(Continued from Ch 41, The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 42, Cast at last


It was early autumn when Thane walked into the lab room where Rapina was reading and supervising the manufacture of dust of disenchantment. Earlier that day she had seen to the undressing of numerous cadavers, and their immersion in the scarab pits. Thane had adopted the insects as his preferred method for cleaning the flesh off dead people's skeletons. Currently she was lounging in a black lace bustier, the cups full of her magnificent development. Now that she was seventeen, she had filled out a bit more, and her girlish figure was well on its way to attaining the full flower of womanhood. With her extravagant hour glass shape, she was becoming every bit the woman the lust spirit had promised she would be.

"Have you been doing the drills I assigned?" Thane asked.

Rapina nodded, "right after I get up and before I go to bed I always do them, and a bunch of my own as well. I'm really trying to get it, but it just isn't working," Rapina said.

Thane looked around to make sure Uler was not in the room then took off his death mask. "Have you also gone over the spell?" He asked.

"Yes, but I have had no luck doing it on Uler. Rapina sighed, maybe I'm just not cut out to be a necromancer," Rapina said.

On the contrary, you drain life force when you lie with a man; the nature of the force is a bit different, but I expect the feel must be somewhat the same. Getting a feel for a spell is the most difficult part for you, my dear. I have no doubt you know every theory surrounding life energy drain. Yet knowing and doing are slightly different things, and it is easy to see your confidence is much as mine was when trying to reach this desert with the graveyard mists spell. Now I want to see if you are weaving the spell right. See if you can drain energy from me," Thane said.

Rapina went through the semantics and intoned the arcane syllables for the life-drain spell, then placed her hand on Thane's.

Thane frowned, "It has to be something internal to your mind. Your gestures and words are flawless. Let us try some variations from a more difficult drain spell. I recently traded a copy of one of Nordula's spells for it. This one is stronger and allows the drain to be done at range. I do not expect you to be able to cast it, but I will incorporate some refinements from it that I think might be a bit lacking in the simpler spell."

Hours passed. Rapina could not remember when she had ever received this much personal attention from her master. He was with her for seven hours straight with a working lunch break. He made her try variation after variation, and kept adjusting them each time she attempted one of them a few times.

"I do not think you have it quite right, but I was getting something there, try again. Try to do it with confidence. You are well versed at moving life force, think of how you do it naturally. It is something internal that is lacking in your performance. Somehow you must get the hang of this," Thane said.

Rapina tried the new variation once again. This time she tried to incorporate the feel from what she did when she pulled extra energy from a man's climax. As she said the magic words, she was all concentration, and when she finished the last word of the spell she clenched the muscles within her vagina and grasped Thane's hand.

Thane's eyebrows shot up and staid there. His eyes opened in surprise as he grunted involuntarily. Then after a moment he began to chuckle. The chuckle became laughter.

"Rapina frowned. Darn! I thought I had something there."

"I believe you did, my dear. It was not quite what I had expected but you got some results. Thane jotted some quick notes on the most recent variation that he had, had Rapina try. "You must write down exactly what you did for your future reference. I believe we are on to something here. I must   fetch Rames. Thane practically ran out of the room. He returned a few minutes later with Rames."

Rapina finished her notes, "Okay, should I try it again?"

"Indeed, this time try it on Rames," Thane said.

Rapina summoned her concentration and tried to do exactly as she had done with Thane only more so. Thane had told her she was on to something, so she must be.

Rames eyes bulged as Rapina grabbed his hand. He half doubled over, twitched and grunted a bit, and then he started laughing madly.

"Rames! What is with you two, I am trying really hard here, and I am positive I got something on that one."

Thane looked at Rames. Rames looked at Thane, and the two of them began laughing uncontrollably once again.

Rapina huffed.

"Well I'd sure as hell rather get drained by her than you Guardian," Rames vibrated.

"But mine are so much more tidy," Thane fell into a chair. He could hardly speak; he was laughing so hard.

Rapina put her hands on her hips and glared at the two men. It took quite some time for the men to recompose themselves.

