Chapter 47.4

“Master, this has got to be the weirdest flight spell I have ever heard of,” Arx said as she clutched nervously at one of the posts holding up the landing.  “Why does my gut feel like its turning over every time I move my head?  And how do I stop?”

“Look, it was Mia’s first spell, okay?” I grunted.  “It works by shifting ‘down’ to wherever it is you’re looking.  So if you want it to stop, you need to close your eyes.”

“Fantastic.  Why couldn’t you have just gotten something that works like a Bird’s Flight pill?  Those are great and don’t make your stomach flop all over the place.”

“It’s only a levitation spell,” I muttered.

In a way, it had been my first spell too, so I was a little defensive about it.  Besides, I had never heard of a pill like that, and if Mia had, she had not been forthcoming.

“He just told ye it wouldn’t if ye’d quit gawking,” Jax said, impatient as ever.

“You try finding an exact spot to hover in with nothing to steer with but your eyes!”

Jax sighed.  “Quit yer yapping.  The way ye carry on, ye’d think ye did nay like the Master’s spell.  Maybe the next time the Faen needs to get her rocks off, I’ll make the Lesser take yer place!”

Arx gasped in shock.  “You wouldn’t!”

“Just ye watch!”

“Oh, please don’t,” Lynnria groaned.  “I feel sick just thinking about the last time he cast that on me.”

“All the more reason,” Jax shot back.  “What kind of Dolilim be ye?  Bunch of poofs, says I!”

“Why don’t you do it then, if you’re so tough?”

“I be First!” Jax returned haughtily.  “Ye think I’d let some boot of a Faen pretend it’s her gash what’s plowed?”

“Ladies, please,” I groaned.  “Can we argue about this when I don’t have a giant spell-weight on my chest?”

“See?  Now yer making the Master upset,” Jax agreed—as if she had nothing to do with it.  With a mournful sigh, she turned to me.  “There be times I miss that command business ye gave up, Master.  T’would settle this in a wink.”

Arx nodded eagerly.  “Right?  But don’t you have some kind of persuasion ability now?  Can’t you… convince me to like this?”

“Oh, for the…” I groaned.

Setting aside whether I even could, why it should even be necessary was beyond me.  All of my spells were supposed to provide my Dolilim with a degree of comfort, happiness, or pleasure—if not anywhere near so intensely as did the Hammer.  Arx should not have been having trouble with this.

Did Mia screw up the spell somehow? I was going to need to ask her about that when she got back.  Why can’t anything ever be easy?

“Arx, I thought you liked being used now,” I said, straining.

“No, I like it when you feel possessive,” she clarified.  “Using me for sex is just a… related kink.”

“I think it might be a little more than that.  You literally just told me your ass was mine for the taking.  You could barely restrain yourself when I had my hand on it.”

There was a beat of silence.  “Yeah?  What does that have to do with this spell?”

“Aren’t I holding you now?” I prodded.  “But over your whole body?”

Arx began to squirm and fidget mid-air.  “Mmm~  I hadn’t thought of that…”

“Aye,” Jax agreed—whom I noticed was also beginning to fidget a little.  “Ye know, come to think on it… I ain’t never tried this spell of yer’n afore, Master.”

Huh.  I guess it was easy.  Of course, it helped that I had linked it back to sex.  Their minds were pretty much the definition of the gutter.

“Are you seriously not nauseated anymore?” Lynnria asked, flabbergasted.  “Just from that?”

“The feeling is still there,” Arx replied absently.  “But now I can’t stop thinking of his hands all over me… and it’s all turned to wings fluttering down below.”

She let out a dreamy sort of sigh and began tracing her claws over her soft, gray skin, as though carried off by a fantasy of her own devising.  I might have been carried off myself—especially once she began teasing her notably weightless breasts—were it not for the huge weight still on my shoulders.

“That’s great, Arx.  And I would absolutely love to explore that idea with you… later.  Now can we please get on with it?”

“Of course, Master…” she purred, though she still seemed reluctant to let go of the post.

Fortunately, with Lynnria’s continued guidance—and Jax holding her feet to keep her from drifting too far out of alignment—she managed to get into position in fairly short order.  We had already known approximately where she was supposed to be on the x and y axes.  Finding the z was just a matter of trial and error.

And before long, Lynnria reported a cloudy representation of the bird and its cage coming into focus.

The next part I was seriously dreading, because it required my climbing up and balancing on the railing… while maintaining the spell.  But I had at least decided to remove my boots first.  They might help in muffling my footsteps, but their stiff bottoms would be of no use on a narrow strip of wood.

Watcher’s eye… why did all the furniture have to be bolted to the floor?  This would be so much easier…

Slowly, getting a knee under me, I began lifting my bulk off the floor with a white-knuckled grip on the rail.

“How’s this?” I called hopefully.

“Um?  Not yet.  It’s better than it was, though,” Lynnria reported.

“Oh, Master…” Jax called from right below me.  If anything, she looked more terrified than I was.  “Be careful!”

“It’s only one story, Jax,” I reasoned, very much in a big-boy-trying-to-put-on-a-brave-face sort of tone.  “You’ve got the Key already.  Don’t you need to get in position?”

“But I nay can catch ye from there!” she protested.  Being completely irrational… and wholly endearing.

“And you can’t open the lock from here,” I countered.  “Now get your bahooty over there and ready so I can come down off this thing!”

She scowled at me with arms held stiffly to her sides.  “If yer referring to me backside, the word be bahoochie, ye howling melt!” she growled before taking a few cautious steps to the side.  “Now don’t ye dare fall!  I love you…”

A howling melt?  I had not been called that for quite some time.  Not that I knew what it meant beyond some sort of nebulous insult.  She must have been genuinely afraid for me, especially considering that last bit.  She did not say those words very often.

There was no need.

“I know,” I returned, smiling.  “Go on, now.  I can only hold this spell another minute or so.”

She nodded, then took a few cautious steps backward before finally turning and scurrying out of view.  I waited for a few moments while Lynnria guided her back into position then, closing my eyes, I took a long, steadying breath.  Here goes…