Dreya the Dark was surprised by an alert. It was telling her there was someone in her grounds that her defences had identified as a threat. For a sorceress of Dreya’s power and ability, there was very little in the world to which she would attach that designation. She peered out of a window, and her eyes widened at what they were showing her. She hurried downstairs, emerging from her front entrance, just as her visitor reached the base of the steps that led up to her porch.
Her visitor grinned, manically, and greeted her with, “Hello, you. Today’s your lucky day. Of all the mortals in all the world, I’ve chosen you to be my new pet! Isn’t that brilliant?”
Dreya had to remind herself not to use his new chosen name – she didn’t want him to know about her link with Catriona. She could only refer to him – if she must address him at all – as Daelen’s dark clone.
*****
Let me pause for a moment, gentle reader, to catalogue the power at Aunt Dreya’s disposal, as she did then, mentally, trying to make an unbiased estimate of its effectiveness against this higher planar being.
She had her straightforward wizard magic, of course, which was by itself beyond what any other wizard could boast. Blood magic was available by pricking her finger. That was best facilitated via the red and white roses that had framed her door since Catriona first ‘proposed.’ Cat had worked on them since, and they were now intertwined with Ulvarius’ black ones, as a symbol of the three factions of magic, working together to advance its potential. Or as Cat had succinctly put it: diversity is strength. It would be better to use the red or white ones, however, because they were blessed by a White cleric, Mandalee. They wouldn’t hurt as much as the first time, thanks to the indirect sympathic link, via Catriona. The pain Dreya would feel she was willing to accept in exchange for adding an element of cleric magic to her attacks, along with Catriona’s druid gifts. Add to that her power words: compressed magic ready to fly at her enemy in an instant, plus her intense, high energy beam, modelled on what Daelen and the others fought with. Finally, through the study of Catriona’s staff, she had a better understanding of how to combine the three flavours of magic with higher planar energy.
As I mentioned earlier, Dreya had been investigating the sites of wizard disappearances. Those sites that could be identified by the presence of higher planar energy that still lingered there. But if you thought she was doing that for purely altruistic reasons, gentle reader, then you really haven’t been paying attention. Certainly, she did not like the erosion of magic that the loss of wizards would cause, but that would not be sufficient reason for her to investigate personally.
No, it wasn’t so much the missing wizards that interested her; it was the residual higher planar energy.
*****
Even with all she now commanded, Dreya knew that if Aden-El had not been so depleted from his recent battle, she would have been in trouble. Then again, if Aden-El had not been so depleted, he would have had no need of her.
Casually pricking her finger on the thorn of a red rose, Dreya the Dark felt her powers combine within her body, allowing them to swell slowly, gradually.
“Is this the part where I’m supposed to be flattered that a being such as yourself considers me worthy of such an honoured position as your pet?”
“Not worthy, no, but you are the only mortal wizard whose power even registers.”
Dreya knew that was nonsense. She could be of no possible use to him unless he honestly believed Aden plus Dreya would overpower Daelen plus Michael. Taking the equation further, since Daelen and Aden were equal in power, that meant he must consider Dreya to be more powerful than Michael. She wasn’t sure if that was true, but if she played this right, it soon could be.
Not reacting to the insult, she simply asked, “I take it you want my assistance against Daelen StormTiger?”
“If you catch on that quickly, you might be more useful than I thought,” he retorted.
“Well, that’s a remarkable coincidence, because I’ve been interested in killing him for quite some time.”
“Oh yes, coincidence is the word,” Aden agreed, nodding. “It’s not like I heard a rumour or anything. That would be ridiculous!”
Still refusing to rise to the bait, Dreya remained calm, her face impassive.
“But the thing is, you’re his dark clone,” she reasoned, “which, as I understand it, means, essentially, you are Daelen StormTiger.”
“I am as he, and he is as me,” Aden replied, obviously trying to sound clever, rather than just saying ‘yes’ like a normal person.
“In that case,” she considered, “I don’t see why I need to go hunting for Daelen…not when, to all intents and purposes, he’s standing right in front of me.”
Drawing her magic through her blood – her own wizard magic, plus a helping of druid magic from Cat and a hint of cleric magic from Mandalee, she teleported behind him, unfolded her power word, “PAIN,” and Aden was in agony. While he was off-balance, not allowing him time to regroup, she hit him with wave after wave of wizard spells. Whenever he seemed to be on the verge of recovery, she brought to bear another of her power words: ‘STUN’ ‘FREEZE’ ‘BURN’ ‘BREAK’ ‘SHATTER.’ She knew ‘DIE’ wouldn’t be effective. Not until she wore him down. As she fought, she was always on the move – something she had learned from Catriona.
She kept her grounds’ defences powered down because they would be ineffective against him – after all, they had been useless against her when she took the Black Tower. Better to keep them intact for more mundane threats, rather than let Aden destroy them. She did, however, instruct her elite guards to stand ready in specific positions around the ‘battlefield.’ They would not interfere unless Dreya mentally ordered it. If things started to go wrong, they might prove enough of a distraction to let her execute an emergency teleport, but she was confident that would not be necessary.
