Nights at Newtnose

*****

Charlotte and Violet have managed to seduce and slip by the knight who guards the Reliquary, Ser Allonso. In pursuit of the book assigned to her by Professor Stanton, Charlotte strives to solve the mysterious ailment which has afflicted Angelica and Nichole.

*****

Nights at Newtnose Ch. 05

It was an old, long and thin hallway which descended in small steps. Violet walked just behind me and I looked over my shoulder to her: "How did you even get into the library?" I asked.

"Not to judge your enchanting skills," she said. "But those weren't that difficult to detect and undo."

I huffed, but I had to know. "What did I do wrong?"

"I don't think your heart was really in it."

I thought of the excitement I experienced while spreading my legs on the chair, of the warmth of my cunt mingling with my apprehensions and doubts, of whoever could have sat studying in that same chair beforehand as I fingered myself for Allonso."Don't sound so happy," I said, and she laughed.

A few moments passed as we descended. The stone walls had a faint green glow which lighted our advance. "I don't get it," I said. "You shouldn't be here. And you, well..."

"Look," she said. "I just needed some time to think. I'm worried about Angelica and Nichole, and with Stanton asking you to do all this, yeah, I think he knows

something

about it. But if he does, asking you to find the book and figure out the medium points at two possibilities: he wants your help, or he wants you entangled in it. But if he wants you entangled in it, why not just more directly do it?"

I thought for a few moments."I know he's a Professor," I said, "but I don't think he can risk me coming out with our relationship, whatever it is, if he wanted to do something more directly to me."

"But he can, right? He has a lot to lose, but not to be rude, you're just another student. We all heard the rumors about him when we got here, so you wouldn't be the first witch to say something like that."

"I think that's part of it, though," and I absentmindedly touched the rock wall beside me. It was cold, but smooth. "His reputation

does

matter, especially being connected to the Emile family."

"Wait, the Emiles?"

"Lord Emile was his patron."

"How do you know that?"

"I erm," and I paused. "He's a runemaster. I love runes. I may have read almost... everything I could about his career."

She laughed. "Well, I see your point. They're a house in decline, and they're basically riding on prestige at this point. Regardless, when I left our dorm I never really intended to abandon you. I just," and her voice trailed off.

"I'll try not to be so reckless," I said. "I should have been more careful with the parchment."

"Thank you," she said, and I wasn't sure what else to say.

"I have a mentor, of sorts," she offered. "In the historical wing. There are hundreds of portraits there just gathering dust, mostly sleeping. I asked her about Ser Allonso: as we could have guessed, it wasn't always just him in that enormous portrait. He had a partner, a woman."

"And that's who you remind him of?"

"Exactly. They had to separate them because of his little locking issue."

I laughed. "They were

fucking

too much? Can't say I'm surprised."

Thinking of Allonso, of myself and Violet in the library not even an hour ago, my pussy still ached. I felt raw, still sticky with her. I wondered if she still tasted me, like I could her.

"But what about everything else?" I asked with a rush through my chest. The air was growing damp, and I wasn't sure how far we had descended into the earth beneath Newtnose. "I, erm, look. I obviously enjoyed

whatever

it was we just did. It was new. Exciting, you know? But that wasn't new for you."

"No," she said.

"And I thought you weren't really into guys?"

"

I

certainly never said that. But I think you know what I'm into, now," and she left it at that.

Time blurred together as my mind worked over the events of the night, and eventually the steps flattened out to reveal a massive chamber lit by starlight from above, enchanted to look like the night sky. Two moons slowly orbited each other at the chamber's apex and I stopped, stunned. Violet bumped into me.

"The hells-" and she went silent. Flickering stars reflected upon a vast, black and still lake. The chamber was cool with a fresh and gentle breeze, and I couldn't see the opposite shore. As far as I could tell, there wasn't one.

"Wow," said Violet.

I heard a loud splash of water and looked to the edge of the lake nearest us. Emerged shimmering from it was a tall, muscular man. He was naked, and glowed silver with moonlight as runnels of water ran down his shoulders, between his pecs, down his lean abdomen and over a lengthy member which rolled between his legs as he stood. He turned and slowly walked to us with a casual air, his thighs by their sharp and defined muscles casting lean and flickering shadows with each contraction. Starlight was in his eyes.

