This story is the sole property of the author. It may be downloaded for private use, but may not be distributed for profit or posted to newsgroups or other websites without the author's permission.

Sorcerers Apprentice, part 1.
Written by Lensman.

This story is fictional, all characters and events depicted within are fictional and any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.

I have one unbreakable rule (to paraphrase Isaac Azimov):
I may not harm a Little Girl, or through inaction allow a Little Girl to come to harm.

Keep these fantasies where they belong; in your head.

Story Codes: (Fantasy, M(16)g(8), Cons, Pedo)

Story Intro:
Olwyn, a sorcerers apprentice, is sent on a quest to get a vital component, but the adventure does not go quite as expected.

Chapter 1, The golden acorns.

An angry voice came drifting up the stairwell, "Olwyn... Where are you boy?... Get down here at once!"
His masters' voice, Olwyn looked up from the book he was reading with a guilty start. He was supposed to be cleaning the cellar, but instead he had sneaked into his masters' room and was trying hard to read one of his lesser spell books.

Olwyn pelted from the room, in his haste knocking over the stool he had been sat on, and hurried down the curving staircase, across the hall and into the laboratory, skidding to a halt in front of his master.
Master Jaklin stood there, an imposing figure, lightly tapping his foot with impatience. He was dressed in a fine but plain grey work robe, his tousled grey hair was in disarray and his long beard was tangled. The knuckles of his hand were white where he gripped his walking staff and his face was like thunder as he stared at Olwyn.

Olwyn stood waiting for the lightning, hoping it would not be literal. He was dressed in the traditional brown apprentice robes, unfortunately they were covered in dust and spiders' webs from where he had started to clean the cellar before being drawn away by his dreams of magic. His raven dark hair was shorn close to the sides and back of his head but the top had been left as a lank, unruly mop. His face was handsome but gaunt and angular with high cheekbones and a prominent jaw line. His body was filling in and firming up due to the proper food and plenty of work he'd had since he'd left the orphanage to become an apprentice, but still he looked thin and undernourished making him look younger than his nearly sixteen years of age.

"How many times do I need to tell you boy?" Master Jaklin said forcefully, "carefully collect the spiders' webs for spell components before cleaning!" He then plucked some of the web from Olwyn's robe and carefully spoke the arcane words and made the mystic gestures of spell casting.
Olwyn was suddenly encased in a bundle of long and sticky fibres, bound tightly from floor to shoulders. He struggled briefly but was unable to move.
"Maybe I should leave you like that," Master Jaklin said contemplatively stroking his beard, "it might aid your memory in future..." He thought briefly before continuing, "No, I have a greater task for you," he waved his hands in a gesture of dismissal and the webbing magically dissolved and vanished until nothing remained.

Master Jaklin turned from Olwyn and slowly walked deeper into the large laboratory. Olwyn carefully followed his master past the tables filled with a multitude of strange equipment, strangely shaped glass bottles and jars filled with various bubbling liquids and hissing gasses.
"Olwyn," Master Jaklin said, "I have reached a critical stage in my studies, and yet..."
Olwyn knew enough to keep silent.
"And yet," Master Jaklin continued, "I find my self missing an important element..." he paused and rapidly spun to face Olwyn causing him to jump in shock.
"I am missing a vital component, but I am not able to leave here at this time. That is where you come in."

"M - Me master?" Olwyn stammered.
"Yes Olwyn, you," Master Jaklin placed a fatherly hand on Olwyn's shoulder as he continued, "I know you have studied hard, even when you should have been doing something else, and I know you have mastered some small spells. I would like you to go on a small adventure..." His eyes glittered with some inner amusement as he explained, "I need you to go to the centre of the North wood and get the golden acorns from the golden oak."
"B - But how master? And what golden oak?" Olwyn interrupted.
"You will know the tree when you see it," Jaklin smiled, "but be warned, that tree is very old and very wise and without doubt it will require something from you before it will give you the acorns."
"A tree master?" Olwyn asked, looking sceptical, "what would a tree want from me?"
"You won't know that until it tells you," Jaklin said seriously, "and be assured it will let you know when you find it. Now go and get ready, you leave at sunrise."

