The Assassin's Tale (Isle of Dreams) (42 page)

‘Thanks,’
muttered Mistral glumly and a sudden thought struck her, making her sit up
straight.

‘What did he
say to you when you came back injured?’ she asked.

‘Oh yes, that
was a happy reunion,’ Phantom replied sourly.  ‘He was not pleased with us
for coming back and leaving you alone on the Contract – something about you
being too unpredictable and hot-headed –’

‘By which he
meant likely to get the job done,’ interrupted Phantasm in an acidic voice.

‘Anyway,’ continued
Phantom, ‘we are not in his good books.  All in all our invitation for a
second year’s apprenticeship is looking decidedly shaky.’ 

 Mistral
gave him a sympathetic look, ‘Sorry brother.  It’s my fault.  I just
robbed the chance for him to show off and save the day.’

‘Ah yes, back
to the matter in hand … so, if you’re feeling up to it,’ began Phantasm in a
voice filled with anticipation.  ‘Can we please hear the real story?’

Mistral
immediately shoved a small piece of the chicken she had been shredding between
her fingers into her mouth.

‘Eating,’ she
said in a muffled voice, avoiding their impatient glares.

The twins
fidgeted and drummed their fingers against their knees while she forced down a
few mouthfuls of food, but she couldn’t manage much and before too long she was
pushing the platter away; the smell was making her feel ill again.

‘Ready
now?’  Phantom prompted with barely concealed irritation.

Heaving a deep
sigh, Mistral leaned her head back against the wall and related to the twins
everything that had happened since she left them in the meadow; bar a few minor
details about Fabian.

‘So just to
clarify,’ said Phantasm for the fifth time, ‘Master Shacklock said that nothing
you could have said would have deterred Mage Grapple?’

Mistral nodded
weakly with her eyes closed.  She was started to feel exhausted again.

‘So even he
thought that Master Sphinx had sent us on a wild goose chase,’ he mused
broodingly. 

Mistral closed
her eyes and nodded, sliding gently down the wall behind the bed to slump into
unconsciousness on Phantom’s bed.

The twins
regarded her sleeping form silently for a moment. 

‘Glad she fell
asleep on your bed and not mine,’ said Phantasm in a smug voice.

‘Play a game
of knucklebones for yours,’ offered Phantom hopefully.

‘No chance,’

Phantom eyed
the hard wooden floor unhappily before getting to his feet and reaching for his
heavy travelling cloak with a resigned sigh.

‘Goodnight
brother,’ yawned Phantasm, stretching out on his narrow bed.

Phantom
regaled him with a few choice swear words then wrapped himself up in his cloak
and curled up on the floor between the two beds.   

Mistral awoke
to the faint light of breaking dawn and lay watching the window turn from black
to pale grey.  She lay curled up on the bed, wondering idly why the window
seemed to be in the wrong place when a gentle snore made her realise that she
wasn’t alone.  Rolling over she looked across at the sleeping figure of
Phantasm and then down at a dark shape on the floor that could only be Phantom. 
She felt a pang of guilt for stealing his bed for the night but had been so
exhausted that she couldn’t actually remember falling asleep on it.  As
quietly as she could, Mistral got off the bed and trod carefully around the
lightly snoring Phantom to open the door and slip silently from the room. 
Heading straight for the bathrooms, Mistral thought she would get her interview
with Leo Sphinx out of the way once she was clean again.  Phantasm was
right.  She had a definite aroma of troll about her. 

Revived by a
surprisingly hot shower Mistral reflected that it must be too early for Golden
to have been in for her shower yet.  Mistral smiled to herself and hoped
that she’d taken all the hot water and Golden would have to suffer a cold
shower for a change. 

As she opened
the door to the bathroom Mistral was faced with the sleepy looking half-nymph
herself.  She scowled and flicker her artfully dishevelled mane of hair
impatiently over her shoulder when she saw Mistral in the doorway.

‘I heard you
were back.  I see travel doesn’t agree with you,’ she said waspishly,
pushing past Mistral into the bathroom.  ‘But then, not a lot does agree
with you, does it Mistral?’ 