I pointed my wand at him. Violet looked at me, then him, and raised her own.

"Unnecessary," he said. "My name is Ajax, and welcome to the Reliquary." He gestured widely at the grand chamber, his voice echoing throughout.

I looked briefly to the water and back to him, my wand still raised. I noticed that he was vaguely transparent, the small black pebbles of the rocky shore rippling through his feet where he stood. "What are you?" I asked.

He frowned. "Shouldn't you know?"

We stood there, roughly ten feet from each other: his arms relaxed at his sides, our own outreached with wands still ready. Silence passed between us, and he cocked his head.

"Well," he said. "I am what's left of this place. I am your guide," and he gestured again towards the lake. He rotated his palm upwards, and a large glass capsule raised silently from the water near the shore. Small droplets of water ran in beads down its arcing sides.

"Where is everything?" asked Violet as she lowered her wand. "The Reliquary is a vault, is my understanding."

"Everything, as you say, is in the lake."

Suddenly I saw what looked to be a silver chalice leap from the waters like a fish. I lowered my wand and watched as wavelets slowly made their way across the glassy water. The capsule bobbed in such a small wake, and I reckoned it could comfortably seat two, perhaps three. "So," I said, "we go into the water using

that

."

He smiled thinly. "That is typically what's done. Others have tried to no avail to summon that which they believe swims these waters. You can try, of course," and he waved his hand in the air before squatting to the ground. He turned from us and faced the lake in his squat, and gray whisps of light slowly twirled around his long fingers as they rested on his knees. "I am surprised you do not know this," he continued. "The knight does his duty well, despite his failings."

"His, erm, failings?" asked Violet.

He looked at her, then hummed and thumbed his chin. "What is your name?" he asked her.

"I'm Violet."

He nodded and stood. "You?"

I hesitated, but I thought of the agentic parchment and relented. "It's Charlotte."

His eyebrow briefly flicked upwards. "Is it now. And what do you seek?"

"A book."

He looked at me skeptically. His hair was long and thick in ghostly waves, but kept from his face by delicate golden hairpins. "And this book's name?" he asked with impatience.

"

Effigy Esoterica

."

The sudden intensity of his look was shocking. His forearms twitched and I gripped my wand in anticipation.

"That is," and he paused, looking once more to the lake. "An

old

work." He shifted his weight and crossed his arms. After several moments, he looked at me again. "Charlotte," he said, and his eyes scanned my body. "Come closer."

I stood still. Violet looked at me, then him, then prodded my lower back. "I don't think he's dangerous," she whispered.

Ajax laughed deeply, his echoes reverberant through the vast cavern. "My sincerest," he said as he uncrossed his arms. "Please forgive me. I just haven't heard that name in a very, very long time. I am curious to whom it belongs."

I eyed him sideways as I walked to the cylinder. He followed me from a distance, his eyes on me throughout. We met at the capsule and he leaned forward with his hands clasped behind his back, inspecting my face. The ghostly silver light from his body lit my features in gente relief.

"Charlotte," he nearly whispered.

"Yeah," and I wanted to step back. His clavicles were eye level to me, his shoulders broad, and his nakedness uncomfortable.

"Your

last

name," he said.

I looked at Violet again, and she nodded.

"It's Nolet."

He continued to inspect me, his eyes softening and hardening in turn. He gazed intensely into my eyes and, "Nolet," he said with a sigh. To my relief he looked away, standing straight. "Your name and features bring me to another time," he said, watching the still waters of the lake. "A better one."

We stood silently before the capsule for several long moments. "So," said Violet. "You'll help us find the book?"

He nodded at her, then tenderly touched the capsule. His look was solemn as the top of it melted away to reveal the general shape of a small, glassy boat.

"That is the task I have assumed, yes," he said. "I also assume you have permission from the knight, being here."

"But you said it was old," I said quickly. "The book. Why say that?"

He stepped into the boat and sat at its prow, his legs spread and his cock swaying in a dangle. His abdominals rippled, and despite my general unease it was difficult not to eye the well-defined, v-shaped muscles of his pelvis that lead to his groin. He placed his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. I sat at the boat's center while Violet sat behind me at the helm. It was impossible not to inspect Ajax once more: our knees nearly touched, and the faint glow across his body illuminated my robes and skin.

