Magic Mischief and Money

Authors Note: After some advice, I've made some changes to this chapter, which I've nicknamed The Return Of The Giant Dongs. This may not be my best work because I've been pretty sick lately but the next chapter will be a must read for fans of giant dicks and gangbangs.

I'm also considering writing a bonus chapter about Denzik and Ral, the dwarven barmaid. If anyone would like to read that either comment or send me a message.

As always, I appreciate any feedback I get.

*****

Stacks of dusty paper and books surrounded Anikara and Denzik, and only spiders watched them from the tops of the shelves and tables that they rested on. As her tired eyes drifted across the paper in front of her, Anikara was reminded of her time at the Mages College. She had spent almost five years there looking through papers even older than these ones, only to finally leave and spend the next few years trying to get herself noticed in the magic community.

She shook her head, chasing away those thoughts. She had her chance now and she was going to take it. She had already started on her initial report on Denzik's magic crystal and the man himself was another mystery to solve.

"What's up? Did you find something?" Denzik asked, his head poking up from behind a pile of books on the proper maintenance of copper smelters.

"No. And I still don't get why we're looking in a library for bandits, wouldn't we do better searching the town and the area around it?" Anikara replied, blowing a strand of hair from in front of her face.

"Normally, yes. But Orthar already said that they had searched around the area. And that leaves only one option: The bandits are hiding inside of the town itself. The only question is where, which is why we're looking for the old town maps and plans."

For a few minutes they kept searching, until Anikara said triumphantly, "Looks like I found something."

Denzik grinned at her, walking behind her to look at what she had found. He saw that it was a collection of maps from throughout the town's long history, including maps of the mines.

"Perfect!" He exclaimed, giving her backside a playful squeeze. Ignoring her blush, he kept reading the plans over her shoulder. Occasionally turning the pages, the two looked over the aged parchment for several minutes, before Denzik let out another cry of realisation.

Chuckling to himself, he said, "I should have realised sooner. Anyway, it looks like we're done here." With that he walked out of the small library, with the elf close at his heels.

"Wait, what did you realise? I'm still lost here," She said, her confusion written on her face.

"Oh, just a little something about this town's history," He said, sounding very proud of his discovery. "Did you know that this town and its copper mine has been around for over 500 years? And originally, the cliff was much closer to the industrial area. Actually it was right next to it."

"Over the past five centuries, the mine has been dug out and the cliff has moved back further and further. But there are still tunnels and caves under where the cliff used to be. I believe that the gang is using the old mine tunnels under the town itself to get around and hide in. Also, that would explain why no one has been able to find them: almost no one even remembers that they exist these days."

"Okay, but how will we get into the tunnels?" Anikara asked, clearly sounding impressed by his detective work.

"That's the easy part, there are entrances all over town. Hell, there's one right there," Denzik replied, pointing to a square slab of stone that fitted snugly into a recessed slot on the side of the road.

"The real problem is that the tunnels are absolutely massive. Over a hundred kilometers of abandoned caves and mines, complete with underground rivers and lakes. There are even supposed to be monsters living in the deepest parts and we have no idea where the bandits are hiding," he said, with a troubled look in his eyes.

The elf hesitated for a few moments, before blurting out, "I-I might be able to help find them."

Denzik raised an eyebrow at her sudden statement, indicating for her to continue.

Anikara squirmed under his gaze, saying quietly, "Well, I'm... an Earth Mage."

Hearing that, Denzik let out a long "Ah" of realisation. It was a well known fact that most elves detested earth magic, viewing it as being dirty and more crude than other magics. The elvish nobles in particular disliked it, sometimes going so far as banning their families from using it.

"That explains why you don't want to go back to the mages academy. So can you use it to detect people?" He asked cautiously.

"Not above ground, too many distractions. If I'm underground I can, but not very accurately. I can probably get within a hundred meters of them though," the mage said with no small amount of resentment.

Denzik smiled at her, reassuring her, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with using earth magic. So how powerful are you exactly? If you can use it for detection like that then you must be pretty good."