Golden let the
door slam in Mistral’s face, leaving her seething in the corridor.  She
was about to burst back through the door and begin an argument when a
high-pitched scream from Golden made her smile and carry on walking down the
corridor.  The water in Golden’s shower was obviously cold. 

It was still
early but Mistral wanted to get her meeting with Leo out of the way. 
Climbing the winding stone staircase to his tower room, Mistral was reminded of
making the same journey just a few days ago.  How much had changed since
then? 

A lot and not
a lot. 

She no longer
trusted her Training Captain that was for certain.  As she slowly climbed
the stairs, her weakened legs shaking from the effort, Mistral decided to try
to read Leo’s aura if the opportunity arose during their meeting.

Mistral paused
outside the heavy wooden door to Leo’s tower room and drew a deep breath before
knocking loudly.  Footsteps immediately sounded from within; Leo was
up.  He opened the door a fraction and looked out cautiously. 
Mistral was surprised by his behaviour, in the few occasions she had been to
Leo’s room he had flung the door open wide without any reserve.  She
suddenly wondered if there was someone in there with him. 

‘Mistral,’ he
said in an unsurprised voice, as though it were normal for her to turn up on
his doorstep at the crack of dawn.  ‘Come in,’ he opened the door wider
and stood back to allow her to enter the room.

Mistral looked
around as she walked across to the table and chairs they had sat at to sign the
Contract.  She had not seen the room in daylight before and it looked
shabbier than in the forgiving glow of torchlight.  Armour and clothes lay
strewn in a ring around the huge unmade bed, a half empty flagon of wine and
two goblets sat on top of piles of parchment scattered across the table. 
Mistral could smell a strangely familiar scent that was totally out of place
with the room, but she couldn’t place where she had smelt it before.

Leo pulled out
a chair and sat down opposite her, his golden hair still tousled from
sleep.  He had obviously not been up long.

‘How are you?’
he enquired solicitously.

Mistral was
slightly taken aback.  It was totally out of character for Leo to ask
after anyone’s health. 

‘Fine,’ she
replied.

Leo nodded and
immediately became more business-like, ‘You completed the Contract I assigned
to you?’

‘Only in the
second part, I failed to convince Mage Grapple to turn back.’

Leo eyed her
speculatively before he spoke again, ‘I understand you travelled on Mage
Grapple’s warship?’

Mistral nodded
but kept silent.

‘And just how
did you manage that?’

‘Mage De
Winter secured me safe passage,’ she admitted, keeping her gaze even.

‘Did he
really,’ said Leo, staring at her with narrowed eyes.  ‘And just what else
did Fabian do?’

‘Um, well,
Mage Grapple asked him to be involved in the treaty negotiations,’ replied
Mistral, frowning.  She wasn’t sure exactly what Leo meant.

Leo continued
to stare at her for a moment longer before abruptly leaping to his feet and
striding across the room to stare out of the window.

Yes!  Mistral
thought and instantly focussed her attention on the air around the Training
Captain’s head.  Fighting against a sudden wave of exhaustion, Mistral
struggled to concentrate.  The air shimmered imperceivably, but no colours
swam into view.  Frustrated, Mistral clenched her teeth and redoubled her
efforts until her head began to throb from the strain.  Oblivious to her
private struggle, Leo continued to stare broodingly out at the pearl grey sky,
preoccupied by his own thoughts.

A sudden
stabbing pain brought Mistral’s efforts to an abrupt halt.  She groaned
and dropped her head into her hands, massaging her temples to try and ease the
violent pounding.  Hearing her sound of pain Leo turned and saw her
clutching her head.

‘You are
obviously still not fully recovered.  Gleacher has appraised me fully of
events anyway.  If I require a more detailed report from you I will send
for you again, in the meantime you may go,’ he said in a colourless voice and
turned to face the window again. 

