Chapter 1

"Excellent!"

The praise from the Master of the school brought a smile to Danica's face. There was true exuberance in that single word and the clap that accompanied it. Danica maintained her concentration, using the telekinetic magic she was commanding to fill the rest of the tin cups from a heavy earthenware pitcher. It wasn't easy, considering she had a wisp of her auburn hair tickling her ear unmercifully.

The last cup filled, Danica directed the magic to place the pitcher back on the table, and then released her spell. She had filled all twenty cups, and had not spilled a drop.

The old grey-bearded master again clapped his hands, then laid his arm over Danica's shoulder and declared, "Wonderful Danica! Your command of telekinetic magic is truly strong. You have only just learned the spell, and you command it better than I could."

Color flooded Danica's cheeks as a result of the Master's strong praise. She knew he would never overstate anything related to magic, and thus he must truly believe his words.

"It took your sister weeks to learn to command the telekinetic magic properly," he chuckled a moment before continuing. "She always said it was a worthless magic and a waste of time to learn."

Danica's joy drained out of her upon mention of Devan. Danica loved her sister, and respected her command of magic, but she was so tired of comparisons to Devan. Anything she did inevitably brought mention of how Devan had handled it before her. Comments about something she was wearing always brought along with them mentions of something similar her sister had worn. Even when boys were whispering about the size of her breasts, they almost always remarked about how they were bigger than Devan's.

Danica sighed, "Devan's probably right. I could amaze crowds in taverns by filling their drinks from across the room, I suppose."

The old master winced slightly, realizing what he had said; unwittingly doing something he knew bothered Danica while expressing his joy over her command of the new spell. "Danica dear, you must never discount the usefulness of any spell. The telekinetic magic can be used to form a shield, protecting you from arrows and spears, it can disarm an opponent from afar, it can be used to..."

Danica cut him off, spinning and walking back toward the desk where her spellbook lay, "Annoy an ogre when I can't summon up a lightning bolt to kill it."

Following Danica, the old master said, "You worry too much over a single, commonly used spell. The Wizard who spends their lives hurling nothing but fireballs and lightning bolts is quite limited. Magic is a subtle weapon, and creative use of it is much preferred to simple brute force."

"A single, commonly used spell that nearly any Wizard would have learned long ago. I'm probably lucky I managed to figure out the fireball," Danica responded and let out a blast of air that had a distinctly dismissive sound.

"And do you not now have strong command of that spell? Can you not hurl fireballs with impunity and stand ready to cast the spell again? Have you not been able to summon the spell without use of its material components?"

Danica rolled her eyes and replied, "Yes."

Knowing Danica well, the aged Wizard knew he was going to make no headway at the moment. Danica was too busy feeling sorry for herself, and she would simply have to work through that on her own before she would be willing to listen again. "Why don't you return home early today? The harvest festival begins this night, after all."

Danica closed her eyes and mastered her frustration for a moment before she spoke, "I'm sorry, Master. I'm just having so much trouble. I feel like you're leading me around by the hand, while the other students move on and study on their own without guidance."

Laying a hand on her shoulder, he said, "I apologize for comparing you to Devan, Danica, I was not thinking because I was truly impressed by your command of the telekinetic magic."

A slight smile crept onto Danica's face as she stood up and said, "Thank you, Master. I think I'll return home early, like you said."

"Enjoy the festival dear, let some of the burdens of your heart fade, and then perhaps the lightning bolt will come to you when you return to your studies."

Danica nodded and closed her spellbook, stowing it in the bag hanging at her hip. She left the building quickly, not wanting to be seen leaving early by the other students, especially Dunthain.

Danica didn't escape the school quite quickly enough, and her hopes that Dunthain would not see her were in vain.

"There she goes," Dunthain snorted, watching Danica hurry out the front door of the school.

One of Dunthain's cronies, a younger apprentice named Herad stood next to him as he scowled in Danica's direction. "I don't get it Dunthain, why do you hate her so much?"

Turning to scowl at the young man, Dunthain replied, "Do you really want to go back to the way it was when her bitch sister was here showing us all up?"

Herad cringed under Dunthain's stare, "No, you know we don't. But, she's not really..."

"Then shut up and just do what I tell you to."

Danica slowed her pace once she was out of sight of the school. She had no idea if she was going to be able to go to the festival or not, despite the suggestion from the Master. Scowling, she thought, I'm sixteen, almost seventeen! Mom still treats me like a three year old! Just because I got drunk once, she doesn't want me going anywhere alone. I'm an adult, why can't she treat me like one?

Kicking a rock hard and watching it tumble down the road didn't really make her feel any better.

Approaching the house, something immediately struck Danica as odd. She didn't see her father anywhere out in the field. A few hired hands were out harvesting the crops, but her father was not working side by side with them, as he always did. Daniel was absent as well, and she couldn't imagine why he wouldn't be outside playing at this time of day.

