The Lovely Knight - Chapter 2

Chapter 2   

A branch snapped and Matt whirled to face the sound. Jasmine was already on her feet, sword in hand. “More brigands?” Matt whispered as she moved to press her back against his.

“Trouble,” Jasmine whispered back. “And shh.”

They stood back to back ears straining to detect a misplaced sound in the impenetrable darkness of the forest until Matt’s muscles began to cramp. “Maybe just an animal,” he suggested.

Jasmine ignored him. “Dammit. I knew I should have left my armor on. I saw that old well and the thought of washing was too good to pass up.”

“Well? I didn’t see a well.”

“You were too busy staring at my ass.”

“I was not,” Matt said a little too quickly. Jasmine snorted a laugh. “That is completely- Wait, hold on.” The gears in Matt’s brain churned out an idea. “That may be our way down.”

It was Jasmine’s turn to be confused. “A way down where?”

“Get me to the well, and I’ll show you.” Matt clutched his staff tightly and resisted the urge to cast a spell that would illuminate the woods for a quarter mile in every direction. 

Voice pitched low so only Matt could hear her Jasmine said, “There are at least half a dozen of them out there.”

“Half a dozen what?” Matt whispered back.

“Men. Armed ones.”

“How can you tell?” Jasmine reached up and tapped her earlobe by way of response. How can she hear them, I do not hear a damn thing Matt thought irritably. “Point me to the well?” Jasmine’s strong hands encircled his wrists and she guided him roughly thirty degrees to the left by turning her shoulder against his. When she stopped Matt said, “Alright, play it like we did in Lorrandil?” Jasmine chuckled and he felt the back of her head nod in agreement.

“I’m telling you I heard something,” Matt said loudly, as though losing control of his anger in the middle of running argument.

“Yes, its a forest,” Jasmine’s full throated reply dripped with forced patience. ”Things live in it.”

“It’s this way.” He began to stomp off noisily into the forest. Jasmine followed close behind, sliding her sword back into its scabbard as they clomped through the trees. Whoever was watching them was getting plenty of noise to cover their own movements and the darkness was so thick that someone five feet in front of their faces could have danced a jig in total concealment. As long as whomever was watching was content to remain an observer- Matt and Jasmine were giving them every opportunity to do so. They reached a cylindrical protrusion of stone a short time later and Matt said loudly, for the benefit of their audience, “They must have got away.”

“Oh, of course. Maybe they escaped down this well,” Jasmine replied with biting sarcasm.

“Maybe they did!” Matt retorted. “You should go check.” Despite the tension of the situation he found himself enjoying their roleplay. It had been a long time since they had needed to talk their way out of situation and he realized he missed it. Jasmine possessed a surprisingly quick wit, and was a skilled improviser. And Matt found it was only when pretending to be someone else that he could speak to her with confidence.

“I’m not going down a well,” Jasmine replied flatly, and her acting was so convincing that Matt was not entirely sure she was acting at all. 

He frowned, they could not whisper again without arousing suspicion and he was not sure how to tell Jasmine that the artifact they were looking for was somewhere underground. Whoever was out there was still watching, there was no time to think of something clever. “I’ll do it then,” he replied flippantly and strapped his staff to his back. Before Jasmine could protest he took hold of the dessicated rope and jumped down.

Cold, stale air rushed by for a few seconds before the rope hit a snag. Matt’s shoulder jerked painfully and he swung into the curved stone surface of the well. His back scraped along the side, his staff dealt a dizzying blow to his head and his fingers slipped. The rope became a length of flame that seared his palms as he plunged deeper into the darkness. A moment before the strength in his arms gave out his feet splashed down and he crumpled to the ground with wet smack.  

“Matt!” Jasmine’s voice echoed down the well.

“Ouch, damnit.” Matt groaned from a dozen bruises and scrapes. His hands had got the worst of it, rubbed raw and bleeding from the rope. “I’m alright!” he shouted and his voice echoed hollowly up the well. Ignoring the pain Matt drew in his focus and muttered the words to a spell. A globe of light coalesced in his palm and he raised his hand to illuminate the room. White light spilled across the stone depression into which he had fallen and he realized he was standing in a large stone cistern. Mud sucked and pulled at his boots with every step. The grime-slicked stone bowl took a few attempts to climb. When he reached its edge and got a look at the room beyond he very nearly toppled over from shock. 

