The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (35 page)

‘So it’s a case of better the
pompous over-bearing Mages they know is it?’  

Mistral laughed, ‘Does nothing
escape your hearing?’ 

‘Rarely.’  Fabian said so
quietly that Mistral glanced up to see his eyes were closed and he was nearly
asleep.

Giving a deep sigh she rested her
head against him and allowed her exhausted mind to drift towards sleep. 
The unknown outcome of the battle, returning to the Valley, gaining Sight – it
could all wait.  Nothing was more important than this one moment of peace
with her Mage.

Mistral slept dreamlessly and
woke to the blissful realisation that she was curled up against Fabian in their
small house.  Blinking and yawning, she tilted her head up to see that he
was still asleep.  The ; deathly pallor of the previous day had left his
skin.  He looked remarkably well considering that he had nearly died only
a few short hours ago. 

Sliding carefully from the sofa,
Mistral padded softly over to the kitchen and fed the last of the stew to
Prospero before she began to prepare breakfast.  Lifting a heavy frying
pan out of one of the cupboards as quietly as she could, Mistral broke some
eggs in and left to them to cook while she sliced some ham. 

The sound of the latch being raised
on the front door made her instantly reach for her dagger.  She spun
around with it held ready and was astounded to meet the ice-blue gaze of Leo
entering the room.

‘Is that how you welcome all of
your guests?’  he enquired coldly.

Closing the door behind him he
strode across to the fire and sat, uninvited, in one of the armchairs.

‘Hello Leo.’

Mistral heard Fabian’s voice
quietly greet his brother while she silently returned to preparing breakfast.

‘Fabian.’  Leo returned the
greeting curtly.  ‘You survived I see.’

‘Evidently.  What news do
you bring?’

‘The Rochfortes were
repelled.  The Council have claimed a unanimous victory.’

‘How gallant of them.’

‘Eximius has yet to return and in
the meantime Putreo is making a case for holding a round of elections for a new
Council Head.  He claims that Eximius should not have left the Isle
undefended in such dangerous times.’

Fabian gave a mirthless laugh,
‘Dangerous times that he helped to orchestrate!’

‘Maybe so, however, these are
dangerous times and I would prefer it if Mistral returned to the protection of
the Valley until events have been settled.’

A short silence fell. 
Mistral moved over to the dresser and collected two plates, hesitating for just
a moment before collecting a third.  She supposed it would be rude not to
feed her brother-in-law as well. 

Fabian spoke again, his voice was
dangerously quiet, ‘I do not think I like you ordering my wife where to
be.’   

‘She is an apprentice to the Ri
first Fabian, do not forget that!’

‘
She
is also in the room.’
 Mistral slammed two plates of meat and eggs on the table between the two
stony-faced brothers.  ‘Breakfast!’  she announced unnecessarily and
marched off back to the kitchen to eat by herself.

The plates of food sat untouched
between them while Fabian and Leo continued to glare at each other.

‘Tell me you have not forgotten
your promise.’

Fabian’s eyes flashed with fury,
‘I forget nothing Leo!  It is you that is forgetting your place!  You
dare to come into our home and remind me of how to behave?’

‘No, I remind you of your promise
of how to behave!’  Leo snapped back.

Mistral rolled her eyes and
banged her plate down noisily in the sink.  She felt like a prize catch
being fought over by two terriers. 

‘I’m going to see to the horses,’
she announced in the frosty silence that had fallen and stalked out of the
house with Prospero following closely at her heels.

She took her time checking over
Cirrus and Spirit, running her hands over their legs to feel for the tell-tale
heat of an injury.  Apart from a few superficial cuts and the fact that
both the horses were tired, they were relatively unscathed by the battle and
long ride. 

‘I think it’s time we made our
exit.’

Quickly saddling Cirrus she
realised that she would be leaving without her saddlebag and weapons.  She
deliberated going back to retrieve them but the thought of seeing Leo’s face in
the private sanctuary of her home was more than she could bear.  Consoling
herself with the dagger she always kept tucked in the back of her belt she
mounted up and whistled Prospero.  With her dog trotting by her side she
pushed Cirrus into a weary trot and left the courtyard, letting her anger mask
the sadness she always felt whenever she left her home behind her and headed
back to the Valley.

