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Author's Note: I would like to give special thanks to every person who has commented on these stories, or who has rated them - thank you! Thank you very much!

Cold Blood

Chapter Five

Glimmering Gold and Gray

by

Onyx Tao

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I, Dacien by Onyx Tao is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://onyx-tao.sofurry.com.

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Dacien watched Lord Fog carefully as they rode through the twisty streets of Maze. From time to time he'd glance up at the pale section of wood up near the carriage roof, and then back to the withdrawn minotaur sitting across from him. The cobblestones made the ride jarring, bumping them back and forth on their seats. Still, Lord Fog seemed to be in no mood for conversation - not spellworking, he didn't have that remote air that seemed to accompany a working mage, but just withdrawn, as if the gray minotaur was concentrating on particularly bitter thoughts.

Perhaps half a candle elapsed before the carriage rumbled to a halt in a roofed tunnel. Dacien had tried to keep track of their progress, but the city, street and wall alike, seemed paved with a dull gray slate. One section seemed much every other, at least to Dacien's sight. Lord Fog got up as Coachman opened the door, and turned to the door, still wrapped in own thoughts. The minotaur paused, gesturing to Dacien to precede him, and followed, still silent, through a walkway and into a small room - small for a minotaur, at least. It held no furniture, no pictures, noting but dark wood paneling across the floor, walls, and even the ceiling. The door shut, and Lord Fog absently latched it. Dacien looked around, confused, as the room held no other doors.

"Master?" Dacien asked, and then the room shook, and began quietly quivering from side to side. "Master!"

Lord Fog just shook his head. "We're going up," he finally said. "House Wide is at the top of this canyon; the view is spectacular. If you like views of canyons."

"I ..."

The minotaur breathed in deeply. "I'm sorry, Dacien-human. House Wide is nearly two thousand feet above us. It will take us some time to reach it. It's on top of Wide Canyon. Second tallest cliff in Maze. It's the house of a close friend, Osaze. Oz. Only you will not refer to him as Oz, of course, even if I do."

"No, Master." Dacien looked around the little room. "Master? How does this work? Magic?"

"Some, not much." Lord Fog said. "There's a cannister of rock suspended from a cable - a metal rope. The cable has a setting-spell on to keep it from snapping, of course. The cable goes through a winch-and-pulley system, and the weight of the cannister helps pull us upwards. There's a mule at the bottom, working the winch. Roughly. It's conceptually similar to a pulley, but the cable goes up and down several times, so the effort of pulling us up is easier on the winch. Pulley. Windlass. Whatever it's called."

"What ... what happens if the cable snaps?"

The minotaur glanced down at the human. "We fall," he said with a slight minotaur-grin of a muzzle-twist.

"That sounds ..."

Lord Fog shook his head. "We fall no more than two feet," he said. "There's a grapple-hook that's kept restrained by the weight on the cable. If the cable relaxes, the grapple-hook catches on the ... well, it's not an escapement, but I forget the correct term. They're teeth, large notched teeth, designed to be caught by the grapple. Whatever the engineers call them. Really. These risers are very safe; nobody's ever been more than inconvenienced by a broken cable, and ever since," Teodor paused for a brief moment, "Lord Green figured out how to enchant the cables, there haven't been any broken cables."

"I see."

The minotaur was quiet for a moment. "We disagree on some topics," Teodor said, almost neutrally. "Practical matters."

"You threatened to kill him over a disagreement on practical matters?"

"Yes," said Teodor. The minotaur looked down at the human. "You are forgetting the honorific, Dacien-human."

"Sorry, Master."

The minotaur closed his eyes. "It's important. It reminds others around you that you are implicitly under my protection and authority, and not theirs. It proves that you are mannered, and well-behaved, and that they need not wonder about the ... problems a feral human might cause, especially a feral human mage. And there are other reasons."

It was Dacien's turn to be quiet, thinking. "Master. Would one of them simply be to make me think of you as my Master?"

"Yes," Teodor said, and glanced back down at the human. "You cannot - cannot- return to human lands. Few humans escape back, and we will not - cannot - permit a mage to leave. Ever. If you are to live in minotaur lands then you must acknowledge a minotaur as master, and you must think of him as such." The minotaur exhaled softly. "Anything else would be unfortunate."

"Unfortunate how, Master?"

Teodor shook his head. "Not now."

The remainder of the trip upwards was spent in a strained silence; Dacien occasionally looking up at Teodor, and the gray minotaur staring resolutely forward at the doors. Eventually, he room stuttered for a moment, something beneath the room clicked, and the doors opened, pulled back by two humans in loose shirts and trousers of yellow. Their sandaled feet clacked quietly against the polished stone slab floor.

