The Magic Thieves (14 page)

"Are you okay, dearling?” Kaythan's voice rumbled in his ear as his mate nuzzled his jawline, then burrowed his face into the sensitive space between his neck and his shoulder.

"More than okay.” Elryk opened his eyes and smiled, his happiness hard to contain. “I feel like a new wizard."

"Well, that's because you are.” Kaythan chuckled and pulled out of him. He turned them onto their sides so they were facing each other, put his arms around him and snuggled in. “Your magic is definitely new."

"You're right.” Elryk slipped a leg between Kaythan's and tightened his embrace, wanting to stay as close to his man as possible. Maximising skin-to-skin contact with his mate at every opportunity had become his new mission in life. “It feels different. Once I was done absorbing the first four types of magic, I already felt better, much more like myself. But they weren't really connected. Now that they're all linked, they're stronger somehow. And I feel more alive and powerful."

"It could also be the mate bond that makes you feel better.” Kaythan grinned mischievously and winked.

"It could be.” Elryk nodded. “It's possible that the legends are right in this respect as well. According to most of them, the wizards who were part of a mated pair gained strength after their mating bond was activated. Apparently they were more resistant to attacks than single wizards, and generally more powerful in whatever magic they performed."

"I thought I was joking?” Kaythan's eyebrows rose.

"Maybe you were, but I think there may be a lot more to the mate bond ‘myth’ than we suspected. Starting with the fact that it isn't a myth at all, but a truth we've forgotten over the past two centuries.” Elryk stretched. “I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"I'm sort of glad the thunderstorm delayed our progress.” Kaythan moved his lips closer, placing little kisses along Elryk's lips. “It gave us the time to truly bond physically."

"I needed that, too.” Elryk felt his cock harden in response to his mate's continued kissing, not to mention the hand sliding towards his ass. “It's done something to me, made me feel even closer to you."

"Same here.” Kaythan's hands were now both on his ass cheeks, kneading the flesh and making him ache for more.

"Tah', it's like I can't get enough of you.” He was already well on his way to a full erection and ground his hardening cock into Kaythan's thigh.

"Fuck, you make me want.” Kaythan's voice was husky and his eyes hooded as the other man responded by pushing back into Elryk's movements.

Their cocks slid alongside each other, making Elryk pant with desire. How was this possible? Not that he was complaining, this felt too good to stop. But hadn't he just come like never before? Wasn't he supposed to be sated and relaxed? What about the recovery time he'd always needed before? None of that seemed to apply for him now that he was mated.

He slid a hand down between their bodies and wrapped it around both their swollen lengths to add even more pressure. With a moan, they both started thrusting. Kaythan's lips descended on his mouth, the other man's tongue delving inside for yet more caresses. Elryk was already so aroused, he was going to come soon. When Kaythan slid a long finger between his clenching ass cheeks and touched the slightly sore hole, Elryk lost it. He came all over their stomachs in bursts of release that made him dizzy.

Kaythan was only seconds behind him, grunting his relief as he added more hot semen to the mix.

Panting for breath they pulled back from the kiss and started laughing.

"Tah', you make me feel like such a youngling again. “ Kaythan hadn't moved his finger and the pressure on his opening made Elryk feel as if he was going to come again.

"That's a good thing, right?” Elryk grinned and wriggled his behind to make sure he got every bit of sensation he could.

"Yeah, most of the time it is. Except when you're so distracting that all I want to do is make you mine all over again. “ Kaythan withdrew his finger and lightly slapped a cheek for emphasis. “That could be a bit of a problem in a dangerous situation."

"I'm sure we'll manage.” They really did need to get going.

"We need to leave, I know.” Kaythan must have guessed what he'd been thinking again.

They got dressed in silence. Too bad they couldn't stay naked. Kaythan's powerful body with all those well-trained muscles was a sight to behold. With a sigh, Elryk looked around the cave one last time. The thunderstorm still raged outside, but they'd been warm and safe in here. He extinguished the fire and removed all traces of their presence.

