Nights at Newtnose Ch. 05

*****

Charlotte and Violet have managed to seduce and slip by the knight who guards the Reliquary, Ser Allonso. In pursuit of the book assigned to her by Professor Stanton, Charlotte strives to solve the mysterious ailment which has afflicted Angelica and Nichole.

*****

Nights at Newtnose Ch. 05

It was an old, long and thin hallway which descended in small steps. Violet walked just behind me and I looked over my shoulder to her: "How did you even get into the library?" I asked.

"Not to judge your enchanting skills," she said. "But those weren't that difficult to detect and undo."

I huffed, but I had to know. "What did I do wrong?"

"I don't think your heart was really in it."

I thought of the excitement I experienced while spreading my legs on the chair, of the warmth of my cunt mingling with my apprehensions and doubts, of whoever could have sat studying in that same chair beforehand as I fingered myself for Allonso."Don't sound so happy," I said, and she laughed.

A few moments passed as we descended. The stone walls had a faint green glow which lighted our advance. "I don't get it," I said. "You shouldn't be here. And you, well..."

"Look," she said. "I just needed some time to think. I'm worried about Angelica and Nichole, and with Stanton asking you to do all this, yeah, I think he knows something about it. But if he does, asking you to find the book and figure out the medium points at two possibilities: he wants your help, or he wants you entangled in it. But if he wants you entangled in it, why not just more directly do it?"

I thought for a few moments."I know he's a Professor," I said, "but I don't think he can risk me coming out with our relationship, whatever it is, if he wanted to do something more directly to me."

"But he can, right? He has a lot to lose, but not to be rude, you're just another student. We all heard the rumors about him when we got here, so you wouldn't be the first witch to say something like that."

"I think that's part of it, though," and I absentmindedly touched the rock wall beside me. It was cold, but smooth. "His reputation does matter, especially being connected to the Emile family."

"Wait, the Emiles?"

"Lord Emile was his patron."

"How do you know that?"

"I erm," and I paused. "He's a runemaster. I love runes. I may have read almost... everything I could about his career."

She laughed. "Well, I see your point. They're a house in decline, and they're basically riding on prestige at this point. Regardless, when I left our dorm I never really intended to abandon you. I just," and her voice trailed off.

"I'll try not to be so reckless," I said. "I should have been more careful with the parchment."

"Thank you," she said, and I wasn't sure what else to say.

"I have a mentor, of sorts," she offered. "In the historical wing. There are hundreds of portraits there just gathering dust, mostly sleeping. I asked her about Ser Allonso: as we could have guessed, it wasn't always just him in that enormous portrait. He had a partner, a woman."

"And that's who you remind him of?"

"Exactly. They had to separate them because of his little locking issue."

I laughed. "They were fucking too much? Can't say I'm surprised."

Thinking of Allonso, of myself and Violet in the library not even an hour ago, my pussy still ached. I felt raw, still sticky with her. I wondered if she still tasted me, like I could her.

"But what about everything else?" I asked with a rush through my chest. The air was growing damp, and I wasn't sure how far we had descended into the earth beneath Newtnose. "I, erm, look. I obviously enjoyed whatever it was we just did. It was new. Exciting, you know? But that wasn't new for you."

"No," she said.

"And I thought you weren't really into guys?"

"I certainly never said that. But I think you know what I'm into, now," and she left it at that.

Time blurred together as my mind worked over the events of the night, and eventually the steps flattened out to reveal a massive chamber lit by starlight from above, enchanted to look like the night sky. Two moons slowly orbited each other at the chamber's apex and I stopped, stunned. Violet bumped into me.

"The hells-" and she went silent. Flickering stars reflected upon a vast, black and still lake. The chamber was cool with a fresh and gentle breeze, and I couldn't see the opposite shore. As far as I could tell, there wasn't one.

"Wow," said Violet.

I heard a loud splash of water and looked to the edge of the lake nearest us. Emerged shimmering from it was a tall, muscular man. He was naked, and glowed silver with moonlight as runnels of water ran down his shoulders, between his pecs, down his lean abdomen and over a lengthy member which rolled between his legs as he stood. He turned and slowly walked to us with a casual air, his thighs by their sharp and defined muscles casting lean and flickering shadows with each contraction. Starlight was in his eyes.

I pointed my wand at him. Violet looked at me, then him, and raised her own.

"Unnecessary," he said. "My name is Ajax, and welcome to the Reliquary." He gestured widely at the grand chamber, his voice echoing throughout.

I looked briefly to the water and back to him, my wand still raised. I noticed that he was vaguely transparent, the small black pebbles of the rocky shore rippling through his feet where he stood. "What are you?" I asked.

He frowned. "Shouldn't you know?"

We stood there, roughly ten feet from each other: his arms relaxed at his sides, our own outreached with wands still ready. Silence passed between us, and he cocked his head.

"Well," he said. "I am what's left of this place. I am your guide," and he gestured again towards the lake. He rotated his palm upwards, and a large glass capsule raised silently from the water near the shore. Small droplets of water ran in beads down its arcing sides.

"Where is everything?" asked Violet as she lowered her wand. "The Reliquary is a vault, is my understanding."

"Everything, as you say, is in the lake."

Suddenly I saw what looked to be a silver chalice leap from the waters like a fish. I lowered my wand and watched as wavelets slowly made their way across the glassy water. The capsule bobbed in such a small wake, and I reckoned it could comfortably seat two, perhaps three. "So," I said, "we go into the water using that."

