CHAPTER FOUR
A few weeks later, Taralynn stood on the top of a sand dune, gazing into
the distance. Nothing to see but more sand. The caravan had been traveling
for almost two weeks now, tempers were getting frayed and everyone was
tired of traveling.
Even Vasha, she thought, ruefully rubbing her bottom. Two spankings in one
day just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time were more than
enough to convince her the hot, dry desert was preferable to any comfort
she might get from remaining in the tent.
Hearing a noise behind her, she turned. Jervin was huffing and puffing his
way up the dune to stand next to her.
For an apprentice to a blacksmith he wasn’t in very good shape, Taralynn
thought, looking at his red, sweaty face as he finally made it to the top.
‘See anything?’ he huffed, trying the catch his breath.
‘Sand.’ Taralynn said, turning to look out over the desert again.
‘Me and the other apprentices were talking, and we were wondering if Vasha
knows what he’s doing. I mean, we’ve been out here a while now, with no
treasure in sight.’
‘What do you expect?’ Taralynn asked. ‘A big sign in the middle of the
desert saying 'this way to the treasure’? Vasha knows what he is doing,
don’t worry.’
‘Well, we were thinking maybe you could talk to him? Find out about
stopping somewhere for a couple of days, just so we can all rest up.’
‘Why don’t you talk to him yourselves?’ Taralynn asked. ‘And why are the
apprentices talking? Talk to your Masters, let them handle it.’
‘We did, they are the ones who want you to talk to Vasha.’ Jervin sat on
the sand and wiped his face.
‘So you were picked to talk to me and I’m picked to talk to Vasha?’
‘That’s about it,’ Jervin took a piece of jerky out of his vest. ‘Want
one?’
Taralynn waved it away. She looked out in the desert and thought.
If the others were actually getting to the point where they were willing
to indirectly confront the Wizard, the time for them to directly confront
him wasn’t too far off. Maybe it was time she started hanging around the
other tents a little more, seeing what she could hear.
‘I’ll talk to him about stopping, but that’s all I can do,’ she said,
finally. ‘I can’t make him stop and I can’t keep him from getting angry at
you either.’
Jervin gulped and nodded. ‘We know that. We are all tired of this
traveling, we are not seasoned adventurers like Vasha and the mercenaries
are. Our Masters thought that maybe he’s forgetting that.’
Taralynn turned to go back to the temporary camp. Jervin sat and ate his
jerky. It was apparent that having made the trek out to where Taralynn
was, he wasn’t in any hurry to get back to work. Taralynn gave him a wave
and started down the dune.
When she got to the encampment, she looked around and saw how tired and
worn out everyone looked. They were all hot and sweaty. Their clothes were
stained and torn, the seamstress and Celia had more mending to do than
they could handle.
She sniffed the air. Dinner didn’t smell too appetizing, again. Fresh meat
wasn’t found too often on their traveling, but the mercenaries, with help
from Vasha, managed to get some meat at least twice a week.
She ducked in Vasha’s tent and squinted towards the back, trying to see if
Vasha was there.
It looked like he was either deep in meditation working some kind of spell
or he was asleep. It was hard to tell sometimes.
Vasha was looking a little worn himself. He was not used to dealing with
such a large caravan on his adventures.
Usually, judging by the stories he told Taralynn every once in a while, it
was four or five other people and him, looking for treasure and taking on
monsters. His first experience with a lot of followers and hangers on was
not working out too well.
Taralynn decided to walk the camp and see what she could do. She knew
people better than Vasha ever would, that was part of what made them such
a good team. And she had some small magics that he had taught her; maybe
she could do something to help make people a little more comfortable.
A few hours later, an exhausted Taralynn stumbled back into the tent. She
fell to her blanket.
Vasha watched from the back of the tent as she dropped off to sleep. He
could tell that she had depleted all her energy from using her magic; he
wondered what she had been up to.
Putting on one of his clean robes, Vasha strode out of the tent towards
the dining tent. Along the way, he accepted many thanks and small tokens
of appreciation from the people in camp. Whatever Taralynn had done, it
certainly put the people in a good mood.
