8

--- Chapter 8 ---

"Master Oringel!" I cried. "Master Oringel, it's me, Mathis! I need to talk to you right away!"

I must have been loosing my sanity. I'd never been one to push the rules too far, butt the things I was doing this day just kept becoming more and more outrageous. Now I was pounding on the door to the court wizard's tower, pleading for his help. Next, I'd be barging into the king's throne room right in the middle of an audience with the grand vizier.

"Please! It's urgent!" I said with one final bang on the door. "It's about...yesterday."

Without warning, the door swung open on silent hinges. Master Oringel's strange chambers stretched out before me, much as I remembered them from last night. Cautiously, I stepped inside. The rooms were considerably brighter than before, those strange windows letting in plenty of the late afternoon light. Across the main room, Master Oringel was hunched over a work table littered with glass tubes and beakers. 

"Close the door," he said without turning to face me. "I'd like to at least maintain the illusion that a wizard in his chambers is not to be disturbed."

I did as instructed and made my way across the room. On the work table he had several braziers burning, each with a different concoction boiling away on top. The smell, a bitter-sweet mix of ash and berries, was absolutely hideous. He dropped a few small shriveled pellets into a pot filled with a greenish-brown froth and then stirred gently. After pouring a potion into a small cup, he then ladled a bit of a frothy brown substance that smelled like scalded milk on top. Giving it a smell, he smiled agreeably and then offered the cup to me.

"Coffee?" he said. "It's a special blend I have imported all the way from Urinoca."

"No. Thank you," I said, barely containing my revulsion. I'd always preferred tea, but whatever that stuff was, it was certainly not coffee.

"Your loss." He took a sip and sighed contentedly.

"Why did you speak to the Chamberlain on my behalf?" I had to get on with things. I knew that if I let myself get sidetracked by his antics we might very well be here all night talking about coffee. 

"I granted you a boon remember?" Master Oringel said. "When I give favors, they're full service."

Maybe he wasn't such an asshole after all. That was good because I was going to need him to show a little generosity if my plan was ever going to work. And that plan was the only reason I'd come here. If I was really going to go through with it, I might as well just put it out in the open as soon as possible. I took a deep breath.

"I need you to change me into Stephanie again," I said.

Master Oringel's eyes opened wide but otherwise, he showed no sign of surprise. "I will admit the drink did make things a bit blurry last night, but weren't you begging me to turn you back into a man not all that long ago?"

"Things have changed. I may have found a way to get out of trouble with the Chamberlain."

Master Oringel shook his head and went back to his tubes and pots. Becoming Stephanie again for just one night was the only way out of debt and Master Oringel was the only one who could do that for me. I couldn't leave until he agreed to help.

"I'll pay you," I blurted out.

"Pay me?" He whirled on me, looking as if he'd just heard the worst insult I could possibly have given him. "I'm a tenured wizard of the Cadre! What need do I have of coin?"

"From the way your luck was going at cards last night, it looked like you have quite a large need of coin."

He scowled and raised his finger as if to rebuke me, but stopped short of actually speaking. After a moment of silent contemplation, his stance relaxed considerably. "How much?"

"A hundred gold?"

"Done!"

He'd agreed to that far too readily. I should have offered him less to start. But there was nothing I could do about it now. Besides, a hundred for the wizard, three hundred for the chamberlain, and I'd still pocket a hundred for myself. All in all, not a bad payout for simply having dinner with the king's spymaster.

"Now, where did I put that wand?" Master Oringel began rummaging through the various instruments cluttering up the work table.

"I think you left it on your nightstand," I said, pointing to his unmade bed.

"Ah, yes, that's right!" He bounded across the room and threw the various bits of litter on top of the nightstand to the floor before pulling the entire piece of furniture away from the bed. He eventually located the wand stuffed down amidst the unmade folds of his bed sheets.

"So, about this money?" Master Oringel said as retuned. Examining the wand strangely, he looked down its length and his face took on a perplexed look. "Hmm, was it always that bent?"

