The Academy Volume One

by Maxine Mansfield

  Shrugging her shoulders and smiling, Briar headed inside. No matter how hectic life got, she knew Uthiel―her anchor, her calming force, her heart―would be waiting for her.

  ****

  Uthiel’s breath caught in his chest and warmth filled him as Briar walked into class. God Draka, she was beautiful. Not a classic beauty like Ursula, but a beauty that resonated from the inside out. Not that she wasn’t attractive to look at. Uthiel smiled as his cock responded to that thought.

  She had full, kissable lips like a summer rose. Her skin was blush-soft, and her eyes sparkled with dark green mischief. Her breasts begged to be suckled. She had a mystery about her it would take a lifetime to uncover. Hers was a beauty that wouldn’t fade no matter how many years passed. A loveliness that shone from the depths of the kindness in her eyes, to the gentle touch of her warm hand, to the comfort given freely from the far reaches of her soul.

  As she approached, an emotion he’d thought long dead squeezed his heart and drummed through his veins. He searched desperately for something to say to cover the words warring with his brain, demanding to be declared. He wasn’t whole again yet, so he had no right to say them aloud.

  “So, I hear you’re quite the celebrity these days, my lady.”

  Briar’s smile faded and Uthiel knew he’d made a mistake.

  She sat beside him on the bed and scooted close. A single tear escaped her downcast eyes, and Uthiel was mesmerized as he watched it trickle down her delicate face. With a finger, he stopped its progression and tilted her chin until they were eye to eye.

  “What’s wrong, my lady?”

  “I’m nothing special,” she cried. “That potion is the luck of a childhood accident. It could’ve been anyone who found it. I can’t seem to do anything right, Uthiel. You know I want more than anything to be a True Healer. It’s almost time for finals and I’m not ready. Even though I have no real final exam to worry about in Headmistress Seychelle’s Dominatrix lessons, I’m horrid, and I hate it. If you weren’t in there with me, I wouldn’t even go. And worst of all, I’ve failed at what is most important in the world to me. To heal you.”

  Briar sniffed loudly and Uthiel rocked her.

  “You haven’t failed me, my lady. My problem is my punishment, not any shortcoming you may think you have.

  “Be proud of your accomplishments, for I’m certainly proud of you. You’re an amazing woman, Briarlarn Tumbleweed, and you’ll be an extraordinary True Healer someday. Don’t you realize that yet?”

  Briar shook her head and buried her face in Uthiel’s chest. The clearing of Mr. Chamman’s throat, however, stopped any further discussion.

  “Channeling. How many of you can tell me exactly what I mean by channeling?” Mr. Chamman hesitated and glanced around the room. “Channeling is the process by which you draw upon your inner strength and allow your life force to flow through you into another, like an electric healing current of pure unconditional love. No heal of the soul can be completely accomplished without it, for it is the connecting cleansing power of your love which allows the impurities of your subject to dissipate.”

  Uthiel watched Briar. Though he hated to admit Sarco was right, he couldn’t help but acknowledge he was falling in love with her.

  He should end it now. He should’ve ended it before it even began. He wasn’t whole, and he might never be.

  He sighed and turned his attention back to the lecture.

  “Most times, you won’t even realize channeling is happening. It’s completely normal to channel energy when connected to someone else. For those in tune with their own channeling abilities, it will usually be a conscious effort. No two healers are exactly the same. What you do all have in common, however, is the connection. You must be connected―you inside them, or them inside you―to complete the energy flow path.”

  How he longed to be truly connected to Briar. The thought of having her pussy sheathed about his cock brought a smile to Uthiel’s face, a pain to his heart, and a sudden tightening in his breeks. He tamped down the thought and remembered she didn’t really belong to him.

  Mr. Chamman raised a hand. “I know what you’re thinking, and yes, there are always exceptions to the rule. There are those healers who can channel their life force through the very tips of their fingers and heal a soul without taking their subject inside of themselves, but that is extremely rare. In my entire lifetime, I’ve met only one. So for this class’s purpose, we will concentrate on healing only from the inside out.”

