The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (52 page)

‘And you are well and truly
over-stepping the mark!’  Mistral seethed.  ‘I’m sorry if I ever gave
you the wrong idea and I swear to you that I never, ever wanted to hurt you,
but just drop it!  Please!’ 

Saul gazed steadily at her, ‘I
wouldn’t force you to embrace a gift anyone can see you don’t want.  I
wouldn’t imprison your soul Mistral.  We could have the life you’ve always
wanted, work Contracts, hunt, travel –’

Mistral closed her eyes and was
abruptly filled with a powerful yearning for the life Saul was
describing.  He was right.  It was exactly the life she wanted. 
But it was Fabian she wanted it with, not Saul.  Never Saul.

Opening her eyes slowly, Mistral
met his brown gaze and shook her head, not trusting herself to speak for fear
that she would cry. 

‘I would make you happy.’
 Saul promised softly and reached out to touch her face.

Mistral felt his fingers graze
against her skin the way Fabian’s had done a hundred times and flinched away, her
eyes suddenly blazing. 

‘Don’t touch me!’

He dropped his hand and let it
hang uselessly by his side, his expression hurt.

‘Just go Saul.’  Mistral
muttered, turning away to hide the tears welling in her eyes.  ‘Please.’

‘I love you Mistral.’

She kept her face turned,
listening to the sound of his footsteps fade before giving in to her tears.

Saul was wrong, he wouldn’t make
her happy.  But she knew that if she gave him the slightest chance he would
try and try until he destroyed himself with misery because she could never feel
anything more for him but the bond of a Ri brother.  She longed
desperately for Fabian, cursing herself for being weak and allowing the twins
to persuade her to come to the festival, taking her away from the Divinus and
the connection he provided with her Mage.

Mistral leaned against the wooden
rail and rested her head against her arms, letting her tears dry while she
decided what to do.  Staying for the duration of the festival was out of
the question.  The atmosphere between her and Saul would be
unbearable.  She eyed Cirrus speculatively.  He was exhausted and
would need time to recover.  Nodding to herself Mistral stood up. 
She had made her decision.  She would stay for the next event and wait
until her brothers had fallen asleep for the night then she would leave and
head back to the Valley. 

Lunch was a stilted affair with
Xerxes and Brutus being overly talkative to cover the obvious awkwardness
between Mistral and Saul.  The twins kept a watchful eye on her while she
fed her meal to Prospero and lavished love on him.

‘Do you think he got the
message?’  Phantom murmured.

Phantasm eyed Saul’s wooden
expression, ‘Loud and painfully clear.’   

‘It’s going to be a long couple
of days then.’

Phantasm gazed thoughtfully at
Mistral, ‘I don’t know about that brother.  I have the strongest feeling
that we should pack.’

After lunch they all returned to
the Arena.  It had been cleared after the feast, the cooking pits filled
and levelled ready for the bouts that would take place there.  Mistral
waited quietly whilst her brothers talked strategies and discussed the
suspected weak points of their opponents.  She had no intention of
fighting and had made her mind up to lose her first bout and then slip away
quietly and pack ready to leave.

The sense of anticipation amongst
the competitors heightened with the arrival of Bryden Wolfsnare.  Walking
proudly to the centre of the Arena he halted and turned in a slow circle, his
arms outstretched, gaining everyone’s attention before delivering another
speech.  Mistral didn’t even bother to listen to the words but stared
listlessly at the ground, wishing the next few hours away so that she could
escape and get back to the Valley to hear Fabian’s thoughts again.  She
clung desperately to that comforting thought, like a drowning man clings to a
floating log.  Everything would be alright again once she heard the
Divinus voice Fabian’s mind to her.  A sudden stab of fear pierced her …
what if there was nothing?  What if the Divinus heard not the living
Fabian but the echo of his shade?

She bowed her head and fought to
control the panic that rose up inside her, the wild urge to take a horse, any
horse that could actually move and leave the Vale at once …

‘Mistral?’

Phantom’s voice calling her name
made her look up.

‘You’ve been called to compete.’

She nodded wordlessly and walked
into the Arena, noting dully that she had been pitted against one of the
amazons. 

