The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (78 page)

‘How apprentice?  You are
not even working yet!’  Boaz called sharply, his tone suspicious.

Mistral turned and smiled sweetly
at him, ‘Oh, didn’t I say?  I won The Festival of the Arcane this year.’
 

‘The Festival of the Arcane?’
 Boaz echoed faintly, his eyes sliding over her knife belt.

After that Boaz became incredibly
helpful, showing her the house next and letting her and Prospero walk through
the rooms unaccompanied while he skulked nervously on the doorstep.  The
house was ideal.  The downstairs opened out into one large room, both
kitchen and living area.  A wide veranda ran along the length, overlooking
the Western Range.  Mistral sighed and leaned against the wooden
balustrade.  The sunsets would be magnificent.  Upstairs were two
large sized bedrooms, a smaller room and a well-appointed bathroom. 
Mistral strolled into one of the bedrooms and opened the wardrobe doors;
finding enough space to warrant being classed as another room she smiled and
closed the doors.  It was perfect.

‘I’ll take it,’ she said
cheerfully when she stepped back out into the street.

‘Excellent!’

‘For half the price you’re
asking.’  Mistral finished.

Boaz made a choking noise and
Mistral looked at him with an expression of concern, ‘Would you care for me to
assist you with that?’  she enquired, reaching out towards his scrawny
throat.

‘N-no!’  Boaz gasped and
backed away from her quickly.  ‘Your offer is perfectly acceptable!’

‘Good.’  Mistral glanced
quickly at the village clock.  ‘Now if you don’t mind I’d like to get this
signed and sealed right away.  There’s something I really need to be
killing very soon.’

Boaz gave her a wide-eyed look
and trotted quickly up the street.  Mistral followed along behind,
laughing while she reflected that this was the most fun she’d had in
ages.  Maybe she had a flare for property acquisitions.

By the time Mistral had signed
the last piece of parchment any ideas she had of going into the estate agency
business had long since shrivelled up and died of boredom.

‘Is that the last one?’ she snapped
impatiently, scrawling her signature on yet another piece of parchment Boaz
placed in front of her.

‘I just need the names of the new
owners for the deeds.’  Boaz peered expectantly over the top of his
spectacles.

‘Names.  Right.’
 Mistral thought for a moment and suddenly smiled to herself. 
‘Wesley and Sheldon Argyle.’

‘Are they Mage?’  Boaz asked
sharply.

‘Half.  But the more scary
half of them is sylvad.’  Mistral added, thinking of Melsina.

Boaz blinked at her and bent his
head over the parchment again, scratching the twins’ names out with a tatty old
quill. 

‘And finally, the shop
owner.  Still the same one I have down as the current buyer?’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you sure?’  Boaz asked,
shooting her a greedy look.  ‘Only I could sell it to you and then you
could rent it to him.  It would make a good income for you.’

‘Quite sure.’  Mistral
snapped coldly.

Boaz shrugged and dropped his
gaze, muttering under his breath, ‘Warriors!  No money … no brains!’

Mistral gritted her teeth and
stood up, ‘Are we done now?’

‘Yes.’ Boaz stood up to shake her
hand, a sour expression on his pinched face.  ‘It’s almost been a pleasure
doing business with you.’

‘Likewise.’  Mistral
returned his limp handshake with a crushing grip.

Mistral stood on the doorstep of
Boaz Fagg’s shop and drew in a deep breath, gazing thoughtfully at the two
large iron keys in her hand.

How was she going to give her
brothers their gifts?  She cringed at the thought of an emotional scene
with the twins and she didn’t particularly want to explain her actions to Cain
either.  She sighed and let her gaze drift over the street while she
decided what to do.  A wooden sign creaked in the breeze, drawing her
attention.  Scrimshaw and Scuttle, Appointed Agents to the Ri.  She
laughed and threw the larger of the two keys up in the air, catching it in her
fist she ran lightly over to the agency and pushed open the door.

Leaving Prospero waiting outside,
Mistral stepped into the agency’s dim interior and glanced around
curiously.  There were three agencies in the Valley but as an apprentice
she’d had no cause to visit any of them.  She supposed that once her
second year was finished she’d be spending a lot more time in one of them,
Sight or no Sight.

The interior of Scrimshaw and
Scuttle was neat and utilitarian.  Someone who Mistral assumed must be
either Scrimshaw or Scuttle was writing in chalk on a huge black slate board on
the wall.  Mistral moved closer to see that it was a list of warriors and
the Contracts they had been allocated.  Cain’s was there with “Knucker,
South Farm” written next to it.  Good.  Her brother was out on a
Contract.  She could leave the key for him here and avoid any
uncomfortable scenes.