The next morning, bright and early, Olwyn set off from Master Jaklin's tower. It didn't look like a tower, more like a rambling old manor house, but as all wizards had a tower, it was a tower by definition.
Olwyn was well prepared for his little adventure, well... as prepared as he could be. He was wearing brown denim breaches, a white cotton shirt under a light tan jacket and a hooded cloak, in apprentice brown of course. He was also carrying his rucksack filled with the provisions he would need for his little adventure. Trail rations, cooking utensils, a coiled rope, a rolled tarpaulin, all the gear he thought he would need. He had even managed to sneak in there one of Master Jaklin's healing potions.

Olwyn walked until midday before he reached the village of Muraford. It was a small village spread around the bridge that crossed the river Mura. On the near side of the river there were a small number of houses and shops, and on the far side there was the "Hunting Horn" inn, the blacksmith's forge and his stables.
Olwyn crossed the stone bridge and nervously entered the inn; he had never been in one alone before. As soon as he stepped in through the door the general hubbub and noise suddenly stopped. The room was quiet as Olwyn found an empty table and dropped his pack and sat down with a weary sigh.

A pleasant faced buxom young serving wench walked jauntily up to Olwyn's table and asked, "What'll it be traveller?"
Olwyn looked at her and smiled, "What can you recommend for lunch?"
The noise level in the room returned to normal as the serving girl advised Olwyn, "The beef and mutton stew is very good..."
"Ok," Olwyn said hungrily as his stomach growled, "could I have a bowl of stew and a beer please."
After only a short wait the serving girl returned with his meal. She had been right; the stew was good, as was the crusty bread and the beer. Unfortunately Olwyn was not used to it and the beer went straight to his head.

After his meal and short rest Olwyn headed out of the village, continuing on the road that followed the river north. As the afternoon progressed Olwyn found he was getting more and more sleepy, his pace slowed so much that instead of arriving at the southern edge of the North wood by mid-afternoon it was sunset when he finally reached it.
He stepped off the road and entered the wood only a short distance before stopping to set-up camp. He strung his rope between two trees and made his shelter to mask his camp from the road, it was prudent to not advertise your presence to bandits, he reminded himself. After preparing and eating a light supper from his provisions he rolled himself into his cloak and slept.

+ + + + +

A loud crack of thunder sounded as Jen woke from her fitful slumber. She had been dreaming again... this time of a man...well a boy really but, as always happened with these dreams, when she woke the dream slipped through her fingers like water until she could not remember what it was about, only a feeling of loss.
Jen looked about her nest, one of many she had scattered about the city, and checked for what had woken her. The thunder was not enough, the rain earlier had forced her into this particular hideout high in the eaves of one of the multitude of churches in the city, but thunder had been rumbling around outside for hours so what had woken her, then she spotted it. Sitting on a roof truss, almost invisible in the dark, was a large black cat; it appeared to be looking at her. Jen whispered at it, "Cat, you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone, Ok?" Getting no answer or movement from the cat, Jen nodded once and curled herself up once more in her tatty blankets, reached beneath her tunic and held onto her pendant tightly as she fell asleep again.

The cat continued to watch the sleeping form of the girl snuggled into the nest of blankets, until a movement it spotted near the inner wall diverted its attention. Poking out of a hole between two of the bricks in the wall was the head and body of a large black rat. The cat moved quickly but silently, it jumped from beam to beam until it was almost over the rat and watched as the rat crawled out of the hole and began to scrabble over the floor towards the sleeping girl.
When the rat was about half way across the floor the cat pounced, it landed directly on the rat and with a deft bite to the back of the neck and a sharp twist it cleanly and efficiently killed it. Then the cat then dragged the rat's body to a back corner and began to dispose of it.

+ + + + +

In a distant part of the city, at the top of a tall tower, in a room shrouded in darkness, lit only by the sputtering flames of two black candles, there crouched a hooded figure. The figure stood poised as still as a statue, its hooded robe the colour of freshly spilt blood. The figure was staring into the depths of a large crystal ball that stood in a gold frame on a darkly stained wooden table.

