Edited by: Old Fart
------
Kal emerged from the tent and took in a few deep breaths of fresh air before nodding to the women outside acting as guards. Both smiled and wished him good morning as he stepped away from their abode for a few minutes. About two dozen paces away he found a tree with a nice, soft-looking patch of grass around the bottom and sat down facing back the way he came, he could just barely see the tops of the dog girls' heads over the underbrush. The mage leaned back against its trunk and closed his eyes, enjoying the moment of peace.
He tried not to let his frustration show as he heard someone quietly picking their way through the forest towards him. The person stopped for a moment as they entered the tiny clearing at the base of the tree. Since he hadn't opened his eyes yet, a brief flash of hope ran through him that whoever it was might think he was asleep and leave him alone. Just as quickly as it had appeared, that hope died as they knelt beside him. That hadn't stopped them last night or the night before where they kept waking him up to recast his rejuvenation spell, so the girls could continue to sate their needs with his unconscious body.
He had done something similar Aradelle some time ago and the woman had drained him so badly Ikuno had been fearful for his health the next day. That had lasted one night and was with a woman he loved. This ordeal had lasted two and was a constant rotation of women he hardly knew. The physical aspect of the situation was still pleasurable but there was no true enjoyment because he didn't feel any connection with these girls, he was just providing a service.
Quite a few times he had hoped that Daxas or Rose would put themselves in the lineup. He had spent a week getting to know Rose and even though he and Daxas had only known each other for a few days, Kal felt their shared experiences had deepened their relationship. He had at least been with the wolf girl once since the rescue, she had asserted her right as pack alpha and been his first after freeing the girls of the collars, but they had only made love for a couple of minutes before she stepped to the side, allowing the others to take a turn. The large dog girl sporting the copper-colored hair with the white stripe down the middle quickly followed her, being a beta had its advantages. While Rose was one of the few dog girls he hadn't been with, the others didn't bother her too much about it, her canine cousins were well known for being fiercely loyal.
One of the most interesting things to happen had been on the second day when Daxas came over and growled at the girl currently riding him in the bed. As the smaller girl acquiesced and dismounted his prick the wolf girl leaned over and took him in her mouth, quickly bringing him off, he got the feeling she had waited until he was close on purpose. Looking up he saw Daxas's beta carrying Rose towards them over her shoulder. After setting the golden-haired girl down she held the smaller woman in place by her forearms. The wolf stood and turned toward the captive dog girl then leaned forward and kissed her, forcing her lips apart with her tongue and pushing his cum into Rose's mouth. Rose whined in half-hearted protest, but the larger woman refused to let the girl up until she had swallowed it.
Backing away, Daxas glared at the dog girl. "I respect your loyalty to the wizard. However, I will not force my bitches to watch as you torment yourself by not accepting any kind of relief for your heat. The next time you get that bad we will lube you up and sit you on Kal's cock. Taking him in your rear will give relief quicker and longer than drinking." The golden-haired girl was plainly unhappy with the situation but nodded in acceptance.
Rose had been one of the unfortunate ones who had truly fallen into their heat during the rescue. Kal had looked on in near terror after removing the collars as he thought that he was going to be servicing twelve insanely horny women. A few of that initial twelve, such as the pack's beta, were overcome by a mixture of gratitude, relief, their normal desires, and the lingering scents of all the time he and Daxas had slept together in the tent. Those few only needed a single time with him before they returned to normal, leaving seven who required his attention. Later when talking to Ria he mentioned that he should have brought along some of Aradelle's dust too, with the increased sensitivity and the rejuvenation spell he might have been able to take care of all seven in a short amount of time. Then again, he enjoyed a small amount of pride that he didn't have a hair-trigger, if only he didn't take so long that the first one was ready to go again by the time he finished with the seventh.
Kal had thought he had gotten lucky on the second day when one of those who had ridden in the boat with him and Daxas felt her heat fade. He then got to feel horrible for that thought as the woman began crying, her heat had left her before the gondas-laced water had worn off meaning that she wasn't pregnant. One of the girls later informed him that dog and wolf girls could tell if a woman was with child by how her scent changes, explaining how Daxas had known right away she had taken. He received his punishment, of sorts, when another of the girls went into season later that evening, climbing onto him with an apology and telling him that this was part of her normal cycle.
Now he sat leaning against a tree and expecting whichever woman was next to him to reach over and begin undoing his pants. Instead, she lifted his arm by his wrist and snuggled under it, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Are you okay, Kal?" asked Daxas.
The frustration etched into his features melted away, replaced by a weak smile. He gently hugged her to his side in response.
"Your body says, 'yes,' but your face when I came out here said, 'no.' Which is it?"
"Both, I'll be okay, but this isn't fun. At least not nearly as fun as I might have imagined only a few years ago," he said with his eyes still closed.
"The girls are trying to make it good for you, they've noticed you aren't very into it."
"Can you blame me? I've hardly been out of bed since we rescued them. If it were you or Rose waking me up for some late-night fun I might not mind so much, but I don't even know any of their names. Hell, I don't even know the name of your beta yet," he said sounding exasperated.
"Shelta, but she goes by Shell, and she won't be a beta for long," said Daxas. Kal opened his eyes and gave the wolf a questioning look. "We've decided to split up the pack, each of us will take half. One will stay here In Carris forest and fight to keep the slavers from taking any more girls while the other moves on to find new hunting grounds."
"Seems pretty drastic, but it's your choice," said Kal as he leaned his head back against the tree.
"Not as drastic as you think, a pack this big would take a lot of game to sustain. If we were regular wolves and dogs there wouldn't be an issue. However, we can use tools and traps along with our natural weapons, making us much better hunters than our non-magical cousins."
"Hmm, never thought of it that way," he said as he shifted his head slightly to avoid a ray of sunlight that had found its way through the forest canopy. "Who is going where then?"
"Shell is going to stay here. I would feel bad for any slaver who sets foot in this forest if I didn't hate them all so much."
"And you?"
He felt her shift beneath his arm, "I heard there's a nice wooded area south of a mountain range a few weeks east of here. From its description, there isn't a wolf pack currently living there."
Kal peered down at the wolf girl through one half-opened eye, Daxas was looking back at him a huge grin on her face. "Hmph," he grunted, "be sure to tell the other girls after this is all done that they will have to find other men, only you get to have access to me. I've no desire to end up in a situation where I have so many women I can't keep them all happy. Also, make sure they understand that it's you specifically and not 'the alpha' that gets breeding rights or something." He smiled as he closed his eyes again, "It will be nice to have all of my kids nearby once I get back."