His magic revealed wide hallways carved from stone and traced with complex geometric patterns. Tellurian construction. Knowledge gleaned at the academy came pouring back as he gazed around the room. The Tellurian Empire had once straddled the continent from sea to sea. And if the legends were to be believed academy magic had roots in Tellurian sorcery, but his magic was a pale imitation of the power the Tellurians once wielded. The tales told of unending greed for greater and greater sorceries, and a power that had been the Tellurians undoing. Few fables agreed on the precise cause of empire’s fall -most records were destroyed in the Reformation Wars that followed The Collapse- but one thing was certain. Every Tellurian city had been reduced to rubble as warring city-states scrambled to collect every scrap of knowledge left behind. Later, even the ruins had been carted off brick by brick and sold as raw materials. Today, every port and town had at least a few bits of Tellurian architecture mixed in though few knew their origin. The well he had jumped down was probably the only thing left of what was once an entire city.

A cry of pain tore Matt’s attention from the walls back to the cistern. He turned just in time to see the end of the rope slither down from the ceiling and land atop Jasmine’s prone form. He skidded back down the side of the cistern to her side while she let out a string of curses. When she had worn out her anger he asked softly, “Are you alright?”

“No. My ankle is twisted, come here,” Jasmine reached out a hand and Matt helped her up, arms trembling from the effort of lifting her out of the muck. He left the globe of light hovering nearby and so got a good look at Jasmine’s mud-splattered body. A glance at his own robes showed he was in a similar state and he could not help but laugh. “Is this funny to you?” Jasmine snarled, mud dripping down her face.

The released tension of near death experiences never failed to make him giddy, and he laughed harder. “You look like you wrestled a pig and lost,” he wheezed out between laughs. 

A ball of mud slapped into his forehead, rocking his head back. He sputtered and wiped his face to clear his vision only to see Jasmine grinning at him and already packing another mudball between her hands. “I yield!” he said.

“Hmph,” Jasmine looked down at the mud in her hands for a moment before letting it drop. She bent and plucked her sword from the mud and her grin faded. “You want to tell me why we just abandoned my armor and all of our supplies?”

“Easier to show you, can you walk?”

Jasmine took a hesitant step forward, winced, then said, “With your help.”

Matt quickly slid into position at her side and wrapped his arm around her for support. Her body was soft and warm and he had to fight to prevent himself from growing aroused. Focus, he thought, and guided her up the bowl of the cistern, beckoning the light to follow. When they reached the edge Jasmine tensed then let out a low, awed whistle. “The artifact is down here,” Matt explained. She nodded then glanced at him with… affection? She turned away before he could be sure. Mission first I guess, he grumbled silently.

The cistern was carved into the floor so there was only a short drop from its edge to the carved stones below. Matt helped Jasmine down before recasting his divination spell. Golden tendrils pointed down the leftward path and they started slowly down the wide stone corridor. Blue stone veined with gold traced patterns in the walls and ceiling and Matt marvelled at how clean it all looked. No grime or cobwebs marred the walls surface, even dust was nowhere to be seen. It seemed they had fallen into the only dirty place in the entire underground structure. 

“They’ll find a rope long enough to get down the way we did or find another way before too long,” Jasmine said. 

“You think they’ll follow us down here?”

“Agrean soldiers are not known for giving up,” Jasmine’s pretty lips twisted sourly.

“Agrean? Oh. That… That’s bad.” War had been brewing between their country, Pelta, and the Agreans for years. Dozens of minor skirmishes had already fought and most agreed it would not be long before the first major battle of war broke out. If the Agreans were following them it was likely they knew about the mission to recover the artifact.

“It is,” she agreed. “We need to hurry.” Matt redoubled his pace, forcing a wince from Jasmine that was quickly replaced with a determined scowl.

Mud dried and flaked off their bodies with such alacrity as they walked that Matt knew magic was at work. Before long they were both spotless except for the residual damp of the mud which made Jasmine’s sheer shirt cling distractingly to her bust. She caught him looking and said, “I always wanted them bigger you know.”

“W-what?” Matt stammered, caught completely off-guard.

“My tits,” she said and he felt his cheeks heat as she went on, “When I was younger I thought I would look more ladylike if they were bigger.” Why was she telling him this? His penis rose with a vengeance, threatening to impede his steps. “Wider hips too, longer hair- the whole lot. Being tall was nice, but I really wanted all the rest.”

“You have a very nice figure,” Matt said without thinking.

“Average,” Jasmine replied. “But kind of you to say.”

“I wanted to be taller,” Matt blurted out. “When I was younger, I mean.”

“You don’t still want to be taller?” Jasmine chuckled.

“Well, okay, I guess. But there is no sense wishing for it now. Up til last year I still hoped to grow at least another inch or two, but 21 year old men don’t get taller. At least you could still-” he waved his free arm suggestively.

