The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (21 page)

‘You’ll be old news by next
week.  Dead or alive.’  Phantom responded airily.  ‘More
importantly, can you believe we’ve been offered work by Mage Grapple himself?’

‘I’m thrilled for your
careers!’  Mistral snapped as they rounded the corner of the building and
entered the stableyard, slowing to a walk.  ‘But how am I going to work if
I’m dead?’

She had reached Cirrus’ stable
and paused to stroke his nose briefly before opening the door to be promptly
knocked flat by Prospero leaping up at her.   

Phantasm reached out to haul her
upright, ‘I think that is going to be the least of your concerns.’

‘What d’you mean?’  Mistral
demanded with a frown, pushing an excited Prospero off when he leapt at her
again.  ‘How can being dead be the least of my worries?’

Phantasm shrugged and walked
across to unbolt Jupiter’s stable door, ‘It’s just a feeling I’ve got.’

‘Feeling?  What the hell
does that mean?’

‘I don’t think Mage De Winter
took too kindly to the insults Guillane was throwing at you.’  Phantom
suggested helpfully. 

Mistral stared at him, ‘Can you
two speak French?’

‘We were taught at a Council
School Mistral.  It’s a mandatory part of the curriculum.’ 

‘Quit the superior act and just
tell me what Guillane said!’  Mistral snarled. 

‘Why?’  Phantom asked
bluntly.

Mistral ground her teeth,
‘Because I want to know what could be so bad that Fabian felt the need to kill
him!’

Phantasm popped his head back
over Jupiter’s stable door, his expression thoughtful, ‘It was pretty bad.’

Mistral clenched her fists and
fought for patience, ‘Just tell me what he said.’

Phantom frowned, ‘I
couldn’t.  Sorry, but I’m too polite.  However I did notice that your
Mage really takes exception to you being called a whore.’

Mistral gave a disbelieving laugh
and shoved past Cirrus to begin tacking him up, ‘Is that what Guillane called
me?  I’m glad Fabian wasn’t around when the Training Lieutenants were in
full flow last year.  They called me a lot worse than that!’ 

They didn’t speak again until
they had all finished tacking their horses and were leading them out into the
yard.

‘I’ll get Spirit.’  Mistral
threw her reins to Phantom.  ‘You can hold Cirrus while your brother comes
with me and gives me the full rundown on Guillane’s compliments.’

‘Sorry Mistral, but no. 
Mage De Winter didn’t want you to know what Guillane said.’

‘No, he said he wouldn’t repeat
it.  That’s quite different!’  Mistral snapped.  ‘Now out with
it!’

Phantasm sighed and held the
stable door open for her while she pushed past Spirit and quickly began to
saddle the nervous mare. 

‘Well, apart from calling you an
assassin’s whore he said that he hoped Mage De Winter liked sleeping with dead
women because he was going to kill you, and then went on to describe in detail
how he was going to do it … oh, and then he said that your soul would rot in
hell because you were a whore … I think he liked calling you that … and then he
started to cast on you –’

‘He was casting on me?’ 
Mistral looked round in surprise.  ‘I thought it was at Fabian because
they were shouting at each other!’

‘I can see why you thought
that.  I don’t know quite what Mage De Winter was saying to him, our
French teacher didn’t provide that much instruction on swearing, but it
certainly evoked a powerful response.’  Phantasm paused and looked
thoughtful.  ‘Probably need to brush up on French swearwords if we’re
going to working at the Council more –’

‘I’m not sure you’ll ever need
French again after today,’ Mistral tightened Spirit’s girth with a savage tug,
‘since we successfully wiped out the top layer of the Rochforte family.’

‘Yes, I fear that won’t have done
relations many favours.  I would love to hear how Mage Grapple is going to
explain this to the rest of the Rochforte tribe.’

‘By saying he’s had me executed.’
 Mistral replied grimly and led Spirit from the stable. 

The sound of running feet made
them all turn, reaching automatically for the daggers concealed in their
boots. 

‘Fabian!’  Mistral couldn’t
help but call out in relief when she saw her Mage running swiftly towards her
with his arms full of weapons.

‘Here –’ 

Mistral gratefully strapped her
swords and knife belt on, feeling instant reassurance in the weight of steel
across her back and around her waist.  The twins accepted their swords
with similar relief and soon they were all fully armed again.

‘We must go.’  

