The Seer (61 page)

A thin,
balding Mage with a harassed expression entered the room in Mage Rosenberg’s
considerable wake.

And Mage
Castledine Junior … the younger and slightly less hairy brother …

Mistral bit
the inside of her cheek to stop the smile pulling at the corner of her
mouth.  The younger Castledine brother didn’t just look less hairy; he
looked like he should still be at school.  He blinked nervously and
scurried into the room to hastily take a seat next to Mage Green.

The elven
delegates entered the room next.

Chieftain
Wolfsnare … you know him …

Mistral gazed
dispassionately at the regal features of the elven chieftain.  She had
mixed feelings about him but would not let them interfere with the job she was
here to do today.

Chieftain
Greenoak …

Mistral watched
Castor, the elven chieftain from the mountain settlement in the north of the
Isle enter the room and assume a seat beside Bryden.

Oh!

Well, I
wasn’t expecting that!

Mistral closed
her eyes to prevent her irritation from showing and signalled in code for them
to be quiet; meaning the reverse.

Sorry …
that’s the chieftain from The Velvet Forest tribe… relationships have been a
bit strained with them since Konrad offed one of their kinsmen …

Chieftain
Larch…

Mistral
focussed on the tall, fair-haired elf.  His face was carefully composed
but Mistral could see that his aura was full of mistrust.  She blinked and
broke the vision but not before her eyebrow had twitched in silent agreement
with him.  His kinsman had been used by Malachi then killed by a Ri
apprentice.  She could see exactly why he was unsettled at being in the
headquarters of the Ri.

Ah, of
course, Chieftain Silverside.  The reserve the unicorns have been
allocated lies within his territory in the Dawn Forests … inviting him was a
most auspicious move by Mage Grapple …

Leo Sphinx
entered the room next, striding importantly down to the end of the table where
Fabian was already sitting to assume the seat one along from him.  Mage
Grapple finally entered the room and took his seat at the end of the oval table
between Fabian and Leo.  Whether intentionally or not, all of the elven
representatives were sat along one side of the table facing the Mage
Councillors, the end of the table nearest the fire was taken by Mage Grapple,
Fabian and Leo; leaving the end near to where Mistral and the twins were sat
completely empty.

Do you
think we smell?

Mistral hid a
smile at Phantom’s thought but she guessed that nobody wanted to sit too close
to a Seer and two mind controllers for fear of coming too easily under their
influence.  It was almost laughable that they would assume that distance
affected their gifts, although it was apparent that they thought so from the
fact that Mage Grapple had requested them not be present during the voting; a
mistake that the twins did not seem too eager to correct him on.

‘Thank you for
attending today.’  Mage Grapple began in a clear voice.  ‘Mage
Castledine, please outline your proposal – ’

Ah,
straight down to business as usual …

Have you
seen Mage Rosenberg Mistral?  He looks like a balloon in those red robes!

Mistral fought
the urge to roll her eyes.  It was going to be a long meeting if she was
going to be inundated with their inane drivel.  Quickly deciding to shut
the twins out of her mind and get on with the job she was being paid to do,
Mistral played eeny, meeny, miny, moe amongst the four Mages and was presented
with the challenge of reading the nervously twitching Mage Green first. 
She cleared her mind and focussed on the shiny bald patch of skin in the centre
of his head.  Concentrating hard she was quickly rewarded with the
colourful cloud of his aura, barely pausing to register the myriad of emotions
swirling there, she pushed her mind on to
See
–

The meeting
passed by in a blur for Mistral.  She occasionally registered the sound of
a raised voice and someone banging their fists on the table to emphasise a
point, but it was all background noise to the sighing whispers that filled her
mind.

Mistral …

....
MISTRAL!

She blinked
and turned to glare irritably at the side of Phantom’s head.

Its
lunchtime!
 

His lips
twitched with the faintest of smiles.  She turned to look at the table and
saw that the delegates had all risen from their chairs and were walking out of
the door, holding murmured conversations between themselves.  Mage Grapple
remained seated, speaking quietly with Fabian.  Mistral was so attuned to
reading minds that she could instantly hear them, dipping automatically between
their two minds to hear their conversation.