Feeling like
her head was going to split in half, Mistral rose shakily to her feet and
walked unsteadily to the door.  She managed to let herself out and close
the door behind her before she gave way to the waves of throbbing pain in her
head.  Leaning back against the wall she slid down into a sitting position
and pressed her head against the cool stone wall, letting the soothing chill
seep into her skin and start to ease the searing pain.

Mistral
couldn’t understand what had happened.  She had never been unable to read
an aura.  For as long as she could remember she had been able to see
colours around people’s heads.  Mistral found herself wondering again
about Leo Sphinx and whether he had some gift that allowed him to conceal his
thoughts and emotions. 

The worst of
the pain had passed and Mistral felt strong enough to make her way back down to
the Refectory, in the hope of finding the twins – maybe they’d know why she had
been unable to read Leo’s aura.

 As she
had hoped the twins were in the Refectory, dubiously prodding bowls of
something that looked like a stew. 

‘Good morning
Mistral,’ Phantasm smiled and kicked out the bench opposite him for her. 
‘Did you sleep well?’

‘Better than
Phantom I’m sure,’ she replied with an apologetic look in his direction.

Phantom shrugged
a touch sulkily and lifted a spoonful of the contents of his bowl to his mouth.

‘What is
that?’  Mistral asked, eying the bowl’s contents suspiciously.

‘Tastes like
something that once drew breath but don’t quote me,’ said Phantom through a
mouthful of food.

‘Think I’ll
skip it today,’ said Mistral, reaching for a cup of water instead.

‘You smell
better,’ remarked Phantasm conversationally.

‘Thanks, had a
shower,’ replied Mistral.  ‘Before I met with Leo,’ she added, casually
taking a sip of water.

At once the
twins were riveted, their green eyes fixed unblinkingly on her. 

‘Tell all,’
breathed Phantasm.

Mistral
shrugged and looked genuinely non-plussed, ‘Nothing and I mean
nothing
to tell.  He made some cryptic comment about Fabian but he didn’t question
me at all.  He said that he’d already had a full report from Gleacher so I
guess I had nothing new to tell him.’  Mistral paused and looked over her
shoulder to make sure no-one was close enough to overhear her before leaning
across the table and lowering her voice.  ‘Oh, and one more thing.  I
tried to read his aura and ... I couldn’t.’

‘That’s odd,
to say the least,’ said Phantom frowning.

Phantasm
looked unconcerned, ‘Not really, you have just been really ill.  I’m more
interested in exactly what Master Sphinx was doing when you turned up on his
doorstep at the crack of dawn.’

Mistral looked
blank, ‘Nothing – I mean, he was a bit cautious when he opened the door but it
was very early.  There wasn’t anyone else in there if that’s what you
mean,’

‘That you
saw,’ Phantom interjected with a knowing look.

‘Oh come
on!  It’s a circular tower room!  There aren’t exactly any corners to
hide in!’  Mistral scoffed. 

Phantom sighed
and pushed away his bowl of unidentifiable mush, ‘You’re right.  I’m just
getting as paranoid as my brother.  Anyway, we’ve dedicated today to your
whim.  We can even go for a hunt if you want, or drool over those
butterfly knives you covet so much in Toothe and Nayle.  For today only,
the world, or rather the Valley, is your oyster.’

Mistral
managed a small smile.  Despite the persisting hollow feeling that she
just couldn’t shake, their friendship was a tonic better than anything Serenity
could provide.

Mistral’s
health steadily improved over the course of the weekend.  She spent her
time playing long games of knucklebones with the twins in the Main Hall or idly
wandering around the village.  Much to Mistral’s relief the other
apprentices were mostly out on Contracts or spending the money they had earned
in The Desert Lands living it up in The Cloak and Dagger.  She was hoping
to be old news by the time training began again on Monday morning.

Despite
feeling better physically Mistral found she still couldn’t shake the pervading
numb feeling that had started on the journey home.  It lingered, making
her feel listless and affecting her mood.  The twins noticed that she was
quieter than usual but didn’t say too much about it although she caught them
sharing annoyingly meaningful looks a couple of times.  She was dismayed
to find that she was still struggling to read auras and practised on the twins
repeatedly without success.  They had been unable to provide a
satisfactory answer to her sudden loss of ability and suggested that it was
probably just because she was still weak from her sickness. 