‘May I help you?’  the tall
figure turned to address her politely.    

‘Maybe.  Are you Master
Scrimshaw?’ 

He raised his eyebrows at her
brisk tone, ‘I am.  However I’m afraid I have no work for you
apprentice.  May I suggest that you return once you have fully Qualified.’

‘I’m not here for work.’ 
Mistral said quickly.  ‘I just wanted to leave something for one of the
warriors to collect.  Would that be alright?’

‘Of course.’  Scrimshaw
responded politely and reached for a parchment and quill.  ‘We offer a
full messenger service for all of our clients.  It is how your wedding
invites were sent out.’

Mistral frowned, ‘You know who I
am?’

‘Of course I do Lady De
Winter.  We are looking forward to handling your portfolio.’

I bet you are, especially if I
get the Sight and get offered lots of well-paid Council Contracts.
Mistral
offered Scrimshaw a tight smile and dropped the heavy key onto the desk,
‘Right, well I just wanted to leave this for Cain.’

‘Of course –’ the door opened and
someone entered the agency, Scrimshaw broke off to glance over her shoulder at
the entrant.  ‘However, you may simply wish to give it to him yourself.’

‘I can’t can I?’  Mistral
snapped.  ‘He’s out on a Contract!’

‘No, actually, Cain is stood
behind you.’

‘Damn!’  Mistral spun around
to see Cain, looking exhausted and giving off a distinctive odour of knucker
slime.

‘Good to see you too Mistral.’
 Cain replied wearily and dropped a sack onto Scrimshaw’s desk.  ‘One
head.’

‘Why thank you Cain.’
 Scrimshaw’s manners remained impeccable, not batting an eyelid at the
slime oozing onto his desk from the sack’s open neck.  

Cain held his hand out, ‘Money is
better than thanks.’  he closed his fist around the purse of coins
Scrimshaw dropped onto his palm and stowed it quickly inside his jerkin. 
‘Any more work?’

‘Nothing suitable, however Lady
De Winter was just trying to leave this key for you.’  Scrimshaw said
helpfully while Mistral tried to edge towards the door.

‘A key?’  Cain picked up the
key and began to read the tag attached to the handle. 

‘He’s good.’  Mistral
muttered to Scrimshaw.  ‘Very perceptive.  You should double his fees
–’ she crept a little closer to the door, her hand reaching for the handle –

‘Mistral?’  Cain looked up
sharply.  ‘Why have you given me a key to the shop I’ve got a deposit
on?’ 

‘Er, because it’s yours –’ her
hand gripped the door handle.

‘What?’

Mistral smiled brightly,
‘Enjoy!’  she yanked the door open and fled into the street.

‘Mistral!’

Cain’s hand was on her arm,
holding her back.  He spun her round to face him and held the key up
between them.

‘What is this?’

‘A key?’

‘You know what I mean
Mistral!  Have you bought this shop with the money from The Festival of
the Arcane?’

‘Um, well, sort of.’

‘Well have you or haven’t you?’

Mistral dropped her gaze, ‘Yes.’

‘But why would you do that? 
It’s your money!’

‘I –’ she stopped herself, the
words “
I don’t want it
” sitting on the tip of her tongue.  In truth
she didn’t want it, but that sounded childish and also belittled what she was
trying to do.  She sighed and tried again.  ‘Look Cain, I really
didn’t want to have this conversation with you.  Can’t you just accept the
damned thing and buy me a drink or something?’

‘No.’  Cain shook his head,
his blue eyes bright.  ‘I want to know this isn’t some stupid guilt thing
about Saul.’

Mistral cast her eyes heavenward,
‘I knew you’d think that, which is why I tried to leave the key with
Scrimshaw.  It’s not out of guilt over Saul, although of course I feel
guilty –’ she paused and looked up the street, staring at the dusty fronted
shop that was now Cain’s.  ‘I suppose I wanted to use that money to buy
something with significance.  Oh, I can’t explain it!’ she abruptly
exclaimed.  ‘Do I have to?’ she added, glancing at him hopefully.

‘Frankly?  Yes, because I
have no idea why you’d want to spend that amount of money on me, unless you’ve
bought us all a shop each?’

‘No, but I’ve bought the twins a
house.’

