Amber's Enchantment

Chapter 4

Interludes

As the months progressed, the flames that ravaged, without destroying, the world of Destran showed no signs of ebbing. In fact, they were, if anything, increasing in intensity. As more and more plants released their stored mana to be absorbed by the mana-destitute minerals in the ground and rocks, the flames ignited the air around them to an even greater degree, as if to speed the mana on it's way.

In fact, the plants were losing mana at an increasingly fast rate, in an attempt to survive the next 50 years. For, while they were shedding mana, they were also

absorbing

it as well. For Fron, the red sun responsible for the burning times, was the source of all mana in the world. The plant life on Destran, the native life that is, absorbed mana like the plants the sentient beings brought with them absorbed light. When Fron was distant, they took mana from the soil as well as the dim light of Fron. When Fron was close, however, they were flooded with more mana than they could handle. Thus, they evolved the ability to shed excess mana. And it wasn't only the soil that benefited from this outpouring...

*****

The portal opened and the dwarf who stepped through was

old

. Heversham's eyes widened in surprise at the appearance of the aged alchemist. His hair was fully gray, down to the last strands of his beard. His hands were gnarled, the joints seeming to have grown in some misshapen way. He walked with a stoop, much of his weight resting on the cane that seemed to be an extension of his left arm. The skin on his face, the only skin beyond his hands that was visible, was wrinkled and hung in sagging rolls.

Heversham had never seen anyone ravaged by the effects of time and aging. The magic available on Destran could push back those infirmities for quite some time, long enough that most people died of a physical injury of some kind. Colrit was living proof that even magic had its limitations. Time

would

catch up with everyone, one way or another. Colrit's eyes, however, belied his physical age. Excitement shown from them; excitement and intelligent. Heversham had no desire to face this particular dwarf across a game of Kings.

"Colrit, welcome to Aswan. I..."

The aged dwarf interrupted him. "Please," came the gravelly voice, "skip the pleasantries. At my age, one learns the value of time. I have no idea how much longer this body will house my mind. Let's get right to business, if we can."

"Of course," Heversham replied. "If you'll come this way, we have a lab and the scrolls ready for you. If I may ask, just how old are you/"

"Ha!," he barked, laughing at the question. "I'm long past being insulted by a simple question. I'm 437 years old."

"So, you've lived through one burning time already?"

"Yes. Nasty business, the fires; but if my theories are correct, very needed times as well."

"Theories about the burning times? I thought you were a theoretical alchemist?"

"I am, human. Theoretical alchemy requires a vast knowledge of many subjects. Reagents come from animals, minerals and plants. To predict the results of an infusion, one must understand all three types of substances. I've come to the conclusion..." He stopped himself. "No, not now. My theories are too radical to mention without proof. I'm hoping that your scrolls will give me that proof."

"I hope you'll be able to give us the ability to produce top rated potions on our own," Heversham added, unabashed at his self interest.

"If I'm right, potion making will be the least of the results," the dwarf said with an ominous glint in his eyes.

"Here we are," Heversham said, as he opened the door to the small building set into the wall of the cavern. "I've managed to assemble everything you indicated you'd need. I'm afraid we'll have to be on the move in a coupe of days. Trade waits for no man, or dwarf," he added.

"That's fine. I've worked from the back of a yeltin before."

"I'll leave you to it, then."

With that, Heversham left the old alchemist alone with his tools and the copies of the scrolls.

*****

In another part of Destran, in the caverns of house Grantlo, Amber was stepping through similar portal to return from her training assignment. While she had enjoyed her time with the Wizard Vesti, she was anxious to see her friends and trainer. The Master of trainers, Garth, was waiting her return. Amber stepped through and knelt before him, putting her head to the floor.

"Amber served me well, Garth. I hope Silen, here, can measure up to the standard Amber has set," Vesti said, looking at the naked slave waiting for her placement. Vesti had found the presence of a slave as his assistant valuable enough to make a permanent purchase. That he was able to convince Melan to pay half the cost in exchange for having access to her for large events that would overly tax the abilities of her personal slave, Trewant, made the decision even easier.

'I'm sure Silen will be able to match the abilities of this trainee," Garth replied with a grin.