Danica quickened her pace, wondering if something was wrong. Her mother had not been in the best of health lately, and Danica prayed to any god that would listen as she walked toward the house that she wouldn't get that sort of news when she reached the house. Every frustration she had regarding her mother vanished in the face of that possibility, replaced by the love of a daughter.

Danica breathed a sigh of relief when she opened the front door and found her family sitting at the table with wide smiles on their faces.

Her entire family was present, including Devan.

"You're home early," Devan remarked, getting up from her chair and crossing the room to hug Danica.

Irritation with the comparisons to her sister earlier evaporated in light of seeing Devan after so many months, the same as frustrations with her mother had disappeared approaching the house.

"Devan got into that school she was wanting to study at," Danica's father informed her.

Danica smiled, "That's great! They finally stopped giving you excuses at the gate?"

Devan chuckled and replied, "Not really, I just went over their heads. I charmed my way in by getting on the good side of one of the Masters. How are your studies going?"

Danica's shoulders slumped, "About the same as usual —– badly. I still can't manage the lightning bolt."

"What about the telekinesis? You said you had learned that one easily."

"I passed the test, for what it's worth," Danica replied with a shrug.

Devan's eyes widened, "You passed that test? I got sick of trying and gave up. You must have a knack for telekinetic magic. Show me?"

The genuine amazement in Devan's voice left Danica a little taken back. It perked her spirits a little from where they had dropped when asked about her studies. Danica cast the spell and then concentrated on a bowl of apples on the table. She caused each of the apples to rise up out of the bowl one by one, moving in a wide circle through the air over the table to roll back in the bowl at the other end of the arc.

Daniel was clapping and laughing, always tickled when one of his sisters used their magic. Devan joined her little brother in his applause, and then joined him in his laughter when Danica's face flushed crimson and a shy smile spread across her face.

Their mother laughed as well, saying, "You just got the job of getting things off high shelves and cleaning the cobwebs out of the corner."

That crushed Danica's slowly rising spirits, yet again. The statement had been a harmless jest, but to Danica it was like a knife stabbing into her. She felt as if she were in a boat, the way her emotions were rising and falling today.

Devan suggested, "You should try to work on the shield, and other things the spell can do. I always said it was worthless, but that was really because I was no good at it and it made me mad. That spell can actually do a lot of useful things, if you aren't completely inept with it like me."

Danica wasn't sure whether Devan was serious or not, but she at least looked like she was. Offering a half-smile, she replied, "I will." Turning toward her mother she asked, "Mom, can I go to the festival this evening?"

"I don't know," her mother replied with a questioning look on her face.

Devan waved her hand in a dismissive gesture and said, "Oh, mom, let her go. I was going to go down to the festival. I'll make sure she doesn't get drunk."

That revelation softened the hard look on their mother's face, "Okay then, you can both go."

Devan laughed, "Back under your roof for less than an hour, and I already have apron strings wrapped around me."

"And you will, for every moment you're here too! I'm still your mother," was the response to that, coupled with a smile and a comically wagging finger.

"Come on Danica, I have something I want to give you, and I want to show you a new spell I learned. Then we can get ready and go down early," Devan suggested.

Danica nodded and then followed her sister to the room they had shared since they were old enough to remember.

"We're going to get caught," Herad warned in a whisper.

Turning to scowl at Herad, Dunthain put a finger to his lips to indicate the other young man should be silent. He then pointed at the door, reminding Herad that he was supposed to be watching and listening at the door.

Herad walked nervously to his post, and Dunthain rolled his eyes when he saw the other student's hands trembling.

Shaking his head, Dunthain turned back to the task that had brought him here. His hands went unerringly to the small drawer assigned to Danica for storage of her spell components and other paraphernalia of the Art. Whispering a spell and pointing at the simple lock caused it to open shortly thereafter.

Dunthain reached in and removed a small amber rod, one of the spell components necessary to cast the lightning bolt spell. Putting it into one of his pockets, he replaced it with a rod that looked almost identical, but which was made of magically hardened tree sap. Only natural amber would work as a material component for the spell, and thus the one Dunthain had placed in the drawer would be useless.

When he closed the drawer, it locked as it was designed to do. Grinning, he thought, Try and cast a lightning bolt now, Danica.

Turning back to his frightened companion, Dunthain ushered him out of the door, and then quickly down the hall toward the exit.

Once they were outside and walking the road toward home, Herad remarked, "I don't understand how this is going to get rid of her."

"You're an idiot, Herad. She's obsessed with that lightning bolt spell. If she can never cast it, which she won't without a natural amber rod, she'll give up and leave. Then we don't have to worry about her turning out like that bitch Devan and lording over us."

