It was already overcast, but Catriona's storm plunged the area into even deeper darkness. Heavy rain and strong wings put out all lamps and fires. Mandalee's clerical magic did the trick of heightening the fears of the enemy; they were so afraid of the storm that they stopped fighting. Michael and the others also believed Daelen was coming, which inspired them to a swift and deadly fightback. Then a figure appeared amid the storm, invisible in the darkness except for an array of weapons, which seemed to be glowing with their own light. In reality, it was just Mandalee, standing on Catriona’s Windy Steps. Cat was using her steel-light magic to make all her various weapons glow. She was rather proud of that little addition: Mandalee wasn’t the only one who could improvise.
Many of the enemy mercenaries decided their pay wasn't enough at that point and tried to flee, cutting the numbers by about a quarter. Catriona made sure they didn’t get far, asking the forest to snare them until they could deal with them. The remaining forces began to realise this wasn't Daelen they were facing, but several arrows from the trees made sure that was, in several cases, the last thought they would ever have in this life. The death knights directed a quad of warriors to seek out and kill the hidden archer, but when the four reached the edge of the clearing, they found no archer, but a leopard and a wolf. Neither animal was inclined to stop and explain their presence; they just attacked. Two of the warriors lost their throats before they even had time to scream. Any resistance the other two might have offered was ended before it had begun, thanks to their hesitation at the sudden transformation of the wolf into a second leopard.
‘Nice touch,’ Shyleen offered, ‘but your spots don’t look real.’
‘What’s unreal about them?’ the Catriona leopard objected.
‘They are too symmetrical, not random enough.’
‘I thought symmetrical spots were the height of fashion among leopards, these days.’
‘That is true,’ Shyleen allowed, ‘but more random spots are considered more radical.’
‘Well, I like my spots, radical or not. But if they don’t meet your high standards, that’s fine; I’m going to change back anyway. They’re going to need my magic.’
As Cat shifted back, Shyleen rolled her eyes – quite an achievement for a leopard. ‘Oh, joy, more humans to bite. It takes a whole moon cycle to get the taste out of one’s mouth.’
‘Maybe you won’t need to bite them,’ Cat remarked, acidly. ‘Maybe they will simply faint away after you dazzle them with your markings.’
Cat had tried hard to convey sarcasm, but Shyleen seemed to consider the comment quite seriously.
‘There is always that chance, I suppose. One can only hope.’
Cat had several rude responses in mind but did not know how they would translate into leopard, so she let it lie.
Meanwhile, Mandalee had returned to the ground to join the fight, enjoying the chance to use her returning blade in one hand for ranged shots and her Pureblade sword in the other for melee fighting.
She fought her way through to Michael, who observed, “You are not Daelen.”
Mandalee grinned and remarked, “Don't tell me, my boots gave it away!”
“Amongst other things,” he agreed, smiling back.
“I’m Mandalee. A friend.” She sliced open the throats of a pair of mercenaries who got too close. “Fight now, chat later, yes?”
“Good plan,” Michael concurred, shattering all the bones in three more bodies.
Next thing Michael knew, the sun came out, and Catriona appeared, standing on a rainbow in the sky. Striking her staff to generate a static spark, she fried a couple of warriors with a lightning bolt.
“Remember me?” she called down.
“Catriona, of course I do!” he replied. “You are working for Daelen.”
“Working with,” she corrected, “not working for.”
“She's spent most of our journey marking out that distinction for him,” Mandalee offered without losing her fighting rhythm. “They've even come to blows about it once or twice.”
“Either way makes little difference to me,” Michael shrugged, “you are both a very welcome sight.”
“Michael,” Cat spoke up, “how come your friends aren’t using magic?” She had noticed that the warriors were protecting wizards that seemed to be doing very little.
“Let me show you,” a wizard offered, overhearing.
He tied to cast a fireball, but it fizzled out. Cat was surprised, though not as much as when her Rainbow Road vanished from under her feet, and she fell toward the ground. Fortunately, she had the presence of mind to change to her falcon form to stop her fall and glide down.
“Land next to me!” Mandalee called out. “I'll defend you if you can't use your magic.”