As he entered the dining tent, Vasha noticed it seemed a little lighter.
Upon a closer look, he saw that Taralynn had placed a common glow spell on
the inside of the tent, making it bright and cheerful inside, instead of
the usual dark, smoky atmosphere it had from the torches.
It also seemed a little cooler that normal. He looked around and detected
a few palms attached to the ceiling that seemed to have some kind of
motion spell on them.
Vasha was impressed. These were low-level apprentice spells that Taralynn
had managed to modify for uses he never would have thought of.
The cook saw him enter and bustled up with a plate of roast and gravy.
Vasha thanked her and took the plate. He wondered what kind of meat it
was; he hadn’t helped to get any animals near enough for the mercenaries
to hunt for a few days now.
Looking for clues to the treasure was taking all his time and effort
lately. He was no closer to finding it here in the desert than he was back
at the Liege Lord’s castle.
‘We wish to thank you for sending Taralynn around to help us,’ the cook
said.
‘The little things she did really made a difference. You are teaching that
girl well. It must be a joy to have such smart apprentice, unlike the lump
I’m stuck with,’ the cook said, looking at Kevin as he spilled some gravy
at the feet of the Warrior Powell.
‘The girl is doing well,’ Vasha agreed. ‘Better than I had hoped, even.’
The cook patted his arm and went to drag Kevin back to the kitchen by the
ear. Vasha sat next to Warrior Powell and started to eat.
Powell grunted and soaked up some gravy with a piece of bread. ‘Nice work
your girl did’, he said, pushing the bread into his mouth.
Vasha nodded. Taralynn must have done something extraordinary to get a
compliment from his rival.
But he didn’t know how much more praise of her he could listen to, without
knowing exactly what she did or why she did it, even. He picked up some
bread and put it on his plate. Taking a few more hunks of roast, he stood
again.
‘I have some calculations to finish,’ he said. ‘I’m glad the child managed
adequately at the tasks I assigned her.’
‘Adequately?’ Powell said, swallowing. ‘The people were about ready to
storm your tent and demand that you stop traveling for a month or two. You
acted just in time.’ He did not look too unhappy at the thought of Vasha
being trampled by the people in camp.
Vasha thoughtfully went back to his tent. He didn’t quite know why the
people had been so upset, but when Taralynn woke up, he would be sure to
question her. At least everyone was happy now, that was the important
thing.
And he could get back to his calculations. They should be near the caves
within a matter of days, if only he could find that one missing piece of
information that he needed.
Taralynn was still asleep when he got back to the tent. He sat at the
table studying the scrolls for the hundredth time. There had to be a clue
or something in the scroll somewhere, if only he could see it.
He had the feeling he was glancing right over it. Maybe he should get
Taralynn to look it over, she had a different perspective from his. It was
possible that she would see something he was missing.
Taralynn woke feeling like a new person. She had gone further with her
magic than she ever had before, she had done much more than she believed
to be possible.
Vasha was sitting on a stool, watching her. She felt a momentary panic.
Would he be upset that she had done what she did? Then anger took over. So
what if he was angry? It was his fault. He was the leader around here.
She was so busy defending herself from his unvoiced criticisms; she didn’t
notice at first that he was looking at her. Really looking, the way he did
when he was measuring her.
All her defiance and justifications drained from her thoughts. Something
was up, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what it was.
‘I have never seen’, Vasha finally began, sitting back on the stool,
‘someone who could use such a small skill with magic to achieve such great
things. Unless I misread your potential.’
The Great and Mighty Vasha make a mistake? When the sun came out at night
he would, Taralynn snorted to herself.
‘But that wasn’t likely’, Vasha said, as if reading her thoughts. ‘It’s
not what you have, but the way you use it that makes it do more than the
average wizard.’
‘You always say to look at things from a different angle,’ Taralynn
protested, not sure if she wanted to be able to do more or not. Her plate
of chores and learning was pretty full already.