"It's been a pleasure, but a wizard's job never seems to be done. Come along, Silen," he added, waving her through the portal. As the magical doorway shrank from existence, he could be heard to ask, "So, Silen, do you enjoy being bound?"

Garth chuckled, imagining Silen struggling in bondage as Vesti pleased himself with her body. "Come Amber, let's return you to your Mistress. There still quite a bit of training for you yet."

As Amber rose, she gasped in shock. The colors were back. She could clearly see the writhing colors surrounding the magical spells and items in her sight. Garth looked back with trepidation.

"Amber, what's the problem?" he asked.

"Master, I...they're back, the colors, I mean."

Garth squinted in confusion. "What colors, Amber. What are you talking about?"

"The magic, Master; the colors around the magic. I can see the colors around the magical things, like that part of your shirt, Master," she added, pointing to the deep pocket of his vest, magically enchanted to hold several cubic feet of material.

"Amber, that's impossible. Only someone with the spark, capable of magic themselves, can see magical auras. Your collar quenches any spark you might have had."

"I know, Master; yet I

can

see them, the auras, I guess. Master, am I going to get House Grantlo in trouble?"

"I don't know, little slave, I don't know. You do seem to make a habit of challenging what's common knowledge, Amber. Come with me, we need to talk, and I want to be sitting when we do."

The two walked through the tunnels until they reached Garth's office. He sent the slave that was waiting for him to fetch Bressala. Amber knelt quietly while they waited, Garth making notations on some scrolls; reports on training of several slaves. Bressala entered the room several minutes later.

"Master, you sent for me?"

"Yes, Bressala. I wanted you to hear this as well, as it may affect Amber's training. Amber, tell Bressala what you told me earlier."

Bressala's puzzled look deepened as she listed to Amber. "Mistress, I...I guess I can see magical auras."

"But that's impossible, Amber," she gasped. "You'd have to have the spark."

"I know, Mistress, now. I though my collar made that impossible, though."

"It's supposed to, little slave," Garth answered. "What worries me more is that you were assisting a wizard in his work. Did you do any magic yourself?"

"I don't think so, Master," she replied, her brow crinkled in thought. "He told me I was just helping with the physical motions needed to tune the bowls." The two trainers could see her thinking of something, and didn't interrupt her thoughts. "That would explain something though. Master, Mistress, he was pleasantly surprised by how well I was able to do the chores he gave me that had anything to do with magic."

"What do you mean, Amber?" Bressala asked.

"Well, one of the chores was to organize his work area. He had a lot of magical devices and some of them couldn't be stored next to each other. He had them marked so one could tell, but I wondered at the time why he had to when it was so easy to tell by the colors. Like colors were best stored next to each other and complimentary colors couldn't be."

"I see," Garth said, stopping short as he realized something. "Amber, you acted surprised; in fact, you said the colors were back. Did they go away for a while?"

"Yes, Master, right after the accident."

Garth's harsh tone startled Amber. "What accident?" he growled.

Amber shrank in on herself, afraid she'd done something wrong. "In his lab, with the magical devices Mistress Lustren wanted him to identify. One that he was examining did something; projected some sort of beam at me. There was pain, then a feeling like a long orgasm. Once Master Vesti had turned the device off, I couldn't see auras any more."

"And it started again after you came back through the portal?" he asked, getting a nod from Amber.

"Master," Bressala asked, "how is this possible? Does this have anything to do with the failure of the memory potion?"

"I don't know, Bressala." Garth noticed that Amber was shrinking in on herself, showing fear. "Amber, you haven't done anything wrong. Tell me, have you done anything that could be construed as performing magic?"

"Master, Wizard Vesti didn't think so, but...Master, I overheard a conversation between the wizard and another wizard. The other wizard seemed to think I shouldn't have been helping with the magic. Wizard Vesti insisted I wasn't handling mana, but I'm not so sure," she answered, her head hung low.

"Amber," Garth assured her, "I personally don't care one way or the other. Why do you have doubts?"

"When I did the motions he asked me to, I could see spots of aura and

feel

how they wanted to not follow the paths on the bowls he had me trace. It felt like I was...making the lights do the right things. Is that manipulating mana; doing magic?"

