the meal ended and the
diners retired upstairs to the ballroom.  The ballroom
was elegant and had a smooth hardwood dance floor.
Lord Jordell started the dancing off with Bellany in
the center of the room.  Thanks to her training with
Guardian Thane, her concurrent enrollment in ballroom
dancing and ballet, and a rehearsal with Lord Jordell
earlier in the evening, Bellany danced with the grace
and strength of an athlete.  The lust directed at her
was more than a little distracting especially
considering the memories it brought back from Red
Jack's camp.  Bellany was relieved to be out of the
spotlight once the other couples joined the dance in
the middle of the number.

The first part of the evening coursed to its finish on
the wings of lust.  The emerald men asked her to dance
with a vengeance.  She did not need to make any excuses
in order to drink sparingly so as to preserve her
secrets and it was a lucky thing.  Being in such close
proximity to so many young men was more difficult for
her than she would have imagined possible.  Her body
was mad for them and she had to attend what she was
doing every second or she might have focused the power
of her flaming lust and caused something the chaperones
would not approve of.  She had to keep everything
subtle.  Thankfully she was getting a lot of exercise
and the looks of scorn and envy directed at her by many
of the ladies kept her on the defensive.

There seemed to be a conspiracy afoot to keep her on
the dance floor for the entire evening.  Jordell was a
brilliant dancer but he and Bradley Bostwick were also
the most voracious drinkers of the group.  Thus Jordell
did not keep her all to himself.  If he had, there
would have been no time for him to drink.  It felt good
to be a part of the dance rather than just a spectator
as she had been at the ratings ball.  Mary waved or
gave her the eye every time she danced by on the arm of
Abraham Steefl or one of the other men.  Bellany smiled
as she felt the caress of Mary's lust and remembered
what Mary had said after the last ball.

When the orchestra took its break most of the dancing
couples went to the tables that held refreshments.
Charles came over with Bernadine, and Abraham Steefl
with Mary.

"Ladies, there are a number of suites open for you to
freshen up in downstairs on the north side of the
second floor.  The men have a similar area on the south
side of the manor," Lord Jordell announced.

Bellany could tell that Lord Jordell was a little
tipsy.  Charles and Lawrence Eagan were not entirely
sober either but they were still acting fairly
straight.

"Bellany it seems like you have not left the dance
floor all evening," Mary said.  "Aren't you exhausted?"

"No, it has been wonderful.  Instead of no one asking
me to dance, everyone but George Gransward, Bart
Blaxton and a few others have asked me out on the
floor.  Maxwell and the visiting athletes from the
academy of the Rose alone could keep me busy."

"Oh believe me honey; they all want to do more than
dance," Jamie said.  "I have been watching you."

"That dress is rather flattering.  It must be worth a
fortune," Mary said.

"If you want something done right, you pay whatever it
costs," Jordell said.

"That's easy for you to say, Lord Jordell," Mary said.

"Yes, it is." Jordell smiled.  "I could not possibly
have stood seeing Lady Norwit in one of those
vindicator rags all evening.  If all the young men are
going to be staring at my date, the least I can do is
get her a dress that flatters her figure rather than
trying to hide it.  It is all in the cut.  It is no
more risqué than what Bristol is wearing, yet it looks
so much better, don't you agree?"

"It is not just the dress, Lord Jordell, it is the
jewelry.  How are the other ladies supposed to compete
with that?"  Gransward piped in as she took
refreshment.

Jordell smiled.  "Lady Norwit is my date, Glenda.
Isn't the whole point that none of the other ladies can
possibly compete?"

"But it's not fair she is..." Glenda Gransward
stammered.

"A fallen angel?" Jordell asked.

"Well yes but that was not the word I would have used,"
Gransward scoffed.

"I happen to be partial to naughty people; after all, I
do have a certain reputation myself," Jordell said.

"That orc whore has no business being at this ball,"
Bianca Bristol cut in.

"You think she is a whore but you really have no idea
what makes a woman a whore, do you Bianca?" Jordell
said.

"I do so," Bristol said.

"You think naughty girls are whores but the truth is
that greedy girls are," Jordell said.  "Just because
she is the child of Evangeline's little sister does not
mean she set his church against yours.  You already
know she had nothing to do with that.  Lady Norwit is a
victim of war with orcs that would be on your doorstep
was it not for Lord Avengene.  No one says you have to
invite her over for tea, but starting now you and your
friends will mind your manners in her presence."

"I will not include that... _person_ in my social
group," Bianca Bristol sneered.

"Just be civil.  I am not so arrogant as to presume to
decide with whom you may socialize," Jamie said sweetly
as he made an oblique yet cutting reference to Bianca's
tantrum at the ratings ball.

Bianca flinched.  She had overstepped her bounds and
she knew it.  "Excuse me, I must freshen up," Bristol
said as she left.

"That sounds like a good idea.  I will see you later
Glenda, Bellany, Bernadine, Charles, Mary and
everyone," Jordell said as he too left the ballroom.

Mary took Bellany's hand.  "Shall we freshen up?"


"This way, ladies," Bernadine Belgado said as Charles
left her to follow Jordell.  A few minutes later, the
ladies passed the chaperones that blocked the second
floor hallway so that no men could pass.

"Mary, we will use one of the suites at this end of the
hall.  Bellany, as Jamie's date you have use of the
Princess suite down here at the end of the hallway."
Belgado led the way to the end of the hall and then
took a key from a pocket in her dress and opened the
door for Bellany.  As Bellany went in, Belgado handed
her the key.

Bellany locked the door behind her and went through the
sitting room and into the bathroom.  The fixtures were
amazing.  Bellany imagined that the entire mansion must
have plumbing.  After freshening up she left the
bathroom to look at the rest of the suite.  James
Jordell winked at Bellany as she peeked into the
bedroom.

Bellany's mouth opened in surprise.  "Jamie, how did
you get in here?" She asked, as she curbed the lust
that was threatening to engulf Jordell.

"Oh those chaperones are only human. A bit of
misdirection and you can fool them all," Jordell said,
raising his glass.  "I can disappear if you like."

Bellany smiled as she caressed Jordell's lust.
"Disappear?  Where is the fun in that?" Bellany asked
coming to the bed to sit down next to the young lord.

"You cannot possibly be this bad," Jordell said in
disbelief.

"You are right.  It is not possible that I could go
insane for men after having been locked up in
Vargrend's." Bellany smiled.

"What about Mary?  Doesn't she keep you happy?" Jordell
asked.

"Mary is too much the vindicator girl to have succumbed
to her desires," Bellany said.

"Oh how unfortunate.  I see how she looks at you.  She
practically swoons," Jordell said.

Bellany giggled.  "She tries to play the good
vindicator girl even though she is entirely wrong for
the part.  I have not pushed things because she is not
naturally naughty and I am afraid the guilt would get
to her and soon I might as well be sleeping with
reverend Leland."

"I propositioned reverend Leland once last year.  Even
in private he is so obnoxious with his sermonizing,"
Lord Jordell said wrinkling his nose.

Bellany vibrated with laughter picturing Lord Jordell
propositioning reverend Leland.  "Do you get the
feeling that his soul was yanked out and replaced by a
sheaf of sermons?"



"I know what you mean.  I am not sure where the man in
that man went.  If you ask me it is just not natural,"
Jordell said.  "Anyhow I am on a mission from the other
side of the house.  If I am to believe certain young
lords you have expressed interest in accompanying the
men on weekend rides, fireside gatherings and all
manner of other forbidden outings without benefit of a
chaperone.  They seldom invite me to such things but I
have noticed that has changed lately.  I think they
have ulterior motives.  This year I seem to be the only
one who has both a sister and a lady friend that I can
get to bend the rules.  Is there any truth to what I
have been told concerning the outings?" Jordell asked.

"Yes, both of the things you mentioned are true."
Bellany nodded.

"Heavens where is your pride?" Jordell squealed.

"It would be silly for me to take pride in my virtue
with men.  That is a lost cause if ever there was one,"
Bellany rolled her eyes.  "My pride has flown from such
girlish fancies.  I take pride in real things now."

"Real things, how novel," Jordell said.  "What sort of
real things?"

Bellany thought for a moment.  She could not talk about
magic.  She would just have to name her lesser
interests.  "I enjoy my art enrichment class,
especially now that we are finally starting to draw
people.  Like you I take pride in my skill with the
rapier.  I also miss practicing with the longbow.  Oh
gods but most of all I miss my pony.  He is so sweet,"
Bellany said as many fond memories of Starstruck filled
her mind.

"Your pony?" Jordell asked.

"Well he is not really mine.  I wish he were.  He is my
father's best horse and our only stallion, a black
Andalusian.  He is so beautiful."

"Gods Lady Norwit, it sounds as if you are describing a
long lost lover," Jordell accused.

Bellany tried not to look like the cat that had
swallowed the canary.  "I am very attached to him.  He
was the key motivator for my recovery from my wounds.
I spent all spring exercising madly so that I would be
strong enough to ride him and then I spent practically
the whole summer on his back."

"Oh how sweet.  I guess you can ride well enough then.
Can you really handle a rapier?" Jordell asked.

"Not like you can, but I am as good as Charles.  He
taught me over the summer."

"I have my doubts one summer would make you the equal
of Charles, but it would be easy enough to test your
skills.  You know I have a rapier trainer here at the
house.  No one wanted to be on the rapier team with me
this year so he trains only me.  Most of the time he
hasn't a thing to do," Jordell said.

Bellany practically salivated.

"Oh come now he would be wasted on you," Jordell
taunted.

"He would not!  I bet he is magnificent.  I could learn
so much from him," Bellany said.

"Of course you could.  He is a half elf and the finest
trainer money and influence can buy," Jamie said
smiling.  "Stop drooling dear," Jordell giggled.

"Oh sorry." Bellany blushed.

"After lunch tomorrow why don't you come by?  I would
like to find out if you really are as good as Charles.
I will get my sister, Larissa, to invite you to tour
the house so that you can discuss our art collection.
Make sure you ask her about as many artworks as you can
this evening, especially near chaperones."  Jordell
smiled.

Bellany nodded.  "I will."

"There, enough of business.  What do you think of
Maxwell, my opponent today at the tournament?  I
noticed you have danced with him three times," Jordell
asked.

Bellany smiled.  "He's dashing.  It is a shame he will
not be here for long."

"Oh it is.  If only I had more time to work on him,"
Jordell said.

Bellany giggled.  "You are so bad, Jamie."

"Oh yes I am.  I suppose we should get back to the
party.  You go first.  I cannot reveal my chaperone-
evading secrets," Jordell said.

"Alright, I will see you back at the party.  Thank you
Jamie," Bellany embraced Jordell and kissed him on the
cheek.  The act itself was innocent enough, but behind
it the ambient power of Bellany's lust was not.
Bellany smiled as she excused herself to return to the
party.  Jordell squealed and fanned himself as she
left.

The rest of the evening flew by on the dance floor.  It
seemed everyone wanted to dance with her.  She danced
with Lord Jordell whenever he had a mind to and she
made a point to accept whenever Abraham Steefl asked.
He had shown a great deal of honorable kindness to her
in less socially auspicious times and whether it was
just out of duty or not, the fact of the matter was
that Steefl had been there when she needed him most.
By the end of the evening, all of Charles' friends had
danced with her as had most of the opponents they had
faced in the day's tournament.

Periodically Bellany feigned fatigue and took a break
to question Larissa Jordell about objects of art.  Miss
Jordell was a knowledgeable hostess and Bellany
realized Jamie must already have asked her to help
since she had many of their conversations about art
near chaperones.  By the end of the evening, Larissa
and her surrogate parent, the steward of Jordell manor
had signed an invitation for Bellany to come to Jordell
manor after church the following morning for lunch and
an art tour.  The chaperones allowed only a kiss on the
hand as ladies parted from their dates to return to The
Vargrend Academy for Girls, but the squeeze Lord
Jordell gave her hand and the smile she gave him in
return promised that they would see one another again.
--------

There was something about pulling up to The Vargrend
Academy for Girls in the Jordell coach that made
Bellany feel powerful.  The size, speed and luxury of
the carriage certainly had an effect on one's
perspective.  Yet as Bellany stepped out into the
chilly night from the heated carriage, she wondered if
the looks of envious scorn were any better than the
looks of ordinary scorn she had previously suffered
from the other ladies.  Somehow the looks she used to
get seemed a little less venomous.  Formerly she was
despised only as an impotent icon of despoiled virtue,
whereas now she seemed to be despised as an unfair
competitor who might make it more difficult for
politically motivated ladies to maneuver their
gentleman of choice into marriage.

