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

hated it so much, he never again left his forest home. Catriona had never had that problem, “but maybe I inherited some of that from my Dad, after all. You’re a Cleric of Nature – I’m surprised you can stand it.”

“It’s OK for me. Half my soul is still on Tempestria,” she reminded her friend.

“Of course,” Cat understood. “But even the clothes – all those synthetic fabrics. I appreciate the technical skill to create them, but—”

“—But you don’t want to wear them,” Mandalee finished for her. “That dress I got you – you really hate it, don’t you?” she sighed, looking slightly crestfallen.

“Yes,” Cat admitted. “I’m sorry, but yes, I do. Wearing it would be…painful,” she went on, choosing her words, carefully. “Can’t really say why.”

“You don’t need to. I should have realised. At least you’re talking to me again.”

“Yeah, Jessica helped, despite how rude I was to her. Wherever she’s from, I get the impression that she’s somehow close to nature. She seems to radiate something that feels similar to my druid magic.”

“Yes, I sensed that, too,” Mandalee agreed. “It’s different, which I guess is to be expected since she’s from another world, but it’s only as different as…” she floundered, looking for an analogy.

“As different as this food,” Cat suggested, indicating their breakfast.

“Exactly,” Mandalee nodded, enthusiastically, delighted that her friend was engaging with her like this again. “I mean, we have pretty similar things in our world, but…”

“…but it’s like a slightly different flavour. Like using a different combination of spices,” Cat concluded.

“Well, then,” Mandalee declared, raising her glass, “here’s to diversity: the spice of life!”

“The spice of life!” Cat echoed, raising her glass, too, adding in a fair approximation of Jessica’s voice, “Cheers, love!”

Chapter 20

Sara returned to the dining room just as they were finishing up.

“Message from Daelen,” she announced. “He says he’s giving you an hour to let your breakfast go down and warm-up, then he expects you in his training centre.”

Cat arched her eyebrows. “Does he now?”

“Jessica’s gone to get you a combat suit each. It’s a lightweight, magically resistant body armour made from—”

“—Made from some kind of clever synthetic fabric, no doubt.”

“Uh-oh,” Mandalee remarked, knowing how her friend would react to that.

“Well, Daelen can ‘expect’ what he likes, but there is no way in hell I’ll be wearing any such thing.”

Sara offered an apologetic smile. “He’s used to getting his own way.”

“I bet he is,” Cat agreed.

“If it helps,” Mandalee put in, trying to smooth things over, “I’ll give it a try, and I’m quite looking forward to a physical workout with a shadow warrior. Maybe he’ll even teach me some of his powers.”

Cat shrugged. “His major destructive powers don’t interest me much, except on a purely academic level. They’re overrated and disruptive to nature. I’m a little surprised you would consider using them yourself.” She breathed deeply as she stood and stretched out the kinks in her muscles. “Ah,” she remarked, “I can feel my stubborn streak surfacing. Daelen is going to find me very picky about what I choose to do today.”

“Well, as my sister would say,” Sara offered, “‘Don’t shoot the messenger, love’.”

“Not at all,” Catriona assured her. She was unfamiliar with the expression, but the meaning was plain enough. “That won’t happen again. Thank you for the message, Sara. What happens after you deliver it is no fault of yours.”

“Anyway,” Mandalee spoke up, “since we have time to kill, why don’t we talk about you for a while? You and your sister, what’s your story?”

“You mean, ‘What’s a nice pair of girls like us doing in a place like this’?” came a voice from the doorway.

They turned and saw Jessica walk in, wearing an outfit that covered her from her neck down to her ankles, leaving only her tail sticking out. It seemed to cling to her skin, smoothing every contour. Mandalee was immediately fascinated by it. In many ways, except for the colour, it wasn’t all that different, in principle, to her own leather outfit. Something designed for maximum flexibility while, she suspected, offering more protection than the thin fabric would suggest.

Turning back to Sara, she wondered, “Is that one of those combat suits you were talking about?”

Sara agreed it was, and Jessica obligingly did a pirouette to show it off.

“You like?” Jessica asked.

“I do,” the assassin agreed. “My friend’s not keen.”

“As I said, though,” Cat reiterated, “I do appreciate the technical skill that can create such fabric.” She walked over to Jessica and moved to feel the fabric on the girl’s arm. “May I?”

“Sure thing, dear,” she replied. “Maybe it’ll help you change your mind.”

As soon as Cat’s hand touched Jessica, she yelped in pain and snatched it back.

“Maybe not,” Sara remarked, rushing over to examine Cat’s hand. The skin had turned red and inflamed with small, raised white patches of swelling. “Looks like an extreme allergic reaction.”

“It’s OK,” Cat assured them. “It’s nothing serious, I’ll have it healed in no…time…” she trailed off.

“What’s wrong?” Mandalee asked.

Cat reminded her that she couldn’t access her powers in this world.

“We should get you to the medical bay.” Sara offered.

Mandalee shook her head. “I’ll do it,” she volunteered. “My deal with nature means my powers work fine no matter where I am.”

Cat held up her uninjured hand and asked her to wait. “I want to test a theory,” she insisted, wincing with the pain, “in the portal room.”

They walked through the maze of corridors and opened the door to the room with the permanent portals to other worlds. Catriona could immediately sense which one was Tempestria. Breathing deeply, she reached out her senses to receive the Blessing of Alycia, Mother of Nature. Connection restored, it was a simple matter to heal the inflammation of her skin.

“As I thought,” Cat mused. “All I need is a doorway to our world, and I can do everything here that I can do there.”

“That link’s important to you, isn’t it?” Sara observed. “Not just for your magic, but to who you are.”

Cat nodded.

“Believe me,