The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (51 page)

‘Nice move sister!’ 

Mistral laughed and ducked down
over Cirrus’ neck once again.  Brutus might be her brother, but she was
racing against him too.

The path rose steeply beneath the
horses’ pounding hooves, leading them out of the Vale to begin the first
circuit.  Once they reached the open grassland above the Vale the panicked
horses spread out.  With nostrils flaring and legs stretching they began
to race in earnest, driven by the instinctive desire to be at the head of the
stampede.

Mistral bent low and gave Cirrus
his head, letting her powerful horse find his own pace.  Oblivious to the
other riders around her she focussed only on the rhythmical thud of his hooves
and each snorting breath.  The grassland passed by in a green blur. 
Other riders appeared on her peripheral vision but she ignored them, they were
no longer close enough to be within striking distance and, like her, they were
now purely intent on racing. 

They flew past the path down into
the Vale and began their second lap.  Mistral looked up to see who was in
front of her and grinned.  Cain’s light grey mare was streaking ahead of
the rest.  They were at least three lengths clear of two elves mounted on
fast looking arabs.  Cirrus was next and then to her left and right were
sylvads.  She quickly assessed their horses.  They were blowing hard
and didn’t look like they would be able to hold the fast pace for much
longer.  Glancing briefly over her shoulder she noted at least another
twenty horses galloping behind them, eyes rolling wildly and foaming at the
mouth, their riders frantically urging them forward with hands and heels.

The racing horses swept around
the south end and began to gallop towards the start of path leading them back
down into the Vale again.  Mistral leaned her weight over to the right,
encouraging Cirrus to veer towards where the path would start, she could see
other riders beginning to sit up slightly, signalling for their horses to slow
down, each trying to gain enough control to make the sharp turn back onto the
path. 

There was a flurry of oaths when
several of the horses overshot the entrance back to the Vale, careering wildly
past with their riders shouting uselessly, unable to steer or stop their
bolting horses.

The elves in front of Mistral had
slung some makeshift rope reins over their horses and hauled hard on them,
dragging their horses' heads around to face the path.  Mistral swore as
one of the elves in front of her turned his horse too sharply and it stumbled,
falling heavily on its side directly in front of Cirrus’ pounding hooves. 
She wound her hands tightly into his mane and dug her heels in, asking him to
leap over the fallen beast.  Cirrus responded with an ungainly lunging
jump that nearly threw Mistral from his back.  She felt air whistle around
her and hung on to the loop in his mane, bouncing down onto his back when
Cirrus landed and barely corrected his stride before galloping on. 
Adjusting her grip on his mane, Mistral wiped her streaming eyes and focussed
on the horses in front of her.  The resulting burst of excitement made her
grin.  There was only one other elf and Cain ahead of her. 

‘Go boy!’ 

Cirrus tossed his head and
responded more to her lift in mood than her words, surging down the hill with
renewed energy.  Mistral clung to his mane, pushed back by his powerful
strides.  The path levelled out and began to narrow, forcing Cirrus up
alongside the elf mounted on a finely built arab.  Taking advantage of the
size difference between the two horses, Mistral leaned her weight over again,
urging Cirrus to barge the other horse.  The horse was exhausted and
staggered easily, sending the elf flying over its shoulder with a surprised
shout.

Mistral laughed and urged Cirrus
on, demanding more.  The horse responded, his powerful strides closing the
gap between Mistral and Cain.  Mistral could see that Venus was nearly
spent but Cain was pushing her relentlessly, his kicking heels asking for more
than the mare had to give.  She stumbled and dropped a stride. 
Mistral swept past with a triumphant grin, her hand raised in a mocking
greeting.  Laughing at his foul response Mistral raced on towards the
finishing line.  Brightly coloured tents flashed by in an exhilarating
blur, faces with open mouths roaring incomprehensible words.  A rush of
adrenalin hit Mistral and she grinned, fierce and proud.  She was going to
win. 

The sharp breath she drew in was
victory sweet, the taste of horse sweat salty on her tongue.  She exhaled
slowly and felt her whole body relax.  What did it matter?  Let Cain
ride past her … let them all ride past her … winning didn’t matter …

She slowed Cirrus to a canter,
smiling benignly at the faces gaping at her in amazement.  A double flash
of blonde caught her eye, jolting her senses.  A wave of anger crashed over
her, obliterating her crippling apathy.