"Did you mean that?" she asked.
"Which part?"
"Where you said you want me, and not 'the alpha.'"
He lifted his head up and looked down at her, smiling. "I chose what I thought to be a pack alpha for help with a rescue. I came to care about you and enjoy your company on my own," Kal said as he leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. She pushed up into him and the kiss quickly became heated. After a few moments, Daxas sat up and threw a leg over his lap.
Grinding her sex into the quickly growing prick still trapped in his trousers, she growled, "I want some time alone with you before you leave with Rose."
Kal held up a finger, "One, you are the alpha, pretty sure you can claim some of my time whenever you want. Two," he said adding a second finger and peered about comically, "I don't see anyone else around us right now."
Her eyes widened, "I thought you came out here to get away from all that."
Kal wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close making her moan as she rubbed against the hard lump in the front of his pants. "I'm tired of having sex with strangers just for the sake of dampening their heat. You aren't a stranger and you are already pregnant; therefore, you don't fall into either of those categories," he said with a smile.
Grinning, Daxas scooted back and pulled down the front of Kal's trousers, releasing his cock. Instead of just sitting on it she moved forward again, trapping his prick between them and rubbing her clit up and down the underside as she went back to kissing him.
Behind her, there was a sharp exclamation from one of the guards in front of the tent. Kal leaned to the side and the wolf girl twisted about to see a small parchment colored bird fluttering around in front of the tent. Kal had picked up a few of the messenger parchments when he and Ria had scouted out the slavers' warehouse. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to return Rose to the older mage right away, he had gotten them to inform the wizard that his dog girl was safe. This was the third of these little paper birds to come back so far.
Daxas and Kal both shrugged before continuing to make out. As the friction on the wolf girl's clit started to make her hips jerk there was another burst of noise from the direction of the magical shelter.
Through the underbrush, they could barely make out the golden-haired dog girl standing stock-still in front of the tent sniffing the air. A moment later she came running toward them on all fours heedless of the branches and shrubs that left red marks down her flanks as she rushed past. She stood up the final few feet before reaching Kal's little clearing, shifting her arms and legs back to human and taking a piece of parchment out of her mouth. Seeing what Kal and Daxas were about to do, the dog girl whined an apology towards the wolf as she handed Kal the paper, tapping at an area about halfway down.
He read:
"... I don't like it one bit, Rose. But if what you are saying is true then it sounds like he is trying to be respectful of your wishes. If you need to be with him, then do it. Much as it hurts me to say this, the idea of you suffering hurts me more. Better by your own choice than letting that wolf force you, even if it is for your own good.
We will discuss this 'companion' business when you return.
Kelthor
The bottom part of this letter is for Kal to read, give it to him when you are done."
Kal folded down the bottom third of the letter.
"I hate you right now Kal, hate you with every fiber of my being because I just gave Rose permission to be with you. Now I'm hating you even more because, in coming to that conclusion, I also realized that you can give her something I cannot. I will abide by our agreement and teach you, but make no mistake, you will not be welcome here."
"Hmm," Kal's brow furrowed as he read the last part a second time. "I'm sorry, Rose. I can't," he said finally, handing the piece of paper back to the golden-haired girl. The dog girl wailed and dropped to her knees crying.
Daxas looked between them, her eyes wide. "Can't what Kal?"
"Be with her. Kelthor gave her permission but what he said after that puts me in a position that I simply cannot."
"What how?!"
Kal leaned over, pulling Rose up and cradling her in between himself and the wolf girl.
"He hates me right now for giving her that permission and worse than that he essentially gave me permission to get her pregnant. Something he can't do himself. The problem is that he is going to be teaching me how to battle on the astral plane. As much as I want to help her and as much as I would enjoy being with her, I can't afford to be taught by someone who might leave out some important tidbit as a means of revenge."
"H... He said you could give me a p... pup?" said Rose in between sobs while looking up at him. "W... Why couldn't he?"
"An... accident from back in his youth took away his ability to have children. You will have to ask him about it, I don't feel it's my place to tell that tale." Kal curled her up so her head was resting just beneath his chin. "Urk!" Rose's head came up to see Kal with a shocked expression on his face. "Dax! What the hell are you doing!" he said looking over Rose and only seeing the wolf's back and bottom.
Her mouth slipped off his hardening prick with a pop. "Taking care of Rose and keeping you in your wizard's good graces," she said before making the head of his cock disappear behind her lips and bump the back of her throat.
Kal gritted his teeth trying to fight the pleasant sensation, the girls inside were more interested in having him in their pussies than anything else. As such, the feeling of lips and tongue on him had been in short supply, despite all the sex he was having. "How do you plan on making that happen?" he asked, the strain apparent in his voice.
"Nuh-uh. Not telling, you two are just going to have to trust me. This way if the wizard has an issue he can blame it on me because you two didn't know what the plan was beforehand. Stand her up Kal. Now, Rose, bend over forward and put your hands on his shoulders." When the golden-haired dog girl bent over she tugged her leather brassier up releasing two perfectly shaped breasts that were now hanging right in front of his face.
He looked up at the dog girl, "You know, if we never tell her 'no,' we're still accomplices."
"Sorry, Kal, right now I don't care," she replied, before letting out a startled yip as Daxas licked her all the way from her clit to her rear.
"Rose?" came the wolf's voice from behind her, "have you ever taken the old man in your bottom?"
The dog girl blushed, "A couple of times, usually toward the end of my heat when he is having a difficult time finishing. He says it's just a bit tighter," she yipped again as a finger suddenly slipped inside her.
"Tighter? I don't know how the hell he could tell the difference," said the wolf girl as she slid her finger back out of the smaller woman's sex before bringing it up and massaging her backdoor.
Kal couldn't see what the Daxas was doing but he could tell a lot from looking at Rose's panting and flushed face. "Whatever you are doing back there she seems to be enjoying it," he called out.
"If she likes that, she's going to love this," he felt the wolf position herself over his hard cock and sink down onto him. At the same time, Rose's eyes widened and rolled back into her head as she let out a shuddering moan. A moment later the dog's arms gave out and she laid her head on Kal's shoulder as he held her up. Looking up the golden-haired girl's back, Kal saw Daxas holding the girl's tail out of the way while she seemed to have her tongue buried in the woman's rear. He knew from experience, that was a very long tongue.
