The Assassin's Tale (Isle of Dreams) (11 page)

‘Good,’ she
whispered back with a relieved sigh.  ‘Because I’m so going to take this
opportunity to paste Columbine … somehow –’

‘The Emerald
Forests are two to three days ride from the Valley.  We’ll follow this
route here –’ Cyrus turned and pointed to a large map of the Isle pinned to the
wall.  Mistral glanced over at it and was immediately captivated. 
She had never actually seen a map of the Isle that she lived on before, to see
the mountains and forests she had only heard spoken of actually laid out before
her was fascinating.  The Isle was roughly oval shaped with a vast
mountain range filling the far northern end.  At the eastern edge of the
mountains lay a large forest, Mistral narrowed her eyes to read the name and
made out the words “Dawn Forest” written in flowing script underneath it. 
At the base of the northern mountains Mistral could see a large black dot and
the words “Mage Council” written beside it.  A long blue line dissected
the Isle from west to east, the words “Amber River” followed the looping curves
that reached the eastern side of the Isle and joined the sea.  The Velvet
Forests lay further to the west of the Isle and Mistral thought she could
roughly guess whereabouts the village of Nevelte lay.  A jutting mass of
land formed the west side of the Isle; the familiar contours of the Western
Range filled most of it.  The Valley of the Ri was clearly marked and the
heavy low-lying marsh lands to the south were indicated by a picture of a
worm-like knucker.  Finally Mistral’s gaze drifted down to the southern
end of the Isle, following a ridge of mountains to where Cyrus was pointing at
a large greenish mark on the map beneath the words “The Emerald Forests”.

‘We will ride
down through the southern marshes.  They should be passable at this time
of year.  If not, we’ll have to trek through the mountains of the Southern
Range to cut around the marshlands.  We camp the first night here –’ he
stabbed a large finger in the middle of a completely blank section of the map
drawing a snort of derision from Xerxes.

‘So, we might
go through the knucker infested swamp … or we might go through the mountains,
which would be great since the Southern Range is a notorious breeding ground
for gargoyles … and we’re camping in the middle of nowhere! 
Fantastic!’ 

‘When we
arrive at The Emerald Forests we will track and hunt the goblins … as a
group!’  Cyrus continued loudly, oblivious to Xerxes’ acidic comments.
 ‘There will be no heroic lone-warrior antics!  I will be in charge
of the party.’

‘I wonder if
he’s told Caleb that!’  Phantom whispered to Mistral who suppressed a
grin. 

‘Pack your
full kit; swords, armour, crossbows and throwing knives.  The Contract is
to eradicate not capture.  We must bring back evidence of our successful
completion of the Contract … heads are traditional.’

The twins
groaned and pulled identical faces of disgust at this gory revelation. 

‘Now I suggest
you avoid your usual Saturday night trip to The Cloak and Dagger and have an
early night for tomorrow’s early start.’  Cyrus finished, dismissing them
curtly.

Mistral stood
up quickly and looked around, everyone was there except for the two second
years; she guessed that this type of work would be too basic for them now
anyway.  As her eyes flicked over the apprentices, all rising from their
seats and beginning to talk excitedly, she locked gazes with Columbine’s
malevolent black stare and realised with a start that Golden was not beside
her.

Mistral found
herself walking out beside Saul, ‘Where’s Golden?’ whispered to him curiously.

‘Apparently
she was injured in training.  She’s in the Infirmary,’ he replied with a
shrug. 

‘What did she
do strain her hair by flipping it too often?’  Mistral muttered
scornfully.

Saul laughed,
‘That or broke a nail … anyway, her not coming is just a bonus as far as I see
it.  She’d only whinge and whine and I can’t see her being much good at
sawing the heads off goblin corpses.’

‘I’m so not
looking forward to that part,’ grumbled Phantom. 

‘What’s that
on your face Phantom?’  Saul asked, peering closely at Phantom.

Phantom wiped
something from his cheek and examined it with a grimace of disgust, ‘Muskrat …
I’m going for a shower –’

Phantasm strolled
up alongside Mistral and watched his brother pushing through the apprentices in
his haste to reach the bathrooms.

‘I bet it’ll
be cold,’ he sighed unsympathetically.