‘You must be
careful Mistral; if you overdo it you might lose your gift completely. 
Promise me you will give yourself time to recover before you try and read an
aura again!’

Phantasm’s face
was so anxious that Mistral had agreed but privately resolved to try and read
Leo again as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

September
ended in a series of beautiful golden days, filling the Valley with the warm
scents of autumn; ripe fruits and late flowering wild roses.  Mistral
barely noticed.  The lethargy that had afflicted her persisted, growing
like a malignant canker inside her.  She was struggling in training. 
Her reactions were duller and Columbine took great delight in taking full
advantage of her weakened state.  Mistral already had a black eye from a
previous training session and sighed inwardly when Caleb matched them again for
another bout.  Mistral stood up and walked dispassionately to take her
place in the centre of the Arena.  She caught Columbine’s malicious gaze
and knew that the half-gargillian was going to fight dirty again.  The
bouts were meant to be controlled, each calculated move delivered with
intention but not with full-force.  It was their opportunity to learn from
each other, practice techniques and situations.  Mistral tried to call up
some adrenalin, or even some enthusiasm, anything to help her snap out of her
half-dead state, or she was going to be pulverised again. 

Without
waiting for Caleb’s signal to begin Columbine rushed straight for Mistral with
her head down, reaching to grab both of Mistral’s legs to knock her off her
feet.

Caught off
guard by the suddenness of Columbine’s lunge Mistral just managed to stagger
back out of her grip and instinctively kicked out, feeling Columbine’s head
snap back under the force of her kick.  Columbine snarled and stood
upright.  Mistral just had time to register her sneering face before a
handful of sand was flung into her face, blinding her.  She cried out and
backed off, rubbing furiously at her eyes to try and clear them but Columbine
wasn’t going to wait.  She instantly lunged forward and grabbed Mistral’s
head, yanking her forward and ramming a knee hard into Mistral’s side at the
same time. 

Something
cracked and the wind left Mistral’s body in a painful rush.  She gasped
and felt Columbine tense to repeat the move.  Forcing herself to act
Mistral ignored the stabbing ache in her ribs and quickly slipped her hands up
and around Columbine’s neck.  Locking her fingers together tightly she
widened her elbows, forcing Columbine to ease her strangling grip. 

Suddenly they
were glaring face to face, locked in each other’s hold. 

Seizing the
opportunity literally in front of her face Mistral tilted her head back then
drove her forehead into Columbine’s scowling face. 

With a howl of
pain Columbine staggered back clutching a hand to her face, now pouring with
blood.  Mistral lunged forward with her fists raised, looking to end the
fight when a hand grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her over backwards
onto the sand.

‘Stop when I
say!’  Caleb bellowed furiously.

Mistral
blinked up at him.  She hadn’t heard him say a word.

‘Since when is
training about trying to kill each other?’  Caleb roared.  ‘Columbine! 
Get up to the Infirmary now!  Mistral!  Stay put!  I want a word
with you after training!’

Throwing
Columbine a cold glare, Mistral nodded curtly to Caleb and walked over to the
Arena fence where the twins were sat.  Avoiding their looks she sat down
and put her head between her knees, struggling to breathe properly.  Her
ribs were agony.

‘Really
Mistral!  You must learn to control your temper.  You could well have
ruined that charming girl’s lovely features now,’ Phantom murmured
reproachfully.

Mistral said
nothing and feigned interest in watching the other bouts taking place. 
The rest of the apprentices were called up in pairs to train.  There were
a couple more injuries but nothing as savage as the bout between Columbine and
Mistral.  She watched Saul sparring half-heartedly with Golden. 
Nobody ever really trained hard with Golden.  It was uncomfortable being
that close to the half-nymph, she made everything too sensual and
intimate.   

When Caleb
called time on their bout, Saul stepped back with obvious relief and walked
over to sit beside Mistral.

