“Do the trick again, Silona,” Bethi pleaded.
“Alright, one last time,” Silona replied. She cupped her graceful hands and began whispering an incantation into them. When she opened her hands she was holding a bright light. She swept her arms over her head in a large arc and the light dispersed into thousands of colored lights that swirled about the elves like swarms of fireflies. The lights gradually drifted upwards until they seemed to mingle with the stars over their heads before they finally winked out completely. Gemma and Bethi applauded and gushed over her trick.
“Teach me, teach me!” they twittered like a pair of baby birds begging for a worm.
Merlina stood motionless and silent just inside the stone alcove where the three elf students were lounging. She had cast a spell to make herself blend in with the walls. It was almost as good as invisibility, as long as she did not move or make any sound.
Silona began showing the other two elves how to do the spell, and after a while, they were all able to make the lights. Gemma produced a few dozen colorful lights, but Bethi was only able to produce a single pitiful yellow light that spiraled up a short distance before it sputtered out. Merlina was not surprised. She considered Bethi a pampered noble and an incompetent fool. She wasn’t sure how Bethi had been selected for the enclave, but she suspected it had something to do with her family’s influence.
While the three elves were working on the spell they began to gossip about the other elves at the enclave. It did not take long for them to get around to Merlina.
“What do you think of the new girl, Merlina?” Gemma asked.
“She certainly has skill,” Silona replied. “I saw her transform a swarm of water beetles into little black pebbles that sank to the bottom of the brook.”
“I don’t like her,” Bethi said. “She scares me!”
“I call her Mean Lina,” Gemma said laughing. “She appears to be as sweet as honeycomb when the mages are looking, but as soon as they turn their backs, her looks could curdle new milk.”
“She is always glaring at me,” Bethi said. “I think she hates me.”
“I have seen her at the edge of the wood with a great flock of ravens,” Silona said. “She seems to have befriended them. That is more than she has done with the other students.”
“Ravens are fitting companions for her,” Gemma offered. “I heard the mages brought her here to try to get the black magic out of her. A curse fell on her village grove, a blight of some sort, and she was the only survivor. They found her wandering the wilderness merry as a magpie, singing a song.”
“Do they think that Merlina is responsible for the blight curse?” Silona asked.
“Difficult to tell,” Gemma replied. “There were none left alive in the village grove.”
“She’s a wood elf then?” Bethi asked. “I thought they were smaller… and greener.”
“She looks like a ‘spoon-ears’ if you ask me,” Gemma replied using the derogatory term for humans. “She’s taller than any elf I know and since when do elves have black hair?”
“We sometimes had elf friends in Alvami with red hair and brown skin,” Silona replied. “They came from the centaur lands to the east.”
“We had humans visit Faymoot who had hair as black as hers,” Gemma said. “She looks like a halfy to me.”
Merlina made a mental note of all that she heard. Spoon-ears, halfy. She had been called these before by children in the village grove. She had gotten her revenge on them. She would get her revenge on these elf maidens. She had a deep seated loathing of them and others like them. They would never truly accept her. Someday she would devise a fitting punishment for them all.
Merlina was disturbed that they had heard about the curse. No one could prove that she was responsible. There were no witnesses left. She remembered with some satisfaction the bodies impaled on long thorns, blood dripping into the soil before she had to flee to get away from the entangling vines of the blight.
Merlina would have to wait until the elves fell asleep before she could sneak away. It turned out they had more planned that evening than sleeping.
“Whose turn is it tonight?” Gemma asked.
“Bethi,” Silona answered.
Bethi took off her linen tunic and laid it upon the mossy ground. She stripped off her lace shift revealing her pert little breasts and velvety mound. She lay down on top of her tunic on her back with her golden hair spread out behind her head. Her knees were bent slightly and open to the sides so her pink slit was exposed. Gemma and Silona lay down on each side of her and took turns kissing her on the mouth as they traced the curves of her body with their delicate fingers.
It wasn’t long before Bethi was cooing like a dove and rocking her hips in pleasure. Gemma and Silona began kissing down the sides of Bethi’s neck, then moved to her breasts, while their hands moved lower, first onto her thighs and then between her legs. Silona slipped a finger inside Bethi’s tender opening which was now glistening with moisture and Bethi let out a soft moan. Silona spread some of Bethi’s wetness onto her labia until they glistened in the starlight. She then slipped her two middle fingers inside of Bethi’s vagina and began pumping her until she was dripping wet and her cunt made a pleasant squelching sound.