"Because it is," he said. He touched the sides of the boat and the vessel shimmered lightly, its hull elongating in an arc above us and sealing us within. Despite being completely encased, I still felt the breezy coolness of the lake as we slowly rocked back and forth.

"And you two are so young," he continued. "The difference is powerful, and startling. I'd ask what you want of it, but that isn't my place," and he breathed out. "No, no."

He looked at me again, then to Violet. "We shall go the center," he said. "Then we shall descend. I will bring us to the tome and you will leave the way you came. Does this make sense?"

I nodded.

"Yes," said Violet.

"Good," and the capsule slipped away from the rocky shore.

It was a few minutes of silence to what was apparently the center of the lake. The twin moons above watched us like two enormous eyes, and thousands of tiny stars glimmered upon the lake to light our advance. I watched the ripples from our craft undulate outwards and behind us: the bright and delicate light from above, the wavelets in concert to meet one another behind, it was mesmerizing. Soon, we halted.

I looked ahead of us and noticed a small, almost imperceptible rush of bubbles from somewhere deep within the waters, like the remains of an old fountain long submerged. "What's that?" I asked. "Matter of fact, what

is

all this?"

Ajax looked at his hands and picked his fingers. "This is the fountain of youth," he said calmly. "And these are it's waters."

Violet gasped. I looked over my shoulder at her, then stood slightly to better eye the tiny fountain.

"Incredible," said Violet. "Wait, you're serious, right?"

He looked at her with stony eyes. "Laughter largely leaves you after years in such a place."

"You can't be," I said. "It's just, what, sitting under Newtnose? Come on."

"The only thing you need to believe," said Ajax, "is this: under no circumstances do you drink the water."

Violet's eyes glinted. "But we'd live forever.

Everyone

could. No sickness, no death-"

He glared intensely at her. She noticed his stare and looked at her knees.

"What

life

it gives is not of what you speak," he said. "Nobody should live as those who drink."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "So people

have

drank this? Shouldn't this be studied, its magic harnessed-"

"

No

," he shouted. Violet and I rocked backward in alarm as his voice echoed harshly through the cavern. I looked at him, frightened.

"It's magic should

not

be studied," he said. "It isn't even magical, not in the sense you mean. It is older, of a nature different and before that which is taught at Newtnose, or even Bentbrows. Even older than the magic I know, though that doesn't mean much."

We rolled lightly in the lake. Violet and I were silent and still, looking at Ajax in apprehension. His soft, silver glow seemed more dangerous than before. I questioned whether we should even be in the craft with him, his unknown potential merely inches from us. Why was

he

here? Had he drank the water?

"No," he repeated softly. It was stated with a subtle sadness that lessened my apprehension. He looked at me, and the slightest look of worry was across his face. "I apologize for yelling," he said. "But years under these moons makes one," and he thought a moment, "mercurial, I suppose."

He reached his hand out and I reflexively leaned back. He turned his palm upwards, his long fingers curling slightly as he did so. "I can do you no harm, know that," and he cupped his fingers, offering me his hand.

I reached out hesitantly to take it, and after a moment, I placed my palm upon his. To my surprise, it passed softly, cooly through. I touched my fingertips together.

"As you can see," he said, "I cannot touch those who yet live. You must give me permission to do so, and I am not asking for it. But," and he clasped his hands together once more, "you must

not

drink."

"We won't," I said. "But," and I paused. "What happens if we do?"

"You will see shortly," and he brushed his right hand on the bottom of the craft.

We descended slowly. Water bubbled around us and the breeze of the chamber was replaced with a warm, humid quietude. Glimmering rough collections of gold and silver coin swirled by like schools of fish as throngs of rubies and emeralds cartwheeled above us, and a plain looking necklace made merely of dried grasses and tattered rope stuck to the bottom of the craft before careening off. Golds, reds, blues and greens in magnificent hues shimmered in the capsule from it all, rainbows of brilliance in little lights between myself and Ajax. It was beautiful.

Then a face, and an arm, and it was

someone

glowing gray clawing at the side of our craft. It was a man, then a woman, then several others in a grasping, naked crowd as we descended further. I looked at Violet and worry was across her face.

"What are they?" I asked.

