Catriona was in constant pain by now but put a mask on it for Daelen’s benefit.
Mandalee had taken some pretty severe physical damage, including bruised ribs that hurt with every breath. She was still worried her right arm might just break off when she eventually removed her combat suit, but she dreaded to imagine how much worse things might have been without its protection.
Much of Dreya’s battle damage was mental exhaustion and energy drain, but she also sported the beginnings of a black eye. When Mandalee had thrown them both to the ground as Kullos went wild, her face had had an unfortunate encounter with the hilt of one of her friend’s many weapons. Still, better the hilt than the blade and certainly better than being blasted by Kullos’ uncontrolled power. Also, a few flashes of magic had penetrated her shields, leading to burns on her body, and her leg was still terribly mangled from the hellhound. Of the four, only Mandalee was still on her feet.
“You guys look like hell,” Daelen snarked from where he lay in a crumpled heap.
“Whereas you’re in the peak of health, of course,” Mandalee shot back, acidly.
His power and his life fading, he had reverted to his regular size. Despite his best efforts, blood and light were still leaking from his failing body. Still, he smiled as best he could.
“Seriously, you were amazing, all of you. I don’t have the first clue what happened, but you were amazing.”
Cat and Mandalee accepted his praise, graciously, but Dreya’s response was to rub her injured leg unconsciously and reply with a rude noise.
“You do realise that I ended up losing the chance of absorbing power from Kullos’ death knights through running after you,” she complained. “And then you killed Kullos too fast for me to get any from him. People are going to start saying I did this out of the kindness of my own heart, from love or some such nonsense. I dread to think what that will do to my reputation.”
“Drain mine,” Daelen encouraged her. “Whatever power I have left, drain it from me – I don’t need it anymore.”
Dreya brightened at that, realising, “Then people will say ‘Dreya the Dark descended on Daelen StormTiger like a vulture while he was dying and defenceless after he’d saved the world.’ Yes, I like the sound of that.”
She paused for a long moment as if considering, before giving her answer. “Very well, I accept.”
She knelt beside him, placed her hand on his arm and began her power drain. By the time Dreya ceased, having absorbed her fill, his light had faded considerably.
“Now that you’ve done that, Dreya, are you up to opening another portal?” Cat asked her girlfriend.
It was going to be a tricky one – a portal to Kullos’ fortress, in the exact same place as the one they used to get out, five minutes after they left. They had promised Sara and Jessica, after all, and it was only right that they should get to say their goodbyes to Daelen. Cat regretted there was no practical way to get to Michael. He’d known the shadow warrior longer than anyone.
Her plan wasn’t entirely altruistic, of course – they needed help and medical attention. The logical place for that was Daelen’s facility on Earth, assuming it was intact, and the only people who knew how to use that medical technology were the two Chetsuans.
“After we’ve healed up, we can go back to the battle a few minutes after we left and wrap things up there.”
“Is all this Time manipulation in the rules?” the White Guardian wondered. “I’ve only just got my Council membership – I don’t want it revoked.”
Cat shrugged and instantly regretted it. “Why does everyone always expect me to know the rules? I’ve only been a Guardian as long as you have, I have no idea what the rules are, and frankly, I don’t care. We have to help our friends and allies, you need to be reunited with Shyleen, and we’re of no use to anyone in our current state. So, if we’re breaking some rules, then the rules are wrong, not us.”
Turning back to Dreya, she prompted, “So, can you do it?”
“You don’t ask for much, do you?” Dreya grumbled. “Draining power doesn’t mean I’m ready for mental gymnastics. Not only do I have to remember the exact spatial co-ordinates, but I also have to factor in our going back in Time and then add the time we’ve spent here, all without having an actual timepiece on me. Plus, I have to do this after fighting the battle of my life, my mind in a million pieces and I have to make damn sure I don’t make a mistake and arrive before we left, or I blow a hole in reality.”
“You only tell us how complicated it is because you think we’ll go ‘wow’ when you do it anyway.”
“Besides,” Mandalee put in, taking the opportunity to wind up the sorceress, “you’re the Greatest Mage Who Ever Lived. You took the Black Tower in five minutes – this is peanuts to that.”
Dreya sighed and shook her head. “You’re going to be a thorn in my side the whole time we’re Guardians, aren’t you?”
Mandalee grinned. “Yep.”
“So, how about it?” Cat asked her girlfriend, once more. “Will you do this for me?”
Six words.
Six words, spoken by the woman she loved. Six words that Dreya knew could only ever have one answer.
“Of course, I will, Cat,” she replied. Then, turning to Mandalee, she added, “but the least you can do is help me.”
“How? The most maths I do is deduction: If I start with fifty-seven enemies and I’ve killed thirty-two in five minutes, how long do I still need to keep fighting before I can go and have a drink? I certainly don’t know anything about temporal-spatial co-ordinates.”
“Maybe,” Dreya allowed, “but you still have one advantage over Cat and me right now.”
“And what’s that?”
“You can stand up.”
“Good point,” she conceded, helping Dreya to her feet.
