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

head for a new continent, gentle reader, where Kullos' army awaits, this seems like an opportune moment for me to take a break. Just before I do, however, I find it curious that the argument I made to the modern-day Black and Red Guardians was much the same as what my mother said to my father a thousand years ago. We can’t afford to go on, like it’s business as usual. Things have changed and we must adapt to those changes. The events I have been relaying are some of the most pivotal in Tempestrian history. They are, as Aunt Mandalee put it, events that ought not to be tampered with any more than they already have been. Unfortunately, the void-creature has been busy tampering with these events, tampering with Time, which means we need to tamper some more. But not in the surgical way my Aunt tried here. It’s not enough to simply get the Timeline ‘back on track’ anymore. We need to win. And to do that, in my opinion, we need to change the rules.

To further demonstrate that point, in my next instalment, I will show how, if the Original Guardians hadn’t completely disregarded the rules, none of us would be here today.

A sneak preview of the sequel to

Gathering Storm

Shadows Fall

The Salvation of Tempestria

Book 3

Gary Stringer

Available December 2021

Chapter 1

Sara and Jessica were on full alert. There was an intruder in the portal room, and they had tripped a silent alarm.

The black-robed figure of Dreya the Dark stepped out into the long corridor, unconcerned, unhurried. She sensed them before she saw them, hiding at the far end. She had taken no more than two steps when two purple catlike alien girls stepped out from where they thought they were concealed, each pointing a weapon at the woman in black, who continued to walk slowly forwards, regardless.

“Sorry, love,” Jessica spoke up, “but I don’t think you’re meant to be here.”

Still, the intruder’s steady pace continued.

“In the interests of fair play,” Sara advised her, “in case you’re unfamiliar with guns, these things can kill from a distance.”

“In the interests of fair play,” Dreya countered, still not stopping, “in case you’re unfamiliar with wizards, so can I.”

“Oh well,” Jessica accepted with a shrug, “can’t say we didn’t warn you, dear.”

With a shared glance, they both fired at once. To their astonishment, however, the beams seemed to hit some kind of invisible shield surrounding the intruder, which filtered the energy, allowing some to penetrate, while keeping the rest out.

“Thanks for the energy top-up,” remarked the sorceress, who finally did stop walking. “Just what I needed after a long journey. Now, I believe it must be my turn.”

Bolts of electricity shot out of both hands, striking the two defenders, but they were equally unharmed.

“Magically resistant body armour,” Sara explained, “which means you can’t do anything to us.”

The two Chetsuans drew swords and rushed down the corridor, but with a flick of her shoulder-length hair, Dreya caused the weapons to fly from their grasp. Undaunted, they switched to the knives they had strapped to their wrists and closed the gap, but all they struck was a shadow.

They scarcely had time to recover from that shock, before a large linen cupboard flew across the corridor to slam Jessica painfully against the wall. Sara cried out her sister’s name, but her breath was knocked from her lungs as the grandfather clock flew out, catching her full in the face and pinning her against the wall on the opposite side. Struggle though they might, they could not break free. The swords they had dropped floated in the air, threatening their owners.

“Lesson learned, I trust?” Dreya called out, materialising before their eyes. “Magic resistance only stops direct magic. I still have a thousand ways to kill you with indirect magic.”

The Chetsuans weren’t ready to concede defeat yet, however. They didn’t get much chance to use their telepathy. Earth humans couldn’t do it, and they knew each other so well, they really didn’t need special powers to know what their sister was thinking. But the mental abilities of two Chetsuans together, especially twins who were naturally in harmony with each other, were considerable.

Staring intently at Dreya, from where they were pinned, their eyes glowed with amber light, as they chanted, “You don’t want to harm us…You don’t want to harm us…You don’t want to harm us…”

Dreya felt the assault on her mind and raised her eyebrows, intrigued. She hadn’t experienced such a ferocious mental attack in a long time.

“You two are powerful,” she acknowledged, “and I don’t often say that. If any other wizard from my world came through that portal, they would find you a serious threat, but your telepathy won’t work on me for two reasons.

“First, in addition to my own mental discipline, I am protected by a sympathic link.”

Upon hearing that word, the girls stopped chanting.

“Wait, sympathic link?” Sara wondered, a puzzled look on her face. “I’ve only ever heard that once before.”

“From a certain half-Faery druidess called Catriona Redfletching, no doubt.”

“You know Cat?” Jessica asked.

“Better than most, or so I like to flatter myself. Which brings me to the second reason your mental attack was always going to fail: I really don’t want to harm you.”

“You don’t?” Sara checked, tentatively.

Dreya shook her head as the swords clattered to the floor. “I never had any such intention. I’m not a tyrant, despite what some on my world might think. I didn’t come here to kill you. If I had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. As I said, I have a thousand ways to kill you, yet I haven’t used any of them. You attacked me, and I don’t generally react well to that, but you were defending your home, and I respect that, so I’m willing to give you both a pass this once.” She raised a warning finger. “But only this once, is that clear?”

They both nodded.

“Excellent. Now, I’m going to release you both. When I do, I