The allure of a woman of The Vargrend Academy was
largely just a pedigree, a pretty face and the promise
of what might come after marriage.  Bellany's allure
was not a promise but a fact that manifested in her
demeanor.  It was a deceptively powerful undercurrent
to which the young men reacted.  She had sexual
knowledge and volition that the other girls lacked and
she was comfortable with what she was even if they were
not.  She decided to smile at the scornful looks just
as her brother seemed to be able to smile when George
Gransward was glaring at him.

Bellany walked down the steps that folded down to the
ground from the luxurious Jordell coach.  Her warm
breath was visible in the chill night air as she spoke,
"Thank you Coachman.  I did not catch your name."

"It is Coachman Stevens, milady Norwit."

"Thank you Coachman Stevens, it was quite a treat to
ride in such luxury."

"It was my pleasure to bear you hither, milady."

"My roommate and her date should be along shortly.  I
see they have already come through the outer gate of
the courtyard.  I will linger here in front of the
inner gate to meet them."

"Very good Milady, I hope you had a pleasant evening."

"I surely did.  Thank you again Coachman Stevens.
Farewell."

"Farewell Milady." The coachman tipped his hat and
smiled broadly before climbing back into the driver's
seat, pulling a lever to retract the steps and setting
the eight matched horses into motion.

After a minute Charles arrived in the Patel Coach with
Mary Duffy, Abraham Steefl, Deborah Hartmoor and Paul
Patel.

Charles was riding with the driver.  When the coach
stopped he jumped to the ground a little unsteadily and
held Bellany's hand aloft. "Belle of the Ball!" he
shouted.

Bellany giggled.  She could tell Charles was definitely
feeling no pain. "Shhh, there are girls inside
sleeping, but thank you so much Charles."


"No really Belle you were the Belle, Jordell really did
it up brown," Charles said.

Bellany smirked.

"Gods grant me the wisdom to sneak just one past her
for old time's sake!" Charles begged as he tilted his
head back to speak to the heavens.

Bellany giggled.

"I know they were complimenting you Belle, because
practically every man there came and complimented me on
your beauty.  I think I got more compliments on your
beauty than I did on my victory with the crossbow and I
am not even you."

Bellany giggled.  "Even though you are not me?" Bellany
asked.

"Yes even though I am not you, they were kissing up,"
Charles chuckled. "Do you get to keep that dress?"

"Yes, Jamie had it made specifically for me.  I doubt
it would fit anyone else."

"Gods, mom would die.  But you know the great thing
about it is she could not throw that dress out because
she would be looking the gift horse of a count in the
teeth and she knows better." Charles grinned a bit
drunkenly.  "I see you have lost your jewels.  It is a
pity James did not let you keep them," Charles said.

"Diamonds and rubies set in platinum?  Yes I think if I
had been allowed to keep them I would have been able to
buy myself a nice little barony to settle down in,"
Bellany said.

"Hah! No kidding," Charles said.

At that point Abraham Steefl and Mary Duffy came to
stand with Bellany and Charles.  Deborah Heartmoor and
Paul Patel came out of the coach to say goodbye.

"Deb, come here and meet my sister."  Charles grabbed
Deborah Heartmoor's hand and towed her over to Bellany.
"Now I know you put a great deal of stock in virtue but
there is nothing Belle can do about the orcs.  It's
war!  The pussycat is out of the bag.  Deb, you are an
important member of the Avengene -Li'Yieraun - Hartmoor
alliance.  Belle is a granddaughter of Avengene.  You
two have to get along better.  Now make up," Charles
said.

Bellany whispered in Deborah's ear as she briefly
embraced the young noblewoman, "Please forgive Charles;
he has had too much to drink.  I understand that you
need to distance yourself from me socially because of
my conspicuous lack of virtue.  I will be there to
watch your back if the weather turns rough," Bellany
said.  She could not resist tingling the poor girl's
ambient lust just a bit.

Hartmoor nodded, "It is a pleasure to meet you Lady
Norwit.  You really are very beautiful and that dress
was the envy of every lady at the ball."

"Thank you Lady Hartmoor," Bellany said.

"Very good!  That is much better! It is very important
that you two get along!" His first task completed,
Charles turned "Goodnight Abe and Mary.  I will see you
at Church in a few hours.  Goodnight Bellany."  Charles
raised his sister's hand once again.  "Belle of the
Ball!" He shouted and then climbed back up next to the
driver of the Patel carriage.

Bellany shook her head and rolled her eyes.  "Good
night Charles."

"G'night Belle," Charles said.

Paul Patel took Bellany's hand and kissed it.  "Lady
Hartmoor was quite right.  James truly outdid himself
and the combination of his fashion sense and your
figure was devastating. Goodnight Lady Norwit."

"Thank you Paul. Goodnight."

Abraham Steefl stepped forward and kissed Bellany's
hand.  "It is good to see you have broken out of
Bristol's social prison, milady Norwit."


"Thank you Sir Knight, you honor me with your
presence." Bellany briefly embraced the knight.
"Goodnight Abraham," She whispered in his ear before
stepping back.

Abraham bowed, "Goodnight milady Bellany."
-------

Mary led the way through the inner gate and into The
Vargrend Academy for girls. The hall monitor was on
hand to greet them.

"Quiet ladies," the hall monitor said.

Bellany nodded, slipped her shoes off and ran up the
stairs after Mary.

The hall monitor shook her head as she watched Bellany
running without shoes in a dress that surely must have
cost what the monitor made in a year.

Mary opened the door and the two girls went in.

"You look so beautiful, Bellany.  I am so happy Lord
Jordell let you come to his ball," Mary whispered,
beaming with happiness as she closed the door behind
them.

"Thank you Mary," Bellany whispered.

"Let me help you out of your dress.  We have to hang it
carefully.  It is much too valuable just to toss in the
closet," Mary whispered.  In spite of the chill air,
Mary's hands were quite warm.  Her face was flushed.

"Oh gods it is nippy," Bellany whispered as she jumped
into her nightgown and robe as Mary put her dress away.

"This is nothing," Mary whispered.  "Wait until winter.
It will be this bad in spite of a fire in the stove."

Bellany helped Mary get out of her dress.  It was
another of Bellany's dresses that Bellany had given
Mary permission to alter.  The vindicator fashions
suited Mary much better.


Mary smiled and whispered, "Honestly Bellany you are a
lady, you should not be helping me with my dress."

"Why not, you helped me with mine," Bellany said.

Mary took Bellany in her arms and kissed her.

"What was that for?" Bellany asked, blushing.


"Just for being so sweet," Mary said.  "You are never
high and haughty like some of the other noble ladies.
I cannot tell you how fond I have grown of you.  I have
had friends before but you are so..."

"Distracting?" Bellany giggled softly

"Yes, distracting.  Yet even though you know how you
affect me you have never tried to seduce me.  You have
always respected my faith," Mary said.

Bellany nodded.  "Your faith is not mine to abridge,
Mary.  I would gladly do more than snuggle you, but the
bed would get a little crowded with reverend Leland and
Headmistress Vargrend in it.  Besides, neither one of
them is my type," Bellany whispered.

Mary giggled softly.

"Even if you started something they would surely blame
me for seducing you," Bellany said.  "That's just
another reason why I cannot be the one to start
anything.  If I am going to be blamed anyway at least I
can retain some shred of self-respect by knowing they
are wrong.  I am sorry I am so tempting.  I know
entirely too much," Bellany said.

"I can tell, and seeing you at the ball I realized that
every man could tell the same.  I overheard Charles at
breakfast yesterday saying you were tired from those
late nights contemplating purity and chastity with me.
Some of the young men I danced with knew I was your
roommate and said that they envied me.  Does everyone
think we... um," Mary's whisper trailed off.

"I guess many of them do.  Jamie said he saw the way
you looked at me and I could tell he assumed things
until I set him straight as to your innocence.  He
certainly knew better than to believe I had any in that
area."  Bellany smiled.

"Have you ah... with Jordell?  I thought he only liked
men."

"I haven't, and I could not tell you even if I had
since you are obliged to report to Headmistress
Vargrend.  For your own sanity you should just assume I
have been with every man you see.  I have explained my
nature to you before and the last thing I want is for
you to get jealous even though you are not doing
anything naughty with me.  That would be the worst of
both worlds," Bellany whispered.

"Oh gods, Bellany, after seeing the longing in the eyes
so many men as they danced with you tonight I could not
stop thinking how unlikely it was that any of them
would ever sleep with you even once and I sleep with
you whenever it is cold.  How can I feel nothing?  When
I look at you I am like every one of those men."

Bellany rolled her eyes.  "I wish I could help you
Mary," She whispered.  "I am sure reverend Leland would
talk to Headmistress Vargrend on your behalf if it is
too much torture for you to be around me.  I would miss
you if you decided to move to a room with less tempting
roommates but I do not wish to torture you."  Bellany
slipped into bed.

Mary slipped in beside Bellany and snuggled against
her.  She whispered in Bellany's ear, "Living away from
you would be an even greater torture.  Every time I saw
you there would be such regret.  To have let you go
after having been this close... I could not bear it."

Mary kissed Bellany deeply, her hands exploring her
roommate's curves.  Bellany was nearly overcome with
desire.  Although she responded she tried not to
initiate.  Eventually she decided it was okay to do
whatever Mary had already started.  After perhaps an
hour of kissing and touching Mary entwined herself with
Bellany and fell asleep.

_Only a virgin could go that far but no further._
Bellany sighed. She tried to sleep but she could not.
Instead she reached for the book she had told Mary was
a book of poems and philosophical thoughts.  It was
really full of spells and casting notes copied from
Baladus' spellbook but she certainly could not have
told Mary that.  Since it was in her own personal code,
Bellany could easily pretend it was something other
than a spellbook.  She needed light but she did not
want to use her bluelight spell for fear Mary might
wake up and see.  She checked Mary's breathing before
easing her extra pillow over her roommate's eyes.

Bellany decided it was time to get her Firefinger
Cantrip to work.  It was a minor spell that Baladus did
not have.  She had once been able to cast it, much to
Guardian Thane's delight since he had never been able
to get it to work.  It might have been better if she
could have done more than speak the words of the spell
in a breathy whisper but she reasoned that developing
quiet casting techniques would be quite useful to her.
Now was as good a time as any to begin to develop them.
She knew she could cast the Firefinger Cantrip.  She
just needed to work out a few details. It was maddening
and took more than two hours but at last she recalled
the casting correctly.  With the first successful
casting she lit the candle by her nightstand.  After
getting the spell to work she untangled herself from
Mary and went to the desk where she carefully coded the
verbal and somatic components along with the casting
notes into her spellbook.  Satisfied, she returned to
her bed and fell asleep with Mary beside her.
-------

The next morning at church, Bellany worried her way
through a boring sermon on duty and family.  She was to
make an appearance at Jordell Manor after noon but she
had little time to nap before having to make her
appearance.  There was no question that she was tired
from the ball.  She had a plan she hoped would help
with that.  She slipped out just after the service and
raced across the courtyard to the stables.

In the back corner stall she attempted to cast her
drain spell on the stalwart old gelding that was housed
there.  The first four castings failed but she found
success on the fifth casting.  The horse would surely
have kicked her had she not been beside him.  His ears
laid back and he snorted loudly as she used the drain.
She was confused that he did not have the usual
reaction that males had to her drain spell but then
realized that he had been emasculated.  She apologized
softly and gave him an apple that she had saved from
breakfast.  This seemed to satisfy him somewhat but she
made a mental note that geldings were not the best
subjects for the Draining Touch spell.
-------

"Your basics are very good, Bellany, don't you think,
Trinidar?" Lord James Jordell said as he sparred with
Bellany.