He smiled thinly. "That is typically what's done. Others have tried to no avail to summon that which they believe swims these waters. You can try, of course," and he waved his hand in the air before squatting to the ground. He turned from us and faced the lake in his squat, and gray whisps of light slowly twirled around his long fingers as they rested on his knees. "I am surprised you do not know this," he continued. "The knight does his duty well, despite his failings."

"His, erm, failings?" asked Violet.

He looked at her, then hummed and thumbed his chin. "What is your name?" he asked her.

"I'm Violet."

He nodded and stood. "You?"

I hesitated, but I thought of the agentic parchment and relented. "It's Charlotte."

His eyebrow briefly flicked upwards. "Is it now. And what do you seek?"

"A book."

He looked at me skeptically. His hair was long and thick in ghostly waves, but kept from his face by delicate golden hairpins. "And this book's name?" he asked with impatience.

"Effigy Esoterica."

The sudden intensity of his look was shocking. His forearms twitched and I gripped my wand in anticipation.

"That is," and he paused, looking once more to the lake. "An old work." He shifted his weight and crossed his arms. After several moments, he looked at me again. "Charlotte," he said, and his eyes scanned my body. "Come closer."

I stood still. Violet looked at me, then him, then prodded my lower back. "I don't think he's dangerous," she whispered.

Ajax laughed deeply, his echoes reverberant through the vast cavern. "My sincerest," he said as he uncrossed his arms. "Please forgive me. I just haven't heard that name in a very, very long time. I am curious to whom it belongs."

I eyed him sideways as I walked to the cylinder. He followed me from a distance, his eyes on me throughout. We met at the capsule and he leaned forward with his hands clasped behind his back, inspecting my face. The ghostly silver light from his body lit my features in gente relief.

"Charlotte," he nearly whispered.

"Yeah," and I wanted to step back. His clavicles were eye level to me, his shoulders broad, and his nakedness uncomfortable.

"Your last name," he said.

I looked at Violet again, and she nodded.

"It's Nolet."

He continued to inspect me, his eyes softening and hardening in turn. He gazed intensely into my eyes and, "Nolet," he said with a sigh. To my relief he looked away, standing straight. "Your name and features bring me to another time," he said, watching the still waters of the lake. "A better one."

We stood silently before the capsule for several long moments. "So," said Violet. "You'll help us find the book?"

He nodded at her, then tenderly touched the capsule. His look was solemn as the top of it melted away to reveal the general shape of a small, glassy boat.

"That is the task I have assumed, yes," he said. "I also assume you have permission from the knight, being here."

"But you said it was old," I said quickly. "The book. Why say that?"

He stepped into the boat and sat at its prow, his legs spread and his cock swaying in a dangle. His abdominals rippled, and despite my general unease it was difficult not to eye the well-defined, v-shaped muscles of his pelvis that lead to his groin. He placed his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. I sat at the boat's center while Violet sat behind me at the helm. It was impossible not to inspect Ajax once more: our knees nearly touched, and the faint glow across his body illuminated my robes and skin.

"Because it is," he said. He touched the sides of the boat and the vessel shimmered lightly, its hull elongating in an arc above us and sealing us within. Despite being completely encased, I still felt the breezy coolness of the lake as we slowly rocked back and forth.

"And you two are so young," he continued. "The difference is powerful, and startling. I'd ask what you want of it, but that isn't my place," and he breathed out. "No, no."

He looked at me again, then to Violet. "We shall go the center," he said. "Then we shall descend. I will bring us to the tome and you will leave the way you came. Does this make sense?"

I nodded.

"Yes," said Violet.

"Good," and the capsule slipped away from the rocky shore.

It was a few minutes of silence to what was apparently the center of the lake. The twin moons above watched us like two enormous eyes, and thousands of tiny stars glimmered upon the lake to light our advance. I watched the ripples from our craft undulate outwards and behind us: the bright and delicate light from above, the wavelets in concert to meet one another behind, it was mesmerizing. Soon, we halted.

I looked ahead of us and noticed a small, almost imperceptible rush of bubbles from somewhere deep within the waters, like the remains of an old fountain long submerged. "What's that?" I asked. "Matter of fact, what is all this?"

Ajax looked at his hands and picked his fingers. "This is the fountain of youth," he said calmly. "And these are it's waters."

Violet gasped. I looked over my shoulder at her, then stood slightly to better eye the tiny fountain.

"Incredible," said Violet. "Wait, you're serious, right?"

He looked at her with stony eyes. "Laughter largely leaves you after years in such a place."

"You can't be," I said. "It's just, what, sitting under Newtnose? Come on."

"The only thing you need to believe," said Ajax, "is this: under no circumstances do you drink the water."

Violet's eyes glinted. "But we'd live forever. Everyone could. No sickness, no death-"

He glared intensely at her. She noticed his stare and looked at her knees.

"What life it gives is not of what you speak," he said. "Nobody should live as those who drink."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "So people have drank this? Shouldn't this be studied, its magic harnessed-"

"No," he shouted. Violet and I rocked backward in alarm as his voice echoed harshly through the cavern. I looked at him, frightened.

