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

for a more direct approach, launching himself at the void-creature with his great Warhammer made of hardened, unbreakable petrified wood, which would imprison those it struck in the same material. The void-creature was fast – almost shadow warrior fast, but the centuries of training with Daelen paid off, and he finally hit his target. For a moment, the void-creature was cocooned, and it seemed the battle was won, but a moment later, the wood began to vibrate and quake until it shook itself apart, throwing Michael clear.

Michael rushed at the void-creature with his golden Sword of Maruk, imbued with the power of the gods, but the void-creature opened a pocket dimension, from which he produced a great cannon and aimed it at Michael. Time slowed as Michael looked on in horror: From his readings, it seemed like a version of what Daelen and Kullos used, only even more powerful.

Except it couldn’t be.

The idea of a more powerful beam cannon was plausible enough in itself since the cannon drew power entirely from the shadow warrior who used it. In fact, the warrior was the real weapon – the cannon merely aided focus. A more powerful cannon really meant a more powerful shadow warrior. Just one problem: There were no more shadow warriors. Maybe not anywhere, but certainly in this realm, there were but three: Kullos, plus Daelen and his dark clone.

But if this attack was indeed what it appeared to be, then Michael could not survive. Michael could always sense when he was Fated to die, and this was not one of those occasions. The gods had created him with the knowledge that if ever he died when it wasn’t Time, he could never be Resurrected. He would die, permanently. Forever.

In a last, desperate attempt to make his existence count for something, he channelled every last drop of power from his very being through his sword to strike at the void-creature. As he did so, three figures appeared between them. Again, Michael couldn’t see them very well, but in a different way to the void-creature. They seemed to be shrouded by magic. All he could make out through his haze of pain was that they seemed to have a more feminine silhouette, and each seemed to radiate a particular colour: one white, one black and one red. They had woven some kind of magical net between them, which had a lensing effect on both energy beams, magnifying Michael’s and diffracting the cannon blast.

The result of this Intervention was threefold: First, Michael was thrown to the ground in agony, but still alive – barely. Second, the void-creature was stunned long enough for the three newcomers to go on the offensive with what appeared to be a combination of all three flavours of mortal magic: wizard, cleric and druid. How mere mortal magic could be effective, Michael could not understand, but it was. The third effect of this Intervention, however, was that the portion of the diffracted cannon blast that had missed Michael slammed into the village around them. The young Catriona Redfletching was at the extreme edge of the explosion and was thrown clear. Others were not so fortunate. Cat dragged herself to her feet and cried out in tearful horror as her father, who had been only slightly closer to the blast, disintegrated into nothingness before her eyes.

Also witness to the horrific scene was Velena who had been hunting away from the village at the time of the attack. Cat sensed her mother before she saw her, and when she turned to look at her, she felt like her spirit had been ripped from her body. She knew well the look on her mother’s face – it meant only one thing: the battle frenzy was upon her. Catriona’s fears were confirmed as Velena dropped the carcass of the stag she had slain for their dinner and reached for her weapons.

“Mum! No!” Cat screamed, desperately, tears coursing like rivers down her cheeks. “You can’t fight them, they’re too powerful!”

But she could see it in her mother’s eyes: at that moment, she didn’t even recognise her own daughter. Catriona tried to physically stop her, but Velena threw her aside like she was nothing to her. That hurt Cat far more than the rock that struck her head as she landed on her back.

“Please!” she begged. “Please, Mum, I—I can’t lose you, too!”

Velena ignored her pleas and rushed, heedless into battle, shooting arrows futilely at the void-creature.

“Mum,” Cat whispered, her world fading as her concussion took its toll, and she lapsed into unconsciousness, “I…love…”

*****

The three newcomers were holding the void-creature at bay with their combined magic but did not seem able to deal a decisive blow. Not until a fourth figure appeared, glowing with a light so bright, Michael wondered if a piece of the sun had somehow broken away and decided to shine in the night sky. Michael could not look at this creature of light directly, lest it damage his eyes. Through the delirium of pain, Michael thought he could detect a strange aura and a kind of magic that he couldn’t identify.

The figure stood unflinching before the void-creature and said, “I can’t allow you to interfere any further here. Go back to where you belong. You know I can make you, but I’m giving you this one chance to leave by your own power.”

The void-creature spoke for the first time. Michael suspected it would have been terrifying even without the heavy distortion that surrounded it, but he was in too much pain to give it any real thought.

“If I go,” it said, “I’ll not be doing you any favours. It would be easier on all of you if I succeeded this day. Back home, your tricks won’t work on me the way they do here. You know that.”

“Yes, I know,” the other admitted, “but that is how it must be.”

“Fine, we’ll do it your way. See you later!”

With that, the void-creature opened a portal and stepped through it.

Once the void-creature was