This is the serialization of a story I posted to Patreon last month. Click here to see all the sections I’ve posted so far.

–

“I knew it! King Munnann knows about my plans, and sent you to spy on
me!”

I waved my hands. “No no no!” I said.

“Yeah, we’re not even really from Munn!” said Iason.

“Ah, foreign scum then, sent to meddle in our nation’s affairs!”
He stepped back, flung open the cupboard, and drew out a book. “You want
the secret of how to overthrow Munnann yourselves, to claim the power of this
land for your heathen foreign empires! But you won’t succeed!” He waved
the book. “I’ve already mastered all the powers within!”

“Uh… huh,” I said. Something he’d said was bothering me, but–

He pointed a quavering finger at me. “I sense power in you! Magic!
You’ll make good practice before I come for your master Munnann!”

“Wait,” I said. “I’m confused, do you think we’re working for
Munnann or not?” I almost had my finger on it, whatever it was that was
bugging me.

“Behold, as I drain you of your powers!” He gestured and muttered
something.

“Wait!” I said. “That doesn’t–!”

But it was too late. He cast the spell of transference.

“Mwahahahaha!” he cried, making good on his earlier unstated
threat. “Bwahahaha! Fwahahaha–bwa?”

He was getting shorter, while his short gray hair got longer and redder. His
armor strained and creaked, and then exploded outward as his chest swelled.
While Iason and I ducked and dodged flying pieces of bronze, I felt my own hair
straightening, my body shrinking back into slenderness.

When it was over, I was back to normal, the shimmering green dress barely
hanging off me, while Quayne was a voluptuous green-eyed redhead, more than
naked enough for it to be very obvious that all of his anatomy had been
altered. “What–what have you done?” he demanded, his voice the
throaty contralto I’d possessed a moment ago.

“It’s what you did,” I answered in my normal voice.
“Spells of transference don’t drain power, you must have mistranslated the
book. They transfer spells from one target to another.”

A golden circlet materialized about six feet off the ground, and then a tall
man with dark hair flowed down out of it. “Precisely,” said King
Munnann, and I realized what had been bothering me.

“You’re actually a man,” I said. “That was a shapeshifting
spell that made you look like that, and you transferred it onto me.”

“Yep!” he agreed. “And then Quayne pulled it right off you.”

–

To be continued tomorrow… but Patreon backers can read the whole thing right now, and the next Lemma story as well!

Lemma the Librarian: Tricks of the Trade | Midori Konton on Patreon