Rose panted and whined from the pleasurable feelings coming from her bottom while Daxas continued to slide up and down Kal's cock. A few minutes went by before the wolf girl sat down hard on his prick as an orgasm rocked through her body. The intense squeezing as she attempted to continue riding him soon had the mage calling out a warning that he was close.
"Hold it as long as you can, Kal," Daxas told him, her voice still shaky. She pulled the dog girl's hips down in front of her, so Rose was nearly sitting on his lower stomach, then reached around and began flicking her fingers across the smaller girl's clit.
"Now!" cried Kal through gritted teeth. The wolf girl rose up, grabbing his cock and pointing it at Rose's pucker before pulling the dog girl down onto him. Her plan had been to just let the head slip in as Kal came but she had forgotten about his enchanted prick. Daxas jerked her hand away as Kal's cock suddenly became thin enough to not hurt the girl as it entered her.
Rose's bottom made a loud slap as she dropped onto Kal's hips, the sudden penetration taking her by surprise. However, the enchantment wasn't done, and her eyes rolled back into her head once again as her orgasm started, the human's cock growing and stretching her in the most delicious ways once it was inside of her. The full force of her climax crashed into her as Kal grabbed her hips and pushed himself in even deeper before flooding her insides with his seed. She threw her head back with her mouth open, shrieking as Daxas continued to drum her fingers across the dog girl's clit. The mage felt her soak down the bottom of his shirt but was having a hard time caring at that particular moment.
Rose collapsed against the wolf, her chest heaving and her eyes fluttering as she fought to remain conscious. Kal laid back against the tree trying to catch his breath while Daxas cradled the golden-haired girl, running her hands over the woman's body and whispering words of encouragement.
"Holy shit," came Ria's voice from somewhere behind the wolf girl.
Kal looked up and there was the sprite, hovering just above the heads of thirteen dog girls who were staring slack-jawed back at him and his companions. The guards had heard what was going on and said something to the girls inside, the whole group had then managed to make their way quietly through the forest and watched the entire finale without the distracted trio noticing.
Comments began to filter in from the assembled women:
"Damn."
"Wow."
"I'm jealous."
"Must be nice to be the alpha."
"I feel cheated," *smack* "Ow!"
The beagle girl looked up at her soon-to-be alpha standing next to her, "Can, I go with them?" she asked, giving the larger woman her best puppy-dog-eyes.
Shell couldn't even be mad at the beagle. After a performance like that, she was wondering the same thing.
------
Just after midday another of the girls who rode in the boat with Kal lost the chance to have a pup but took heart that her place in Daxas's pack was secure. Then by a cruel twist of fate, their first confirmed pregnancy, other than their alpha, came later that night. Over the next two days, the remainder of those in heat except for Rose all confirmed that they were now with child, the last one also being the girl who came into her season just a few days ago.
The final celebration of a pup on the way was also tinged with sadness as this meant it was time for them to go their separate ways. Shelta would stay while Daxas followed Kal and Rose back to Kelthor's tower, the pack acting as lookouts and allowing the mage to focus on his studies. Once Kal's three months was up, or he had learned what he needed and moved on, they would make their way east towards Telsin and take up residence in the forest below Felli's mountain.
There were many offers from Shell's group for a final romp but only two he accepted. The guards outside during his tryst with Daxas and Rose were the only two he hadn't spent any time with and when they approached him he felt it was a good way to show his thanks for not putting demands on him along with the rest of the rescuees. Seeing the crowd of women vying for the human's time and with neither of them being in heat, they had instead decided to act as guards, despite wanting very much to show their appreciation to their rescuer.
After rejecting all the other girl's advances, they hadn't expected him to say yes. It was two very surprised women whom he led back into the tent a final time before packing it up and giving it to Ria.
"Stop by the forest every so often, if we're lucky a few of us might be in heat when you do. It beats the hell out of having to hunt down a man for a couple of days of fun. Plus, it's nice knowing that our pups will have a good sire," said Shell as she gave Kal and Rose a goodbye hug.
Don't worry about me visiting, I'll be around," he said, nodding toward the dog girl behind her, the only one of the women he had gotten pregnant who was going with the beta's group. "If I can get away from Kelthor's teaching I'll try to make a couple of trips down here over the next few months. However, that's a big 'if,' there's a lot I need to learn in a short amount of time. After that, it may be a year or more before you see me again."
Shell turned towards her alpha and Daxas stepped up to her with tears in her eyes. Throwing her arms around the large dog girl the wolf kissed the other woman passionately. To Kal, it looked more like a farewell kiss between lovers than co-leaders of a dog pack.
When they finally broke the kiss Daxas leaned her forehead against Shell's. "You can't go, you're mine," she whispered barely loud enough for Kal and Rose to hear.
Shelta chuckled. "You've only known me for a few days."
"Wrong, you've been a part of my family for a few days. I know this is the best for all of us, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Daxas shooed her beta back towards her group. After meeting the eyes of each of them she looked at Shell again, "All of you bitches!" her voice dropped to a choked whisper, "get out of my pack."
Shell nodded and turned around, "That means all of you are with me now!" she bellowed, then looked over at the beagle girl. "You have point, take the girls to the pond we found when scouting yesterday, I'll be along in a minute." The smallest of the dog girls beamed up at Shelta for a moment, her face nearly glowing with pride at her new role before switching to canine arms and legs and tearing off through the forest, tail wagging and baying with happiness.
"Might have to do something about all of that noise," said the newly appointed alpha, smiling as she watched the other girls in her pack quickly form up behind the beagle. She stepped over to Daxas who was also watching the receding girls but with a very different expression. Reaching out, Shell traced the edge of the wolf girl's breast. "Come back down here before you head east. I'd like to give a proper send off to my former alpha," she said before giving the wolf a goodbye kiss. With a wink at Kal, her arms and legs shifted to canine, the mage noticing for the first time that, unlike the other girls, her hands actually widened significantly when they turned into paws. She dropped to all fours facing away from the human, lifting her tail and shaking her bottom at him before trotting off into the forest. Soon, all that could be seen was her shaggy white and copper tail occasionally waving above the underbrush as she caught up with the rest of her pack.
"I think that means it's our turn," Kal said to Rose. "We'll see you in a couple of days then?" he asked the wolf.
"Maybe one extra. After seeing them leave," she tilted her head in the direction the other pack had gone, "I want to spend some time alone with my girls," replied Daxas, still looking sad.