‘They always
are!’  Saul exclaimed.  ‘I thought Caleb said that there was one
shower’s worth of hot water a day.  I want to know who gets it, because
it’s never me!’ 

‘Who do you
think?’  Mistral rolled her eyes.  ‘I’ve heard her.  She gets
Columbine to wake her before the rest of us so that she always gets the hot
shower.’

‘Well, she won’t
have to rush next week, because we won’t be here to steal her precious hot
water!’  Saul’s eyes glinted with excitement.

Calculating
quickly, Mistral realised with a burst of sheer joy that they would be out of
the Valley for at least four days travelling there and back, plus a day or
maybe two to track and hunt the goblins.  A whole week out of the Valley,
she couldn’t wait …

‘Cloak and
Dagger?’  Saul asked as he paused outside the room he shared with Cain.

‘Definitely!’
 Mistral confirmed with a grin.  ‘Just going to shove a few things in
my saddlebag and I’ll be down!’

Mistral threw
some clothes and her armour into her saddlebag and dumped it beside the door
then tossed her rolled up travelling cloak onto the top.  Next she grabbed
her swords and crossbow and propped them against the wall beside her bulging
saddlebag.  She gazed around her room, tapping a finger thoughtfully
against her teeth then grinned when she spotted her knife belt sticking out
from under the bed.  Adding that to the top of the pile she was finally
satisfied that she’d packed everything she needed.  She flung open her
door and marched along the corridor to bang her hand against the twins’ door.

Phantom opened
it immediately, looking cleaner and marginally less peeved. 

‘Yes?’ he
enquired politely.

‘Drink?’

Instantly his
face changed into a broad grin, ‘Yes please!  I thought everyone was
actually going to do what Cyrus told them for once!’

‘No
chance!’  Mistral laughed and the three of them joined the other
apprentices all stealthily making their way past the staircase leading to the
third floor where the Magnate and Training Lieutenants had rooms.

The
apprentices were all in high spirits at the prospect of their first Contract
and an extended break from their relentless training regime.  Only
Columbine, Golden and Bali were conspicuous by their absence when they gathered
around three tables in The Cloak and Dagger and immediately began a lively
debate on the best methods for killing gargoyles should they end up travelling through
the Southern Range.

‘Burn
them!’  Brutus advised when he returned from the bar with his hands full
of overflowing tankards.

‘Or decapitate
them,’ added Saul.

‘You can do,’
said Brutus thoughtfully, ‘but burning them is better because you don’t have to
get too close to them.  They’ve got poisonous bites and it’s a pretty
nasty venom.’

‘How d’you get
close enough to light a fire under one of them then?’  Grendel’s asked in
a slow voice.

‘Shoot a
flaming arrow or bolt at them while they’re in the nest,’ Brutus said
simply.  ‘We had a pair build a nest in the mountains near our
tribe.  We all just went up early one morning when they’d come back from
hunting and fired a few flaming arrows at the nest while they were
asleep.  It went up like a dry haystack!  The smell was vile though.’

Mistral
listened with interest.  Gargoyles were mountain-dwelling creatures and as
such she’d never come across one in The Velvet Forests.  After a while the
debate moved on to the band of goblins.

‘Nasty little
critters,’ said Xerxes with a shudder.  ‘Creep up on you with their
horrible long fingers and steal your money bag before you know it.’

‘Voice of
bitter experience brother?’  Cain enquired with a grin.

Xerxes looked
grouchy and took a long drink from his tankard, ‘I think it’s time for a game
of cards!’  he announced, abruptly changing the subject.

While Xerxes
began to deal out cards and argue about stakes, Mistral turned to look at the
twins and waited for them to finish their conversation with Saul about
gargoyles.  When Phantasm broke off to reach for his tankard, Mistral
caught his eye.

‘Goblins,’ she
said in a low voice.  ‘I’ve only seen one once and it was already
dead.  The only live one I’ve met is Titus and he doesn’t count as I’m not
trying to kill him.  Is there anything I should know about them?’

‘Again, where
were you raised?’  Phantasm asked with an incredulous shake of his head.

‘Another time
… maybe,’ she said evasively.  ‘Back to goblins?’  she prompted.