"I don't know, Amber. Only a wizard could tell for sure, and we're not likely to ask one if one of our slaves is accidentally using magic. Amber, have you noticed anything your collar is supposed to do that it isn't doing, or is doing less efficiently?"

"No Master, but I don't know everything it's supposed to do."

"I see. Well, this mystery won't be solved in the next few hours. Bressala, take Amber and continue her training. For the time being, I don't want any mention of Amber's new found ability mentioned to the other slaves or trainers."

"I understand, Master." Bressala turned to Amber who was still kneeling next to Garth. "Come along, Amber. Tell me how far you've progressed on the training assignments I gave you."

As they walked the corridors of the house, Amber relayed what she thought her progress had been. "Mistress, I've been able to wear the largest of the anal plugs you sent with me for several hours. It's not painful, but always feels very full."

"It should, Amber. It's larger than the average male penis. How easy has it been to get in?"

"It's been very hard. While I can get it in, it seems to take forever."

Bressala smiled, knowing Amber was ready for the next stage. "I'm not surprised. How about the cunt probes? How far along are you with those?"

Amber frowned, stumbling in her steps as she answered. "Not so well, Mistress. I'm stuck on the third probe. I can't seem to figure out just where that third set of muscles are. I'm sorry, Mistress."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Amber. Cunt manipulation is very hard. For most slaves, it's harder than everything except symbiosis. For you, it may well be the most difficult part," she reassured Amber, referencing that Amber had spontaneously mastered pleasure/pain symbiosis early in her training.

Amber smiled at the memory of her first pain induced orgasm. Bressala had been paddling her in preparation to being fucked by Thebes and she'd become more aroused by the pain of the paddling than ever before. It had been a very pleasant surprise. "I understand, Mistress. Is there anything you can do to help me? It's become very frustrating."

"Yes, there is, Amber." She continued to explain as they walked into their quarters, brushing the curtain aside. "You see, one of the things you need to understand is that there isn't truly a third set of muscles to exercise. What you need to do is try to flex a smaller group of muscles than you did on the first two probes. You actually only have two sets of muscles. The goal for the rest of your cunt manipulation training is to make those muscles work in finer and finer detail. How long have you been with the third probe?" she asked as they sat.

"Only for a week, but I haven't made any progress at all. With the first two, Mistress, I could tell I was getting better each day.'

The sound of a paddle hitting flesh grew in volume, raising to noticeable from the mere background noise it had been. It was accompanied by moans of pain in a voice Amber recognized.

"Mistress, is Yolanda in trouble?" she asked with concern, her eyes focused on the curtain separating the living area from the training area.

"No, Amber," Bressala replied, reaching out to turn Amber's head back towards her. "She's begun symbiosis training. It's not going easy for her, either."

"Is there anything I can do to help her, Mistress?"

"Nothing special, but you will be a part of her training. I expect you to punish her like everyone else."

Amber bit her lip as she looked down in embarrassment. As much as she'd come to enjoy her own pain induced orgasms, she was uncomfortable paddling other slaves. She knew it was a necessary part of their training, and had witnessed her friend, Carli's, pleasure free week. Amber had celebrated as much as anyone else when Carli had obtained her breakthrough two months later. She had not, however, had to participate because Carli had been trained by Marlena, not Bressala.

Bressala reached out and gave Amber's shoulder a squeeze of understanding. "You'll do fine, Amber. Don't add to the worry of today. We're slaves, we worry about today and let the free do the worrying," she added with a wry grin, acknowledging that the old saying was far less than true.

Amber smiled back "I know, Mistress. Mistress, is Yolanda going to have to do the pleasure free week?"

"Possibly, Amber. In the end, that will be her choice." Worry crept into Bressala's voice and face as she looked at the curtain. "She hasn't experienced any arousal under the paddle." She looked at Amber and a thought entered her head. "Come with me, Amber; quietly."

The pair of slaves stole into the training room, seeing Yolanda bound between two poles, her arms and legs spread, her eyes covered in a blindfold. Bressala had decided to try and add some bondage and sensory deprivation to help Yolanda. She made a hand signal to Thebes to keep paddling as she led Amber around to the front of the bound slave. Slow, steady swats of the paddle echoed in the room as Bressala pointed to the dry pussy on Amber's fellow trainee. When Bressala lapped at the air with her tongue, Amber smiled and knelt, carefully, in front of Yolanda.

