Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2016 04:23:28 +0000 From: Michael Offutt Subject: Chapter 36-The Orb of Winter-Gay Science Fiction This story is protected under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. Please remember to donate to Nifty if you're financially able to do so. MY WEBSITE: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/books.html My email: kavrik@hotmail.com Pictures of the characters in this story: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/my-artwork.html Full story chapters and discussion: http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html For those of you who can't wait for new chapters, please visit my forum where I post months ahead. The chapters are bigger there than they are on Nifty. To see for yourself please go to http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html and find the folder that says "The Orb of Winter" and then open that up to view the chapters. Please note that the chapter order here will differ from my forum because I cut the chapters into smaller chunks for Nifty's audience. Also, if you aren't on my mailing list and want to be, please shoot me an email. Please check out my books on my website. ***** Chapter Thirty-Six "I can't wait to see if you like yours," Paul said. "The color reminds me of Kian's eyes, which I thought you'd like." Color? Alexi thought. What on earth has he done? After Kian had left them at the carriage just up the street from Horigum Khaine's shop in the Hollows, both Paul and Alexi went back to the Lianon Pard Academy of Necromancy. They wasted no time in going to their secret hideout in the ruins. Once there, both of them used the bathroom to void their bowels and clean their bottoms thoroughly—all while Ziggy the Shadow Drake watched curiously from his perch. Then by candlelight, Paul and Alexi sat upon the mattress they shared in the "spare room" just off the laboratory. The intent was to help one another to insert their butt plugs properly. Both of them were so giddy with excitement and nervousness at the idea that—in just two short days—they'd be deflowered by the most handsome alpha male either of them had ever seen. In fact, they couldn't stop talking about it. "I hope it feels as good as I think it's going to feel," Alexi said. "I heard that it can be painful if the top doesn't know what he's doing," Paul said. "There's no way Kian doesn't know what he's doing," Alexi snapped. "He's obviously had sex a ton of times." Paul nodded and said, "Agreed. He gets as much tail as he wants whenever he wants." Paul changed his accent to a perfect Valcian high borne and pretended to be a waiter at a fancy restaurant by placing a hand towel over his arm. Then he pretended like he was serving Kian at a table and said, "Here's the menu of pussy for today, sir. How many pussies would you like to fuck? Six? Then there are exactly six available sir. Oh you changed your mind? You want none. Then you get none today sir." Alexi busted out laughing. "That's perfect! That's probably what it's like for him!" "I know, right?" Paul asked, eyes twinkling. "I hope he finds my prostate. I hear that's the male `G-spot' and feels really great when it's rubbed." "I can't see how he'd possibly miss that," Alexi said, "given the `tool' he has to work with." That comment made both boys giggle. "You said `tool.' That's funny," Paul said. "I did, didn't I? Gods...I can't get it out of my head. It was so veiny and just...so...white. And glistening...," Alexi replied, staring at the wall with a dreamy and slightly bemused expression. "He's incredibly charming," Paul said, "in a dumb athlete kind of way. I mean...he's obviously not stupid...like Dudley. But he's basically a skinny muscle-jock." "Freakishly muscular and skinny," Alexi remarked. "It's the only time I've ever stared at someone and been horrified and incredibly aroused at the same time. `Meat.' That's what I think when I see him...just `meat.'" "I could be on board with `meat' in referring to Kian," Paul said, grinning. "Let's call him that for fun, just not to his face." "He can't even read," Alexi said. "Are you fuckin' kidding me?" Paul asked. "Then is he thick or do you think he's just a dropout?" "Probably a little of both? I can't see someone like him taking well to academia. If he was in school, he'd have people like us to do his homework. Do I sound judgmental when I say that?" Alexi asked. "Not at all. It's just proof that the beautiful ones are dumb as a box of hammers," Paul said. That made Alexi laugh. Then he said, "He's a bad boy too. I think about how much of a criminal he is when he's around. I half expect something to come up missing, but I know I won't be upset about it. It also keeps me on edge sexually...I fear the Blades Acuuarum will come barreling in and arrest him mid-coitus. What if we get caught with him, Paul? We could be thrown in prison or executed. But it's not like they don't have good reason: he kills people, Paul. By submitting to his mighty cock, we're accessories to everyone he kills." "He's