Vordag 28. Harpa

I came awake with a start fully expecting to find a horde of Dark Vattir hunched over me ready to tear my throat out. What I found was a stark contrast to what I had feared. I lay atop a padded bench in what appeared to be a rather large foyer. I cast my eyes to either side and took stock of my situation. Mom lay sprawled unconscious on a bench similar to my own and I initially believed the room to be empty save for my mother and myself. After my eyes swept the room one more time, I noted the presence of four women, two on each end of the foyer, standing at a guard position.

Warily, I stood and walked towards my mother’s bench. Quietly, I sat down beside her, and gently shook her shoulder. Mom came awake with a start and I nearly fell off the bench so surprised was I by her reaction. “Hel,” mother muttered, “Aryanna don’t do that.” I grimaced at her use of the female name.

“What happened?” I asked, “Where are we?”

Mother yawned loudly, “We’re in the dingha. As for what happened it might be better if you tell me what you remember.”

I briefly told mom what I remembered and from that she was able to fill me in.

“Your rescuer was a Lejosá¡lfur,” mother said quietly, “After he killed that single dark elf, another Light Elf appeared, this one a woman. She joined forces with Athilda and together they obliterated the remaining Dark Elves.”

“Light Elves and Dark Elves,” I muttered, “This has gotten a lot bigger than I think even Athilda expected.”

Mom sighed, “Goddess, no one has even seen a Dokká¡lfur in hundreds of years and we get attacked by a whole horde of them. What do you think it means?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know, but I think it all has to do with that whatever I stumbled upon that night my magic awakened.” I sighed then looked about suddenly aware of the absence of my ancestor, “Where is Athilda?”

“She speaks before the council,” mother said.

“Without me?” I asked a touch of anger entering into my voice.

Mother shook her head and rolled her eyes, “Relax, Athilda can’t have you accepted as an initiate without you actually being there.”

I sighed and was about to speak when a door on the far end of the foyer swung open and a woman who looked to be in her early forties appeared. She looked right at me, scowled, and then started walking toward us. “Are you the Scion of house Le Fey who has come seeking admittance into the Order of the Seidkona?” she asked, glaring down at me.

I stood and looked her right in the eyes, smiled with false cheer and replied, “Why yes, Spellbinder, I am.”

She looked from me then back to my mother, scowled again and said, “Come this way. You stay, Enchantress.”

Mother glared at the woman but stayed put as I followed her to the other side of the foyer and through the door which she had exited. I found myself within a large circular room with Athilda standing in the center looking up. A raised platform circled the entire room and seated around the platform were about twenty robed women. “The Seidskati,” I muttered feeling suddenly very uncomfortable as the door swung shut behind me. I briefly looked back and noted two figures standing near the doorway.

Athilda’s eye suddenly met my own and I walked across the room to stand beside her. I looked up at all the women and was startled by the relative youth of some of the Seidskati members. A full dozen of the women looked to be middle-aged, one woman looked like she could have been in her late thirties or early forties; the rest looked to be roughly Athilda’s age and perhaps a bit younger. Of course, they were all Spellbinders, so they had to be centuries old.

“Young one,” an elderly woman said, “Do you seek admittance into the Council of the Seidkona?”

I look defiantly up at the woman, “If you’re asking if I want to be a Spellbinder then my answer is yes.”

“The circumstances of your awakening are most… unusual. Your induction must be discussed.” she said, frowning down at me.

“Why?” I retorted back angrily, “Is it because I was born a man?”

The woman frowned down at me, “Silence child. I have no patience for such irrelevance.”

I glared back at the woman, but didn’t reply. “Are you a fool?” Athilda whispered furiously.

I said nothing, merely glared at my ancestor angrily.

“Such defiance,” a woman said lifting the hood from her face. Norns, it was Agnes Bernauer, “Save for her hair she is the spitting image of your daughter, Athilda. Truly, Lilith would be proud to call this one her descendant.”

Another Spellbinder stood and removed her hood. Holy Goddesses it was Elizabeth Bathory, “I don’t know what you stand to gain by bringing this thing before us, Athilda, but I find no reason to accept this abomination into our ranks.”

“Don’t be a fool, Elizabeth,” Athilda retorted, “To deny Aryanna admittance would be to deny our own history. One of those who helped found this order was born a man.”

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, “Lies, Athilda. Are you so desperate to force this creature upon us that you need to rewrite our history in order to do so?”

“Fool, you are barely more than half a millennium old and you dare question me? I was a child when the order was established. I have lived to see it grow from a few dozen to hundreds of thousands.” Athilda said angrily.

Ol’ Lizzy was seething with anger, “Who then? Sister Le Fey. Which of the founders was born a man?”

Athilda smiled sardonically, “My mother of course. Morgana Le Fey.”

The entire room fell silent. Morgana Le Fey was probably the most well-known Spellbinders of all time. She had defeated some of history’s most notorious villains including Ambrosius Aurelianus and Myrddin Wyllt. To claim that Morgana had been born a man was sure to give rise to heated debate and it did. The entire room erupted into chaos as nearly everyone save for me and Athilda started yelling at once.