"It's magic should not be studied," he said. "It isn't even magical, not in the sense you mean. It is older, of a nature different and before that which is taught at Newtnose, or even Bentbrows. Even older than the magic I know, though that doesn't mean much."

We rolled lightly in the lake. Violet and I were silent and still, looking at Ajax in apprehension. His soft, silver glow seemed more dangerous than before. I questioned whether we should even be in the craft with him, his unknown potential merely inches from us. Why was he here? Had he drank the water?

"No," he repeated softly. It was stated with a subtle sadness that lessened my apprehension. He looked at me, and the slightest look of worry was across his face. "I apologize for yelling," he said. "But years under these moons makes one," and he thought a moment, "mercurial, I suppose."

He reached his hand out and I reflexively leaned back. He turned his palm upwards, his long fingers curling slightly as he did so. "I can do you no harm, know that," and he cupped his fingers, offering me his hand.

I reached out hesitantly to take it, and after a moment, I placed my palm upon his. To my surprise, it passed softly, cooly through. I touched my fingertips together.

"As you can see," he said, "I cannot touch those who yet live. You must give me permission to do so, and I am not asking for it. But," and he clasped his hands together once more, "you must not drink."

"We won't," I said. "But," and I paused. "What happens if we do?"

"You will see shortly," and he brushed his right hand on the bottom of the craft.

We descended slowly. Water bubbled around us and the breeze of the chamber was replaced with a warm, humid quietude. Glimmering rough collections of gold and silver coin swirled by like schools of fish as throngs of rubies and emeralds cartwheeled above us, and a plain looking necklace made merely of dried grasses and tattered rope stuck to the bottom of the craft before careening off. Golds, reds, blues and greens in magnificent hues shimmered in the capsule from it all, rainbows of brilliance in little lights between myself and Ajax. It was beautiful.

Then a face, and an arm, and it was someone glowing gray clawing at the side of our craft. It was a man, then a woman, then several others in a grasping, naked crowd as we descended further. I looked at Violet and worry was across her face.

"What are they?" I asked.

"Who are they," said Ajax. He gestured with his large hand at the ghostly bodies that brushed against the exterior of the capsule. "Arthur Swillo, Samuel Ness, Nayra Blossom... There are many out there. All named, all once human."

Violet looked around, her brows stitched together. "Why are they-"

"They drank," he said.

I looked at the bodies as they churned around the vessel, a thickening cloud of flailing limbs and yearning faces. Why in the world had Stanton ask me to come here? To see this? Ghostly bodies tumbling over our craft, forgotten treasures like kelp in a tide, it all felt far, far too large.

Ajax looked at me pensively. He hadn't given Violet as much attention, and I looked him in his eyes. They glimmered silver with small flecks of gold, and he blinked.

"So," I said. "Don't drink the water."

He nodded.

He slid his hand along the top of the craft, then starboard, and we turned. We soon were gliding through a swarm of ancient books, their pages ruffling in our wake.

"How old are these?" asked Violet. "They almost look preserved."

"Hundreds of years," said Ajax. "Thousands, even. But they stay as they are within these waters. Here," and the vessel slowed. We floated before a black leather book which drifted up and down before us. Silver, spider-web thin text was printed upon its front cover, titling it.

"Effigy Esoterica," I said.

"Your quarry," said Ajax. "Now, it is you, Charlotte, who asks for this?"

"Yeah," I said.

"To take it, simply reach through this vessel. Then we return, and you two return."

The craft crept sideways to the book. Eye level with it in my seat, I touched the glass. It was startlingly warm.

"Push your hand, yes, like that," and he pressed his left palm to the glass. "Then simply reach. You will be able to hold it."

I pressed my palm through the side of the vessel and it formed a thin, flexible film around my wrist and arm. "It's almost hot," I said. I flexed my hand and the glass followed suit.

"Do not play," he commanded. "Retrieve it, and we leave."

I grasped the book. It was small and light, entirely out of proportion to everything I had to do to get the damned thing. I brought it into the vessel and set it in my lap. It was curiously dry and smaller still, almost like a diary. I stared at it as if it would vanish.

As I inspected the small book, I heard a sharp snap and looked above: a massive crack split erratically along the top of the capsule.

"Girl!" said Ajax. He made to grab my shoulders, looking from me to the crack, but they passed harmlessly through my body. "Did you have permission?" His eyes were thin in anger, then wide in concern.

My mouth hung open wordlessly. Water trickled through the crack and I stared at him.

"Did you have permission?" he yelled again.

The crack split wider, and streams of water shot into the capsule. I covered my head with the book and closed my eyes.

He yelled in frustration as more cracks formed aside and beneath us. "I should let you drown," he said with fury. He looked at Violet and then me, paused, and looked underneath us.

"Give me permission to touch you," he commanded.

We were silent. Water poured over our heads, heavy and hot.

"Give me your permission-"

"You can," said Violet, her arms together over her head.

"Yes," I squeaked.

"Keep tight your mouths. Clasp your noses shut-"

The hull above us split, and we were engulfed in a massive wave of water. My robes swirled around me as I fell over onto Violet who flailed. She kicked my lower back, I pinched my nose as hard as I could, sealed my lips tight, and the vessel cracked open completely.

As I rolled blindly in the rush of water, two large arms hefted me. I opened my eyes and Ajax was clutching me, then he was reaching for Violet and grasping her as well.