"

Who

are they," said Ajax. He gestured with his large hand at the ghostly bodies that brushed against the exterior of the capsule. "Arthur Swillo, Samuel Ness, Nayra Blossom... There are many out there. All named, all once human."

Violet looked around, her brows stitched together. "Why are they-"

"They drank," he said.

I looked at the bodies as they churned around the vessel, a thickening cloud of flailing limbs and yearning faces. Why in the world had Stanton ask me to come here? To see

this

? Ghostly bodies tumbling over our craft, forgotten treasures like kelp in a tide, it all felt far, far too large.

Ajax looked at me pensively. He hadn't given Violet as much attention, and I looked him in his eyes. They glimmered silver with small flecks of gold, and he blinked.

"So," I said. "Don't drink the water."

He nodded.

He slid his hand along the top of the craft, then starboard, and we turned. We soon were gliding through a swarm of ancient books, their pages ruffling in our wake.

"How old are these?" asked Violet. "They almost look preserved."

"Hundreds of years," said Ajax. "Thousands, even. But they stay as they are within these waters. Here," and the vessel slowed. We floated before a black leather book which drifted up and down before us. Silver, spider-web thin text was printed upon its front cover, titling it.

"

Effigy Esoterica

," I said.

"Your quarry," said Ajax. "Now, it is you, Charlotte, who asks for this?"

"Yeah," I said.

"To take it, simply reach through this vessel. Then we return, and you two return."

The craft crept sideways to the book. Eye level with it in my seat, I touched the glass. It was startlingly warm.

"Push your hand, yes, like that," and he pressed his left palm to the glass. "Then simply reach. You will be able to hold it."

I pressed my palm through the side of the vessel and it formed a thin, flexible film around my wrist and arm. "It's almost hot," I said. I flexed my hand and the glass followed suit.

"Do not play," he commanded. "Retrieve it, and we leave."

I grasped the book. It was small and light, entirely out of proportion to everything I had to do to get the damned thing. I brought it into the vessel and set it in my lap. It was curiously dry and smaller still, almost like a diary. I stared at it as if it would vanish.

As I inspected the small book, I heard a sharp snap and looked above: a massive crack split erratically along the top of the capsule.

"Girl!" said Ajax. He made to grab my shoulders, looking from me to the crack, but they passed harmlessly through my body. "Did you have

permission

?" His eyes were thin in anger, then wide in concern.

My mouth hung open wordlessly. Water trickled through the crack and I stared at him.

"Did you have permission?" he yelled again.

The crack split wider, and streams of water shot into the capsule. I covered my head with the book and closed my eyes.

He yelled in frustration as more cracks formed aside and beneath us. "I should let you drown," he said with fury. He looked at Violet and then me, paused, and looked underneath us.

"Give me permission to touch you," he commanded.

We were silent. Water poured over our heads, heavy and hot.

"

Give me your permission

-"

"You can," said Violet, her arms together over her head.

"Yes," I squeaked.

"Keep tight your mouths. Clasp your noses shut-"

The hull above us split, and we were engulfed in a massive wave of water. My robes swirled around me as I fell over onto Violet who flailed. She kicked my lower back, I pinched my nose as hard as I could, sealed my lips tight, and the vessel cracked open completely.

As I rolled blindly in the rush of water, two large arms hefted me. I opened my eyes and Ajax was clutching me, then he was reaching for Violet and grasping her as well.

"Hold to me," came clear his deep voice. I wrapped my arm around his torso and pressed my head into the sharp bones of pelvis. Violet's eyes were shut tight as she gripped Ajax's waistline.

He swam us down, and down, and the watchful moons above slowly shrank through the terribly clear water as we descended. He kicked violently and churned his arms ahead of him. A sharp pressure built in my eardrums and my head felt tight, my eyes hurt, and my chest started to heave. My heart raced thickly in my chest, and I desperately wanted to breathe.

Thump thump thump

went my heart as my head swam and my neck tightened. We descended rapidly and I pressed my forehead into Ajax's waist to distract from that terrible feeling of breathlessness.

Don't open your mouth, don't open your mouth, don't open-

Just as I made to breathe, we burst through the bottom of the lake. We fell through cool air, crashed to a sharp and hard stone floor and I cried out. Violet crumpled heavily on top of me, squirmed around and I gasped. I opened my eyes and flickers of light left ghostrails in my vision as I looked around.