He would run away before today's spanking. This was the first thought that crossed Dismas' mind when Georgeos confirmed that the spell had taken effect. No more spankings! Running away from one master would make it difficult to find another, but there was no help for that. Maybe a master would take him in when he heard how he had been treated. Probably not. It did not matter. Better not be a sorcerer at all than suffer through years of Georgeos' spankings.
He had felt so very lucky when his teacher offered him an apprenticeship. As a student he had learned a few simple spells, and how to vary the power of a spell. As an apprentice, he would learn so much more. Georgeos had insisted that they must sleep together, to forge and maintain the trust and closeness that is essential for the teaching of the deeper magics. Dismas had been somewhat taken aback at this, but had accepted. Georgeos was not at all repulsive, and this was a small price to pay for such power. Dismas had not believed his luck when Georgeos made another offer.
"You have heard of the immortality spell? It really exists. I know it, or one version of it. It does not make you immortal, though. You may drown, or starve, or die in many other ways. But you will not age. I will teach it to you, if you wish. How would you like to be 17 forever? How I wish I had learned it at 17 and not at 53!"
Dismas had readily accepted the price: They would have intercourse whenever Georgeos desired it, and Georgeos would be allowed to spank him as often as he wanted. The bit about spanking had confused him. Of course his master had the right to punish him when he thought it required. And why else could he want to spank him?
How wrong he had been! Every afternoon, Georgeos ordered him to lean over a trestle, and whipped his bare buttocks red and raw. After that, he always led him to their bed, where he made another kind of assault on his bottom. No, that was not quite fair. Georgeos was very gentle in bed, and it would actually have been quite pleasant, if only it had not been every day. Dismas' backside was sore in more ways than one.
It was too much! Georgeos insisted on using that broad leather strap on him every single day. The one day he had been allowed to go home to his parents for the whole day, his master had strapped him in the morning before he left.
He had been just about to run away several times, but he persevered. The first two months, he had learned how to make spells last longer than the usual about 10 minutes. It had been a great day when he had been able to protect himself from suffocation for 6 months. Then he had learned to enchant objects. This was necessary, his master informed him, because to achieve eternal youth, he must enchant his body like an object, though unlike other enchantments, this one would not be permanent. The technique would be useful for lots of other things later.
And then he had learned the immortality spell itself. He had cleared his mind of every other spell, to make "room" for a massive extension of the duration of the immortality spell. Georgeos had assured him that reacquiring his current proficiency with the lost spells would not take long.
He was still very inept, both at enchantment and at extending spells, so his first four attempts, made one per day, had failed. On the fifth day he succeeded. No more strap!
"For more than two years and five months, you will not age," his master informed him. "By then you will have made an artifact to assist you. Your next casting will last 20 years, or even 80 or more."
Dismas was a bit sorry that that was not to be. There was no way he would suffer that strap for another 29 months. Casting the spell every two years was no great hardship anyway. Having to relearn all his magic was nothing compared to that strap! Georgeos went on: "You will also have stored all your spell knowledge in matrices, keeping your mind free for other things."
The master changed the subject: "You remember what I told you about the triple price for this spell? In addition to the payment your teacher demands, the magic itself exacts a double price." "My health. You said my health would suffer temporarily." "The harm is permanent unless you do something about it. The remedy is quite mundane. Fitness training. I will show you how. I have had to do it several times, you know. It will take a month or two." So he would have to relearn all his spells, and use a couple of months to regain his health, every two and a half years. Well, he would have time enough. Unlimited quantities of time!
"The other price is where the several immortality spells vary. Have you heard of the Fountain of Youth? It is real, though of no use to any but the few who know the immortality spell that requires bathing in it at the casting. Its location is a closely guarded secret. Others versions require even stranger substances. Then there are some that have conditions that must be met throughout the duration. Fail once, and the spell ends. I do not believe the rumours of one that works as long as you tell no lie. I know for a fact that one works as long as you are absolutely chaste, another as long as you eat your weight in oysters every month."
When it was clear that no explanation was forthcoming, Dismas asked: "And what is the price for your version?" "I am disappointed. You are such a bright boy. Why do you think I asked the payment I did? Immortality is the most valuable of all spells. I could ask any price I wanted from the mightiest sorcerer. If it was just that I like to spank (which I do), there are lots of brothels were I could do that. It would be much, much cheaper to go to such a place once in while. But once in a while is not enough. It must be every day. Spanking and intercourse. If I had been much older when I learned this spell, I might not have been able to use it!" "Every day? You must spank every day?" "I must. And unlike some magic, this accepts no tokens. A real spanking that really hurts. That has made me unpopular in more than one whorehouse, which is one of the reasons I decided to take an apprentice. That and the costs. Once in a while I could afford. Every day I can not afford for long."
Dismas was close to panic. How would he get to spank every day? He certainly could not afford the brothels. Did he have to stay after all? But if the master had problems getting a victim for himself, would he supply one for his apprentice? Had he suffered spankings, the loss of all his spells, and decline in health for nothing? Georgeos had told him just a moment ago that he would not age for two years. He had to have some solution planned.
"Master, must I also spank?" "Ah, no. The spell I taught you is not the one I use myself. The conditions are ever so slightly different. But you need not worry about that at all," his master continued, taking the strap off its peg. "assuring that you meet them will be my pleasure."