"Yes Milord, the lady has harmony."

"Break!  Next I'll try some moves of intermediate
skill," Jordel said saluting Bellany with his rapier
before crossing blades with her once again.

This time it was all she could do to hold her own, but
she was not yet overwhelmed.  She knew the more skill
she exhibited, the more likely Jordell might spar with
her in the future and there was so much she could learn
from him.

"Very good!  I defeated Charles with that last move.  I
am beginning to believe that wild tale Charles told us
about the highwaymen," Jordell said as he continued to
engage Bellany.  She could tell she was outmatched but
she relished sparring with an expert.  Already she had
seen Jamie do a few things she had not witnessed in the
two matches she had seen him compete in.

"There, now on-guard for more advanced swordsmanship, I
will no longer hold back," Jordell admonished.

As they crossed blades, Bellany released the paltry
amount of reserves she had to enhance her alertness and
used every ounce of concentration and speed she could
muster just to keep ahead of Jordell's blade.  Her
techniques for fighting an overwhelming foe helped her
endure but she lasted scarcely three minutes before he
had scored thrice and finished the match.

Jordell looked at his trainer who checked his clock.
"Her time was three minutes, seven seconds, milord."

"Oh that was so impressive Sir Bellany.  I have fought
a few poor souls in tournaments who lasted under three
minutes even though they were the champions of their
schools.  It is so novel to see a lady who can truly
handle a blade, how marvelously gritty.  And I love
that sparring outfit the Jordell seamstress whipped up
for you too.  It makes you look so boyish, yet you
cannot possibly look boyish.  Did Charles say that your
father had you trained a bit more in the art of
swordsmanship after you were caught training under your
brother?"

"Yes, Daddy thought that since I already knew enough to
get in trouble I ought to know enough to get out of
it."

"How astute, I cannot imagine Lord Avengene being so
charitable with one of his daughters.  Your father must
be an extraordinary man."

"Daddy is a fair and honorable man and he has the
common sense that my mother utterly lacks.  I can see
why Lord Avengene made him a baronet."

"He was a commoner at birth that proved himself in
battle.  The knight whose command he saved sponsored
him as a squire, did he not?"  Jordell asked.

"Did he?" Bellany asked.  "I am sorry my memory was
destroyed at the same time as I was nearly killed by an
orc shaman's magic.  I usually do not remember anything
that happened before I was rescued this spring unless
someone refreshed my memory.  I guess Daddy's lineage
never came up," Bellany said.

"Charles said so and since he was honest about your
swordsmanship I see no reason why he would lie in order
to deflate his father's pedigree," Jordell said.
"Besides, even if he hadn't said, I am to be a count.
I am taught everyone's pedigree in order to know before
whom I must bow and scrape and before whom I may stick
my nose in the air."

Bellany giggled.  "Then it must be true.  No wonder
father has common sense and such a measure of
humility," Bellany said.

"Do you imagine Avengene gave Norwit his daughter's
hand as a reward for his heroism in battle?" Jordell
asked.

"I hope it was more romantic than that; but I see your
point.  It is odd that she would marry a self-made
knight and general," Bellany said.

"Sometimes a lady marries a promising commoner when she
is besmirched and can do no better.  You have said
yourself that no nobleman would have you.  Why do you
suppose your mother married below her station?" Jordell
asked.

"Goodness I have never thought about it and if I ever
knew the answer I lost the recollection to the hostile
magic that wrecked my memory," Bellany said.

"Perhaps your parents did not wish you to know, but it
is common knowledge among the peers that Lord Norwit is
not of noble birth.  Yet his children are grandchildren
of Lord Avengene by virtue of their mother.  Any
curious soul would wonder why Avengene allowed his
daughter Eleanor to marry Darl Norwit, who by birth is
nothing more than a gifted general."

"Now you have got me curious, Jamie.  Perhaps Charles
knows," Bellany said.

"Perhaps, but I have not asked him.  It just dawned on
me that you might be more like your mother than you
thought.  Do you think your father would give you
permission to train under Trinidar Leafwhisper?"
Jordell asked.

"Oh gods I wish.  Perhaps if I put it to him right he
would lend his endorsement," Bellany said.

"If you can secure his endorsement, you shall receive
instruction from my tutor as long as you do not mind me
butting in if I have a mind to.  I practice in the
morning until lunch.  I dine here or at school and then
take all of my classes in the afternoon.  That way I
can take advantage of the after-school hours for
socializing.  In the late afternoon after you finish
your last class, Trinidar would be free to see you."

Bellany nodded.

"I am afraid many of the boys who might have some
interest in the rapier are afraid of me and simply
don't apply themselves.  It's comical, they are more
afraid I will ravish them than you are." Jordell
giggled.

Bellany gave Jordell a lustful smile.

"Gods I should be afraid you will ravish me," Jordell
squealed.

Bellany smiled innocently but her smile soon turned
into a lusty smirk.

"My suspicion is that all the young men will want to
come over and watch you practice and that will enhance
my social life." Jordell smiled impishly.

"And mine," Bellany smiled.

"You hussy!" Jamie squealed.

-------

In a way Bellany was glad Jamie and the other athletes
were going away to a tournament in The Barony of
Carnarvon and after that to one in the Barony of
Jordell.  Otherwise she would have regretted not being
able to train under Leafwhisper.  Since he would be out
of town with Jamie she would not fret about it.

It was Monday evening and she was catching up with her
correspondence to her parents.  After she finished a
letter to her mother and father about the last
tournament and the wonderful ball afterwards, Bellany
wrote a letter to her father alone.

Monday, October 11, 724

Dear Daddy,

As you know from the other letter I went to my very
first real Ball last night at Jordell Manor, thanks to
Lord James Jordell.  I think Charles may have asked
Lord Jordell to help since Charles now knows all of the
top athletes at The Bristol Academy for Boys but I
cannot be certain.  I do know that only a future count
would have the social rank to reverse Bianca Bristol's
social stranglehold and reverse it he did.

As you probably know, the Jordells are extremely
wealthy and their manor on Emerald Lake is filled with
artwork.  Larissa Jordell invited me over for lunch and
an art tour after the ball since I had spent most of my
time on the dance floor during the ball and had been
able to view only a smattering of the works in Jordell
Manor.  It was quite a switch from the rankings ball
when no one would dance with me but noble Abraham
Steefl for fear of Bianca Bristol's wrath.

While the steward was hosting lunch for the Jordells
and me, the topic of swordsmanship arose because they
had heard about my part in the battle with the
highwaymen.  This tale has been the topic of persistent
rumor and Lord Jordell wanted to get to the bottom of
it.  I agreed to spar with him for a few minutes so
that he could put the rumor to rest.  Although I was no
match for him, he was impressed with my skill.

James Jordell is the head of The Bristol Academy's
rapier team.  He employs Trinidar Leafwhisper, one of
the finest rapier instructors in Clairmont.  Lord
Jordell has his lessons first thing in the morning and
then attends school during the afternoons.  Since there
are no other boys on the rapier team, he offered
Trinidar's services to me after school.  I practically
swooned at the chance and told him that I would love to
train under Leafwhisper but that I would have to get
your permission to do so.  To make matters even better,
Leafwhisper is a half elf who speaks elfish.  I
recently finished all of the books on orcish in the
library and have started on elfish.  If I were to learn
the art of the rapier under Leafwhisper I am sure I
could also learn to speak the language of his mother's
people.

I hope you will allow me to take advantage of this
opportunity to train under a true master of the rapier.
I would love the training and I have no wish to affront
the Jordells by refusing their offer when Lord Jordell
has just been gracious enough to risk himself in order
to break Bianca Bristol's unfair stranglehold on my
social life.  If you have any misgivings about the
Jordells, I am sure Charles can tell you more about
them. I realize Lord Avengene has his differences with
the Jordells but Larissa Jordell and Bernadine Belgado
of Rosehaven have been the only women of station to
treat me with kindness here at school.  I would love to
train under Leafwhisper.  It seems as if the
opportunity came right out of a fairytale, but I must
have your consent before I can take the Jordells up on
their incredible offer. Please send correspondence to
Jordell Manor letting them know if you would allow me
to take advantage of Leafwhisper's expertise.

School is actually getting a little boring.  Thus far
Headmaster Bristol has not got back to me about
mathematics.  I continue to dabble in it on my own.
The Trivium is still my most difficult course.
Headmistress Vargrend likes my command of grammar but
she still thinks my logic is narrow-minded.  My history
course is primarily an exercise in remembering the
books I read at the beginning of the term.  It is quite
easy for me.

My lessons playing the mandolin and the Lyre are going
along smoothly.  I remember the music easily enough and
do not practice as much as I should but my instructor
says I am one of the best sight-readers he has ever
worked with.  I know from you and mother that I knew
how to play both instruments before running afoul of
the orc shaman's spell.  I think it is probably easy
for me because I am actually just re-learning what he
is teaching me.

The ballet and ballroom dancing courses are a lot of
fun.  Headmistress Vargrend does not normally allow
girls to take two physically demanding electives but
most of the girls here at Vargrends do not exercise and
have no conception of endurance.  I find the amount of
exertion these courses demand to be trivial.

My art enrichment course in the evening is progressing
well even though I do not always attend.  We are still
learning to draw but it is not too difficult.  We are
finally starting to work on drawing real faces instead
of bowls of fruit.

I know mother is probably wondering why I wrote this
letter only to you, but I am all too aware that she
does not approve of my being able to handle a rapier
even though the skill has already saved my life and the
lives of others.  I have no desire to argue with her
over what a woman's place is supposed to be and how
that relates to being able to defend myself.  I am far
more aware of what happens when a woman cannot defend
herself than mother is.

I hope you, mother, and Darren are well.

Love,

Bellany
-------

What she had not said in the letter would have filled
at least as much space as what she had said.  During
her midday breaks she often read books about various
gods other than the vindicator.  Nimbus, the Raven she
enjoyed feeding after lunch now took food directly from
her hand and to a certain extent would come when
called.  Her vindiatorish mother would die if she knew
that Bellany was a witch who was studying magic under
the tutelage of a ghost.  She could already conjure a
small ball of blue light or ignite a candle from a
brief flash of flame that she could cause to spring up
from her finger.  She was about to begin work on other
feats of magic as well, and she had found a journal and
a book of poems written by the real Bellany Norwit of
the past.  Soon she would have them all read so that
she had better insight into the way the real Bellany
had thought.

Mary proved a greater distraction than Bellany could
have imagined.  She loved to grab Bellany and kiss her
but Mary did not seem to go beyond a certain point of
intimacy.  To a creature of lust there could be no
greater tribulation.  Mary seemed to have a knack at
arousing her and then leaving her unsatisfied.  On
Sunday night, Mary repeated her performance of Saturday
night but this time Bellany was too tired to care.
Sleep claimed Bellany as soon as Mary settled down.
Monday night was a different story.  Bellany had been
able to get a little sleep earlier in the day and was
wide-awake and aroused when Mary fell asleep.  She
really needed to get her magic going in order to get
herself out of Vargrend's prison to fulfill her needs.

Bellany carefully got out of bed so that she could
steal away.  She filched Mary's key to the library from
the drawer and made her way down to the crypts.  She
had more work to do.  She wanted to finish transcribing
the last of the telekinesis spells from Baladus'
spellbook into her own.  There were also a number of
cantrips and lesser spells she thought she might take a
stab at.  She had thought about trying her drain and
bestow spells on Mary while she lay asleep but had
decided against it.  There was too much danger that her
roommate might wake up.  Instead she had used her drain
spell on a horse just after church yesterday.

She felt a prickling on her palm as she went though the
crypts.  "Hello Lady Elaine if that is you?"  Bellany
paused and cast Gostly Whispers.

"Good Evening Lady Bellany," Lady Elaine said.