Shrugging, Herad asked, "But what if she figures it out?"

"She's a girl, she'll never figure it out," Dunthain responded, and then muttered, "Shouldn't be sullying the Art anyway. Women have no place working magic."

Herad, knowing Dunthain would launch into a tirade soon, unless distracted, changed the subject to the festival as they continued their walk.

Standing at the edge of the magic school, tending his herb garden, the old Master stared at the backs of the boys. He had nearly cast a spell of clairaudience to see what they were talking about, knowing they were probably up to no good, but his conscience had not let him spy upon them.

Pursing his lips and scratching his beard, he decided he would keep a close watch on those two for a while.

Danica stood in open-mouthed awe as Devan handed her the bag, "Is this a..."

"Bag of holding," Devan confirmed, "I thought you might like it. It isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it will certainly be handy."

"But it must have cost you a king's ransom," Danica protested, still staring at the bag in amazement.

Devan chuckled, "They're not that expensive." In truth, she hadn't paid a single copper for either the bag she had given Danica, or her own. A few days of strongly suggestive flirting with the man who made them at the school, coupled with exposure of ample amounts of skin, had convinced him to enchant them for free.

"Thank you Devan," Danica said with genuine appreciation. The bag would hold nearly anything she could fit through the opening, even things that were far too long to fit inside naturally. Anything inside the bag was weightless as well.

Few apprentices had such a bag, although nearly any Wizard worth his salt had one. It would prove useful, just like Devan had said, and it was a status symbol among apprentices as well. Only Dunthain had one at the school.

Until now, Danica thought with a smile.

"You're welcome. So, is there anybody special you hope to see at the festival?" The crooked smile Devan wore and the twitch of her eyebrows revealed exactly what she meant by the words.

Danica smiled and felt her cheeks grow warm, "Jared."

Devan tilted her head and nodded with a little sound of approval, "He's handsome enough. So, have you seen what he's got yet?"

Danica's cheeks felt as if they were burning red hot upon hearing that, "No, we've only been seeing each other for a couple of months."

"Months? What are you waiting for?"

"I don't want him to just... If I..." Danica sighed then and whispered, "I don't have any idea what to do."

"Have you kissed him?"

Danica nodded.

"Has he touched your boobs yet?"

Again, the burning sensation in Danica's cheeks returned as she nodded her affirmation.

"Did you like it?" Devan asked with another twitch of her eyebrows.

"Yes," Danica blurted out playfully and laughed, trying to cover her embarrassment, but not so loud that anyone outside the room could hear.

"So, what's the problem? Just do what comes naturally, you'll figure it out." Devan broke out into a wide, mischievous grin then, "Wait a minute, let me go get something."

Danica gave her sister a questioning look, but Devan only chuckled and held up her index finger before walking past and out of the room.

Danica opened her new bag and looked around the room. An earthenware vase she put flowers in would easily fit through the opening of the bag, but never should have been able to fit completely inside the shallow sack. Picking it up, she slipped it inside the bag, which still felt as if it contained nothing, and then withdrew the vase again.

Sitting the vase back on the table near the window, Danica sat down on the bed to wait for her sister to return. In a few minutes, Devan walked back in the room with something behind her back.

Danica gave Devan a questioning look, which Devan answered with that mischievous smile while closing the door. Walking over to the bed, Devan produced a large, peeled carrot with a flourish.

Danica fought hard to keep her face passive. Since Devan had moved out, leaving her alone in the room at night, Danica had started to pleasure herself almost nightly. After a while, her fingers had simply not been enough, and she had discovered that a peeled carrot did some wonderful things for her. In an attempt to keep from revealing those thoughts, Danica shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, "I don't understand."

Devan didn't respond, but instead brought the carrot up to her mouth and curled her tongue around the nub where the tip had been cut off.

Danica's ears were burning now as she watched Devan swirl her tongue over the tip, then lick the carrot suggestively up and down.

Devan held out the carrot toward Danica and said, "You try it now."

"This is silly," Danica remarked, but took the carrot. The thought of what it represented, and the fact she had used more than once as a replacement for the real thing before, had her tingling between her legs.

"Just do it."

Danica stared at the carrot for a moment, then hesitantly brought it to her lips and licked it.

Devan moved in close and said, "Look up into his eyes while you're doing it, and be suggestive. The look on your face can drive him just as crazy as your tongue on his cock. Try it again; look like you're eating sweets."

Chuckling, Danica tried to do what Devan had said. She licked up and down the carrot, and then flicked her tongue over the tip rapidly on impulse. That made her feel so ridiculous that she started laughing and let the hand with the carrot fall to her side.

"That's not bad, and considering he's going to be losing his mind that you're down there anyway, you won't really have to do much to turn his knees to water. Now, try taking it in your mouth," Devan quietly suggested.