Silona withdrew her slathered fingers savoring Bethi's scent a moment before offering them to Gemma. Gemma greedily licked and sucked on the fingers and, having had a sample, moved down to get a better taste. Gemma planted her mouth on Bethi’s vulva and began probing her vagina with her tongue. Silona concentrated on Bethi’s breasts and began licking and sucking on them, flicking the nipples with her tongue while she watched Bethi’s reaction.
It didn’t take long before Bethi was rocking her hips and thrashing from side to side as her moans turned into cries of ecstasy. In her final passion, her body went rigid and her back arched before she finally collapsed in satisfaction. Eventually the three elves fell asleep and Merlina crept out of her hiding place.
Merlina walked through the columns of stones that formed the central feature of the enclave. The stones arched inward over a lushly vegetated corridor resembling a gargantuan rib cage from an ancient megafauna. The stones were smooth like polished agate and similarly patterned in hues ranging from umber to ochre to orange to red. The stones seemed to radiate heat so that the plateau remained temperate, even while the surrounding lands were blanketed in snow. A great variety of plants were able to thrive in the enclave that could not survive in the surrounding region.
The stones were said to enhance magical power, and the arrangement of them focused that power towards the Temple of Mages. The temple was a wide round stone tower with a low green roof. It was an ancient building and no one remembered who had built it or how long ago. The stones it was built from were so large that it seemed giants must have aided in the construction. There were several smaller buildings surrounding it that were used for day to day activities, but the tower was reserved for the mages.
Merlina saw a spider laboring on its web in an effort to catch a bounty of the evening insects. She suddenly thought of how she could exact her revenge on the elves, and the thought of it made her as wet as the spring flood. She found a secluded corner of the enclave and lay down on a bed of ferns to spend the night under the stars as did most of the elves in the enclave.
Merlina reached down between her legs with her hand and began desperately stroking herself. She imagined herself queen of a vast realm, whatever she commanded they would have to do, whatever punishment she devised would be dealt out to them. The thought of punishing the elves drove her to her penultimate pleasure and she thrust her fingers inside herself and clamped her thighs tightly together as the waves of pleasure swept over her.
Merlina woke as the sun was shining through the stones. The day began with meditation, stretching, and dawn prayers to Enuna, before the students were split into different groups to learn different schools of magic.
Merlina was good at magic even before, when she was back in the village grove. It came naturally to her. For Merlina creating a spell was a little like making up a song or painting a picture. Changing a beetle into a pebble was fairly easy because it was small and the same size, but at first the “pebbles” would float on top of the water. Merlina was so excited when she was able to get them to sink to the bottom.
She loved transforming things into other forms. Sticks became stick insects, which she threw into the fire to see if they would still burn. Rabbits became skunks that were shunned by the other rabbits until they died of loneliness. Birds became a mass of worms, which the other birds hungrily devoured. She had wondered if she could change people into other forms. It turned out she could. She remembered when she was with her friend Alverin back in the village grove.
“I wish I were queen,” she had told him. “Then I could do whatever I wanted and everyone would have to obey me.”
“Don’t be a stupid, Lina,” he had said. “You have to be borned a princess to be queen.”
“I can make myself a queen,” Merlina had replied. “You were not born a dog, but I can make you into one.”
He deserved what had happened. He should never have said that to her. She remembered when she first learned how to make things heavier or lighter. She used the spell to make herself lighter and had walked out onto the thin ice of the river. Her puppy Alffy was with her.
“Don’t be a fraidy, Alffy,” She called. “If it holds me it’ll hold you.”
Merlina stopped thinking about her past. She had enough problems to deal with in the present. One thing Merlina learned at the enclave was she could use the same principles to make things larger or smaller, heavier or lighter, hotter or colder. This opened up a wide variety of spells to her, and the stones seemed to greatly enhance her power. In the enclave, spells that were difficult became easy, and spells that were weak became strong.