The twins!

How dare they!

Mistral snarled and dug her heels
into Cirrus.  He plunged forwards again, his snorting breaths matching her
own furious breathing as they thundered towards the finishing line, tearing over
it a clear length ahead of Cain and the sylvads.

Sitting up and leaning back to
encourage Cirrus to slow down, Mistral turned to glare furiously at the
twins.  They gazed unapologetically back, inciting her to mouth obscene
threats.  They shrugged and she turned away before her temper got the
better of her, concentrating instead on cantering Cirrus in a circle, gradually
slowly him to a jerky trot then a walk, eventually letting him stagger to a
halt, blowing hard. 

‘Good boy,’ she murmured
soothingly and patted his sweating neck, all the while glaring at the twins,
silently willing them ill thoughts that she fervently hoped they could read in
her expression.

‘Well ridden sister.’ 

Mistral looked down to see the
imposing figure of Bryden Wolfsnare standing beside Cirrus.  She had not
seen him up close before and was surprised at how much older he was than his
voice suggested.

‘Er, thank you,’ she mumbled,
hoping he hadn’t noticed her glaring death threats at the twins. 

‘You are Ri?’ he enquired, the rich
timbre of his voice elongating the word into a vibrating sibilant sound.

‘Yes.’  Mistral replied
cautiously then realised that one of the dryads was stood beside him, recording
the winner’s details onto a piece of parchment.

‘Name?’  the dryad asked sharply.

‘Mistral … er… De Winter,’ she
finished, feeling self-conscious about using her full name for the first
time. 

She saw interest flare in Bryden
Wolfsnare’s eyes.  His gaze roved over her face and then travelled down to
her left hand, widening briefly when he saw the gold ring on her finger.

‘You are wed to the Mage De
Winter?’ 

Mistral nodded mutely, not
certain of what reaction this piece of news would illicit at an event where all
Mages were banned.

He continued to study her for a
moment then nodded.  Giving Cirrus a cursory pat he strode away to speak
with Cain and the two sylvads.

Brutus, Xerxes and Saul rode up
to her, all three had bruises and cuts on their faces.

‘Damn that was good!’ 
Xerxes exclaimed, slapping his exhausted horse exuberantly on the neck.

Mistral watched the tired horse
flinch under his master’s over enthusiastic praise and forced a smile. 
She was still seething with the twins but didn’t want to ruin her brothers’
enjoyment of the race.

‘Where did you finish?’ 

‘In the bunch of sylvads behind
you.  Damn, they were sly gits!  Kept lobbing stones at us!  My
face feels like I’ve done ten rounds!’

‘You do look pretty beat up.’
 Mistral agreed.  ‘It’s a good job the nymphs are working for coin
because I don’t think you’d have much success otherwise.’

Xerxes scowled and muttered
something uncomplimentary about nymphs that made Brutus laugh.

‘Well ridden Mistral.’  Saul
smiled, his brown eyes shining with excitement from the race.

‘Thanks.’

‘What was with the victory slow
down?’  Brutus asked breathlessly.  ‘Were you just feeling so over
confident that you thought you’d walk over the finish line?’ 

‘Damned twins meddling in my
head!’  Mistral scowled.  ‘I don’t know what they were playing at but
I’m going to kill them anyway!  I nearly let Cain ride past me!’

‘I know!’  Cain said,
walking over leading his exhausted horse.  ‘I couldn’t believe it!’

Mistral narrowed her eyes, ‘Did
you pay them to do that?’ 

‘No!  But it would have been
a good idea,’ he added thoughtfully.

‘Then why did they do it?’ 

‘I don’t think they want you in
the finals.’  Cain shrugged.  ‘That’s the event with the most
fatalities.’

‘Any in this one?’  Xerxes
suddenly asked, reaching quickly for the parchment in his top pocket. 
‘Only I gave one of the goblins ridiculous odds on that last night.’

‘Actually, the goblins were the
fatalities.  Two of them got trampled in the enclosure and another stabbed
one of his kinsmen during the struggle to get on their ponies.  He claims
it was a mistake but you never know with goblins.’

The sound of Phantasm’s cool
voice made Mistral turn sharply.  He was leaning casually against one of
the wooden stakes, his green gaze meeting hers with no trace of shame in them
whatsoever.