Oh well
, she thought
vaguely. 
At least it’ll be over quickly …

A voice shouted and the amazon
lunged at her.  Mistral barely bothered to react, allowing herself to be
knocked to the ground with a bone-crushing force, her mind filled only with
thoughts of her Mage.

The Amazon snarled in disgust and
circled her, hunched forwards with her hands curled into claws while she waited
for Mistral to get up.

Mistral lay on the hard ground,
staring up at the deep blue sky above her head, wondering if the same piece of
blue stretched above Fabian too.

‘Fight damn you!’ the amazon
shrieked. 

Heaving a sigh, Mistral rolled
over and stood upright, waiting submissively for the amazon to launch at her
again.

‘You do our sex no
favours!’  the amazon growled and glared angrily at Mistral’s defeated
expression.

Mistral raised an eyebrow in
brief agreement.  She had to admit it was a poor show, but her fight had
gone.

She sighed wearily, ‘Please …
just finish it.’

‘No!’ 

Mistral gazed at the warlike
woman, at her long limbs and angry face and suddenly smiled.  She saw so
much of herself in that anger, the disbelief that her opponent refused to
fight.  A spark of life flared inside her.  She ran her eyes over the
figure before her, noting again the one weak spot she had previously
identified.  She suddenly grinned at her opponent and beckoned her forward
with a crooked finger.

‘Come on then –’

With a snarl the amazon lunged,
reaching out with her long arms.  Mistral ducked beneath her grasp and
twisted sharply to drive her shin with all of her force into the amazon’s long
thigh.  A loud gasp of pain escaped her.  She glared at Mistral for a
split-second then buckled beneath the strength of the kick, her deadened leg
unable to bear any weight.  Mistral stepped back and allowed her to sink
with almost feline grace to the floor. 

‘Winner!’ 

Bryden Wolfsnare stepped over the
fallen amazon to raise Mistral’s hand in the air.  Instead of grinning
triumphantly she grimaced, realising that she would have to stay on and fight
again. 

She battled half-heartedly through
two more bouts before inevitably meeting Grendel.

Smiling up at her massive
brother, Mistral didn’t even bother to retaliate when he stepped forward and
grabbed her around the waist.  She sighed as he raised her above his head,
hoping it wouldn’t hurt too much.  With a loud roar he dropped her
unceremoniously onto the ground at his feet.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered, reaching
out a hand.

‘Think nothing of it,’ she
murmured, stepping back to allow Bryden to raise Grendel’s arm in recognition
of his win.

Mistral walked slowly back to the
edge of the Arena to join her brothers, most nursing various injuries and
complaining about the rules.  Ignoring their invitation to join in with
their whinging she looked instead at the twins.

‘I’d really like to get cleaned
up please.’

They nodded and fell in step
beside her to walk back towards the tent.

‘Bad luck.’  Phantom offered
in a conciliatory tone.

‘Grendel deserves to win this
event.  Luck didn’t come into it.’  Mistral demurred automatically,
her mind already on the journey home.

‘Brutus fought well.’
 Phantasm said conversationally.

‘Yes, didn’t he.’  Mistral
agreed distractedly, not noticing the silence that followed her comment.

‘Mistral, Brutus fought terribly,
he went out in the first round!’

Damn
.  ‘I meant he
fought well during the time he was actually fighting,’ she amended quickly.

Another silence fell but Mistral
barely noticed, she was deciding whether to travel through The Emerald Forests
and hunt or taker the faster journey over the grasslands and live on the odd
rabbit that Prospero bought down –

‘Which way shall we go?’ 
Phantom asked lightly.

‘Grasslands.’  Mistral
responded promptly then pulled up short and turned to stare at him. 

‘Good, I hate riding through The
Emerald Forests.  It’s so damned wet all the time.’  Phantom smiled
at her startled expression.

‘Er – I was just –’

‘Planning which way to go back to
the Valley after your fall out with Saul and your subsequent desperate need to
hear the mind of your Mage.  We know.’

Mistral stared at them aghast,
‘Was it that obvious what Saul was going to do?’

‘To everyone but you, I
think.’  Phantasm said with a sigh.  ‘What did he say?’

‘He … he said I should leave
Fabian for him … that my marriage wasn’t even legal … because… because – ’

Mistral faltered and choked back
tears, unable to even frame the words that Saul had said.

‘Mistral.’  Phantasm said
softly.  ‘Was marriage ever an important concept to you?’