The one on the left dropped to his knees, followed quickly by the other, and began speaking. "Lord Fog. In the name of our Master, be welcome to his house."

"Thank you," Teodor said gravely. "Your service does you credit. What were the Warlord's instructions?"

"Sir," said the second one. "Our Master commanded that you be welcomed as his brother, and that your commands were to be treated as his."

"Again, thank you," Teodor said, his head cocked as he considered. "Would there be ... two adjoining guest suites? With a sitting room and dining room?"

"Yes, Sir, but our Master offers his own suite for you."

"Kind as that is, I must decline it," Teodor said. "I'm certain all is in readiness for his return?"

"Of course, Sir!"

"And I should not wish to disturb that. Simply open the two guest suites - one for me, one for this human."

"If you wish, Sir, but the guest suite has a servant-chamber."

Teodor nodded. "I'm very glad to hear it, but I do want two adjoining suites, one for me, one for Dacien-human. We will eat in our rooms, and I will require two servants on-call."

"As you command, Sir. Will that be all?"

Teodor paused for a moment. "I should like a meal for myself and Dacien-human prepared ... quickly. It will offend Chef, I'm sure, but tell her I look forward to her efforts at dinner. Both of us need to eat in the next hour."

"She will appreciate the challenge, Sir. Will that be all?"

"It will. How long will it take to ready our suites?"

"One is ready now, Sir, the larger one, with sitting room and dining room."

"Excellent. Oh, yes, one more thing. Is Osaze's sitting room open?"

"It can be, Sir."

"We'll have dinner there, then, and ... every night unless the Warlord returns, when of course we will wait on his pleasure."

"Yes, Sir." The human waited for a moment, and then gestured. "If you'd come this way, Sir, your rooms are here. Your luggage will be brought up directly."

"Excellent," repeated Teodor, setting off after the human, and Dacien followed him. The corridor opened up into a wider space, like an indoor atrium, lined with heavy wood door. Glass panels just overhead lit the space with heavy gray daylight, and Dacien thought he heard the insistent patter of rain. The atrium was a much larger space than Dacien had first realized; he was on the topmost floor, and he could see down to the bottom. Four other balconies ringed the atrium, and intricate stairs led from one level to the next. Teodor looked out, and stopped abruptly.

"Steward."

"Sir?"

"I have changed my mind. Have Cook prepare us a light meal, finger foods, small breads, and cooling draughts. Have our rooms aired and my things brought. I think a bath would refresh us."

"Yes, Sir. The bathing chamber ..."

"I know where it is," Teodor interrupted, "thank you. Lay out clothes for myself and Dacien. And ... no," the minotaur said slowly. "Towels and robes in the bath. For when we get out."

"Yes, Sir."

"This way, Dacien," Teodor said, and headed toward the first set of stairs. "I am sorry our first lesson was interrupted," the minotaur said. "It's always, hmm, frustrating when that happens."

"Yes, Master."

The minotaur chuckled as he led the way down to the first floor. "Believe me, I understand. But seeing Xavien - that's Lord Green to you - well ..." Teodor paused. "Let me rephrase that. I was not in a mood to teach anything with him present. That, my dear apprentice, has been remedied. I hope you're still up for a lesson."

"I guess I am, Master," Dacien said dubiously.

"Don't worry about it," Teodor said blandly, and they continued down. "There's no rush."

Once he was inside the bath, Dacien understood why it was on the ground floor. He'd been expecting a tub, like he'd seen at Mistingrise. This was ... not that.

Again, the room was huge - forty, fifty, sixty feet long, Dacien wasn't sure and it certainly didn't matter. Golden orbs at regular intervals shed a bright light through the wisps of steam coming from the three huge pools sunk into the tiled floor. This looked more like an Imperial public bath than anything Dacien had seen so far, except a public bath wouldn't have anything so extravagant as the glassy sapphire-colored tiles covering the floor and walls. Teodor slipped out of his clothes, dropping them onto the tile, and dropped into the first pool. "Ahhhhhh," the gray minotaur said. "Just leave your clothes on the floor; the servants will collect them."

Dacien was still staring around the room.

"Dacien-human?"

"Where ... where ..." Dacien turned to stare at the minotaur now soaking in the water.

"Yes?" asked Teodor, clearly puzzled. "Is something wrong?"

"How ... Master, how many people use this room?"