"Rapina, you are a caster. Congratulations! This is likely the biggest breakthrough of your life," Thane said.

Confusion was written all over Rapina's face. "But what is so funny?"

The two men were unable to reply as gales of laughter overtook them.

Finally Thane managed to get a few words out, "The drain went well, but you seem to be on a different wavelength than me."

"I'll say," Rames chuckled.

"Tell her," Thane said.

"Well you see, when you drain," The rest of Rames statement was drowned in a flood of laughter.

Thane laughed, "I believe we are crippled with humor. Go do it on Uler, but pull his loin cloth off first."

"Rapina shook her head and frowned, "Oh all right." She left the room and went to the lab where they kept the troll shaman. She had him in front of one of the windows, though she doubted he could really see much. At least he could smell the air.

"Hello Uler," Rapina said in trollish as she smoothed back the hair-like growth on his head. She carefully avoided the red cord within his 'hair' that would set off a deadly glyph inside the troll's skull if pulled, and the blue one that Thane had more recently installed that would cause a stun effect. She knew they would require a good tug to activate, but she was careful just the same. "I need to try a spell I've been working on. It won't hurt much." Rapina pulled off the troll's loincloth and briefly admired his large, mottled green balls.

"You have spell? Uhler not know you cast."

"It's my first ever. It's supposed to be an energy drain, but Kroz and Karmoz kept laughing at me after I did it. I guess something went somewhat amiss, but Kroz said it was a success of sorts."

"You try, Uler figure out what wrong."

"Okay, thanks. Rapina summoned up her concentration and did the spell her third time. "Shoot, I messed up the changes. Let me try again." Rapina cast again, this time she saw Uhler's eyes bulge much as Rames' had, but instead of grunting, he gasped and began a howl like the howls he loosed when... Rapina looked down at the troll shaman's crotch.

"Oh my goodness!" Rapina put her hand to her mouth as Uler squirted jets of cum all over the front of her bustier.

Uler panted, "Uler like Rapina drain better. Kroz drain hurt. Rapina drain feel gud."

"Oh, that's what he meant by me being on a different wavelength," Rapina said.

Thane walked in wearing his death mask. He looked at the cum splattered over Rapina's midriff. "I see you have been successful a third time," Thane's rasping laugh filled the air.

"You get gud at drain, you do with hands, you do with mouth, you be sex shamaness."

"Uler has a point, my dear, until now you could only absorb energy with, as Jack put it, your magic snatch. Perfect this spell and you will be much more flexible. If a man fears to bed you, but will allow you to suck him, you can still obtain his power."

"But how am I going to do the verbal components with my mouth full?" Rapina asked.

Thane chuckled, "Theoretically, a spell can be done in a great variety of languages, and in nonsense syllables. The sound shapes the magic. It should be possible for you to shape this spell using trollish words, or the language of oral sex, such sounds as suckles, gurgles, moans, smacks and chokes. It will simply be more challenging, but once you get the hang of the spell as it is formally cast, you could come up with variations. The semantic components could be a pattern of caresses. In fact, this would be a perfect way to exercise your theoretical grasp of magic.

I shall be doing research along similar lines with a new spell I bartered for called shadow shift. Therefore we will be able to compare notes. Once I master the spell, I want to try to come up with a one-handed version. I believe it will be the perfect escape spell. It is much faster than graveyard mists. I am afraid that if Avengenes or orcs pursue us, graveyard mists will be far too slow unless we can buy at least ten minutes, but shadow shift is quite a different matter.

This invention of new analogs for verbal or semantic components of an existing spell is an extremely minor form of spell research. Let us make this a formal assignment. Do this spell frequently and see if you can come up with variations. We must build on this and rapidly. Once you have fully grasped draining we must work on the reverse, the bestowal of energy."