Bellany rode the elevator down into Baladus' chambers
with Lady Elaine.  The two of them walked into the
ancient classroom and Bellany lit the candles on the
candelabrum and then extinguished the candle she had
brought from her room.

"Have you been studying your magic?" Lady Elaine asked.

"A little bit.  I would like to do more but I wanted to
get the last of the telekinesis spells.  I actually got
to go to the ball on Saturday night thanks to Lord
Jordell," Bellany said as she arranged her writing
implements and carefully moved Baladus' spellbook to
the desk.

"Yes, I have heard the young ladies talking about it.
They are not pleased that lady lust is out of her
prison," Lady Elaine said.

Bellany grinned.  "I am getting jealousy and scorn now,
whereas before it was just scorn.  Perhaps a few will
actually get to know me as a person rather than passing
judgment without so much as talking to me." Bellany
sighed.

"Morteabius has chosen a difficult role for you to play
but one that will doubtlessly give you greater
understanding of those that stand against him," Lady
Elaine said.

Bellany nodded.  "I had promised to tell you something
about what was going on in the outside world.  I might
as well do that now.  Avengene, the relatively new
territory to the northeast has developed a religion
based on a god of justice called the vindicator.  I
realize that there probably was no barony of Avengene
when you were alive.  Avengene did not stop at being a
baron, however.  He has expanded his holdings and was
also indispensable in helping the King during a war
that I am too young to remember.  The King was so
impressed that he made Avengene a Marquis.

"Lord Avengene has been steadily expanding his
territory and at some point his son Evangeline
developed the faith of the vindicator and it spread to
his family and throughout Avengene.  The vindicator's
church has started persecuting other faiths and the
easiest faith to persecute is that of Mortaebius
because death is creepy.  Avengene has used soldiers
disguised as bandits to destroy the temples of
Mortaebius in his marquisate.  Once they were destroyed
he made laws against the temples being rebuilt and
against those who believed in Mortaebius.  Since then
he has used soldiers disguised as bandits to make
forays into Bristol to sack temples of Mortaebius.
Avengene is a powerful warlord.  The Shroud is taking
him seriously."

"What you are saying is that we have a Brickner to the
northeast," Lady Elaine said.

"Oh that's right, in your day it was Warlord Brickner
with his god, Rom the Righteous.  After the battle in
this keep and Bron Bristol's heroic death the posturing
ended and the war between Bristol and Brickner began,"
Bellany said.

Lady Elaine shook her head.  "Bron was not the hero
history paints him to be.  Try as I might to educate
him, he was his father's son.  He soon learned that he
could escape the lessons Alistair Vargrend had to offer
him in reading and logic by opting for swordplay and
brigandry with his father's collection of miscreants.
Unfortunately he learned the same thing about escaping
discipline from me, his mother.  He was a very
difficult child.  Terrance, my second child, took to
culture much more readily but I suspect that was by
blood." Elaine smiled.

"By blood?" Bellany asked.

"I am almost certain that Terrance was the child of
Alistair Vargrend, my fellow slave and my true love,"
Lady Elaine said.

Bellany put her hand over her mouth.  "You mean?"
Bellany asked.

"Bron Bristol was not fit to be anything more than a
rampaging bandit," Baladus Vargrend said as he passed
through a door and appeared on the far side of the
room.  "By the time he was ten he had already realized
his mother was a slave in her own house.  He was a
hateful boy in spite of having a loving mother.  I
know; I grew up with him.  I was the son of Alistair
Vargrend by the wife that Bristol assigned him to
marry.  It was meant as a slight.  My mother was not a
handsome woman but she was one of the most intelligent
servants Bristol had.  My parents were not in love but
both of them loved me as much as they secretly hated
Warlord Bristol.  Father was in love with Lady Elaine
and my mother was smart enough to have realized that
long before Bristol forced her to marry my father.
Thankfully she was not fond enough of Warlord Bristol
to let him in on that secret."

"Guardian Baladus, it is so good to see you," Bellany
said.

"You have an errant boy to thank for the restoration of
my wits," Baladus smiled.

"Headmaster Bristol paddled an angry boy?" Bellany
asked.

Baladus nodded.  "Thankfully, it is not such an
uncommon occurrence, although in this case it was a
peer.  Apparently George Gransward felt that he did not
need to lie in order to cover up what he had done to
you.  He is a hotheaded fool, and I have him to thank
for restoring my vitality."

Bellany giggled, "Then taking that dive into the mud
was quite worth while."

"Why thank you milady.  I should caution you; do not
believe everything you have read in your history
books," Baladus said.  "I was trained as a priest of
Mortaebius so that when my father became old and
useless I could replace him as Warlord Bristol's
resident scribe.  Bristol actually encouraged me to
join the order of Death's Peace because he thought that
it would toughen me up and that he could then send me
out with his boorish men.  Not one of them could read
and Bristol realized that if he had my father write a
message to his soldiers in the field, there would have
to be someone accompanying his men who could read it,"
Baladus said.

"Oh is that why you spent so much time on the
battlefield?" Bellany asked.

"Yes and when we captured a book, only I could tell
what it was.  I learned some things about magic as a
priest, but as the years of my youth passed, I acquired
certain books in battles and skirmishes.  I was not
fond of Bristol any more than my parents were.  If it
were not for Bristol I would never have had the
motivation to become a sorcerer, but because of him I
did it with a vengeance.  By the time Brickner attacked
the keep, I had advanced to the point that I had
attained power unknown to Bristol's boorish rabble.

"The first time I showed my true strength was in
repelling Brickner.  My undead minions terrified the
soldiers of Brickner and Bristol alike.  Bron's
'heroic' charge from the upper floors did help, as it
obliged our terrified enemies to fight on two fronts.
He fought hard but bit off more enemies than he could
chew.  In spite of Lady Elaine's best efforts he was a
hateful boy who heaped disrespect on his mother and my
father and I.  I realized that if I rescued Bron I
would be sentencing every man, woman and child in his
father's miserable realm to a ruler just like Warlord
Bristol.  Keeping Bron alive was not a priority and I
did not commit my magic or minions to it, thus Bron
fell in the battle.  With Bron dead, Terrance, my
unknowing half brother whom Bristol believed was his
second son stood to inherit Bristol's domain.  I played
it as if I were entertaining the idea of taking over
entirely but then allowed Terrance to talk sense into
me."  Baladus smiled.

"Goodness, you mean Warlord Bristol saw value in
Terrance as a diplomat because you allowed Terrance to
convince you to stand down?" Bellany asked.

"Precisely, I suspected Terrance was really my half
brother and I knew I did not have time both to run a
domain and to study magic.  Terrance was a good man who
took after my father Alistair Vargrend and Terrance's
mother, Lady Elaine. He was not arrogant like his half-
brother Bron.  Terrance treated me as if I were his
brother even though he had no idea that Alistair
Vargrend had probably sired us both.  I had no doubt
that Terrance would be a good ruler who would be fair
and popular with the people whereas a necromancer could
never have such popularity.  Terrance assigned me a few
troops to help manage my minions and I became the
captain of a Special Forces group.  My power and troops
were used covertly to break the morale and sometimes
the backs of the enemy.

"Terrance became the only Bristol who could rule
because he was the only Bristol I would listen to and
it was my power that held sway in this keep.  I was
through being a slave, and I was through letting those
boors treat my father and Lady Elaine as slaves.  Since
they were already terrified of me after the battle, it
took very little effort on my part to convince them
that they ought to behave.  I was Terrance Bristol's
ally not Warlord Bristol's ally.  There was a coup that
night but it was not Brickner who reaped the fruits of
his labor, it was I.

I essentially retook the keep for the Crabetts.  I was
simply a subtler ruler than Warlord Bristol.  In
addition, Terrance gained allies such as Mayor Rose and
others through negotiation and good sense; thus he
built power of his own among the living.  With my
ascension, Warlord Bristol's reign ended but we kept
him around for show.  Brickner merely succeeded in
trading an aging enemy warlord for a young, vital
diplomat and a necromancer.  It was Terrance who later
earned the favor of the King and became the first Baron
Bristol," Baladus said.

"It is odd how history distorts things," Bellany said
shaking her head.

"Part of the spoils of victory is writing the history
of the conflict." Baladus smiled.  "Lady Elaine and I
strongly believed that Terrance was the son of Alistair
and my magic confirmed our suspicions at a much later
date.  However, we were never absolutely certain
Terrance was not Bristol's second son.  It was much
safer to allow Terrance and Warlord Bristol to believe
that Terrance was the heir of Bristol.  The soldiers
were happy that way and everything went much more
smoothly," Baladus said.

Bellany looked up from copying the last of the
telekinesis spells into her coded spell.  "I see the
sense to it yet it is more intricate than what is
written in the history books.  It makes me wonder how
much of history is a fictional story," Bellany said.

"I will wager the accuracy of much of history is
dubious.  Too many details and motives are left out,"
Baladus said. "I did not come out to discuss history,
however.  How is your magic coming?" Baladus asked.

Bellany extinguished one of the five candles she had
burning in the candelabrum and then did her Firefinger
Cantrip to relight it.

"That was a cantrip I used to know.  I thought I had
better recall it before starting on others since my
damaged memory seems to be coming along," Bellany said.

Balladas nodded.  "Your cantrip is a very handy bit of
magic and probably the foundation of the elementalist's
arsenal.  I was never good at elemental magic.  Few
necromancers are.  You informed me that my spellbook is
in delicate condition.  Would you like to be the one to
create the version for this current century?"

"I would be honored," Bellany said.

"I only ask this of my best students as I expect you to
master each spell you scribe in the book before
transcribing it.  Unless you have learned the spell you
cannot add to the casting notes and it is the casting
notes that separate a good spellbook from a poor one."

Bellany nodded.  "Are you sure I will be a good student
at this early date?"

Baladus chuckled.  "You are The Life of Death and you
just demonstrated the ability to do elementary
elemental magic.  Your memory is impeccable and you can
slowly transcribe a spell into code and write it in a
small book while carrying on a coherent conversation.
It did not require a great deal of time or intelligence
to judge that you would be a good student.

"I am normally rigid and stuffy with my students and I
would scoff at your doing two things at once if one of
them was talking to me, but efficiency is of great
importance if the Shroud is calling.  You are the
handmaiden of Moraebius and it is I who must serve you
as best I can.  That means you are going to be learning
as much as you can as quickly as you can.  I already
know that your pace will be faster than one I would
choose based on past students, and Lady Elaine has
explained to me your discussion with her concerning
priorities.  I agree that practical spells must be
learned first, yet background is also important, and I
see you came here for cantrips before I even stressed
that point.  I am here to help you when you need me,
not to impede your progress."

Bellany smiled.  "Thank you Guardian Baladus.  There
will be some spells like the Bumblebee Cantrip that I
will probably not be able to do until the bees come out
in the spring but I will work hard," Bellany said.

"Simply leave ample space for such spells and you can
fill them in later.  You will need to have a large book
created.  The quality should be high." Baladus said.

Bellany nodded.  "It might draw suspicion if I were to
buy such a book."

"Deal directly with a bookbinder and make him believe
you wish to transcribe verses of great religious
significance to make a lasting heirloom for the family
of a close friend. Stress that it is to be a gift a few
years hence and he must not speak of it lest he ruin
the surprise.  It is an old ruse but a good one."
Baladus smiled.

"Religion is so useful," Bellany giggled.  "I suppose I
should continue transcribing all of the cantrips into
my coded book.  I was developing quite a repertoire of
them before Mortaebius' touch.  I need to catch up with
where I was so that I can move forward.  There seems to
be at least one cantrip for every type of spell.  They
will serve as a good foundation."

Baladus nodded.  "That is why I have accumulated so
many.  They are also easy to make up once one has
mastered a range of similar but more difficult spells."

Bellany nodded.  "Perhaps I can improve my bluelight
spell.  It has proven very useful."

"You might attempt to conjure more than one of the tiny
globes at the same time.  I have heard of casters who
summon a multitude of such globes and weave patterns of
dancing lights with them," Baladus said.

"That is a good idea and it will make a good game to
see how many lights I can keep going at once." Bellany
smiled.