“What?” Jasmine laughed. “Get fat? Or maybe you’re suggesting I get pregnant?”

“N-no!” Matt was blushing furiously now.

“Ooooh,” Jasmine said. “Is that the kind of woman you like? Great big tits and ass hanging out everywhere?” Matt was certain that if his cheeks grew any hotter his hair would catch fire. “You’re adorable when you’re embarrassed,” Jasmine tittered. 

Matt was trying to figure out how to respond when they stepped into a cavernous room, ceilings looming beyond the reach of his light. The walls were even more intricate here and Matt could feel the electrical pulse of magic. Powerful rituals had once been carried out in this place. At the center of the room a raised dais supported a cube- or was it a hexagonal prism? The object seemed to morph continuously, only settling into a solid shape when his attention was turned elsewhere. The effect was disconcerting to say the least. He looked around the room a final time but there was nothing worthy of note save the dais and the strange object that sat atop it. “I think that’s it,” he said.

“Looking at it is making my headache,” Jasmine replied. “Grab it and let’s get out of here.”

Just then the pounding of boots echoed down the hall back the way they had come. Jasmine pushed Matt away and the hiss of steel rang in the chamber as she drew her sword. “You’re hurt,” Matt warned. “There are half a dozen of them.”

“More than that now,” Jasmine said grimly. Matt glanced between the darkened hall and the woman who had protected him countless times. Without hesitation he pulled his staff free. The cool, worn wood was a balm to his burning palms. “What are you doing?” Jasmine said as he stepped past her.

“Buying us time.” Staff raised Matt whispered an incantation- drawing on the latent energy in the room to weave an illusion. Blue lines of light raced towards the corridor and began to layer in an interlocking grid of energy. Flickering torchlight appeared in the distance and Matt raced to complete his magic. The blue lines wove faster and faster until the entire entryway was a mesh of crackling energy. With a final gesture the strands snapped taught and his hands fell to his sides. A moment later brutish faces emerged from the gloom and slowly approached the wall of blue energy. 

The men slowed to a stop less than two dozen paces away and showed no sign of recognizing his or Jasmine’s presence. One approached the illusory wall and ran his fingers slowly across an unseen surface before turning to his fellows. “They must have gone a different way,” his gruff voice barked. The men turned as a group and in seconds had disappeared back into the darkness the way they had come.

Jasmine let out a low whistle. “Impressive, mage.”

In spite of a wave of weariness from casting such a large illusion Matt could not help but smile. “They’ll figure it out before long, we need to hurry.” He moved to the dais, keeping the artifact in his peripheral vision until he was within arm’s reach. Or at least what he had assumed was arm’s reach: the dais was too tall- his hands fell well short of grasping the artifact. Matt stretched out, straining for every inch of height he could muster. He was about to start trying to jump when Jasmine’s arm stretched overhead and plucked the artifact up. 

She held the disconcerting object aloft for a moment and Matt noticed writing scrawled on its surface before she dropped it into his hands. “Mission accomplished,” Jasmine’s playful half-smile was humiliating. Matt turned his attention to the artifact, easier to inspect it’s nauseating surface than face Jasmine. The oddness of it extended beyond its appearance, holding it beguiled his sense of touch: fuzzy, smooth, hard, or soft- the sensations blurred together into a meaningless soup. 

“You know, I’ve always thought of your height as part of your appeal,” Jasmine said casually.

Strangely, the words on the artifacts surface did not confound like its shape. The letters remained solid and legible until his eyes neared the end of what could fit on the artifact, then they somehow shifted as though he had turned the object in his hand- though he had done no such thing. The writing contained… instructions? Yes, the more Matt read the more certain he became- the Tellurians had combined a set of rules with the artifact. They weren’t exactly instructions either, they were restrictions- limitations on how the artifact could be used. “Mmm,” Matt replied absently.

“Most men near to my size feel the need to prove they are stronger or better with a sword. And when that doesn’t work out they tend to get angry,” Jasmine laughed as though recalling such an occasion.

“I see.”

“You, on the other hand, never once acted like that. You’re a smart boy, you knew you couldn’t best me from the start.”

“Mm hmm.” The more Matt read the more amazed he became. The artifact was a sort of wishing stone that required two hearts in alignment. A sort of security precaution against the greed or avarice of an individual perhaps?

“If you were going to try, now might be your best chance. I’ve only got one good leg after all.” Matt nodded, thoroughly engrossed in what he was reading. “You could tackle me to the floor, truss me up, and leave me for the Agreans then return to the Queen a hero.”