‘Nice
head-butt,’ he commented.  ‘Can’t blame you, she had it coming. 
Caleb didn’t see her elbow you in the face in training yesterday.  She’s
vicious!’

Mistral
nodded, grateful for his supportive words, ‘Enjoy your cuddle with Golden,’ she
asked with an attempt at a smile.

Saul
shuddered, ‘I hate training with her.  She blew in my ear today.  It
was revolting.’

Mistral
started to laugh and immediately stopped when a stabbing pain erupted in her
protesting ribs.

‘You’d better
get up to the Infirmary and get checked out,’ he said, giving her a worried
look,

‘What, and
take up with Columbine where we left off?  Tempting as that sounds I don’t
think Serenity would like us brawling in there.  No, I think that a large
drink will do just as well as any of the vile stuff she tries to pour down my
throat whenever I show my face up there.’  Mistral stood up painfully and
turned to look at the twins.  ‘You two coming?’

‘Yes, but you
aren’t,’ said Phantom in a low voice, indicating with his head to Caleb.

 Mistral
watched the Training Lieutenant stomping across the Arena with a black look on
his face, ‘Damn, I forgot he wanted to yell at me.’

‘See you in a
bit.’  Saul gave her a look of commiseration and joined the other
apprentices leaving the Arena.

Mistral
watched them go enviously until her view was blocked by the burly figure of
Caleb.

It was dusk
before Mistral finally managed to escape to The Cloak and Dagger, wiping flecks
of spit from her face where Caleb had yelled at her.  She had forced her
mind to go blank during his angry tirade, letting the words and insults wash
meaninglessly over her until he had shouted himself out and finally let her go
with a harsh warning that any more behaviour like that would result in her
being thrown out of the Valley.

She pushed
open the door to The Cloak and Dagger and immediately spotted the twins resting
on their elbows at the bar, their heads bent closely together in conversation. 
She made her way towards them and Phantom looked up and grinned, pushing a full
tankard along the bar top towards her which she raised gratefully and took a
long drink.

‘How bad was
it?’  he asked sympathetically.

Mistral
shrugged and placed the tankard down on the bar, ‘The usual.  I’m too full
on, not enough control, if I intend to be invited back for a second year I need
to learn to use my brain not my fists, blah, blah – he did say a few impressive
swear words that I haven’t heard before though,’ she finished
thoughtfully. 

Phantasm
turned around and leaned nonchalantly back against the bar, gazing across the
half-full room.

‘Saul’s
planning something,’ he said casually. 

Mistral turned
around and followed his gaze.  He was right.  Saul and most of the
other first years were gathered around a couple of small tables.  Saul was
obviously outlining a plan of some kind, his face was fixed in a look of fierce
concentration and he was talking quickly in a low voice.

‘I wonder what
that’s about,’ said Phantom looking over with keen interest.

Mistral didn’t
care.  Training had finished for the day and she was going to try and
drink away the pain in her ribs.

‘Mistral!’

Saul called
her name across the room and she turned sharply, wincing at the pain the sudden
movement caused her. 

‘Have you got
a minute?’  Saul called, beckoning her over.

Mistral picked
up her tankard and walked over to the group of apprentices.  Everyone was
there except Columbine and Golden, of course.  She noted that Grendel was
also unusually absent.  She sat down on one of the low stools and placed
her tankard on the table.

‘Do you
remember what you said to me in The Desert Lands?’

Mistral felt
her face freeze.  She avoided that subject at all costs, it brought back
to many uncomfortable memories.

‘Which bit?’
she muttered, taking a drink from her tankard to hide her expression.

‘About a hunt
for that pack of wolverines,’ Saul said in an excited whisper.  ‘Leo’s
banned us from going after them.  He reckons it’s too dangerous – but
we’re all up for it.  Want to come?’

A hunt. 
Anything to escape the prison-like confines of the Valley for a while.

‘Definitely! 
When?’

‘Tonight, as
soon as it gets dark.’

Mistral
nodded, her ribs were killing her though.  She was going to have to persuade
the twins to help her strap them up. 