Late during the summer as he moved his necromantic labs to the new abode, Thane had removed everything of magical note from Gravestone isle, locked the secret laboratory wing from within, and officially resigned his post on the isle. According to current church records, he had gone into a life of seclusion and devotion, and in a way, he had. Periodically he collected his investment income from the temple of Mortaebius in Rosehaven, but that was about as much as the priests of Mortaebius saw of him. After completing the potion setups, Rapina had worked on many things, including helping prepare the bodies for a new animation that Thane was researching.

Thane called his new animation the improved skeleton. He had a very large number of rotting bodies from Red Jack and from the sites of destroyed forts in Avengene that he and his servitors had visited when he or Rames knew of a nearby graveyard. Rapina had kept the scarab pits constantly busy removing the flesh from the bones of the accumulated dead. After they were cleaned she would bag and tag each skeleton for future use.

Thane had developed a new resin. It was not as magical as the resins he created in his font for true advanced animations. Two thirds of the new resin was made from ingredients that could be purchased on the open market, and all but three percent of the remainder could be produced in a font by a relatively low-level priest like Rames. Improved skeletons incorporated Thane's double animation techniques and could retain larger sets of instructions even than mundane double-animated skeletons.

The resin-soaked bones of improved skeletons were very durable compared to those of a mundane skeleton. Blunt weapons would not shatter them as they could shatter normal skeletons. A sword was a better weapon against them than a bludgeon, and they were very resistant to missile fire. They did not have the ability to speak or reason as did the true advanced animations. However, as cannon fodder or servants, they were superior even to mundane double animated skeletons. They took more time to animate, but Thane believed that it was important that the rank and file skeleton in his army be stronger if he was to face the forces of Avengene.

Over the winter, Thane had spent most of the time he was not creating improved or advanced animations working on his skrying techniques, and learning a few new spells. He now had a mirror as well as his pool. The pool was more the tool of a cleric, whereas mirrors and crystal balls were the province of mages. Periodically he took Rames, Rapina and a few skeletons on trips so that they could journey to new areas and consecrate graveyards for later use with the graveyard mists spell.

Rapina studied the principles of spell research, but she found that the troll shaman's suggestions were often just as valuable as those from the best treatises on the tailoring of spells. Trolls were not brilliant, and although Uler was extremely intelligent for a troll, he was only fairly intelligent by human standards. He was however a troll of extreme, cunning, creativity and common sense. He had distilled magic down to something a troll could understand, and his understanding was perfect for a beginner like Rapina.

With Uhler's knowledge and the knowledge that came to her from books, Rapina began painstakingly to attempt variations of the spell. Her first success was to vary the part of her body she used to do the drain with. At first she used her hands, and then her foot. After that, she slowly added the ability to pull the energy in through other parts of her body, working intensively before she got each to work, and then practicing in order to attain consistent success.

She drained using her tongue, her breasts and her rectum. There was a pattern. The energy flowed down to her vagina and then surged up to her breasts as if she were simply pulling the energy into herself using the spell, and then absorbing and storing it using her regular channels. After she got the hang of it, she found those areas of her body rich in nerves, especially those closest to her vagina, were easiest.

Once she was adept at draining with the various parts of her body, she attempted to use caresses to shape the spell rather than the usual motions of her hands. It was not easy, but eventually she was successful. Once she got the hang of it, she rather liked the effect. When using caresses and an odd part of her body, her success was spotty, but she knew that with enough practice, one day the spell would become second nature.


The last thing she tried was to change the language component. This proved very difficult. Eventually, because Uler was very motivated to help, she was able to get a trollish version to work, and then an open-mouthed moaning version, but she found it difficult to combine these with the caressing hand movements. Occasionally she managed to drain through moan and caress. She was able to moan, lick and caress, then swallow a man as the drain kicked in, but she was not able to come up with verbal components that would work with her mouth full.

Perhaps the greatest epiphany she got during her studies of spell modification, was the realization that most of her drain spell forcibly pulled the power out of her victim. The physical manifestation of this was that he developed a very rapid erection and then he came. Yet, only a small bit of the spell was needed to transfer the power, once released, to her hungry vagina. It was this transfer that she had stumbled on while trying to incorporate some of the casting variations Thane had given her from the ranged version of his drain spell. Moreover, this transfer made it possible for her to get the energy drained into her reserves.

