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

smiled at her friends, “how about a mock battle – me and Cat against you?”

“That’s a great idea,” Catriona agreed, “that should be a pretty good workout. Combine everything we’ve learned together and see what works.”

“Alright,” Daelen agreed, “but I won’t use my beam cannon or my higher planar powers. There’s not much point to a training session if I just knock you both out in two seconds. Besides, I’d be worried about accidentally powering it up too much and hurting you seriously.”

“Don’t hold back too much,” Cat warned, “or you might find yourself in trouble.”

In a moment of pure tactlessness, Daelen laughed, “Come on, you don’t seriously think you have the weapons to beat me, do you? This isn’t just my ego talking. It’s a fact that my power is far greater than yours.”

Mandalee smiled dangerously, “You have no idea what a mistake you’ve just made. Cat, he’s been trying to train us since we got here. Don’t you think it’s time we taught him a thing or two, in return?”

“Right there with you. Daelen, you are absolutely right…and yet you’re also absolutely wrong. Your power is undeniably far greater, but you’re wrong to assume that guarantees victory. Since we first met, I’ve been telling you that power isn’t everything. It’s time Mandalee and I showed you what that means.”

Chapter 27

Without warning, as if on some pre-arranged signal that Daelen couldn’t detect, Cat and Mandalee moved a few yards away and chorused, “Defend yourself, shadow warrior.”

Daelen flew into the sky, and immediately initiated his signature storm power, but anticipating such an opening move, Cat encouraged vines to grow around her ankles, anchoring her firmly to the spot. Meanwhile, Mandalee looked bored and stood in a bubble of perfectly calm air.

“Please, Daelen,” she taunted, “try not to be so predictable. The power of nature is more our domain than it is yours.”

“You want a storm? I’ll give you one,” added Cat. A second storm blew in, then, hitting Daelen full in the chest and sending him tumbling through the air for a moment before he could adjust his flight to compensate. “How can you create a storm more powerful than mine?” he demanded. “It’s just not possible!”

“I didn’t create anything,” Cat answered, “the Mother of Nature did.”

“All Cat did was ask her nicely,” Mandalee added.

Lightning began to streak from the clouds then, startling Daelen, who was unaccustomed to being made to feel an intruder in the storms over which he was usually master. A highly localised rainstorm poured down, even as the sun shone on the broader area. Capitalising on his momentary distraction, Mandalee cast Starfire, igniting the air around her shadow warrior friend. She knew Daelen’s power would act to protect him from serious harm, but by the gods, it would hurt. Plus, it would drain some of his energy. Daelen cried out and tried to fly higher to escape, only to find that a tree seemed to have reached out and grabbed him. Catriona’s handiwork, he guessed. He struck out with fireballs with one hand while he used his sword to cut through the branches with the other. The fireballs were little trouble to either of the young women; Mandalee using her lightning speed to sidestep the blast, while Cat created a waterfall shield out of the damp air.

That gave Daelen all the time he needed, however, to escape and go on the offensive, striking with acid arrows, magic missiles and more fireballs. For a moment, both Mandalee and Cat were kept on the run, unable to attempt any kind of fightback. But then Daelen spotted a double rainbow out of the corner of his eye, which distracted him. The wind had died down by now, which made flying more comfortable, but it also made him more vulnerable. A fact Daelen failed to realise until a pair of arrows stuck themselves in his back. They were tipped with a powerful herbal tranquilliser – he could feel their slowing effect on his body.

“My tranquilliser, Cat’s arrows,” Mandalee called out. “Of course, in a real battle, that would be poison in your veins.”

In fact, Mandalee had always been reluctant to use poison in a real fight, but Daelen didn’t need to know that.

“Distracted by rainbows – sunlight through moisture,” Catriona giggled. “You do realise you basically just fell for the old ‘look behind you’ trick? Of course, this time, there really is something behind you.”

Daelen whirled around just in time to see Mandalee sending out a Fire Arc towards him. She rarely used such direct magic, but she could do it if she wanted to. He tried to dodge and would have been successful if not for the other Fire Arc streaking towards his unguarded back from another Mandalee, side-by-side with another Catriona.

“Thanks for the Mirror Image, Cat,” the assassin called out while Cat used her friend’s fire magic to ignite flaming arrows that streaked towards Daelen. “I didn’t know you could use it on other people besides yourself.”

Cat laughed, “Neither did I, but it was worth a go.”

“I think you should give him a chance and cancel our doubles,” Mandalee suggested.

The Cat and Mandalee who had spoken vanished and Daelen suddenly realised they were the copies. He tried to turn to face the original pair, but he found he was paralysed from the prolonged effect of the tranquilliser. He expended energy purging it from his body, but the moment he broke free, he was dive-bombed by Catriona in her red-banded falcon form, scratching at the top of his head. Cat flew to the ground and changed back, before Daelen could catch her, and pointed out, “You realise that if this were a real battle, I would’ve gone for your eyes. Blinding you. How would you fight if you couldn’t see?”

“Let’s find out,” Mandalee suggested, as she asked nature to create a dense fog around Daelen, effectively throwing him into darkness.

Once again, it was a simple enough matter for the shadow warrior to disperse the mist. Indeed, none of the