‘We’ll bind
the horses hooves in rags in the stableblock before we ride out, that way we
should get out of the North Gate into the meadows without anyone hearing
us.  It’ll be a good hunt and we should be back well before dawn!’

Mistral
frowned, ‘You reckon they’re that close?  Only they were a good day’s ride
away last time I saw them.’

Saul nodded,
‘Yes.  Cain was running a wild boar down in the southern outskirts of The
Velvet Forests last week and reckons he saw signs of a large pack of wolves
having hunted there recently –’

‘Or signs of a
pack of large wolves,’ interjected Cain with a grin.  ‘I saw a bear
carcass!’

‘That sounds
like them,’ Mistral said.  ‘I’ll tell the twins – is anyone else coming?’

Saul read her
meaning and gave her a wry smile, ‘Grendel’s out of the Valley on a Contract
for Gleacher, which is a good thing since I wouldn’t know how to politely tell
him that the wolverines could probably smell him from here.  And no, your
best friend Columbine won’t be being included – and I’m pretty sure Golden will
be otherwise occupied.’

This drew a
few sniggers from around the table and Mistral remembered that they all had
bets on where Golden kept mysteriously vanishing off to.

‘See you later
then,’ she said, rising to leave before being drawn into further speculation
about Golden’s out of training activities.

The twins
greeted her with identical looks of resignation.

‘What have you
agreed to on our behalf now?’  Phantasm demanded with a sigh.

‘Wolverine
hunt,’ she said shortly, leaning carefully back against the bar.  ‘But not
before you’ve practised your nursing skills on my ribs.’

Phantom pulled
a face at his brother, ‘Your turn.  I treated her last time and she’s a
terrible patient.’

‘No I’m not,’
snapped Mistral.  ‘You’re just squeamish.’

‘Well picking
poisonous spines out of a bloody wound is enough to put most people off their
dinner,’ he muttered defensively.

Mistral nodded
vaguely.  She’d forgotten that Phantom had been nominated for the unpleasant
task of cleaning her up after she had nearly lost a fight with one of The
Velvet Forests many strange creatures, a large rodent covered in poisonous
spines that wreaked havoc on the chicken populations in the local
villages. 

‘I’ll strap
your ribs,’ said Phantasm frowning at her, ‘but don’t think you should
go.  They need time to heal.’

Mistral didn’t
even bother to reply. 

Eyeing the
stubborn expression on her face, Phantasm sighed and placed his tankard down on
the bar top, ‘Come on then.’

An hour later
they were all back in the darkened stableblock where Saul was handing out
bundles of cloth.

‘Golden’s
bedsheets,’ he said with a wink, handing Mistral some.

‘Won’t she
notice when she goes to bed?’

‘Ah, but who’s
bed will she be in?’ asked Xerxes with a leer, walking past her with his arms
full of tack.

Mistral
ignored him.  She was getting bored with their fascination over Golden’s
lovelife.  Mistral didn’t give a fig if she was tucked up in bed with the
Equus every night as long as it kept her out of the way. 

Phantasm had
done a good job of binding her ribs.  Mistral could barely feel the ache
when she pulled herself up into the saddle.  Cirrus wheeled impatiently,
picking up on the excited vibes.  Checking him sharply she joined the
others to ride out of the stableyard and across the cobbled village square,
their horses’ hoof beats muffled by Golden’s bedsheets.

Mistral rode
beside the twins.  She was pleased that they had elected to come, although
this wasn’t really their sort of thing.  In fact, she’d been surprised by
how much enthusiasm Phantom had shown for the idea until she remembered that he
had a personal score to settle with the pack.  The long white scar he bore
on his leg was a permanent reminder of their last encounter with the wolverines. 

They trotted
silently out through the North Gate under the watchful gaze of the warrior on
guard duty.  He didn’t raise the alarm or pass any comment, as though
there was nothing unusual in the first years sneaking out of the Valley on an
illicit midnight hunt – it was probably something he’d done his own
apprenticeship.