A Shadow Thief's Magic Page 4

  He’d found he lasted longer that way too, as if the raw magic in his body soothed and strengthened his muscles. It wasn’t cheating; he was supposed to be doing that, just no spells.

  “So how was that? Good enough for you?”

  Erin’s grin was predatory and a little vicious when she replied, but her eyes sparkled with amusement and not a little lust, it kind of turned him on despite what came out of her mouth.

  “You could have lasted a bit longer, that engagement ended a little… prematurely.”

  He grinned back but held back the laugh.

  “Don’t worry sweetheart. That was just round one.”

  He attacked high with his sword and kicked her in the gut. Her armor easily absorbed it, but it was a strike. They went all out then, swords clashed, spare fists, feet, knees and elbows struck out. There were even some pommel strikes in the mix when they got too close to swing effectively. He knew it was insane, but he’d never had so much fun in his life.

  They fought on and off while they traded wise ass comments and looks of lust. He lost count of who had the most touches, but he didn’t think it mattered, after two hours she called a halt, and not in the usual way either, she’d tackled him and took him to the ground. It had been the strangest foreplay he’d ever been engaged in. He was already aroused and she claimed his lips with hers as they hit the ground.

  She moaned with need into his mouth while grinding herself along his manhood.

  She broke the kiss and sat up, her warm center pushing down on his erection as she gazed down at him with hungry eyes.

  “Does this mean I won?” he asked as he helped her undo the straps of her armor.

  She snorted and smirked down at him, “No… I did. But that’s no reason to punish myself further.”

  She ground down on him harder and he groaned, he wanted to be inside of her. Her armor fell off, and she wasted no time stripping her shirt off as well, revealing the shapely body beneath to his eyes for the first time. She had the tight and toned athletic body that her shapely legs and sexy ass had promised. Her breasts were perky and milky white with hard pink nipples that made his cock twitch and surge under her. She must have felt it because she smirked down at him while she ground against it even harder.

  She really was beautiful, he lifted his arms and reached out to tease and caress her breasts, they were more than a handful, soft, yet still firm and yielding as he ran his thumbs over the hard points and kneaded the sides. She gasped in pleasure and reached down between her legs, and inside his breaches to wrap her hand around his length.

  She leaned back down and kissed him, grinding her heat against his leg while she slowly jacked him. He felt like he was drowning in her needy passion and the feeling of her supple body against his. She was turning out to be as insanely aggressive in bed as she was at sparring.

  She broke the kiss again and moved apart far enough for them to get their pants off and he looked down between her legs. She was well trimmed, and had a beautiful mound that glistened in the sunlight. It looked to be already opening up for him. He looked back up with lust in his eyes and found the same in hers.

  She moved back to position herself over him, and he scented her arousal which drove him to stop her, he wanted a taste first.

  “Not yet,” he said demandingly, and he pulled her hard by her legs, flipping her onto her back and pulling her up his body as he leaned forward to get his head between her legs.

  She said in shock, “What the fuck are you…” and then in a husky moan as his tongue invaded her heat, “oh… oh my god Daniel… Fuck!”

  He spread her with his fingertips and started to lick on and around her clit as he slid two fingers into her ready sex. He loved the noises and dirty words coming from her mouth as he took her toward orgasm. His pole was so hard it hurt, but he needed to taste her liquid bliss before he took her hard.

  She demanded, “Fuck, don’t stop… I’m going to,” she ground down onto his face hard.

  He moaned in approval of her delicious liquid silk, and when she started to tremble he sucked her clit hard between his lips and hit it with his tongue, while he continued to finger her hard and fast.

  Her core grabbed his fingers in tight warm silken pleasure as she exploded above him. He let off the pleasure nub and started to lick around it slowly, enjoying the taste of her creamy liquid ecstasy. She collapsed and he flipped her over onto her hands and knees, and got up on his knees behind her.

  “Did you like that, I know I did, you taste fucking divine Erin.”

  She whimpered when she felt him rub his tip up and down her very wet and swollen labia, she was more than ready for him now.

  “I’ve never felt anything like that.”

  He grunted in pleasure as he buried himself into her welcoming body hard from behind, drawing a whimper of pleasure from Erin.

  “Really? Do men on your world not know what a tongue is for?”

  He waited and simply enjoyed the feeling of her incredibly tight warm channel as she got used to him inside her. She felt amazing around him as her sex alternatively squeezed, released and pulsed up and down his entire length. He knew he was gifted in size, so it took quite a while for her to fully adjust to him filling her up.

  “Hell no,” she gasped, “You need to do that again.”

  He laughed and his cock pulsed at the thought, “My pleasure love.”

  Her core was tight silken bliss, and when he started to saw in and out of her adding the feeling of delicious wet friction he groaned in pleasure, smacked her ass, and pulled her head back by her braid. If her moans were any indication, not to mention their method of foreplay, she was enjoying it a bit rough. He sped up and her body started to buck back against him and grind which made it hard to control himself.

  He managed to hold it until her first orgasm, but that was it. When she tightened around him and her core started to milk him hard he was done.

  “Fuck Erin… I’m going to…”

  She spoke through her own bliss in a gasping breath, “In me.”

