Daniel Black, Book 5, Chapter 5


My second long-distance earthwalk wasn’t any more fun than the first. I grimly held onto the bizarre spell form as we moved, warping the space around us to turn a trip of hundreds of miles into a brisk morning stroll. But it was just blind imitation of what Alanna had shown me. The spell’s mechanism still made no sense to me, which made me nervous as hell.
It didn’t help that I had two curious passengers this time. Lavinya had listened when I warned them about how the spell worked, and was merrily chatting with Alanna about inconsequential things. But Trishna would not stop staring at the shifting caverns around us.
“The more you look, the harder it makes this,” I reminded her. Which, again, made no sense. Reality doesn’t care if people are looking at it nor not, so how could observation affect the spell? But it definitely did.
“Sorry,” the young thief replied, sounding completely sincere. But she was still looking. “It’s just, I think I can almost see what you’re doing. Besides, aren’t you some big shot wizard? This is nothing for you, right?”
“Everyone has things they suck at,” I replied. “For me, that’s earthwalking. Blowing up the mana cost with casual observations is no big deal, since it’s not like I could actually run low. But you keep… that! Whatever you did just then. That makes the spell form waver.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you could force yourself out of the spell, and end up entombed a couple of miles underground,” I said.
“Oh. Oops. Um, yeah, sorry, I’m gonna stop now. I’ll just, uh, find something else to look at.”
Lavinya leaned over to whisper something to her, but these elven ears easily picked out her words. “I could stare at that ass all day.”
Trishan flushed, and whispered back. “Pervert. I’ll stick with guys.”
“Uh huh. I see those wandering eyes.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“If you say so.”
I rolled my eyes, and did my best to ignore the horny dark elf’s antics. She knew perfectly well I could hear them, so obviously she was just trying to goad Trishna into saying something incriminating. Personally, I was happy to have at least one party member who wasn’t trying to jump my bones at every opportunity. Now, where was that landmark?
Navigating on an earthwalk was just as strange as the rest of the process. There were vast currents of mana flowing through the earth, that became easier to pick out in this state. Sometimes they bent, intersected, or passed over one another at different depths, and those were the only terrain features one could reliably see. So finding my way was a matter of spotting the ley line with a distinctive curve, heading off at the proper angle to encounter a Y-intersection, following the right branch until it passed over a deeper current, and so on.
Getting lost would leave us stranded in the middle of nowhere, but I didn’t dare write down our route. Not when Kadur Osh was full of spies, and there were whole crime rings built around ferreting out a visitor’s secrets so they could be exploited. Our destination needed to remain secret, so instead I’d been forced to memorize everything.
Hopefully Alanna would notice if I took a wrong turn. But her mana sense wasn’t nearly as sharp as mine, and she didn’t seem to be paying much attention. Sometimes that woman’s faith in me was inspiring, but there were days I wished she was a little less trusting.
Eventually we emerged from a cave into a steep ravine, which then opened onto a hillside overlooking an expanse of dry badlands. Here and there a desiccated bush or stunted tree rose from the parched soil, but otherwise there was no sign of life. The air was thin and cold, and I shivered in my revealing dress as I hurriedly wrapped myself in protective spells.
Alanna glanced about, and confidently took the lead.
“So where’s this fortress?” Trishna asked. “Is it invisible? Or just underground?”
“We aren’t there yet, silly,” Lavinya said. “We can’t have come more than a few hundred miles, and they said it was thousands of miles from Kadur Osh. We’re just confusing the trail, right Kuro?”
“Something like that,” I replied, scanning the horizon for threats. According to Alanna the dry parts of Central Asia were inhabited by a dozen varieties of lethal monsters, while the grassy regions were claimed by hostile centaur tribes. Either way, anything we ran into here was liable to try to kill us.
“Here we are,” Alanna said, stopping beside a strange, twisted little tree that was hardly taller than she was. Looking around, I saw that most of the trees in sight were the same species.
