Vision of Light [The Renegades 1] (30 page)

"Milady, I have come bearing gifts,” he declared.

"More of yours? Lady Jennifer, you are full of wonder!"

"Ah, so you are told my secret!” Jaden came into the room and looked around. “'Tis hell—mmm—as dismal as ever, I mean. Where is my no-good cousin?"

"I would not know."

They spent the next few hours reading some outrageous passages from several of his books, which had her holding her belly from too much laughing, until Lucien came in.

"You have plenty of wenches to bed up there. Why must you keep sniffing around her?” Lucien looked fed up.

"I only brought her new books."

Lucien glared while Jaden grinned from ear to ear.

"I take it I'd better leave.” Jaden smiled.

"You take it right."

Lucien practically tossed the amused Jaden out the door. The younger man went off down the tunnel, still laughing. Aislan wiped the smile from her face immediately when Lucien slammed the door and turned around. He glowered at her, a barrel of gloom.

"Have you eaten?” Even as he talked, he put together a simple meal involving nothing more than cutting the bread and cheese.

"I am not hungry."

"Eat,” he ordered. “You need energy if you want to continue training the rest of today."

Training turned out to be regeneration. For the next couple of hours, Lucien taught her how to relax completely and learn to sit without getting sore by focusing on circulating her blood through her limbs. When Lucien unlaced the back of her tunic, she thought her wildly beating heart had plummeted to her stomach. He braced her shoulders to prevent her from turning around.

"No, Aislan. Your clothes hinder my efforts. You do not have a lot of time, so do not waste this session."

He loosened the lace until he could spread the back of her tunic wide, then he unlaced her shift, too. He did not take her clothes off, simply wedging his hands through the laces and pressing his palms against her naked skin under her shoulder blades. Aislan found it hypocritical, this sudden refusal to deal with her naked back. However, without the clothes, his energy swept through her in full force, and she resolved not to be critical of what he did again. He had done everything in her interest.

Aislan sat a long time while he prepared her. Her body adjusted to the gentle ministration as Lucien transferred faint waves of life force into her. In the confinement of the dark chamber lit with candles, with his large, warm hands against her back, Aislan let herself go as she leaned back against him.

"No, Aislan, take this seriously,” he reprimanded.

She instantly straightened. “I am sorry,” she whispered, properly chastised.

After a while, Lucien said, “So far, you have learned only the rudiments of relaxation and quick regeneration. ‘Twill be all you need on a daily basis. All sorcerers learn their limitations during training, so they do not push beyond their capabilities because of the risks of serious injuries. Therefore, use this only as a last resort. If you break out of intensive regeneration improperly, you will strain your heart and damage your brain."

A long time later, with her eyes closed, even when Aislan struggled to stay awake, it became more difficult. He did something that made her extremely sleepy, so she drifted off.

"You have to learn to stay awake!” He shook her. “You cannot fall asleep in the middle of regeneration."

She tried hard to stay awake, and she succeeded for what seemed like a very long time, then she drifted off. Lucien pulled away, and Aislan pulled herself out of the pitch darkness of her mind.

"Aislan, ‘tis not good. You must stay awake."

"I tried.” She wanted to weep. “I tried hard to stay awake."

He shook his head, but not in disapproval. Looking perplexed, Lucien closed his eyes and rubbed his brow. “Something is not right.” He now stared at her. “Your body fights against deep regeneration. Until you learn how to do this properly, you will not be able to develop significant sorcery skills. If you injured yourself while applying sorcery, how will you heal yourself?"

"Oh!” How could she be so hopeless?

"Let's not give up before we even started, shall we? ‘Tis what the discovery process is all about.” He turned her around. “Every sorcerer must know how to regenerate. If you cannot, then we need to know why, or else we find another method that will work for you."

He worked on her for the next few hours. They ate, then resumed, and late in the night, he broke free of testing her energy and said suddenly, “If you want a bath, there is a spring nearby. The water is chilly, though."

Lucien gathered a towel and new clothes, then took Aislan to the spring. He sat on one of the boulders.