Fabian was already in the
saddle.  Pulling Spirit around he urged her into a canter. Mistral and the
twins quickly followed, clattering across the paved courtyard towards the
warlocks guarding the wrought iron gates leading to the avenue.  They
passed through unchallenged and galloped wildly down the wide avenue of lavish
Council homes but were forced to halt at the second set of gates.  They
waited in tense silence while the warlocks slowly opened them.  Fabian
suddenly turned to Mistral and reached out to briefly touch her cheek, his dark
eyes full of an unfamiliar emotion.  He did not speak but immediately
spurred Spirit through the half-opened gates.  Mistral and the twins
followed on, ignoring the angry shouts of the people in the busy market street
forced to leap out of the way or be trampled.

Another set of gates and the dry
taste of ozone filled Mistral’s mouth then they were free, galloping flat-out
across the damp moorland in their haste to put some distance between them and
the sprawling city.

They slowed their blowing horses
to a canter once they had crested the same rise that had given Mistral her
first view of the Council city only that morning.  She glanced over her
shoulder at the gleaming white building, reflecting that the morning felt like
a lifetime ago.

The twins were full of
talk.  Their enforced silence during the Contract had been harder on them
than Mistral or Fabian, who were both comfortable with long periods of silence.

‘I don’t suppose we’ll be getting
any work off Count Darke anytime soon do you?’

‘Doubt it!’  Phantom
laughed.

‘That reminds me.’  Mistral
gave the twins a quizzical look.  ‘Putreo looked set to demand my instant
execution then he suddenly sat down with this vacant look on his face. 
Was that down to you two by any chance?’

Phantasm went for smug while
Phantom grinned.

‘Of course it was!’

‘We agreed what to do if he
started, but even I have to admit it worked better than we expected.’

‘What thoughts did you put in his
mind?’  Mistral asked curiously.

‘We made him suddenly want to
think about his wedding night.’

Mistral pulled a face, ‘What a
disturbing thought!’

‘Oh I don’t know, it seemed to
keep him occupied for quite a while.’

‘I have no idea what Golden did
to him but whatever it was must have been memorable!’

‘Yuk!  Enough!’

‘Bit of a shock seeing Columbine
again though wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, and there’s something I
just can’t work out.  How did Columbine persuade Antoine to follow her to
a secluded chamber in order to kill him?  She can’t speak French.  I
know Antoine had some English, but not a lot –’

‘I doubt Columbine lured Antoine
into that chamber.  She can barely string two words together without a
grunt in the middle and can hardly be described as alluring.  I would
hazard a wild guess that the new Countess Darke was the bait.’

‘Golden!’  Mistral’s hands
clenched on her reins.  ‘Of course it was her!  She’s always been a
shameless –’

‘Quite.  Putreo could easily
have coached her on a few simple phrases but it wouldn’t really be necessary
considering his reputation.  I’m sure Golden would have been speaking in
body language.  And when Antoine made the fatal translation and followed
her to that private chamber it was to meet Columbine armed with a throwing
knife stolen from your belt.’ 

‘Bitch!’

Phantasm frowned, ‘I am not sure
which you are referring to, but the description applies to both.’

‘And it looks like they both
still want you dead.’  Phantom added. 

Mistral looked up sharply,
‘Talking of being dead – Fabian?’

Fabian seemed to drag himself out
of a deep reverie and turned to look enquiringly at her.

Mistral smiled brightly, ‘Now
that I’m officially dead, can I drop the second year and come and live with
you?’ 

Fabian frowned distractedly, ‘No,
I don’t think so.  Not yet anyway,’ he murmured and gazed off into space
again, apparently preoccupied by his own thoughts. 

Mistral was fed-up with reading
auras so she simply shared a look with the twins and shrugged.  Fabian
would tell her what was on his mind when he was ready.

They camped for the night at the
far edge of the moors.  After a meal of roasted grouse they all turned in
early, exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before and the intense events
of the day.

Curled between Fabian and Prospero,
Mistral sighed in contentment when Fabian slid his arms around her.

‘Fabian?’

‘Hmm?’

‘Will you still get paid for the
Contract even though half the delegates got killed?’

Fabian laughed softly into her hair,
‘Yes, my Contract was to deliver them safely to the Council, which we
did.  The fact that I killed one of them after that is, thankfully,
immaterial.’

‘Good, because I would hate you
to be out of pocket because of me.’