The minotaur looked a little taken aback. "At the moment, just us. Osaze uses it; I imagine he's had a number of persons here. Regularly? Just Osaze and his guests. At the moment, that's two. For all time? For the time Osaze has held House Wide? I don't know either. And, I must admit, I am utterly baffled at the intent of your question."

"All this for just one person?"

"Well ... I suppose so," said Teodor after a moment, looking puzzled again. "I believe Osaze's slaves are permitted in here, if it's not occupied. But yes, this is for the master of House Wide, and at the moment, that would be Warlord Osaze. Why do you ask?"

"I ... it's ... I ... this - this is beyond what the Emperor has!"

"Perhaps," said Teodor, uncertainly. "This disturbs you?"

Dacien just shook his head. "It just seems ... wrong. I mean, ... that is ..."

Teodor just looked at him.

"You're so rich!" Dacien finally got out.

The gray minotaur turned towards the human with a look of confusion, and just stared at him for a moment. "I suppose so," Teodor said, finally, still sounding puzzled. "We are richer - more productive and with more resources - than your Empire; we have a deeper understanding of things, both magic and the nature of the world. But we - I, Lord Green, Lord Chimes, and even Warlord Osaze are all great officers of Clan Lycaili; something like your Senators, as I understand it. Most minotaurs do not hold such great dwellings. But one of your Senators might have a bathing-chamber like this. I don't understand why you're so upset."

"I ..." Dacien said, and then stopped. "I'm not sure I can explain, Master."

"Then consider it more thoroughly, at some later point. At the moment, I'd like you simply ... enjoy this place. Remove your clothes, and get into the pool," the minotaur said.

Dacien just shook his head, and then just stared at Teodor for a moment. Finally, he unbuckled his pants, stepped out of his sandals, and shrugged off his shirt. He walked carefully over the tiles, and gingerly stepped down into the steaming water.

"Hot," he said.

"Very," agreed Teodor. "This is the hottest of the pool. That one - " and the minotaur gestured to the right - "is lukewarm, just a little cooler than body temperature. And yes, before you ask, humans and minotaurs have about the same body temperature. Well, we're a little cooler, but it's not really noticeable without a very sensitive thermomeh ..." Teodor paused. "The Empire doesn't have thermometers, do they?"

"No, but I think I know what you mean, even if I don't know how they work."

Teodor shrugged. "I don't know how the really good ones work. The simple ones are just a drop of mercury in a sealed tube. So. The pool to the left of us is a cold bath. Supposedly, after soaking in this pool, one leaps into the cold bath. It's supposed to be very refreshing." Teodor's clothing fell around him, and the now-nude minotaur descended quickly into the steaming water. "Ahhhh," he sighed. "I forget how pleasant this is, especially after a long working session. I stiffen ... more than I used to, I think."

"It is nice. Sort of like a sweat hut," Dacien said, nodding, getting in deeper. "In the north, the Varengians build closed huts, fill them with hot steam, and then go throw themselves into a stream - very cold. Like ice."

"That sounds similar," the minotaur said, sitting on one of the submerged seats. "Come over here, please. I think it's time to continue your interrupted lesson."

"I ..."

"Are you warmer, now?"

"Yes," Dacien said, moving slowly through the warm water towards where Teodor was sitting. "But ... I'm still a little nervous about this."

"I understand," Teodor said quietly. "I was nervous my first time with Lord Ember. Of course, I hadn't spent the previous night with him, either. In fact ..." Teodor paused, and then looked at Dacien. "I was young," the gray minotaur said quietly. "Very young. And ... too young to know it." Gray eyelids dropped down over his eyes.

"Lord Ember didn't know that," Teodor continued. "A minotaur reaches what can be mistaken for maturity at about ... hmm, twenty years. Fur hides a great deal, after all. But it is not maturity, neither physical nor mental, not for easily another thirty years. And sometimes longer. Physical growth is merely much slower, adding perhaps an inch or two." The minotaur shook his head. "And ... I did not come from a mage-rich clan line. I knew nothing, and - foolishly, perhaps, was determined to conceal it. I think I've mentioned how much I appreciate the maturity that allows you to _ask_what you do not know. I was young. _Im_mature, yes. Inexperienced.

"Completely inexperienced, yes," Teodor said. "And nobody had bothered to tell Lord Ember that. My latent period started very early - just as I was supposed to start ... yes, I suppose I can tell you."

Dacien reached Lord Fog, and sat down next to him, only to find the water came up to his chin. Teodor glanced to his side, snorted, and pulled Dacien up into his lap. The hot water diluted the pine smell of the minotaur, but something about the hot, humid air made it seem like he had dropped suddenly into a thick, warm, minotaur-scented cloud. The human took a deep breath, almost involuntarily. The woodsy scent, carried on the rising steam, was surprisingly euphoric.

