Shifting Stars, page 14
“That’s OK,” Dreya accepted, showing not a hint of irritation. “I was just talking about my defences.”
“What about them?”
“Well, why shouldn’t I activate them and be rid of you?”
Cat pounced. Now she knew she’d got Dreya’s attention.
“Because you’re not insecure enough to jump at every shadow that passes across your land,” she said. “Come on, Dreya, if you want to be rid of me, do your own dirty work!”
“An excellent suggestion,” Dreya conceded. “I could use the exercise.”
Without warning, she conjured a flight of poisoned darts that flew towards Catriona, but a sudden gust of wind blew them harmlessly away.
“OK, direct approach, then,” Dreya remarked, focussing her magic to create the poison directly from the magic inside Catriona’s body.
Cat shot her a withering look. “Really, Dreya? Poison? I’m a druid – we’re awesome at curing poisons.”
“Well then, let’s see how you fair if I take your magic away.”
Dreya had developed the ability to literally drain magical power from a wizard’s body, take it for herself. But Cat wasn’t a wizard, she was a druid. Her magic came from an entirely different source.
“You can’t drain me because the power isn’t really mine. It’s the power of nature herself, and you can’t drain nature.” Some of Catriona’s plants began to extend themselves towards the sorceress. “Come on, Dreya,” she said. “Take me seriously, or I’ll just tie you up in your garden and demolish your tower, after all!”
“Alright then,” Dreya agreed. “Let me take things up a notch.” With that, she unleashed flames from her fingertips, but Cat threw some water in the air and directed it to form a jet of water in the path of the flaming attack, extinguishing it, harmlessly. Dreya upped the power to a pair of fist-sized fireballs, but Cat used more water to create a suspended aquatic shield that blocked the strike.
“So, you need water to make water,” Dreya observed. “What happens if you run out?”
She invoked her magic, and Cat’s water bottles shattered, spilling their contents on the ground. Then, for good measure, she caused the spilt water to boil away, robbing Cat of her aquatic resources…or so she thought.
“Well?” she prompted. “Where are you going to get your water from now?”
“Dreya!” Cat admonished her. “I thought you’d be more observant than this. Haven’t you noticed the sun?”
Dreya glanced up at the sky.
“It’s gone behind some clouds, so what?”
“Look at those clouds, Dreya,” Cat said. “Really look. Clouds like that mean only one thing. It looks to me like it’s going to…”
Right on cue, the rain began to pour – hard!
“Well, you certainly have a flair for the dramatic,” Dreya remarked, approvingly. “Just two questions: First, if you can make it rain on cue, why carry water around with you?”
“Partly for convenience, but mostly because the rain makes my hair go frizzy.”
For the first time, there was a flicker of something on Dreya’s face, and while Cat wouldn’t go so far as to call it a smile, it was a beginning.
“Second question?” she prompted.
An enormous fireball, three feet in diameter grew between Dreya’s hands. “Do you think a bit of rain is enough to stop this?”
In response, the rain in the air between them became a waterfall, a curtain of water separating them.
“This might,” said Cat.
Dreya just shook her head, sending the fireball forth. Cat was confident of her aquatic shield, but to her surprise, instead of passing through it, the fireball quickly darted around it. Choosing the better part of valour, Cat shifted to her falcon form and tried to fly away from the approaching fireball, calling off the rain to make flying more comfortable, but no matter what aerobatics she tried, it tracked her every move. She’d never tried to use weather control magic in another form before, but staying as a falcon was the only way she could stay ahead of the fire. It helped that it was the first form she’d ever mastered. By now, it was almost as familiar to her as her real body, which meant she didn’t need much concentration to maintain it. Compartmentalising what her avian-self needed, she devoted the rest of her brain to manipulating the airflow around the moving fireball into a mini-whirlwind, spinning faster and faster until it removed the air from the eye and extinguished the flames.
That done, she shifted back to her true self in midair, standing on one of her Windy Steps.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with fire?” she wondered.