"Hold to me," came clear his deep voice. I wrapped my arm around his torso and pressed my head into the sharp bones of pelvis. Violet's eyes were shut tight as she gripped Ajax's waistline.

He swam us down, and down, and the watchful moons above slowly shrank through the terribly clear water as we descended. He kicked violently and churned his arms ahead of him. A sharp pressure built in my eardrums and my head felt tight, my eyes hurt, and my chest started to heave. My heart raced thickly in my chest, and I desperately wanted to breathe.

Thump thump thump went my heart as my head swam and my neck tightened. We descended rapidly and I pressed my forehead into Ajax's waist to distract from that terrible feeling of breathlessness. Don't open your mouth, don't open your mouth, don't open-

Just as I made to breathe, we burst through the bottom of the lake. We fell through cool air, crashed to a sharp and hard stone floor and I cried out. Violet crumpled heavily on top of me, squirmed around and I gasped. I opened my eyes and flickers of light left ghostrails in my vision as I looked around.

The lake floated above us, expansive and ominous. It was black save several glowing silver ghosts pawing at the water's edge as if it were made of glass. I pushed myself to a seat as Violet rolled off of me, and Ajax was standing several feet away, staring heavily.

I knelt, then stood and helped Violet up. I breathed deeply, my chest and neck still tight, and I righted my messenger bag on my shoulder. I expected to feel the weight of water soaking into my robes, but felt nothing: Violet and I were completely dry, just as the book had been.

"Reckless," he said harshly. He crossed his arms and flicked his eyes between Violet and I.

"You," and he gestured at me. "You lied."

"I didn't tell you I had permission."

"A lie by omission is a lie," and he pointed his index finger at me as if it were a knife. "Reckless, myopic. Arrogant." He glared at me, almost in disappointment, but mostly in anger. "And this girl, this Violet," he said with a wave towards her. "What of her? Of her safety?"

"I wanted to come," said Violet as she rummaged through her pockets. "I lied as much as she did."

"No. You followed. I can see it, as I've seen it before," and he looked away. He tapped his foot, and we were silent.

I looked at the ghosts in the water above as they twirled around each other. I looked at Ajax in his same glow. "You drank the water," I said.

He looked at me sharply. "Obviously," he said.

"But you aren't stuck up there," and I pointed to the water. "So, what happened-"

"Thank you," interrupted Violet. We both looked at her. "For saving us."

A look of surprise crossed his face, then it softened to something inscrutable. He uncrossed his arms and squatted to the floor, placing his hands on his knees as he did on the shore above.

"It is not a fate I'd wish for anyone," and he closed his eyes for several moments. "I was here with another. She loved lilacs. Now she is gone."

"Erm, what happened?" I asked hesitantly.

"Charlotte," said Violet.

"What?"

She gestured at Ajax. He was now sitting cross legged on the stone floor, picking at his fingers. He looked through his hands, through the ground, to somewhere somehow further away.

"I'm sorry," I said. "And thank you. Really," and I looked at Effigy Esoterica as I held it in my right hand. I looked at Violet, then to the pitiful swarm of ghosts above. An intense urge to toss the book took me, but I quickly quelled it. I breathed in slowly, then out, and put the small black tome into my messenger bag.

More moments of silence passed. I heard the subtle and slow swish of ripples upon the waters above as a ghostly man pressed his face into the water, opening and closing his mouth like a gasping fish. Small droplets trickled rhythmically from stalactites on the surrounding walls. The room wasn't large at all, and was lit only by the glow of Ajax.

Thinking of lilacs, I opened my bag and withdrew a small piece of parchment. I penned a couple herbary runes upon it, tapped my wand and a small, thin plume of petals unfurled from a central green stem. The petals were pink and purple, and a tiny, yellow star-shaped stamen jutted from where the petals met one another at the flower's center. I walked to Ajax and sat in front of him, and held out the flower.

"Can you touch it?" I asked.

He looked at it for several moments, then an old sadness mingled with the glints of gold in his eyes. "No," he whispered.

"Here," and I placed his hand on mine. It was large, heavy and cool, but he kept the weight of his bulky arm from me with an unexpected gentleness. His fingers lain atop mine, I felt each petal slowly. He breathed calmly as he looked at the flower, his look softening, his tense shoulders relaxing. He closed his eyes and I traced my fingertips along the edge of each petal, then the stamen and stem. He shivered, then quickly removed his hand from mine. He looked at me, silver and gold and gray in tiny sparkles through his eyes, and I noticed a short stubble upon his face. My heart leapt, and I looked away.

Several moments passed. "I'm sorry," I said again. The chamber was incredibly quiet, as if tired and itself needing peace. "I'm new to all this. I just..."

"Thank you," he said, and I looked at him. He blinked, then looked at my nose and and lips. "Nolet," he said once more. "Is that from your mother?"

"No," and I placed the flower in my bag. I stood. "It's my dad's. My mom, well..."

Ajax stood and squinted at me. "Then what is her maiden name?"

I felt a tightness in my chest, the vague impression of fear and anxiety tingling at my fingertips. Memories of thrown bottles shattering against drafty wooden walls, strained yells ringing in my ears, slammed doors and broken cabinets hanging by busted hinges all lanced through my mind. I looked past Ajax to the single, dark passageway leading from the room, and walked to it. "It doesn't matter," I said. "My name is Nolet."