Cain gave a short laugh, ‘Very
fitting, considering how house-proud they already are.  But please stop
evading the question and explain yourself Mistral, because I’m not accepting
this until I know why.’

‘Oh for crying out loud! 
It’s just a shop brother!  Enough of the deep and meaningfuls!’ 

Cain dangled the key in front of
her eyes, ‘Your shop, unless you can tell me why I should accept it.’

‘Fine.’  Mistral hunched her
shoulders angrily.  ‘I wanted to spend the money on something that Saul
would approve of and this fits, exactly.  I lost one brother that day and
every time you all go out on Contracts I know I might lose another.  Oh,
don’t worry Cain!’ she snapped, catching his startled expression.  ‘I’m
not about to start mothering you all like Serenity does!  But Saul knew
you wanted that shop and the way I see it, if you’re stuck behind a counter
mixing over-priced beauty aids for desperate middle-aged women instead of
risking your neck then at least I know I’ve actually done something right by
him!’

Cain stared at her, the key still
swinging from his fingers.  Slowly his crooked smile re-emerged, ‘You just
wait till you’re desperate and middle-aged Mistral.  You’ll be begging for
my help then, over-priced or not.’

Mistral snorted, ‘I doubt
it.  But does this mean you’ll accept it?’

‘What?  A cheating half-hob
like me not take a free shop and,’ he arched an eyebrow speculatively, ‘the
flat above?’

‘Full renovated, decorated and
furnished.’  Mistral confirmed smugly.

Cain burst out laughing, ‘And
just how did you get Boaz to agree to that?  He’s tighter than a rat’s
backside!’ 

‘Told him I won the festival.’
 Mistral shrugged.  ‘Oh, and I wore my knife belt.’

‘Subtle.’  Cain grinned. 
‘But, and never, ever tell anyone I actually asked this question or you’ll
shatter my hard-earned reputation –’ he paused and pulled her closer,
whispering furtively.  ‘Are you sure about this?  It is your money
after all.  You won it Mistral, fair and square.  Don’t you need it?’

Mistral almost laughed. 
Can
it buy me Sight?  Can it buy back Saul’s life?  No.  Then why
the hell would I want it? 
‘I think you’re forgetting who I married
Cain.  I’m Lady De Winter now.  Fabian would probably buy me all the
shops in the Valley if I wanted them.’

Cain released her arm with a
rueful shake of his head, ‘I forget about your title sometimes.  I suppose
your Mage does have a coin or two tucked away.’

‘I only married him for his
money.’  Mistral retorted flippantly.

‘Huh, knew there had to be some
reason.’  

‘You know nothing Cain. 
Here, you’ll need these.’  Mistral reached into the top pocket of her
jerkin to pull out two folded pieces of parchment.  ‘Deeds … oh, and this
–’ she thrust the second key into his hand.

‘What’s that?’  Cain frowned
at the tag on the handle.  ‘A spare?’

‘Hmm.’  Mistral ducked her
head.  ‘Right, I’ve got to go –’

‘Er, I don’t think so!’
 Cain quickly shoved the second key and one of parchments back at
her.  ‘I’m not doing your dirty work for you Mistral!’

‘Oh please Cain!’  Mistral
begged.  ‘I have just given you a shop!  Can’t you give the twins
their key for me?’

‘What?  And rob Phantasm of
the chance to hug you again?’  Cain backed away from her, grinning
impishly.  ‘He’d been waiting nearly two years to do that!’

Mistral pulled a face, ‘Come on
Cain!  You know I hate that sort of stuff!’

‘Just try and think of it as a
particularly challenging Contract.’

Mistral sighed and watched her
brother run lightly up the street, no doubt heading straight for The Cloak and
Dagger to celebrate.  The relief she’d felt at him finally accepting her
gift was blighted by the grim realisation that she was going to have to go
through it all again with the twins.

The village clock struck the hour
and Mistral cursed.  She was about to be late for Fabian.

Mistral ran all the way back to
her room with Prospero bounding at her heels and arrived breathless to find him
waiting for her, leaning against the wall outside her room, his pale face
breaking into an amused smile at her abrupt arrival.

‘Sorry!’ she gasped.  ‘Been
shopping.’

He pushed himself off the wall,
walking towards her with easy loping strides, ‘And what did you buy?’ he
enquired, gently lifting her chin with one finger and regarding her with curious
amusement.

‘Oh, not much.  Just a shop
and a house.’

He raised an eyebrow, ‘We have
another house now?  Isn’t that a touch extravagant?’