"There. These benches are at a good height for minotaurs, but they're deep for humans," Lord Fog said with a slight smile. "Besides ... it's as good an excuse as any to get you back on my lap. It's a starting place."

"For lessons?"

"Yes. And other things," Teodor said, running a hand across the water-slicked skin of the human's side. "The two are not mutually exclusive."

"You ... you've made that clear. Master."

Teodor sighed, a burst of cooler air that sent the the wispy tendrils of steam coiling away from the two. He let go of Dacien, letting the human rest on him. "And was last night with me so unpleasant?"

Dacien was quiet for a moment. "No."

The gray minotaur nodded, gently, so as not to disturb Dacien. "I enjoyed it," he said. "I had thought ..." and Teodor trailed off.

"It's not ..." started Dacien, and then he stopped. "No. I enjoyed it." He looked up, turning his head so that he was looking directly into the huge black eyes of the minotaur. He looked up at the minotaur, and repeated himself, more slowly. "I enjoyed it." Dacien leaned back against the minotaur. "Thank you, Master, for last night," he said, in an odd, almost testing tone.

"I think you were involved," Teodor said after a moment.

"Was I? Master?" asked Dacien, again in that strange tone. "I mean, ... no offense, but you're not human."

"No," agreed Teodor.

"And you're ... well, you're male."

"Very much so," the minotaur agreed. "But ... let me guess. You've never been attracted to, how should I put it, non-humans or males."

"No, Master," Dacien said, with an edge. "I can't think of a single time I've gotten all hot and bothered over a bull."

"Last night doesn't count?" asked Teodor lazily, a hand drifting down to test Dacien's own state of arousal. "Or now?"

"I think there's something you're not telling me. I don't ... I don't know _why_I'm ..." the human paused.

"Attracted to me? Any of the other minotaurs you've seen ..." Teodor was silent for a moment. "Lord Green, perhaps? Your insight is occasionally disturbing, Dacien-human. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps it's less insight_than the beginning of _percipience."

"Percipience?"

Teodor snorted. "Somewhat like Lord ... Ruus's ability to ... _know_things. Or to know that a certain action should be taken. Never, never, never play cards with Lord Chimes." The minotaur paused. "Your magic may be manifesting in the form of your insight."

"How ... how can I tell?"

A quiet silence broken only by the occasional splash of water against the side followed the question. The minotaur was unusually quiet, thinking. He finally slid another inch into the heated water, and shook his head, slowly, so as not to spray water over the human. "I don't think we can. If this is an aspect of your gifts, then ... it will become clear to you that this is so. I can't think of any way to test such a thing. I'll ask Ruus if he has any ideas about that.

"Does that mean the insight is correct?"

The gray minotaur stared at Dacien for a moment, and then just nodded, once.

"Master, you said you'd treat me honorably," Dacien said. "I don't know what you've done, but I don't think it was honorable."

"Decide for yourself," sighed Teodor. "I didn't actually _do_anything; if I'm guilty of anything, it would be a sin of omission, not commission ... but ..." the minotaur shook his head. "I don't know that if I had it to do over, I'd change a thing. Very well. Understand, if you _don't_stay within a few feet of me, I can't suppress the effects of your waking magic. And that would be very, very bad - bad for you, bad for me, bad for everyone around you. Is that clear?"

"So you've said," Dacien said neutrally.

Teodor nodded. "But if you do_stay that close to me - you fall under my influence. Or more correctly, _you are influenced by being near me. It's not me. It's you. I told you our creators designed us, didn't I?"

"Yes ..." the human said slowly.

"And you, as well." Teodor continued. "Both of us, they created -built - both of us, minotaur and human. They designed humans_to be influenced ... to trust, love, and obey _minotaurs._It's built into you, just like the way apples taste, for example. I _know_you're attracted to me - it's another thing that's built into you. Just as my attraction to you - and I am, I assure you - is built into _me." The minotaur paused for a moment. "Exactly how it works ... well, the effect is triggered through touch and scent primarily, although there's a visual aspect to it, too. It can be triggered magically, assuming you're a mage and the spell works for you - it's an earth-affinity spell, and doesn't work for me. Although I can block it."

"Which you did with Lord Green," said Dacien, suppressing a surge of gratitude. "But not for you."

"The spell doesn't block the physical triggers. _If_that's possible, and I don't know if it is, it would be an earth-affinity magic. And it would probably leave you without a sense of touch or smell," Teodor said. "And that would be very bad for you. It would ... make you crazy, after a while. It would make any minotaur or human or wolven crazy, in time." The minotaur paused for a moment, considering. "Or so our lore teaches us. I don't know anyone who has been cruel enough to test it."

