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

help, when I needed you, you couldn’t even be bothered to listen! That’s not something I can get over just like that. I’m offering to help you this one last time; then I’m done.”

“Not forever, though?” Catriona’s tears flowed once more. “Please, Mandalee! I’m not asking you to forgive me, and I’ll give you all the time you need. Please just say you’ll come back when you’re ready.”

Mandalee shook her head. “I can’t promise that. I hope so. That’s all I can say.” Cat opened her mouth, but the cleric cut her off. “Don’t push me on this, Catriona,” she warned. “There’s nothing you can say right now that won’t make it worse. Now, this experiment?”

Cat was floundering, her mind spinning, emotions in turmoil. She was grateful when Dreya came to her rescue, all business-like and professional. The sorceress explained how the Crystal Mage Staff had reacted to both of them individually, and the question was how it would respond to both, simultaneously. Mandalee agreed to try it, so Dreya led her two guests upstairs to her training room. Catriona said nothing. She was too terrified to even look at her friend. Former friend? It broke her heart to imagine that might be true.

In addition to the three young women, Dreya’s death knight guards were also in the training room. Mandalee did not like them one bit and demanded to know what they were doing there. Dreya explained that they were a precaution, in case the staff’s reaction was even more violent than before.

“If we fly apart, they are swift enough to catch us and break our fall. Frankly, it’s either that or concussion.”

“Concussion has never sounded more attractive,” Mandalee grumbled.

“I could always tell them not to stop your head from going splat against my wall,” Dreya offered.

Mandalee sighed, deeply and relented. “OK, let them catch me. I’m not going to risk dying. Shyleen needs me, and I won’t let her down.”

Cat flinched at the barbs that flew her way but accepted the punishment without comment. Seeing that all was ready, she took her staff out of her pocket dimension and held it in a trembling hand. Then on the count of three, Mandalee and Dreya gripped the staff at the same time.

The violent reaction they had feared did not happen. There was a kind of pull, but it seemed somehow more balanced than before. Light flared from the crystal, painting a pattern on Dreya’s ceiling that looked not unlike the void storms in the Tempestrian sky. For a moment, the light began to form symbols, but they flickered and died before achieving full resolution. The staff seemed to indicate to Catriona that something was missing, but frankly, at the moment, she didn’t care.

*****

The accepted historical view of this event, gentle reader, is that it was a truly momentous occasion: the first time the Original Three came together – the Three who would one day become the first Guardians of Time and Magic, and save the world many times. That’s all very well for those of us who merely observe, detached, from a distance. For the three who were involved at the time, far from the beginning of something, it felt like an ending, and I’m sure the whole thing seemed utterly pointless.

Still, all relationships have their ups and downs. Even a friendship for the ages. Especially a friendship for the ages.

Chapter 20

Mandalee didn’t stay long after that. Stepping outside into Dreya’s grounds, she immediately called for her giant albatross to give her a lift back to Shyleen.

Cat couldn’t let her go, though. Not without risking saying something more.

“Mandalee, wait, please,” she pleaded. “Just for a minute. I want you to do one last thing for me.”

“You can’t be serious,” Mandalee scowled.

“No, not like that. Please, hear me out.”

Mandalee folded her arms.

“One minute.”

“Our sympathic link. Please don’t sever it. You know it’s not a tracker. It won’t tell me where you are or what you’re doing, and I promise I won’t use it to contact you. Just keep it there. Just in case. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I swear in the name of friendship if you ever need me, or want to talk, I will be there.”

“For what it’s worth,” Dreya put in, “I have adjusted my shields so they will permanently allow full communication between you, should you wish it.”

Mandalee considered for a moment and finally nodded her assent. “OK, as you say, in the name of friendship.”

Catriona’s relief was plain for all to see, as she grabbed hold of that lifeline of hope.

“Also, in the name of friendship,” Mandalee said, “some advice. I know you won’t listen to me, but I’m saying it anyway.” She glared at Dreya the Dark as she said, “This one might be acting all reasonable at the moment because you’ve got something she’s interested in, but never forget what she is. She’s a Dark sorceress with a lust for power, and she would betray you in a heartbeat if it were to her advantage.”

Far from being offended, Dreya agreed, “You’re right, I would,” she said, then with a smile at Catriona, she qualified the admission, saying, “but it would have to be the advantage of a lifetime.”

Cat stared at Dreya with an open-mouthed expression, as if she’d just heard a declaration of love.

“Ugh!” Mandalee grunted, shaking her head in bewilderment. “Unbelievable!” she spat in disgust.

The gigantic bird landed, and Mandalee mounted up.

Cat leapt forward, trying to explain, but Mandalee was done and with a simple telepathic request, the giant albatross took to the sky, winging away.

Catriona wept for her lost friendship, burying herself in Dreya’s soft black robes as the sorceress helped her inside and closed the door. To Cat, that felt symbolic, as if a door had just closed on a huge, important part of her life. She could only pray that one day, it might just open again.

*****

It took several days for the druid healers to restore Shyleen to full health and vitality, but