  He didn’t question it, just pumped two more times and buried himself hard and fast, his legs got weak and his body locked up as he exploded in pleasure and filled her up with his seed. They were gasping when they came apart. He lay on his back, and pulled her against him.

  She kissed him softly, “That was… incredible.”

  He grinned at her, “That was round one love…”

  She snorted and smiled at him, it lit up her eyes. It might have actually been the first truly happy smile he’d seen from her.

  She said, “We haven’t really talked, maybe we should have first. It’s just awkward because…” she trailed off.

  He snorted, “Because you’re still holding back from telling me what’s going on.”

  She nodded almost apologetically, and kissed him passionately while rubbing his balls lightly with her fingertips. He recovered quite fast and she mounted him, sinking down his length slowly as she took him in.

  She said breathily as she slowly rode him decadently, “I still can’t tell you much, but I can tell you that we can’t be more than lovers. My life is… pledged to Katherine’s. Even if you would ever choose to follow me following her, which I don’t see you doing, we still couldn’t be more than lovers. I like you Daniel, you’re a good man, you work hard, and you have an amazing… oh fuck… cock.”

  He watched as the beautiful sexy woman riding him arched her back and came all over his hard length as she grinded into him, while he caressed her body with his hands. When she came down she started talking again.

  “I’d be happy to lie with you whenever you wish, and be lovers, but I can never be yours.”

  He pinched her nipples, drawing a gasp from between her slightly parted lips.

  He said softly, “I’ll take what I can get, and I won’t make you regret it.”

  He was curious to know what Katy’s deal was about taking lovers or not, but he wasn’t dumb enough to bring up another woman while he was ha
ving sex with Erin. After a moment the stray thought faded, and he was back with her completely, lost in her wanton movements as she pleasured him slowly with rising, falling, grinding, and circling. This time he managed to last until her third explosion of bliss…

  Chapter 5

  He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed that Katy didn’t seem to care he was mussing the sheets with Erin. He knew that was fucked up, but it was what it was. Although he still slept alone, Erin wouldn’t sleep with him, because she needed to be guarding Katy’s sleep, and he wasn’t welcome in that room.

  He still had no idea why Katy denied what she wanted, it was still obvious that she was as attracted to him as he was to her, but it still didn’t go anywhere. About the only thing that changed was he was a lot less frustrated and in pain after his and Erin’s morning sword practices. His stamina had increased to a degree he could handle the two hour workout, which most days was merely foreplay for what came after.

  The magic training continued to go well, and he increased how much magic he could comfortably hold almost every day. Katy told him eventually he would hit the ceiling of his talent, and that would be that, but it could take a long time, years even.

  He continued to get better in illusions, including some advanced ones like moving animals, or even a replica of himself, Katy, or Erin. He learned to add sounds to his illusions, and even have the illusions leave illusions of footprints behind as they walked. Finally one day Katy announced it was time for him to get some practice with shadow spells.

  Katy said strictly, “For now, don’t try any shadow work on your own. If you get into a mess I might be able to get you out of it, but only if I’m already watching.”

  He nodded in agreement, and actually felt a little excited. He’d gotten to the point his magic felt natural, and he was eager to try out the sphere of shadows.

  Katy instructed, “So you can enter a shadow with your mind, and send it to faraway places to spy. It’s the easiest thing to do, yet the most dangerous, because it takes magic to move around and get back to your body from the shadow lands. Shadows constantly move, shift, change shape, and even disappear. That means the shadow lands do as well.

  “The other things you can do are the physical, you can move into a shadow physically, though that takes tremendous energy, so you can’t move far in the shadows with your physical body. Probably a mile at most and even that will exhaust you. You can also just hide in the shadow. Lastly, you can call shadows to you, to hide from sight. Do you have any questions?”

  He could think of a few things, but nothing to do with shadows right now, so he shook his head.

  She smiled brightly, “Alright, Erin’s helping us for this one. I want you to send your mind into this shadow, and find Erin, and then come back and tell me where she is.”

  He blew out a breath, how hard could it be?

  He breathed in the magic, visualized his mind in the shadow of the tree they were sitting near, and fed his magic to the idea. It felt like he was twisted inside out, and he seemed to be looking out from the perspective of the shadow. He could see himself sitting across from Katy. He also felt the magic that was left from when he drew it into his body.

  He still had a connection to his body through that, but he knew he couldn’t draw any more magic from his source until he’d returned to it. He turned around, mentally anyway, and he got a sense of all the shadows in the area and even beyond. As he looked farther and farther, he could feel the drain on his magic. There was plenty left right now, but he didn’t want to waste it, so he pulled back his senses to just the local area.

  There were still thousands of shadows, they were in a damned forest after all, how was he going to find Erin. But as soon as he pictured Erin in his mind, he felt a pull. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he was sure she was back toward the cabin. He moved himself to a shadow close to her, and he was there. He felt a small drain of magic, but no time had seemed to go by, it was as if he simply changed his perspective. He looked out of the shadow, and saw Erin in the tub bathing with a naughty smile on her face. The little minx probably wondered if she was being looked at right now, and seemed to enjoy that possibility.

