The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (79 page)

‘Oh, no, it’s not for us! 
And it was with my winnings from the festival.’  Mistral explained in a
rush, hating him to think that she’d been spending against his name.  ‘I
bought Cain the shop he had a deposit on, and the twins a house … I wanted to
do something right the money.’  she added, looking up at him and willing
him to understand without making her explain. 

He smiled and bent to brush his
lips against her forehead, his warm breath caressing her skin with the words
she needed to hear. 

‘Saul would have approved.’

Mistral closed her eyes, letting her
hands rest lightly against his chest for the briefest of moments before they
stepped apart again.

‘Are you ready to go for our hunt
now?  Or is there another building in the Valley you wish to purchase
before we leave?’  Fabian asked with a wry smile.

‘Ready!’ she grinned.  ‘Just
let me get my saddlebag –’

Fabian waited politely outside
and fussed Prospero while she raced around her room, randomly throwing items
into her saddlebag; medical kit, tinder box, crossbow and waterskin before
finally stowing a small bottle of poison in her jerkin pocket to find she still
had the key to the twins’ house.  Mistral pulled it out and suddenly
smiled.  There was no time to find them and explain.  She would just
have to let them work it out for themselves. 

‘I won’t be a minute!’ 
Mistral called through the open door then grabbed a quill and quickly scrawled
on the front of the folded deeds.

For you – M.

She stared at the three hastily
scribbled words.  They did nothing to convey the depth of her feelings for
the twins, but then, were there any that could?  Grinning to herself, she
dipped the quill into the ink and scratched out another line.

PS:  Can I stay in the
small room when I’m too drunk to get back to the dorms?

She tilted her head and re-read
the last sentence with a smile.  It was much more appropriate than any
words of gratitude or sentiment. 

‘Right!  Ready!’

Bounding from her room she folded
the key into the deeds and pushed it under the twins’ door.

‘Coward.’  Fabian murmured,
taking her saddlebag and swords from her and swinging them over his shoulder.

‘I know.’  Mistral sighed
and slipped her hand into his to walk down the corridor.  ‘Beasts with
more teeth and claws than a taxidermist’s window display I can do, but having
to cope with the twins being emotional?’  Mistral pulled a face.  ‘It
doesn’t bear thinking about!’

A short while later Mistral and
Fabian were riding up the path to the North Gate when she heard her name being
called.  Turning with a muttered curse she saw the twins grinning and beckoning
to her from the village square, the key to their new house clearly visible in
Phantasm’s waving hand. 

Mistral waved back then kicked
Cirrus into a fast canter and shot past Fabian, ‘Quick!  Pretend Spirit
has bolted or something!’

‘Can you believe she bought us a
house?’  Phantom exclaimed to his brother, watching Fabian and Mistral
galloping away along the path.

‘Needs decorating though.’
 Phantasm said thoughtfully.  ‘Any preference on colours?’

‘Anything but white.’
 Phantom replied happily.

The heavy undergrowth of wet
ferns quivered gently as Prospero slunk through it, his pale eyes intent on his
quarry.  A short distance behind Fabian and Mistral sat quietly on
horseback, waiting.  With a sudden snapping of branches a panicked hart
broke cover and leapt away.  Prospero bayed once and gave chase with
Fabian and Mistral immediately breaking into a gallop after him.

The hart bounded away, crashing
wildly through the bushes, fleeing for its life.  Reaching the river the
hart didn’t pause but leapt in and started swimming for the far side with
Prospero still in pursuit.  Mistral and Fabian reached the bank and urged
their horses after them.  Spirit plunging into the belly deep water
without any hesitation but Cirrus baulked, skidding to a splay-legged halt at
the water’s edge and tipping Mistral over his shoulder into the river.

Too startled to cry out, Mistral
was thrown head first into the cold water.  In the time it took for her to
realise what had happened Fabian’s hands were around her, pulling her
upright.  She staggered to her feet, wide-eyed and gasping for air with
her hair streaming around her face. 

Laughing, Fabian held her steady
with one hand and lifted the other to push back her wet hair, ‘Are you
alright?’

‘Do I look alright?’
 Mistral spluttered and began to shiver, her wet shirt clinging like a
second skin.

He laughed softly, ‘Hmm, let me
see –’

Holding her at arm’s length he
deliberately looked her up and down.  His eyes travelled slowly back to
meet hers, black and raw, the eyes of a stranger.  In a heartbeat her lips
were crushed to his, desperate with need.  Fabian abruptly pulled her
closer, holding her tighter.  All resolve perished, consumed by
desire.  She was utterly lost and so was he.  At last it was
now.  Life was finally about to begin. 