"If everything goes according to plan, I'll have the money for you by tomorrow," I said, however I was far more concerned with what he was doing at the moment. Gripping the wand in both hands, he gingerly bent it as if trying to make it more straight. "Is something wrong?"

"What? Oh no, perfectly fine," he said, again sighting along the length of the wand. This time he appeared more pleased with the result.

"Are you sure? I don't want to end up as a newt or something."

"Relax." He held up the wand and shook it in my face. "I could break this in two and it wouldn't effect the magic one bit."

"Really?"

"Of course...I think." Putting his finger to his chin, he considered it for a moment while I considered whether or not it had really been all that wise to ask him for help. "No, it's a transformation wand. There's no way the matrix of spells that are woven into it could possibly create an undesired effect. If something was wrong with it, it simply wouldn't do anything at all."

"Well, okay...If you're sure."

"Yes, I am. Now, are you ready?"

I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Relax, you know yourself that there's nothing to worry about. With a transformation wand like this one, all the magic is encapsulated in the wand itself. You don't even need to know any magic to use it: just point, and imagine what you want the thing to look like."

And then he did just that.

Knowing what to expect this time, I was much more aware of the changes sweeping over my body. In what felt like a cool wave, the sweat and grime of the day's labors dropped from my clothes and body like dust. My perspective shifted as I lost nearly a foot of height. My balance shifted to accommodate the unfamiliar proportions of my swollen chest and hips. My hair grew longer, cascading past my shoulders and all the way down my back. Between my legs, my penis and testicles contracted as if they'd just been plunged into ice water, but didn't stop until they'd been draw all the way inside my body and reshaped themselves into a puckered little pussy and clitoris.

My clothes changed as well, the tunic lengthening into a dress as the neckline plunged. My belt widened into a corset that cinched itself around my waist and forced my back straight at the same time it thrust my chest forward. My pants grew tight around my legs and crept away from my hips down to the middle of my thighs, leaving my groin concealed from below by only a thin, snuggly fitting pair of cotton panties. My shoes shrunk to fit my now dainty feet and took on a feminine pointed toe and a tightly laced upper which gripped my ankles securely.

As I stumbled to regain my balance, Master Oringel studied the end result of his spell, nodding with approval. "Ah, Stephanie returns to us. Come take a look. I think you're even more stunning than you were yesterday."

"Could we please avoid the jokes?" I said in that high-pitched voice I now had. It still sounded just as strange to me as it had the first time I'd heard it. I hoped I wasn't making a mistake with this whole plan.

Stepping around in front of the large stand mirror, however, I was forced to admit Master Oringel was correct: I did look quite nice. Unfortunately, I was also had to admit that something wasn't quite right.

"Um, I don't suppose you could do something about the dress?" As much as I didn't want to make myself any more comely, these plain beige clothes he'd given me were simply working garments. Even the lowliest servant would have something nicer than this to wear for special occasions. "I'm going to be meeting someone."

"Oh really?" Master Oringel said with a sly smile. "Who is it? Sir Ruvano? What are you two planning to do together?"

I blushed a vibrant shade of red, despite myself. "Why do you need to know that?"

"So I can match the dress to the occasion. You understand, don't you?" It did make sense but why then had his smile only broadened.

"Fine. He said he'd take me through the gardens and that we'd have dinner together."

"That's all?"

"Yes! What else would there be!"

I don't know how it was possible, but Master Oringel's smile grew even larger and more mischievous. He tapped his finger to his chin as he looked me over like a sculptor getting ready to start on a new project. "Let's see, Sir Ruvano's tastes run toward the extravagant. We don't want to disappoint him..."