"Not even Lord Green?"

"No," said Teodor firmly.

"Then just sitting here with you ..."

"Yes," said Teodor.

"And last night ... it wasn't about trusting you, was it?"

"The effect causes you to trust me, and it doesn't override your core instincts. So yes, actually, it was about your trusting me."

"Then why was Trand so surprised? Doesn't he know this?"

Teodor shrugged. "He does. It usually takes longer - much longer. It's not thought control; it's not even close. It's gentler than that ... more like the feeling you get when you look at an attractive human, and think, 'I'd like to have sex with him. Or her.'" It doesn't happen where your thoughts happen, it happens ... below that. And so it can be overridden, if you're feeling put upon or abused or poorly treated. For a while. Eventually it can become overpowering ... sort of like having to piss. You can ignore it. For a while."

"I see," said Dacien.

"I doubt it," said Teodor. "Please don't forget it happens to me, too."

"But you can block it."

"No," Teodor said. "Even if the effect can be blocked against the physical - as opposed to magical - triggers, and I do not know that it can, it would be earth-affined magic that I cannot use. Nor would I - or any minotaur - be exempt from the negative affects of having one's senses truncated. What holds for you, holds for me, too."

Dacien nodded. "But why ... why do that?"

"I have no idea," Teodor sighed. "Not even guesses. I see no good reason for designing minotaurs and humans thus, unless it was some plan that either went badly awry, or ... or the reasons and intents of the creators lie so far ahead of us in time that we cannot yet guess their purposes. Or ... perhaps they were irrational. Maybe it was some kind of joke perpetrated on us. I do not know." The minotaur shifted in the hot water, running a hand down the human's side. "And I have given up caring, to a surprising extent. The result is important to me, Dacien-human, not the unknowable purposes leading to it."

"But ..."

"Ah," Teodor interrupted, putting a finger on Dacien's mouth. "There." The finger slipped in, gently. "Yes. I know. When you first encounter these mysteries, they seem to be of shattering importance, relating to the primal questions of life and purpose. I, too, saw them that way. And I will even admit that they have such a significance. The problem is, there is no resolution to them. They merely lead in circles, so that after expending much thought and cleverness, one is left exactly where one started, neither richer, nor wiser, not improved in any way." Teodor smiled gently, and wiggled his finger. "Unless one counts intellectual frustration as some advantage."

Dacien had started suckling on the minotaur's finger, almost instinctively, letting the scent of minotaur combine with the sensation of suckling. He was still listening to his Master, of course, but the words were quickly becoming of less importance to him.

"Frustration comes in many forms," Teodor said, softly, sliding his finger in deeper even as he pulled Dacien closer to him. A slight sigh escaped from the human, but Dacien didn't even notice it. "Yes," the minotaur whispered. "You're feeling it now." Dacien tried to nod around Teodor's hand, and he felt Teodor becoming aroused beneath him. "Yes," Teodor said. "Trust me, Dacien-human, this will be a most pleasant lesson, for both of us." With his free hand, Teodor softly spread the human's legs, slipping them around him so that Dacien was straddling the gray minotaur.

Dacien's initial feeling of reluctance faded as the heat and the sheer physical presence of the minotaur affected him. Teodor's hardness lifted quickly into the cleft of the human's legs. The touch of the tip against his opening sent a shock through him. Dacien pushed down, hesitantly, but Teodor felt slippery - almost oily - against him. The human drew a surprised breath, and Teodor chuckled deeply.

Dacien swallowed nervously.

"There is no need for fear," Teodor said softly, holding him in the hot water. "This will be pleasant. I promise you."

"I'm ... I'm not afraid," Dacien said.

Teodor chuckled again. "I honor your courage, Dacien-human. We will go at your pace."

"Thank you, Master ... but ... I'm starting to feel a little hot ..."

"Yes," murmured Teodor. The water cooled noticeably, not to the point of chilled, but a pleasant coolness. "Is that better?"

"Thank you," Dacien said. "Yes. Master." He closed his eyes for a moment. "Magic."

"Yes," said Teodor.

"Was that fire-related magic?"