  Briar gave a little gasp, as if she’d just realized something, and Uthiel watched the changes in her expression. Her forest-green eyes widened, and her pink lips pursed. Her brow wrinkled, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss the wrinkle away. He wished to take her in his arms, make love to her, and have her beg him to fuck her once again.

  He wouldn’t, though. It was time to concentrate on how to solve his own problem and not count on others to do it for him. Time to become a man, a real man, once again.

  Mr. Chamman paced the classroom, then stopped before the podium. “With finals less than a week away, you may be wondering why I would even bring up channeling at this time. Being first-semester healers, I don’t actually expect you to do a heal of the soul, but I do expect you to be able to show me the mechanics of a heal of the soul. That is why you’ve been given the demonstrations and ample practice time. The actual use of channeling will begin next semester. I simply wish you to be informed as to what to expect.

  “Now, please use the remainder of today’s class and the rest of the week before finals to practice whichever technique you feel is your weakest. And remember, extra credit points will be given if you are able to accurately diagnose your subject’s root problem during the final.”

  Uthiel ran his hand down the length of Briar’s body. “So, my lady, is there something in particular you wish to practice? Perhaps the use of more naughty dialogue, by chance?”

  Briar playfully swatted his arm. “Don’t tease me. You know that surprised me as much as it did you.” She giggled, “It was kind of fun, though, wasn’t it?”

  Uthiel wiggled his eyebrows at her and grinned, “What occurred during and afterwards certainly was. Come on, Briar, give me just one little dirty word.”

  Briar smiled, leaned in close to Uthiel and whispered, “I’ll do better than that. I’ll give you three. Penis, penis, penis.”

  He laughed and hugged her close.

  She burrowed in and yawned. “I’m tired. I think we’ve practiced plenty this week, don’t you?” He rubbed her bottom and she chuckled softly.

  Uthiel was surprised, though, when a moment later she lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye.

  “Do you know what I would really like right now? To hear something of yourself, Uthiel. Something I don’t know of you, and your family, and your home. You always avoid the subject.”

  He nestled Briar close to his heart. Closing his eyes, he traveled in his mind across mountains and valleys, rivers and lakes, ice fields and deserts, until a land of misty green majesty stretched out before him.

  “My home is difficult to explain, but I’ll try. It isn’t a constant place. I hail from what is called the Isle of Mist. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?”

  Uthiel acknowledged the slight shake of Briar’s head before continuing.

  “It’s a real island and, at the same time, magical, because it shifts locations. We are a nomadic race known as the Paladins of Albrath. Our entire village―homes, people, everything―travels on a parallel plane with the dragons.

  “Long ago, during the war for Castle Kuropkat, a powerful wizard placed a spell on our lands and shrouded them. Only those from the Isle of Mist, or connected to someone from there, can actually see us when we are near.”

  Briar nestled closer, and Uthiel tightened his arms about her.

  “We are the direct descendants of the original humans who came to this world long ago. It was my ancestors who first wielded the Blade of Gen and destroyed the nogard
s, the only real threat the dragons ever had.”

  Uthiel stopped for a moment and sighed, “That is why my people were entrusted with the protection of the nogards to begin with.”

  Briar yawned. “An honorable task, for sure.”

  He smiled, took a deep breath, then continued, “The Isle of Mist is linked to the dragons and travels as they do. When they venture away from their homeland, my island and its inhabitants follow. My home and people can one day be right inside your very own Dak forest and I could even be standing at your side and you would never see me unless I wished it. The next moment, my village could be in the middle of the Mountains of Landis, and then a heartbeat later, completely across the Tambian Sea.”

  “What a magical place,” Briar sighed. “I’d love to visit it someday.”

  Uthiel stared at the ceiling. “I’d love to take you there someday. As a child,” he chuckled, “I never knew where on Albrath I would find myself when the sun next rose.”

  Briar leaned up on one elbow. “How did it come to be so magical?”

