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

Cat smiled, and in a conspiratorial whisper, confided, “Actually, she wants to ask a favour, that you don’t tell a soul about what happened. She’s got a reputation to maintain, you see – she’d be the laughingstock of the nest if word got out that she’d attacked someone, and they still lived.”

Given this new perspective, Daelen agreed, “I can relate to that. Her secret is safe.”

“In that case, she’s willing to call it quits. On the plus side, I’m willing to bet that if her venom is so effective on you, with her increased power, she could be a serious threat to Kullos. We have gained knowledge and survived. By my reckoning, the balance comes down on our side.”

“Easy for you to say,” Daelen grumbled, “after you nearly killed me…again.”

On sudden impulse, Cat hugged Daelen and planted a kiss on his cheek. “I know. Let’s make a pact to have no more accidents, shall we? I’m glad you’re OK.”

“So am I,” Mandalee agreed, though she wasn’t going to kiss him.

“First you try to kill me, then you save me,” he remarked.

“What can I say?” Mandalee shrugged. “I’m fickle like that.”

“Then I’ll try and keep on your good side from now on!” Daelen chuckled. “I’m glad to have you with us. It’s obvious that you two are going to make a formidable team.”

Mandalee smiled, remembering the old days when they went demon hunting together and factored in how much both their powers had advanced since then. “You have no idea,” she declared.

Daelen led them out of the medical wing of his facility, to his training centre, where he practised and honed his fighting skills. Next to that was a dining area where he invited them to sit while he brought them meals that cooked in just a few minutes in something he called a ‘microwave.’

“OK, now this is technology I can get behind,” Mandalee approved as she sampled her meal. Catriona was in full agreement and bombarded Daelen with questions about how it could cook so fast. She quickly lost interest, however, when she learned it had nothing to do with temporal magic.

Getting them both a drink, he left them to it while he resumed his training routines. As they watched him through the window, the shadow warrior stripped down to the waist, showing a toned, muscular body. He began doing flips, twists, and other well-timed stunts. Catching Catriona’s eye, he winked at her.

She just smiled and shook her head. “I didn’t realise Daelen had such a playful side,” she remarked, momentarily forgetting she wasn’t alone.

Her friend leaned close and asked, “Do you want me to leave, so you can stare at his body in peace?”

Cat whirled her head around to face Mandalee’s crooked grin. “What are you talking about? I’m just…looking, that’s all!”

“Yes, looking intently – also known as staring,” she teased. “Or if you don’t like that word, how about this one: flirting?”

Cat, blushing deeply, protested, “I am not! I’m just…getting into character, you know, for when we go to Calin’s Tower.”

Her friend nodded knowingly. “Right,” she deadpanned, making it clear she didn’t believe a word of it. “Getting into character. Got it.”

*****

When he saw they were done eating, Daelen rejoined them and announced that he wanted to show them ‘something special’ before they left for Esca and Calin’s Tower.

Mandalee whispered in Catriona’s ear, “If his ‘something special’ is what I think it is, I’m leaving you to your perverted desires.”

“I do not have desires,” she whispered back. “Perverted or otherwise.”

“Come off it, Cat, he probably wants to put part of himself inside you again.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Sympathic link, remember. When you called for help, a few things leaked out. Hey, is that what happened? Did his essence just sort of ‘leak out’?

The druidess was turning an ever-deepening shade of red. “Are you going to be like this all the time from now on?”

“Oh, yes,” Mandalee replied nodding. “All the time.”

“What are you two conspiring about?” Daelen wondered.

“Nothing!” Cat replied too quickly.

“Just speculating on what your ‘something special’ might look like.”

“Shut up!” Cat hissed.

“Make me!” Mandalee shot back.

Daelen led them to what he called his portal room. Upon opening the door, all banter momentarily ceased as they saw half a dozen shimmering blue Prismatic Spheres, identical to what he typically used to transport himself across the face of Tempestria.

“These are my doorways to other worlds,” he declared, dropping the concept into the conversation as casually as he might have introduced his wine cellar.

“Other worlds?” the two women gasped.

“Oh, have I impressed you two at last?”

Cat gave him a playful shove for his trouble.

‘Flirting!’ Mandalee sent, sympathically.

“So, there are other worlds,” a distracted Catriona mused, more to herself than anyone else, pointedly ignoring her friend. “She’s been right all along.” Dreya would be extremely interested, she knew. “I can’t wait to tell her about this.”

“Who’s that?” Daelen wondered.

It was an innocent question, but Catriona’s expression was one of shock and anger at herself, for giving away free information she hadn’t intended to. With the magically backed promise, such a mistake shouldn’t even have been possible. Unless the effects of these other worlds were disrupting the magic, somehow. She recovered quickly, though and dismissed the question with a wave of her hand. “Oh, just someone I’m acquainted with.”

“All part of your million research projects, Cat?” Mandalee suggested, inadvertently coming to her rescue. “Or part of your project to impress your new shadow warrior boyfriend, perhaps?” she added under her breath.

Rolling her eyes, Cat nevertheless grabbed the lifeline and agreed, “Yeah, that’s it. You got me.”

Daelen explained that this was where he disappeared to for long periods in between battles with Kullos and ‘Aden.’

On the other side of each portal, lay a similar facility on a different world. One was a world ruled by dragons, while in another world of high technology, the dragons were themselves hunted down. Another portal led to a world filled with a myriad of strange sentient creatures, where