  He returned to the shadow he’d started at by his body with a quick thought, and then rejoined his body. He’d had plenty of magic left, but all of Katy’s warnings had him respecting shadow magic.

  He grinned, that was kind of fun.

  “Erin’s taking a bath. Can you tell me how that works? It’s like the shadows knew where she was, and told me. I didn’t so much as look, as think about her and the knowledge of what direction she was in and how far just came to me.”

  She actually shrugged and smiled apologetically, “It just is. You couldn’t find anyone that way though, just people you know fairly well, and of course, places you’ve been.”

  He nodded and looked at her intently, his voice playful, “I think I know why you don’t want me playing with it when you’re not around… for instance, when you’re bathing?”

  She blushed and his smile got wider.

  “Just teasing Kat, I wouldn’t…”

  She gave him a look of mock severity, “You better not, besides, it can be blocked by another shadow user.”

  He frowned, “How does that work.”

  She shrugged, “You just visualize the shadows not letting anyone through, and cast the spell. Another simple way is to simply remove the shadows with light.”

  He nodded, “So… it’s hard to move physically in that world, but not to go into a shadow right?”

  She tilted her head, “Yes, why?”

  “What about if the shadow moves, does that take any more magic?”

  She shook her head, “No, why?”

  “Well I was thinking, what if I made an illusion of a bird, and put myself in its shadow, then had it fly quickly in whatever direction I wanted. I could move overland pretty quickly, couldn’t I? It wouldn’t be instant, but I could probably get a couple of hundred miles in under an hour.”

  She frowned, “No one has done that before, but… I really can’t see why it wouldn’t work. You have an odd combination of spheres, so maybe you’ll think of other stuff too, but please run it by me first.”

  He shook his head, “No one has thought of that before?”

  She shrugged, “Shadow sphere wielders are rare, and there are other ways to move quickly in the summoning sphere.”

  He nodded, “I want to try something.”

  He looked toward the shadow on the ground next to him, and he visualized seeing Erin through the shadow. If he could connect to her with the shadow lands, why take the step of going there with his mind, instead of just going to the end result. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but if it didn’t would that really matter?

  Katy didn’t tell him to stop or explain, so he sent his magic to give life to his visualization, and the shadow lightened slowly, and showed Erin getting out of the bath. Good timing, he stared a bit until Katy distracted him.

  Katy gasped, “What did you do?”

  He shrugged and explained his reasoning and visualization, and then added, “It will last for a while I think, how do I stop a spell without letting it run out of magic first?”

  Katy replied, “Just visualize pulling the magic from the spell, it will cost a little and you’ll get back the rush of what’s left. That only works on your own spells though, without destruction you can’t really effect anyone else’s.”

  He nodded soberly and tried it, the shadow darkened again.

  He looked at Katy for a moment, and he knew he was a fool, because he trusted the woman. There just wasn’t a dishonest bone in her body, and she wore her emotions on her face. He’d judged her naïve but that wasn’t exactly right. She knew others could be deceptive, but she was honest and forthright for herself.

  He’d never met anyone like her before, and it was killing him not knowing why she kept a wall up between them to their mutual frustration. Over a month now he’d spent hours every day
alone with her, and hours with her when Erin was around. His mistrust and doubts he held about his fellow humans just didn’t… apply to her.

  He burned to know why… but she wasn’t ready yet for some reason. So he’d have to wait to find out. He’d never felt this way about another woman, and he hadn’t even kissed her yet, and might never do so.

  She shook him out of his thoughts, “Did you hear that?”

  He shook his head and then started to pay attention to their surroundings. He’d been too busy pining he thought with self disgust.

  A few moments later he heard the snap and crunch of a breaking stick. Animals wouldn’t do that, and neither would Erin. He pointed a finger to his right and nodded slowly. Were they in danger? Katy looked scared, and he knew she was powerful, could probably squash him like a bug with a thought, so why was she scared?

  This was a problem, because he knew nothing, they still hadn’t told him. He wasn’t sure how to react. Greet them with tea and cookies, or a sharp sword in their hearts? He wasn’t sure and that made him uneasy. How could he plan and judge the odds when he had no damn clue what was going on.

  He mouthed, “Cabin?”

  She nodded and they got up and snuck in that direction. He had an idea, but now wasn’t the time for experimentation. He pulled out his sword slowly, a real one. He hadn’t used it yet, but Erin told him to have it at all times when she was satisfied with his skills a week earlier. He was thankful for that now. They made it to the edge of the woods, and he saw a few soldiers dressed in chainmail and helmets with blue pennons over it, he also heard the sound of steel on steel inside the cabin.

  He was about to do something when Katy’s staff glowed blue, and the two soldiers collapsed to the ground. She looked at him guiltily, and then they both ran for the door. He quickly took stock, Erin was fighting half naked. Apparently she’d gotten caught by surprise while dressing after the bath. There were two of them trying to box her in the corner, but she was too good.

  The room itself had looked better, the furniture was overturned, and the coffee table was shattered with a third unconscious or dead soldier in the middle of it. He used his cheap trick and visualized blindfolds on the soldiers and fed it magic while he rushed their backs.