That was clever. Bristlecone pines are native to North America, and they were an incredibly slow-growing species. How many thousands of years had it taken her, to grow enough of them around her tree to disguise it? And now she was exposing its location to a pair of virtual strangers, because of my schemes.
“This is where we get into secret travel methods,” I said. “I need both of you to promise you won’t tell anyone what you’re about to see.”
Trishna shrugged. “Okay. Not like I’ve got anyone to blab to anyway.”
“I do so swear,” Lavinya said, with considerably more seriousness. “Although I must remind you that my patron will see anything that I witness.”
“She could hardly fail to discern this secret, as involved as she is destined to become with our affairs,” Alanna said. “Come now, join hands and allow me to guide you. We shall reach our destination in moments.”
She took my hand in hers, and offered the other to Lavinya. Trishna hesitated for a moment, before taking my hand. Then Alanna stepped backwards into her tree, and we all followed.
For a few seconds we all swirled through a mind-bending landscape of twisted spaces together. Then we emerged from an entirely different tree, standing in a courtyard garden behind a stone house. The air here was warm and only slightly dry, and bright sunlight shone down from a deep blue sky.
“That was a rush,” Trishna said.
Lavinya looked around in confusion, and turned to stare at the tree we’d stepped out of. It was the same species as the one we’d entered, but clearly a different tree entirely.
“What? But… no, that doesn’t make sense. Is this a bower? Or… a dream? But we didn’t have to travel here. I don’t understand. Could she be a hamadryad, and not a dryad? But I thought they needed a contiguous forest.”
“The affairs of wizards can confound even the wise,” Alanna said. “But I fear I must confess to some deception. My name is not Anna, and my wizard is not Kuro.”
“That’s not exactly a big shock,” Trishna put in. “I mean, obviously you used fake names.”
“Yes. In truth, I am Alanna Firescorn, and my wizard-”
“Daniel!”
A dark-haired missile shot out of the nearest window, and I had only a moment to brace myself with force magic before impact. I staggered back, still not used to being so light, and then Cerise’s lips were on mine.
My sultry battle babe kissed me soundly, pressing her breasts against mine and wrapping her strong legs around my hips. By the time she came up for air my head was spinning. How had we ended up on the ground?
I’d never really understood submissives. But looking up into a beautiful face framed by demonic horns, with her hands pinning mine to the ground, I suddenly felt a glimmer of understanding. She was so much stronger than this delicate elven body. It would be so easy to just melt into her embrace, and let her do anything she wanted.
“Finally! I was starting to think something had happened to you,” Cerise went on. She sat up, giving me an excellent view of her taut, fit body covered in skin-tight leather. But her butt stayed firmly planted on my pelvis, keeping me pinned to the ground.
“It took some time to pull off the operation,” I said. “Also, we have visitors.”
“Yeah, you can’t go anywhere without collecting more admirers,” she teased. “Is the coven getting another member, or did you finally give in on the concubine thing?”
“Alas, my advances have been rejected,” Lavinya proclaimed.
“I’m a thief, not a whore,” Trishna put in. “She promised me a place to hide out, and a job with this wizard-king of yours. What kind of name is Dah’nee-el, anyway?”
Cerise snickered, and looked down at me. “You haven’t told them?”
“This is the first place we’ve been that was secure enough for that kind of conversation. Also, are you planning on letting me up anytime soon?”
“I don’t know, I’m kind of liking this. You’re so cute and helpless right now, and I’ve got you at my mercy. Maybe I’ll ask Alanna to give everyone else the grand tour, while we get… reacquainted.”
“You’re insatiable,” I grumbled.
“Do you realize how long it’s been since I got dicked down properly? I’m showing amazing restraint here.”
“Uh huh.” I ran my hands up her thighs, and reached out with my flesh magic. I’d done this countless times in intimate moments, to cast sexy little spells on her or tantalize her with magically induced sensations. So her magic instinctively welcomed mine, letting me in without a hint of resistance. I almost felt guilty about using it to goose her.