Suddenly the figure arched its back and let out a blood-curdling scream, a mixture of excruciating pain and anger "Aaaaggghh!!".
"That bitch!" it shouted in a low grating voice. The figure then stalked from the table to a door hidden in the shadows and jerked it open letting in a flood of light. After a few moments the figure returned and slammed the door behind it. The figure carried the struggling form of a rat in its pallid hands and dropped it on the table. As the rat attempted to make its escape the figure grated a single syllable that froze the rat in its tracks. The figure pulled a small vial from its voluminous robes and poured a small quantity down the rats' throat. The effect was immediate, the rat began to thrash and squirm as it grew in size and darkened in colour, until finally a very large black rat stood on the table staring defiantly at the hooded figure and hissed.
The figure spoke a string of mystic syllables then, using a small silver blade, cut its thumb and dripped five drops of blood into the rats' mouth.
When the bonding was done and the rat was scurrying away to do its new masters bidding the figure said, "Let's see that bitch kill THIS spy!"

+ + + + +

Olwyn awoke feeling uneasy; he listened intently but could hear nothing out of the ordinary from the darkened forest. Suddenly he heard the crack of a twig snapping, loud in the still night air. As quietly as he could Olwyn rolled out of his cloak and moved away from the camp, stopping on the other side of one of the trees.
The fire had long since slumped down to embers, but it still gave just enough light to show when two cloaked figures rounded the shelter from both ends prepared to rob or possibly kill him.
Olwyn stood in the shadow of the tree as the figures stopped, one of them muttered, "'ere, 'e's gone!" The other replied, "Well, get 'is stuff then."
As the two bandits reached for his pack Olwyn quietly whispered the incantation to make them sleep. They both fell like stones to the ground, out cold, and Olwyn quickly nipped back into his camp to pack up his gear and then quickly but quietly moved away from the area.
After a few more hours of travel, when he felt sure he would be far enough away, Olwyn set up his shelter again and crawled into it exhausted.

+ + + + +

Jen woke again just after sunrise, she yawned and stretched with lithe catlike grace. As she did so her tatty blankets slipped from around her shoulders to puddle at her feet. Her shift-like dress was holed and torn in various places and through those holes could be seen a skinny body that looked only just short of starvation. The arms and legs that showed were thin but wiry, there was not an ounce of fat to be seen anywhere on her body.
She had a thin, almost gaunt, fine boned face framed by a mass of dark almost black hair and her almond shaped eyes were a dark liquid brown.
Jen appeared to be a girl of eight or nine years but her slim physique could make her look younger than she was. She was unsure of her true age, all she could remember for certain was that she had been living on the streets for the last five summers.

She quickly dressed in slightly less ragged clothing and thought to herself, "Time to get another change of clothes."
After dressing she bundled the blankets and clothing together and pushed them into a corner behind one of the roof beams where they would not be found too easily. After hiding her presence there she quickly and quietly climbed through the gap between the roof and the top of the wall, and then lightly scrambled across to the drainpipe and nimbly clambered down to the ground.
She darted from shadow to shadow across the church gardens to the back wall and was up and over without anyone noticing, except for the black cat that was sat sunning itself on the garden shed roof.

+ + + + +

Olwyn woke refreshed and rested, he yawned as he crawled out of his shelter and set about preparing some breakfast. As he looked about he realised the sun was hours beyond sunrise, "Damn," he muttered, he had slept most of the morning away.
He hastily ate, and then broke camp and carefully put away all his gear. As he continued his trek to the centre of the wood he had a nagging feeling that someone was watching him.

By mid-afternoon Olwyn was sure he was lost. Eventually, after trudging round the forest for hours, Olwyn stumbled into a small clearing, at the centre of which was a tall majestic oak tree. As the evening sunlight illuminated the tree Olwyn stared transfixed, he had never seen such a magnificent sight.
As he stepped into the clearing Olwyn remembered what Master Jaklin had said, "The tree is very old, so be polite and very courteous."
He approached the oak cautiously, was this the right tree or not? Olwyn took a closer look. The bark of this tree was a lighter shade than the others in the wood, almost yellow, but there didn't appear to be any growths of fungus or moss on it, and the grass of the clearing was free of growth too.