Kal walked over and gave her a kiss goodbye, Rose following right behind and giving the woman a big hug. Leaving the wolf and her pack, the human and golden-haired dog girl began making their way out of the forest.
------
A gigantic crocodilian form swam languidly up a river of molten rock, five 'eyes' on either side of its head and snout were not actually eyes but receptors for the natural sonar the creature used to navigate the molten sea that was its home. Few creatures had the ability to live in molten rock, making prey scarce and usually well defended, the river it had found offered the possibility of new hunting grounds. As the channel widened out into a large lake the creature became excited, swimming forward more quickly as its eyes told it there was something up ahead, little more than a morsel but soft and defenseless.
Had its brain been larger it might have wondered why this tidbit was still swimming towards him.
Jaws lined with blackened, hardened teeth that could easily rip through stone opened wide and snapped down on its fleshy prey, the teeth coming together with a crack audible on the lake's surface as it missed. A moment later it felt movement on its tongue and started pushing the morsel back towards its throat where something akin to a gizzard ground up even the toughest shells produced by lava dwelling crustaceans.
Had its brain been larger it might have wondered why this creature had just willingly swam into its open maw.
Had its brain been larger it might have realized it was already dead.
An unfamiliar sensation started to build in the creature's throat. For something that spent its entire life swimming through molten rock, there was one particular feeling it had never experienced before.
Its throat was burning.
The monster thrashed in pain as the heat inside its neck far exceeded anything it had ever experienced along with exceeding what its body could tolerate. It gulped down molten rock from the lake around it, attempting to quell the scorching heat and push its prey further down where grinder of its gullet would rip it apart.
Eventually, the monster's movements became slower and stopped as the bright yellow glow coming from its neck finally made its way up to the creature's skull.
The huge corpse slowly sank through the viscous fluid to the bottom of the lake as the glow faded. A minute later an orange hand pried the jaws apart from the inside, enough to let her smooth-skinned body slide safely between the large teeth. After giving the monster beneath her a contemptuous glare, Silma flicked her tail and sped off towards her home, where a brightly glowing egg was tucked into an alcove just below the surface of the lava lake. There was now one less threat to her growing child.
------
Standing before a heavy wooden door, Kal lifted the large iron ring attached to it and let it fall, the sharp clang as it struck the metal plate echoing throughout the clearing around him. Looking beside him, Rose bounced on the balls of her feet in barely contained excitement.
The door unlatched and swung open when Kelthor was still a few paces from it, revealing the man striding quickly towards them with his wand still extended. Before the old wizard could react, Rose bounded inside, bowling him over and landing on top of him. Her fingers seemed like they were already working to get his robes off before they even came to rest on the large rug in the middle of the room.
"She's still in heat, Kelthor," he called out as he stepped in and grabbed the door handle, "I'll see you tomorrow, so we can start working on my training." Smiling, he pulled the heavy wooden door shut behind him and headed back to where he had set up his tent.
------
Kelthor sat in one of the large, comfortable chairs on the bottom floor of his tower with Rose curled up sideways on his lap. He'd managed to remain in his robes, the girl giving up on the clasps and diving beneath to pull his only undergarment off, a pair of linen shorts. Those now lay on the floor over by where she tackled him, along with the dog girl's soft leather garments. The woman in his arms had her eyes closed and a contented look on her face but he could tell she wasn't asleep.
"We need to talk, Rose."
The girl's eyes opened, a worried expression on her face. "Is it about Kal?"
"Some of it, but more about you and me."
"I'm sorry I had to ask you to let me be with him," she said, turning her face towards his chest in embarrassment, "between my heat and watching him have sex with all of those girls, I think it was driving me mad. He refused to do anything at first saying he couldn't have someone who hates him as a teacher, but Daxas convinced him to at least give me some relief from my heat, even if we didn't have sex." The dog girl went on to describe the entire encounter as Kelthor listened.
"It didn't hurt when you sat on him that suddenly?"
"His thing is enchanted," she said pointing towards her crotch, "it changes size so he's always the right size for who he's with and it won't let him hurt them either." Rose giggled, "The sprite girl from his bag, Ria, loves to tease him. She shook her butt in his face once and it suddenly got tiny, right in front of all the girls! It didn't stay that way for long but it sure was funny!"
Kelthor smiled, he imagined that would have been amusing to watch and it sounded like he needed to ask the young mage about this enchantment. Knowing a spell like that could make him a small fortune with the people of Carriston. He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it again, he had been about to ask Rose if she enjoyed the experience with Daxas and Kal but the heat and dampness coming through the front of his robes was enough of an answer. "We will speak more about Kal later. I was upset and jealous when I wrote that letter but after I sent it to you I thought for quite some time about our relationship and how you want to become my companion..."
"I already am," she interrupted, smiling at the wizard's surprised look. "I've never been a slave. Talking with the girls made me understand that." She leaned her head back against his arm, "I wish I had understood that Kal was really only talking about changing what we call ourselves. I wouldn't have run away. Still," she looked back into his eyes, "I think the experience was good for me. It made me appreciate what you were protecting me from."
Her expression changed to a sly grin, "However, this does mean that a couple of things are going to change around here."
"Oh, really," he said sounding mildly annoyed.
Grinning she hopped off his lap and went over to her discarded clothes getting a small piece of parchment from a small bag that hung from her leather loincloth. Walking back to him she said, "You may want to teach me a bit of magic. From now on I will be a bit more... demanding." She handed him the piece of paper, "Kal used that spell many times over to take care of all the other girls he rescued." She spun around and dropped to all fours on the rug in front of the chair. Holding her tail off to one side, she looked over her shoulder. "I was hoping you could use it to make me a very happy puppy," she said shaking her bottom at him.
Kelthor had planned on having a long talk about how he felt about her and how becoming a 'companion' would change that. Rose's declaration and talk of her experiences with the slavers and the other dog girls made him realize that the girl he had been treating as his daughter had grown up. Well, she had grown up quite a few years ago, it just took this incident to make him understand that. He also admitted that this homecoming romp had been the first time they had made love without him feeling guilty, it was a refreshing change, to say the least.
He looked at the carefully drawn rune in his hand, scrawled beneath it were directions to point it at the spot between his shaft and balls and just below that were the words 'Peace Offering?' Smiling, he began gathering up his robes so he could test out the young mage's rejuvenation spell. As he was about to stand up he stopped. Kelthor set the parchment on a small table next to the chair, smirking at the confused expression on the dog girl's face. She wanted to be his lover? So be it. "Before we resort to magic why don't you see if you can get me ready first," he said, leaning back in the chair. Rose's face brightened with a victorious smile before she turned around leaned into his lap.