Anikara smiled sheepishly and almost walked into a wall, not noticing that they had arrived back at the wagon. Scowling, she said, "I came second in my year group overall and first in combat magic. But because I used earth magic and most people at the academy are elves, I ended up working in the archives."

"That's ... unfortunate," Denzik agreed, digging through a chest full of vials, bandages, scrolls and other gear. After throwing a few things into the pockets on the inside of his cloak, he moved to a very peculiar chest, covered in iron with brass symbols and seals all over it. Moving his hand in a bewildering pattern, he unlocked it and began rummaging through a huge collection of weapons, asking, "Want anything? I've got swords, axes, daggers, spears, clubs and whips. Lots of whips actually."

Looking at them, Anikara noticed one that stood out from the rest. She picked up a heavy, curved sword, with a blade made from steel and a handle wrapped in a purple leather like substance. It had a silver gilded cross piece and pommel. The weapon was covered in gems and markings associated with earth magic and was clearly exceptionally valuable.

"Nice," her human companion said, pocketing a plain dagger, "I picked that up from a trolls cave about two years ago. It's called a scimitar, and I'm pretty sure that it was made by the mountain folk across the East Ocean."

Anikara took a few practice swings with the weapon, liking the balance and power behind it. Despite her very petite body, she was not unfit and her training at the academy had left her in great shape. She had worked hard to maintain her strength and it had payed off on many occasions. The weapon definitely had earth based magics that it could be used in conjunction with, but she would have to practice a bit more before she could start to use them.

"Ready to go?" Denzik asked, tossing her a sheath and belt to hold the weapon.

Anikara nodded in response, fixing her new gear in place, and Denzik walked just across the road to the nearest entrance to the tunnels. The block of stone was extremely heavy, but using the recessed handholds carved into the sides, Denzik was easily able to heave it out of the way. Lowering himself down the metal rungs into the darkness, he quickly disappeared from view and the elf was soon following him.

They climbed for quite some time and soon only a small square of light was visible far above them. Hearing Denzik grunt as his feet hit the ground, Anikara stepped lightly down next to him, squinting to make out his face in the gloom. Just as she was about to say something, a brilliant light temporarily blinded the mage and she cried out and covered her eyes.

"Apologies, I suppose I could have warned you," her human companion replied to her discomfort.

Ignoring him, Anikara looked closer at the light, now appearing as a glowing orb wrapped in gold wire. It floated above Denzik's head and seemed to bob up and down.

"So, do you think that you can find our bandits from here?" he asked expectantly.

Anikara frowned, preparing herself, saying, "I think so, but it might take a while."

Holding her palms outwards from her body she focussed on the hard grey rock around her. She looked beyond the obvious, seeing the flecks of green and black that covered the walls, the cracks and crevices that drank in the magical light. She heard the drip and far off rush of flowing water, as well as the faint cry of a bat. Using her spreading magic, she felt the earth, spreading out around her. The differing hardness of rock and sand, as well as the rush of movement that an underground river brought, the furious digging of moles, worms and bugs, the sheer perfection and beauty of the gemstones, all was known to her. That knowing spread further and further until she found what she searched for.

Suddenly, her body slumped and she fell forward, and as usual Denzik was there to catch her. She lay against him for a few moments, catching her breath until she rose back to her feet.

"About two kilometers that way," She said, pointing and panting. She had used a technique of magical navigation to leave a temporary marker in her mind in the location she had discovered. "I think about twenty people. I'll lead the way."

Nodding, Denzik followed after her. She soon got her breath back and they began moving down the tunnel at a steady pace. They came to a crossing of sorts and they confidently took the right hand path. Things continued like this for sometime, the two walking along is a content silence, until Denzik broke it.

"There's something I wanted to ask you privately and this is looking like the best time to do it. If you don't want to tell me I'll understand, but who exactly are you? You seem too refined to be a regular mage and your name indicates that you're from somewhere higher in society," he said, apprehensive about her response.