Olwyn decided that it must be the right tree but was unsure how to get the acorns...
He unpacked his tarpaulin and laid it flat near the trunk then unrolled his cloak and sat looking at the tree. He pondered his options and having nothing better to try he cleared his throat then spoke loudly and clearly, "Oh majestic oak, please pardon my intrusion but I crave a boon that only you have the power to grant," then he sat and waited.

And waited...

After Olwyn tried his plea for the third time there was a rustle from the opposite side of the tree trunk, then a lilting voice called out, "Why do you talk to the trees?"
Olwyn was startled and called, "Who's there?"
Out from around the trunk stepped a young girl, she appeared to be around eight years old, was dressed in a light brown shift, had emerald green eyes in an elfin face and her hair was the colour of honey. "I'm Delia," she said in a lilting musical voice, "why are you talking to the trees?"
Olwyn smiled and replied, "I have heard that the golden oak is a very old and wise tree and I have been sent by my master to retrieve something from it." Olwyn wasn't sure why he had just said all that but he felt he could trust her.
Delia tipped her head to one side and watched Olwyn curiously, "What do you seek?" she smiled. The smile lit up her face making her even more beautiful, Olwyn began to get aroused. He had never thought of young girls as sexy before, but this one could arouse the dead.

Olwyn smiled, entranced by her beauty, and said, "I have been sent to obtain the Golden Acorns from the Golden Oak."
Delia continued smiling at Olwyn and asked, "Who sent you on this quest?"
"My master," Olwyn replied enchanted, "Master Jaklin."
Delia leant back against the trunk and suddenly stopped smiling, "So, the old grouse is still around is he," she pondered.
As Delia stopped smiling Olwyn roused from his fascination and he realised, much to his chagrin, that he had somehow been Enchanted by her and was determined to not let it happen again. How had she done it? He had not seen her cast any spells...

Delia smiled at Olwyn again, he felt himself falling again but fought it. He quickly looked down at her body instead. She said, "Well, if you want the acorns you will have to earn them."
As she said this her dress changed, it became a light leaf green and gossamer thin, Olwyn could easily see her young naked body through the thinning material.
"If you want my seeds," Delia said still smiling at Olwyn, "then you will have to trade yours!"
"What?" Olwyn exclaimed and inadvertently looked Delia in the face. Luckily she had given up trying to enspell him and was just smiling, using her natural beauty and charm.
"A simple trade," she repeated, "your seed for mine..."

Olwyn realised with a start how she had managed to charm him. She was the nymph of the tree - a Dryad.
"W - What do you mean my seed?" Olwyn stammered nervously guessing what she meant and blushing.
Delia grinned and said, "Let me show you." She knelt in front of Olwyn and leant over his lap and began to unbutton his breeches. With only a little help Delia soon had him lying on the cloak in just his underclothes.
As Delia reached to remove his last garment of clothing Olwyn protested, "What are you doing?"
She continued removing Olwyn's underclothes smiled at him as she answered, "I'm going to take your seed... I promise you will like it!"
When he was finally naked Delia knelt between Olwyn's spread knees began to gently stroke and fondle his currently flaccid member.

Olwyn leant back on his arms, understanding what she was after at last but nervously willing for her to continue, and watched Delia as she quickly brought his cock to it's fully erect six inches. He was pleasantly surprised when she then bent down and quickly engulfed the head of his cock with her mouth.
He had never felt anything so good in his life before, he had masturbated but had always felt guilty afterwards so hadn't done it often. He felt Delia gently sucking on the head of his cock while she continued to stroke and play with his shaft and balls, then she started bobbing her head up and down as she sucked and probed at the head with her tongue.
Olwyn was in heaven, he watched as Delia's lips tightly surrounded his shaft and slid up and down it. He felt her tongue playing with his cock head inside her mouth, rubbing against the underside and probing the small slit at the end.
He felt himself approaching his climax much too fast, he wanted to make this feeling last but he could do nothing to stop it. Then, like an explosion of pleasure going off in his body, Olwyn came. He squirted three, four, five times into Delia's still sucking mouth and collapsed back to the ground panting as she continued to gently suck and swallow until he was soft once more.