This time, I could see the changes taking place in the mirror as well as feel them. The corset shrank down to a belt that draped loosely over my wide hips but the dress itself became even tighter. My panties contracted as well, becoming wispy thin, nuzzling into the crack between my shapely ass cheeks and firmly cradling the pussy between my legs. The heavy cotton fabric of the dress grew light and sheer as well, turning a brilliant shade of crimson that was accented with several panels of pure white that fanned open at the slightest movement. The sleeves vanished completely, the neckline dropped scandalously low, and the hem rose until it barley reached my ankles. The silky fabric clung to my body like a second skin, leaving absolutely nothing about the curvaceous body underneath to the imagination.

"What in the seven hells have you done?" I cried. I hadn't yet seen Stephanie without any clothes on, but I could imagine that seeing myself naked wouldn't be much different from the reflection I was currently looking at in the mirror. "You've turned me into a trollop! You can see...!" I motioned to my body but words failed me. "Everything! My legs are even showing!"

"Yes," Master Oringel agreed with a smirk. "Yes, they are. But that IS what all the fashionable women are wearing in Treppenkarrow this year."

"I don't care if it is! This isn't Treppenkarrow and I'm not some streetwalking whore trying to grab the attention of every sailor in the harbor!"

"Calm down, Stephanie, this sort of behavior really doesn't become you. And trust me about the dress. Sir Ruvano appreciates sophistication and this is far more sophisticated than anything he's ever seen in these parts."

I glared at Master Oringel, but I had to keep my emotions under control because it felt as if I simply breathed too hard, it might cause my breasts to spill out of the dress.

"Fine," I said with a stomp of my foot that caused various parts of my body to quiver, thus giving Master Oringel an interesting show. At least these light slippers that my shoes had become would be easier to walk in. "But could you at least make me a little taller? I already feel like a child, but dressed like this, I feel..."

'Vulnerable' was the word I was looking for but I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud. Instead of showing me any sympathy, however, Master Oringel threw up his hands and sighed.

"I AM the one paying you for this," I pointed out.

"Very well. But only a few inches. We don't want you looking like an Amazon."

With that, he again waved the wand. Imminently, my whole body lengthened, raising my eye line by those several promised inches. However, I was also quite certain my hips and breasts grew larger as well. Meanwhile, the dress seemed to stay the same size, constricting tightly. Frantically, I attempted to keep my body from ripping out of it entirely. Master Oringel simply watched and chuckled.

"Yes, I think you're right, that looks much better," he said. I snarled and started to offer all manner of insults, but he waved then aside flippantly. "I can't just make you taller without changing your other proportions, it wouldn't look right. Oh, and that reminds me; one more detail."

Going to his work bench he picked up a small clay dish filled with a fine black powder.

"What's that?" I said, finally coming to terms with the way my body was now filling out the dress. It WAS tight, but I supposed I wasn't really in any danger of tearing out of it.

"Makeup," Master Oringel said.

He took a large pinch of the black powder and, without warning, tossed it right into my face. I coughed fitfully as it filled my lungs and clung to my skin. Just one look in the mirror confirmed that it completely covered my face with a gritty black mask. 

"What are you doing! I looked perfect! Now I'm going to have take a bath to clean all this off."

"Calm down, it's a TRANSFORMATION wand, it can't make something out of nothing. I just needed some raw materials -- that is, unless you have some cosmetics that you know how to apply."

I suspected he was making this harder than it had to be, but didn't feel like saying anything at the moment. Throwing up my hands I turned to face him so that he could finish. This time, I felt next to nothing, but my reflection had indeed changed considerably.

"There!" Master Oringel said, throwing up his hands. "Is that good enough for you? Well worth a hundred gold, eh?"

Staring at the mirror, what I saw was definitely worth it. My cheeks had taken on a distinctive blush, my eyes were outlined in black, and my eyelids had become a dusky shade of grey. My lips looked more pouty than ever in that bright, glossy red that perfectly matched the color of my dress. My wavy hair had also gained more body and rearranged itself into artful tresses that tumbled past my shoulders in a stunning cascade. The sweet smell of perfume rose up around me, as well, filling my senses.

I only hoped we hadn't gone too far with this. If I were still a man, I knew I'd have a hard time keeping my hands off of me looking like that