“Meep!”
She jumped three feet in the air, clutching at her backside. I rolled out from under her as she hovered there, tumbling to my feet in an acrobatic move I never could have pulled off as a human.
“Hey!” She protested, settling back to the ground. “What was that for?”
“Being a pest,” I replied. “Behave, or I’ll gag you. Everyone, this is Cerise, high priestess of Hecate and my most impetuous coven-mate. Cerise, this is Lavinya, a tour guide from Kadur Osh who Weaver picked out as an agent. And that’s Trishna, the thief we had to rush off to rescue. She turned out to be a big help. There’s no way I would have been able to sneak that gem out of the dwarf king’s palace myself.”
“So you got it? Thank fuck. Does that mean you can come home soon? Elin and Avilla are driving me nuts with all their sendings, asking if you’re back yet.”
I eyed Trishna, and made a decision. I’d been planning to keep my identities completely separate, but Cerise had already blown that. So there was no point in pretending.
“Soon,” I told Cerise. “Believe me, I want to be home as much as you girls want me back. Is my new body ready yet?”
“I think so. It’s a good thing you got me to keep an eye on it, because the growth spells were unbalanced just like you thought. I’ve been checking in on it every few hours, and making adjustments. But I think it’s about done now.”
“Sounds like I’d better have a look,” I said.
“Wait, new body?” Trishna asked.
“Yeah, this body is just a disguise,” I said. “I’m not actually an elf. Or a woman, for that matter.”
“Whoa. That’s some serious magic,” Trishna said. Then she seemed to come to some realization. “So that’s it! You’re really… um, never mind.”
And she was blushing. Great. There was only one reason she’d react like that.
Ignoring that issue for now, I went on. “So anyway, I think I have pretty good odds of convincing myself to hire you, Trishna. But switching bodies is an involved process, so I expect we’ll need to stay here for a day or so before we can head for Kozalin. Alanna, would you mind setting our guests up with a place to stay?”
“Of course, my wizard. Come, girls. I shall introduce you to our other guests.”
She led them off into the house, which I knew from experience was a rambling maze of ever-shifting architectural dreams. They’d never find their way back unless Alanna wanted them to.
The moment they were out of sight I pulled Cerise into my arms, and kissed her.
“I’ve missed you.”
“Gods, I’ve been going crazy without you,” Cerise replied. “But that was kind of mean.”
“This body isn’t strong enough to roll you over and pin you down,” I pointed out.
“Neither was your old one, unless you cheated,” she pointed out. “But this new, improved one is looking promising. Come take a look.”
I’d appropriated one of Alanna’s hidden basements as a magical cloning lab. My new body was floating in a wooden basin filled with water, which constantly circulated to carry away waste. A complex web of flesh magic enchantments covered the basin, maintaining a field of magic that kept the body alive and encouraged rapid growth. But it was an imperfect process, and this was the first time I’d done it with a human body.
That was why I’d taken the risk of sending Alanna to contact my ladies, and bringing Cerise back to her hidden dream refuge. The growth spells needed constant adjustments to produce a healthy body, instead of a misshapen monster. The enhancement spells also needed a certain degree of monitoring, to adjust the energy flow and shut it off entirely when they were finished. I’d originally planned to do it all myself, but when Hecate told us we needed to drop everything and head for Kadur Osh I had no idea how long we’d be gone.
When I’d left my new body had been well along, looking like a teenage version of me. Well, more or less. Cloning didn’t perfectly duplicate subtle details like facial features, so it was more like a fraternal twin than a perfect duplicate. But Alanna had helped me tweak things to make as close a match as possible, and it had only needed a couple more days to grow to full maturity.