So saying, the assassin switched to her dragonclaw daggers, penetrating with ease the heavy armour of one individual, almost severing his sword hand with one blade and stepping forwards to disembowel him.
‘Magic is all very well,’ she sent to Shyleen, ‘but there’s still nothing like the direct claws-on approach.’
When Cat shifted back, she replied, “Thanks, but I can fight as a leopard or wolf, if necessary. I would like to get my magic working, though.”
Michael explained, “At first, we fought with magic, but whenever we tried, the knights set up a powerful anti-magic field that we can't break.”
Now that he mentioned it, she could feel its interference. It wasn’t designed to prevent shapeshifting, though, which was understandable since as far as she knew, she was the only one who could do it. The other thing that struck her was, “It wasn't there before.”
A trio of warriors fought their way over to protect what they thought was another vulnerable wizard.
“They didn't have it active before you appeared,” one of them explained, “because they know we understand it's pointless attempting magic. We’ve learned that lesson well by now.”
“Pointless, is it?” Cat mused. “Well, we'll just have to see about that.”
Mandalee grinned, knowing what was coming. “Oh, wait ‘til you see what my friend can do!”
Catriona concentrated, forcing herself to keep calm even though she'd never attempted this in a real battle before. She used her sympathic senses to analyse the anti-magic field until she could feel the resonance it created. All she had to do then was adjust her magic, adapt it to run off the field itself.
“OK, let's start with something simple, like this…”
She threw her waterskin a few feet away and concentrated on the liquid that spilt out, multiplying it to form a waterfall. Three warriors, who decided to step through it, suddenly found themselves encased in a wall of ice as the waterfall froze. Elsewhere on the battlefield, it began to rain fire, while others ran into pockets of dense air. Still others were washed over by immense waves of boiling mud that sprang up from small puddles.
Mandalee was the only person on the battlefield who wasn't surprised.
“Your magics won't work,” she told the others, “but at least we'll have Cat's powers working for us, plus I can still use mine thanks to Shyleen.”
With that, knowing Catriona could once again take care of herself perfectly well, she used her super-speed to slice open a few more enemies. They died without ever knowing what hit them.
The pair made all the difference. They knew each other’s fighting styles as well as their own. Now that they could combine magic and steel, the balance shifted in their favour. Catriona's trickery confounded the enemy and gave her allies a reason to laugh – something Michael and the others hadn't done for quite a while. That injection of hope and inspiration gave them a much-needed lift.
Mandalee found the enemy warriors to be considerably lacking in skill – relying on strength of numbers alone – and she was happy to demonstrate some of the finer points. Unfortunately for them, her points were invariably lethal, so they were never going to get any better.
At one stage in the battle, as she was slicing her way through her enemies, Mandalee was aware of one trying to sneak into position from behind her left side, from where she knew he would think to rush her when she had her hands full. What he didn’t realise was that thanks to her link with Shyleen, she effectively had a second pair of eyes out there. His stealth attack would do nothing more than move him up her ‘to kill’ list. When he rushed forward, however, she found she didn’t need to do anything about him, as a spear embedded itself in his head.
Through Shyleen, she knew the path the spear had taken, threading cleanly through the fighting mass. Mandalee shifted her angle of attack so she could see the warrior who had made the shot. He had now reverted to some rather impressive sword fighting, although his weapon had seen better days.
“I know you’d have had him,” he called out, “but I needed the throwing practice!”
“Not judging by that shot, you didn’t,” she called back, “but thanks anyway!”
“Just got lucky,” he returned.
Mandalee doubted that very much. “Got a name?” she asked, fighting closer to him.
“Windell.”
“Mandalee,” she returned. Looking pointedly at his chipped and tarnished weapon, she asked, “Fancy a new sword, Windell?” She had a couple of spare ones in her arsenal that she didn’t use anymore.
“I never refuse a gift from a Lady,” he replied with a wolfish grin. “Especially one armed with such a vicious pair of knives.”