A moment later, a portal opened, and they could see the two Chetsuan girls fighting like a pair of wildcats, cutting down enemies as they came at them. They’d moved a bit from where the Guardians had left them, a few yards further down the narrow corridor before it opened up into Kullos’ throne room. Using that chokepoint made enemy numbers irrelevant, and the sisters couldn’t be outflanked. They’d tried using their telepathy, but there were too many. It would only take one to fake being under their control and they’d be dead.
Mandalee called to them through the open portal and with a final frenzied attack, forcing their enemies back a step, they ran like their tails were on fire to dive through to the other side.
A couple of enemy guards that were trying desperately to make it to the portal, each sprouted an arrow in their chests. As the portal closed, Mandalee looked for where the arrows had come from and saw Cat in tears. She had seen the danger, and with a supreme effort stood and fired her arrows with deadly accuracy, despite the cost to her body. Her bow clattered to the ground, swiftly followed by the girl herself. Her friends weren’t sure if her tears were from agony or grief. The truth was both: standing and using her bow was more than her body could take. Her arm was now completely useless, the pain almost unbearable, and Daelen was fading fast.
“It’s a shame you can’t shapeshift at the moment,” he croaked. “I would have quite liked to see that white rabbit one more time. It’s OK, I don’t expect miracles to happen just because I’m dying.”
“You’re right,” she accepted, trying to smile. “I don’t have that power right now, but you know what I always say about that?”
“Power isn’t everything.”
“Exactly. There’s always a way around it, and miracles can happen if people make them happen.” That’s when she asked everyone to take their shoes off and give them to her. “And could somebody please help me with mine?”
Nobody questioned the random request. They just complied. Turning all the shoes upside down, sand fell out onto the ground – they had been fighting in a desert, after all. With her uninjured hand, Cat sprinkled the sand in the air and worked her magic, asking nature to please create a Mirror Image copy. One that was free from injuries.
When her duplicate appeared, she immediately changed into a white rabbit and hopped into comfortable stroking range for Daelen.
“Genius as ever, Cat,” the shadow warrior declared, proudly. “Who else would have thought of that?”
Cat blushed but chose not to comment.
“But I was right all along, wasn’t I? I had to sacrifice myself for you, after all.”
“And in doing so, you made yourself what you always claimed you’re not: a hero,” Cat pointed out.
“If it helps,” Mandalee volunteered, “I can tell everyone how insensitive, arrogant and egotistical you were when we first met.”
“Yeah,” Sara chimed in, “and we can say how you took a couple of alien girls away from their home and made them slave away for you, day after day.”
“A proper Cinderella deal, it was,” Jessica agreed. “Only without a ball or a prince.”
“At least Sara got an elf boy to snog,” Daelen pointed out.
“Yeah,” Sara smiled through her tears, “but I still had to run away before midnight.”
“Aww, rubbish!” her sister disputed. “We were at the afterparty for hours.”
Sara rolled her eyes. “It was a figure of speech!”
The shadow warrior laughed, even though blood was now starting to fill his mouth.
“I’m glad you chose this world,” he approved. “They’ll look after you here.”
“Of course we will,” Dreya agreed. “There’s space in my Tower until they get on their feet.”
“An act of kindness from a Black robe?” Mandalee wondered, facetiously, knowing how her friend would react.
“Why do people always accuse me of that?” Dreya protested with an annoyed frown. “They’re going to be looking after us for a while, first. I’m just paying my debts.”
Daelen beckoned Catriona close, his voice fading, asking for one last thing.
Cat nodded and sang:1
Angels among us, stars in the night,
Watch o’er your sleep, shining so bright,
Safe in their light, as you close your eyes,
Love will surround you, ‘til morning you rise.
Angels among us, shed you no tears,
Bright Angels guard you, quiet your fears,
Nature’s embrace, is gentle and strong,
Love will surround you, all your life long.
Her voice cracked on the last line. Daelen’s life had indeed been long, but it was now over.
His final whispered words were, “I love you, my beautiful Cat.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered in return.
She knew Dreya would understand, under the circumstances.
*****
It took more than a week, Earth time, for the Three Guardians to feel well enough to prepare for their return. Dreya and Mandalee had been up and about first – the Cleric of Nature was happy to find her shopping bags full of Earth clothes where she’d left them. She managed to get through several new outfits in the last few days, and even Dreya felt comfortable enough around her friends to wear her little black velvet dress, making no attempt to cover her winglets.
Mandalee hadn’t known about them until that moment, but she of all people wasn’t going to judge someone else’s body.
“That dress couldn’t look more perfect on you,” she told her.
She had bought it for Catriona, but now she couldn’t imagine what she’d been thinking. It was in no way Cat’s style, but she couldn’t have found anything closer to Dreya’s if she’d deliberately searched that entire shopping mall.
As if sensing something of her thoughts – which given their Guardian enhanced sympathic link was entirely possible – Dreya asked, “Did you know about us?”
She didn’t think a magically backed promise would stop someone from guessing the truth if they’d already seen them together.
“Not consciously,” Mandalee answered. “Maybe it flashed across my mind, but I just dismissed the possibility. To be honest, I don’t think I would have understood if she had been able to tell me. I had too many preconceptions about you, Dreya, and I’m sorry about that. I really should know better.”