"What a nice surprise.” She laughed in delight. “I feared I would go without bathing for the next sennight!"

He watched as she pushed her dress down the shapely hips. He must be a damn fool to invite trouble when he knew he could not resist her. This could have waited until tomorrow, as if tomorrow he would be any less horny. Aislan pushed her shift down, and Lucien ogled her as if he had never seen her body before.

"Will you join me?” she asked, her lovely breasts lusciously jiggling in great exaggeration at the cold.

"I already bathed this morning,” and the night before, and the morning of that day. He had spent the past few nights on the bank of the stream and had never been cleaner.

Aislan no doubt could see how his stiff cock pointed her way. He could feel it twitching and struggling to bore a hole through his braes.

"Wait.” His voice sounded too weak, so he cleared his throat. “Pull your shift back on."

"Why?” the vixen asked, making no move to do so.

His cock now stood so straight, it would not surprise Lucien if it wedged its own way out of the braes. Aislan stared at it thoughtfully, smiling. He could expire on the spot, and he only had himself to blame. He had the option of turning his back to her, but did he? No, a glutton for punishment, his cock drooled over the sight of her lissome body. Aislan had gained an appetite the past fortnight to fill out just enough to be on the side of voluptuousness, as if she was not alluring enough already.

"Leave your shift on!"

"Why, this modesty is unlike you, my dear,” she said, the consummate seductress.

His gaze lingered on her breasts until she finally pulled her shift over them again. “Just get in the water."

He let her swim for a while until he could regain control. He tried to push his cock down, then resigned and let it rear however it wanted. Lucien walked to the water's edge and watched as Aislan turned onto her back to float, her attention also focused on him. He went down on his haunch where he would not look so ludicrous standing there with a rampant hard-on.

"Aislan, go under and stay there. Show me how long you can last."

She looked surprised, but she immediately understood. He knew she would catch on quickly because of her high intelligence. Her naivety had stemmed from being sheltered all her life, but she learned fast. From where he knelt, Lucien could see the pale outline of her body beneath the moonlit water. She moved occasionally, swimming about, but the water was shallow and the spring small, so she stayed in the general vicinity in his view.

Lucien stood up and looked around, listening for sounds in the garden behind him, hearing nothing out of the ordinary. However, he could not detect one Stealth sorcerer, so he had to be careful. Turning back to Aislan, he watched her body beneath the water. She swam to one end of the spring, then back, then stayed put again. Lucien knew nothing about Fluid sorcery. Only the
Sorsverein
, through a lifetime of experience, would know the right approach. Everyone else had to go through a learning process.

Waiting for as long as he could, finally, Lucien waded into the water. When he neared her, Aislan surfaced and got to her feet. She breathed slightly fast, but not panting, so she had not even reached a stress point. The water lapped about her slim waist. Under the moonlight, her face was pale but gorgeous, her slender body waiflike and alluring. He had never seen a lovelier woman, and such a brilliant one, too. Lucien loved her, his sweet and beautiful angel, who had been denied all she could have, but not any more if he could help it.

He tried to focus on the task at hand. “The water is cold, but you can learn to adjust to the temperature if this turns out to be your practice ground. Now, let's test to see if you will have better luck with deep regeneration while underwater."

The woman with the long, flaxen hair floated closer. She held out her hand. “Come, my dear, I have waited for you for a long time."

She wore a white robe that floated about her thin body, her face almost indistinguishable in the haziness of the fog. Half of her white hair covered her face. Behind her, a light glowed faintly.

"Come,” the woman said again, reaching, her grasping fingers like icy claws. “We belong together."

Someone reached out from the light at the same time the witch's cold fingers tightened and pulled.

Aislan woke, sitting up, gasping and panting.

"Lucien!” she cried, looking around, but he was not with her. When they returned to Calvan, he had stoked the fire in the hearth to keep the room warm, and then he had left her alone again. Scrambling off the bed, Aislan ran to the door and opened it, staring at the pitch darkness of the tunnel ahead.