After he had recovered a little, Olwyn sat up and looked at Delia in awe, "I've never felt anything like that!" he exclaimed as he stared at her totally naked body.
Her chest was mostly flat and undeveloped, there was only the slight swelling under the darker spots of her small nipples. Her stomach protruded slightly, as if she retained some of her baby fat, and she had a deep innie belly button. Tightly squeezed between her lithe thighs were the plump hairless lips of her pussy, although Olwyn couldn't see much due to Delia's kneeling position.

Olwyn had just experienced the best feeling of his entire life and felt that it was only fair to return the favour. He reached for Delia's arm and pulled her over to lie next to him.
Olwyn looked into Delia's limpid eyes and gently asked, "May I please you like that?"
Delia was surprised by his request, in all her centuries of life no one had ever thought to please her, she smiled eagerly and nodded.
Although he had never done this before, Olwyn knew kissing was supposed to be a big part of "Making Love" so he just did what felt right. He leant over Delia and gently kissed her pouting mouth, then moved and kissed his way down her throat to her chest. As he dragged his lips over her chest Olwyn accidentally brushed over one of her nipples and Delia gasped at the sensation.
Olwyn knew a gasp of pleasure when he heard one, so he quickly moved back and began to gently kiss and then suck on Delia's nipples. First one and then the other, nibbling back and forth until they both were hard little nubbins, while Delia moaned her pleasure.

Remembering his original objective Olwyn restarted his trek, kissing his way down her body. He gave her bellybutton a quick lick in passing and stopped just short of her pussy mound.
Delia spread her legs wide in anticipation of Olwyn's attentions but Olwyn just stared at the most perfect sight he had ever seen.
When Delia had spread her legs her pussy lips had opened slightly revealing the small thin inner lips and the hood partially covering her clit, between the inner lips her small vagina led into her body. As he watched, Olwyn saw the clit getting larger and then a small drop of liquid formed at the base of her hole.
As he stared, Olwyn breathed in the heady aroma of Delia's arousal. He was unsure of what to do exactly but the smell was driving him wild with desire. Tentatively at first he dipped his head and swiped his tongue up the outside of her plump lips. It didn't taste bad, in fact it hardly tasted at all, and from the gasp Delia gave it sounded like she liked it so he did it again, and again.

Soon Olwyn was lapping and sucking on Delia's bald little quim like a man possessed, he couldn't get enough of the now wonderfully sweet flavour and the loud gasps, moans and groans that Delia was making told him that he must be doing something right. He lapped from her anus to the top of her slit and began strumming her clit vigorously. He tried to stick his tongue as far into her as he could reach. As he tongue fucked her hole he would strum her clit with his thumb. As he sucked on her clit he pumped his fingers into her hole. He constantly varied his technique so Delia wouldn't get used to the stimulation, and he kept going feeling Delia's pleasure getting higher and higher, growing stronger and stronger.

Suddenly Delia's body stiffened and she began to scream in pleasure as she orgasmed. Olwyn, fearing he had hurt her somehow, stopped his action. But Delia wanted more, after many centuries of being unfulfilled she wanted to think of herself for once, to satiate herself and not just the men. She pulled Olwyn's head back between her thighs and growled, "More, I want more!"
Seeing that she was unhurt and wanting more Olwyn dived back in with a will.

Only when his strength was failing and his jaw and tongue aching did Olwyn stop his oral stimulation of Delia. He had been sucking, nibbling and licking her engorged pussy for hours, so long that they both had lost count of the number of orgasms she had experienced.
As Olwyn lay beside her, trying to relieve the ache in his jaw, Delia raised herself up to look down at him and purred, "Thank you, no-one has ever done that for me before."
As Delia kissed his jaw and chin Olwyn felt his aches melt away. She kissed all over his jawline and mouth then started kissing him in earnest. As they kissed Delia probed his lips with her tongue, she slowly forced her way into his mouth and licked and played with his tongue until he was eagerly duelling with her.