Fabian didn’t reply and kissed
her gently.  The fire crackled as a log shifted and Prospero growled
softly at the noise.  Mistral felt the gentle pull of sleep and began to
drift.

‘Mistral?  Are you still
awake?’

‘Just.’

‘I was wondering … when we get
back, do you want to go straight back to the Valley or would you care to spend
a quiet evening with me?’

Suddenly wide awake, Mistral
snapped her head up to gaze at him.  The firelight flickered across his
face and she was surprised to see that his expression was serious, almost
anxious.

‘What do you think?  Of
course I want to go home with you!  The Valley can wait!  Anyway, I’m
dead aren’t I?’

A shadow crossed Fabian’s face,
‘Please stop making a joke about that, it really isn’t very funny.’

‘Sorry, I’m a bit concerned about
how I’m going to be offered work if I’m not meant to be actually alive too.’

‘Mistral, I’m not worried about
you not being able to work!  I had to watch you nearly get killed today
and yet you lie here joking about it!’

‘I’m not dead though am I? 
Thanks to you,’ she smiled and kissed him.  ‘Which reminds me, I thought
you kept a knife in your right boot.  How did you get it out without
letting go of my hand?’

‘I keep a knife in both boots
actually,’

Mistral was quiet for a moment,
‘That’s a really good idea.  I need another knife.’

Fabian smiled and then suddenly
looked concerned, ‘I didn’t frighten you today did I?’ 

Mistral buried her head against
his chest, ‘Only when you walked away from me at the Council.  I’ve never
felt more ignorant and insignificant in my whole life as I did today,
surrounded by all those officials talking away in a language I’ve never even
heard spoken before and me barely even able to speak our own language!’

Fabian stroked her hair gently,
‘They are the ignorant and insignificant ones Mistral, not you.  You read
their auras didn’t you?’

‘Yes, not a pretty sight.’

‘And how did you feel when you
saw all that naked greed and ambition?’

‘I wanted to be with you, in The
Cloak, surrounded by good, honest thieves and assassins who speak the same damned
language as me.’

Fabian laughed and kissed her. 

‘And
so you shall.  Sleep now Mistral.  Tomorrow is another day.’

The next day dawned bright and
clear with blue skies overhead and sunshine to warm them.  They left the
bleak moors behind and rode past the Port of Holdridge to pick up the cliffside
path taking them towards The Velvet Forests and home.

Phantasm and Phantom were making
up for their enforced silence by talking continually.  Mistral
half-listened to their ceaseless flow of banal chatter, marvelling at how they
barely seemed to pause for breath.  It was a relief when they halted to
eat and the twins were briefly unable to speak with their mouths full of food.

Mistral sighed wearily and closed
her eyes when Phantom swallowed his last mouthful of cold grouse and
immediately began talking to his brother again.

‘Did you see Mage
Rosenberg?’ 

‘Couldn’t miss him!  He’s
put on rather a lot of weight – and those robes!  Whoever is advising him
on what to wear should be taken outside and run through!’

Mistral blew her cheeks out in
exasperation.  The twins had dissected with minute precision every last
detail of their visit to the Council and it was starting to drive her
insane.  ‘Are you both finished?’  she asked and pointedly stood
up.  ‘Only we need to make the edge of the forests before
nightfall.’ 

Without breaking the flow of
their conversation the twins sprang lightly to their feet and strolled over to
collect their horses.

‘Talking of robes, do you think
we should purchase some new ones for when we’re at the Council?’

‘Good idea!  I can see me in
blue –’

Mistral rolled her eyes.  It
was a continual source of surprise to her that the twins didn’t actually talk
in their sleep.  Still, on the plus side they seemed content to talk to
each other and expected little or no input from her and Fabian.  She
glanced at Fabian out of the corner of her eye.  He was rarely verbose but
had been even more reticent than usual during their journey back from the Council,
seemingly preoccupied by some complex matter.  Anxiety made Mistral
pry.  Feeling slightly voyeuristic, she called up the vision of his
aura.  It sprang obediently into view in a uniform haze of all too
familiar royal blue.  Tilting her head slightly, Mistral studied his aura
more closely.  Her initial reading wasn’t quite right.  Other faint
colours flickered in and out of the blue.  A spurt of amethyst revealed
that he was worrying about something, and … surely not!  White? 
Fear?  What was there for Fabian to fear?