Merlina was aware that the mages were always keeping an eye on her. She pondered escaping from the enclave. The enclave was located on a plateau that overlooked the Stony River on the west and the Ruby Run River on the east beyond which were the civilized lands, however she had no interest in going to Faymoot or Alvami. Most likely she would be found out and brought back here. The south was guarded by a row of sheer cliffs that fell abruptly to the valley below. To the north, the Stony River came out of the Petrolith Mountains, and everyone knew that range was too dangerous to enter. Perhaps she could flee into the Amaranthine Mountains in the west.
Merlina despised the other students and would stay as far away from them as she could. She felt she was more of a prisoner here than a student. When she could sneak off she preferred the company of the ravens who nested among the stones. She would bring dead things for them to pick at, so they always looked forward to her visits and croaked enthusiastically when they saw her coming.
The next evening Merlina searched until she found a large black spider. You’ll do, she thought as she prodded the spider onto her hand and away from the web it had been busy building. Merlina whispered a spell to awaken and enlarge it. The spider grew to the size of her hand and looked at her with intelligence in its eight eyes. It could not speak to her, but Merlina was able to put an image of what she wanted into the spider’s mind. Merlina concealed herself in the alcove favored by the three elf students.
Tonight it was Silona’s turn. She was taller than the other two and her breasts were a bit larger than Bethi’s though not as full as Gemma’s. She lay on her back with her platinum hair spread out behind her head like an aura. Silona’s breasts lolled at her sides until she pushed them together making a tight cleavage. Gemma was quick to engulf her nipples in her mouth while Bethi gently spread Silona’s legs apart and began rubbing her mound until her slit was moist enough for her to slip a finger inside. Silona responded by spreading her legs further apart. Bethi began working more fingers into her, until she was probing and twisting with all four of her petite fingers, while her thumb massaged Silona’s hood and button.
Gemma knelt above Silona so that her vulva was just above Silona’s mouth and then lay down so her face was just above Silona’s groin. Bethi made a cone shape with her hand by folding her thumb against her palm and fingers. She applied a twisting motion until her entire small hand disappeared inside Silona’s vagina. Silona grabbed Gemma’s hips and pulled her down until she could plant her mouth on Gemma’s groin. Gemma put her mouth on Silona’s clit and began sucking and licking it.
Bethi took out her hand and let Gemma suck on it, then thrust it back inside of Silona and continued thrusting and twisting. Bethi was able to penetrate Silona almost up to her elbow with her petite limb. Silona put her hands on her own breasts and began twisting and pulling on her nipples, as she reached her peak and began crying out in pleasure. She arched her back and squirted Bethi square in the face. Silona began twisting from side to side and brought her knees up to her chest as the waves of pleasure swept over her.
Merlina waited until the three elves had exhausted themselves with their lovemaking and were sleeping. Merlina cast a spell to start the spider on its mission.
Spider spinning silken strands,
Crawl and creep into her loins,
Hearken now to my commands,
Implant my spell deep in her groin.
The spider skittered along the mossy ground until it came to Gemma. The spider cautiously began to climb up her leg. Gemma stirred a little in her sleep and the spider froze until she stopped moving and was breathing heavily again. The spider cautiously began creeping along her thigh towards her groin. It disappeared from view into her nethers. After a few minutes the spider completed its task and emerged again. It stealthily crawled back down Gemma’s leg before skittering over to Merlina.
Merlina thanked the spider and sent her on her way. It is said that the spider traveled south along the Ruby Run River until she came to a forest where she made her home. She named herself Latrodecta and eventually grew to such a huge size that the trees would bend and sway at her approach, and the forest became known as the Terror Wood.
Merlina could hardly sleep that night in anticipation of seeing the results of her trick the next day. She spied on Gemma as they went about their daily routine. She noticed Gemma was having trouble sitting still during the morning meditations. While they were practicing spells Gemma kept twitching and crossing her legs. Some of the mages noticed that Merlina seemed to be in a particularly good mood all day, due to the leering grin that was plastered over her face. That night Merlina concealed herself again and entered the girls' alcove to watch the fun.
The elves settled into their nightly ritual and Merlina had guessed correctly that tonight Gemma would be the center of attention. Gemma was a bit shorter than Silona but her body was more curvaceous, her breasts rounder, her hips broader, and her vulva plumper.
“I don’t know why,” she said, “but I have had an aching in my loins all day, and I could barely wait until tonight for the sweet release that I know you shall bring me.”