“I think she may have said something about that,” Dreya admitted, “but then she also told me to marry a prince, who was willing to overlook certain things, and get showered with rose petals in a traditional marriage ceremony. As if becoming a Faery princess should have been the pinnacle of my ambitions.” She shrugged. “I tended not to listen to my mother too much after that.”
Catriona flattered herself that if Dreya the Dark was volunteering personal information now, then she was definitely making an impression.
“Still,” Dreya continued, “perhaps you’re right. Maybe I should change things up now. Let’s see how you handle this!”
Cat felt the tiny hairs on her arms start to stand up in response to the build-up of charge around the sorceress that was clearly going to develop into a lightning bolt heading in her direction. The druidess had just the thing. Out of her pocket dimension, she pulled out, of all things, a bucket of water, which she threw all over Dreya the instant the bolt was ready, causing it to backfire, painfully. While the sorceress was momentarily stunned, the druid used that same water to trap Dreya in a cylindrical cage of ice.
“Don’t play with electricity, either,” Cat admonished her, as she stepped back down to the ground. “Especially with so much water around.”
Dreya levitated out of the trap, scoffing at Cat leaving such an obvious escape.
“I’m insulted if you think that would be any kind of challenge.”
“Back at ya!” she retorted, making the wind pick up so much that Dreya was thrown back down to the ground with a bump. “As if I’d leave such an obvious escape route without it leading to a trap! You’re still not taking me seriously, Dreya. Stop holding back – show me what you’ve really got, or I might start to doubt that you’re really as powerful and deadly as you make out.”
“Alright,” Dreya acceded. “If you’re sure that’s how you really want it. Just remember you asked for it!”
With that, for the next half hour, Dreya turned up the power and frequency of attacks, putting Cat firmly on the defensive, working frantically to counter whatever came her way. Cat kept on the move, never letting Dreya pin her down, countering with magic or shapeshifting to escape and buy time. The way she ran up and down her Windy Steps, Cat was thankful that her time with Mandalee had got her in shape. Still, she needed a breather for a minute and decided to put a barrier between them while she got her breath back. Throwing a few pebbles on the ground, she grew a stone wall between them as she landed. She didn’t think Dreya would try to levitate over it after what happened the last time. Hopefully, breaking through it would at least take a minute.
“Stonewalling me now, Cat?” Dreya called out. “And here was me thinking we were communicating really well since we started dating!”
“Oh, you know how it is,” Cat returned. “Everybody in a relationship needs their own space, sometimes!”
“True,” Dreya allowed, invoking her magic to shatter the stone into fragments, “but I’m all about breaking down barriers and moving forward. Standing still for too long can be bad for you. It can take the magic right out of a relationship.”
Cat found herself suddenly surrounded by an anti-magic field. “But our two magics are different,” Cat pointed out.
“Yes, of course, I know you’re a druid – don’t think I haven’t adapted the field to take that into account.”
“You know, I really don’t get these things,” Catriona said. “An anti-magic field is itself a form of magic, so how does it operate?”
“It works on a different frequency to other magic and cuts off all other frequencies but its own.”
“Interesting,” said Cat, “so in theory, if I could determine the right frequency, I could adapt my magic to run off the field itself.”
Dreya’s eyes widened slightly, betraying interest in a concept she hadn’t considered before.
“Can you do that?”
“Not yet,” Cat admitted, to Dreya’s apparent disappointment, “but you’ve just given me a big piece of the puzzle. Give me time.”
“Time’s something you don’t have. You’re trapped.”
Cat shook her head. “I’ve been in worse traps than this, and after criticising me for leaving an obvious escape route, earlier, you’ve done the same thing.”
Dreya scoffed, “I don’t make mistakes like that – the field forms a dome over your head. You can’t fly out.”
“Wasn’t planning to,” Cat returned.
The anti-magic field only blocked her from sending her magic outside the barrier, she could still use it on herself, so she shifted to her mole form and burrowed underneath. While she remained underground, Dreya had no way to track her until she came back up and nipped Dreya on the ankle. As the sorceress whirled around, Cat shifted straight to falcon form and flew up into the air over Dreya’s head, where she reverted to her true self and stood on her Windy Steps.
“If this were a real battle,” she said, “I'd have changed to wolf form and bitten you properly, or falcon form and pecked out your eyes, or owl form and…hooted…really loud…or something.”
Dreya’s face twitched to a half-smile, just for a moment before she could get it under control. “Started well, that threat.”
“Wasn’t trying to threaten you; I was trying to make you laugh. Almost succeeded, too!”
“You’re not that funny,” Dreya refuted.
“I am so that funny!” Cat insisted. “Come on, this one was a classic!” she said, pulling another bucket out of her pocket dimension, brandishing it over Dreya’s head.
“Using the same trick twice, Cat? I’m disappointed.”
“Dreya!” Cat rebuked her. “As if I would!”
Cat tipped the bucket’s contents over Dreya, but it wasn’t water, this time, but rose petals.
Chapter 17
“What the—?” Dreya began, unsure how to react to the flurry of rose petals fluttering around her in the breeze. Given the way druid magic worked, it was entirely conceivable that this might be some new, inventive form of attack, although Dreya couldn’t imagine what offensive use rose petals could have.
“Well, I thought our relationship was going so well,” Cat explained, “we could skip right to the wedding.” Then with a mock hurt look, she asked, “I didn’t misread the situation, did I?”
This time Dreya’s smile was fuller and lasted longer. “I think it’s a bit too soon, that’s all. I haven’t accepted your proposal yet.”
“Ah, but you’re going to. You’re almost there, I can tell!”
“You’re very sure of yourself,” Dreya said, putting on her very best frown.
“Aww, don’t be like that – at least let me blow you a kiss!”
The wind picked up, suddenly, forcing Dreya back towards her tower steps. Cat had noticed the rain had left a pool of water at the bottom, which gave her an idea of how to get Dreya to do something she’d planned from the beginning. Unfortunately, she hadn’t pushed Dreya quite far enough. Doing the same thing twice would make Dreya suspicious. She needed one more roll of the dice. It was highly dangerous, but it was the only way.
“How was that for you?” Cat quipped, trying to use their verbal sparring to manipulate Dreya.
“Well I must admit, I was very moved, but you’re still no nearer getting inside my tower.”
“Oh, I’m closer than you realise,” Cat retorted, “and if you want to stop me, you’ll have to stop playing and fight me properly. “Come on,” she demanded, “you didn't fight Ulvarius with these tricks!”
“No, I used blood magic.”
“But that's unstable!” Cat mock gasped.
“It’s perfectly stable. It just needs control.”
“Yes, I’ve heard you like to be in control, so control me. If you can. Come on, Dreya, turn up the power all the way: show me what you can really do. Show me your famous blood magic. I’m not going to believe you can really do it unless you show me.”
“Don't try to goad me – it won't work.”
Cat knew that. Dreya’s refusal was part of the plan. “Not trying to. I know what you can do. Aren't you curious to know what I can do? Alright, forget blood magic. Best conventional spell. In fact, tell you what, you can blast me with your deadly magical energy beam.”
“You know about that?” Dreya wondered. “Oh, of course, I used it to defend Xarnas,” she realised. “You can’t really want me to do that.”
“Yes, I do,” Cat insisted, “and I'll fight you with…let’s see…” she made a show of checking what spell components she still had left, “…a handful of sand.”
“You'll die.”
“What do you care?”
“I don't. It's just a shame to end the fun so soon.”
Cat pounced on the victory. “Ha! I got you to admit you're having fun!”
Dreya actually winced, conceding the point.
“But seriously,” Cat continued, “quite a few wizards will thank you. I've become something of a thorn in their side.”
“Like old Renjaf,” Dreya said.
It was Cat’s turn to be surprised.
“You're not the only one who does their homework,” Dreya told her.
“Renjaf will probably send you flowers and have my friend Jacob deliver them,” Cat said, recovering quickly. “You can say hi to him for me. Anyway, are we doing this or not?” As she was speaking, she slowly, casually, moved towards the optimum position that she had in her mind.
“It's your funeral. Any special requests for that, by the way?”
“Just bury me here in your garden if you don’t mind. I like what you've done with the place.”
“Thanks. It’s certainly a big improvement on the Black Tower's previous owner's taste. Tell you what: I'll cut down those roses you grew around my door and put them on your grave.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Well, it’s been a whirlwind romance, Cat,” Dreya considered. “I only just met you, and yet we’ve dated, you’ve proposed, we’ve got married, and now I have to plan your funeral.”
“Ours is a tragic love,” Catriona agreed, solemnly, coming to a natural, gentle halt so that she could draw an exact straight line between herself, Dreya and the door to the Black Tower. She wanted the sorceress up those steps. Now in position, she grew the plants around her to grip her tightly in place no matter what Dreya threw at her.
“OK, then,” Dreya said. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Cat confirmed, fist closed tightly around her sand so it couldn’t trickle out.
Without further warning, Dreya built up her power and shot out her energy beam. Cat threw her handful of sand into the air and fused it, turning it instantly into Nature’s Mirror, reflecting the energy right back. Dreya shielded as Cat knew she would, but the force of the blast sent her recoiling backwards to sprawl on the steps of her Tower.
Cat silently celebrated. She’d got Dreya the Dark exactly where she wanted her.
Dreya was literally and figuratively stunned. Picking herself up, she demanded to know how Cat had done that.
Cat explained, “Druid magic is the opposite of wizard magic, in a way. I take the power you use, change it, recycle it and send it back. So, logically, if you think about it…”
“…the right kind of druid magic shield can reflect my wizard magic,” Dreya concluded. “Excellent.” Then with a dangerous gleam in her eyes, she suggested, “Shall we see if it works just as well against blood magic?”
Cat was indignant. “If you're determined to be Miss Serious Face again, I’m going to start getting all frosty, too!”
The pool of water froze at the base of the steps and grew into an ice wall, keeping Dreya trapped on her steps, unable to set foot in her garden, cut off from her black roses.
“Oh, I see what you’re doing,” Dreya said. “Nice move. Thing is, though, I don’t need my black roses for blood magic – not when you’ve provided roses of your own.”
She reached out to prick a finger on the roses around the door, but the rosebush reached out to grab her instead, immobilising her without breaking the skin so as not to give her access to the kind of magic she was trying to unleash. Dreya was in obvious pain.
“My arrows were fashioned from the same wood as those roses,” Catriona explained, “and I had them blessed by a White cleric friend of mine who has a particular affinity for nature. Quite painful for a Dark wizard, I imagine.”
She grabbed her Crystal Mage Staff out of her pocket dimension – the better to make an imposing impression as she walked close, just behind her ice wall.
“You see, there’s a drawback to wizard magic. You need to use your hands to inscribe the language of magic in the air. You can't do magic if you can't move. Now, I’m not sure about blood magic, but I figure if you’re immobilised, you can’t prick yourself, so you can’t access that power!”
Dreya’s smile was chilling, and suddenly Cat wasn’t quite so smug. Her mind raced, frantically, trying to see if there was something she’d overlooked. If there was, she couldn’t see it.
“If you were dealing with any other wizard, you'd be right,” Dreya conceded. “But this is me. Do you really think I'd let this stop me? Here’s a little thing I’ve been working on…”
She focussed her gaze on Cat through the clear ice and spoke but one word.
“STUN.”
Cat found herself completely unable to move. A new anti-magic field formed around her, skin-tight and completely encasing her from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. Dreya wasn’t one to make the same mistake twice.