The chamber was silent, humid. After some time, I heard Violet's small feet shuffling over some loose stone.

"Is this how we get out?" I asked.

"It is the start of it," said Ajax. "There are many roads which lead from that one. The correct one will take you to the edge of the lake, near the forest."

"The Witchwood?"

"Witchwood?" he said in surprise. "It was just the forest when I attended Newtnose."

"You were at Newtnose?" asked Violet. "How long have you been down here?"

"Years," and he joined me at the edge of the passage. "I would be your great grandfather, or so. Now," and he waved. "It is a long walk."

We walked the narrow, freezing passageways lit by Ajax's solemn glow. The passages expanded and contracted, shortened and lengthened, and other passages like capillaries split from it as if we traveled the veins of some great stone leaf. We descended in a spiral, ascended sharp ridges and stairways with burning legs, and I was surprised that such a tangle of roads could be hidden beneath the school grounds.

"I'm starving," said Violet, and I offered her a knob of bread from my bag. She laughed.

"You have bread in there?"

"I have a whole loaf," and I patted my bag.

We reached a great fork and Ajax waived to the right. "We go this way," he said. "We're near."

A sparkle of silver caught my eye along the walls of the passage to the left. I took a couple steps towards it and saw thin webs of red, crusty cinnabar lining the walls. Droplets of glimmering mercury dotted those red, jagged lines, and yellow crystals of saltpeter in geometric clusters marked the ceiling like old sores.

"Mercury," I said. "And saltpeter."

"We do not go that way," said Ajax, his voice taut with apprehension.

"Fos," I muttered, and an orb of light floated from my wand down the passage. The walls bloomed in red, silver and yellow, revealing a richness of such rare ingredients that I couldn't help but marvel at it all. In sporadic locations throughout, evidence of chiseling showed where the materials had been harvested. I thought of the bottle of incubus medium in my bag and touched my wand to a droplet of mercury. It tumbled from the wall, thin and quick.

"We do not go that way," repeated Ajax. "Come."

I waited several seconds before hearing from deep within the passageway several voices: one sharp and the other dark.

"There are people here," I said, and Violet ran to my side. She peered down the passage and we stood next to each other, our heads cocked, listening intently. Laughter echoed faintly and I looked at her.

"Mercury, saltpeter, and what I thought was morning dew," I told her. "That's what the medium was made of. Something else, too."

She looked at a section of wall closest to us and inspected some deep chiseling, there. She touched it briefly, then looked at me. "It was harvested recently."

"Have you learned nothing?" whispered Ajax from behind, his voice harsh and hurried. "Do not mind that which does not concern you," and he shoved passed us to bar our way into the colorful passage.

I looked at Violet and she grinned, small and wry, then nodded.

We sprinted at Ajax. Violet dove between his legs while I twisted myself beside him. He turned and grasped my arm as Violet crawled freely ahead.

"It's dangerous," he said desperately, his grip tight on my wrist. He pulled me to his broad, bare chest, and spoke into my ear. "You have no business with them."

I pushed myself away, tugging my arm uselessly against his overwhelming strength. "Ajax, listen. Students at school are being hurt. These ingredients," and I waved at the walls, "they're the same as what's been making our friends sick. It's what I need the book for, it's why I'm even here."

"Why you are here?" and he looked at Violet.

"Let go of me," I said, and his hand so tight on my wrist clasped harmlessly to a fist through my skin.

A look of despair and fear swept across his face. "Damnit, girl, don't be rash-" but I ran to Violet. She cast her own lighting spell, and we advanced into the darkness together.

*****

It was minutes of running, stopping and listening as we following the ever-loudening voices which echoed through the stony passageways. The droplets of mercury upon the walls grew larger, patches of cinnabar grander and saltpeter in thicker crystals served as suggestion to our advance. Ajax implored us frequently to turn back.

"You don't understand that in which you meddle," he said fruitlessly. "We must return."

As we turned a small corner we saw another just ahead, flickering with what seemed like candlelight. I stopped and Violet nearly barrelled me over. I righted myself, and we swished our wands to snuff the orbs of light we had summoned. I slowly crept to the corner, breathing shallow in apprehension.

"It's vital," said a sharp, feminine voice, "that this is what you desire from the deepest parts of yourself. This is pointless otherwise, as the others were. We can't afford another failed ritual."

I peeked my head and saw a large, circular stone chamber, walls smoothed and ornamented in stonework skulls, busts of bare maidens and thick, vascular phalluses curving upwards. They repeated in circular intervals as they ascended to the apex of the chamber, from which hung a large, crystal chandelier glimmering brilliantly in orange light from numerous brass candelabras standing on the floor below. Roughly a dozen or more people stood in black robes, hoods obscuring their faces save for one, shorter than the others, who wore instead a mask in the like of a goat's head.

"Do you understand?" asked the masked woman.

At the center of the room was a hip-height iron pedestal, rough and rusted, looking ancient. Upon it was a large, white and opaque orb which shimmered, and before it stood a woman, naked and tanned, roughly my age.

"Yeah," said the naked woman.

Violet gasped quietly and my eyes widened. "That sounds like one of the Liggets," she whispered. She peeked her head around my shoulders and I felt her warm weight against my back. "It's Erica."

The woman turned and Violet was correct: brown bushy eyebrows, brown eyes, an ever-present slight smile on her face. Her legs were long and breasts petite. "The fuck is she doing," I whispered.