a murderer?" Paul asked, obviously swallowing hard. "Oh a serial killer I'd imagine," Alexi said. "There's always a little truth in rumors. He probably kills at least a person a day if they displease him." "Milbar's beard. I guess you're right. I mean...some people are calling him a terrorist. What if they're right?" We should think of a way of limiting our liabilities with him," Alexi said. "Liabilities?" Paul asked. "He could overpower both of us, and he's got at least one really interesting gift from Tethyr that allows him to teleport at will. He's a monster in combat. Trust me, I've seen it. By liabilities...I mean...having some way to discipline him if he ever goes beyond `play' and tries to muscle us into doing something that we don't want or consent to do. Or worse...what if he tries to kill us? We should come up with something...a secret weapon just in case we need to use it." Paul frowned. "I see your point, but isn't love about trust, Alexi?" "Sure. But trust needs to be based on something. We know next to nothing about him. What's his last name? Does he have any other lovers? How many people has he killed and why? There's got to be reasons, right? But what if there are none? When he was blowing me on the table, he damn near strangled me. It gave me the most intense orgasm I've ever had, but I thought his hand might break my neck. He's stronger than a team of horses, and almost a foot taller than either of us. And he could be a complete psychopath with barrels of acid in his lair dissolving the bodies of people who displeased him. We shouldn't just let him call all the shots." Paul frowned. "I don't think Meat's like that...it's just a feeling. I've no proof, mind you. But I'm a good judge of character." "Lies," Alexi said. "No one's a good judge of character around a boy that looks like Meat. I can't help but get butterflies in my stomach just thinking of those strong hips pounding my boy pussy, so it's hard to think clearly about this. And your hormones have got to be raging with the sex altering drugs you're taking. So let's just talk hypotheticals—an extreme circumstance. You know...that one in a million scenario where he comes after us with that sword of his, and it's us or him. We should have something so that we're not just sitting ducks." "I follow. You're saying, `we should be prepared for the worst,'" Paul said. "Exactly. We're geniuses compared to him. We should put our brains together and come up with something," Alexi replied. "I got nothin'," Paul said, after a minute. Alexi frowned and grabbed the brown bag holding their sex toys, reached in, and pulled out the smallest butt plug. He stared at the clear object with curiosity. It had a tapered point, flared out to about two fingers width, tapered again, and then widened to a flat circular base ringed in silver and mounted with a colored crystal with flecks of glitter suspended within it. "Really?" Alexi asked, arching one eyebrow. "It looks pretty," Paul responded with a smile, spritzing himself with a little perfume from a bottle. He also sprayed Alexi. "You get that at the shop?" Alexi asked. "Yeah. It smells nice don't you think?" Paul asked. "It does," Alexi said. "It reminds me of lilacs." He checked the bag and sure enough, there were four butt plugs for both Alexi and Paul, each of a slightly different size. The biggest one had a particular magnificent swell that was slightly wider than Kian's penis at its thickest. "That fucker is wide as my fist," Alexi said, swallowing uncomfortably. "I figure if we work up to that large one by the day after tomorrow," Paul said, "Then we'll be set for Kian to fuck us, and it won't hurt. The ones with the pink crystals are mine. The ones with the blue crystals are yours." Alexi lifted his out and set them on the bed next to Paul's. They clinked together, kind of like champagne glasses. "The assistant at `Agony' said they're not glass but a special material guaranteed to be very hard and resilient. They're also `magical.'" "Magical? How so?" Alexi asked, examining the smallest one, which was a little longer than his thumb. "Well, their properties are activated by Jade Nuru." "The lubricant?" Alexi asked. Paul nodded. "You apply it all over the surface, and then it should pop in with ease. Once that's done, the plug works to mildly soften and loosen the surrounding tissue to make it more pliable. It works over several hours. The stretching's only temporary, but the guy behind the counter said there will only be a little discomfort and no tearing or bleeding. If we wear this one all night, by tomorrow morning we can go to the next size up. He also provided a pamphlet for proper use." Alexi looked in the bag, grabbed the paper, and read it. "It says to check for damaged surfaces." Alexi looked over all of them and saw they were fine. "No problem there. Coat the one you want to use with `Agony-certified Jade Nuru'..." Alexi glanced at Paul's hand and saw he was holding a brand new jar in his palm. The "quality seal" hadn't even been removed. "Okay, so we've got that