Green has a
point, if elven is taught, then should not all the Arcane languages be taught?

I agree De
Winter, however we must be realistic about how much time there is in a school
day.  If all of the Arcane languages were to be taught on the curriculum
there would be little time to learn anything else …

Make them
optional then … a subject to be studied in their own time …

Realising that
she was actually listening in on something that had the potential to bore her
to sleep, Mistral shook her head to dispel the sound of Fabian’s softly spoken
words and turned to look at the twins, ‘What’s for lunch?’  She asked
brightly.

‘You telling
us what you just heard!’  Phantom said, his green eyes glinting with
typical impatience.

‘No chance
until I’ve eaten something!  I’m starving!  Seriously, what
is
for lunch?’

‘Boar for you
I should think.  I haven’t seen you eat anything else for about two
weeks!  Maybe you should try Mistral; Cain did want you to vary your diet
after all.’

‘How do you
know about that?’  Mistral eyed him narrowly; suddenly suspicious that
Cain announced the details of her last examination to the whole Valley.

‘Mage De
Winter has been leaving instructions in preparation for his possible absence.’

‘I’ll bet he
has.’  Mistral said in a disgruntled voice.  ‘So not only are you
going to be forcing me to learn French, but you’re also going to be trying to
make me eat green stuff too are you?’

‘If you have
no objections, I have requested for lunch to be served to us here.’

Mistral spun
round, embarrassed to have been caught bickering with the twins by Mage
Grapple. 

‘Thank you
Mage Grapple.’  Phantasm instantly responded in a polite voice.

‘Please come
and take a seat at the table Lady De Winter, and tell me what you have Seen.’

Mistral rose
to her feet, slightly stiff for having been sat motionless for so long, and
walked over towards Fabian.  He had risen from his chair and was holding
it out for her to take.  She couldn’t resist a smile at his unfailing good
manners and promptly forgave him for speaking with the twins behind her back.

Mage Grapple
took a seat opposite her and folded his hands onto the table top, waiting
patiently for her to begin.

‘Who would you
like me to start with?’  She asked, a little uncertain of what he was
expecting.

‘Who did you
read first?’  He responded evenly.

‘Mage Green.’

‘Then Mage
Green it is.’

Mistral drew
in a long breath and took a moment to gather her thoughts before she
began.  Of the four Mages, Mage Green had been the most troublesome to
read; his mind leapt from subject to subject with confusing speed and Mistral
had found following his erratic thought process both exhausting and
unrewarding.

‘Mage Green is
a worrier,’ she said with a slight smile.  ‘I couldn’t bear to be inside
his mind for too long!  He worries about everything and anything, from the
weightiest issues being dealt with by his department to whether his housekeeper
has prepared his evening meal in accordance with his instructions.  As you
can imagine, he’s in a complete dither about the subject of teaching elven in
the schools.  He has no idea of which way to vote.’

In truth, Mage
Green had made up his mind to vote in favour and changed it straight away a
total of fifteen times, at which point Mistral had grown heartily sick of the
indecisive Mage and moved on to reading –

‘Mage Castledine,
er, junior.  He was quite surprising actually.  Although he looks
like he might still be directly affected by the results of today’s vote –’
Mistral immediately wished she hadn’t said that.  Making unthinking quips
about one of Mage Grapple’s Councillors probably wouldn’t go down to
well.  But he merely continued to regard her with the same impersonal
expression he always wore and waited for her to continue.  ‘Er, well, he
actually has very firm views on a lot of subjects, not just this one. 
He’s strongly in favour of the Mage “right to rule” faction in the City and
believes that Arcanes should be grateful to be given living space on their Isle
… anyway, to cut a long story short, he will definitely be voting against elven
being taught in the Council School.’  Mistral stopped talking as the door
opened and Bernadette wheeled in a trolley of food.  Despite the resulting
rumble of hunger her stomach gave, Mistral eyed the domed plate covers with
trepidation.  Bernadette’s inability to cook anything edible was renowned.