"Ah," said Teodor, shifting gently, pulling the human down onto him - not forcing him, but just suggesting. "A most interesting question. The simplest way of heating - or cooling - water is, indeed, fire-related. What I actually did was water-related, and a little more complex than a temperature adjustment. Heat itself may be thought of as a sort of breeze, blowing from hot to cold. I ... caused the flow of heat to ... reverse itself, to flow away from us, making the water farther away from us hotter than it was, and the water around us cooler. Which, as I am a water-affined mage, was simpler than simply banishing the heat, which - as you correctly surmise - would be fire-magic." Teodor paused for moment. "I do have a spell to cool water, and a spell to heat it, but this pool is magically maintained at its temperature, and such magics would interfere with the pool itself. Simply adjusting the local heat-flow, on the other hand, do not interfere with the binding-spells ..." the minotaur paused. "This is too advanced for you, isn't it?"

"I think I'm following it," Dacien said.

"Good, but there will be time for lectures on the nature of magic and the world later," Teodor said. "Right now I want you to get your own magic under control. And the best way to do that?"

"This. Learning how to be a lens."

"Almost," agreed Teodor. "It's not so much learning how, as experiencing. Observing. Try to feel the way the magic flows; but not every mage get the feel of it the first time. Or the second. Or the tenth. It will happen when it happens, and no sooner. There's no hurry, and it's nothing about you, or even your magic - when you're ready to step into your power as a mage, it will happen. And nobody, not me, nobody, can tell how long that will take."

"Not even Ruus?"

"That's_Lord Chimes_ to you, Dacien-human," Teodor corrected him. "Do not address a minotaur by name _ever_unless invited to do so. Not even after ..." the minotaur stopped abruptly.

"After, Master?" Dacien said once the silence had settled firmly over the interrupted thought.

"Do not concern yourself with after, Dacien-human," Teodor said firmly. "_Now_is your concern. _After_is mine."

The human nodded, and let his head rest on the gray fur of the minotaur's chest, and simply lay there for a few moments, letting the now-cool water pull the excess heat out of him. This wasn't like the previous night, with the minotaur pulling him over and forcing him ... not, he guiltily corrected himself, that Teodor had really _forced_him ... but the minotaur had definitely been - well, the aggressor. The _male_actor. Taken the man's role. He'd told himself, at the time, and even today, that there was really nothing he could have done to stop it. That Teodor was stronger, bigger, and a mage, as well. Unbeatable, in any physical sense. And smart. At least as smart as he was, and probably smarter. Kind, surprisingly kind, not out of fear or weakness, but a kindness and concern that stemmed from the minotaur's strength - no, thought Dacien, not just his strength, but his integrity.

What, Dacien wondered, did that make his reluctance now? Strength? Fear? He'd reached a point where he just didn't know what he doing. Was it even reluctance? Did he want ... the human forced himself to think it. Did he want the minotaur to fuck him? What would Lord Fog - Teodor- say if he said 'no?' Could he say 'yes?'

"Dacien-human," the deep, smooth voice interrupted his churning thoughts. "You are perturbed. What is troubling you?"

"How ..."

The massive chest expanded and collapsed in a breath and a sigh. "Does it matter how I know? Or are you evading the question?"

Dacien was silent.

"So, Dacien-human, what is troubling you," Teodor repeated, quietly.

"I ... it's hard to explain," the human said finally.

Teodor sighed again. "Dacien-human," he started, and then stopped. "Dacien-human, I have taken you as my apprentice, have I not?"

"Yes. Master."

"Then is it not proper for you to come to me with these problems? Is not a master responsible to his apprentice in your empire?"

"Not really, no," said Dacien.

"Then to whom would you - were you an apprentice in your empire - take your puzzlement?"

"I'm not sure. My parent's graves. A priest, maybe. Another apprentice. A friend."

"None of those are here," Teodor said. "Save, perhaps, the last. If you cannot bring them to your Master - could you bring them to a friend?"

A friend. Dacien looked up at the minotaur, wondering if perhaps Tedor was ...

The expression on the minotaur's face was as perfectly serious as it always was.

"You're offering to be my friend," Dacien whispered. "I don't ..."

"I_am_ your friend, and your Master. Both."

"I ..."

"What troubles you, Dacien-human?" Teodor repeated.

"This." The human lifted his head to the minotaur. "This isn't done in the empire. Men don't get fucked - they _do_the fucking. Women get fucked. Weaklings. They submit. I ..."

"I see," Teodor said calmly. "So you fear that if I bring you pleasure and affection, you will be lessened. That being ...fucked ... degrades or shames you?"

"Yes," said Dacien, relieved that the minotaur understood.

"This is a pernicious belief," Teodor said gravely. "It is a severe error, and you must overcome it if you are to be a mage. Every mage starts as a lens - we know of no other way to train a potential mage than that, and if you believe that being fucked or desiring to be fucked lessens you, you will tear apart in this training, because you _will_want that, and it _will_happen. And if you hew to this erroneous belief, then your mind will be at war within itself. And you will die."