covered. Position yourself on your bed, face down and ass up." Alexi motioned for Paul to get into position. His friend did so, turning around and hiking up his dress. Alexi saw that Paul wore beautiful knitted stockings that came to just under the curve of his round ass. With his lace panties still on, Paul gently slid them down with delicate fingers; he'd painted each of his long nails a nice pink color. The flirty striptease revealed two golden globes of naturally tan skin that flowed seamlessly into smooth thighs. Despite being a little overweight Paul's blemish-free buns defied gravity, and as he moved into position there was a little bounce to his butt that revealed a pair of dimples to both sides (above the crack) that only girls seemed to have. As Paul spread his thighs and cheeks for Alexi to see the small pucker of his tan sphincter, Alexi became acutely aware of how feminine Paul actually was. Yes, he could see Paul's tiny genitalia through the thigh gap, but the things looked hardly noticeable and (like they'd been taught here at the Girl's Academy) Paul's body was completely devoid of hair. There were no unsightly veins or sinew. Everything looked smooth, flawless, and squeezably soft. "Are you ready?" Alexi asked Paul. His friend turned and nodded, thickened lashes around those gorgeous brown eyes lending Paul a look of vulnerability. Alexi realized that Paul was a beautiful and delicate flower and more girl than boy now. He had a practically non-existent Adam's apple, luxurious golden brown skin, nice feminine hips, and big round tits. The drugs and the surgeries Paul had consented to had virtually transformed him. But Alexi knew that the final surgery would take courage, so he decided not to push Paul in that direction. Paul would have to arrive there all on his own. "I-I just want to say, Paul, that I admire you. And I think you're lovely," Alexi whispered. That made Paul smile and his long hair fell about his shoulders and swept the top of their mattress. "Thanks, Alexi. That means a lot. I've got so much to think about that I'm looking forward to this distraction with Meat and to being his sex slave. I think it'll be nice to finally get deflowered, and gosh...I never thought it would be by someone that looks like him. We're so lucky not only because of his god-like body, but also because there's no decisions we have to make about it. And I'm perfectly okay with that. Does that sound weird? I'm perfectly okay with him telling me what to do for now. Meat's so incredibly handsome that I just want him to use me and to shove his tool inside me whenever and wherever he wants. It makes me happy just being around him." "Me too," Alexi said. "Everything you've said. But remember, Meat's my boyfriend. You have to do what I tell you to do or you don't get anything of his, okay?" "Of course," Paul said with a nod. "I'm ready." Alexi put a dollop of lubricant on the tips of his index finger and middle finger and coated the outside of the butt plug with it. Then he took another dollop and applied it to Paul's tight sphincter. As Alexi inserted his index finger, Paul gasped and Alexi halted, waiting to see Paul's reaction. After a few seconds his friend said, "Keep going," and Alexi continued to swab the skin as gently as he could with his graceful touch, getting lubricant in and around the hole. "Okay here it comes," Alexi said. He rested the tip of the bulb on Paul's anus and slowly applied steady pressure. After a second, some of it went in and then Paul took over by backing down at his own pace. It took about a minute, and a lot of grunting on Paul's part, to get the widest part of the plug past his sphincter. At one point, Paul said, "It hurts!" Alexi asked him, "Do you want me to stop?" Paul replied, "No...keep going..." And shortly after that, the whole thing slipped into place. After the procedure, Paul stood up and viewed himself in the mirror. "See, I love how the pink crystal looks." Paul let his dress down and then stepped back into his panties. Now it was Alexi's turn, and Paul took his time to make sure Alexi was prepared. When the butt plug finally sunk in, Alexi pulled up his panties and didn't bother looking at it in the mirror. "Why are you in such a hurry?" Paul asked. "We should have fun with it. Do you love the color? It's almost midnight, Alexi. We have more tests tomorrow. Aren't you getting tired?" "I need your help," Alexi said. "I'm going to go down to the Well of Zanda. The last time I was there, I failed to get a vial of water that's important to my shadow drake, and it turns out, important for my necromancy goals. I think if I had some help, we could accomplish it without too much trouble." Paul frowned a little and said, "All right. Let me grab my purse." "Good, I'll go get Ziggy out of the bathroom. He likes to get out every once in a while." Alexi went and claimed Ziggy from the nest. The shadow drake protested because of the late hour, but stopped complaining once Alexi offered him a red apple from his purse. "I got this for you." "Thank you," the