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

“she doesn’t like the term – says it’s pretentious – but she’s from the Pantheon, yes. She was a follower of Blessed Alycia, and as far as Shyleen was concerned, it was Alycia who was a god, not herself.”

“Because sometimes even the gods have gods,” Cat mused.

“Exactly!” Mandalee gasped. “That’s a great way of putting it.”

“Just something someone said to me recently,” Cat explained dismissively. “So, she came down here because…”

“…Because Blessed Alycia did. According to the legends, anyway.”

There was, in fact, much more to the story, but this was neither the time nor the place to tell it. For the moment, she simply explained that Shyleen gave her affinity with nature and access to clerical powers in the faction of Light.

“In exchange for…?” Cat knew these things always came with a price.

“The only thing that would allow her to fully manifest here.”

“Which was what?”

The answer to that required the rest of her bottle of beer.

“Half my soul,” she admitted quickly.

Cat had no idea what to say. Selling one’s soul was traditionally more the province of a Dark wizard in exchange for power.

Mandalee was adamant that she absolutely did not sell her soul. It was an equal share.

“It’s a completely different thing,” she insisted.

It was a lot to take in, but in the end, it seemed to Catriona that there was only one question of relevance.

“Have you ever regretted it?”

“Never for one fraction of a second.”

“Then who the hell am I to judge?”

When they stood up and embraced, Catriona felt as though her heart had just restarted after a two-year break.

“Anyway,” Mandalee continued finally, as they sat back down, “the point is, Shyleen forgave you and, I suppose…much as I tried not to…so have I.”

Chapter 13

Mandalee explained that it had taken her a while to track down Catriona, using her network of animals. As soon as she realised her friend was heading for the port, she knew she had to act fast if she was going to catch up before Cat boarded a ship. Otherwise, she would have to rely on the intelligence of seagulls. Never a wise move. Unfortunately, there was no way to get a leopard to ride on the back of an albatross.

They both laughed at the idea and just for a moment, it felt as if the friends were slotting back into familiar patterns, but the awkward silence that followed belied that.

After a few minutes, Mandalee asked, “What can you tell me about Daelen?”

“Still want to kill him?”

“Honestly, I don’t know what I want. My assignment has become less and less clear. I don’t even know who my client is, yet I still have their voice in my head telling me I have to stop Daelen before he destroys the world. Shyleen reckons I need to pick up what I left behind when I walked away from you, you’ve teamed up with him, and it’s all so confusing! What I need…” She trailed off. A moment later, she started again, “What I need is some more pieces to the puzzle.”

Cat reached out to place her hands on Mandalee’s. “But that confusion is good,” she told her. “It means you’re thinking for yourself, not just accepting what your mysterious client tells you.” She sighed heavily. “Mandalee, maybe this time you’re not supposed to kill your mark. There are many ways to stop someone besides killing.”

“That thought has occurred to me,” Mandalee huffed sullenly, “but what else am I to do? Human relations aren’t exactly my area. I’m a bloody assassin for hell’s sake!”

Cat offered her a crooked smile, “Well Daelen’s not human, and no-one’s asking you to have relations with him – he’s mine, so hands off.”

“What?” Mandalee gasped.

Cat giggled. “No, not really.”

She assured her friend that it was just a cover. People knew her, now, so she was trying to generate a rumour that she was off on some wild, romantic quest together with a mysterious and powerful wizard lover. She also talked about Daelen’s perception filter, disguising who he really was. A combination of their sympathic link and the fact that she already knew Catriona was with Daelen, meant it didn’t work on Mandalee.

“Low profile. Got it.” Mandalee nodded. “Actually, I have heard rumours like that about you.”

“Excellent, it’s working already,” Catriona enthused before getting serious again. “An assassin is a hunter. A hunter doesn’t always hunt to kill. Sometimes, a hunter hunts for a person or animal that is lost, hurt or in danger, so she can help, not harm, and sometimes people join together to hunt a mark which neither could attempt alone.”

The assassin ordered another drink from a passing barmaid. She was going to need it.

“All of which brings me back to, ‘What can you tell me about Daelen’?”

*****

By the time Shyleen arrived, Catriona had managed to convince Mandalee to return to the docks with her, where Daelen and Pyrah were waiting in uneasy silence.

Cat asked her old friend to hang back for a moment, while she prepared the way with the shadow warrior, explaining that she hadn’t given details of the deeply personal things they had shared, but what she had told her had been enough to convince Mandalee that trying to kill him was not the answer. He was somewhat placated when she explained about the prophecy about him destroying the world.

“To be fair,” he accepted, “if my actions were going to destroy the world, I would want someone to stop me, by any means necessary. You don’t need to worry, though. Even I don’t have that kind of power. Perhaps if I were still whole, I might. Kullos might, too, if he has ‘outside help,’” he added, obliquely referring to the void-creature.

Cat introduced them properly, then, and while they were still tense and wary, at least their relationship stopped short of explosive.

They walked along the docks until they finally found Daelen’s ship, the StormChaser. She was a tall sailing ship with an ornately carved tiger figurehead, three-tone-stained oaken deck, and red and gold sails attached to the three masts.