‘I hope you are not suggesting that I am average’, Vasha said, standing
and moving towards the table in the center of the tent. ‘Clean yourself up
and come over here.’
CHAPTER FIVE
As Taralynn washed her face, she thought about Vasha’s words. Average? Not
in the least.
A few days after they had been traveling, they had met up with another
Wizard. The way he had treated his apprentice had shown Taralynn how
different Vasha was, not just the way he did magic, but in everything.
She was treated better, fed better, clothed better and taught better than
other apprentices. The poor boy that was apprenticed to the visiting
Wizard confirmed that. He couldn’t believe how well Taralynn had it; he
was dressed in cast off robes from the wizard, full of stains and badly
mended tears, while she was wearing clean, soft robes that Vasha had
obtained for her new.
He got the leftover scraps his master didn’t eat; usually well past the
time that any heat was left in the food. As for treats like pastries and
such, the last time he had them was when he visited his family, two years
ago.
It was the usual treatment for apprentices, he told a horrified Taralynn.
The Wizards trained the apprentices who prepared to become full wizards
themselves, knowing that the apprentices usually would turn on their
masters as soon as they thought they were good enough to win.
The other apprentice was unable to believe how nice Taralynn had it; he
figured it was because she was a girl and probably sleeping with her
Master. Unbeknownst to him, this was a theory that his own Master ascribed
to also.
They both figured Taralynn for a lightweight in the magic department,
thinking she was little better than one of the camp followers, nothing
they saw in the way Vasha treated her dissuaded them from this idea;
especially when the apprentice, on orders from his Master, tried to get
her to engage in a Wizard’s Duel.
Taralynn didn’t need Vasha to tell her to stay away from Wizard’s Duels.
She didn’t have nearly enough power to hold her own, let alone win. Vasha
never dueled and so she wouldn’t either. The other apprentice assumed it
was a requirement of Vasha’s.
He should have returned to his Master right away, but he let Taralynn lead
him in the other direction, towards the dining tent, where Taralynn was
able to get the cook to accidentally leave a few pastries on the table,
that didn’t make it onto the platter she was fixing up for the Wizards.
Taralynn watched the apprentice stuff the pastries into his mouth as if he
hadn’t eaten in weeks. Between mouthfuls, he regaled Taralynn with tales
of his Master and their journey.
Taralynn shuddered, remembering some of the horror stories the apprentice
delighted in telling her.
Wiping off the last of the water, she realized that no matter how much she
resented being taken to task like a child, Vasha was getting better
results out of her than anyone ever had before. And she was living better
than she ever would have on her own. With that in mind, she decided not to
fight the punishment she was sure she had coming for the magics she had
done around the camp.
When she came out of the washing area, Vasha was sitting at the table,
staring at the map that had come from their Liege Lord’s scholars.
‘There is something here,’ he said, as if talking to himself. ‘But I just
can’t see it. I want you to look at this and tell me what you see.’
Taralynn stood for a second, trying to comprehend what he said. She was
expecting him to order her over his lap; instead he wanted her help.
A look from Vasha reminded her that there was no guarantee she still
wouldn’t end up over his lap, so she hurried to the table.
Looking at the map, she could tell there was something wrong with it; she
just couldn’t put her finger on what though.
She turned it around and tried looking from another angle. Vasha watched
her with interest, waiting to see what this apprentice who had the habit
of doing things differently than any other magic user he knew would think
of this puzzle.
Taralynn turned the map one more time. ‘There’s something….’ She began.
‘Yes,’ Vasha agreed. ‘But what?’
Taking the map and placing it on the table, she stood on the chair and
looked straight down on it.
‘Put your finger where we are right now,’ she commanded.
Vasha was amused to note that she seemed to have forgotten to whom she was
talking to. When she was fully trained, it looked as if she would be at
least as arrogant as she constantly accused him of being. But he
obediently placed his finger on the spot.
‘That’s it!’ Taralynn jumped down and put her finger to the left of
Vasha’s. ‘Look here!’