Clasping her hands behind her back, Amber bent forward into the woman's cunt and licked at it. Yolanda's moans stopped as she gasped in surprise at the pleasant touch. Amber began to apply her training to the pussy she'd grown quite familiar with. She teased Yolanda at first, licking around the edges, encouraging her to generate some of her own moisture. As each swat from the paddle forced Yolanda's cunt into Amber's face, Amber pressed against the bound slave, adding pressure on her pussy to the light, feathering laps nearby.

Yolanda gasped in a strange (for her so far) mixture of pleasure and pain as the first stirring of arousal tingled through her body. Her tears, formerly of frustration and pain, became those of relief and hope. As Amber continued her ministrations, Yolanda's body started to react to the pain differently. The pain in her ass spread as a warm glow that enveloped her whole body, concentrating in her pussy and tits. More and more fluid was produced by her body and Amber responded with licking that was more centered in Yolanda's cunt and clit.

Before she realized what was happening, Yolanda found herself on the edge of her orgasm, straining to reach that final pinnacle of pleasure. Her hips thrust to meet the blows and she tugged at her bindings as her body was tormented with that glorious mixture of pain and pleasure that all slaves came to love. Bressala saw that Amber was holding Yolanda on the edge, making the coming climax even stronger than it normally would. Concerned that the frustration might undo the good Amber's ministrations were doing, she tapped Amber on the shoulder and gave her a signal to bring Yolanda to orgasm.

Amber pushed her face in hard, sucking in folds of pussy and letting her teeth scrape lightly on Yolanda's clit as she did. Yolanda pulled hard at her bindings and her body locked up as she tipped over the edge and waves of ecstatic pleasure washed through her body. The pain of the continuing spanking wasn't even noticed as her body shuddered and her pussy pulsed juice down Amber's throat. Amber kept her vigorous pleasuring going, drawing out Yolanda's climax until she started to try to pull away from the stimulation on her now far too sensitive clit.

"That was very good, Yolanda," Bressala said as she brushed the slave's hair from her face.

"But, I didn't cum from the pain,' she replied, sadness tingeing her voice. "I need to cum from just the pain, don't I?"

"Yes you do, Yolanda. But, you were obviously struggling and failing. It's my hope that now that you've cum while in pain, that you'll be able to better reach the same level of arousal without Amber's help. Did you feel anything that might help you?" she asked as she released the bindings.

Thebes caught Yolanda as she was released, her muscles unable to support her right away. Yolanda tried to answer her trainer. "As Amber licked me, Mistress, there was a warmth that was part of the pain. It seemed to help. But, it wasn't there until she started."

"Actually," Amber responded, speaking from her own experience, "that warmth's always there, I think. Maybe you're too focused on the pain itself and don't let yourself feel it."

"Amber's right, Yolanda. That warmth, the pleasing part of the pain, is always there. You need to seek it out, where someone like Amber always seems to be aware of it and can embrace it more easily. It'll come, Yolanda, it

will

come. We'll practice more tomorrow with Amber's help, and give you more time to feel those sensations in the pain. Eventually, we'll ease off the pleasure and let you reach for the orgasms on your own."

Yolanda looked at her trainer, worried and frightened. "Will I be able to do that, Mistress? I'm frightened of the pain." She added, her head bowed in shame.

Bressala lifted her head with a gentle touch on her chin. "Yolanda, you wouldn't be healthy if the pain didn't frighten you some. Your fear seems stronger than usual. I'm not going to have you do a pleasure free week, but I do want you to

ask

for some kind of pain from someone at least three times a day. I'll pass the word to the other trainers. You can't ask for a specific kind of pain, and must submit to whatever the person you asks wants to give you." She saw the fear in Yolanda growing, threatening to become full blown panic. Bressala took Yolanda by the shoulders. 'Stop that!" she ordered. "Trust me, Yolanda. No one's going to beat you like it was demonstration day. You'll be slapped, pinched, scratched; things like that, at least at first. When I think you're ready; only then will people do harsher things. The whole point is to overcome the fear that's in your way. I've done this before, Yolanda. Soon, you won't limit yourself to three, as it will become like a fun game. Do you understand?"