------
Kal sat in one of the study rooms in the upper part of the tower poring over various books and tomes. The circular room took up the entire floor apart from the stairway with rows of bookcases running around the outer wall. Small crystalline orbs gave off a soft light from sconces placed where one set of shelves ended and another began, a number of these magic lights also hung from the ceiling, lighting up the middle of the room. A large blue-gray rug specifically woven for the study covered the floor, matching the contour around the stairwell and leaving only a finger's width of space between its edge and the bottom of the bookshelves. A large, round mahogany table with a dome made of quartz glass in the middle dominated the center of the chamber. Touching the dome made a matching one above the table glow, offering more light to study by. The plush chairs dotted about the room were wonderful for reading but Kal quickly learned to use the less comfortable chairs at the table, the old wizard had learned some creative means of waking up sleeping students; he'd seen drawings of the gigantic oliphaunt in books, thanks to Kelthor he now knew what one sounded like.
He could only blame part of his falling asleep on the comfort of the chairs. Unlike learning runes and other magic this felt like drudgery, probably because astral magic wasn't something that ever caught his interest. If it weren't for needing to protect himself and those he cared about from Azrin, he wouldn't even be here.
Still, he did get some satisfaction from how quickly he was catching on. In the month since the rescue, he had lost count of how many times Kelthor had finished a study session just staring, dumbfounded, at the young mage before throwing his hands up and yelling, "Inconceivable!" as he walked out of the room. Since beginning to teach Kal, this had become one of his favorite words.
The older mage came walking in looking disheveled and worn but happy. He sat down hard in the chair across from Kal before leaning back with his eyes closed. "I had no idea she was such a slut."
Kal's nose wrinkled from the smell of sex coming from the older man. "We've talked about this before Kelthor. You can't judge a monster girl by the same standards as human women. They were literally made to be like that."
"Ah, yes. Your story about some ancient mage creating them. I'm not sure I believe it," he gestured about the room at all of the books on the shelves, "There would have to be some mention of Prentas somewhere in here."
The first time they had this discussion Kelthor showed him one of the other features of the glass dome in the center of the table by putting his hand on it and speaking Prentas's name. The dome on the table, as well as the one on the ceiling, glowed bright green for a moment before fading. Seeing Kal's unimpressed face he repeated the process using the word 'Pyromancer'. After lighting up with the green glow again, rays of light spread out across the room, touching each book that mentioned the word, the brightness of the ray indicating how often the word appeared. Kal asked the old wizard where he could get one of the tables after Kelthor demonstrated how he could filter highlighted books by adding a second or third word, or even just ask it a question. He was disappointed to find out that this particular magic was beyond the old man's abilities and the room had been built at great expense by a far-away mages' guild.
This also led to Kal snooping about one of the times Rose was keeping Kelthor 'occupied.' From what he could tell, shards of near-flawless mana crystals powered runes on the backs of the bookshelves. These were connected to the table by what looked like a thread or wire, probably silver if he were to venture a guess, that ran under the floor and up the inside of the legs. The wires then ran into a complex set of runes that, at first, appeared to be set into the wood of the table somehow. After closer inspection, Kal found that the tabletop was made of two pieces with the runes layered in between. Much to his consternation, and the creator's credit, not a single rune was visible and even with the increased sensitivity of his glowing eyes, he couldn't make them out well enough through the wood to create copies.
The wizard had been extremely interested in Kal's ability to fill himself with magic, making his eyes light up bright blue. The old man would have likely never found out about his student's 'mana mode,' as Kelthor had dubbed it, were it not for a slip up during his morning exercises.
Since he left Telsin, Kal made a habit to practice the katas that Ikuno taught him each morning, something he had been grateful for after the first time someone attempted to rob the lone traveler. Rose and the girls from Daxas's pack quickly joined him, after their experience with the slavers they were eager to learn new ways to defend themselves. It was during one of these sessions that Rose suddenly gasped, tearing his attention away from whatever distant thought was occupying his mind as he moved between the poses. Looking over, he saw the golden-haired dog girl staring at him wide-eyed before running inside the tower, calling for the old wizard. When he cast a questioning look at the others, one of them just tapped her temple next to her eye. He looked down at his hands in confusion, he had filled himself with magic but without intending to, or even noticing. Unfortunately, he didn't get to dwell on it as Rose emerged from the tower, dragging Kelthor behind her. The younger mage suffered through Kelthor's gamut of tests for about a day but quickly realized that the list of experiments the man wanted to perform kept getting longer with each new result. On the second day, Kal had to decline any further poking, prodding, or scanning.
Daxas was the only one of the girls constantly missing from the morning exercise sessions. Her duty as an alpha was to teach all the girls how to hunt. With many of them taken from areas more accepting of dog and cat types of monster girls, they had little knowledge of how to fend for themselves. After listening to the girls complain for a few days, Kal agreed to start doing a second round of practice at night once all of the women returned from the woods. The girls were quick to show their appreciation, with Kal experiencing a very literal 'dogpile' from the day's hunters.
Making matters worse for the wolf girl was Rose, who had become an unofficial beta and seemed to be preventing one of the other girls from stepping up into the role. If they had been wolves it wouldn't be an issue, she could just assign another beta, but the pack alpha didn't have the same control with the dog girls. The lack of a strong second left the wolf dealing with every little issue personally, at least until the girls developed their survival skills and personal relationships more.
However, Kal did see it as a good sign that after the first week since their arrival at Kelthor's tower there was little talk from the girls about returning to their respective towns and cities. Four of them didn't have homes to go back to and were simply longing for familiar surroundings, they quickly began to feel that being part of Daxas's pack was an improvement over their former lives. That wasn't true for all of them though.
Kogen had taken a twisted pleasure in telling a couple of the girls who it was that sold them out. At first, they were dead set on returning to their former homes and exacting some type of revenge. Kal did find it curious that the two who were now seething with rage at the people who wronged them were also the ones who had been the most broken and listless when he first arrived at the kennels.
One of the girls took after the black and white collies and had been living with a shepherd and his wife helping tend the flock ever since she was a pup. Things were going well until she reached maturity and the shepherd began coming home too drained to take care of his wife. Kogen had laughed as he told the girl that the shepherd's wife blamed her for the lack of children in their house, even the slaver could tell it was a contrived excuse.