What I found in the tank looked like me, if I was six inches taller and spent half my time wrestling bears. Damn, that was a lot of muscle. Not the overly sculpted, subtly fake-looking contours of an overzealous bodybuilder, either. That was the kind of muscle you get by actually doing things.
“I see someone had some fun with the growth controls,” I noted.
Cerise leaned over my shoulder, and slipped her arms around me. “Mm hmm. You were hot before, but now you’re going to be some serious beefcake. Next time you end up wrestling a demigod you can just punch his face in.”
“That would be a nice change,” I conceded.
Magic was obviously my greatest strength, but it doesn’t solve everything. When you get into as many fights as I do, you’re inevitably going to run into circumstances your magic isn’t suited for. Wizards are also very dependent on gear, which is a problem when you get caught without your fancy magical weapons. So far I’d gotten by on sorcery and frantic improvisation, but that would eventually get me killed.
So when I designed this body I resolved to finally take full advantage of all the enhancements my flesh sorcery could provide. Until now I’d been getting by on rushed stopgap measures, because anything good would require me to sit still for days while the magic did its work. But growing a new body would take that long anyway, so obviously this was my chance to go full munchkin.
Strength, durability and rapid healing were all easy for my sorcery, and that was the sort of thing you could pour massive amounts of mana into. By now there was so much power invested in this new body that it would be tougher than a troll. I was looking forward to being able to trade blows with demigods and magical monsters without having to rely on a healing amulet to keep me alive.
Speed and enhanced reflexes were harder for my magic to duplicate, but Cerise’s magical enhancements had given me some inspiration there. I wasn’t going to turn into a comic book speedster, but I should at least be quick enough to aim spells at an ungol now. The next time we ran into a speed-focused magical monster I’d be able to do more than just blanket the area in explosions and hope for the best.
On top of that I had some nice utility buffs. Night vision, enhanced senses and resistance to flash blindness, so the elves wouldn’t constantly show me up in that department. Improved tolerance for low temperatures, because obviously that came up a lot during Fimbulwinter. A life support spell that would let me survive underwater or at high altitudes several times longer than a normal man. A discrete little virility boost, because with as many women as I had sometimes it was hard to keep up with them all.
Huh.
Or a non-so-small boost. Which brought my attention to another discrepancy.
“Cerise, when did you turn into a size queen?”
She giggled. “Hey, I’m just making sure everything comes out in peak condition. You need to be equipped for every kind of battle, right? Don’t worry, I made sure it can still fit in my mouth.”
I facepalmed. “Nut.”
“Noodge. I can’t believe you were going to settle for just a little above average. Seriously, Daniel, you need to learn how to loosen up and have fun with things.”
On second thought, maybe this was for the best. If I’d set this up to give myself a giant dick she’d have teased me about it for the rest of eternity. But this way she only had herself to blame, and I could safely assume she hadn’t gone for too much of a good thing. Which was an important detail.
“You realize I’m not going to be able to just shift myself smaller if it turns out you got carried away?” I said. “This body is going to be a magical creature, so it will naturally resist being changed by magic. There’s no telling how much practice it will take me to learn how to control my own resistance, and with that mana source no one is going to be beating down my defenses with brute force.”
Enchanting some of my elf body’s bones had worked well enough, so I’d done a lot more of that the second time around. All of my bones were protected by massively powerful reinforcement spells, so I’d felt reasonably safe enchanting four vertebrae with matter to mana spells. One would power my body’s general strength and durability, a second supercharged my regeneration, and the third ran the other enchantments I’d placed on various bones.
I was going to have a force field, flight spells, curse barriers and a dream ward all built in. My finger bones were enchanted to cast dispellings, conjure stone barriers and bolts of fire, project force blades or radiate a pleasure touch effect. I’d even built in some more complex battle magic, to conjure up grenades or cast a couple of varieties of area denial spell. None of it could match the raw power of my new staff, but I was never going to be without a weapon again.