Cirrus was sore, forcing Mistral
to travel at a slower pace than usual and it took until mid-morning to reach
the meadows bordering the Valley.  She kicked Cirrus into a stiff canter
and entered through the North Gate.  The guard on duty nodded impassively. 
Glad not to hear the warning bell toll at her arrival Mistral rode down to the
village square and reined to a halt, feeling suddenly apprehensive.  She
glanced over at the Training Arena where the first years were drilling and was
relieved not to see the blonde heads of the twins amongst them.  She had
hoped to avoid any of her brothers before at least managing to have a shower
and for once, it looked like she was in luck. 

After quickly stabling Cirrus,
Mistral ran up the path to the dorms, sprinting up the stairs to grab some
clean clothes from her room she left Prospero sprawled across her bed and ran
straight to the bathroom to throw herself into a cold shower.  The
ice-cold needles of water blasted her skin and cleared her mind of any
lingering irritation at Leo and Fabian.  Now that she had calmed down she
sorely regretted leaving without her saddlebag and weapons but was comforted by
having a valid excuse to ride back and pick them up.  Smiling at the
prospect of seeing Fabian again, she dried herself vigorously and dragged on
her clean clothes.  She glanced quickly at her reflection in the mirror
and did a rapid double-take.  Discounting the bruising and cuts on her
face, she stared instead at her hair.  Phantasm had cut quite a lot
off.  She shrugged and turned away, at least now it wouldn’t get in the
way of her swords.  A flash of gold caught her eye.  She looked down
at the cause.  The wedding ring on her finger.  White gold and black
diamonds.  It had probably cost more money than she had ever seen. 
The more she looked at it the heavier it seemed to become until it felt as
though she would barely be able to drag her hand from the side of the
sink.  It was a strange concept to her, almost like a mark of
ownership. 

Mistral felt suddenly weary of
being a possession, owned by Fabian, by Leo, by her destiny.  She stared
at her reflection again and longed for freedom, wondering idly how far she
would manage to get before the invisible bond between her and Fabian drew tight
and snapped her back to his side again. 

Not far.  She was already
suffering pangs of remorse over letting her temper get the better of her and
riding off.  Still, she reasoned, it had been either that or sit there and
listen to Leo and Fabian squabble over her like some jealously guarded toy.

Lifting her chin she fixed her
reflection with a determined look.  She was not a possession.  She
met her reflection’s proud stare and grimaced.  No, she was not a
possession but she was in the uncomfortable position of having upset at least three
of her brothers.  Mistral blew out her cheeks and drummed her fingers
against the cold stone sink.  This one probably wasn’t going to go away on
its own.  Swearing under her breath she came to the grim realisation that
she had some serious explaining to do and, perish the thought, maybe even some
apologising as well.  Mistral gave her glum-faced reflection a hard
look.  It was time to face the music.

First, the twins.  It was a
Tuesday and they were not in the Training Arena which left only two other
possibilities.  She decided to try the least painful one first.

The polished wooden door was
answered on her third knock.  The flushed face of Mycroft Casterton spoke
clearly of a being roused from a nap so the twins were definitely not there
then, unless Mycroft had made the mistake of allowing Phantom to talk about
sorcering bloodlines in which case she could only sympathise with the portly
master.

‘My apologies Master Casterton, I
was looking for the twins.  They’re not with you I presume?’ she enquired
politely.

‘No, they are not!  And I am
rather busy at the moment!’  Mycroft blustered.  Clearly annoyed at
being woken he shut the door smartly in her face.

‘Huh.  Busy doing
nothing.’  Mistral turned from his door and ran back down the stairs.
 She strode along the corridor to the next flight and ran up them.  A
black wooden door loomed ominously in front of her as she rounded the last bend
in the stairs. 

Here goes my pride. 

Mistral rapped grimly on the
door.  It was promptly opened by the sharp featured Malachi Nox.  He
did not speak but raised an eyebrow in an expression of cold surprise.

‘Master Nox, I was looking for
the twins –’

‘Not here,’ he said crisply and
shut the door in her face.