Ready to leave, he took Kaythan's hand and closed his eyes, focusing on the Muyd'Othar. He still remembered the revealing spell and the directions Kaythan had relayed to him after they'd first crossed the gateway to Tah'Nut. Using the instructions was easy now that his magic was back, and a clear picture of a room in black and purple rose before his mind's eye. Even though the room seemed empty, it was clear to him that it was where they needed to go.

A bright flash of light and a deep rumble later they stood inside the room Elryk had sensed previously. A large, cloth-covered pedestal rose from the middle of the room, obviously meant to hold the Magic Shield in a place of honour.

There was only one problem.

The Shield was shattered.

A thousand jagged pieces reflected the light from numerous sconces on the wall, adding a silvery halo to the jumbled mess. With a flash of insight, he realised that's what the Xoh'kas must have used the last piece of the Magic Key for. They had destroyed the only hope of defeating the magic thieves and restoring the magic balance to Tah'Nut.

Shit
.

As he stood there, trying to comprehend the enormity of their loss, there was a crackling, hissing sound from just above the leftovers of the Muyd'Othar. He focused his magical senses on the vague impression. It wasn't just a sound, but some sort of presence. Almost like an evil intelligence of some kind. It raised the hairs at the back of his neck and he squinted at it to try to find out what exactly it was that gave him such chills.

All he could see was the slight hint of a greyish mist above the centre of the shattered Shield.

"You're too late!"

The triumphant screech hurt Elryk's head and made his heart pound with the need to run from here as fast as possible.

"You shouldn't be here at all, but you're too late anyway.” A cackle echoed against the walls.

"The guardian!” Kaythan tensed, looking as if he was getting ready to fight. “I knew I should have strangled him."

Elryk almost laughed. His mate was such a physical person.

But Kaythan was right. This intelligence had the same feel to it as the guardian of the last chamber. It was beginning to become more substantial, the light mist turning into a dense fog. Tendrils of the silvery essence of the Shield reached up into the hovering mass to feed it, to make it even more real.

Double shit
.

It looked as if the guardian was attempting to become corporeal, drawing energy from what was left of the Magic Shield. Elryk had to stop this being, whoever he was, from becoming more powerful, and fast, before he gained even more ground than he already had.

Elryk focused on the now doughy-looking mass and tried to probe it, to find a weakness. But the Magic Shield must have retained some power because the combined mass and power reflected his efforts back at him. Absorbing the spike of energy easily, he tried to sever the guardian's connection to the Shield's residue instead. Nothing. He couldn't get a grip on the silvery threads.

The writhing mass above the Shield slowly changed to the colour of skin and started to morph into a human body. Legs, arms, torso, a head with long grey hair, and finally a black robe covering the body, began to materialise. It stopped moving after having absorbed the last rays from the now only dimly flickering shards of the former Muyd'Othar.

The body floated away from the central pedestal, legs stretching and touching the floor, standing straight before turning around. When the face became visible Elryk gasped.

A high forehead, bushy eyebrows and a nose like a hawk's beak sat above a thin mouth that was twisted into a cruel smirk. Black eyes stared at him as the man shook out his hands and stamped his feet a few times.

Elryk would have recognised him anywhere.

Fuck
!

Rhunnyt, the last Lightning Grand Master to have run the Magic Council in over two hundred years, was back. And he didn't look happy.

"Lost your tongue, little one?” Rhunnyt's voice sounded like shards of glass grating on a hard surface as his gaze raked Elryk's body. “The Xoh'kas warned me about you, saying you would threaten my position. I must say I'm disappointed. You don't look like much of a threat. I guess I should have known better than to believe them. They have no fucking clue about what's really going on here. They don't know my power, and apparently, they grossly overestimated yours. It only confirms that my plans to get rid of them are right. They need to be punished for double-crossing me when they unsuccessfully tried to kill me last time."

"They're not even the same people!” Elryk didn't want to defend the Xoh'kas, but even they didn't deserve to be punished for something their ancestors had done.

"Never mind the details. They're all the same family, so they go out as a group, as far as I'm concerned.” Rhunnyt's screeching laugh sounded hollow. “Not that you have anything to say about it. You're not much of a threat to my plans at all, are you?"