shadow drake said, hopping over to Alexi and then climbing into the inside pocket of Alexi's heavy velvet cloak. It ate a few slices, getting some juice stains on the inside of Alexi's garment, which made the necromancer frown. Paul walked in about that time, also wearing a cloak. He'd changed out of the stiletto heels he'd worn earlier when they went to the Hollows with Kian. Now he wore high-heeled boots, laced up the ankle, and spotted here and there with rhinestones. Alexi donned a pair of high-heeled boots that had a warm fur liner around the top. "You look especially gorgeous tonight, Paulina," Ziggy said, poking his head around the wrap of Alexi's robe. "Thank you," Paul blushed. He curtseyed to the shadow drake and then leaned against the tub, warming his hands on the smokeless fire that Ziggy kept burning. Idly, he inspected his soft feminine hands while Alexi touched up his makeup at the cosmetic desk he'd set up near the tub. "Are you going to wear lipstick on your nipples when Kian makes love to you?" the shadow drake asked. "What an odd question, Ziggy," Alexi said. "What brought that up?" "When Kian was bathing in here, we had a conversation. I assume you boys are excited for your `cherry popping' as opposed to dreading it like you were," Ziggy said. "Kian remarked that he loved your desk and mirror. He isn't into makeup himself, but told me he had certain fetishes when it came to women. He said he'd always wanted to make love to a woman who put lipstick around her cunt and on her nipples. He liked that red color. That and he loved stiletto heels...the taller the better. He likes his women small, petite, and hairless. I think he likes his boys and she-males the same way. But you probably already knew that." I knew the part about the body hair, Alexi heard Paul think, but not any of the other stuff. It seems silly to put lipstick on my nipples. But I guess I could...if it gets Kian excited. "It seems unnecessary," Paul said out loud. Then images of Kian's huge cock thrusting between Paul's jizz-soaked tits flooded Alexi's mind. Alexi laughed, still applying rouge to his cheeks, and said, "You make me wish I had boobs too so that I could experience that." There was a moment of silence and then Paul asked, "How did you know what I was thinking?" That made Alexi pause at the mirror. He set the makeup brush down and turned around. "I could hear your thoughts...," he said. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." Both of their eyes widened in surprise. "Milbar's beard, Ziggy, I can read minds!" Alexi exclaimed. The shadow drake instantly perked up. "What am I thinking right now?" Paul asked. Alexi concentrated and saw an image of Kian dressed in full Timeron knight armor dancing with Alexi under a chandelier of candles. He dipped Alexi, who looked beautiful in a flower-print gown, and then kissed the delicate almost waif-like Alexi on his full lips while running his strong metal-clad fingers through the long ebony locks of Alexi's gorgeous hair. Alexi's skin glistened and shimmered with bits of glitter. Alexi's chest heaved as he scratched the outside of Kian's tabard with his red nails. "I'm seeing an image of me and Kian dancing. He's magnificent, and I look so beautiful," Alexi said. Paul nodded. "Yeah, you do. You're so slender and graceful, Alexi. Not full-figured like me." Ziggy laughed. "It's about time, necromancer. Practice and you'll be able to crack open all minds...even those of the dead. All secrets shall be yours!" "Not all secrets," Alexi said. "There's a powerful necromancy spell that Paul told me about. It's the one that creates a womb inside the intestine. The one that allows a she-male like Paul to produce special milk from his breasts when he's seeded by a golden. That spell is lost to time." "Golden galactorrhea?" Ziggy asked. "I know that spell. It requires powerful necromancy...the kind that you can cast, fortunately. You'll need some components within a few feet of the deed. Most notably a recently dead woman, preferably one that isn't older than a day. You could probably buy one at the local morgue. The ritual requires that you replenish the uterus prior to casting the spell. Freshening up organs is second-year work, easy stuff for a necromancer of your talent. If I teach you the spell, you must promise to give me some of the milk as only a finite quantity can ever be produced from one source." "What's it good for?" Alexi asked. He briefly checked Paul's thoughts on this conversation and found them conflicted. Alexi didn't want to invade his friend's mind, but really couldn't help himself. He was surprised to discover that Paul had no opinion at all on whether or not he wanted his tits to produce the precious man-milk. He has to know it's worth a fortune, Alexi thought. I'd think this would be an easy decision if it were me. Money's all that matters in this world if you think about it. Money can literally buy happiness. Ziggy interrupted Alexi's mind-reading by saying, "Golden galactorrhea is a powerful spell component. For example, if you