The other had been raised by, and alongside, the son of a wealthy family who had no issues with dog girls, the parents even had one of their own who they shared a bed with. The problem came from a young woman who had her eye on the son as a way to marry into money. While the man was receptive to her advances, things were moving far too slow for her liking. Justifiably, she blamed the dog girl. The son and the dog girl's relationship was more akin to a strong, lifelong friendship but the young man had been there to take care of her needs since her first heat and so she took care of his as well.
That made things very difficult for the woman since she couldn't entice him with the promise of sex. Getting him worked up was a failing proposition when he could just go home and take out any pent-up frustrations on the girl waiting for him. As such, she contacted Kogen and his group and had the dog girl kidnapped, meeting Kogen just outside of town to laugh in the captured girl's face.
In a show of exceptional cruelty, the leader of the slavers showed up at her cage two weeks later with Jakis. Kogen grinned down at the beaten and abused woman as Jakis unhappily read a letter from the woman who commissioned her imprisonment. It stated that having her removed was a stroke of genius and not long after the girl's disappearance the son had come running to her for comfort, they would be wed at the end of the month.
Once she had calmed down and was no longer howling for the woman's blood, Kal offered up the last of his messenger parchments to the girl, she was the only one besides Rose who knew how to read and write. Within a couple of minutes, she drafted a letter telling the son of her kidnapping and enslavement as well as what kind of woman he had married before telling him goodbye.
Kal gave her a questioning look before watching the letter fold itself into a bird and fly off to the southeast, "Goodbye?"
She ran her hand over her belly, "He was an amazing friend and I will miss him dearly, but Dax and the others are my family now."
The girl's story also brought up a question that had bothered the young mage since the rescue.
"Why is it that none of the girls had any issue with Jakis?" Kal asked one night as he and the pack ate supper in what was now the middle room of the tent. Not long after Daxas and her pack arrived Kal and the old wizard went through adding walls, extra bedrooms, and making Kal's bed significantly larger thanks to Kelthor's knowledge of the elvish language. "He was working for Kogen, yet no one seemed to mind that we took him with us." The wolf passed on answering the question, after all, she had mauled the man's hand and arm.
"Because he wasn't an ass," said the collie. "The others just came in and took what they wanted, most of us quickly realized that Jakis only got some relief with those of us who were in heat and that he never used the collars to command us. A couple of times when none of us were in season he walked back out without doing anything. I won't say who, but I think he was the only one who got any that was freely offered."
Kal and Daxas looked at each other. "Kind of makes me feel bad for biting him," said the wolf before shrugging and returning to her barely cooked venison. The other girls in the room gave the mage some form of agreement with the black and white dog girl before returning to their own meals.
Back in the study, Kelthor's knowledge of elvish along with the mention of the creator of the monster girls tripped a memory in the younger man. Reaching out he placed his hand on the glass dome. "Te'thalas."
Two faint lines ran to books on either side of the study, Kal got up and went toward one while the curious wizard retrieved the other.
Kelthor retrieved his first, opening to the page marked by the green glow. "A list of names of known elven noble houses," said the older mage before snapping the book shut and replacing it on the shelf.
Kal quickly scanned the page before closing his book as well. "Daily notes of the mage who wrote the book. An elven noble's daughter had not reported back to her home in over a century, the elf's envoy was searching for information on her whereabouts." Looking about the room he sighed, "I had hoped to find more. Ikuno told me to seek answers at Prentas's Tower, unfortunately, I have no idea where it is located." He looked up at Kelthor smiling, "You haven't heard of any perfectly circular lakes, have you?"
"You mean like Lake Montar? That's far off to the west just below the northern wastes. I've never been there but I've heard about it."
Kal shock that the man knew of the lake quickly faded as the man spoke. Groaning, he sat back down, "That's opposite of the direction I've been going. Prentas's tower and the ruins of Te'thalas are supposed to be within two week's hard march from the City of Montar, which is now Lake Montar." Seeing the disbelieving look the wizard was giving him, he motioned to one of the other seats at the table. "Perhaps I should tell you the entire story as it was told to me."
------
Hours later, Kelthor stood on the stairway landing just down from the door to his personal quarters. An ornate, gilded door made of ebony unlocked and swung open at a word from the mage, invisible runes on the black wood glowing brightly as they verified his identity.
He stepped into a room exactly like the one Kal had been studying in. However, the shelves lining the walls in this room held tomes containing more advanced magic as well as a variety of legal documents and ledgers. Placing his hand on the glass dome within the center table, he spoke, "Prentas, Te'thalas." To his surprise, a smattering of green lines formed along with a few white lines telling him where he could find books that only had the second word. If the room had found only the word 'Prentas,' a gold line would have appeared.
A collection of entries made by a court scribe from a long-lost kingdom covered the glowing page of the first book, most of the information was of little interest to anyone besides a historian. However, to the right person, ancient books such as this were worth a fair bit of gold which is why he kept them with the more powerful spellbooks. If he were being honest, the book was only up here because of its age and that he didn't like having the shelves of his personal library barren, there simply weren't that many powerful grimoires available for purchase for him to fill up so much space.
The old man's eyes widened as he opened the first book. Down near the bottom of the page was a payout approval from one of the king's chancellors for services rendered to "The swordsman, Eli; The wizard, Prentas; The warrior, Guff; and the cleric Lehrien of the elven house Te'thalas. Not present at the request of the chancellor is the thief, Teller. His payment was given to the warrior, Guff, to be passed on."
The second book held a similar entry, after which Kelthor refined his search for Prentas and Lehrien. A number of other books were lit up by green lines, each one a record of payment for performing some service. The information painted a picture of a capable group of adventurers but didn't validate Kal's story other than verifying that Prentas was a mage and that he traveled with an elven woman of the house Te'thalas.
Things didn't get interesting until he determined which books only contained the name of the house without being related to the cleric. Two of them were nothing more than what they found downstairs, lists of names of elven houses. The third book held yet another set of notes from a court scribe, however, the area highlighted in green where the name should have been was blank. The entry read:
"Received a messenger from the city
Delegated request for large lumber purchase to Chancellor Hoben."
Once the green glow had faded Kelthor could just barely make out the words, "of Te'thalas" at the end of the first line. Sitting back in his chair, the wizard looked around the room wondering how many of the books held similar erased entries and curious who would want to wipe an entire city from history. Things got more interesting when he searched for Montar and the only entries he found related to the lake. If the young man's story was true, then someone went to a lot of trouble to hide the existence of the two cities most closely related to the supposed creator of the monster girls.