When they both finally broke off the deep kiss, grinning and panting hard.
Olwyn gasped, "I never knew kissing could be so good!"
Delia just smiled then began to kiss her way down his body to his once again erect cock. She licked the head then plunged her mouth over it and bobbed up and down two or three times before pulling off with a plop leaving it coated with her spit. Olwyn groaned in frustration and disappointment.
Delia scrambled to her feet and crouched astride Olwyn's prone body, she grasped his dick and slowly lowered herself down onto it.
From his vantage point Olwyn could see his cock head slowly forcing her plump pussy lips aside as she gradually impaled herself on him.

She slid down until she was kneeling, sat on his hips with his cock fully embedded in her tight wet embrace. She lifted up and began to pump herself up and down rhythmically on his hard cock.
Olwyn had never felt this good, when she had sucked him it had felt fantastic, but this was better, much better. He could feel her hot, wet sheath sliding up and down his shaft and the feeling was pure pleasure, but he wanted this feeling to last and he wanted Delia to enjoy it as well, so he reached between her thighs and began to strum her clit with his thumb. Trying to bring on her climax and yet concentrating on delaying his own.

Delia had always liked this method of getting a man's seed before but now she was extra sensitive it felt great. Then she felt Olwyn playing with her clit and that kicked her pleasure into overdrive. She bounced on his lap, fucking herself harder and deeper on his cock. As she came she lost control and her rhythm fell apart until she stopped and had to sit on him as she cooled down.

Olwyn was glad he had managed to delay his climax, it had been very difficult when he felt her cum and her cunt muscles rippled along his shaft, but he had somehow managed it. Now he was calmer and not likely to explode any second, he felt like doing some of the work.
He gently toppled Delia onto her side and tried to move into position to fuck her. Unfortunately when he moved his position Delia rolled the wrong way. Although he was between her legs she was now face down, and Olwyn had no idea how to proceed.

As he knelt there perplexed Delia raised her pert globular buttocks until she was on hands and knees, then arched her back down presenting her open and glistening cunt to him, "Do it," she growled at him, "fuck me... hard."
He aligned his cock, then with one smooth firm motion sank his entire length into her waiting hole. He set up a smooth even rhythm with her butt slapping into his crotch with each stroke.
"Harder," Delia moaned again, "faster!"

Olwyn did his best to comply with her wishes. Every time she told him "harder" or "deeper" or "faster" he would try that little bit more.
It was a long slow build up for them both, at the end their hips were a blur, and the sound of their noisy union was echoing around the clearing. Then, almost suddenly, their pleasure peaked and in unison they came. Their orgasms seemed to last forever, and yet were not anywhere near long enough. All too soon they were coming down from their natural high and were lying panting and gasping on the ground.

+ + + + +

"A very profitable day," Jen reflected as she ate her supper. She had started with a visit to the laundry near the church, where she had retrieved a worn but reasonable white linen dress for herself and a rich gown of pale blue silk. She had later sold the gown by masquerading as a servant girl of one of the rich ladies of the city, she had even managed to bargain the shop keeper into a fair price for it.
Because of her good fortune she had indulged herself and bought her supper, the first time in ages she had tasted freshly baked bread, a good tangy cheese and even a sweet pie.
After savouring every morsel of her feast she arranged herself in her nest to sleep, this one was situated in the hollow trunk of the cities oldest and largest Vulnut tree. She wrapped herself in another ragged blanket and wedged herself into the back of the hollow.

She reached into her top, as she did most nights, and pulled out her pendant to look at it. It was the only link she had to her mother, she knew that her mother had given it to her but could never remember any details of her. The chain was slender and made of fine links of a silvery metal, the pendant was a small disk of a similar metal embossed with a single symbol or rune. Jen had no idea what the rune meant or why her mother had given the pendant to her, nor did she have answers to any of the dozens of other questions she kept asking herself most nights. Eventually, still clasping the pendent firmly, she relaxed and fell into sleep.

