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

“Yeah,” Cat agreed. “I tried that one the first time.”

“I wasn’t buying it,” Mandalee said, “and it’s OK, I know Cat was the Trickster. You don’t need to pretend.”

“Good to know. Wait – the first time?” Jacob wondered.

With a blush, Cat admitted, “Oh, yeah, I’m actually in no position to wind you up about walking into one of Mandalee’s traps – I managed it twice!”

“Twice?” Jacob repeated, suppressing a smile.

“Yep,” Mandalee confirmed, “and the second time she did it naked!”

“No!”

“Looking quite a lot like you.”

“Oh, this gets better!” Jacob grinned. “Really?”

Cat nodded. “Sat there in my – well, your birthday suit.”

“With nothing but her staff in her hand,” Mandalee added.

“I hope that’s not a euphemism!” Jacob quipped.

All three cracked up at that.

When they’d sufficiently calmed down, Jacob asked, “So why’d you do it, Cat?”

“I was distracted by a spider, and my magic got a bit confused by Mandalee’s,” she explained. “Then, once inside her trap, I was cut off from nature and couldn’t do anything.”

Jacob shook his head. “No, I mean, why did you push me in Mandalee’s trap? That wasn’t in the plan!”

“What are you talking about?” Cat frowned. “I didn’t push you in that trap, you just blundered in by mistake like I did.”

“No,” he disputed, “you were running around as the Trickster, and you pushed me in the trap!”

“Wait, are you serious?” Cat asked.

“Yes, of course!”

“No kidding? You’re honestly saying the Trickster pushed you in that trap?”

“Yes, really, no kidding! Why are you asking this, Cat? You were there!”

“No, Jacob, I promise you I wasn’t.”

Mandalee leaned forward, a serious look on her face. “So, Jacob, if the Trickster really did push you in my trap…”

Jacob nodded.

“…and Cat, it definitely wasn’t you…”

Cat shook her head.

“…that means, there really is a Trickster loose in Compton!”

Eyes wide, Catriona gasped, “Mandalee, didn’t you say something about if you were to believe all the reports of sightings, the Trickster would have to be in two places at once?”

“You’re right, I did,” the demon hunter confirmed. “Seems I dismissed the reports too easily.”

“We have to track it down!” Cat said, resolutely.

“We?” Mandalee wondered. “It’s my job, there’s no need for you to get involved.”

“But it’s my fault!”

“How is it your fault?” Jacob asked. “You didn’t bring it here.”

“Actually, she might have,” Mandalee countered. “Tricksters are drawn to pranks and mischief, and with everything Cat’s been up to, I’m afraid a real Trickster may have taken it as an invitation to come out and play!”

“That’s why I have to help,” Cat insisted.

She stood up, ready to spring into action, but she swayed on her feet and had to use her staff to hold herself up. She hadn’t realised how tired she was.

“It’s getting late, and you’re exhausted,” Jacob observed.

Catriona smiled weakly.

“I am feeling a bit drained, now you mention it,” she conceded. “Big day.”

“Go home and rest up,” Mandalee advised, reaching out a steadying hand. “You can help me tomorrow if you like. It’s not like it’s a Greater Demon that’s going to drag people down to hell. It’s only a Trickster.”

Cat agreed and asked where Mandalee was staying.

“Out here,” said the demon hunter. “Bit difficult to find a room that allows leopards,” she said, stroking Shyleen.

Once again, Cat fervently hoped it was the leopard people objected to.

“Besides, I prefer to be out underneath the stars…even if they are all wrong!”

“I remember what that was like,” Cat replied, with a distant, slightly haunted look. “I haven’t really done it since the night I met my Angel…since my Mum and Dad…since they were…well…”

Jacob put his arm around her and Mandalee quickly moved the conversation along so her friend wouldn’t have to finish that sentence.

“What about your sympathic thing?” she suggested. “You could contact me like that when you’re ready to get going.”

As an experiment, Catriona projected, ‘tired, sleep.’

“Curious sensation,” Mandalee remarked and tried to project back. It took her a few goes, but soon she managed to send, ‘night, dreaming’ which Cat took to mean, “Goodnight, sweet dreams.”

Cat thought the latter was unlikely since she had never experienced a dream in her life, but she took the sentiment in the spirit in which it was intended.

With that, they exchanged hugs and went their separate ways.

Chapter 11

The next morning, Catriona met up with Mandalee and Shyleen. Shapeshifting into her falcon form, she was able to scout around the town while Shyleen tracked down the Trickster’s scent. Now that there wasn’t a second Trickster confusing the trail, it made things easier by far. Once they found it, Cat was able to work her magic on the plants to cut off escape routes. Shyleen herded it into one of Mandalee’s traps, which, with Catriona’s help, she had adjusted to give off an inaudible vibration that would naturally repel distracted mortals, while still attracting lower planar demons. Once captured, the demon hunter used her clerical magic to Banish the Trickster, robbing it of the energy it would need to return to the mortal realm anytime soon.

Mandalee and Cat made a good team. Their skills complemented each other and their sympathic communication, plus the telepathy between Mandalee and Shyleen, helped them work together as one. They didn't know it at the time, but this was only the beginning for them. Soon, they would be working together regularly as the consequences of Catriona’s actions caught up with her and changed the course of her life.

*****

Cat, Mandalee and Jacob were all together when the message arrived. It was a magical message from the Council of Wizards. Catriona was summoned to stand before them in Conclave.

Renjaf had filed a formal grievance against her, and this was a hearing to determine the degree of culpability and decide on what, if any, punitive action was warranted.

The Council of Wizards recognised no single leader. Instead, it was governed by a Triumvirate composed of the highest-ranking wizard from each of the three orders of magic: White, Black and Red. The White were primarily concerned with the defence and protection of the people