Phantasm took
a thoughtful swallow from his tankard before replying, ‘Well, they’re good with
the swords they make, obviously.  Not so hot with crossbows and bows
though, they’re quite short-sighted you see … so it’ll be all hand-to-hand
fighting.  They’re not very brave and tend to band together and attack as
a group, so we can rule out them coming at us one at a time.  Their
natural habitat is mountainous areas so they won’t have too much woodcraft and
I’m assuming they’ll be quite easy to track –’

Mistral
listened impatiently before interrupting with the questions she really wanted
answering.  ‘Yes, but are they poisonous and is their skin easy to pierce
or is it thick like a troll’s?’

Phantasm
laughed quietly and placed his tankard back on the table, ‘Details, Mistral,
it’s all in the details.  But in answer to your questions; no, goblins are
not poisonous, either if they bite you or to eat, which is apparently a
delicacy in some tribes ... and no, their skin is just as susceptible to sharp
implements as ours, although they do tend to have a rather leathery appearance.’

Mistral
sighed, ‘They seem almost too easy to kill.’

Phantom looked
at her strangely, ‘They have strong hands, so if you had one of them trying to
strangle you it’s definitely not a good thing … and don’t forget that we’re going
to be dealing with a whole load of them that have gone renegade, not just a
couple of frightened goblins wandering around lost in the forest!’

‘What would
make them go renegade and started robbing anyone that passes through The
Emerald Forests in the first place?’  Mistral asked curiously.  ‘It’s
obvious that the Council would deal with a crime like that harshly!’

‘The Council
deals with everything harshly,’ said Phantasm.  ‘The Isle is a sanctuary
for all the Arcane races as well as sorcerers, it’s vital that there are very
strong laws in place to govern us all or it would simply descend into
chaos.  But as to why the goblins have turned to a life of theft and
murder?  Avarice; pure and simple.’

‘Goblins are
notorious for being sly and grasping,’ added Phantom joining in their hushed
conversation.  ‘This charming bunch have obviously taken it one step
further and decided to start killing as well as stealing.’

‘So we just
hang around in The Emerald Forests and wave a coin or two around to tempt the
little beggars in … then its swords out!  No problem,’ said Mistral
happily and took a long drink from her tankard.

The twins
laughed and turned their attention to the card game that was underway. 
The apprentices grew louder and more disorderly as evening wore by with too
much ale being drunk and too much money being lost to Cain at cards.  At
midnight Cyrus stormed in and loudly ordered them all straight to bed. 
Under his furious gaze the apprentices slunk guiltily out into the cold night
air and began to weave a little unsteadily up the path to the Main Building,
resuming their excited whispered conversations about the Contract. 
Phantom and Phantasm were singing a ballad that Mistral didn’t recognise but
she smiled and listened to their lilting voices, thinking happily of saddling
up Cirrus and riding out the Valley in the morning.

‘What was that
last bit that Cyrus yelled at us again?’  Phantom turned suddenly to
Mistral and asked with a serious expression on his face.  ‘It had some
really good swear words in it that I want to remember.’

‘Something
about a “flagrant disregard for orders” wasn’t it?’  Mistral replied with
a frown.

‘No, not that
bit!  Something about this year of apprentices all having morals lower
than a pair of knucker’s –’

‘BED!’ 
Cyrus roared from directly behind them.

The twins
instinctively ducked and Mistral burst out laughing, running lightly up the
stairs to her room before they could catch her up.

Skipping
breakfast the next morning, Mistral rushed straight down to the stables to get
Cirrus ready.  He was restless from not being ridden the day before and it
took all her willpower not to lose her patience as he circled in his stall,
refusing to let her slide the bridle over his head.  She had only just
managed to persuade him to dip his head and take the bit into his mouth by the
time the others began to arrive.  Their late night of drinking and card
playing had done little to dispel the general good mood and only Columbine was
sour-faced as she tacked up her horse.  Xerxes was singing a crude song
about how to stuff a goblin when Cyrus appeared in the doorway, scowling
heavily.

‘Hurry
up!  It’s time we were leaving!’

‘Oh dear, not
enough beauty sleep obviously,’ sighed Phantom and led Mars from his stall.

‘If he slipped
into a coma for a decade he still wouldn’t have enough beauty sleep,’ commented
Phantasm drily and led Jupiter out after his brother.