"Duh ... die?"

"I told you magic was unsafe, Dacien-human. You are gripping the forces of reality and shaping them. And if your mind is divided with doubt or self-hatred, then these forces will rip you apart."

"Then ..."

"Then we must tackle this fallacy," Teodor said, thoughtfully, slipping a hand gently down the human's side. "The solution is ... straightforward."

"It is?"

"Do I seem_lessened_? Do you seem smaller than you were last night?"

"I ..."

Teodor leaned forward. "For tonight, apprentice, let your body instruct your mind. Do not think. Do. This lesson is about experience. Permit yourself that experience."

"I ..." started Dacien.

"No," Teodor cut him off. "No more questions, no more talking, no more answers. Act."

Act, thought Dacien. It sounded ... but ... he ...

The minotaur was right, Dacien realized. He was going around in circles; and he could keep going around and around and around all night. And ... and he had enjoyed last night. He could try to lie to himself, but how could he when Teodor knew better.

And the minotaur would keep him honest. Teodor, at least, prized honesty. And honor. And ... how could anything but the truth - whatever shame it_might_ bring to him be a just return for everything that Teodor had done - had said. And ... he did want it. He wanted Teodor in him; he wanted to pleasure the gray minotaur as the minotaur had been last night; he wanted to feel the powerful strength of the creature thrusting into him even as he welcomed the penetration into him. He wanted.

That was the key, he realized. That was what he wanted.

With almost a frantic haste, now that he'd found his intention, he positioned itself, and eased himself onto the minotaur's hardness. Teodor held still, a faint, encouraging smile in his eyes as he watched the human.

"I'm impressed," the minotaur said very softly, not moving. "I have an idea of how hard this is for you. This is bravery, Dacien-human, as much as any you have ever shown. Your trust honors me."

"Thank you," Dacien said back, working himself slowly, slowly, slowly down the minotaur's shaft. Teodor waited patiently, giving Dacien time to adjust; letting the pressure within him work itself deeper even as his own acceptance opened him up to the minotaur. He wasn't sure how long it was until he came to rest on the minotaur's water-warmed thighs. "Am ... am ..."

"Yes," Teodor whispered. "Without the magic. Do you need more time?"

"I ... a little," the human admitted. "You're ... you're big."

"Yes," said Teodor. "Minotaurs are both longer and thicker than humans. You're fortunate that our creators didn't include the bone." He put both arms around Dacien in a careful embrace. "You feel so good," Teodor sighed. "Warm.

"Bone?" squeaked Dacien.

"Bulls have a penis bone, and we - minotaurs - are a human and bull hybrid. Mixture. Created from," Teodor said in a slightly distracted tone. "Oh, sweet human," he said, and shifted his legs slightly, and that minute adjustment sent a shudder of pleasure through the human. That additional movement intensified the pleasure; and Dacien began rocking back and forth on the minotaur's lap.

"Patience," Teodor said with a slight groan. "Patience." He panted for a moment. "And here I thought you'd have to exercise some self-control." The minotaur grinned at the human. "So."

The sensation was so gentle that at first Dacien wasn't sure of what it was; but something in him recognized it. Warmth - what felt like warmth, but the human knew, somehow, it wasn't felt like it was seeping into him, starting at his toes, rising up into him, slowly, inexorably. Dacien shuddered, again and again and again in something that was almost but not quite an orgasm as the rising heat suffused him, reaching his groin, and an intense desire - need - boiled through him. He clutched at the powerful form of the minotaur, who was whispering something to him, but the meaning didn't register. All that mattered was the minotaur, all that mattered was pulling closer to him, pounding himself onto the minotaur. He could tell, somehow, that the warmth - the feeling - whatever it was that wasn't warmth - was coming from the male. And he wanted it. Teodor was ...

The minotaur was an endless source of power; a huge, massive solid pulse of maleness. Oh he wanted the minotaur, even as the minotaur forced him down, Dacien gratefully sunk into his Master. It felt so right; this constant flow of power, teasing through him. "Master," he whispered, and for the first time, the human really _felt_like this creature was. "Master!" Dacien screamed.

"I know," Teodor said, and somehow the meaning got through. The other words meant nothing, other than their comforting tone. It didn't matter; he shouldn't expect to understand. This was his God, his Master, and he existed for Teodor's whim. Dacien could feel the quiet echoes of pleasure as the minotaur fucked him slowly, deeply, and somehow, just the simple knowledge that he was pleasing his Master was more satisfying than the long, deep strokes that were teasing him at the very edge of release.