Principally, they were there for another purpose. Not having a temporal element to her magic, unlike Catriona, Dreya needed time to weave her magical shields into the right form to absorb or deflect the energy of his beam cannon. Not just around herself, but around her guards, as well. Now they were all ready. So, taking another leaf out of her girlfriend’s playbook, she decided it was time to set a trap with an easy escape, see if it would goad him into springing the real trap.
Instead of attacking him directly, as she had been, she ‘trapped’ him in a twenty-foot-tall cylinder of fierce, magical flames. This was the moment Dreya would find out if she’d got her calculations right, although if she hadn’t, she didn’t suppose she’d live long enough to regret it. Her four death knights stepped out onto the battlefield, coming to stand at four compass points around the column of fire. The three ghouls also emerged, floating ten feet off the ground, again forming a ring around the fire. Dreya levitated at the pinnacle of an irregular pyramid, relative to her guards.
Aden recovered quickly, flying up and out of the firetrap, pulling his powerful cannon out of his pocket dimension.
“Big mistake, little pet,” he taunted. “Some of your pinpricks were actually starting to hurt. But as fun as this has been, it’s time to have you put down.”
As much as he was trying to hide it, in reality, he was in a lot of pain, and the humiliation of that pain being inflicted by a mere mortal helped morph that into rage. A rage that he channelled into his cannon blast as he streaked upwards towards Dreya, following in the wake of his own power. He expected the blast to kill the witch but instead, she absorbed what she could and reflected the rest, the beam splitting into three until they each hit one of her ghouls. Each ghoul absorbed as much as they could, channelling and equalising it in a ring between them, before passing it down to the death knights. They, in turn, created their circle of power, completing the circuit. Before Aden knew what was happening, he was hit by eight separate high energy beams. Trapped inside this pyramid of power, he couldn’t escape. Since the attacks were coming from all directions, there was nowhere to go. He tried to teleport, but Dreya had already taken steps to prevent that. Finally, the beams stopped, and he fell all the way down to the ground, hitting with a hard impact.
Dreya floated gently down and disclosed, “I’ve been working on my own version of what you just did. Let me show you.” A beam of magical energy shot out from her hand, backed up by the extra power she had gained from absorbing part of his attack. “I think I’ve got the technique down pretty well, but I’d appreciate any feedback you might have.” She shot him a second time. “Well?” She shot him a third time. “Did I do it right, or do you have notes?”
Now that he was stunned, she began siphoning off his power, taking as much as she dared to absorb without risking her own safety. Once he was sufficiently drained, a power word backed up with blood magic should be enough to finish him.
“I suppose this is the part where I make some grand, gloating speech while talking about myself in the third person,” she deadpanned as she checked the preparation of the power word – this was one she did not want to get wrong.
As she prepared, however, she felt that post-hypnotic suggestion kick-in again. The same voice that had been telling her to kill Daelen was now warning her it was too soon. For a moment, she thought she caught sight of a shadowy figure at the edge of her vision. Perhaps the source of the warning. Refusing to be dictated to, however, Dreya chose to ignore it.
“But in the interests of avoiding the clichés, all I’ll say is—” she never got to the word ‘DIE’ because Aden pulled out a knife and threw it at her. Not expecting that kind of attack, she only partially deflected it, and it took a slice out of her right arm. It only took her a moment to recover, but it was long enough for Aden to open up a Prismatic Sphere and escape.
Dreya swore, cursing herself for her hesitation and letting him get way. She’d won the battle on points but missing out on the kill was annoying as hell. Still, there was nothing to be done about it now. Thanks to Aden, she was more powerful than ever – or she would be after she’d rested and healed. She’d just have to kill the dark clone another day. Kill him and drain his power. She couldn’t take it all at once without harming herself, but between Dreya and her elite guards, it would be safe enough. Or maybe she’d go after Daelen next. She was happy for Cat to gain his knowledge – she was exceptionally good at that – but when the time was right, Dreya would have his power, too. After that, they wouldn’t need Daelen to go after Kullos. She could just do it herself. Then the world would finally be rid of all three of them, and she would forever be the Greatest Mage Who Ever Lived.
*****
Miles away, in the FaerWay Tavern, the crystal on Catriona’s staff glowed, and she heard the same ethereal voice that had spoken before:
Black faction first attempt gone. Two attempts remain.
*****
Daelen awoke after a little over three hours. Cat could see he was looking a lot better. His energy levels were back up again – not all the way but improving almost in front of her eyes.
Cat asked if it was now safe to give back that portion of his essence that she still held inside. It had definitely been useful, helping her to unlock more of the security protecting the core power of her staff. Now she wanted it gone.
“Yes,” he assured her, “I promise you it’s safe. The problem before was the extreme difference in energy levels between what I had when I entered you and what I was left with after the battle and the accident. Now the difference is not so great, it will not be such a shock to my system.”