use it to reincarnate someone then that someone will come back in an invincible body. Their bones will be as hard as steel and their skin can be cut, but will heal over almost instantly." "Insane regeneration," Paul said. "I've heard of such powers." "Precisely," Ziggy said. "But the galactorrhea has properties that go beyond that. If a man drinks it from the tap...you know...fresh...it'll make him hard as iron between the legs for hours and his body will permanently develop twice the number of nerve endings as he normally has throughout his skin. Some may call that a curse, but he'll thank you during sexy time, trust me. It also has the added effect that for a full twenty-four hours, the lucky man gets a boost to his immune system, allowing him to fight off disease or even a cold that might be setting in. It's also said to be great in the morning because it banishes weariness like strong coffee but without the strain to your heart. If you age it a day, it turns a yellowish white which sounds kind of gross, but is a potent pain killer with no addictive properties." "Does it have different properties when ingested by women?" Alexi asked. "Oh yes. A person's sex plays a big part in how the fluid reacts, and no one is exactly sure as to why because the substance is so rare. If word gets out that someone's found a small supply of the stuff, alchemists and magic-users alike have hired hit men to take it by force. Now to answer your question, if a woman gets it fresh from the tap, it banishes aches and pains associated with ovulation, and it doubles the strength of any magical powers they may be able to call upon. It also removes any birth defects from unborn children that they may be pregnant with, ensuring that the child is born with no disabilities or disfigurements. Finally, the galactorrhea permanently unites the knowledge of the mother to that of the child even beyond death. In other words, the child gets access to all the knowledge of its mother like an ancestral memory bank. There are entire magical societies on Wynwrayth that have tried to forge such an ancestral memory in which a newborn child has multiple generations of knowledge to draw upon. Imagine the kind of sorceress that would emerge from a program like that! And aged golden galactorrhea (just like in males) is a potent pain killer with no downside," Ziggy said, smoothing his scales with the end of a claw. "And what does it do for dragons?" Alexi asked, leaning forward to stare at the shadow drake. "You mean, what would it do for me? I'm just a shadow drake and not a real dragon," Ziggy said. "Yes, that's exactly what I mean. What would it do for you?" Alexi asked. "Golden galactorrhea will unleash my dragon magic," Ziggy said. "I will be able to tap into the collective consciousness of all my ancestor dragons and feel the spirit of Sheila, goddess of dragons, within me. I will have the answers to many questions, which could help you a great deal, necromancer." "Does it hurt?" Paul asked, finally speaking up. "I know you can read my mind, Alexi. So you must know that I'm thinking of going through with this. But I want to know...does the spell hurt? The one that puts a uterus in my colon?" Ziggy's eyes narrowed in thought. "There's more to it than that. The necromancy involved with this spell is powerful and many consider it quite evil as well." "Evil? Why?" Paul asked. "Well, for one it requires a fresh egg from a living woman to be harvested with a wand. I believe the headmaster of the school keeps them in his office next to a picture of his red-headed daughter, Annie. She's been missing for years, you know? Her master of necromancy was almost as powerful as yours, Alexi. But I digress. The egg, once it's fertilized, will turn into a fetus rapidly...within hours...growing in size. However, because its life is dependent on magic inside a womb that...by all things holy...is an abomination, it does not get a soul of its own. In other words, the goddess Eilustriel does not issue the child a spirit as she is the source of such things. All things that live require a soul, unless they are demons or the undead. So this magic steals half the soul of the father during conception. Depending on what you believe, a soul thus shorn will heal itself in time." "I didn't know that," Alexi said. "Does the father `feel' anything?" "The effects are said to vary. I'm no expert because this is a taboo subject even among necromancers, but some sages say that the host is plagued with nightmares. It makes sense really, if you think about what's going on. You see, that monstrous fetus is doomed to die within that womb the moment it receives its soul, and the blood in your body starves it once it reaches the size of say...a large fig. I think that takes several hours. The fake uterus collapses around it, and you'll feel like your bowels are being torn from your body. All of that will come out, one way or another, and it'd be best if you are near a toilet. It'll be a bloody abortion like mess that emerges, and it will stink to high heaven because