Dacien tensed slightly, feeling the intensity grow to the point of release.

There was no release; no orgasm, no explosion of pleasure, just the building feeling of it. More. More. And more. Dacien was whimpering now, wordless with pure need, almost oblivious to the soft stream of encouragement; registering it barely as tone, just mere proof that his Master wanted him, that he was pleased with the human. Dacien sighed as the minotaur's movements into him seemed to prove how pleased the creature was. It was right, proper, good that he was here, being used by his Master. Dacien clenched down, moaned, anything to show his Master how grateful he was to be used like this. He, Dacien, was saying something, almost begging, but he wasn't sure what.

His Master was touching him, saying something, important, and Dacien felt a remote surge of guilt that he couldn't understand his Master; his Master wanted something, but the only thing Dacien wanted - and want was such a weak term for the burning absolute need that boiled through him, forced his fervent convulsions against the meaty solidity of Teodor, pleasing him, and he realized that only - only Teodor's own release would bring him, Dacien, over the edge to the intense pleasure of orgasm that he would do _anything_for.

The minotaur himself was panting, moaning, as his own pleasure built, more slowly that the fires fed by the golden surge of ....

... magic ...

pouring into him from him. Magic! The magic! He could feel it, dripping into him, but it wasn't enough, he needed more, to assuage, to bring this unbearable pleasure to climax, and he reached out, into the minotaur, into his Master, and _pulled_on the source of the burning golden power. Teodor _screamed_as orgasm hit him unexpected and unannounced, and the minotaur's legs convulsed as he pulled the human down onto him. Pulse after pulse of the white essence of minotaur maleness pounded into him, launched by both Teodor's internal contractions and the mechanical thrust of the minotaur against him.

The minotaur's howl was matched by Dacien's. Fire burned through him as he felt his own body clench, and his seed explode out of him, and it hurt - burned - every bit as much the release felt good. Power, uncontrolled, burned, dissolving him in burn and hurt and when the blackness swallowed him, Dacien welcomed it gratefully.

Consciousness returned slowly; Dacien cringed at first, expecting the stinging ache of the burns, but all he felt on his bare skin was the crisp feel of ironed cloth. The room was dark; but a little light seeped in around a window. He could make out the foot of the bed, and the minotaur sitting by the bed - Teodor, he knew without even thinking - and a dresser, and several other odd pieces of furniture. Dacien tried to speak, but all that came out was a rough grunt.

"Please don't try to speak," Teodor said, and his voice sounded tired, almost exhausted. "You're fine. I'm ... I'm fine. Or I will be, once I can rest. Which, I cannot, as long as I'm maintaining the rain spell. You've been out for three days. Something ... something went wrong in your lesson, Dacien-human, and I've been pondering it in between my arguments over whether the rain will continue or not."

"Argch ... u ..."

"Water first," the minotaur said, and held a glass of water to his mouth, and Dacien drank, slowly. Swallowing hurt at first, his throat was so dry, but the cool water seemed to soak into the parched tissues of his mouth. The faintest taste of orange lingered in his mouth after he'd finished the glass, and Teodor set him back down, tenderly, into the bed.

"Arguments, I think you were saying - just nod, it's fine," the minotaur continued. "So. The Imperial Army has four mages with it - reasonably strong, but they don't seem to understand weather magic as well as I do, so ... I've been able to outmaneuver them. It has kept me on my toes, certainly. And ... whatever happened in your lesson didn't help. Food's coming, I've got something warm for you. Are you hungry?"

Dacien nodded.

"Good. We'll talk about what happened later; I have a few ideas but ... I would very much like to hear your story. It will help. And ... ah."

The door opened a moment later, and a human presented the minotaur with a bowl.

"Thank you, that will be all," Teodor murmured in a polite dismissal, and almost immediately began to spoon the contents into the human. It was a hot mush of bread, made soft with milk and flavored with honey and some spice Dacien didn't recognize. The conversation ceased while Teodor spooned the stuff into Dacien, until the human felt full.

Teodor stood, and took a that was hanging from the bed - no, it was hanging from the ceiling, Dacien saw. "Here. You need to go back to sleep - I'm not sure if what happened was classical lens burnout or not, but ... you're tired, you need and you need to sleep. I'm thinking you should be tired ... yes?"

Dacien nodded. A wave of exhaustion had rolled over him as he lay back down.

"Then sleep, Dacien-human. All the things that have happened ... will keep. I could use some rest myself," and the minotaur grinned.