"You know what to do," said the short woman.

Erica turned and knelt before the pedestal. She stroked the white orb gently, caressing it as if it were the face of a lover. To my astonishment, she bent her head and kissed it. Then, she licked it.

"What the-"

The orb shimmered and elongated in a thick curve in response to her tongue. Erica spit on it and stroked the curving stone slowly, clasping the fingers of both her hands before slipping them up and down.

"Is that," and I paused.

"It's a... dick?" said Violet.

Erica eyed the shimmering member before tonguing it slowly. The rod glimmered, thickened and elongated further, and a bulbous head emerged at its apex. Her fingers as she pumped impressed upon the shaft in her grip: it wasn't just stone, it plied like flesh. Her saliva bubbled and slipped down the underside of the shaft, where a wide vessel ran from burgeoning balls to tip. My mouth salivated reflexively and nipples hardened.

"What the fuck-"

Erica plunged her head onto it and moaned lustily. She coughed, and spit slipped from her quivering lips. She angled her head sideways, and I watched mesmerized as the rod pressed her cheek outwards. She throated it vigorously, her frizzy dark hair swaying back and forth as she sucked and stroked.

The skin of the member flashed purple, then pink, then white, and slowly what looked like a pelvis materialized from it, then the beginning of two legs around Erica's arms, then a muscular abdomen above her head. I looked at Violet.

"She's summoning something," she said.

I stared in awe. "It's the incubus."

Violet blinked, then shook her head and looked at me. "The incubus?"

"Incubus spit was the last ingredient of the medium. The one I couldn't figure out."

Her face twisted with worry. "The parchment told you," whispered Violet.

"Exactly."

"But," and she thought. "If she's summoning it now, how did Stanton already have its saliva?" She paused as slurps and sucks echoed around the corner to us. Erica's small and lusty moans reminded me of the library, of the Witchwood, and I shuddered.

"I don't know," I said. "I don't fully understand. But that thing... It can't be good for her. And that woman, she's wearing a goat mask. Hells," and Erica moaned deeply, somewhat muffled by the thick cock in her mouth.

"What are we going to do?" asked Violet. Her eyes were wide, and her brows stitched in confusion. Her gaze darted between mine and the corner, and she leaned away from me.

"There are, what, fifteen, sixteen of them in there," she continued. "We can't fight that many. And apparently Erica wants this."

"We don't know what the hell she wants," I said. "Who even are these people? And how did they get here, under the school?"

I peeked around the corner again. Two legs had fully formed, knees and ankles and feet in kind. Erica spread the legs and plunged her head upon the cock, groaning, before pulling back her head in gasp. She played with the glistening scrotum with one hand while caressing the rippling abdomen with her other. She drew back and throated the member again, rapidly stroking what little she couldn't take in her mouth, bobbing her head vigorously and with apparent delight. Slowly, thin golden ribs formed along the circumference of the dick. They glowed. Erica moaned louder than ever, her eyes fluttered, and a well of spittle burst from the side of her mouth.

She drew back once more, face flush and breathing heavily. She blinked as foamy drool slid down her chest., then massaged her throat and wiped her mouth."Come on," she said, eyeing the glowing golden ribs along the member. She traced her fingertips along one of them, and the legs aside her spasmed lightly. Her eyes widened in excitement, and she wrapped her two hands around the cock before pumping it hard and fast, her small breasts jiggling quick and eager.

"I want to meet you," she said as she stared deeply where the thing's head would be, seemingly imagining it's face. She sighed, then took its scrotum into her mouth and sucked, looking upwards with smiling eyes full of lust at the long and thick, glistening rod laid atop her forehead.

She stroked and stroked, sucking and sniffing and rocking her body up and down before drawing back. Without pause, she bobbed her head onto the cock in quivering enthusiasm, throating it entirely. She pressed her palms on the knees of the incubus, straightened her neck and ground her lips onto its hard pelvis. She slowly rocked her head side to side, her tongue flicking outwards from her lower lip, and the incubus' toes curled.

"Wonderful," said the masked woman behind her. "This is far more promising than the other two. Now, each of you begin," and she waved her hand.

Seven of the robed figures stepped forward and turned in concert before the other seven who remained. They knelt, then hurried to unzip the pants of those yet standing. Thick and long, thin and short, bare and haired cocks all flopped outward as those who knelt pulled up their own robes and exposed their bare cunts. One man, taller than the rest, stood hooded in shadow in the rear of the chamber, watching.

I stared as each witch eagerly licked and jerked the stiffening members before them. Deep and light moans, slick sounds of slurping and stroking filled the room, and the woman in the center watched as that white, stony abdomen upon the pedestal sprouted a broad chest, each nipple pierced in a golden ring, then wide shoulders and thick arms.

I looked away. "We have to do this fast," I said. "You're right, we can't fight them. But we can take advantage of whatever the fuck this all is," and I waved my hand.

I peeked around the corner again at the two pairs closest to us. The hooded women remained obscured, and what little I could see-a crooked nose, a purple nostril piercing-I didn't recognize. Spit welled in their mouths and dribbled down their chins from taut lips, and the men thrust their cocks into the witches' mouths with gasping moans. One man held back his witch's dark hair as she bobbed on him with enthusiasm, the other had both his hands on his own witch's head, gripping her tightly, as he fucked her mouth. His black pants were in a pile at his ankles, and I watched as his buttocks flexed in tight striations, his pelvis arched and his ankles flexed in his fucking her. Her head rocked back and forth and her mouth opened with a tight, small cough, her purple lipstick in a smear on her chin. The sight of it made my cunt pulse and heart race. I turned back to Violet.