‘No!’

‘And what does it mean to you
now?’

Mistral thought about the weight
of the ring on her finger, the unwanted title foisted upon her, the unasked for
money in the Council vaults … but Fabian, her husband, he meant everything to
her.

‘It means Fabian,’ she muttered,
wiping the tears from her eyes with her shirt sleeve.

‘Well, he was always yours and no
ceremony could ever change that.  So please, just discount whatever Saul
said to you in a quite frankly desperate attempt to get what he wants and focus
on the important matter in hand.’

‘Which is?’ 

‘Grasslands or Forest?’

‘I already said!’ she
snapped.  ‘Grasslands!’

‘Oh yes, so you did, good. 
Did I mention that I hate The Emerald Forests?’  Phantasm smiled and
linked his arm through hers.

She leaned her head against his
shoulder while they walked, ‘Tell me, please … that it’ll all be alright.’

‘I can’t, sorry.  But I can
tell you this.’   Phantasm paused and turned to look at her.

‘What?’ 

‘The things in life that you
truly desire are not easily attained.’

‘You mean Sight don’t you.’
 Mistral sighed heavily and lifted her head from his shoulder.

‘Yes and no.  I mean you and
your Mage.  You must believe in the strength of his devotion to you. 
Don’t doubt him Mistral.  Don’t  let Golden win.’

‘I don’t!  I haven’t!’

‘So why the animosity towards the
nymphs if not because they remind you of her?  Why the fear in your face
that you thought he had flirted with our mother to get her to allow food in the
White Room?’

Mistral’s face worked
frantically, trying to find words to justify her jealousies and fears. 
But she couldn’t.  Damn it.  She had to say the words she
hated. 

‘You’re right.’

‘I usually am.’  Phantasm
replied in a smug tone.

‘But you don’t understand!’ 
she continued wildly.  ‘Golden!  She and Fabian … they –’

‘We know what Golden made you
see, but it wasn’t real Mistral.  Stop letting her live inside your
head.  You must focus on what really matters.  The future! 
Accept your gift and live the life that destiny has dealt you.’

She nodded silently and withdrew
her arm from his, lifting her shoulders and raising her chin to walk with
determination back towards the tent.

‘I think,’ she declared after a
long moment of silence, ‘that when we get back to the Valley I’m going to find
out where Fabian is from the Divinus and go and meet him.’

‘Er, I don’t think you are.’
 Phantasm said quickly.

‘Well I do!’

‘Why is it always like this with
you?’  Phantom demanded in exasperation.  ‘Up or down!  All or
nothing?’

Mistral gave him a challenging
look, ‘Would you have it any other way?’ 

‘No.’  he smiled his angel’s
smile.  ‘I just like to complain about it every now and again.’

After a brief stop to collect
Prospero and changes of clothing they continued on to the pool designated for
females to bathe in.  The twins took some persuading to allow Mistral to
swim on her own but, as she pointed out, even Columbine wouldn’t be stupid
enough to return to the same place she had attacked Mistral before. 
Despite her apparent confidence, Mistral swam with her dagger clenched between
her teeth and avoided the waterfall.  Prospero picked up on her tension
and circled her repeatedly, his rudder like tail catching her in long wet
swipes around the face.    

They returned to the tent
together a short while later and made hasty preparations for travel before the
others returned.  While they packed Mistral and Phantom held a heated
debate in hissed whispers over his refusal to return her old clothing.

‘But it’s comfortable!’  she
argued.

‘It looks it too.’  Phantom
muttered disdainfully.

Mistral changed tactics, ‘It’s
more practical for travel than these.’  she gestured to her tight
trousers.

He eyed her for a moment then
sighed, ‘Oh, I suppose you can have them to travel back in.  But not until
we leave, or it’ll give away what we’re planning.’

‘I don’t understand what all the
secrecy is for.’  Mistral grumbled.  ‘I don’t really care if they
know we’re going!’

Phantom gave her a reproving
look, ‘Do you want to hurt Saul even more and ruin the festival for the rest?’

Mistral gave him a blank look,
‘Sorry, but I really don’t see how me leaving is going to hurt Saul, and why
should the others give a damn if I’m here or not?  Cain will be pleased as
punch!  He’ll get my place in final event by default.’