‘Floris asked
me to bring this in.’ Bernadette announced shortly, and without another word
promptly left the room.

Oh thank
heavens she didn’t cook it!

Mistral echoed
Phantom’s silent relief and gratefully accepted the plate of food that Fabian
placed in front of her.  Lifting the cover she closed her eyes and inhaled
the delicious smell of roast boar.

Mage Grapple
ate nothing but waited patiently while Mistral demolished her plateful. 
She looked up to realise that he was watching her with something close to
amusement in his cold grey stare.

‘Oh! 
Sorry!  Are you waiting for me to carry on?’  She said, looking
flustered.  ‘Where was I?’

‘Green is
undecided and Marcus Castledine is against.’

‘Right,
yes.  So I read the older Castledine next.  He’s totally the opposite
to his younger brother, much more balanced in his views.  He can see the
benefits to having elven taught in the schools and feels it will create a
culture of greater understanding between the Mage and Arcane races.  He
will be voting for the proposal.

‘And finally I
read Mage Rosenberg.’  Mistral paused and took a sip of water.  The
round-bellied Mage had spent most of the meeting obsessing about his menu
choice for lunch and had barely given any consideration to the subject being
debated, only deciding right at the end to vote in favour simply to irritate
Mage Castledine junior, who it was apparent he disliked intensely for some
jokes he overheard him making about his appearance at the last official Council
function.  ‘Erm, I think he’s going to vote in favour,’ she finished
lamely.

Mage Grapple
raised one scarred eyebrow fractionally, ‘His reason being?’

Mistral looked
unhappily at Mage Grapple, suddenly feeling like a gossip, ‘He hates Mage Castledine,
the younger one that is, and knows this proposed policy will be something he’ll
be very strongly disposed against.’

If Mage
Grapple was disappointed that his elected Council members made their decisions
based on getting even with each other over personal slights, he gave no sign
but continued to contemplate her with a typically dispassionate expression,
‘And the elven representatives?’ 

Mistral tried
not to look caught out.  She hadn’t been asked to read any of the
chieftains but had actually read them all.  Not trusting her pathetic
ability to lie, and especially not to someone as astute as Mage Grapple, she
decided to admit the truth.  ‘Well, yes, I read them too ... just to gain
the other perspective –’

Of course
you did …

Mistral forced
herself not to react to Phantom’s jibe and tried to look sincere.

‘I would have
been dismayed if you had not.’  Mage Grapple replied. 

‘They’re all
completely in favour, bar one.  Chieftain Larch is a bit sceptical
–’  That was putting it mildly, but Mistral didn’t feel she could repeat
the disdainful insults the elven chieftain had been thinking, especially not
some of the swear words ... although she made a mental note to try and remember
some of them for future use herself.

‘That is
perfectly understandable.’  Mage Grapple templed his fingers together
thoughtfully.  ‘So, in summary, I have two Councillors who are disposed to
vote favourably, one who is not and one who cannot decide what robes to wear in
the morning.’

Mistral choked
back a laugh and heard the twins’ surprise in her thoughts.

Was that
really Mage Grapple making a joke?

‘This is well,
the motion will be carried,’ he said with a satisfied nod and rose to his feet,
indicating that their meeting was over. 

Mistral stood
up and felt Fabian take her hand, but before he could lead her from the room,
Mage Grapple had strode around the table to stand before them.

‘I would
appreciate a word with you and your wife please De Winter –’

The twins shot
her intrigued looks but slid obediently from the room.  Mistral wasn’t
fooled by their meek exit, she knew they would be hovering impatiently by the
door ready to grab her the moment she stepped foot out of the room.

‘I would like
to offer your child a place in the Council School.’  Mage Grapple began
without preamble. 

Mistral
instantly felt Fabian tense.  His reply was curt, bordering upon
rude.  ‘That will not be required.’

Mage Grapple’s
scarred face remained impassive.  He had obviously expected this response
from Fabian and switched his gaze instead to Mistral.  ‘And what school do
you wish your child to attend Lady De Winter?’