Gathering Storm (The Salvation of Tempestria Book 2) - Gary Stringer (read e book TXT) 📗

you to sleep in five minutes, I’m knocking you out instead.”

They spoke no more, then, as Catriona sang1:

Angels among us, stars in the night,

Watch o’er your sleep, shining so bright,

Safe in their light, as you close your eyes,

Love will surround you, ‘til morning you rise.

Angels among us, shed you no tears,

Bright Angels guard you, quiet your fears,

Nature’s embrace, is gentle and strong,

Love will surround you, all your life long.

*****

That lullaby brings back memories for me, gentle reader. It was sung to me many times when I was little. Hearing it like this, I can close my eyes and almost believe my mother is singing it to me, though of course she never could.

Chapter 11

Dreya the Dark was surprised by an alert. It was telling her there was someone in her grounds that her defences had identified as a threat. For a sorceress of Dreya’s power and ability, there was very little in the world to which she would attach that designation. She peered out of a window, and her eyes widened at what they were showing her. She hurried downstairs, emerging from her front entrance, just as her visitor reached the base of the steps that led up to her porch.

Her visitor grinned, manically, and greeted her with, “Hello, you. Today’s your lucky day. Of all the mortals in all the world, I’ve chosen you to be my new pet! Isn’t that brilliant?”

Dreya had to remind herself not to use his new chosen name – she didn’t want him to know about her link with Catriona. She could only refer to him – if she must address him at all – as Daelen’s dark clone.

*****

Let me pause for a moment, gentle reader, to catalogue the power at Aunt Dreya’s disposal, as she did then, mentally, trying to make an unbiased estimate of its effectiveness against this higher planar being.

She had her straightforward wizard magic, of course, which was by itself beyond what any other wizard could boast. Blood magic was available by pricking her finger. That was best facilitated via the red and white roses that had framed her door since Catriona first ‘proposed.’ Cat had worked on them since, and they were now intertwined with Ulvarius’ black ones, as a symbol of the three factions of magic, working together to advance its potential. Or as Cat had succinctly put it: diversity is strength. It would be better to use the red or white ones, however, because they were blessed by a White cleric, Mandalee. They wouldn’t hurt as much as the first time, thanks to the indirect sympathic link, via Catriona. The pain Dreya would feel she was willing to accept in exchange for adding an element of cleric magic to her attacks, along with Catriona’s druid gifts. Add to that her power words: compressed magic ready to fly at her enemy in an instant, plus her intense, high energy beam, modelled on what Daelen and the others fought with. Finally, through the study of Catriona’s staff, she had a better understanding of how to combine the three flavours of magic with higher planar energy.

As I mentioned earlier, Dreya had been investigating the sites of wizard disappearances. Those sites that could be identified by the presence of higher planar energy that still lingered there. But if you thought she was doing that for purely altruistic reasons, gentle reader, then you really haven’t been paying attention. Certainly, she did not like the erosion of magic that the loss of wizards would cause, but that would not be sufficient reason for her to investigate personally.

No, it wasn’t so much the missing wizards that interested her; it was the residual higher planar energy.

*****

Even with all she now commanded, Dreya knew that if Aden-El had not been so depleted from his recent battle, she would have been in trouble. Then again, if Aden-El had not been so depleted, he would have had no need of her.

Casually pricking her finger on the thorn of a red rose, Dreya the Dark felt her powers combine within her body, allowing them to swell slowly, gradually.

“Is this the part where I’m supposed to be flattered that a being such as yourself considers me worthy of such an honoured position as your pet?”

“Not worthy, no, but you are the only mortal wizard whose power even registers.”

Dreya knew that was nonsense. She could be of no possible use to him unless he honestly believed Aden plus Dreya would overpower Daelen plus Michael. Taking the equation further, since Daelen and Aden were equal in power, that meant he must consider Dreya to be more powerful than Michael. She wasn’t sure if that was true, but if she played this right, it soon could be.

Not reacting to the insult, she simply asked, “I take it you want my assistance against Daelen StormTiger?”

“If you catch on that quickly, you might be more useful than I thought,” he retorted.

“Well, that’s a remarkable coincidence, because I’ve been interested in killing him for quite some time.”

“Oh yes, coincidence is the word,” Aden agreed, nodding. “It’s not like I heard a rumour or anything. That would be ridiculous!”

Still refusing to rise to the bait, Dreya remained calm, her face impassive.

“But the thing is, you’re his dark clone,” she reasoned, “which, as I understand it, means, essentially, you are Daelen StormTiger.”

“I am as he, and he is as me,” Aden replied, obviously trying to sound clever, rather than just saying ‘yes’ like a normal person.

“In that case,” she considered, “I don’t see why I need to go hunting for Daelen…not when, to all intents and purposes, he’s standing right in front of me.”

Drawing her magic through her blood – her own wizard magic, plus a helping of druid magic from Cat and a hint of cleric magic from Mandalee, she teleported behind him, unfolded her power word, “PAIN,” and Aden was in agony. While he was off-balance, not allowing him time to regroup, she hit him with wave after wave of wizard spells. Whenever he