This knowledge led her to create a tiny little spell and many variations that would transfer energy to her vagina from some other part of her body when a man naturally released it through orgasm. The trick was she had to time it so that the spell would go off as he was coming, but she could feel a man's lust, so this was not so difficult as it might have seemed. She felt that this simpler enchantment might be possible to do with her mouth full, and began to work on it.

It seemed half of what Thane talked about in his daily magic lessons had something to do with energy drain, transmission and bestowal. Thane even spent extra time with Rapina trying to get her knowledge in this area beyond the norm. If a lesson's topic was not energy drain, it was usually something about mage-sight and the detection and analysis of magic. As winter turned to spring, Rapina learned why.

"The orc tribe with the giants suffered a serious defeat in attacking a large fort three days ago," Thane said. "As I had suspected, Avengene will always stoop to breaking his own rules if his power is threatened. He despises the orcs for their intermittent use of poison and more rarely of shamanistic magic. Nevertheless, the loss of so many forts has led him to hire himself a mage. He also used poisoned ballista bolts from engines hidden within fortress towers in an attempt to wipe out the giants before they attack his remaining forts.

The mage is none other than Nordula. It appears he has managed to retain the ability to teleport. He carried a cadre of Avengene's best priests of the vindicator to the fort in question not long after it came under attack. The priests used their magic on the giants, as did Nordula. Avengene has struck a great blow by killing many giants. Thankfully, the giants and the orcs who hired them are now possessed of considerable wealth. The orcs have seen to it that the giants have armor and shields, yet the wounds Avengene's special forces have inflicted on the giants have made them more timid, and more likely to rest for long periods between forays. I fear that the number of giants remaining is insufficient to destroy many of Avengene's larger remaining fortresses.

It appears that their hatred of Red Jack has brought Lord Avengene and Lord Li'Yeiraun together. We have seen stone masons and labor crews imported up the river from Yeiraun arriving in Avengene to repair forts. I suspect that some of the magic books Avengene has confiscated from his citizens who are not allowed the practice of magic, have wound up in Nordula's hands rather than in the usual bon fires. This is a dangerous development since Li'Yieraun is Avengene's neighbor to the south."

"Lord Li'Yieraun controls a county that is made up of his wife Cynid's barony of Liaern and his own barony of Yieraun. Cynid is a half elf who is directly related to the elven monarchs of the forest East of Liaern. Sometime in the past, the human warlord of Liaern settled his differences with the elves by marrying an elven princess. Their child, upon her father's death, was to become the ruler of a part of the elven forest as well as the human lands North of the Eastern Augustana river. Cynid was that child. You can see why Lord Li'Yiraun did not break off his marriage to Cynid even though he probably knows by now that his daughter was really the daughter of Red Jack. Now that he is making an alliance with Avengene, Cynid's barony becomes all the more important. It is all that separates Avengene from Yieraun."

"Ew, I feel sorry for Cynid. If Lord Li'Yieraun swallows the faith of the vindicator, or even just throws in with them, Cynid will be caught between them," Rapina said.

Indeed, but Cynid, like so many others will likely be fooled by Avengene's mask of goodness. He is, after all, a war hero who protects Clairmont from the orc threat. Why, the king himself holds Avengene in high esteem. It is true that Avengene does not have the best record in regard to keeping his people from cutting the trees of the elven forest, but the elves will not realize they are in a vice until far too late. After all, the elves are enemies of the orcs, and Avengene keeps the orcs at bay for them.

The elves will not realize that Avengene will have no compunction about expanding right over them until it is too late, but he is not likely to expand over the elves until it becomes convenient to do so. As long as there are orcs, he still needs the elves to back him up, especially with so many of his forts destroyed last summer. For that reason, I expect him to remain tight with the elves.
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This ends Cast at Last, Chapter 42 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in Chapter 43, Shadowland.

Copyright 2001 Rapina