"The women close to us are facing us. They'll notice first. I'll fly some runed parchment into the chamber that'll smoke out the room, but we have to curse those two," and I pointed around the corner. 'Then we can grab Erica."

"But I've never cursed anyone," she said.

I looked at her in disbelief. But Newtnose was full of privileged sons and daughters, descendents of old and powerful families which kept them safe and coddled. Of course Violet was worried: her face practically glowed with the evidence of a good upbringing.

"You've never even dueled?" I asked her.

"I mean," and she wrung her hands. "I have. But that's class. There are Professors, elves..."

"You're right," I said. "This is different," and I looked around. "Do you trust me?"

She nodded quickly. It terrified me. I shoved that fright away and looked at Ajax, who stared stonily at me-I could practically feel his judgement washing over my body. My face ran hot and I looked away quickly.

I pointed my wand at my throat. "Fonia andros," I whispered, then I hummed a short few notes. My voice felt thicker, wider in my throat. I pressed the tip of my wand to my neck and rotated it, dialing my voice a little higher.

Violet stared, her mouth slightly open. "They can't recognize us," I said in my new, far more masculine voice. "Here," and I transfigured hers. "Now pull your hood over your head."

She did so, and that same feel of guilt made me look behind us, to the safety of the passage I had so quickly disregarded. We could still leave, but I knew I had to be the one to say it.

I breathed out heavily, then pulled my hood over my head. I pointed my wand at myself again, and, "Stellosi krypto."

Violet gasped, her eyes wide and flickering in search of my own. "What the fuck, Charlotte?" she asked with a new voice of her own. Then she leapt in surprise, holding her throat, gazing at me in wonder and something else. Was it fear? Without pause, I cast the same curse on her hood, and her face was concealed in an impenetrable darkness.

"Don't say names," I said. "We're doing this. Just one spell," and I put up my index finger. "That's all I need from you, okay Violet? Can you do that for me?"

She hesitated, looking behind her to the passage, then to Ajax. He leaned against the rocky wall, his arms crossed, his look flat and distant. He picked at his thumb.

She looked at me again, but with her face so hidden I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "What if she doesn't want to come?" she asked.

"Then we'll have to make her."

"But we can't do that fast enough. We'd have to carry her or something," and she paused.

"I don't see a wand on her," I said, peeking again. "After we curse those two, we make for her. The smoke will conceal us."

"They have wands though."

"You're right. We should assume they aren't students, either. Assume they have full wands, maybe grand ones. Basic protection spells will still help, but they won't last. In, out, got it?"

I felt her gaze through the faceless darkness of her robe. I'd felt it before, with others, that same suspended trust before the ridiculously dangerous.

"Charlotte," she said, her voice distant and wavering. "Why do you know all this?"

Erica cried out in intense, sudden pleasure. Ignoring Violet's question, I looked to the pedestal and paused, a horrible feeling of dread filling my gut hollow and heavy as I stared.

The incubus had fully formed. It was sitting on the pedestal, pale skin and rippling muscles, it's arms dangling lazily at its sides. It was big: maybe bigger than Stanton, I couldn't yet tell as it sat. It's face was hard and angular, lean with slight shadows under its green eyes which widened in delight as Erica slipped her mouth from it's cock and stood before it. It gently reached out it's large, left hand, and Erica took it.

"Let me see you," it said in a deep voice which rumbled through my chest.

Her small hand lightly in his, she turned gracefully, her hips cocked and lower back arched. She held his gaze in her slow turn, and he looked her up and down with a mix of lust and curiosity.

"Welcome," said the masked woman. "Now, see what else is here for you," and she waved her hands again.

At that, the witches stood quickly and pressed their asses into the wizards they serviced. The man closest to us greedily plied his witch's ass as he slid himself thickly into her. She gasped, leaned over and clutched the back of her knees as he fucked her fast and hard. His ass flexed rhythmically, his hips thrusted quick and his hamstrings tensed in concert as she moaned, rocking back and forth with her robes in a bundle under her upturned breasts, her mask still dark and her face in shadow.

He spanked her, thumbed her asshole and fucked her viciously. An off-white cream welled around his cock as it entered her and he spread his legs wider, braced his stance and drove his dick deeper into her wet cunt. She bucked forward as a glimmer of light revealed again the purple piercing in her nostril. He reached down suddenly, hefted her upwards and spun her to face him, cradling her in large arms that gripped her thighs tight. She wrapped her legs around his waist, crossed her ankles above his buttocks and hugged his chest, her head relaxing into his neck. The skin of her thighs rippled as he grunted to support her, his cock gliding effortlessly into and out of her, her body hopping up and down in small and fat hops as he drove himself into her.

The others joined. One man pinned a witch to the floor and she cried in pleasure as he split her legs and gripped her robed breasts. Another witch went on all fours and clapped her ass lustfully upon the long and slick member of her wizard, looking behind her and admiring her own artful fucking. She twirled her fingers over her clit, tossed her head back and cried in pleasure, her entire body jiggling softly as the man gripped her ass and pounded her upwards.

