Shifting Stars by Gary Stringer (simple e reader .TXT) 📕

“Ah, but you’re going to. You’re almost there, I can tell!”

“You’re very sure of yourself,” Dreya said, putting on her very best frown.

“Aww, don’t be like that – at least let me blow you a kiss!”

The wind picked up, suddenly, forcing Dreya back towards her tower steps. Cat had noticed the rain had left a pool of water at the bottom, which gave her an idea of how to get Dreya to do something she’d planned from the beginning. Unfortunately, she hadn’t pushed Dreya quite far enough. Doing the same thing twice would make Dreya suspicious. She needed one more roll of the dice. It was highly dangerous, but it was the only way.

“How was that for you?” Cat quipped, trying to use their verbal sparring to manipulate Dreya.

“Well I must admit, I was very moved, but you’re still no nearer getting inside my tower.”

“Oh, I’m closer than you realise,” Cat retorted, “and if you want to stop me, you’ll have to stop playing and fight me properly. “Come on,” she demanded, “you didn't fight Ulvarius with these tricks!”

“No, I used blood magic.”

“But that's unstable!” Cat mock gasped.

“It’s perfectly stable. It just needs control.”

“Yes, I’ve heard you like to be in control, so control me. If you can. Come on, Dreya, turn up the power all the way: show me what you can really do. Show me your famous blood magic. I’m not going to believe you can really do it unless you show me.”

“Don't try to goad me – it won't work.”

Cat knew that. Dreya’s refusal was part of the plan. “Not trying to. I know what you can do. Aren't you curious to know what I can do? Alright, forget blood magic. Best conventional spell. In fact, tell you what, you can blast me with your deadly magical energy beam.”

“You know about that?” Dreya wondered. “Oh, of course, I used it to defend Xarnas,” she realised. “You can’t really want me to do that.”

“Yes, I do,” Cat insisted, “and I'll fight you with…let’s see…” she made a show of checking what spell components she still had left, “…a handful of sand.”

“You'll die.”

“What do you care?”

“I don't. It's just a shame to end the fun so soon.”

Cat pounced on the victory. “Ha! I got you to admit you're having fun!”

Dreya actually winced, conceding the point.

“But seriously,” Cat continued, “quite a few wizards will thank you. I've become something of a thorn in their side.”

“Like old Renjaf,” Dreya said.

It was Cat’s turn to be surprised.

“You're not the only one who does their homework,” Dreya told her.

“Renjaf will probably send you flowers and have my friend Jacob deliver them,” Cat said, recovering quickly. “You can say hi to him for me. Anyway, are we doing this or not?” As she was speaking, she slowly, casually, moved towards the optimum position that she had in her mind.

“It's your funeral. Any special requests for that, by the way?”

“Just bury me here in your garden if you don’t mind. I like what you've done with the place.”

“Thanks. It’s certainly a big improvement on the Black Tower's previous owner's taste. Tell you what: I'll cut down those roses you grew around my door and put them on your grave.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Well, it’s been a whirlwind romance, Cat,” Dreya considered. “I only just met you, and yet we’ve dated, you’ve proposed, we’ve got married, and now I have to plan your funeral.”

“Ours is a tragic love,” Catriona agreed, solemnly, coming to a natural, gentle halt so that she could draw an exact straight line between herself, Dreya and the door to the Black Tower. She wanted the sorceress up those steps. Now in position, she grew the plants around her to grip her tightly in place no matter what Dreya threw at her.

“OK, then,” Dreya said. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Cat confirmed, fist closed tightly around her sand so it couldn’t trickle out.

Without further warning, Dreya built up her power and shot out her energy beam. Cat threw her handful of sand into the air and fused it, turning it instantly into Nature’s Mirror, reflecting the energy right back. Dreya shielded as Cat knew she would, but the force of the blast sent her recoiling backwards to sprawl on the steps of her Tower.

Cat silently celebrated. She’d got Dreya the Dark exactly where she wanted her.

Dreya was literally and figuratively stunned. Picking herself up, she demanded to know how Cat had done that.

Cat explained, “Druid magic is the opposite of wizard magic, in a way. I take the power you use, change it, recycle it and send it back. So, logically, if you think about it…”

“…the right kind of druid magic shield can reflect my wizard magic,” Dreya concluded. “Excellent.” Then with a dangerous gleam in her eyes, she suggested, “Shall we see if it works just as well against blood magic?”

Cat was indignant. “If you're determined to be Miss Serious Face again, I’m going to start getting all frosty, too!”

The pool of water froze at the base of the steps and grew into an ice wall, keeping Dreya trapped on her steps, unable to set foot in her garden, cut off from her black roses.

“Oh, I see what you’re doing,” Dreya said. “Nice move. Thing is, though, I don’t need my black roses for blood magic – not when you’ve provided roses of your own.”

She reached out to prick a finger on the roses around the door, but the rosebush reached out to grab her instead, immobilising her without breaking the skin so as not to give her access to the kind of magic she was trying to unleash. Dreya was in obvious pain.

“My arrows were fashioned from the same wood as those roses,” Catriona explained, “and I had them blessed by a White cleric friend of mine who has a particular affinity for nature. Quite painful for a Dark wizard, I imagine.”

She grabbed her Crystal Mage Staff out of her pocket dimension – the better to make an imposing impression as she