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

the services of three mages called Custodians, one from each order. They were not just guards, but her personal staff, there to do what she could not. To maintain the balance, Calin swore a magically backed oath to never acquire power or use the knowledge of her Tower for personal gain. For example, suppose a wizard was researching a powerful spell. Calin could retain only the theoretical understanding of how it was done. A magical block prevented her from casting all but a few rudimentary spells.

Catriona finished her lecture with a sigh of admiration for this individual. As much as she valued knowledge and insisted ‘power isn’t everything,’ the idea of sacrificing the ability to use the things she learned was horrifying to her. She couldn’t imagine being unable to work with nature as she did, unable to use her pocket dimension magic. Perhaps worst of all was the idea of sacrificing her ability to shapeshift…

…My mother had no idea, gentle reader, that events were already in motion that would force her to do exactly that.

*****

The door to the callers’ office was opened by one of the many acolytes Calin hired to help run the Tower. “Is your Mistress available, please?” Catriona asked. “I have heard that she is seeking to increase her section on druid magic, and I’ve brought some contributions as a gift.”

“Yes, certainly,” the girl replied, “if you’ll come with me, I will introduce you.”

The girl led the companions through seemingly endless corridors. As they reached a pair of large wooden double doors, they heard a bell chime magically behind them. Without being touched, the doors opened to reveal a sizeable gothic chamber with a high ceiling and lit by magelights that gave the appearance of candles without the potentially disastrous fire hazard. Calin herself was a Faery woman of considerable beauty and noble bearing. Despite her age of approaching two hundred years, her hair was mainly night-black, with just a few strands here and there lightened to grey, which only increased the sense of wisdom one could see in her grey-blue eyes. Behind her, ever watchful, sat the three Custodians.

Calin rose to greet her visitors, a kind smile on her face.

“Welcome, my dears,” she greeted them. “My Tower is yours. If you need assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask. Now, what’s this I hear about a gift?”

Catriona stepped forward and dropped to one knee, kissing Calin’s ring finger.

“Mistress Calin, I am honoured to meet you. I have waited too long.”

Daelen was stunned by this, and even Mandalee was unprepared, having never imagined Catriona Redfletching would kneel to anyone.

Calin seemed a little taken aback herself, saying, “Please, get up. I’m no hero that you should kneel to me.”

“I would not kneel to any mere hero, Mistress Calin,” Catriona replied. “You will forever be a revered figure in history, and it will be a privilege to one day tell my children that I met you in person. I am merely giving you the honour you rightly deserve.”

Satisfied, Cat got up and introduced herself.

“You are Catriona Redfletching?” Calin wondered. “I have heard of you. Your reputation is growing. There are formidable mages who respect and fear you. Tell me: how do you replicate Holy Water? I had a group of orthodox clerics of Light in here a few months ago complaining about your ‘blasphemy.’ They swore they were going to burn you at the stake if they caught you.”

Catriona smiled darkly. “Some of them tried. I granted them a visit to their god.”

*****

Rather than attack her directly, they had used their clerical magic to instil a kind of blind faith in the minds of a section of their congregation, including children. This effectively turned them into a cult that would fight Catriona even at the cost of their own lives. It had taken all of Cat’s ingenuity to restrict, snare and disarm her attackers. Pyrah not being with her at the time didn’t matter. They were linked no matter what. Besides, Cat had enough mental strength of her own to establish a sympathic link with one of her attackers. As a rule, she didn’t impose a sympathic link without permission, but under the circumstances, she decided it was warranted. Besides, it wasn’t as if she could read minds as such. But she could clearly sense the waves of hatred emanating not from them, but through them.

She would not impose her will on these people who were obviously being used. Instead, focussing on one man, she projected an overwhelming sense of ‘Freedom,’ encouraging him to break free of the conditioning. As soon as he did, the man told Cat he remembered everything and asked if there was anything he could do to help free the others, many of whom were friends and family. Cat urged him to keep thinking ‘Freedom’ in his mind. Not just the word, but the concept, the idea.

“Think about what freedom means to you,” she coached. “Focus on that and imagine shouting it at me without actually speaking.”

He did as she asked, which helped her to free the next one with less effort. Not every person she released added to her chorus. Some just wanted to go home, and she wouldn’t stand against that. Many did join her, however, and pretty soon, the attack was over, but Catriona was far from done. The druidess wanted to deal with the clerics at the heart of this assault. If she didn’t, they would just do it again to others, and their next attack might be something the druidess was less equipped to deal with. When she cornered the trio of clerics, she was resolved not to give them a chance to attack anyone ever again.

She knew that some of her past actions had ruffled feathers, to put it mildly, and her association with Dreya the Dark seemed to bring out strong feelings in some people. So, she had prepared. People who harboured a powerful hatred were usually absolutely convinced of their own rightness. Therefore, Cat had been working