"I don't care what the blasted Xoh'kas think about me.” Elryk needed a plan to stop this megalomaniac before it was too late. He couldn't let Rhunnyt loose on Tah'Nut again. But how was he going to stop the powerful wizard?

"Then you're even more stupid than I thought.” Rhunnyt's evil grin distorted his face into a mask of pure hatred. “I'll squash you like the worthless bug you are and then nothing will stand in the way of me taking my proper place at the head of the Magic Council again. Once that is achieved, I'll move on to even bigger and better things."

Kaythan stared at the evil wizard in mute disbelief. Not just because he'd rather not have had to deal with a powerful and experienced wizard like him, but the fact that the guy had managed to come back from the dead, or at least from having been banished into the temple of Tah'Muyd, made him an even more dangerous adversary than he'd been before he was punished. Having been stuck in the fifth chamber of the temple of Tah'Muyd for two hundred years would only have increased his anger, and given him time to plan what he'd do if he ever made it back to the real world.

No, what really got to him was the stupidity of the Xoh'kas. How could they have made this being an offer to return to physical life after their ancestors had decided he was too dangerous for them two hundred years ago? He clearly wasn't going to be any less dangerous now, or more controllable.

They may have been able to get rid of Rhunnyt once, but even that hadn't been permanent, because the bastard had found a way to escape into the magical realm. The risk of him coming back fully, and in corporeal form, to do more damage would surely have stopped any sane person from helping the bastard. Or were they in the habit of overestimating their own abilities? Did they actually believe they could “manage” this wizard into doing their bidding? Had their success at ruling the planet for so long made them believe in their own propaganda?

Kaythan suspected he could spend hours, if not days, thinking about this without figuring it out.

There was only one major advantage to Rhunnyt having a body again that he could see—the evil being whom they'd met as the guardian now had a neck to wring. Even though he wasn't sure he'd get the opportunity to do any actual wringing, the thought alone gave him some hope.

"I can't let you take over the Magic Council.” Elryk drew himself up to his full height, looking proud and determined. “Things are bad enough with the Xoh'kas exploiting and terrorising the people of Tah'Nut. We don't need a power-hungry wizard helping them or coming up with more damaging ideas."

"You are truly pathetic.” Rhunnyt shook his head, grey-streaked black hair flying every which way. “There is
nothing
you can do to stop me. I was the most powerful lightning wizard two hundred years ago, and since the Xoh'kas have destroyed anyone remotely powerful enough to challenge me, that hasn't changed. At least they had the sense to make sure nobody had the ability to restore the Magic Council to power. That would mess up everything."

"So you were the one who told them to kill all the promising young lightning wizards?” Kaythan couldn't keep silent any longer.

"Of course.” Rhunnyt frowned. “It was the logical thing to do if I wanted to secure my position. Unfortunately, they decided to double-cross me and attempted to execute me."

"Too bad that didn't work.” Elryk grinned when Rhunnyt scowled. “Just out of interest, how did you escape?"

"They thought they could keep me a prisoner using normal magic-suppressant methods. They had no idea how powerful I really am.” Rhunnyt's grin turned triumphant. “Of course, I had to make it look as though I was dead, to give me time to regroup and come back even stronger. The guardian didn't stand a chance when I took over."

"Took you a while to get back out, didn't it?” Elryk was clearly trying to goad Rhunnyt into an impulsive reaction, maybe to find a weakness.

"I had to bide my time.” Rhunnyt's laugh was pure evil. “Didn't mean I couldn't find ways to influence what was going on, did it? After all, you lost your parents and survived the Muyd'pol."

"So that was you?” Elryk's face turned red with anger. “You killed my family just so I'd survive and come here to set you free? Why you..."

"Hold on, wasn't he a prisoner in the temple of Tah'Muyd at the time?” Kaythan didn't put it past the bastard to find a way, but still.

"I had allies, of course.” Rhunnyt cackled.

Oh shit, more traitors
.

"Why do you waste my time with all these questions?” Rhunnyt sneered and turned back towards Elryk. “Are you afraid to fight me? Not that it'll be any use. You're more of an annoyance than a threat."