Anikara thought to herself in silence for a while before answering, "I am Anikara Va'Eterna, fifth child and third daughter of the Va'Eterna high noble family."

She was glad that she had told him, if only to see the look of shock on the man's face for a moment. He recovered soon enough though and said, "The Va'Eternas are one of the five high ruling families of the kingdom. They're second only to the royal family. So you're almost royalty?"

"Yes," She said simply. "Which is why I would appreciate it if you don't tell anyone. It's hard to get anything done when everyone is bowing at your every word."

"Sure," he said, shrugging. "But if you wouldn't mind, will you tell me how a lady such as yourself ended up walking through an abandoned mine with a male prostitute hunting a group of bandits?"

Figuring that it couldn't hurt, she started telling him her story, or most of it, to pass the time.

"I guess that I should start from the beginning. I was brought up pampered and doted on, taught all of the skills I needed to become a good little noble. When I was twelve my parents started trying to find me a husband for once I turned eighteen. Unfortunately, there was only one thing that made this difficult: my personality. Not a single man, no matter how desperate for power and wealth he was, would dare marry me. If anything I was more stubborn then than I am now."

"So after a while my family realised that it was pointless to try and marry me off, especially since they still needed my agreement to make the marriage work. When I turned sixteen I was given money and sent to the mages academy. I suppose that my family thought that I would become a priestess or a librarian, but I refused to do what they wanted. The rest is pretty simple, I finished my studies and decided to explore the world, try to find my fortune and all that."

"So what about you?" she asked after she finished talking.

"What about me?"

"What's your story? You can start by telling me your last name."

"My last name is Gursa," Denzik said. "I am the son of a carpenter in a kingdom to the west. My mother died in childbirth and when I was twelve a civil war started. Myself and a few others managed to escape to this land when I was about seventeen. It wasn't long after that that I woke up in a crater and travelled to find the Northern Monks. The rest is history."

Content with his answer, Anikara allowed the rest of the journey to be completed in silence. As she felt that they were approaching her marker, she realised that something was wrong.

Denzik shifted his stance, suddenly looking ready for trouble, confirming Anikaras fears, "So you noticed too?"

The woman nodded and pulled her sword from its sheath. As she did so lights flared up around them, dancing flames chasing away shadows, revealing something much more terrifying. A group of people, mostly men surrounded them, all dressed in matching black robes and weilding an assortment of weapons.

One man, a human with messy black hair and a deep scar across his nose, was obviously the leader. He stood at the front of the group and said in a very menacing tone, "So you're the two who've been snoopin' around after me and the gang. Well, that's the last mistake that you'll ever make. Get them!"

Those words were all the warning that the pair received before the gang attacked. The first man, armed with a spear, rushed Denzik, jabbing at him with with a thrust with all of his weight behind it. Denzik swayed to the side as he saw it coming, pushing the man into one of the other gang members as he stumbled past. As soon as he did so, a sword swung for his neck and he barely ducked under it, spinning around and punching the new attacker in the stomach. As soon as he was dispatched, another one took his place, but despite their numbers Denzik was facing them with apparent ease.

Anikara kept him in view out of the corner of her eye, while she fought her own battle. She had trained in swordplay at the Academy and she had been in her fair share of scuffles since, but she had never been so outnumbered before. Still, her training took over as soon as the first sword wielding dwarf decided to take a sloppy swipe at her. She parried it easily and countered with her own slash across his chest, causing him to fall back in pain. Another one tried sneaking up behind her and splitting her skull with an axe, but she noticed him and drove the pommel of her weapon into his chest, cracking bone. Her initial shock wearing off she realised that these thugs were very unskilled. As long as she and Denzik kept fighting back to back like this they had nothing to worry about.

The enemy kept coming and the duo kept fighting, until only a few remained, all of which were suddenly looking a lot less confident in the face of the sword wielding elf and bare handed man before them. That was until a pair of hands materialised from thin air and grabbed Anikara.

The leader, now sporting a triumphant grin was holding a knife to the mage's throat. She looked terrifiedl, but Denzik kept an expression of calm on his face.