"You may find that controlling the movement of conjured
lights is somewhat similar to telekinesis," Baladus
said.

"Oh good, I would like to work on telekinesis first.
As you know, Lady Elaine suggested it would be a
practical thing to know since I could use it to open
locks in the event I am discovered with a key."

Guardian Baladus nodded.  "Your situation is unique
among my students.  Normally either the headmaster, the
headmistress or the priest of Mortaebius were aware
that I had taken on a student, but I have given way to
long periods of rest and have not made myself known to
anyone during this generation.  There was no need and I
lacked the energy to want to bother."

"I hope I am able to take you out to the tournaments
one of these days, Guardian.  I think you would find
sustenance there," Bellany said.

Baladus nodded.  "I will leave you now so that you may
concentrate on your transcriptions.  You will not be
taking me out of the keep without mastering much more
magic than you currently have.  Be careful not to look
at the first three pages or the marked page or the last
two pages.  Your introduction to curses should be less
abrupt."

Bellany smiled.  "Thank you Guardian Baladus.  I will
keep that in mind.  I have no wish to catch an arcane
plague or be poisoned.  Thank you for the enlightening
bit about the true history of Bristol."

Baladus bowed.  "It was my pleasure and a practical
lesson for one who may, as I did, become involved in
the secret truth behind history. Farewell milady."

"Farewell Guardian Baladus, and thank you."  Bellany
waved as the apparition passed through the door into
his quarters.

"I guess I had better get to work.  I nearly got caught
last time I returned from the crypts.  I will have to
make sure to leave a little earlier than I did before,"
Bellany said.

"We ghosts can sense the dawn as it approaches.  I will
warn you as early as I am able," Lady Elaine said.

"Thank you Lady Elaine," Bellany said.  "You and
Baladus have been so helpful.  I have so much to
learn."

Lady Elaine nodded.  "I will leave you for the moment
so that you can concentrate fully on your studies.  If
The Order of the Shroud is taking this Lord Avengene
seriously then they will need you to grow in power as
quickly as possible."

Bellany nodded.  "Yes, I really should try to work
harder.  If only I could find a few good men to help me
with life force I could do much better.  Lord Jordell
has invited me to use his rapier instructor after
school.  I am hoping that being away from Vargrend's
will help with that but I must work on being able to
come and go as I will.  To do that I will need to be
able to open locks."

"Yes, of course. I will return later."

"Farewell Lady Elaine," Bellany said.

Bellany spent the remainder of the night working as
rapidly as she could.  When she was finished she read
the cantrips she had transcribed to work on.   She
already had Ash Kinetics, the foundation of future
telekinesis spells.  She added Ice Sickle.  Ice Sickle
seemed to be part curse and part telekinesis.  Its
purpose was to break an ice sickle loose in the hopes
that it would hit someone who stood below it.  She also
had the Drain and Bestow Vitality Cantrips.  Although
she was pretty sure she could already do a drain spell
that was more advanced than the cantrip, she felt that
the cantrip would be minor enough to practice on Mary
as she slept.

In addition she had transcribed several other cantrips.
She scribed Mental Image, a precursor to mental
illusions along with Chill of Fear, essentially a
mental illusion that generated an emotion rather than
an image.  She penned four physical illusion cantrips.
These included Sphere of Darkness and Finger of Shadow,
a pair of visual illusions, Tuz, a ridiculous little
audible illusion and Fleeting Stench, an olfactory
illusion.  The last two illusions were apparently
designed to allow the caster to make it sound and then
smell as if her victim had gas.  Finally she had
transcribed Twitch and Slip, two little curse cantrips
and Touch Empathy, a cantrip for feeling the
predominant emotion given off by another person.

Before she had finished reading the last of the
cantrips that she had transcribed Lady Elaine appeared.
Bellany hastily recast her Ghostly Whispers spell.

"I feel the approach of dawn, Lady Lust," Lady Elaine
said.

"Oh goodness I had better get going then.  Thank you
for having me.  I hope to have learned at least a few
of these by the time I return for pointers with those
that have proven difficult.  Farewell Lady Elaine,"
Bellany said.

"Farewell," Lady Elaine said waving her ghostly hand.

Bellany returned to her room without mishap and slept
for a few hours before going to her first class.
-------

Bellany tried Ash Kinetics the evening after she had
been down to see the ghosts but she could not get it to
work.  She had been so hopeful and felt so stilted when
she could not get the ash to move.  She tried off and
on for hours, attempting to cast the cantrip over and
over again as she worked on a self-portrait for her art
enrichment class.

Mary slipped into the room and closed the door behind
her.  She put her arm around Bellany's shoulders and
looked at Bellany's portrait.  "Hello, no more fruit, I
see.  It really is starting to look like someone."

"I wish it looked more like me." Bellany smiled up from
her chair.

Mary shamelessly kissed her.  "Is it a self portrait?"
Mary asked.

Bellany nodded.  "It is supposed to be.  I am obviously
still learning though."

Mary nodded, "You will be a fine artist in no time.
You pick things up quickly."

"Thank you Mary, I hope you are right.  Sometimes I
feel like such a dolt."

"That is such nonsense, Bellany.  The first time I saw
you write out the answers to your history homework
without opening the book I thought you were quick and
sloppy but after reading some of your answers and
seeing your perfect scores, now I know better.  No one
but you gets perfect grammar scores from Headmistress
Vargrend either."

"Sometimes I miss a few," Bellany said.

"Missing only one or two is still impossible," Mary
said.

"It is just that I have a very good memory.  It makes
everything easier."  Bellany tossed her charcoal pencil
down.  I have had enough of that portrait.  It has been
so frustrating.  I need to unwind," Bellany said
attributing her frustration with the Ash Kinetics spell
to the portrait.

"Let's get ready for bed," Mary grinned.

"But we still have nearly an hour before lights out and
it was fairly warm out today," Bellany said.

"Bellany, aren't you supposed to be the bad girl?" Mary
asked as she began to undress.

Bellany blushed.  "You drive me out of my mind with all
your kissing and snuggling but you will only go so
far," Bellany whispered as she got up to get ready for
bed.

"I must remain a virgin or I will never get a decent
husband," Mary whispered.

"You must have been a very good girl never to have
stroked yourself, Mary.  Otherwise you would know you
needn't bother your maidenhead to get release," Bellany
whispered.

"Really?" Mary asked open mouthed.

Bellany smiled.  "I probably should not have said, but
you have been wearing me down by driving me mad these
past few nights."  Bellany swatted Mary's rump.  "I
thought you were going to stay out of my bed if you
felt lust." Bellany giggled.

"That was before I succumbed to temptation," Mary said
as she stroked Bellany's red hair and looked into her
eyes.

Bellany smiled softly.  "I will show you what I mean a
little later.  I do not want your attentions to become
a source of frustration.  I know that is not what you
mean your affection to be."

"Of course not," Mary whispered.

"I will try to give you a few memories to cherish while
you are taking care of your husband and twenty children
in a few years."

"I am counting on it," Mary smiled.

The two young women climbed into Bellany's bed and
began to stroke and snuggle one another, kissing and
caressing much more liberally than they had a few days
before.  When she felt wetness as she stroked her hand
up Mary's inner thigh she took a breath from her latest
kiss and whispered to Mary.

"Just relax and try to arrange your throat so that you
will not moan with pleasure, otherwise the monitors
will be on us in a flash."  Bellany pressed her index
finger against Mary's lips to underscore the need for
quiet and then slid down Mary's torso beneath the
covers and began to lick her roommate where her nether
lips joined at her clit, using her lust senses to feel
the flow of the energy.    Bellany could nearly taste
Mary's lust.  Bellany kept her tongue working to
increase the flow, the lust that tingled through her
nose nearly made her sneeze before she got used to it.
She was so hungry for the energy of lust yet she did
not know how to absorb a woman's lust as she did a
man's.  Mary breathed hard and squirmed as Bellany
drove her mad with her clever tongue.

Bellany could feel the modulating pattern of flow in
Mary's lust; it was fascinating.  She built it higher
and higher but Mary seemed to reach a point that she
could not pass.  It was all Bellany could do to keep
Mary's lust from declining.  Bellany begin to pull her
roommate's lust, trying to draw Mary's recalcitrant
virgin body into the full flower of sexuality, yet
reverend Leland and his ilk had left their cruel yet
invisible mark.  Bellany fought hard but she soon
realized that Mary would not attain release unless
Bellany found a way to overcome the workings of the
vindicator in her roommate's mind and body.  Although
she knew it was probably nothing more than inhibition
and neglect, it was as if Mary were cursed never to
climax by her religious brainwashing.

Bellany remembered that her casting of the Draining
Touch spell had produced a climax in those she had done
it on.  A lesser spell might do the same without
robbing too much energy.  Bellany had gone over the
Drain Vitality Cantrip.  It was a simple little spell
compared to the drain spell that she had previously
mastered.  In an imperceptibly soft voice Bellany
whispered the syllables to the Drain Vitality Cantrip,
letting her tongue and lips dance over Mary's nub as
she whispered the arcane syllables and shaped the magic
with her hands.  Bellany completed the spell, placed
her right index finger on Mary's nub and drew.

Mary stiffened and gasped as a brief but intense orgasm
exploded through her psyche.  Bellany could sense that
Mary's arousal had diminished after the orgasm the
magic had induced but the energy had been delicious.
It was a pity she would not be able to cast the spell
over and over without tiring Mary too much.
Nevertheless Bellany began to build Mary back up.  This
she did with a vengeance using her lust sense to school
her tongue in the strokes that aroused Mary most.
When Mary again neared her peak the restriction to the
flow was slightly less since Mary's body already had
experience at producing an orgasm.  Bellany had to
stimulate Mary almost to the point of cruelty.  The
poor girl was writhing under Bellany's tongue before
orgasm finally burst through her inhibitions and made
her quake with pleasure.

Mary's energy was so fascinating that Bellany could not
stop.  She had lost herself in Mary's lust, like a cat
delving for a delicious mouse she played.  Each of
Mary's orgasms merely whet Bellany's appetite and
yielded perhaps the lightest taste of the energy that
Bellany craved.  Bellany lacked a way to claim the
energy released as her own.  The monitor called lights
out from the hallway but Bellany hardly heard her.
Thankfully their lights had already been out for
sometime.  Perhaps an hour later she released her
roommate having brought her to orgasm many times.  The
bedding was wet and Mary was limp with exhaustion.
Bellany slid back up Mary's body and held her.  Mary's
eyelids were only half open and she was smiling with a
daze of euphoria.

"Gods Bellany what did you do to me?" Mary whispered
breathlessly.

Bellany snuggled Mary and whispered in her ear, "All
that lack of touching oneself can leave you crippled to
the point that you hardly enjoy sex at all.  I was just
trying to catch you up."

"I had no idea you could do that just by touching,"
Mary said.  "The first time was pleasure and pain.  I
was going to stop you but I was so excited and you
seemed so into it.  After the first time it just got
better and better."  Mary grinned with satisfied
exhaustion.  "Gods I will sleep like the dead tonight."

Bellany smiled enigmatically.  "You look exhausted,
Mary.  We had better go to sleep."

Mary nodded.  "Good night Bellany."

"Goodnight Mary," Bellany said.

After Mary had drifted off into the dreamless sleep of
exhaustion, Bellany carefully covered her roommate's
eyes with her pillow and got up.  She took the
Candelabrum into the empty end of the closet along with
her spellbook and studied the Ash Kinetics Cantrip.
After attempting to cast the spell ten or fifteen times
she resigned herself to failure and instead began
trying to conjure multiple globes of blue light.  She
found this much easier and soon was able to keep two
globes lit at once without much trouble.  Perhaps two
hours later she had her two tiny globes rolling over
her body, bouncing from hand to hand and from head to
hand and finally dancing through the air in the closet
like a fairy couple at a ball.

