Gathering Storm (The Salvation of Tempestria Book 2) by Gary Stringer (howl and other poems .txt) 📕

“I’m getting their co-ordinates now!” she snapped, “I just need to know ours.”

When she felt Mandalee in her mind, Cat projected ‘location’ ‘co-ordinates’ and ‘come here: emergency.’

There was a pause as Mandalee consulted with the Dolphin’s crew before sending over what Cat needed. Cat shared the co-ordinates with the captain and sent over theirs in return. Cat gave both verbal and sympathic orders for the two ships to come about to exact opposite headings as fast as possible.

Mandalee projected her intention to call for her giant albatross to give her a lift, but there was no guarantee that it would be any quicker than if she came by ship. There wasn’t anything they could do about the speed of the Dolphin, but Cat could certainly do something about the StormChaser.

“Captain, tell your crew to batten down the hatches or whatever it is they do in extreme weather,” she urged him.

“Why?”

“Because, well, you remember that storm Daelen just got rid of?”

“Yes?”

“Well, I’m about to bring it back again, and it’s going to push us to the Dolphin.”

Even as she spoke, the wind began to pick up, blowing harder and harder.

The captain’s eyes widened. “But Lady Catriona, if it’s too much, I don’t have a full crew, we may not be able to handle it. You could tear the ship apart.”

“Better Daelen’s ship than Daelen himself.” Cat was out of patience. She was beginning to see why Daelen acted the way he did. She rounded on the man, eyes blazing. “Look, Captain, when Daelen gives you an order, do you stand there arguing with him?”

“Well, no, of course not, but—”

“While he is incapacitated, I am in charge, and you will do as I say! If you have a constructive idea, I will listen, but question or debate with me one more time until this crisis is over, and there’s a life raft with your name on it. Alternatively, I may decide to do this.” She shifted to leopard form, advancing on the Captain, teeth and claws on full display. She changed back. “Now, will you comply?”

The terrified man declared, “Yes, Ma’am!” and with a salute, he ran to relay orders to the crew.

Cat may not have had her sea legs when she first boarded the ship, but she found them pretty quickly when it mattered. The red and white sails furled in the winds that battered the StormChaser. The crew were running around, trying desperately to hold the ship together under extreme pressure. It was difficult for Cat to keep the wind blowing consistently in the right direction, but one of the crew, she didn’t know his name, called out to her whenever they began to stray off course, so she could correct it.

At last, the lookout spotted another ship at extreme range. A quick sympathic communication with Mandalee confirmed it was the Dolphin. Communicating further, Mandalee told Cat her lift had arrived. In response, Cat allowed the high winds to move away and calm down, slowing their momentum to make it easier for the giant albatross to approach and land on the StormChaser, safely.

Mandalee vaulted off the bird onto the deck, and Cat took her below to her cabin where an unconscious Daelen lay still on her bed.

“What did you do to him this time?” the assassin wondered.

“I didn’t,” Cat answered. “Pyrah did. I have a plan, but it’s going to need all four of us.”

“Four?”

“You, me, Shyleen and Pyrah.” Seeing Mandalee hesitate, she demanded to know what was wrong. “We have to act fast.” she insisted. “Daelen’s nature will hold the venom back for a while, but not forever. He needs our help.”

“Maybe this is a sign,” Mandalee considered. “Remember my contract?”

Cat nodded, no idea why she’d bring that up now.

“My client appeared to me again on the Dolphin and told me I would soon have another chance to stop Daelen destroying the world. Maybe this is how: we let him die.”

“But if he dies, what about Kullos and his army?” Cat challenged her. “I’m not saying Daelen’s a hero – to be fair, neither does he – but I honestly think if he dies, we all die. If Daelen lives, with your help, we can stop him from doing anything too rash. We can’t do anything about Kullos. Only he can. Plus, as I told you before, you’re forgetting who and what you are. You’re not just an assassin or a hunter, you’re a cleric, and right now, that’s what I need. Forget past contracts, forget future visitors. This is the present, and it’s your choice: kill or cure?”

“This is what Shyleen was trying to tell me,” Mandalee realised. “She said I needed to reclaim the parts of me that I left behind two years ago.” After a moment, she made her decision. “I’m with you, Cat. No matter what’s happened in the past, no matter what happens in the future, I’m with you. How do I help?”

Cat took Pyrah out of her pocket dimension and explained what she’d put together: Clerical magic had a temporal element. Clerics healed by returning the body to its pre-injured state. Trouble was, Mandalee didn’t know enough about Daelen’s physiology to do that. But thanks to her link with Shyleen, she understood well enough how a mortal body worked. Including that of a half-Faery. Through their shared sympathic link, Pyrah could provide exact details of her venom. Therefore, as Cat extracted venom from Daelen and took it into herself, Mandalee would have to simultaneously counteract the toxin and reverse the damage to Cat’s body.

The whole procedure took about an hour, after which time both young women were drained with the effort, but the venom was gone, and there was nothing to do now but wait.

Cat decided her original plan was well and truly scuppered now. If Kullos or her Monster were indeed watching the StormChaser for signs of unusual activity, they had just waved and shouted, and held up a big sign that read, ‘Hi,