Dreya dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “No apology necessary. I work hard to cultivate a certain reputation, so I can hardly blame you for believing it. You’re a good friend to Cat, Mandalee, and…well…” she trailed off.
Mandalee understood it wasn’t easy for Dreya to open up like this, so she let her have the time and space she needed, not pressing her to continue before she was ready.
At last, she did. “…I could do with a friend like that. I mean, I know we’re going to be working together, and we’re already sort of friends through Cat, but I’d like us to have something a little more…direct. Am I making any sense?”
Mandalee laughed, “I wonder about that all the time, so you’re probably asking the wrong person. But seriously, Dreya, we’re already something ‘a little more direct’. You’re my friend.”
“Better than I could have hoped for,” Dreya replied, embracing her. Breaking the hug, she held up a warning finger. “But if you dare tell anyone about this touching moment, I will have to kill you.”
Mandalee knew the threat wasn’t real, but she was nevertheless sincere, as she replied, “My lips are sealed.”
*****
It was another couple of days before Catriona, with her more extensive injuries, was able to join them for long periods. To help pass the time, Jessica and Sara had introduced them to video games. They quickly agreed on a favourite, and in a reversal of their usual roles, Mandalee played a wizard while Dreya chose a demon hunter with a multitude of weapons.
It made them both laugh as Dreya kept saying, “Magic doesn’t work like that!” and Mandalee came back with, “What about those ridiculous fighting moves? How are they even supposed to be possible?”
Solar panels and a generator had kept the lights on in the place, but with all the higher planar energy Daelen had taken, the portal room was now portal-less.
While Jessica had been in charge of medical care, Sara had put her tech skills to good use, editing the video Dreya had taken of Kullos’ defeat, and putting it into a format that could be read by a device she’d picked up from Lavos, the world where people hunted dragons, rather than the other way around. It was a holographic projector, which could display the video in midair. Cat thought it was the technological equivalent of the magic the other Guardians had used. It should create quite a stir on the battlefield.
None of them was in top shape when they left, but any longer would have felt like an indulgence. They vowed to return, however. After all, even Guardians were surely entitled to holidays.
Cat opened the first portal to StormClaw on Tempestria, but she left the temporal portal to Dreya. She would learn that for herself later. Right now, Dreya had more experience, and they couldn’t afford a mistake.
Despite the guards, they still agreed Kullos’ fortress was the best place to start. There was no point in complicating things any further for the sorceress, and at least they knew what to expect. Even though it would only be ten to fifteen minutes, relatively speaking, since they left the battlefield, anything could have happened in that time.
The guards in the fortress were still there, but this time, they were faced with five intruders instead of two. With their varying strengths and powers, they quickly overwhelmed the guards and headed back the way they had come. Along the way, they passed by the remains of the now dormant hellhounds and Dreya retrieved her lost dagger. At last, they were outside, once more, where the battle raged on.
Running up high on one of Cat’s Rainbow Roads, Sara activated the projector, so all could see how Kullos had not only failed but also completely lied about any promises he might have made to get people on his side. He’d just told them whatever they wanted to hear so that they would fight and die for him, while he got on with destroying the world.
For good measure, Dreya used her magic to project her voice. “Now, are you going to surrender or do I bring back the dragons?”
Within five minutes, almost all the mortal enemy forces had surrendered. The last few pockets of resistance were soon mopped up. Supernatural creatures were banished by the Council mages. Demons were encouraged to either Descend to the lower planes or face the army alone. All but a few chose the former.
The battle over, Catriona declared the Guardians were done, too. The clean-up, the aftermath, the pursuit of justice to separate those who were complicit from those who were forced – none of that had anything to do with them.
Dreya called the Triumvirate together – Justaria had been reinstated on the battlefield – and briefed them on the Guardianship. In time, the Guardians would have to be ratified by the Council, but that could wait.
Mandalee was reunited with Shyleen, who, Windell told her, had been looking after him.
Cat found Michael and broke the news of Daelen’s death, apologising for being unable to let him be present at his side before he passed.
The demigod understood. He confided that he knew he had died because a particular block had removed itself from his mind, which could mean only one thing.
“Don’t worry, I promise I will speak of it to no-one,” he vowed. “I will take it to my grave – my permanent one, that is,” he clarified. “It seems I have no further need of the one I’ve been using most of my life.”
“Speaking of which,” Cat put in, “we need to access your tomb, to keep Daelen’s body secure, but first, we need to borrow you and your technology for another purpose.”
“My technology and I are at your disposal. What are you planning?”
Before answering, she called her fellow Guardians over.
“Mandalee, I think it’s time I came good on a very long-standing promise, don’t you?”
Her friend smiled, excitedly. “I’m ready.”
“Dreya, I’m relying on you, too.”
“Always,” she affirmed.
“Now, I know this is a deeply private thing for you, Mandalee, and you will have to be naked, so I’m keeping it to essential personnel only. Are you OK with that?”
Mandalee agreed. If it got her out of the body she hated, she could put up with just about anything for a short while.