Vasha looked where she was pointing. ‘How have I never seen that before?’
He cast a quick spell to check for magics on the map, although he had done
so before and come up with nothing.
‘It’s too subtle for that,’ Taralynn told him, before he could finish the
spell. ‘It’s just a tiny little thing, along with misdirection that could
have only come from an experienced thief.’
Now that Vasha knew where to look, he could see the way they should go was
no more than a day or so from where they currently were located. If
Taralynn hadn’t found this, he would have had them marching right past it.
And even with him knowing where he wanted to look, he still found his eyes
wanted to glide past the area where the caves were. Now that Taralynn had
mentioned it, he could sense the tiniest of spells, one which coaxed the
eyes to follow the obvious path, the one carefully drawn with skill and
cunning to guide viewers right past the treasure.
‘We could probably stay right here,’ Taralynn said, reading his thoughts.
‘We could just travel and use this as our base camp.’
Vasha looked at her with pleasure. ‘You are showing remarkable
improvement,’ he praised her.
When Taralynn looked ready to explode with happiness, he couldn’t resist
bringing her down a little.
‘We do still have to discuss your modifications to the camp though.’
Taralynn’s glow dimmed a little, but even the thought of being scolded
could not take away from Vasha’s praise of her. He never gave idle praise,
his reasoning was that if he thought she could perform something, then he
should not have to praise her when she did.
‘Yes, Master?’ Taralynn tried to sound innocent, knowing that if there
were ever a time she would be able to get away with something, it would be
now, when he was pleased with her.
‘You showed great initiative in the way you fixed things,’ Vasha started.
‘And you showed remarkable ability in finding the problem with this map.’
Taralynn glowed again.
‘But!’ Vasha added, ‘you managed to use all your energy in fixing the camp
up. Suppose I had needed you for something? You slept for almost six
hours, regaining your energy.’
Taralynn hung her head. She hadn’t even thought of that when she was
working around the camp. Everyone seemed so happy with what she was doing,
she just kept adding more and more to it.
Vasha said, ‘Such energy use goes against everything I have taught you.
Just because it worked out well this time, does not mean it will next
time.’
Nodding her head, Taralynn felt her eyes fill with tears. ‘Yes Master,’
she said. ‘I am sorry, I wasn’t thinking.’
‘That is what the punishments are for,’ Vasha said, ‘To make you think
before you do something. The next time you are going to use all your
energy, you will remember what happened here and will act more wisely
then, I hope.’
Vasha sat in the chair and waited. ‘Now that you are improving so much, I
need to be more strict with you. More magics will be available to you and
you will need even more structure and discipline than I have been
providing.’
Taralynn slowly walked over to where he was sitting. More discipline? She
already was getting spanked almost once a week!
‘Why are you being punished?’ Vasha asked in a stern voice.
‘Because I depleted all my energy without thinking about the
consequences.’ Taralynn replied, with a hitch in her voice.
‘And what were the consequences?’
‘I had to sleep to restore my energy and anything could have happened in
that time.’
‘Lift your robe, child’
Taralynn sobbed when he called her that, knowing that the spanking was
going to be one of the worst she had gotten.
She lifted her robe to expose her bare bottom and Vasha patted his lap.
Lying across his lap, she felt him motion with his hand.
‘Since I want to make an impression on you that you will remember for the
rest of your life,’ Vasha said, ‘I will be using this wooden paddle prior
to applying the switch.’
Taralynn began crying in earnest, wanting to plead and beg him not to
spank her, but she knew she deserved the punishment. What she did was
thoughtless and dangerous; and she had endangered the whole camp by doing
it.
CHAPTER SIX
Vasha applied the paddle to her bottom with no warning. The crack of the
paddle striking bare flesh was loud in the tent, but not as loud as the
cries of Taralynn. She kicked and squirmed; feeling like her bottom was
going to catch on fire.
‘Please no!’ she cried. ‘I’m sorry, I won’t do it again!!’