The mage repeated a number of his searches, the various books quickly taking up most of the table. Getting some parchment and ink, he began taking notes. Up until Kal's arrival and Rose's kidnapping, things had started to get a bit dull. A smile crept onto his face as he dove into the challenge this mystery provided.
------
Kal stood looking forlornly at the front door of his farmhouse. Seeing it again created a dull ache in his heart and he found himself hoping that Perra would walk out the front door and run into his arms.
"Amazing job, Kal," said Kelthor looking around as he walked up behind the young mage. "This place must be important to you for everything to be so well defined."
"It's my home," replied the young mage sadly. "I grew up here and my mother died here. Right now, Perra is taking care of all of this until I get back."
"Focus, Kal," said the wizard.
The younger man looked down and saw his hands had become blurry as his emotions disrupted his concentration. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them his body was back to normal.
"I'll admit, I thought you were lying when you told me that until a few years ago you were a farmer, so this is a bit of a surprise. Regardless, to be able to make a pocket in the astral plane with so much detail and even drag me into it in less than three months goes far beyond impressive."
Kal smiled at the older mage, "Protecting those you care about is a good incentive."
"Wonderful! Now let's see how well you've learned to do just that!" said Kelthor floated up into the air. "I recommend you change the scene. Things will react here the same as in the real world and I don't think you want to see your house destroyed."
The house and trees sunk into the ground as the grass and fields turned into the flat gray landscape that resembled what he saw on his first foray into the astral plane. Feeling that was a bit too boring, he changed the scenery a second time. He was now standing next to the road east of Carriston where the slavers had picked him up on the day he purchased, and freed, Daxas. Kelthor began laughing as he looked toward the small church by the mass grave.
"If you ever do this to someone and try to convince them it's the real world make sure you know the terrain well," said the wizard as he pointed toward the building.
Kal jogged over to the church and saw that the other side of the hill was blank and gray, a moment later he had covered the hillside in grass but quickly realized that he didn't know what the pauper's grave looked like.
Shrugging, he walked back to where Kelthor waited for him, taking a second to glare up at the man who refused to teach him how to fly in the astral plane.
"Ready yourself."
Small things from the real world tended to bleed through into the astral realm, such as the point of light that floated out of the leather bag on his hip and touched his open hand before turning into his staff. Giving it a quick spin, shields much like the one from his vambrace appeared at both ends. Kelthor had griped at him about the use of props in astral combat, telling Kal repeatedly that in a mental battlefield 'things' only slowed him down. After seeing the young man in action, Kelthor decided to keep quiet. He wasn't as good as a full astral mage, but the old wizard was already having to push himself to land attacks on the young man.
For Kal, battling the old mage was terrifying. The main limiter on the astral plane was attacks requiring one's focus. A mage could only launch a single attack at a time but for someone as experienced as Kelthor, chaining those attacks together was hardly a struggle. He mostly used the staff because it was easy to defend from both sides and it was something he had practiced to the point where he didn't have to think very hard about it, saving his mental strength for attacks and counterattacks.
A bubble formed around the floating wizard followed by a large array of glowing balls and weapons that shimmered into existence around him. They streaked towards Kal in rapid succession, the ends of the staff whipping back and forth to intercept each attack. After what felt like ages to the young mage but was in fact only a few seconds, Kelthor made a motion with his hand and a very confused Rose appeared on the ground below him.
Looking around for a moment, the dog girl ran towards Kal with her arms out to the side as if to put herself between him and Kelthor's attacks, at the same time screaming at the wizard, "Stop, it Master! Why are you doing this!"
Kal sidestepped a mace that came streaking towards his head before jabbing the end of the staff into the approaching dog girl's gut. He then lifted her up and into the path of an oncoming energy bolt, the magic projectile blasting through her body as her skin turned a demonic red and her fingernails lengthened into vicious-looking claws.
Kelthor stopped attacking, "Very good! How did you know?"
"She hasn't called you 'Master' since we got back."
The older mage smiled, "Not in public at least." The wizard ignored the slightly shocked look on the younger man's face and floated down to the ground. "Your turn to attack. If you succeed in getting to me," he sighed heavily, "you crash me out."
Kal reeled back in surprise, "Are you sure? That was pretty hard on us the last time, but it was worse for you."
Kelthor nodded, "I'm sure. If you are going up against a lich you may need to know how to do this. More importantly, you need to be up on your feet and ready to defend yourself as soon as you are back in your body. Rose was instructed to put on some leather sparring gear and attack you as soon as she sees you're back."
Kal frowned, "I don't like this. Last time we did this, we weren't sure you would wake up." The term 'crashing out' originally came from Alchemy and describes a substance suddenly falling out of solution, usually due to a mistake on the alchemist's part but is occasionally done intentionally. On the astral plane, it involved shattering the pocket you had created or been pulled into, disrupting the plane and sending the mage along with his target falling violently back into their bodies. It was a last-ditch escape method for an astral mage because there was a chance that the dreamwalker might not wake up for days, or at all. Worse yet, if the wizard doesn't have anyone to take care of them until they awaken, they could quickly die of thirst. The benefit for Kal was that it disrupted the astral plane so badly that neither person would be able to enter it for the next few hours. Unfortunately, he needed to be touching the other person, without direct contact his opponent would be forced back into their bodies but without the debilitating side effects or blocked access to the astral plane. Over the past few weeks, they had done this three times. The first when Kelthor showed him how to perform the dangerous maneuver and twice more as practice. While Kal was able to be up within seconds because of his younger body, Kelthor had stayed asleep for three days after the last one.
Kelthor smiled as he readied himself, "If I'm wrong, take care of Rose."
"You're not filling me with confidence in your survival prospects."
"Don't get all upset, whether its thirty years from now or in a couple of minutes I told Rose to seek you out once I pass. While I have made some very good friends over the years I could entrust her to, your attitude towards monster girls makes me think she would be happier with you."
"Fair enough," said Kal as he fell into a ready stance.
Kelthor nodded and Kal dashed forward, drawing some of the magic from his bracers to increase his speed and strength. While magic-users had access to very little of their power when in the astral realm, Kal's unique abilities allowed him to channel the magic from his vambraces up the thread connecting him to his body.
The wizard had tried to explain, and even shown Kal, that his increase in speed was just a construct of the young man's mind by easily keeping up with him in a race. After witnessing his inability to grasp the concept, Kelthor gave up on attempting to teach the boy the finer nuances of astral magic, he was simply too connected to his body and its physical movements. Much to Kal's annoyance, that was also the time when the old man decided not to bother teaching him how to fly.