Mandalee was used to mocking remarks about her gender. She could sense the smallest hint of sarcasm, as a shark could detect a single drop of blood in the water. When this warrior called her a Lady, there was not the tiniest trace. While the comment was cheeky, it was also a sincere compliment. She could count on one hand the number of times that had happened.
“Just for that, noble sir, I’ll keep my knives to myself, and you’ve earned yourself an upgrade.”
Using her super-speed, she ran over and placed her Pureblade in his hands. He immediately saluted her with it and swung it into action, putting it to good use.
While Mandalee, Windell, Michael and the others took the fight to the enemy, Cat used her magic mostly for crowd control, splitting the enemy, holding them back, creating choke points, anything to nullify their advantage of numbers. Some enemies tried to shoot her with arrows or spears, but the wind was always her friend, blowing them off course. Others made the mistake of trying their luck on her Rainbow Road. She removed most of it, reverting to her old invisible Windy Steps, either letting her enemies plunge to their deaths, or leaving them stranded on a few remaining bits of the rainbow with no way off except straight down. A couple of times, their enemies thought they’d got her, but thanks to her Mirror Image magic, all they did was waste their energy killing a mirage.
Shyleen remained on the fringes, concealed by the undergrowth, but whenever a warrior strayed too close, that was the last mistake he ever made. After each kill, she retreated, and next time attacked from a different location. The enemy didn't know whether they were being struck down by one leopard or several.
*****
The battle lasted into the night until the bodies of the enemy littered the ground.
Seeing that magic was no longer so important, Cat suggested, “How about I see what I can do about those death knights?” She looked around and asked, “OK, where did they go?”
The others looked, too, and realised they had gone. But gone where? Everyone had been too busy to notice.
The remaining enemy warriors took the opportunity of the momentary lull in the fighting to retreat. Catriona volunteered to snare them, though she couldn’t guarantee to get them all.
“Let them go,” Michael boomed in command, “it's not worth chasing them, we’d be risking another ambush. We need to make our rendezvous. Just let them go.”
Cat had other ideas, however. “Not all of them, I think.”
She scanned the fleeing masses and picked one out. “That one could be useful.” She then called for Shyleen, who stepped out of the shadows. Cat pointed and told her, ‘That one there – stop him but don’t kill.’
Shyleen sprang into action and had no trouble trapping the terrified warrior.
Catriona asked to borrow a water bottle from someone. Windell gave her his. She poured some of its contents over the enemy warrior’s feet and froze it into a block of ice. The ice began to rise slowly upward to encase his legs.
“You are some kind of warrior commander, I think, is that right?” He nodded. “Then you will be able to help me. Here's the deal: I have only one question, and you have only one chance to answer me truthfully. That sounds fair, doesn't it?” The warrior nodded again. “Good, now tell me: where did the death knights go?” When the warrior hesitated, the ice began to grow faster, reaching his waist. “Oh, did I mention the time limit?” Cat wondered.
The warrior quickly decided to talk. “Please don't kill me!” he begged. “I can't be sure what their plans were!”
“Best guess,” Cat prompted. The ice was now moving up his chest, making breathing difficult, in addition to the effects of the extreme cold.
“Alright! They're probably following the trail of your unique magics back to Daelen,” he replied, speaking rapidly, desperate to get the words out before he froze to death. “They will attack him, seek to catch him by surprise, weaken him while he's alone. I think those were Kullos' standing orders for them if you two appeared without him.”
Catriona considered that and agreed, “Your answer makes sense. Congratulations, you get to live.”
With that, she melted the ice just as it reached his neck. He wouldn’t have had much longer. Once Mandalee had relieved him of the excess weight of his weapons, they sent him away.
The druidess tried to contact Dreya sympathically but found she was still blocked. After a quick group discussion, they decided it wasn't a good idea to split up again. So, the cleric and druidess set about healing the most severe injuries, before accepting guard duty, dividing the watch between themselves and Shyleen, while the others got some rest – they hadn't had much chance for that, recently.
The group would set out for the temple ruins in the morning. There seemed little point in rushing – whatever battle might have taken place between Daelen and the death knights would be well over already. They simply had to trust in Daelen's ability to look after himself. Besides, there was the advantage that the knights thought Daelen would be alone – they wouldn't be expecting to face Dreya the Dark as well.