Cerise just scoffed at my objection. “Daniel, I love you to death, but you seriously need to get over this weird sex thing of yours. Stop acting like you have to hold back, and ask permission for every little thing like some effete butt-boy. I want to see Elin’s eyes bug out when she gets a look at this monster. Then I want you to turn that sex aura thing up to eleven, and make Pelagia beg for mercy.”
“She doesn’t beg,” I said. “She just kind of goes nonverbal, and makes sexy noises that turn any man in earshot into a rutting caveman.”
“There, see! I know you’ve got it in you. Stop hiding it so much. So I didn’t fuck anything up, did I?”
“I wasn’t planning to go quite so heavy on the muscles, but there’s something to be said for being able to casually manhandle a naughty little girl when I need to. Just remember, if you’re going to tune my new body to cater to your kinks, I might just return the favor.”
“If my boobs were any bigger they’d start getting in the way,” she warned.
“Uh huh. Anyway, I think everything looks good. The enchantments are all fully set, and this thing’s biological age is about right. There are a few things I can’t properly test, like the regeneration effect that’s supposed to prevent aging. But I’ll have plenty of time to fiddle with that stuff if I end up finding problems.”
“Awesome. So how does this crazy body-switching magic of yours work, anyway?”
“Not as well as I’d like. Originally I’d made a circlet with the soul transfer enchantment, but that was remarkably horrible to use. Partly because it was forcing its way through my native resistance, and partly because I needed it to work quickly. We aren’t in such a hurry here, so I put together a more gradual process that ought to be a lot cleaner. Did you notice the enchantments on the skull?”
“Hah. I wish my mage sight was that good. There are so many other enchantments on your new body, there’s no way I could look through them all to spot something on the inside.”
“Good. Maybe that means other wizards will have the same problem, and they won’t notice my hidden contingencies. Well, this body and that one have matching enchantments on their skulls to do the soul transfer. We just need to strap them both down first, because this is still going to be painful enough to cause some thrashing around. Once I start the process I’m going to knock myself out, and then it should take about half an hour to finish.”
“So the ritual runs itself? I should be used to surprises with you by now. So what do we do if it doesn’t work right?”
“Pray,” I said. “Alanna has my notes on the process, just in case. But manipulating souls is the kind of thing that takes decades of horrific experiments to get good at, unless you’ve got mana sorcery cheating for you. So if I screwed something up, Hecate’s divine power over souls is our only hope of fixing it.”
Cerise sobered at that. “Shit. Okay, now I get why you aren’t looking to make body hopping a regular thing. Too bad, because I was getting ideas. But if there’s a chance something might go wrong we can’t get careless. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Help me get everything set up,” I said. “And try not to worry too much. If I was really worried about whether this would work, I’d put up with being a dainty little elf girl for however long it took to get it right. The new process should be safer than the old one, and doing it here in Alanna’s dream hideout gives us an extra layer of safety. Things tend to work out the way she wants them too, here.”
“Sounds convenient.”
I ended up spending the better part of an hour fussing over the details of the transfer. Doing medical scans on my new body, checking and re-checking the enchantments, and wracking my brain for other things we could do to ensure the process worked. 
Finally I realized I was procrastinating. The first body switch had been horribly painful, and I wasn’t eager to go through that again. The new process was supposed to be a lot less painful, but what if it just ended up being thirty minutes of mid-grade torture instead of two minutes of absolute agony?
But I’d never know if I didn’t try it.
Time to man up, then. I did one final round of checks, and then went over to the smaller of the two transfer tables and let Cerise strap me down. She seemed to sense my nervousness, because she didn’t take advantage of the situation.
Instead she tightened the last few straps, and bent to kiss my cheek.
“Relax, Daniel. Everything is going to work just fine. Just let the sleep spell knock you out, and when you wake up you’ll be back where you belong. You make a cute elf, but I’m looking forward to getting my big hunk of a man back.”
“Me too, Cerise. Okay, let’s do this thing.”