The same did not apply for the strength rune. The extra magic from the strength rune added substance to what was largely a mental battle. The shield Kelthor surrounded himself with was exceptionally sturdy, as expected from someone of his age and experience, and Kal's normal attacks felt like a halberd or pole hammer coming down on it, strong but manageable. When he added the magic from the strength rune it suddenly felt more like a battering ram used to break into castles. With the young man's martial abilities, those heavy blows were able to come at what seemed like a blistering pace when standing in a bubble trying to protect yourself. He had the feeling that there was no way his shield could hold up to a sustained attack from the runesmith, after the first few blows from the staff landed on the bubble, that feeling became a certainty.
Far sooner than he had anticipated, the astral mage began spinning the shield, bringing untouched areas to bear while the places Kal had struck regenerated. Kelthor kept up a steady hail of weapons and energy balls for his opponent to deal with in an attempt to give his shield more time, but the younger man seemed to bat them away with little effort using the magic circles at each end of his staff.
Two rapid-fire impacts nearly breached Kelthor's shield. Instead of knocking one of the wizard's summoned weapons away, Kal instead deflected the sword into the shield, immediately following it up with a strike of his own in the same spot. After that, the weapons disappeared leaving only magical projectiles which were merely destroyed.
As he spun the damaged portion of the bubble towards his back, another spot that Kal had recently struck came forward. With a flare of the strength rune, Kal thrust forward with the staff, shattering the weakened area and continuing on to bump the old wizard lightly in the gut.
Kelthor froze and looked down at the platinum endcap of the staff pressed against his robes. "Fantastic!" he cheered disappearing along with the shield.
Kal spun around at the sound of someone walking behind him and saw Kelthor approaching with a large grin. Kal looked between the old wizard coming toward him and where the other one vanished, confusion etched into his features.
"Come, come, now. You didn't actually think you would be able to defeat me, did you?"
"I suppose not," Kal admitted with a sigh as his staff turned back into a speck of light and returned to the replica of Ria's bag, "but it certainly felt like I was about to."
"Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm a master of the astral arts, making me switch places with my doppelganger is no small feat. Of course, you also skipped over all the other fun things like astral projection and such in favor of combat. Given your reasons, I can't really blame you."
Kal put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Just in case... thank you for everything."
Kelthor did the same to the younger mage, "Just in case... have Rose go into my study if I don't wake up before you leave. There are some notes in there you might find interesting."
Kal nodded, "Ready?"
Kelthor took a deep steadying breath, "Do it."
The young mage drew a large amount of power through the thread connecting him to his body. Once he had enough, he sent a pulse of raw magical energy out in all directions. The pocket dimension broke as the sphere expanded outward. Carris forest changed color maintaining each hue for a few seconds before changing again. The tops of some of the grasses shifted over to the side, floating in the air but still moving as though connected to the rest of the plant. The small church flickered back and forth, seeming unable to decide which direction it should face. As the wave of magic smashed into the boundary of Kal's pocket, the astral plane heaved. It looked like the world erupted around the two men, large cracks forming in the air and ground which a gray fluid poured through.
Kal watched as a wall of the substance rose up in front of him, when it began to descend he felt himself ejected from the astral plane. He raced through the area between dimensions in a fraction of a second and came crashing back into his body.
He only got his eyes opened long enough to register Rose stalking towards him, covered in padded leather armor. In the lounging chair next to him Kelthor's body rose up in an arch, his mouth open in a silent scream before collapsing back onto the cushions of the lounger. Choking back a sob at the sight, Rose kept coming towards him menacingly.
Kal rolled out of his own lounging chair, stumbling to his feet as his shocked mind tried to remember how his body worked. "Ria, staff," He managed to slur before his stomach turned and he emptied its contents onto the floor. Kal spit then wiped his mouth with a sleeve as his staff appeared in his hand. Falling against the wall just to keep standing, he brandished the weapon in the direction of the dog girl while trying to keep the rest of his latest meal in its place and blinking rapidly in an attempt to make the room stop spinning.
Seeing the platinum end of Kal's staff pointed at her, Rose stood up out of her fighting stance. "Good enough," she said before unstrapping and peeling the leather headgear off while running over to Kelthor's side. Grasping his hand, tears started cascading down her cheeks.
A minute later the room was only trying to tilt constantly instead of spin and Kal pushed himself off the wall. He took a couple of halting steps before stumbling into the back of his lounger, grasping it with both hands to keep from falling. As his vision settled he could see that the wizard's face and lips were nearly white and he was starting to shiver. Looking down at his hands he could tell that he was about to be in the same state, the room had suddenly become cold to him as well.
"Get Dax and the others," he told the girl, "I'll take him up to his room. When you get back strip him and crawl under the covers, make sure he stays warm. I'll be in the guest quarters, send whoever you don't need to me."
Rose nodded and bolted out of the room stopping for just a moment at one of the windows to let out a long desperate howl, her armor falling off her thinner canine arms and legs as she shifted before rushing down to the front door. When Kelthor told Rose of his plan for today, the golden dog girl went and spoke with Daxas, asking them to stay close since the last time had been so traumatic for the old man. She really didn't know what the wolf's pack might be able to do when she made the request other than making her feel better that there was someone else around. Considering the situation, she was extremely thankful for their presence.
When Rose returned with the pack they found Kal kneeling on the floor next to Kelthor's bed, arms wrapped around himself and his teeth chattering.
Daxas addressed the girls, "Three with Rose, four with me. Rose? Where are the guest rooms?"
"Fourth landing down from here, beneath the studies and the projection room, the doors are unlocked just pick one of the four," she said as she began stripping the older mage, growing more fearful each time she touched his cold, clammy skin. The only thing giving her hope was the constant, if shallow, rise and fall of his chest.
Daxas pulled one of Kal's arms across her shoulders as another one of the girls did the same on the other side. The five of them walked out of Kelthor's bedroom, the wolf grumbling about the father of her child being a fool mage intent on getting himself killed.
Rose and the collie crawled into bed with the wizard, gasping as they came into contact with the man's icy skin. The other two girls found a blanket and wrapped up together, getting as warm as possible for when the women in the bed needed to switch out. The black- and white-haired girl reached out to the worried young woman lying across from her, Rose gave her a smile and reached up herself, their fingers intertwining over the wizard's chest.