its rotting even as you shit it out. By this time, the thing has long since died inside you, and remember from your studies that souls of things that die go to another plane. Because this is an evil act...one explicitly against the dictates of Eilustriel, who is goddess of beauty, music and healing...the soul formerly possessed by that fetus goes straight to one of the nine hells. This means that the other half of the soul...that part still within the living father...will sense that something's amiss. His unconscious mind will endure the torments that hell has in store for him. And, should he ever die, he won't go to Elysium to be with Tethyr. His soul will go to wherever that other half of him resides." "That sounds...awful...," Paul said. "But what do nightmares do really?" Alexi spoke up then. "Sleep deprivation is a curse. I'd imagine you can live with it, but it would significantly impact your enjoyment of life." "Don't get me wrong," Ziggy said. "Kian would still be able to rest and sleep. However, he would more than likely dread doing so. Honestly, he seems like the kind of guy that obsesses over himself too much and gets moody because of it. He probably would suspect nothing." "We would tell him of course," Paul said. Alexi and Ziggy both stared at Paul in silence. "What? Why wouldn't we tell him? Let him make the decision and weigh the benefits of the galactorrhea versus what he has to sacrifice?" Paul asked. "He would never go through with it," Ziggy said. "You can't tell Kian shit. Stop looking at me like that, Paulina. That boy's a fucking liar and a murderer. You owe him nothing. But the reason you can't tell him is that Tethyr himself would not allow his disciple to split his soul. This has to be hidden from Kian or sure as shit, the god of thieves will tell him no." "What god would create such a spell?" Paul asked. "It was created by Eilustriel with the best of intentions," Ziggy said. "You see, childbirth has always been dangerous. But the greatest tragedy was a woman who died while in late-stage pregnancy. The kind goddess didn't want those children to die too. So Eilustriel created a spell that allowed for the transplant of a womb from a dying mother into a woman who was barren, just so long as it happened before death. In Eilustriel's famous temple in Passion's Cove, they call such childless women the `barren sisterhood,' and it was considered a great blessing of the goddess to carry to term a child bestowed in this fashion so that it didn't die with its original mother. Well Chagidiel (the god of perverted sexuality and cannibalism) at the behest of Zakash (the now dead god of the Atlanteans) got his hands on the spell and made a different version, which is the one I can teach Alexi. Eilustriel was so furious that she threatened Chagidiel. To placate the goddess of beauty (for he feared losing access to gorgeous flesh) Chagidiel altered the magic of the spell to make it difficult for the egg to get fertilized. So now, the necromantic spell does indeed create a womb inside the colon of a willing she-male, but just like a real womb it comes with a closure...a cervix...which you'll recall from anatomy is a bulbous piece of flesh with a canal in it that leads into the uterus. The cervix, as in a living woman, will pull away from the entrance of the anus during ovulation, so it takes a long penis to be able to reach it. Furthermore, the egg can only be fertilized if the penis can enter the cervix through its hole. The man doing the fertilizing must, in a sense, fuck the host in their uterus and fill it with his ejaculate." Paul swallowed hard. "Does that part hurt?" "It depends," the shadow drake said. "If you go through with this spell, you could be in for an ordeal. The cervix is very sensitive and you may find it extremely painful. But there are women who like having their cervix pummeled by a big dick. You could be one of the lucky ones. But this would go a step further. Kian, as this is who we're talking about, would have to push his way inside. It would probably require all of his length, but he definitely has what it takes. But how that would feel inside your fake uterus might be more than you can bear. There are things, of course, that Alexi can do to help." "What could I do?" Alexi asked. "You could use the x-ray cream and glasses from your health class. Apply the cream to Paul's tummy a day before the act and then don the glasses. You'll be able to see through Paul's skin and you can push Paul on the tummy to force the cervix down on Kian's glans once it's in place. That and you'll be able to tell Kian what he's doing so he just isn't fucking Paul blindly in the dark with that atrocity between his legs." Silence filled the room then, and Paul took a seat on a stool. Alexi could hear his thoughts churning, but they all centered around hurting Kian, which was something Paul was just unwilling to do. "I can't go through with this. I don't want Kian damned to hell. I don't want him cursed with nightmares," Paul said. "If that is what you're presenting as an argument