Mistral exhaled angrily and
glared at the wood an inch from her face while she toyed with the idea of
kicking it in a childish tantrum.  Managing to limit her temper to
muttering a few well-chosen words about Malachi Nox she turned and walked back
down the stairs, suddenly puzzled as to where else the twins could be. 
The Infirmary, maybe?  Phantom did have a cut that might have needing
stitching, but that was over a day ago.  Even taking into account his
delicate constitution Mistral doubted that it would have warranted an overnight
stay.  However, this was Phantom and she was getting desperate.  What
else could she do but try? 

Mistral was rewarded with a
lecture from Serenity on leaving the Infirmary before she had been discharged
after her episode with the cyclops.  Mistral pretended to listen and made
the correct noises of apology while she wondered where on earth the twins had
got to.

Disheartened, Mistral found
herself walking down to The Cloak and Dagger.  It was nearly lunchtime,
maybe the twins were in there.  She pushed opened the door and quickly
started to back out again.  All of her brothers were gathered playing
cards.  Grendel was occupying one whole side of a table and had a huge
double-handled tankard in front of him.  Mistral could see that he had
several deep cuts to his face and arms he not bothered to have treated. 
Brutus and Xerxes were unscathed, their long hair tied back to reveal looks of
intense concentration while they studied their cards.  Saul had his arm in
a sling and several cuts and grazes to his face and Cain … Cain was staring
straight at her with an expression bordering on contempt. 

‘Still alive then?’ 

Mistral took a faltering step
back into the tavern, ‘Er, about that –’

‘Weren’t you content with being
the centre of attention at your wedding Mistral?  Did you fancy starring
in a funeral as well?’

‘Cain.  Please can we talk
about this?’  Mistral pleaded quietly. 

Cain looked at her coldly. 
She could feel his disgust reflected in the faces of her brothers.  She
didn’t dare look at any of them, least of all Saul.  He must really hate
her now, or at the very least think her utterly weak.  He had managed to
cope with her rejecting him and had even attended her wedding, whilst at the
first sign of a life without her Mage she had been looking to end it all.

‘I’m not asking you to forgive
me, but can you please try to understand?’

‘Oh don’t look at me like
that!’  Cain snapped.  ‘I’m not your Mage!  He might forgive you
your temper tantrums and drama queen routines easily but I won’t!  You’re
not the person I thought you were Mistral.’

Mistral felt her anger flare in
response to his harsh words, ‘Come on Cain!  You told me he was going to
die!  What the hell do I have to live for without him?’

‘Us!’  Xerxes burst
furiously.  ‘Or now you’re married doesn’t the brotherhood of the Ri mean anything
to you, sister?’

‘Don’t you dare pull that one on
me Xerxes!  You could never understand how I feel!’

‘Oh?  And why is
that?’ 

‘Because you could never love
anyone but yourself!’ 

Xerxes shook his head angrily,
‘Do you think you have the sole rights to being in love?  That no-one else
has ever felt the way you do?  When Cain told us what you were going to do
I couldn’t believe it.  I know you’re hot-headed, but not stupid! 
But you know what Mistral?  I’ve seen another side to you now. 
You’re not only stupid but selfish too.’

‘And you are no brother of
mine!’  Mistral snarled and stormed from the tavern.

Leaving the door to slam behind
her she strode across the square, breathing heavily, not really noticing where
her feet were taking her as she seethed with anger at Xerxes’ words. 
Before she realised it she was in the stables reaching for Cirrus’ bridle and
saddle.

‘I don’t think so!’

Mistral spun round to meet the
baleful stare of the Equus.

‘I need to go out on my
horse!’  Mistral snapped.

‘That horse is going
nowhere.  He’s been ridden into the ground and needs rest.’  Clovis
growled then eyed her furious face.  ‘Hmph.  If you really need to
get out you can take one of the herd – only don’t ride it like you do your horse
and I want it back in one piece!’ he yelled after her but she was already
running over to the paddock. 

Throwing her saddle over the
first horse that didn’t shy away from her Mistral tightened the girth and
looked it over disinterestedly.  It was a bright chestnut gelding, slightly
built and not a horse she would normally have looked at twice but she needed to
get out of the Valley and he was her only option.  Easily persuading the
horse to dip his head and submit to having the bridle slipped over his head,
Mistral quickly adjusted the straps and threw herself into the saddle. 
Pulling the horse around she kicked it into a gallop up the path towards the
North Gate.