She felt some measure of satisfaction since she had
never maintained two globes of light before yet she
also realized that she had once had quite a repertoire
of cantrips and was still essentially catching up with
herself.  As she slipped into bed with Mary and drifted
off to sleep she vowed that she would catch up quickly
so that she could build on what she knew.
-------

On Wednesday Bellany sat with Cleopatra reading a book
from the temple of Amorra, the goddess of love.  "Do
you get the feeling that they watered Amorra down so
that she would not be too sexy for the girls here at
Vargrend's?"  Bellany asked.

"I am not the person to ask, but it would not surprise
me," Cleopatra said.

"I had the impression that she was about more than just
the spiritual form of love that this book is touting."

"The headmistress would never allow anything too
sexual.  She is such a champion of virtue," Cleopatra
said.

"True, she seems awfully stuffy, but I suppose that is
what the peers expect of her," Bellany said as she held
a fatty piece of mutton up while Nimbus the raven tore
pieces from it.

"He sure is hungry," Cleopatra said.

"I think he is fattening himself up.  Most ravens do
not fly south for the winter.  He will need a little
something to fall back on."

"It is getting colder.  Soon our thicket will not be so
comfortable and we will not be taking our walks,"
Cleopatra said.

"Perhaps we will not be sitting, but we must take our
walks.  I will be sure to come out and bring Nimbus
scraps.  When the snows cover the ground it will be
harder for him to find food.  I am sure he would do
fine without me but I enjoy having a pet even though he
will not let me pet him yet."

"He is a wary thing, but he is a wild bird.  It's a
miracle he takes food from your hand," Cleopatra said.

"He knows he has captured my heart with his funny
croaks and mannerisms." Bellany smiled as Nimbus
finished his meal.

"Pruuck tock, tock, tock" Nimbus said as he took a
moment to preen before flying off.

"Thank you for bringing the book, Cleopatra.  I love
knowing a little bit about the other gods.  I do not
know how I am expected to understand others if I am not
allowed to read about their faiths," Bellany said.


"You're welcome, Lady Bellany.  I enjoy our lunches.
If the noble ladies realized how interesting you were
they would stop all of their nonsense."

"Thank you Cleopatra," Bellany said.  "I really need to
come up with some other naughty thing we can do at
lunch.  How about fortuneteller games?  Good vindicator
girls are supposed to shun the supernatural."

"That sounds fun, what sort of fortuneteller games?"
Cleopatra asked.

"How about seeing mental pictures?  I'll concentrate
and do some impromptu mummery and you see if you can
see what I am picturing."

"I guess we could try it," Cleopatra said dubiously.

"Do you promise you won't tell on me if you happen to
get a few.  Vindicatory sorts are very paranoid about
the supernatural.  I am sure they would lock me up and
throw away the key if they thought I was conjuring
images."

"Of course I promise," Cleopatra said.

Okay, just sit right there and I'll stand behind you so
my face does not give anything away.  Close your eyes
and when I touch them with my palm try to imagine what
I am picturing."  Bellany attempted to cast her Mental
Picture Cantrip and then reached around and touched
Cleopatra's closed eyes with her palm.

"I see a slice of apple pie, yum," Cleopatra said.

Bellany giggled.  "Well, at least you saw something.  I
was seeing something else.  Let me try again."  Bellany
recast.

"Peach Cobler," Cleopatra said.

Bellany giggled.  "That is zero for two but don't give
up your career as a medium yet."  Bellany cast once
again.



"Oh my goodness, it's Headmistress Vargrend with a
cross expression on her face!" Cleopatra blurted.

"That's it!  One for three," Bellany said.  "Let me try
again."

"A platter of raisin muffins," Cleopatra said.

Bellany cleared her throat.  "Let me try again."

Cleopatra giggled.

"A horse?" Cleopatra asked.

"What color?" Bellany asked.

"He is Black with a white spot on his forehead,"
Cleopatra said.

"That's right, a black horse," Bellany said.  "Let me
try another."

"Strawberry Shortcake?" Cleopatra asked.

"Ahh, not exactly, I will try again."

"It's a man... your brother, Charles Norwit?"

"A man is correct, although I was thinking of Lord
Jordell," Bellany lied.

"That is Bianca Bristol with an insufferably haughty
expression on her face."

"That's right!" Bellany squealed.  "Now let's try
this."

"Pecan pie, yum," Cleopatra said.

Bellany giggled.  "Er, no but I'll have to do some food
ones just so you don't think food is always wrong."

"A fruit bowl?" Cleopatra asked.

"Yes, Madame Gleton, your powers grow.  I have another
for you."

"That's Glenda Gransward looking confused."

Bellany giggled.  "One more, then we should go.  I have
some homework to finish."

"Ah that is a carriage, a grand carriage."


"Right!  Wow you are psychic, Cleopatra. You got at
least half of them."

"I was just lucky.  Usually I haven't the slightest
idea what people are thinking," Cleopatra said.

-------

When Bellany returned she sat down with her spellbook
and studied for about half an hour before attempting
more casting.  She dipped her hand into a basin of
water and then attempted her Globe of Fog Cantrip.  By
the time she had to go to her Ballroom Dancing course
she had still not successfully conjured any fog.  After
Ballroom Dancing and history she attended her ballet
class and then returned to her room.  She was feeling
good from the exercise and began to work on her Globe
of Fog Cantrip again to no avail.  She reviewed the
Twitch Cantrip.  It was a minor curse and seemed very
straightforward.  Unfortunately it required a victim.
Next she studied the Fleeting Stench Cantrip but was
unable to get a smell out of it before she had to go to
dinner.

After dinner she attended her art class where she
finished her portrait and started on another.  When she
returned she went over the Ash Kinetics Cantrip and
tried to cast it once again.  She did not seem to be
able to get it to work.  It was worrisome since
telekinesis was a very important venue to freedom.

She heard the library assistant lock the door to the
library and walk down the hall.  Bellany grabbed Mary's
key and snuck into the library.  Mary had not been at
her vindicator study group last night.  Either it had
been postponed or she had skipped it and was simply
elsewhere for the current moment.  Timothy was smiling
from ear to ear when she arrived at the library bars.
She kissed him through the bars and then turned and
hiked up her dress.  He was in her in a flash and
thrusting briskly.

She felt a little guilty about essentially training him
to be quick but it could not be avoided.  He massaged
her nub as she had always shown him but he was too fast
even for her to build to an orgasm.  When he climaxed
after only a few minutes she drank of his power just a
little more liberally than she had planned and left the
library grinning as broadly as he had been when he
first saw her.  Mary got back just an instant after she
had stowed the key.  Thankfully Mary was in the habit
of knocking before she entered to prevent interrupting
Bellany's swordsmanship exercises.

"You look happy," Mary said.  I wish I were not feeling
a bit tired tonight," Mary said, yawning.

"Its all those late nights you spend contemplating
purity and chastity with me." Bellany giggled.


"I guess Charles was right after all," Mary whispered.

Mary flopped onto her bed.

"Isn't your vindicator meeting on Tuesdays?" Bellany
asked.

Mary shrugged.  "It got postponed this week because
that paper for the Trivium was due yesterday.  We had
the group today instead.  It was good, although I am
feeling a little bit hypocritical."

"You won't be the first or the last worshipper of the
vindicator to feel that way." Bellany grinned.  "You
could give me up."

"After last night I could not," Mary said stroking
Bellany's red hair.  "Technically I may still be a
virgin but you made a woman of me last night.  Would a
man have made that happen?"

"A man has to reach his peak in order to release his
seed so you can bet sex will not be over until he does,
but men are often quite quick to spend.  They usually
have to rest after they peak, too, so if you have not
already reached your peak by the time he spends then
you may be out of luck.  If your lover is naïve, or
inconsiderate then there is a good chance that you will
be little more than a broodmare who gives satisfaction
but never receives it.  Some women think that is their
duty.  Some just don't know any better because I was
never their roommate."  Bellany smiled.

"I probably would have been one of those women," Mary
shook her head.

Bellany nodded.

"That doesn't seem fair," Mary said.

"Now you are talking like me." Bellany grinned.

"Goodness, I had better watch out." Mary smiled.

"Being a slave and being a broodmare are about the same
thing, and I have had enough of slavery," Bellany said.

"But what of a woman's duty?" Mary asked.

"Duty is fine, but being something someone else wants
you to be on a continuous basis rather than being
yourself is living a lie."

Mary yawned as she nodded.

Bellany smiled.  "It looks like you need sleep.  I wore
you out last night and I imagine your job and school
have given you no time to rest."

Mary nodded.  "I had better get to bed."  Mary got up
and began to undress.  "At least I am attending
Vargrend's.  With my credentials I could teach school
or do a dozen other things if I decide not to go the
typical wife and mother route."

"True, you will be much freer than most women because
you will have an education and you will not be tied to
a title," Bellany said.

"I used to envy you your family so much but now I
realize their expectations might be a problem for you,"
Mary said.

"Yes, father seems to grasp that I am barren and would
like to do something besides the typical vindicator
wife and mother thing.  Unfortunately Mother is stuck
in vindicator mode and she thinks I have to do as she
has done.  I sometimes worry about it.  Daddy is a very
gifted commoner who is married to a daughter of
Avengene.  He is obliged to listen to mother.  She has
a great deal of political power because of her lineage
and because she is very active in the church," Bellany
said.

Mary nodded and yawned.  "I am sure you'll work it out,
Bellany.  You are going to Vargrend's too.  You will
have credentials."

Bellany nodded, as she too got ready for bed.  When
they were finished Mary slid in beside Bellany snuggled
her and fell asleep almost instantly.

Bellany looked a little sheepish.  Mary was on a very
tight schedule.  Draining her of vitality when she had
so little slack in her day was not a very nice thing to
do.  It had served a good purpose, however.  As she
looked at Mary she realized that her roommate's eyes
were darting back and forth under her lids.  She was
dreaming.  Bellany reached to the nightstand for her
spellbook and quickly studied the Touch Empathy
Cantrip.  She cast it several times before she had a
vivid flash of lust in her mind that had not come in
via her lust sense. Bellany giggled softly.  She
stroked her sleeping roommate's hair.  "You are too
tired to do anything but you can dream about it,"
Bellany whispered soundlessly.

Bellany snuck out of bed and wrote a few casting notes
for the Touch Empathy Cantrip.  Afterwards she returned
to review the Twitch Cantrip that she had studied
earlier in the day.  It was a minor curse and it seemed
simple enough.  She tried it on Mary.  It took twenty
minutes and about nine attempts before she got Mary's
hand to twitch.  After that she tried it on Mary's toes
and then Mary's nose.  She had a lot of fun making her
sleeping roommate twitch before she settled down to pen
the casting notes.

She had only a few cantrips left before she would have
one learned for each of the kinds of spells that she
wanted to work on.  She would have to successfully
produce a chill of fear and conjure a globe of fog. She
would also need to work on the three illusion spells,
Finger of Shadow, Tuz, and Fleeting Stench plus she
still needed to do Globe of Darkness.  Bellany
shrugged.  She supposed Tuz and Stench could be useful
for putting the high and mighty Bianca Bristol in her
place, but using them would be stooping pretty low.
Ash kinetics was another cantrip that was still a
problem.  She had tried it several times and would have
to try it again; however she did not want to end her
evening on a note of frustration.  Instead she covered
Mary's eyes with her pillow and began conjuring tiny
globes of light.

This evening she conjured three balls and then laid
back and tried to get them moving.  At first it was
difficult just keeping three balls lit.  She had to
conjure them all several times because they blinked out
when she failed to keep her concentration up.  Once she
got the hang of keeping them going, she began to make
them dance around the bed, and finally she was able to
get them all into the air above the bed where she made
them move around above her.  She wove intricate
patterns of light with her three tiny globes. It was a
lot of fun.  She did not recall exactly when she fell
asleep but the balls undoubtedly winked out of
existence as she did.

The next morning after her swordsmanship exercises,
Bellany studied the three illusions and then went over
Chill of Fear and the Globe of Fog Cantrip.  She then
started attempting to cast Globe of Fog.  Just before
the Trivium she smiled as a pea-sized puff of fog
materialized just above her palm.  She had no time to
jot down the casting notes until she was listening to
Headmistress Vargrend speak about persuasive styles of
writing.  She made it appear as if she were taking
notes on the lecture while she was writing the casting
notes for Globe of Fog.  Afterwards she had to
hurriedly catch up with copying the items Headmistress
Vargrend had written on the blackboard.