“OK, I take it that means we’ll have to kiss again?” Cat inquired.
“I’m afraid so. If there were any other way…”
Cat shushed him. “It’s just an essence transfer,” she reassured him. “No need to make a fuss. As you said, it doesn’t mean anything, right?”
“Right,” Daelen affirmed as he rose from his bed and stood before her.
For a second, Catriona thought she saw a flicker of disappointment flash across his face, but she dismissed the idea as pure fantasy. Daelen offered to go somewhere private if it made her more comfortable, but Cat just pulled him close and kissed him passionately in front of the whole Tavern. They had no idea there was an essence transfer going on. They thought it was merely the relief of a young woman whose lover had just recovered from a terrible injury. Many of them even applauded.
Playing to the crowd, the druidess curtseyed, and removed all of her magically created barriers with a flourish and a reiterated heartfelt apology for keeping them captive for so long. Pyrah returned to her nest in Catriona’s pocket, and the crowd left the Tavern.
To a stunned Daelen, she explained, “People talk, and news of this will spread. They don’t know who you are, but many will recognise me in the stories they tell. This way, the narrative will be that Catriona has taken a new wizard lover and they’re off on some whirlwind adventure together. If the stories spread to the ears of our enemies, they should have no reason to pay it any heed because they’ll have no reason to connect it with you.”
“Good plan,” Daelen conceded.
“Thanks,” Cat smiled. “It’s all part of being an information trader. Control the information and you control the situation.”
Now that Daelen was back on his feet again, it was time to get back on the road. Having ‘borrowed’ Justaria’s horse, Cat felt responsible for him. The best thing they could do, she decided, was to keep him until they reached the port where Daelen’s ship awaited them. The port maintained secure stables for the convenience of travellers. Daelen offered to pay. He insisted it was the least he could do.
“Speaking of trading information,” Cat ventured, returning to their previous conversation, “as I mentioned before, there’s somewhere I’d like you to take me on our whirlwind adventure. Don’t worry, it’s on the way – not even a day out of our way. It’s on the island of Esca.”
“I know it,” Daelen agreed. “I’d planned to make a stop anyway, on another island near there, to take on fresh water and supplies.”
Puzzled, Catriona dug out her map and unfurled it. “There aren’t any other islands near Esca,” she asserted.
Daelen just smiled, “Not one you can see, no,” he acknowledged, mysteriously. He would say no more about it. She would just have to wait and see.
They engaged in small talk for a while as they rode for a few more hours until it began to grow dark, and Catriona, who had been up for nearly twenty hours straight, yawned repeatedly.
“Daelen, can we stop for the night, soon, please?” she asked sleepily.
“Of course,” the shadow warrior agreed. “Do you want to try and find an inn?”
She shook her head. “No need for that. I’m happy to sleep under the stars. It’s been a while. Let’s just find a comfortable spot before I simply fall asleep right here and fall off the horse. Oh, and do you mind taking first watch?”
Daelen told her she should just sleep and not worry about a thing. Cat maintained that she was quite capable of keeping watch, but he reassured her that he didn’t doubt her for a moment.
“The way I see it, you’ve done more than your share already, today. You guarded me for hours, carrying a part of my essence inside you for far longer than you should. I think it’s my turn, now.”
Cat decided he was right: she’d scored enough points for one day. Better to make sure she did equally well tomorrow rather than try and score any more tonight.
*****
When Catriona woke up, the first thing she noticed was the smell. Bubbling away over the campfire was a stew pot. Rabbit, if she wasn’t mistaken. Daelen was sitting with his back against a tree, blades in his hands as if guarding her, but strangely unmoving. As her brain warmed up, she realised why: Daelen had fallen asleep.
“So much for keeping watch,” she grumbled good-naturedly, wandering over to him. “It’s a wonder you haven’t boiled our breakfast dry.”
The instant she touched him, however, he crumbled to dust. Catriona screamed in shock, which was only compounded further when Daelen rushed back to their campsite and ran to her side, asking what was wrong.
Cat poked him in the chest to try and re-establish her grip on reality. Thankfully, this one did not turn to dust.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded.
“Oh yeah,” he replied with a sheepish grin, “I guess I should have told you I can do that. I vanish, leaving a simple copy to make it appear to any onlookers as if I’m there when I’m not.” He explained further that it crumbled because he didn’t have the energy to make it more solid.
The druidess exhaled, deeply, allowing her heartbeat to slow. Torn between hugging him in relief and slapping him for scaring her, she ultimately did neither.
“It’s a good thing I like surprises, shadow warrior,” Cat remarked, acidly. “There are plenty of them with you around.”
Daelen laughed, “You’re not without a few surprises yourself, my dear druidess. I’m just trying to keep up.”
“Fair comment!” Cat admitted, grinning.
She was definitely wide awake, now, so she suggested he finish cooking breakfast while she had a quick dip in a nearby river.