"Lucien.” Aislan wept. Narisse, who had waited for her all these years, had finally come for her.

After training her until late into the night, Aislan had been completely drained as she should be after the success that she could not have achieved without the aid of water. When Lucien took her back to Calvan, she fell immediately into a fitful sleep. He stayed with her to monitor her. The experience had stirred her sorcery energy positively, but he had not dared to push her too hard because he did not know the limitations. Before dawn, he left to see Traver.

He walked into the laboratory to find Traver lounging back against one of the plush seats while studying a vial of blood-like solution he held in his hand. Traver did not even shift position upon seeing Lucien. The quizzical expression on Traver's face gave Lucien some concern, and he settled on the chair across from his cousin. On the table was a vial of light green solution.

"That is your potion.” Traver nodded at the green vial.

Traver had also made a potion for him once Lucien was firm about going to Templeton Castle. Lucien did not want to be tracked, so alchemy had to intervene.

"'Tis Lady Aislan's.” Traver placed the red vial on the table. “She will not metamorphose."

Lucien was not even surprised. “Do you know why not?” he asked in his calmest tone.

"One reason is the potion will not transform a Stealth sorcerer. However, you mentioned you have tracked Lady Aislan twice, and that the wolves found her."

Lucien nodded.

"Hmm.” Traver looked thoughtful. “When I added Lady Aislan's blood sample to the solution, the mixture incubated accordingly until early this morn. I watched it turn red. I have compared this substance to Lady Aislan's own sample under a scope. They are the same. There is no trace left of the metamorphic elements."

"She overpowered all the elements.” Lucien did not know what to think now that he saw the proof of what he had already suspected.

Traver nodded. “Not at first, but in the end, yes.” He and Lucien stared at each other for a moment, and then both of them studied the full vial holding Aislan's blood where Traver had extracted only a few drops.

"I would not rush to a conclusion,” Traver said, to Lucien's greatest relief. Lucien would not have given up, but he could not request Traver to pursue the matter because Aislan was not Traver's responsibility.

Up until several years ago, Traver had served the Sorcery Circle. He had led a huge team of scholarly
sorsvasus
to classify and formalize a catalogue of most sorcery skills, which gained Traver's great fame and prestige. From a mere blood sample, Traver could mix it with various elements. Once he applied his own sorcery to the mixture, Traver could identify any type of sorcery skill, no matter how esoteric. He had cut down a process that took years of discovery to a few days. Sorcerers who directly served under the Sorcery Circle had been classified, but to protect the sorcerers, each subject had been labeled and the skills categorized anonymously.

The Circle had passed a mandate only a few years ago that all sorcerers had to be classified, a painstaking process still being implemented. The Circle's Superintendent team had the daunting task of going through South Sharland ensuring all sorcery clans cooperate, especially with new recruits. Like anything else of such magnitude, the entire process was chaotic and frustrating, especially because most clans evaded the attempts, loudly protesting the invasion.

The Circle, known for its harshness, no doubt had worked Traver nearly to death during his
sorsvasus
years. Although Traver had more freedom now, Lucien knew his cousin still had to serve the Circle several months out of each year.

"I'll need your permission to analyze Lady Aislan's blood sample further. I'll also need to assess her power personally. Mayhap we can determine what else we can do to protect her."

Lucien nodded. “Thank you, Traver. You are a great friend."

They stared at each other for a moment.

"You are family.” Traver shrugged, and a small smile flitted across his lips. “Now, we need to administer your potion. You, cousin, can transform."

Lucien returned to Calvan a few hours later with Traver. Aislan sat staring at the wall while a book lay open on her lap. She looked deep in thought, and when she saw him, she placed the book aside. Standing up, she visibly gathered her composure. When he gave her a small smile, her indigo eyes lit up with warmth, her gaze lingering on his face. Lucien wished she had better control of her feelings. She should not show her love so openly, especially when they had company.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Lucien went to Aislan's side. She hugged his arm to her and looked at him as if she had decided he was to become her mate for life. What had gotten into her? Lucien did not know how he should react. However, first things first.