She glowered at him for moment
then drew in a huge breath in preparation to deliver her angry tirade.

‘You can stop right there
Mistral.’  Phantasm said calmly.  ‘I’m not going to apologise to
you.  I promised Mage Grapple, Master Sphinx and Mage De Winter that I
would stop you from voluntarily getting into any life-threatening
situations.  All I have done today is stay true to my word.’ 

Mistral slid from Cirrus’ back
and stalked over to him, pressing her scowling face into his, ‘Don’t meddle in
my head again … ever!’
 
She hissed then
abruptly snatched Prospero’s rope from his hands.  ‘I don’t want anything
to do with you or your wretched brother for the rest of the day!’

Phantasm sighed and watched the
newly liberated Prospero jumping up excitedly while she dragged a tired looking
Cirrus back towards the tent.

‘I’ll go.’  Saul urged his
horse after her before anyone could respond.

Cain watched Saul catch her up
and slip from his horse’s back to walk beside her.  He turned to Phantasm
with a frown, ‘I think I’ll go after them.’

‘Leave them Cain.’  Phantasm
muttered wearily.  ‘He needs telling.  Perhaps if she takes out her
bad mood on him he’ll finally get the message.’

Saul walked quietly beside
Mistral, glancing at her familiar furious expression he half-smiled, ‘You know
the twins were only trying to protect you, don’t you.’

Mistral didn’t look at him and
snorted angrily.

‘Don’t make this any harder for
them than it already is Mistral.  Being your guardian angels is a
thankless task.  Anyway, forget them.  You rode really well
today.  Can’t you just be pleased about winning?’

‘I suppose.’

‘And there’s the unarmed event
after lunch.’  Saul continued, smiling enticingly.

Mistral sighed and returned his
smile with a half-hearted effort, ‘You’re right.  Why spoil a good day
being angry with those two?  I’m sure I’ll feel better once I’ve beaten a
few of those annoying sylvads up, oh, are the nymphs fighting?’  she asked
hopefully.

‘I doubt it!’  Saul
laughed.  ‘Although I think it would make Xerxes’ day if they re-enacted
their fight with the dryads last night.’

They had reached the tent and
turned their horses out into the makeshift enclosure.  The horses wandered
away with less than their usual enthusiasm and begin to pick disinterestedly at
the grass.

Saul and Mistral leaned against the
fence and watched the horses grazing in companionable silence.  Mistral
felt the adrenalin of the race and her fury at the twins fading away, leaving
in its wake the familiar dull ache of her endless longing.  Saul heard her
deep sigh and turned to look at her.

‘If you were mine, I would never
leave you.’

Mistral felt the breath freeze in
her lungs. 
No, no, no.  Not now.  This is over ...
‘I’m
not having this conversation with you Saul.’

‘Hear me out Mistral.’  Saul
laid a hand over her arm to stop her from leaving. 

Mistral stared pointedly at his
hand on her arm then at him, ‘No brother.’

Saul’s eyes were soft, imploring,
‘Please, just listen to me Mistral.  I know you don’t love me the way I
love you, but I would look after you.  I wouldn’t leave you alone and
miserable like he has.  I would respect you, honour you –’ 

Mistral yanked her arm away but
continued to glare at him, stung into arguing by his unfair judgements, ‘How
dare you criticise Fabian?  And what the hell would you do that would be so
different!  You’re a warrior too Saul!  Wouldn’t you take any more
mercenary Contracts?’

Saul held her gaze firmly, ‘We
could do them together.’

Mistral stared at him, shaking
her head in disbelief, ‘I’m
married
Saul!’

‘You could leave him.  Your
marriage isn’t legal.’

Mistral felt her stomach twist at
the thought of leaving Fabian then plummet sickeningly…
not legal?

‘What did you just say?’

‘You’re not legally
married.  It’s never been consummated.’

Mistral gaped at him, too angry
to be embarrassed, ‘And how the
hell
would you know that?’

Saul shrugged, ‘You haven’t got
the Sight.’

Mistral inhaled sharply, ‘Not
that it’s any of your damned business, but have you ever stopped to consider if
that’s precisely why I haven’t got the Sight?’

He regarded her for a moment then
shook his head, ‘You’re lying.’