"So you have yourself a hostage. Before you make any demands though, there is something I-" Denzik managed to say before he was cut short.

"Shut up!" The leader shouted with anger at his nonchalance. "I'm the one with the hostage, make a move and she's dead! Now put your hands behind your hea-"

In turn, the leader was shut up as Anikara flicked her wrist and a pillar of rock burst from the cave wall and struck the leader in the temple. His eyes rolled back, he dropped his knife and he collapsed on the floor, leaving his men to slowly lower their own weapons in surrender.

"If you would have let me finish," Denzik said. "I would have warned you against taking an earth mage prisoner in a tunnel surrounded by thousands of tonnes of rock."

*

A while later the bandits were all locked up inside of the prison next to the barracks in Copper Cliff. Denzik and Anikara were being asked exactly where they could find the base of the bandits, as well as some other questions.

"Alright, I think that should be it," the overweight, red nosed guard captain said with a trace of disdain.

"Aw, and here I thought that we were friends," grinned Denzik. When he saw that his humour wasn't appreciated he said in a serious tone, "One thing before I go. Unless you want your new prisoners to be gone by morning you might want to lock up their friend over there. The guard with the red hair, blue cloak and a pocket full of stolen coins."

The guard in question bolted as soon as Denzik mentioned him, but was soon caught by his former comrades. As they turned out his pockets and he starting stammering excuses, the guard captain handed Denzik a bag of cash and as an afterthought he handed him another few coins.

"Pleasure to be of assistance," the tall man said with a slight bow, turning on the spot and walking out of the building with his elven companion in tow.

Anikara was more than a little stunned by Denzik's fighting ability, not to mention his discovery of the turncoat in the guards, but she was even more shocked by his next words.

"Nice job with the leader, I was a bit worried there for a moment," he complimented her.

Blushing at his acknowledgment of her, she replied hastily, "It was nothing, I'm sure you had it handled."

"Don't discredit yourself, you kept your cool in a fight where you were outnumbered ten to one, then managed to turn the tables on a man who had a knife to your throat. You're already an impressive mage and you're only just starting to realise your potential. I'm looking forward to seeing how much you'll improve."

Changing the topic, Anikara asked where they were going now.

"That's up to you. I'm not going to start working for another few hours so I'm going back into the tunnels. I'm thinking of trying to find the underground lake there, supposedly the water is wonderful for skin and it's the perfect swimming spot. You can come with me if you want," he said distractedly.

Considering the implications of being alone, missing much of her clothing and in close proximity with Denzik, Anikara was quick to agree.

Soon enough, they were back underground, walking together in the light of Denzik's floating crystal. This time Denzik seemed capable of finding their goal on his own and without the bandits to worry about the pair were soon chatting away.

"So what kinds of girls came to see you last night?" Anikara asked.

"All kinds; a few younger single women just looking for a good time, an older, newly divorced woman, the barmaid, Ral, as well as just the usual drunk and lonely girls who want a guy to hold them, fuck them and tell them how amazing they are. People always seem a bit shocked when I tell them that women have much the same sexual needs as men," he explained.

Anikara was interested by that. Of course she already knew that she thoroughly enjoyed sex, but she had never considered that a lot of other girls did, too.

"So do all women ask for the same thing?" She inquired.

"Not at all, in fact, almost no two customers are the same," he said in a knowing voice. "Some women like to be on top, others the bottom. Some like oral, others don't. Almost all have preferences for positions. And of course they all have different bodies, each with different pressure points, sensitivities and limits. But that being said, you can group them into different categories."

"Easiest way to group people in terms of sex is by race. It's not one hundred percent accurate, but four out of five times it is. Dwarves are into group sex and orgies, Orcs like very rough sex, Demons love power play, humans like incest and taboo topics, while as you know doubt already know, elves enjoy anal and oral sex far more than other races."

"I have another question, about the bandits. How did you know about the turncoat in the guards?" she asked him with a curious look.