While Bellany was occupied copying the board, one of
her fellow students, Miss Hadrian, raised her hand.
"Excuse me Headmistress Vargrend if you look out the
windows on the right side of the room the man in rags
is heading around the building.  He should reach this
corner shortly."


Headmistress Vargrend stepped back and walked along the
wall, then clandestinely peered out the window.  She
watched the man in rags round the corner of the
building and then switched windows and watched him make
his way into one of the hedges and disappear.

"Take a few moments to reflect on what we have been
talking about, ladies.  I must see that the constable
is alerted.  Thank you Miss Hadrian.  Miss Griffin
assured me that the man in rags was real, but there is
nothing like seeing something with one's own eyes."
Headmistress Vargrend briskly left the room.

"If this is a prank, the prankster is very crafty.
Boys who make it onto the grounds are almost always
caught," Bianca Bristol said.

Bellany was trying to catch up with what was on the
board and did not realize it as Elloisa Elliston came
up behind her desk and picked at one of her books as if
pulling a folded paper from it.  "Oh my, look what
Baconetess Norwit had folded in her book!"

Bellany looked up as the piece of paper Elliston had
produced made its rounds to a chorus of squeals and
degrading comments about Bellany's morality.

"Gods Norwit, this leaves little to the imagination.
What's the matter did you miss getting porked?" Bianca
Bristol asked.

At first Bellany did not respond.  She was finishing
her notes and she knew she had, had nothing in the
book.  Unfortunately, headmistress Vargrend returned to
the classroom shortly after Bellany got up to try to
find out what was on the paper.  As soon as the
headmistress returned, the girls scurried back to their
seats and she was obliged to do likewise.  Headmistress
Vargrend quickly sized the situation up and took the
paper from the girl who had it.

"Where did this come from Miss Morgan?" Headmistress
Vargrend asked.

"Someone snatched it out of Lady Norwit's book,
Headmistress."

"Lady Norwit, you will come to my office after class."

"Yes Headmistress."

The Trivium seemed to last longer than usual and when
it was finally over Bellany went to the office.  She
was shown to a small room hardly bigger than a closet.

"Miss Norwit, just what is the meaning of that image
that was circulating in class?" Headmistress Vargrend
said.

"I am sorry Headmistress, I did not get a chance to see
it."

"Nonsense, the girls agreed it had been folded in your
book."

"That is because Elloisa Elliston seemed to have pulled
it out of my history book, but I am pretty sure there
was nothing in my history book.  Whatever it was it
seemed to set the girls off.  I was behind on my notes
and did not try to find out what it was until shortly
before you came in.  They kept passing it from girl to
girl and I was unable to see it," Bellany said.

"Does this look familiar?" Headmistress Vargrend
unfolded the piece of parchment and briefly held it
before Bellany's eyes.

Bellany blinked.  "Headmistress Vargrend, whoever drew
that had no idea what they were doing.  I know the
anatomy of male orcs all too well and that picture
shows the anatomy of a bore stuck on a man's torso.  I
would never draw such a thing for the sake of the
girls' virtue, but if I drew a male orc, I would draw
him accurately.  That is not even close."

"Are you saying Elloisa Elliston perpetrated a
falsehood against you?" Headmistress Vargrend asked.

"Yes, Headmistress Vargrend.  It is no secret that a
number of the young ladies do not like me.  Bianca
Bristol has gone out of her way to snub me.  I am sure
Miss Elliston will reap great social rewards for this
prank, especially if she successfully manipulates you
into punishing me."

"This is unconscionable!" Headmistress Vargrend
snapped.

Bellany shrugged. "They will get their laughs either
way.  If I am found innocent then they will know that
they forced you to research orc anatomy and if you
refuse to investigate and simply punish me, then they
will get exactly what they wanted."

Headmistress Vargrend set her jaw and then smiled.
"This is not an investigation that should be conducted
by a lady.  I will turn it over to Constable
Herrington.  He has been round about searching for the
man in rags anyway.  If he finds that you are lying,
you will serve detention.  If not, I shall see that
Miss Elliston pays for her perfidy.  You may leave now,
Lady Norwit."

"Thank you for being so thorough, Headmistress,"
Bellany said.  She saved her smile until she was out of
the room. Whatever Headmistress Vargrend's deficits
might be, lack of intelligence certainly was not among
them.
-------

"What are you reading, Bellany.  It looks like
nonsense," Cleopatra asked as they sat eating lunch.

Bellany smiled.  "It is my journal of thoughts, poems,
and naughty things that I have done.  A simple book
lock would not be safe from the prying hands and eyes
of my mother.  This gibberish is a code I developed."

"How clever," Cleopatra said.

"Vindicator girls have to be either good or smart.  I
used to be good, but now I'm smart." Bellany smiled.

"You are naughty but in a good way," Cleopatra said.
"You have learned many things vindicator girls are not
supposed to know, but they are things a real lady
should know in order to be able to understand people
from other religions and cultures."

"Thank you Cleo.  At least you understand.  I wish my
mother would but I know her too well to give it a
second thought.  She makes it a point not to
understand.  No one said I had to be exactly like her,
however," Bellany said.

After they had finished the two young women made their
way to the thicket.  Leaves were rapidly falling from
the trees and bushes.  Soon their privacy would be no
more.

"I enjoyed this thicket.  It is starting to look a bit
threadbare up high.  Even the man in rags is going to
have a harder time hiding soon."

"He will have to stick with the evergreen hedges.
Luckily our hedge is evergreen but the young trees will
soon lose their leaves and we will not be able to stand
up and still remain hidden," Cleopatra said.


Bellany nodded.

"Have you got a game for us today?" Cleopatra asked.
"Yesterday was fun."

"Yes you were quite amazing yesterday.  I don't think I
will be able to top that.  Do you want to try a few
more, Madame Cleopatra?" Bellany asked.

"Hehe sure."

"Okay, today I might throw you a curve ball since you
were doing so well yesterday, but it will not be
something you cannot name," Bellany said.

"Okay."

Bellany cast the Mental Picture Cantrip once again and
placed her palm over Cleopatra's eyes.

"Strawberry pie!" Cleopatra slurped.

Bellany giggled.  Well, cherry but they are both red. I
guess that counts. Let me try again."

"Hmm, I didn't get that one."

"Okay, I will try again.  How about now?"

"Headmistress Vargrend smiling deviously!"

"That's right, Cleo!  How about this?"

"Strawberry shortcake?"

"No, it must not have worked.  Let me try again."

"Aaaiii! Oh gods I had a chill down my spine."

"Cleo you are miraculous, that was the curve ball, an
emotion rather than a proper picture.  It was fear but
a chill is about the same thing if it was a fear kind
of chill," Bellany said.

"It was," Cleopatra said.

"Let me try another."

"Eeek a nasty looking orc charging towards me at full
speed," Cleopatra said.

"That's right Madame Cleopatra.  You are uncanny."

"It is not just me, Bellany.  I tried the game with my
roommate and hardly got a thing," Cleopatra said.

"Oh dear, my mother would string me up if she thought I
had any supernatural gifts.  That is a big taboo for
vindicator girls."

"Don't worry, I did not mention your name.  No one is
going to string you up for witchery," Cleopatra said.

"Oh good, thank you. Try this."

Cleopatra squealed.  "You sure do that fear one well."

"I guess I must have a good sense of it from being
terrified by orcs," Bellany grinned.

Bellany did it again.

"Ack! Bellany you have to try that while telling a
ghost story.  It will be a big hit," Cleopatra said.

"If it was not for being strung up as a witch I might
try it, if it is working so well," Bellany said.

"It is wild.  I got quite a chill that time.  Where
fear is concerned you are truly gifted," Cleopatra
giggled.

"At least I am good at something," Bellany said.  "I
guess my life experiences have helped out on that one."

"I do not think I would want to pay the price you have
paid in order to get people to have chills of fear more
easily." Cleopatra giggled.

Just then there was a flurry of black feathers and
Nimbus landed on a tree limb near Bellany's head.

"Nimbus, It is so good of you to drop in.  I have some
pork for you today and a biscuit.

"Woorrk, tock-tock-tock," Nimbus said bobbing his head.

"You are such a cute raven, Nimus," Bellany cooed as
she held up a fatty scrap of pork.  The raven tore
great bits of it off while being surprisingly careful
not to hook Bellany's fingers with his beak.  After he
had finished his meal, Bellany and Cleopatra returned
to the dormitory.

-------

Guardian Thane had always put great stock in illusion
and darkness spells.  For some reason the last few
cantrips on her list, other than the recalcitrant Ash
Kinetics Cantrip, were all illusions.  Bellany studied
each one of them.  There were definite similarities.
Oddly, the darkness spell was sort of a hybrid drain
and illusion.  Bellany now understood why necromancers
were so good at darkness spells.  Whereas most
illusions added images to a scene, necromantic darkness
actually drained away the light in the area as well as
adding illusionary blackness to produce powerful
darkness.  Bellany now realized why all but the most
elementary necromantic darkness spells were proof
against light sources that were not exceptionally
bright.  The necromantic darkness literally consumed
the light.

Bellany first tried Finger of Shadow but had no luck
with it and switched to the more necromantic cantrip,
Sphere of Darkness.  The Sphere spell was supposed to
produce a sphere of inky darkness about the size of a
silver piece.  Bellany attempted to cast it.  After
getting the somatic and verbal components down she
managed to produce a sphere of darkness as large as her
hand.  It was a little unsettling to be that successful
at a cantrip on the first real attempt at casting it.
She rationalized that it had probably been one of the
cantrips she had learned while with Guardian Thane
since he frequently used darkness spells.  Once she had
done the Sphere of Darkness Cantrip a few times it was
time to attend her afternoon courses.

When she returned from her afternoon courses she penned
the casting notes for the darkness cantrip.  After that
it only took her another hour and a half to get Finger
of Shadow working.  Finger of Shadow was strictly an
illusion without light-draining characteristics.  Once
she could do both the visual illusion cantrip and the
necromantic darkness cantrip, her Sphere of Darkness
was enhanced to a size nearly as large as a person's
head.  It was obvious that her original casting was
poor on the illusion component but excellent on the
light-draining component.  She looked at her ghost hand
and wondered if it was partly responsible for the ease
with which she cast darkness spells.  It did, after
all, black out her tiny globe of blue light when she
dropped it into her left palm.

After dinner and her art class Bellany finished up some
homework and began to get ready for bed as Mary arrived
looking less exhausted and much happier than she had
the night before. As soon as she closed the door her
virtuous vindicator façade fell away and she embraced
Bellany and kissed her.  Delicious lust tickled up
Bellany's spine.  Once they got into bed, Mary was all
over her kissing and caressing.

"Gods you are so beautiful Bellany.  I knew I would not
be able to keep my hands off you the first time I saw
you," Mary whispered.

"Yes, I remember you were so cute the way your voice
went all breathless when you saw me," Bellany giggled.


Mary slapped Bellany on the rump and then squeezed her
round rear.  "You are such a bad girl," Mary whispered.

"I have always enjoyed the way you look too, Mary.
You're a little more willowy than I am although we are
about the same height.  You have such nice slender
hands and fine wrists. Lately I have been fantasizing
about having one of them inside me."

"Me too," Mary said as she began to caress Bellany's
already wet labia.

Bellany's first orgasm at Mary's hand served to
reinforce Mary's loyalty to her.  Bellany had no desire
to see Mary to spill their private business to reverend
Leland.  Bellany found her roommate's powerful lust
quite arousing.  Yet Bellany could not help but miss
the power she absorbed from the lust of men.  Mary was
rife with the power of lust and Bellany was fascinated
with making her roommate quiver with orgasmic ecstasy,
but the energy always got away from her like a clever
mouse evading the paws of a hungry cat.  Bellany needed
a spell to channel the power, but it was going to be
more difficult than the channeling spell she had
developed for men.  The energy of Mary's orgasm was
more internalized.  It was going to be harder to reach
than that of a man.