*****
“Dreya,” Daelen began, preparing to broach a delicate topic when there was a lull in their conversation. “I must tell you what I told Cat: I do not want any of you to interfere with my battle with Kullos.”
“I can imagine how my girlfriend reacted to that,” Dreya remarked.
“Do you need to imagine?” Daelen wondered. “Don’t you know every detail of what I said to her?”
Dreya shook her head. “Doesn’t work like that. Like I told you before, our sympathic link has privacy settings. We don’t read each other’s every thought any more than we would read each other’s diaries. We share what we choose to share and conceal what we choose to conceal.”
The shadow warrior pounced on that. “Ah, so you admit you hide things from her?”
“Those green eyes of yours are showing again, Daelen,” she shot back. “You seem determined to find a weakness in our relationship that you can attack, but you won’t find one. Yes, of course I keep things from her. Earlier today, when I saw the woman I love for the first time in weeks, I gave her flowers from my garden; roses from the same bushes that she planted there when we first met. It was a symbolic gesture of love. Had she already seen my intentions in my mind, that would have greatly diminished the effect, so I kept them from her. On a professional level, as Secondmage in the Black Order on the Council, I am privy to confidential proceedings that Cat is simply not authorised to know about. On Catriona’s side of things, I’m certain Mandalee, as her best friend, will have told Catriona personal things, confidential things. She has not shared them with me. Nor should she. I do not invade my girlfriend’s privacy. Plus, there are all the million day-to-day trivial things that happen in a person’s life that simply aren’t important enough to mention.” She fixed him with a penetrating gaze as she added one more example. “Then there’s this entire conversation that I’m keeping from her because you specifically asked me to block her out.”
Daelen held up his hands in surrender. “You’re right. I spoke before I thought. I’m sorry.” He then repeated his original request, adding, “and you must convince Catriona to agree, too. I need to know she is safe when I drive Kullos back to the darkness from which he came.”
“I will try not to take offence at that,” Dreya remarked.
Daelen realised what she meant and tried to clarify. “I know that you are fond of the darkness and yet I’m beginning to accept that there’s more to you than that. I can see it in your eyes now that I’m looking properly.”
She thought carefully before speaking, as she always did.
Finally, she insisted, “You've got a few things wrong, Daelen. I am wholly aligned with Dark magic for the power it gives me. Let there be no doubt about that. Where Kullos and I differ is that the darkness serves me, while for him it is the other way around. Kullos is weak – powerful, but weak. You see, at the extreme edge of Darkness lurks chaos, just as it lurks at the extreme edge of the Light. That is why we mortal mages believe in the Council. We are free to devote ourselves to Light, Darkness or Balance, or even choose to be unaligned if we wish, but on one thing we all agree: there must be order. Magic is powerful and that power, all power, must be controlled – not limited, but controlled. This is why we have such a strict policy on renegades – they disrupt order and give chaos a foothold. That cannot be allowed. Kullos has given in to chaos, whereas I am strong enough to resist. Therefore, I would appreciate it if you would speak of sending Kullos back into chaos, rather than darkness.
“As for the issue of you fighting Kullos alone,” she continued, “I cannot convince Catriona to agree, because I share her views. You will not fight him alone. Cat will be with you, I will be with you, and in the interests of order and balance, Mandalee will be there, too. Sorry, Daelen, but that's the way it—” she broke off and shouted, “Daelen, look out!”
Four death knights shot powerful energy bolts towards the shadow warrior, but Dreya was faster. She had already pushed Daelen out of the way and activated her Power Absorb as the bolts struck her. She had never tried to absorb so much energy by herself before, and instantly realised it was too much. She prided herself on her self-control, which meant that, despite her ambition, she wasn't greedy. She knew how much power she could safely take in one go and would not be tempted to risk crossing that line. At the precise moment she reached her limit, she adjusted her magic to Power Protect. Her magic shielded her from the remaining power well enough, but the sheer force knocked her to the ground where her head struck a rock. Darkness embraced her, and she lay still.