Vasha ignored her pleas and lifted his knee up, exposing the area between
Taralynn’s bottom and her thighs. Briskly bringing the paddle down in this
area, he was rewarded by Taralynn’s cries gaining in intensity and pitch.
After he felt he was starting to make his point clear, he stopped the
paddle. Taralynn lay across his lap, sobbing.
‘Spread your legs,’ Vasha ordered. Unable to resist the command in his
voice, Taralynn did as he said, opening her legs so that one leg hung over
his legs.
Putting his hand between her legs, Vasha spread them even further, so
Taralynn was obscenely open to his gaze. Taking the paddle, he began
spanking the inside of her thighs.
Screaming in pain, Taralynn tried to close her legs, but Vasha held her
fast.
‘If those legs close,’ he warned, ‘the switch will be used there also!’
Taralynn loosened her muscles, pounding on the dirt of the floor with her
fists. The pain was worse than any spanking Vasha had ever administered,
not only would she be unable to sit comfortably for quite a while, she now
would be able to walk without feeling this spanking either.
With no more than three spanks delivered to the inside of each thigh,
Vasha paused and ran his hand down to Taralynn’s most feminine spot.
She yelped and almost closed her legs again, but remembered in time what
he had threatened to do with the switch.
She hoped he wasn’t planning on spanking her there also!
As Vasha slipped one finger into her moist folds, Taralynn moaned aloud,
surprising herself.
Vasha flicked his finger back and forth around her clit a few times,
causing Taralynn to forget her burning bottom and thighs and to moan and
wiggle around on Vasha’s lap, trying to encourage him to do more of what
he was doing.
‘Oh, you like that, do you?’ Vasha asked.
‘Yes please,’ Taralynn moaned unable to say more.
‘Too bad you are being punished,’ Vasha said, ‘maybe when you can behave
yourself for more than a day at a time, I will be able to administer a
spanking that will get you more of this and less of this.’
With that he began applying the paddle to her bottom again. Taralynn
yelled, a mixture of pain and frustration.
But after a few minutes of the paddle beating a brisk tattoo on the tops
of her thighs, pain won out and she began begging for him to stop again.
At least he wasn’t spanking her inner thighs, was the last coherent thing
she thought, before the pain became all encompassing and she concentrated
on getting Vasha to stop.
Finally the spanking came to an end. Vasha helped Taralynn get on her
feet; she was sobbing and barely able to get her balance. Her bottom was
throbbing, ruby red with splotches of bruises already showing.
She waddled over to the wall of the tent without Vasha saying a word. Her
inner thighs hurt when they rubbed together and there was a small intense
feeling in the pit of her stomach that itched to be scratched.
Her bottom felt like it could heat the tent for the full winter months
without any problem.
Vasha watched her as she stood, legs apart and robe pulled up, trying to
stop crying and sobbing.
He was surprised at himself for his wandering fingers, almost as surprised
as he was when he realized how much Taralynn was enjoying her spanking on
an unconscious level.
The other Wizard was putting thoughts into his head, he decided ruefully.
Although he was only about ten or twelve years older than Taralynn, he
knew that he would make a poor companion. But on the other hand, he was
intending Taralynn to work with him as a partner who would be a better
companion for him than her?
He dismissed these thoughts and picked up the switch. ‘Come over here,
Taralynn’ he said.
He hated the thought of having to punish her more, but what she had done
was one of the major rules a Wizard never broke, no matter what. Even an
apprentice should be careful with their energy, since a Master could use
it to augment his own.
Taralynn began crying again when she turned and saw the switch. She knew
after her paddling this was going to hurt.
When she bent over the table, Vasha wasted no time in applying the switch.
A dozen licks quickly laid across her bottom had her screaming and holding
on to the table with all her strength so she didn’t get up.
Vasha paused and laid his hand on her back. That was all the warning she
had before the switch was laid across the upper part of her thighs,
burning with the sting of a hundred bee stings.
Unable to scream anymore, Taralynn just lay over the table and sobbed. She
knew she would never; ever, totally deplete her energy again. Not in her
lifetime, not in a thousand lifetimes.