  Uthiel took a deep breath. “Dragons, a war, and a fable. It was long ago prophesied that the lands of my people shall remain shrouded in mist until a time when a leader steps forward with the heart of a true paladin and, with the help of a dragon and a fair maiden, saves an innocent. When that happens, the hearts and minds of both dragon and man will merge and a new time of understanding will begin. The dragons will become partners of man instead of creatures to be watched over, and man will become not only their guardians but their friends.

  “It’s just a story, though. No one really believes it possible. There’s even an old fable about it. But if you ask me, the only good dragon is a dead dragon.”

  Briar’s eyes widened. “Oh, I know that fable by heart, Uthiel. It was one of my favorites as a child.”

  Her voice was almost a song as she recited the words he knew so well.

  “When a man whose heart is stout and true joins with a woman whose love flows through and through,

  And together they embrace a soul who forgiveness is due, in order to save a life barely started and new,

  Then and only then will the shadows of ancient wrongs become light and the mist of misunderstanding be lifted and the world become bright.

  The time of waiting will come to an end as a leader steps forward of both dragon and men.

  Tried by fire and forged of true love, ruled by a heart as pure as a dove.

  United again Castle Kuropkat will be and a time of peace like no other all of Albrath will see.”

  Uthiel was shocked a half-elf would even know human lore, let alone be able to recite it.

  Then he chuckled. Briar was no run-of-the-mill half-elf. She’d proven many times how wonderfully intelligent she was.

  He tucked her even closer to his heart and gloried in the sweet, familiar smell of her. “Yes, my lady, that’s the one. Though I do have to admit I’d never thought to hear it spoken outside my own village.”

  He smiled as the aroma of her herbs―yarrow, white willow, and rose hips―tantalized his senses. His cock hardened. He wanted to taste her, and mount her, and fuck her until her body glowed with a sheen of his making.

  Uthiel’s hand was just beginning to slide up Briar’s tunic when, with a wiggle of her soft ass and six commanding words, Briar forced him back to attention.

  “Get on with the story, Paladin.”

  “Ah, yes, the story. Well, the land is also connected to the leader of the people, and relocates as he bids it. My father, just as his father before him, and his before him, and so on and so on for almost the last nine hundred years, is the leader of the Paladins of Albrath and protector of his people and the dragons. Urrean Stoutheart is as fierce as any dragon, as loyal to his people as any friend, and as loving and generous to my mother and me as any man could be. He’s also stubborn, arrogant, unreasonable most times, demanding, and quite loud.”

  It was Briar’s turn to chuckle. “He sounds wonderful and a lot like my own father.”

  Uthiel nodded against her skin, but took a moment to allow the lump in his throat to go down before he spoke again. “He is wonderful, and I love and respect him more than any other man I know. That’s why I haven’t seen him face to face for more than a year now. The last time we spoke, it was in anger. As leader of the paladins, he was embarrassed of me.”

  Briar turned toward him and leaned up on one arm. “I’m sure he understands why you feel the way you do, Uthiel. Perhaps you need only explain the way you have to me.”

  “I’ve tried,” Uthiel shook his head. “If only I could find and kill that monster, everything could go back to the way it was.”

  “And your mother, what of her?” Briar’s eyes misted over as she asked.

  Uthiel hugged her close to his chest and smiled, “Jewels Stoutheart is like warm bread, fresh from the brick oven. With a hand that, to this day, pulls a cover over me in the chill of the night or feels my forehead the same way she did when I was a child, even though I’m fine. She’s the first to applaud my triumphs and the last to acknowledge my defeats.

  “She believes in me. I’m not sure why, but she does.”

  He leaned down and kissed Briar’s forehead. “You’d like her, my lady. She’s from a clan of shape-shifters. That’s a fact few know and something she rarely mentions. Her grandfather was half-bahsheer, and people tend to fear and ridicule what they don’t understand, so she doesn’t speak of it often. She’s amazing, though. When she’s frightened or angry, or even when she simply wishes to romp in the tall grass, Mother has the ability to transform herself into a sleek panther. It’s incredible to watch.