for going through with this, I refuse." Ziggy grinned, and Alexi saw it almost looked a little evil. "What if there was a second option? One that was open to us because Alexi's necromancy is so powerful." "What option, Ziggy?" Alexi asked. "You could use your necromancy on Paul to keep the fetus alive through birth, but it would be difficult, and you would have to maintain concentration on the womb the entire time after conception. This kind of raw magical power is beyond most necromancers, but perhaps not you," Ziggy said. "To what end? It would be a piece of bloody meat," Alexi said. "It would live only so long as I kept the necromancy funneling into it." "Yes...and...no," Ziggy said. "I could help you bind it within a doll. Once encased within the doll, it would live as long as Kian and never require feeding. It would also keep his soul from descending into Hell. I, of course, would turn the doll over to you immediately once the ritual was finished." "A doll?" Paul asked. "I don't understand. What kind of doll?" "A homunculus," Alexi said with a grin. "That's part of a group of spells labeled as the `forbidden arts.' You're talking the darkest necromancy there is," Paul said. "Stop being judgmental," Ziggy snapped. "Honestly Paulina, you're such a child sometimes. Things are not evil of themselves. It's how you use them that counts. And Alexi and you would be in charge of the homunculus. You are good people so the magic must be good. I know you boys have been looking for a way to protect yourselves against Kian should the need arise. This is the answer. If you stab the homunculus in the head, Kian will feel it. If you drop it in water, Kian won't be able to breathe. If you break one of its limbs, a corresponding limb on Kian's body will break. You won't ever be able to control his mind or his abilities, but if he raised a hand against you, it could be the last time he had hands. That's got to be worth something, and it solves the issues you're having with the whole `damned to hell' bit." "Will anyone be able to do that to the doll?" Alexi asked. "No. Only those with the talent for necromancy. The doll's just a doll unless you cast a spell over it which takes a second or two before you start sticking pins in it. If a farmer found it on the road, he wouldn't be able to do anything to Kian with it. In fact, he could destroy it. If that unfortunate thing happened, Kian wouldn't suffer physically but the soul in the piece of meat living in the doll would sink into hell and put into place all the horrible things we discussed earlier. A necromancer needs to `awaken it' before you'd be able to do nasty things to Kian." "I don't know," Paul said. "It still sounds awful." Ziggy rolled his eyes. "It's time you grew up. Adults have responsibilities and they hold themselves accountable! The homunculus is perfectly safe unless you allow it not to be. If you and Alexi will stop acting like little girls and promise to each other to keep it safe, there's no harm that could possibly come from this. Remember! Responsible necromancy is the best necromancy!" Alexi turned to Paul and said, "I promise to keep the doll safe, Paulina. I'll even carry it in a special box and tell no one what it is. You trust me, right? I showed you this whole place, so you know I trust you completely. By doing this, we accomplish everything. We get a way to fight off Kian if he ever turns on us, and we get the golden galactorrhea that will make us rich once we sell some to the Dreaded Irtemara. We'll be able to leave Zanda and live with Kian wherever he wants to go. And he suffers nothing. Kian's soul doesn't get damned to hell because I promise to keep the doll safe with my life if need be. This is a `win' `win' scenario," Alexi said. "Absolutely nothing can go wrong." After a while, Paul just nodded. "All right, Alexi. Let's go get your water from the Well of Zanda. And then maybe we can stop by the morgue on the way back and purchase a fresh body. There's one that stays open all night long on that side of town, and it's run by the Ashmen. But where are we going to get an egg?" "Daphne will give one to us," Alexi said. "She loves the color of money, and I think she's ovulating now because she's had cramps. I'll speak with her about it tomorrow. If she consents, I'll get it from her using a harvesting wand. We should be in business by nightfall tomorrow. That gives me a day to learn the spell from Ziggy." "I'm sure you will master it in half the time, necromancer," the shadow drake said, grinning from ear to ear. ***** The complete novel is now available to read at http://slckismet.blogspot.com/p/discussion-board-for.html under the label "The Orb of Winter" if you care to read ahead. Are there any artists out there willing to draw some pics for my story? If so, please email me. There is an "Orb of Winter" map now in both the NEWS section of my website and in the FORUMS of my website. If you go to my website directly from this posting, you will want to begin with "CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN."