The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (10 page)

Bitterness and self-pity washed
over her.  He could leave the Valley whenever he wished but he expected
her to remain there, safe and bored, like some caged pet.  With a burst of
anger Mistral kicked Cirrus on again, suddenly determined to find the cyclops
before her brothers caught up.

She rode higher, the stone-walled
pastures of wary sheep giving way to steep rows of grape vines.  Mistral
slowed Cirrus to a walk and examined the passing terrain more closely.  A
small village lay further down the mountainside.  Smoke rising from the
chimneys showed that it was inhabited.  There was no way the villagers
would be happily going about their day-to-day business if a cyclops had taken
up residence nearby.  Knowing she had further to go, Mistral pushed Cirrus
on again.  The scenery swept past her in a green blur, the horse’s
powerful strides carrying them further into the mountains.  The
surrounding land grew wilder.  There were no longer any fields of vines or
even pastureland, just a wide sloping expanse of rocky ground broken by the
occasional scrubby patch of gorse.  The ground soon became too uneven for
Cirrus to continue at such a past face and Mistral was forced to slow him to a
steady trot. 

The silence of the mountainside
was absolute, a ringing pressure on her eardrums that amplified every tiny
sound to the volume of a thunderclap.  The soft thudding of Prospero’s
paws, his steady panting, the rhythmical beat of Cirrus’ hooves, the creak of
leather and even the noise of her own raised heartbeats all became as loud to
Mistral as the din of battle. 

The might of the Western Mountain
reared up before her.  It was a sight she had witnessed many times from
the balcony of the mountain house but even familiarity could not rob the
dramatic peaks of their majesty.  Timeless, vast and effortlessly
humbling, the sight of them never failed to render her into awestruck silence. 

Realising that this meant she was
nearing her destination Mistral wrenched her eyes away from the fierce beauty
of the mountain peaks and reined Cirrus to a walk, letting him pick his way
through heaps of fallen rock while she studied their surroundings for any signs
of the cyclops.  The going was slow and Mistral quickly grew
frustrated.  Pulling Cirrus to a halt she turned to look up at the
mountainside, studying the grey-faced rock with an impatient eye.  There
was little to see, only several heaps of loose rubble that spoke of recent rock
slides.  When Cirrus slipped and stumbled on the gravelly edge of one
slide Mistral quickly decided to go ahead on foot.  She halted him and
glanced around for a suitable place to tether her horse.  A slight motion
on the mountainside caught her roving gaze.  Her first thought was of
another rockslide but when her eyes focussed on the source she let out a gasp
of delight.

As grey and misshapen as the rock
it was climbing down the cyclops gripped at the mountain face with huge
three-fingered hands, moving steadily towards the ground.  Mistral watched
it tearing out chunks of granite, creating holds that would take its
weight.  She realised with a burst of awe that the rocks around her
weren’t from a slide.  They had been gouged from the mountainside by the
cyclops’ hands. 

Mistral stared at the massive
grey-skinned creature, taking in a muscular back and shoulders that implied
formidable strength.  Her eyes travelled down over the powerful legs,
noting thick talons protruding from the back of its heels which would no doubt
prove dangerous to anything within range of its feet.

‘Prospero.  Guard.’ 
Mistral ordered quietly and swung down from the saddle.  There was no way
she was risking her horse and her dog against the huge beast in front of
her. 

Drawing her crossbow she fitted a
bolt and moved quietly away from Cirrus and Prospero to kneel on the
ground.  She levelled her crossbow and waited, holding her breath to keep
her aim steady.  Her plan was simple.  The moment the creature turned
around she would fire the bolt straight into its single eye and blind it … then
she would be able to go in on foot and finish the job with her swords.

The cyclops reached the base of
the rock face.  Mistral felt the earth beneath her tremble when it leapt
the last few feet, landing with a shuddering thud.  Turning with
surprising agility it suddenly spun to face her, nostrils flaring wide to
inhale the warm scent of horse and dog.  For a split second Mistral froze,
transfixed by the huge single eye in the centre of the creature’s
forehead.  Massive, unblinking and completely black, it gleamed with an
unspeakable evil that deepened when it locked onto Cirrus and Prospero. 

With a savage roar the cyclops
tore a handful of rocks from the mountainside and hurled them at Prospero and
Cirrus.  Mistral’s eyes blazed with fury at Prospero’s resulting yelp of
pain and immediately fired her crossbow at the cyclops’ eye. 

The bolt went wide and thudded
into the cyclops’ face.  Roaring with pain it groped clumsily at the bolt
but only succeeded in snapping the shaft and driving the bolt further in. 
Howling furiously, it dragged a hand against the mountainside again, ripping
out more ammunition to fling at its unseen attacker.  Mistral watched the
cyclops fill its hands with rocks and abruptly all of the frustration she had
felt in the last few weeks turned to sheer rage. 

‘Prospero!’  tossing her
crossbow down, she grabbed her dagger and sprinted straight for the cyclops.

Hearing her shout, the cyclops spun
to face her, its face twisting into a vicious snarl.  Flinging down the
rocks in an impatient gesture it lurched towards her, stretching out with both
massive hands to grab at her running figure.

Still shouting, Mistral pelted
across the stony ground, her dagger raised ready.  At the very last moment
she veered sharply to the right, dodging the cyclops’ grasping hands to launch
herself up into the air and thrust her dagger into the base of its neck. 
The dagger pierced through the thick skin and stuck fast into solid muscle and
sinew.  With a snarl Mistral tugged at the dagger to stab again but the
momentum of her leap carried her past the cyclops’ shoulder before she could
free it leaving her hanging over the cyclops’ back, suspended from the hilt of
her own dagger. 

The cyclops bellowed and lashed
out, spinning around wildly to try and dislodge her.  Mistral clung on,
fuelled by a burning rage that blotted out all reason.  She rammed the
sides of her boots against the leathery skin of its back to support her weight
and pulled furiously at the dagger but it was lodged deep in the creature’s
stone-like muscles.

It was the sight of Mistral
clinging to the back of a violently enraged cyclops that met the warriors when
they hauled their panting horses to a halt beside Cirrus and Prospero.

‘Get your bows out now!’ 
Xerxes cried and leapt from his horse, reaching swiftly for his own.

‘Cain!  Poison, now!’ 
Saul demanded.

‘In my bag!’ he flung his saddlebag
at Saul and jumped from the saddle to draw his own bow.

‘Grendel!  Get in there with
a sarisas and distract the damned thing before it kills her!’  Xerxes
yelled.

Grendel grunted and immediately
began to pound heavily towards the cyclops, levelling one of the long spiked
sarisas while he ran.

‘What colour is the
bottle?’  Saul’s voice rose in panic as he searched frantically through
Cain’s saddlebag.

‘Blue!’

‘Got it!’ 

Saul quickly doused his arrow
then threw the bottle to Brutus who repeated the action with his own
arrow.  He notched the poisoned arrow to his bow then swore.

‘Damn it!  I can’t fire near
the head in case I get Mistral!’ 

The cyclops was spinning in
circles, pawing at the irritating creature clinging onto its back. 

‘Doesn’t matter!  Just get
the poison into it and fast!’  Xerxes yelled, pouring poison onto an
arrowhead and throwing the bottle to Cain.

They fired at the same time,
their arrows flying through the air and plunging into the cyclops to elicit
another infuriated roar.  Cain grabbed the bottle of poison to dowse his
next bolt and gave a gasp of horror.

‘I said blue!’  he shouted
at Saul. 

‘It is blue!’  Saul screamed
back at him.

‘Have you got yarthkin blood or
what?  It’s black!  You’ve just shot the damned thing with manticore
poison!’

Xerxes and Brutus swore loudly as
they all realised that they had just pumped an already demented cyclops full of
venom that would make it even more violent and totally impervious to pain.

Unaware of the added danger he
was facing, Grendel slowed his run and approached the cyclops at a walk,
levelling a long sarisas ready.  Swiftly ducking a heavy fisted swipe he
lunged forward and thrust the spiked point deep into the cyclops’ exposed side.

The cyclops’ face contorted with
pain.  It immediately swung out a massive hand in retaliation, catching
Grendel around the head and slamming him to the ground.  Stunned, Grendel
lay dazed as the cyclops raised a huge foot to stamp down him.

‘Fire!’  Xerxes shouted and
they all let fly with arrows once more; this time tipped with hemlock poison.

Their aim was true and the arrows
struck the sides and belly of the cyclops.  The warriors instantly drew
their bowstrings and fired again, sending another hail of poisoned arrows
flying through the air.  Thrashing wildly under the onslaught the cyclops
threw back its head, ramming its granite skull into the top of Mistral’s
head.  Stars burst in front of her eyes at the force of the blow. 
Losing her grip on the creature’s back she slid senselessly to the ground. 
Feeling the weight on its back slide away the cyclops wheeled, searching for
its tormentor.  Snatching at her fallen body with one huge hand he swept
her up and flung her against the mountainside.  Body met rock in a
snapping crunch and then there was silence. 

Bright sunlight glowed red
through her closed eyelids, forcing her into consciousness.  Prising her
eyes open a fraction Mistral made out the hazy form of a dark-haired figure sat
beside her bed.

‘Is that you or am I dreaming?’

‘It’s me.’  Fabian replied
shortly, adding stiffly.  ‘How are you feeling?’ 

‘Better now I know you’re real,’
she sighed and opened her eyes wider, taking in Fabian’s ominously unsmiling
face.  ‘Are you angry with me?’ 

‘No.’ he snapped and rose to his
feet.  ‘I’m angry with your idiot brothers for taking you on such a
dangerous hunt.  And now I know that you are alright I am going to find
them.’  

‘But I’m not alright!’ 
Mistral cried, struggling to sit up.  ‘I’m never alright without
you!  It’s not them you need to be angry at, but you.’

Fabian glared at her, his hand
resting on the back of the chair he had been sitting on.  

‘And why should I be angry with
myself?’  he demanded icily.

Ignoring her spinning head
Mistral forced herself to continue, ‘For trying to protect me from anything
that might hurt me.  Can’t you see it’s driving me insane?  I’m too
much like you Fabian.  I need to be free.  How would you feel if you
were stuck in the Valley, not allowed to leave or take any Contracts that presented
even the remotest challenge?’

Fabian stared at her coldly then
sighed and sank back onto the chair, ‘I admit that I may have been a touch
overprotective recently, and I know that keeping you cooped up in the Valley
has been hard on you – but a cyclops?  What were you thinking?’

‘I got drunk.’  Mistral
confessed, looking a little shame-faced.  ‘It seemed like a good idea at
the time.’ 

Fabian stared at her and for a
second she thought he was really going to shout at her then he laughed softly
and reached out to take her hands, ‘I’m sorry Mistral.  I just wanted to
keep you from being injured, and,’ he paused significantly, ‘from anything that
would prevent you from mastering Sight.’ 

She looked up to meet his deep
black gaze, ‘Believe me Fabian, I want nothing more than to master Sight too,
but I’m not sure that this is the right way to go about it.’

‘No,’ he agreed.  ‘Not if it
results in reckless outbursts of you trying to get yourself killed.  So,
allow me to suggest a compromise.’

She settled back against the
pillows, eyeing him warily, ‘I’m listening.’

‘I promised that you could
accompany me on my next Contract –’

‘No matter what it entailed,’ she
reminded him.

‘No matter what it
entailed.  Well, whilst I’ve been waiting for you to regain consciousness,
which has been nearly two days by the way –’

Mistral flinched,
two days?
 
Guilt swamped her as she realised that Fabian had been sat by her bed for two
whole days, probably beside himself with worry … then her heart hardened when
she reasoned that if he had been a little more trusting and allowed her some
freedom to actually take the work she was trained to do then she wouldn’t have
felt the need to behave quite so recklessly in the first place.  

‘I have accepted a Council
Contract and, if you so desire to, you are welcome to accompany me.’

‘Yes please!’ 

‘Wait, I have more I wish to say
to you yet,’ he said, smiling for the first time.  ‘Contracts of all types
that you wish to undertake resume with immediate effect –’

‘Uh-huh,’ Mistral narrowed her eyes
at him suspiciously.  It wasn’t like Fabian to give in that easily.

‘On the strict understanding that
I accompany you.’

‘Agreed!’  Mistral grinned
at him.  ‘Now, is there any chance of you breaking me out of here? 
The twins usually do the honours but they’re not here.’

‘My pleasure.’  Fabian
smiled and slid his hands under the bed sheet, pulling her into his arms.

‘You know I probably could walk,’
she murmured, gazing into his velvet eyes while he cradled her in his arms and
carried her towards the door.