  “As for me, though, I’m afraid I don’t have any special talents. I wasn’t lucky enough to inherit her abilities, and I certainly don’t have my father’s wisdom. I’m but a plain, ordinary man.”

  Briar’s eyes gleamed. “Oh, I disagree. I think you have an amazing array of talents, Paladin. And as far as being ordinary, you have an extremely talented penis,” she giggled, and Uthiel smacked her playfully on the ass.

  “Not those talents,” he laughed, then continued, “I consider myself lucky. I’ve been blessed with a family that loves me even if they can’t accept my decisions. It does pain me to disappoint them, and for that I’m sorrier than words can express.”

  Briar took his face in her hands and caressed the warm skin. “How could you ever disappoint them, Uthiel? You’re all that is good and kind and brave in this world.”

  Uthiel sighed and closed his eyes, not wanting Briar to see the pain written there. “I wish that were true, Briar, but it isn’t. I am a failure.

  “Even if I hadn’t turned my back on their belief that all dragons deserve to be protected, I’m their only child, their heir. I can’t give them the one thing they desire most of me. The one thing that will continue the line of the Paladins of Albrath. A child of my own blood. They know of my affliction, for there is nothing I can keep from them, and since Deleny’s death, there is a deep sadness in their eyes when they look my way.”

  She placed her hand on his chest. “You must be mistaken. Guilt fogs your reason. I’m sure they don’t blame you as much as you think. Delaney’s death wasn’t your fault. It was an accident, Uthiel. Simply a horrible accident.”

  The warmth of Briar’s hand coming to rest where his heart beat was like a balm to his soul. He wanted to believe her. He was so tired of the guilt he carried, so tired of disappointing those he loved. So tired of not being whole. Still, he knew in his heart he was to blame, and the only one who could ever make it right.

  “I wish that were true, my lady, but don’t you see? It was one thing when I was careless with my own life, but when I put Deleny at danger and ultimately cost her her life, I did a much greater wrong than I ever thought possible―one there can be no forgiveness for. Until the time comes when I find and kill that bastard, I’ve condemned an entire line of my people to extinction.”

  He shuddered, once more reliving his own hel
plessness and the terrified look in Deleny’s eyes as the red-scaled monster dropped her to her death.

  Briar hugged Uthiel and whispered urgently, “Don’t give up hope, my Paladin. I’ll find a way to heal you. You’ll see. You will be the man it’s your destiny to be.”

  He shook his head but didn’t say a word, knowing deep in his heart that Briar was wrong. She couldn’t heal him. Only one thing could…the blood of the red-scaled dragon on the end of his blade.

  It had to die, and it had to die soon.

  ****

  Mist swirled and Briar struggled to wake herself, not wanting to hear the words she knew would be coming.

  “Our destinies are joined, Healer. Yours, mine, and the paladin’s. Have you learned yet what you need to know? We are counting on you, Healer. All of us.”

  Briar shook her head. “Why do you continue to torment me, Carnelian? I don’t understand what it is you want. I don’t even think you’re real. You’re probably just a bad piece of meat I ingested at dinner. I should wake myself and make a cup of mint tea.”

  Even in her sleep Briar could feel the vibrations of Carnelian’s laughter. The being’s breath warmed her skin.

  “Oh, you have no idea how close to the truth you are, half-elf, half-human female. Love the paladin, Healer, for love is the only thing that may save us in the end. That is what we have need of. Love.”

  Briar nodded in her sleep. “I do love him, Carnelian. I do.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The bahsheer pointed his furry finger at a spot on the floor at Briar’s feet. “Set it down there, gnome, and be quick about it.”

  Leeky Shortz, carrying a box almost as big as he was, glared at Zunnoab and, with a thud, let the dusty box drop. Sliding his brown gloves off and replacing them with bright red ones, he stared impatiently at the cat-man.

  “What the pink-painted toenails on the crusty feet of a hefty-sized troll trollop do I look like ta ya? Your errand boy? Will there be anything else ya need help with, ya wimpness, or can I get back ta my own duties before ya cough up a fur ball on me?”