When Mary settled in to sleep, Bellany was still
yearning for what her roommate could not provide, at
least not without some assistance.  She covered Mary's
eyes and conjured three balls of light.  She wove
patterns with them and made them fly around at greater
and greater distances from her.  She practiced trying
to think about other things without allowing the lights
to lapse.  Before long she fell asleep.

Bellany awakened just in time to bid Mary adieu as her
roommate left for work.  Bellany got up and did her
swordsmanship exercises and then cast every cantrip she
knew that did not require a victim.  This included
Bluelight, Firefinger, Globe of Fog, Finger of Shadow
and Sphere of Darkness.  She did a few mental exercises
as well but she felt that nothing beat actually casting
to keep in practice.  She fetched some breakfast and
brought it back to her room.  Over breakfast she made a
few attempts at her Tuz Cantrip but did not manage to
produce any sounds.  After breakfast she switched to
trying to cast her Fleeting Stench Cantrip. About
twenty minutes before the Trivium was to begin she got
the hang of it.  She penned the casting notes and then
rushed off to class.

At lunch she practiced the Mental Image and Chill of
Fear Cantrips with Cleopatra, making sure to pretend
that about half of Cleopatra's images were wrong when
in fact she was getting all of them right.  Too much
uncanny accuracy would not do if her friend failed to
hold her tongue about their doings.  When Cleopatra
wanted to try sending images, Bellany was unable to get
them, but she soon talked Cleopatra around to sending
emotions.  This gave Bellany a chance to practice her
Touch Empathy Cantrip.  Bellany worried that there
would be many spells that she needed a subject's
cooperation in order to practice.  She had a good
relationship with Cleopatra but she did not want to
push it too far by doing magic that could not be passed
off as the girlish intuition.

After lunch Bellany reread the Ash Kinetics Cantrip and
attempted to make it easier by using a truly tiny bit
of ash on a clean piece of parchment that was set on a
book propped on a steep incline.  All she had to do was
drag the ash down a steep hill.  What could be easier?
She must have cast the cantrip thirty times before she
finally got the ash to budge.  It was very difficult as
if she were trying to drag a carriage up a hill without
the benefit of horses. The ash was too sticky.  She got
a bit of down that had escaped her pillow and cut a
minute bit of it off.  She hoped it would work better
than the ash had.  It was actually just as difficult to
move if not more so, but it did not disintegrate like
the ash tended to.  After pulling it down the incline
she would let the spell lapse and set it back at the
top.  After several successful castings she penned the
casting notes with a great smile of satisfaction.  If
she could conquer the audible illusion spell, she would
be ready to move on to real spells.

Following her afternoon classes Bellany returned to her
room to do a little homework.  Afterward she made a few
unsuccessful attempts on her Tuz Cantrip.  After her
art class she tried again but had no luck. Instead she
cast the Ash Kinetics spell and practiced with it.
This time she moved a bit of down over the flat surface
of the portrait she was currently working on.  Mary
arrived and began doing homework shortly after Bellany
started.  Bellany found that she could keep the spell
going while working on her portrait.  If she drew
slowly she could move a tiny bit of down around on her
drawing.  It was actually rather fun, especially
considering how much she wanted to develop her
telekinetic skills.  Telekinesis took a great deal of
concentration and that made it a bit taxing but she
knew she must practice.  There were far too many more
advanced telekinesis spells to go before she could do
anything practical.

Bellany spent the weekend practicing her cantrips.
Little was happening at school since the athletes were
away at a tournament in Carnarvon.  The high point of
her weekend was Saturday after lunch when she finally
got sound out of the Tuz Cantrip.  Finally she could do
a minor audible illusion to go along with her visual
and olfactory illusions, Finger of Shadow and Fleeting
Stench.  After Mary went to sleep each night, Bellany
tended to stay up for an hour or so to improve her
ability to deal with conjured lights.  She also often
cast Twitch and Touch Empathy on Mary while she was
dreaming.  If she did not get a chance to practice with
her lights at night, she could get up when Mary did
while it was still dark and practiced her lights just
after Mary left and before she did her swordsmanship
exercises.

Sat


On Sunday Reverend Leland's sermon was nothing more
than thinly veiled propaganda about the justice of the
vindicator that seemed to be preparing people for war
and sacrifice in the name of their god.

The good thing about Sunday was that Bellany had a
great deal of time to practice magic after church.
Since Sunday was often the only day she could get into
the courtyard and the stables, she made a point to
practice her Draining Touch spell on a huge stallion in
the stables.  He seemed to appreciate it much more than
the gelding had the week before.  Bellany got a sort of
perverse satisfaction watching his eyes bulge and his
enormous draft cock blast cum as she used the Draining
Touch Spell on him.  He seemed to get the same sort of
satisfaction himself.  After draining him thrice she
found she was too tired to continue.  She promised
herself that she would find an additional stallion next
week as three drains was a bit much for one even if he
was huge.  She still missed Starstruck but there was
nothing for it.  Most of the horses kept at the school
were huge chargers used for jousting.  She much
preferred light horses.  She got more energy if she
took it the good old-fashioned way and did not waste
any magical power.  Yet she realized that casting the
Draining Touch Spell was good practice.

Bellany found that she could only do so much magic
before she became fatigued.  The life force she could
store in her reserves was not exactly the same thing as
the power used for magic, although she knew from memory
that she regenerated her magical power more rapidly if
she released healing energy from her reserves into her
mind.  Thane had said that a caster should cast to the
limit of her endurance each day in order to build
strength and skill.  On Sunday Bellany decided that she
would follow his advice from here on out and cast
whenever she could.  During times she was magically
exhausted she studied more advanced spells, did
homework, art, or practiced her music.

For a couple of days she had been nervous about how
well she had done with the Sphere of Darkness Cantrip.
On Saturday night she had decided that if she had an
aptitude in that particular branch of necromancy then
she ought to see how far she could take it.  Towards
that end she had stole down to the crypts to copy some
additional spells from Baladus' book.  Among them were
Darkness I, Darkness II and Life vision, a spell one
could use to see through magical darkness.  Sunday
afternoon she began work on casting Darkness I.  In a
matter of a couple of hours she had the verbal and
somatic components for Darkness I, down cold.  In the
course of practicing them she cast the spell and found
that a deep indelible shadow took up residence in one
corner of the room for the better part of an hour.  It
was a little frightening; especially considering Mary
might have come into the room at any moment.  After
casting the darkness spell once and letting it wear
out, she cast it again and then cancelled it, just to
make sure she got the hang of canceling her spell.  It
took her twenty minutes to learn to undo what she had
done even though it was supposed to be far simpler than
casting.

Darkness II was the next step up from the spell she had
cast.  It was a similar spell but one that created a
patch of darkness that could not be penetrated by the
amount of light given off by most normal light sources.
It was the first spell that produced the same sort of
effect as the spells Thane had been fond of.  Darkness
III was special.  It was really a version of Darkness
II that clung to the caster or her victim as she moved,
effectively blinding her or her victim unless she had a
vision in darkness spell cast on her.

Bellany decided to continue to press her advantage with
darkness spells since they would be very useful for
sneaking around at night.  She also realized that,
although light was fun to play with, light spells were
blatantly obvious.  There were two spells that allowed
a person to see in the dark.  Night Vision was an
illusion-based light amplification spell and Life
Vision was a necromantic spell that allowed one to see
gradations of life force and did not depend on light at
all. An added advantage to the necromantic spell was
that it allowed a person to see ghosts.  She felt the
best course of action would be to work on the darkness
spells and the necromantic vision spell.  She had an
aptitude with darkness spells and she had the
experience of receiving Thane's Vision In Darkness
spell.  She suspected his spell was the same as the
spell Baladus called Life Vision.

In spite of her progress with the many cantrips at her
disposal, Bellany regretted that she had no charm type
of cantrip to cast.  Bumblebee and Firefly both
involved insects that could not be found this late in
the year.  The best she could do was study them as a
prelude for the Gentle Beast spell.  She could use
Nimbus as the subject for the Gentle Beast spell.  She
knew it would be more difficult starting with the more
difficult spell, yet Thane had started her on the
Draining Touch spell without benefit of the Drain
Vitality Cantrip that Baladus had.  Thus she knew it
must be possible to master a spell without a similar
cantrip that had already been learned.

After the weekend, Bellany settled into a routine of
sorts.  She practiced every cantrip she knew that did
not require a victim each morning after a few warm-up
exercises to wake her mind and body.  After casting she
completed her usual swordsmanship exercises and then
cleaned up for class.  If she had any extra time during
the daylight hours she practiced the Ash Kinetics
Cantrip and if she had any extra time at night while
Mary slept she practiced with her globes of light.  By
midweek she began working on variations in the color of
the lights she conjured.  On Wednesday she had also
successfully cast Darkness II in the closet one night.


Starting the morning after she had first brought Mary
to her peak, Bellany had studied the first drain at
range spell and began to construct a channeling spell
she could use to capture the energy of Mary's orgasms.
Although she could not complain about how sexual Mary
had become, Mary merely whet her appetite because she
could sense the energy of Mary's release, but she could
not pull it into herself.  Bellany delighted in
bringing her roommate to one mind-bending orgasm after
another each night using her lust senses to guide her,
but the exposure to so much sexual energy that was just
out of reach made her maddeningly hungry.  It was hard
to believe that just a week before, it had been all
Bellany could do to get her roommate to come at all.
Now she was getting quite good at it, and she delighted
in pleasuring Bellany as well, but that just deepened
the hunger.

Thus it was no surprise that one week after introducing
Mary to sex, Bellany had already formulated and tried
numerous variations of a spell she called Amorra's
Channel, after the goddess of love and lust.  The spell
had to be timed such that casting concluded at the
moment Mary came to climax. Having lust senses
certainly made this possible, but it was not easy,
especially since Bellany could not stop pleasuring Mary
so that she could cast the spell.  The spell had to be
designed so that the somatic components were caresses
and the verbal components would slide off the end of a
busy tongue.

The spell was similar in principal to the channeling
spells that she had developed for directing a man's
energy into her reserves when it was spent somewhere
other than her vagina.  Yet this spell had to reach
deeper into Mary's body than the channels she had
developed for men.  In theory the spell took no more
power than the Drain Vitality Cantrip, but in practice
the design had to be much more astute and
unconventional.  On Wednesday Bellany had her first
success. She was able to direct a trickle of Mary's
orgasmic energy into her reserves.  Having the
principal down was a milestone, but learning to shape
the magic gradually and subtly as she shaped Mary's
arousal was Bellany's long-term goal.  She devoted a
section of her spellbook to notes on the development of
Amorra's Channel and vowed that she would practice and
refine it whenever possible.

The following Monday, Constable Herrington came to
class at the end of The Trivium and spoke.

"Since it involved an unladylike topic, I was charged
with the investigation of a certain drawing, alleged by
Miss Elloisa Elliston to have come from Lady Norwit's
book.  Lady Norwit maintained that she had not created
the drawing because if she had created it, it would
have been accurate which she maintained it was not.  In
due time I discovered from Mrs. Sedell the art teacher
here at Vargrend's that the style and strokes of the
drawing were not in Lady Norwit's style but the style
was commensurate with Miss Elliston's style.  I was
also able to locate an individual who confirmed that
the drawing was anatomically inaccurate."

Headmistress Vargrend stood and took the floor.  "Thank
you Constable Herrington.  Creating such a drawing
would be an offense in itself, but attempting to make a
fool of the Headmistress of this academy is simply
unconscionable.  Miss Elliston, you will report to my
office after class."

Miss Elliston swallowed noticeably, as though the sword
of Damocles had just been hung over her head.

Bellany stared at the wall and managed, at least
temporarily, to overcome her urge to grin.  Perhaps
Elliston would be providing Baladus or Alistair with
sustenance in the very near future.

-------

This ends, The Fallen Angel, chapter 61 of The
Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in chapter 62, A Breath of Autumn Air.

Copyright 2004 by Rapina