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

for Daelen, he was nowhere to be found. What they did find was a note on the dining room table.

Dear Catriona and Mandalee,

There’s trouble on one of the other worlds I keep an eye on and I need to nip it in the bud now.

Tomorrow, in my absence, I have instructions for you. I expect you two to train hard all day. That means you, too, Cat. You’re far enough behind as it is. Just because I’m not around, that does not mean you get to slack off.

Sorry to run out on you like this, but if I leave it, things will only get worse in the long run. Better to take a day out of our schedule and sort it out now.

Thank you for understanding,

Daelen.

“There he goes again,” Cat complained to her friend, “giving us his orders and expecting us to jump to follow them. Well I, for one, am going to do nothing he ‘expects’ me to do. I hate it when he gets like this.”

Mandalee grinned and goaded her friend, “Maybe, but you still love him, right?”

Catriona’s look shot her down in flames. “Love?” she wondered. “Who said anything about love?”

“You did, actually. Just once.”

Cat snorted, “I couldn’t possibly have been sober, at the time. Infatuation perhaps, but love is something quite different. In fact, I’ve had just about all I can stand from him right now. It’s been days since I yelled at him and despite me telling him I thought some of my points were valid, he still hasn’t found time to talk to me about them. Mandalee, you train tomorrow if you like, but I’m…how do they say it in this world? Oh yeah, I’m on strike. I swear, one more thing, and he’s going to find my staff rammed up somewhere very painful.”

“Your confused feelings aside, you do have a point, Cat,” Mandalee admitted. “It does always seem to be his rules, his way. Alright, I’m on strike, too. Tomorrow, I’m having a day out, exploring the city. You want to come?”

Cat smiled apologetically and reminded her friend that she still had nothing to wear. Having just recovered, she didn’t want to risk a setback by trying to wear any of this world’s clothes.

When Sara and Jessica brought dinner and sat down with them, Mandalee grilled them for recommendations of where to go and what to see on her ‘day off,’ and Cat wondered if there would be any problems going out at night in owl mode. Other than the possibility of confused bird watchers, they both thought it should be OK.

So, the next day, Catriona continued her usual split of study and magic, while Mandalee spent the day sightseeing, returning in the evening. Before the druidess could take her turn to go out, however, Daelen returned.

Striding into the great hall where the assassin was telling Cat all about her day, he launched straight into, “Have you been training hard in my absence?”

The two friends looked at each other and then turned to him.

“Nope!” they chorused.

“What do you mean ‘nope’? My instructions were quite clear; I told you what I expected you to do.”

Cat leapt to her feet, lips and eyes narrowed in barely suppressed anger. “That’s just the problem,” she snapped. “Your instructions, your expectations, your training, your way, your rules.”

She took a step forward, and Daelen found himself once more stepping back in the face of her fire.

“You stand there and say, ‘you will train now,’ ‘you will be doing my style of training,’ ‘you will wear body armour,’ ‘you will do this,’ ‘you will do that,’ ‘you will do as I say.’ Well, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, Daelen, but I will not do as you say! For the last time, I am not your lackey, I am not your student, I am not your soldier, and you are not my commander. You have absolutely no right to stand there and give me orders or leave notes telling me what you ‘expect.’ I will not tolerate it. If you want me to do something, you ask me. You discuss it with me. Is that clear enough for you, or do I have to write it down?”

“Cat, I never meant–”

“No, you never do, that just makes it worse.”

Daelen reached out to her, apologetically, “Look, Cat, if I’m getting this all wrong then I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m not used to working as a team. I’m used to either working alone or having students and soldiers under my command. Giving orders is what I do…it’s a hard habit to break.”

Catriona was unmoved. “Try harder,” she suggested. “Otherwise, if you can’t accept me as your equal partner, if you don’t start showing me more respect, consideration and courtesy, I’ll go back to my world and walk away.”

She took a few meaningful steps to put distance between them.

Turning back, she added, “Maybe I don’t need to go on this quest anymore. Maybe my time would be better spent at Calin’s Tower, training my mind and my magic.”

“I thought you were committed to saving your world with me,” a confused Daelen protested.

“I’m committed to saving our world from you!” Mandalee quipped, trying to lighten the mood. It didn’t work.

Cat shook her head. “No, I told you I had my own reasons for joining you, which essentially boils down to knowledge. In my time with you, I’ve learned a lot about you. Come to that, I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve been to Calin’s Tower, I’ve unlocked all but a few layers of the security of my staff, and I’ve learned how to open portals to other worlds. Maybe I’ve learned all I can from being with you.

“But you’re right; I have pledged myself to this cause, and it is a matter of honour that I see it through. Still, I will only put up with so much in the name of honour.”

“Look,” Mandalee ventured, standing between them, trying to calm things down. “I think we all understand Cat’s objections, right,