Vasha dropped the switch and gestured. A pot that gave off a fragrant odor
appeared in his hand.
‘This will help,’ he said, opening the pot with its mixture of herbs and
flowers.
Taralynn lay still and let him apply the ointment. He had never bothered
before with an ointment. She didn’t know what to think, especially when he
nudged her legs apart so he could apply some to her inner thighs.
She could feel an ache between her legs and tried to wiggle so he would
touch her again.
‘None of that,’ Vasha commanded, smacking her bottom with his hand. ‘I
said when you are a good girl.’
Taralynn felt tear fill her eyes again, but she didn’t know if it was
because she still ached for his touch or because of the smack on her sore,
welted bottom.
‘Back by the wall,’ Vasha said, picking up the paddle, switch and
ointment, sending them up where they belong with a gesture.
Taralynn stumbled over to the wall again, holding her robe up. She could
remember when displaying her bare bottom was embarrassing to her, now she
was just grateful to have the thick robe away from her throbbing bottom
and thighs.
Vasha sat back down and began studying the map, making plans for the
excursion he wanted to go off tomorrow.
The Warrior Powell showed up at the door of the tent. Vasha ignored
Taralynn’s almost inaudible protest and bade him to enter.
Taralynn thought she would die of embarrassment, with her bottom on
display like it was. It was obvious that she had been well spanked and
switched. She bowed her head and remained where she was. She didn’t want
to be put over Vasha’s knee in front of the Warrior, which is what would
happen if she dropped her robe and turned.
The Warrior and Wizard discussed the new information Vasha was sharing.
They agreed that a small excursion tomorrow would be perfect for scouting
out exactly what they would be up against.
Vasha warned against the scouts getting too close though, when dealing
with magic protections, armor would prove of little use. The Warrior
agreed, saying he would address the scouts himself before they left.
A few more details were ironed out and then Warrior Powell left. Vasha
went back to the map, muttering in that way he had when he was
concentrating very hard.
Taralynn stayed where she was, hardly daring to move. But soon she was
bone weary, she hadn’t slept long enough to replenish all her energy and
the punishment had taken a lot out of her too.
She tried to make a couple of small noises to remind Vasha she was there.
But he was so busy, she finally turned, making sure to keep her robe up in
back, and spoke his name.
Vasha looked up as if he was just about to do that anyway and said, ‘Yes
Taralynn, you may go to bed now.’
Even though she was tired, she had just woken up. And it was still
daylight out and she had no supper! She opened her mouth to voice these
thoughts and was halted by Vasha’s motion towards the wall of the tent.
There was the wooden paddle, prominently displayed next to the switch.
Both seemed, to Taralynn’s eyes, to be smoking slightly, symbolizing the
blistering they had both done almost an hour ago on her bare bottom.
She swallowed her words and dropped her robe, making her way towards her
cot.
Before laying on her stomach, she turned to Vasha and asked in a small
voice, ‘Can everyone see them?’
Vasha smiled at the map, but when he looked up, his face was stern. ‘Only
if I wish it,’ he said, ‘the same way Warrior Powell would have seen you,
had I wanted him to.’
Breathing a sigh of relief, Taralynn lay carefully down on her cot. She
pulled her robe up so her bottom could feel the cool air on it. She was
happy with Vasha’s reply.
It was bad enough thinking the Warrior had seen her, he wouldn’t spread
any gossip, but the fact that he knew would make her feel embarrassed and
awkward in his presence.
But to have the paddle and switch seen by the apprentices and servants
running messages and such, who came in and out of the tent each day, that
would be more than she could stand.
‘If I have to punish you like this again,’ Vasha said, ‘I will do it where
everyone can see. And they will see your correction tools hung in the
tent. And they will know that you are spanked like the little girl you act
like.’
Taralynn assured Vasha he wouldn’t Taralynn have to punish her like this
again, her words slurring as she finished her sentence. Before he could
reply, she was asleep.
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