The fleshy claps and smell of peppery fucking quickly filled my head. My pussy ached again and heat swelled from my belly to my chest. One man fucked another witch from behind, her ass clapping quick and heavy from his hard and persistent fucking as she hurried to stroke the short cock of another wizard who knelt before her, cradling her jaw, admiring her tongue as it danced around the head of his hairy shaft. The two men pressed themselves into the woman between them, thrust their hips forward and clasped hands to more thoroughly fuck her. Spit and cunnyjuice dripped to the floor as the two filled her fast and hard, her body quivering, her moans and cries in pleasure stifled by the cock between her lips.

I looked to the iron pedestal: the incubus looked from Erica who kneaded her small breasts before him, to the men and women fucking in enthusiasm around him, and finally to the masked woman who stood in the center of it all. He nodded, a small smile spreading across his face.

I looked away. My heart raced, my head felt light, and I wondered what the fuck I had just stumbled upon.

I ripped open my bag and retrieved four rolls of parchment and my quill. I penned quick the runes for smoke, wing, and gust upon the sheaves before tapping them lightly with my wand. They folded themselves silently into the shape of small birds and they flitted around my head.

"Stun the woman on the right," I told Violet. "I have the left. Stay directly behind me, and I'll deal with Erica."

She nodded. I flicked my wand and the birds darted around the corner. I raised three fingers.

"One," I said.

"Two," and I held my breath.

An explosion racked the chamber and cinnabar fell in crimson powder from the ceiling.

"Three," and I sprinted around the corner.

"Zalis," I yelled at the woman on the left, cradled by and quivering upon the man who seemed not to notice the explosion at all as he continued to fuck her. Thick black smoke billowed over their heads, and she froze within the grasp of the wizard who held her.

"Zalis!" yelled Violet in turn with terror in her voice. The woman on the right shivered and fell to the floor, her arms locked outward like fallen branches. The man on the left looked at the stunned witch in his arms, then turned towards the passage. Noticing us, he stuck out his right arm to grab me. I ducked, Violet ducked, and we plunged into the smoke.

"What's going on?" came the masked woman's voice. Everything was completely black and Violet grabbed the hem of my robes to follow me.

A bright red curse flew over my head as another, green and shimmering, cracked into the ceiling above us. Wordless curses lanced through the room, their trajectories short and brilliant in the occluding smoke.

"Stop!" said the woman. "Stop casting-" and she was silent. Had she been hit?

I ran forward and Erica's face appeared in the smoke. "We need to go," I yelled at her. I grasped her wrist and pulled.

She twisted her arm away, her face in terror, "What the fuck?"

"Flotera," I said, and her hair levitated above her head as if she were in water. She slowly somersaulted, weightless, flinging her arms around in response to my floating curse. I heard a deep and terrible laugh nearby, and saw the eyes of the incubus glimmering green through the smoke just a foot away. His smile glowed white, sharp teeth shining threatfully, and all I could see through the black smoke surrounding was that same white and sharp smile slowly ascending as he stood tall before me.

I grabbed Erica as she floated and tugged her towards me. I turned and pushed her flailing mass to the exit of the chamber and she coasted in its direction like driftwood in a tide. Suddenly, Violet burst from the smoke and slammed roughly into me, a deep gash on her shoulder. She wobbled unsteady, and I hefted her before pursuing Erica through the smoke. The skin around her wound looked pale as blood fell quickly from it.

"Let me down," Erica yelled shrill. "Let me fucking down!"

"Where are they?" screamed a man's voice. "What's happened?"

More spells flickered through the room and a woman cried out in pain.

"Stop fucking casting," commanded another man's voice. "Not with this cursed smoke!"

A bright and arcing orb of light flickered white and terrible above the chamber, piercing the smoke where it had started to thin. A large set of black leather boots stood before the exit to the chamber, and "Zalis," I yelled again. The man collapsed, and I pushed Erica fully into the passageway. I hefted Violet up and shoved her ahead of me after Erica. Anxiety washed over me as she careened into the passage wall, her footing uncertain, blood in a sheets down her left arm. She yelled and leaned against the wall, her arm dangling loosely.

Just as I sprinted through the exit, a terrible grip seized me from behind. I yelped and fell backwards, my back slamming into the stone floor. I gasped in pain as small lights flickered across my vision.

"I have him," yelled a man's voice. His wand darted from the smoke and pointed at my face, mere inches from my nose. "I have him!"

Dozens of voices filled the chamber:

"We need them alive!"

"Where are you?"

"Have who?"

I kicked my feet against the floor and spun my body, but the grip held me tightly. My mind raced, my heart raced, and then the man gripped my throat. He squeezed.

"I have the fucker," he yelled again as his fingers tightened.

I couldn't even gag by his grip on my throat. My head felt unbearably tight, my eyes felt like they were going to pop, and as I flailed my limbs uselessly I felt them grow light, then weak, then still. I looked to the entrance, and I could make out the pair of Violet's boots standing aside Erica as she floated, no longer flailing, seemingly charmed by Violet to comply. I couldn't see Violet's face, but I knew she was looking at me, knew how her brow furrowed when concerned and how her bright eyes flashed when worried and frightened.

I weakly waived my arm at her, a useless, almost meaningless flail. "Go," I rasped as my vision blurred. Then everything was black.