One of the figures standing by the door joined Athilda and me in the center of the room. I gasped as she drew close. I had barely even noticed her when I had first entered the room. To tell the truth, I have no idea how I could have so casually walked by her without taking more notice. She was absolutely the most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on. She wasn’t human, of course. She was one of the Light Elves who had come to our rescue earlier that same day. When I first saw myself in the mirror after my transformation, I had imagined that I looked like a Light Elf. There was no comparison, my beauty paled in comparison to hers.

She smiled then cast her eyes above at the bickering Spellbinders and she looked upon me and her eyes displayed a sadness that made me want to weep. “Peace,” she spoke softly. Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but somehow it permeated the entire room. Everyone fell silent and all eyes turned to focus upon the Elven Lady.

“Friends,” she said, “Athilda Le Fey speaks sooth. I was witness to the rebirth of Morgana Le Fey.”

For a moment, the Lejosá¡lfur’s proclamation was met only with silence. Elizabeth was the first to speak, “High Lady,” she said angrily, “This matter does not concern the Alfur.”

The Elven Lady smiled sadly, but when she spoke she sounded angry, “Fool. Seek not to contend with me. Thou art but a child in thy understanding of the Seidh. It was the Lejosá¡lfur that granted thy forebears the power of the Seidh and should we see fit we would take thy power away. Choose thy words wisely, Seidkona.”

Lizzy glared angrily, but remained silent. Agnes Bernauer smiled triumphantly and spoke, “Sisters, I call for a vote upon the matter.”

The whole process was long and drawn out, due mostly to the excessive pomp and protocol that the Seidskati seem to love, but when all was said and done, seventeen Spellbinders plus Athilda voted in favor of my admittance as an initiate. Only Elizabeth and two others voted against me. One of the women looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t quite place her.

As the Council disbanded and I found myself surrounded by several congratulatory senior Spellbinders. I thanked them politely then looked about to find the Elven Lady who seemed to have vanished. I spotted her as she was about to leave, and excused myself to chase after the Lejosá¡lfur.

I caught up to her, just in time. “Lady,” I called after her.

The Elven woman turned to face me and smiled, “Well met, Scion of House Le Fey.”

I felt my nipples harden as I locked gazed with the Fae Lady. Goddesses she was beautiful. I felt a brief urge to tear her clothes off and have sex with her there and then, but I forced such thoughts out of my mind, “High Lady, I wanted to thank you.”

Irritation passed across the Elf’s face and she laughed, “Thank the Matriarch of thy House. It was to her that I owed my debt.” and once more she turned to leave.

“Wait,” I said.

“What seekest thou, mortal?” she asked.

I don’t know why it was so important, but for some reason I felt I needed to know. If only I had kept my damn mouth shut, “What’s your name?”

She smiled, “To what ends wouldst thou be willing to go for such knowledge, mortal?”

I shrugged, “I guess I would owe you a favor.” Okay that was stupid I admit it. What can I say? I’m used to dealing with mortal women. To be fair I’ve used it as a pick up line in the past with a small measure of success.

The Elven Lady was almost giddy with glee, “Very well, mortal. I accept thy terms. My name is Hervor.”

My jaw dropped and I watched in stunned disbelief as the Queen of the Elves walked away followed by an Elven man dressed in white.

“That was ill-advised,” Athilda said seemingly from out of nowhere. “A debt owed to the Fae is not something to be taken lightly.”

I shook my head, “It’s just a favor.”

Athilda smiled sadly, “A favor that will come back to haunt you.”

I kid you not, for the next couple of hours, Athilda simply stood and talked. Of course, it didn’t help that just about every Spellbinder present just had to talk with her and me by extension. I really don’t care to repeat any of the conversations, mostly because absolutely none of it appealed to me. I was like an outsider who had been given membership in an exclusive club. I didn’t have anything in common with any of these people. Fortunately, most of the people seemed content to jabber away with Athilda and leave me alone after a brief exchange.

Most but not all. The one exception happened to be a woman by the name of Janice Claymore. She seemed friendly enough, but I really had no idea what to say to her. Mostly I just answered questions about my life and tried not to sound too stupid. She didn’t go outright and say it, but I got the feeling her intentions had more to do with forming an alliance with House Le Fey than any real interest in me. I mostly just played stupid and did my best not to give her any definite answers.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity Athilda stated it was time to leave. I gladly followed her out of the circular room and found my mother waiting impatiently in the lobby.

“What took so long?” she asked warily.

“Athilda had to stay and chat,” I said more than a little irritated.

Athilda sighed warily and gave me a irritated look in return, “I had to keep up appearance, child. Tradition is very important.”

I sighed warily, “Oh boy, I’m so looking forward to future meetings.”

Mother smiled, “So that means they’ve admitted you.”

I sighed warily, “Yeah, whether or not that’s a good thing remains to be seen.” I grimaced then added, “Let’s just get out of here.”

We exited from the doors opposite the Council Room and almost immediately found ourselves bombarded with a sight far more horrible than the Dokká¡lfur from before. Reporters, almost immediately converged on us and started asking all kinds of questions. Although, Athilda seemed to be their main focus, a few reporters did seem interested in what Mother and I had to say. Fortunately, Athilda acted swiftly. She took both of our hands and called upon wind magic to whisk us back to her estates.

And that was more or less my day. I was so tired when we got back that I just collapsed in bed. I didn’t even spend any time masturbating, which is saying something considering how horny I’ve been lately.