Gemma lay down upon the ground, spread her legs, and opened her arms to welcome the attention of the other two elves. They began in the usual way, taking turns kissing her on the mouth and gently caressing her body, but Gemma was squirming with a frantic need and directed them downwards to her groin. Her clitoris and labia were already swollen and highly sensitive, and a thick fluid was oozing from her opening. Gemma pushed Bethi’s head into her groin and wrapped her legs around her head to pull Bethi’s face hard against her aching cunt.
When Bethi put her mouth on Gemma she suddenly had a confused look on her face. She raised her head up and there was something black covering her tongue. The egg that the spider had planted in Gemma’s groin had erupted, and a swarm of black spiders poured forth and began crawling from Gemma’s groin up over her body. Bethi tried to spit the spiders off of her tongue, but they swarmed up onto her face. The swarm kept spewing from Gemma’s groin until spiders had covered all three of the elves' bodies. The elves began screaming in terror but that frightened the spiders so much that they began biting them.
Merlina could not help laughing as she started sneaking out of the alcove. That turned out to be her undoing though for Silona, hearing her laugh, cast the glowing lights spell to cover Merlina’s body, giving her away. Merlina fled the alcove, but it was too late. Silona had recognized her.
+++++
Merlina paced the cell like a caged animal. She was somewhere deep beneath the tower. Two nervous mages dressed in white robes stood guard outside the door which stood ajar because Merlina had melted the hinges off of it. They were using spells to hold it in place, but they were not sure how much longer they could keep it up because Merlina kept battering it with magical force. Finally the summons came and Merlina was brought to the great hall where the mages held council.
The Old Mage sat in a chair of stone on a raised dais. There were a few of the other elders of the enclave present as well as a healer. Merlina waited while the healer whispered something to the Old Mage. She could hear a few words that she did not understand. The healer looked at her as if he was afraid of her. As he should be. They all should be afraid of her. Finally the Old Mage began to speak. He had long white hair that reached to the ground. He was said to be over three hundred years old. His face was etched with deep furrows and his ears were droopy.
“Merlina, you must understand that we are trying to help you,” He said. “We believe that you have a type of illness but our healers have not yet discovered a cure for it.”
“You can’t prove I did anything,” Merlina said. “You can’t prove it. And even if you could, they deserved it. All of them! I don’t have any illness. I feel just fine.”
“Merlina, please try to calm yourself,” the Old Mage said. “The illness you have is in your mind. We think we may be able to help you in time but you must be patient. We would like to try some things.”
“In my mind?” Merlina asked. “So your cure will be to alter my mind? And when you are finished rearranging things in there, who will I be? Will I still be myself?”
“Merlina, we are only trying to help you. Don’t you want to get along with the others?”
“I get along just fine with my raven friends,” Merlina replied. “Maybe if you were more like the ravens I would get along better with you!”
With that Merlina cast a spell. A black cloud flew from her fingers at the Old Mage. Just as it was about to hit him though, a shield of silver light appeared like a mirror in front of him. The black spell bounced off and was reflected back at Merlina. The elves watched in stunned amazement as black feathers covered Merlina’s body. She seemed to be melting and shrinking until finally a large black raven stood in her place.
The raven looked around her. She no longer remembered being Merlina. She no longer remembered how to cast spells. She did remember that she was afraid. She saw an open window and began sprinting towards it on her clawed feet. She leaped for the window and instinctively began flapping her wings. Before anyone could stop her or do anything else, she was out of the tower and flying away. She fled the enclave and flew west over the snow-covered hills of the plateau. A flock of ravens saw her and joined her, croaking with encouragement as she fled. Eventually, she came to the Stony River. She followed it south until it flowed into the White River. Then Merlina turned west and followed the White River upstream into the Amaranthine Mountains.
+++++
“Jack listen, or Jack sleep?” El-Filla asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jack replied groggily. “I think I dozed off, El-Filla.”
“Jack ready feed El-Filla again?” El-Filla asked hopefully as she reached for Jack’s groin with a frisky look in her eye.
“I can’t,” Jack lied. “I need some more time to… uh… recover. So Merlina was turned into a raven? I guess that explains why they call her Lady Raven, but how did she become queen? And you didn’t explain about what happened to you after the… the child.”
