Shifting Stars by Gary Stringer (best fiction books of all time txt) 📗

seeking for so long – and her staff itself seemed to reward her with a rather pleasant jolt. It had done something similar when she had unlocked its first layer of security, she remembered. At the time Catriona wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it – now she was sure she hadn’t. The staff definitely seemed to be ‘rewarding’ her when she moved a step closer to understanding it.

She carefully slipped the book into her pocket dimension and took a moment to bask in her feelings. That was a mistake because before she knew what was happening, she was being thrown to the ground by wizard magic. Renjaf had returned.

In the split second that she was falling, she was able to persuade the vegetation to move and grow rapidly enough to cushion her fall. She couldn’t afford to surrender to unconsciousness. Still, she was held there, hands pinned beneath her, unable to move a muscle.

“What the hell have you done!” Renjaf demanded. “That was my home!”

Only a day ago, she would have talked to him, tried to reason with him, but things were different now – she was different now. She had woken something within herself. Call it stubbornness, call it confidence, call it arrogance, call it madness – she would be accused of all of these in the years that followed. But whatever name one might wish to give it, she was done playing nice with those who refused to co-operate.

Laying there, she focussed her mind and reached out to the grounds that surrounded her, because the tower might have been his home, but the grounds were hers. He had neglected them where Cat had tended them. Through his inaction, they had been choking. Through her actions, they were thriving. Now, when she needed their help, she scarcely needed to ask. Tree branches reached out to restrain him, and vines snaked through the grass to tie his hands, for wizard magic had a weakness: it relied on the user weaving intricate patterns in the air, writing in the language of magic. But what if he couldn’t move his hands? What if his hands were tied? Well then, his powers were severely diminished, if not entirely absent.

She felt him try to attack her with powerful mental magic, but her link with Pyrah meant he was wasting his time. Time he didn’t have. Plants grew tall around him, pressing, squeezing, choking him even as Catriona was released. She stood and mentally thanked nature for her help, but enough was enough, so they loosened their grip.

Striding purposefully towards Renjaf’s feebly struggling, green-covered form, she said, “You brought this on yourself, old man. All I wanted was the book. That’s all. Just one book. I have no idea what happened to you that made you the way you are, and frankly, I don’t care anymore. You’ve pushed me too far, and this is the result. Stuck in the undergrowth like an oversized garden gnome and your tower in ruins at your feet. I’m not going to apologise for this, and I’m not going to ask for an apology from you because I know you won’t mean it. What I am going to do is what I came here to do in the first place, and as it stands, my work here is only half done.”

With that, she spun around, raised her staff, and channelled her magic once more, allowing Renjaf to watch wide-eyed as his tower gradually knitted itself back together, reverting to its former shape and dimensions until it was impossible to tell anything had ever happened to it in the first place. As if to mock the wizard’s abilities, even his shields were back in place. When he later probed them with his magic, they would assure him that they were never breached, which was technically accurate. It was hardly their fault that his tower had decided to change its shape.

With a glance from Catriona, the greenery retreated from the wizard, freeing him once more.

“How did you do that?” he breathed in awe.

“You can puzzle over that in your own time,” Cat replied. “My time is better spent elsewhere – I’ve wasted enough of it here already. I suggest you go inside; it’s quite safe. Everything should be as you left it…more or less.”

“I’ll get you for this!” he swore, glowering at her.

Cat snorted a laugh and shook her head in disbelief.

“You really want to threaten me now? I just beat you with both hands literally behind my back! As I say, I’ve wasted enough of my time here already, and I’ll waste no more. I will be leaving now; don’t even think about trying anything.”

With that, she strode down his path, all greenery parting before her. The gate opened as she approached and shut itself behind her. She wanted to shift into a red-banded falcon and return to Compton as quickly as possible, but she wouldn’t do that until she was definitely out of his sight. She had learned that lesson already today. As soon as she was positive that she was well hidden from Renjaf, she paused just for a moment and asked the wind to carry her voice to his ears.

“Almost forgot,” she said. “I suggest you get someone to tend your grounds every now and again. I won’t be coming back, and they might get a bit cranky if you neglect them again.”

She flew back without incident to Compton and the place where she’d left Jacob’s horse – literally, the last place her friend would look for her. It was one of several disused barns on the outskirts of Compton, dating back to when the town used to be farmland.

This time, she made absolutely sure there was no demon hunter around when she shapeshifted to her ‘delivery boy’ form so that she could pass as Jacob while she brought Bonnie outside where her friend could ‘find’ her.

It was imperative that any passers-by wouldn’t recognise Catriona. That could lead to awkward questions about what she was doing with Jacob’s