+ + + + +

Delia and Olwyn languished in each other's embrace basking in the afterglow of their mutual orgasms for a long time. Sometime later, Delia propped herself up and smiled down at Olwyn then began to gently stroke his face with her finger tips.
Olwyn smiled, "I wish I could stay with you forever," he said wistfully then caught her hand in his and kissed her palm.
"I too wish you could stay," Delia sighed, "but you must return to your master with your prize." She then held out her hand palm up and from high in the canopy of the tree something fell to land smack in the middle of her palm.

Delia presented Olwyn with a small twig that had two acorns attached, they didn't look like gold but were a golden honey colour the same colour as Delia's hair.
Olwyn took the acorns and laughed, "After I've given these to my master I'll come back, then we can be together."
Delia's face dropped, "We can't," she said tearfully, "it is not allowed. Once you leave this glade you will never be able to find it again."
"Then I shall not leave!" he stated defiantly.
"Oh Olwyn," Delia scrambled to sit astride his waist, "my dear sweet Olwyn, you cannot stay." Her tears were flowing freely now and some dripped from her chin to splash onto Olwyn's chest. "That is the way things are," she continued, "you come here when young and leave a little of your essence... of your youth here. Then, later in life when you want some of that youth back, you send someone to collect it from me, as you are doing for your master."

Olwyn was stunned by this revelation, "So you did this," he indicated their positions and state of undress, "with master Jaklin?"
She nodded, "Yes, but you..." she broke off choked with emotion. She leant over him to take his face in her hands and looked deep into his eyes, "you touched me deeply, you made me feel such wondrous pleasure, no-one has ever done that for me before, always they took what they wanted with no thought for me..."

She seemed to come to a decision, closed her eyes and began to plead, "Father Oak and Mother Goddess please hear your humble servant. I have worked at this task you set for many years now and finally begin to understand."
As she was speaking, Olwyn could feel the tingle of a build up of magic, and then he saw a nimbus of light surrounding Delia.
"I do not ask for myself," she continued, "I ask that you grant a gift to the one who taught me, please Father Oak, please Mother Goddess grant me this boon."

Olwyn watched as the nimbus got brighter and brighter until he had to close his eyes or go blind. He felt the power building, until suddenly it flowed into him. He felt like he was in a white water river in full torrential flow, out of control doing all he could to not drown.
Suddenly, as quickly as it had started, the flow stopped. Olwyn felt like every cell of his being had been filled with power, such exquisite pleasure it was almost agony. The abrupt loss of that power caused Olwyn to lose consciousness, when he came round he abruptly sat up and looked around.

He was sat in a small clearing, but not the one with the golden oak, and he was now fully dressed. Some time had obviously passed, as it had been night when Delia had done whatever she did and it was now midmorning. Olwyn got up, gathered his possessions together and loaded his rucksack.

He searched through as much of that forest as he was able, he looked for the golden oak until late afternoon but found no trace of it or his own passage. As he searched he thought on what Delia had said, "Once you leave this glade you will never be able to find it again." For her to be so certain that he would fail to find her meant that magic must be involved, either the glade was cloaked in illusion, or a zone of compulsion, or it could move, either of these would make a physical search futile.

Olwyn stopped and looked around, he oriented using the sun and headed of south. As he trudged through the forest he decided he would be back, he lifted his head and shouted to the apparently empty wood, "Delia, I will be back... I promise that I shall return to see you again." And he promised himself that he would grow strong in magic and learn enough to pierce the barriers preventing him finding Delia.

As the sun was setting Olwyn found the southern edge of the forest, when he stepped out from the trees he could see the road and the river to the west so he retreated back into the forest to make camp for the night.
When he woke the next morning he was disturbed by an odd dream he remembered from that night. He had dreamt that he had woken in the night and had padded round the camp naked to make sure everything was ok, and then returned to his bed to curl up and sleep.
Olwyn set off after breakfast; he cleared his campsite and then headed south down the road toward Muraford. Although he was weary and footsore Olwyn continued without stopping, he walked straight through the town and on to master Jaklin's tower.

Author's Note:
If you enjoyed this story, and or have a comment or suggestion to make, please email me at lensman@mail.com
All emails are welcome and will be responded to if a return address is used.