The stone required that two people touch it and envision their desires. The artifact had no true form because it took the form that most suited the needs of its owners. “Of course,” Matt mumbled.

“Or you could keep pouting until they rush back in here and kill us both!” Jasmine’s voice rose an octave and Matt snapped out of his trance.

“Wha-what?” he stammered, looking up from the cube.

“You’ve been glaring at that thing ever since I gave it to you!” Jasmine growled. “Gods, I knew you were sensitive about your height but-”

“No,” Matt interrupted and Jasmine arched a skeptical brow. “I mean yes, but that’s not what this is about. I was reading and- It’s fascinating, there seems to be...” he trailed off. The distant sound of booted feet echoed through the corridors. They were out of time, the Agrean’s were coming back. “Damn, we’ll have to find another way out.” He shoved his shoulder under Jasmine’s and together they hurried towards the hall opposite of the one they had entered through. They made it halfway across the room before a second group of booted feet became audible. The third and fourth sets followed quickly after. Matt spat a curse that would have made a sailor blush.

“We’re surrounded,” Jasmine said grimly.

The pale light of his magic did not reveal any secret exits. They were going to have to fight their way free. Or… Matt’s fist clenched around the artifact. “Jasmine,” he said softly. “Put your hand on the artifact.” The Lovely Knight looked askance at him. But only for a moment, then her hand came to rest beside his. Her eyes were filled with curiosity. And trust, she did not even ask him why. “Picture yourself defeating the Agreans,” he said. “Imagine yourself with the strength to defeat twenty men.”

“Thirty,” Jasmine corrected.

“Thirty then, quickly!” The moment he finished speaking the artifact lit like a brilliant blue star and for a moment the entirety of the vast chamber was awash in alien light. A crackling boom rolled through the temple like thunder, and the light vanished.

Jasmine began to grow.

Her sheer blouse stretched and popped as seams surrendered to her rapidly expanding breasts. The garment tore at the apex of her chest, revealing a deepening chasm of pale cleavage that rose higher and higher. Matt stumbled backwards as Jasmine’s hips rose to eye-level, widening out of proportion with her growth. Her thighs swelled to thick pillars of gently tapered flesh that still could not keep pace with the rapid expansion of her hips and ass. A low, feminine moan rolled from Jasmine and her hands reached up to cup her breasts as her shredded breaches fell to the floor. Her once-modest bust overflowed her palms and continued to swell into ample mounds even as her growth slowed. 

Jasmine’s lips parted and her eyes shut in ecstasy as the transformation worked its way across her skin clearing away blemishes and smoothing the lines of her face. Her dark hair shone with  sudden luster and the ravages of age seemed to evaporate leaving her face years more youthful. The delicate sheen of her perspiration reflected in the light of his magic, making her appear to sparkle like a diamond. Heat and the faint scent of spring rolled from her in waves, intoxicating and alluring. Matt knew he should avert his gaze from her nudity, but could not. She was like a vision from a dream: gorgeous and utterly impossible. 

And huge.

Jasmine was still growing, albeit more slowly, her knees fast approaching the level of Matt’s shoulders. Her hips were widened deliciously and made her average waist seem narrow. Above her taut abdomen big breasts continued to plump fuller and fuller until they dominated her chest. Jasmine tested the weight of one in her palm, bouncing it gently. Her luscious pink nipples bobbed with the youthful buoyancy of an eighteen year old’s, except that most eighteen year old girls did not possess pairs of breasts that could completely fill the space between their arms and cover a significant portion of their ribs. 

“Gods,” Matt croaked.

His voice seemed to snap Jasmine out of her trance and the hand between her thighs resurfaced, fingers damp with more than a little sweat could account for. “Goddess, more like.” Jasmine breathed.

“Are you okay?” Matt was not certain that he was okay, how could this be real? There was no telling what unseen effects Jasmine might experience, the power required to generate a magic transformation of this scale…

“Okay?” Jasmine giggled. “I’ve never felt better.” Her voice was unchanged, but the power behind it sent echoes booming through the cavernous room.             

The hiss of drawn steel stalled his reply. Matt whirled to face their assailants and saw only darkness. A glance at his light showed that it had weakened, his power was fading. Jasmine must have sensed his thoughts because her foot landed with a heavy thump in the direction he was facing. “Stay behind me, you’ve done enough.” Her voice was perfectly calm. If the Agreans were afraid of a giant naked knight, they did not show it. They loosed battlecries that would have shook Matt to his core- were they not drowned by Jasmine’s thunderous roar. 

With a flash of steel and stomping feet- the battle was joined.