Suddenly he was motionless. 
Then the hands that held her so tightly were no longer pulling but
pushing.  Her eyes flew open, wide with disbelief. 

His eyes held hers, commanding her
with their searing force, ‘We must stop Mistral.’

Mistral blinked.  For a
split second she was astounded, then abruptly furious.  How could he spurn
her just like that?  How
dare
he? 

‘No!  I won’t stop!  I
can’t!  Don’t you see that this is killing me?’ 

A shadow crossed Fabian’s face
and Mistral instantly knew she had chosen the wrong words.  She watched
the fire slowly die until he was staring at her with eyes of obsidian, blacker
than the wave of rejection that washed over her.

Drawing in a ragged breath,
Fabian lifted a hand to her cheek.  Mistral felt it tremble slightly
against her skin and reached up to hold it tightly. 

‘Fabian!’  her voice was
low, frantic with pleading.  ‘I can’t do this anymore.  I’ve tried –
really tried!  But I haven’t got the Sight!  Please, oh, please can
we give up on the whole cursed thing and get on with the rest of our
lives?’ 

Mistral stared imploringly into
his face, hoping desperately to see the hard look melt.  But, if anything,
her words seem to strengthen his resolve.  Her heart sank when she saw his
jaw clench into the stubborn expression she knew so well.

‘We will have a very short life
together if we give in now!’  Fabian snapped.  ‘You have got the
Sight Mistral.  You simply need to concentrate more.’

Mistral gaped at him, stung by
his words.  So it was all her fault?  She wasn’t trying hard
enough?  Had he not seen how hard she’d been working since The Festival of
the Arcane?  Her eyes abruptly narrowed.  Suddenly speechless with
rage, she jerked around and waded angrily to the bank.  Not pausing when
she reached the top she immediately reached for Cirrus and swung herself into
the saddle, forcing him back into the woods without a second glance in Fabian’s
direction. 

Mistral rode recklessly, fuelled
by rage.  Every time she thought of his unjust accusation she swore
aloud.  It wasn’t him that stared at auras until his head throbbed with
the strain, or listened to Serenity’s patronising and Malachi’s snide putdowns
for hours on end.  She hoped savagely that he wouldn’t dare follow her and
then immediately wished that he would.

Her heart leapt at the sound of
heavy thuds behind her only to sink to her boots again when Prospero pounded
into view.  With a burst of sadness she realised that Fabian wasn’t going to
follow her.  Slowing Cirrus to a more measured canter she rode the rest of
the way back to the Valley lost in her thoughts, alternating between sheer fury
and abject misery. 

By the time Mistral had stabled
Cirrus her anger had abated to a more manageable foul mood.  Dark thoughts
of doing something violent to Fabian filled her mind while she stomped towards
the dorms to change her sodden clothes. 

‘Is that a new look
Mistral?  I like the bedraggled touch.  Very classy.’  

Mistral spun round to see the
twins lounging casually against the Training Arena fence.  She shot them
both a black look, not breaking stride while she stalked up the path.

‘Such a lovely temperament that
girl has.’  Phantom sighed, watching her storm off.  ‘Like sunshine
on a rainy day.’

Phantasm said nothing but his
green eyes followed Mistral’s angrily striding figure.

‘I do hope Mage De Winter knows
what he’s doing.’  Phantom added with a frown.

‘Well it certainly looks like
he’s done something.’  Phantasm murmured quietly.   

Mistral headed straight to the
bathroom and stripped off her wet clothes.  Leaving them lying in a damp
pile she stepped under the jet of water, gasping at the sudden icy
deluge.  Turning her face up she closed her eyes and let the cold water
flow over her, standing there until her anger washed away, leaving in its wake
a crushing despair. 

Fabian didn’t want her. 

She remained motionless under the
icy jet for as long as she could physically bear it, letting her warm tears
mingle with the cold water.  Eventually giving in to her uncontrollable
shuddering she stumbled out.  Not bothering to dry herself she dragged on
her still damp clothes and made her way, wet and miserable, to her room. 

Prospero was sitting patiently
outside her room.  He padded silently through the door when she opened it
and instantly leapt onto the bed, leaving barely any space for her. 
Mistral sighed but didn’t move him; instead she curled up next to his bulk,
burying herself gratefully into his thick coat to cry herself to sleep.

The next day dragged by with
agonising slowness.  Fabian did not return to the Valley.  He had
broken his promise not to leave her and Mistral was silently distraught. 
Only pride kept her from riding off to find him, confront him, shout and scream
and make an even bigger fool of herself than she already had. 

She tried to follow her daily
routine but only succeeded in developing a nervous twitch every time she heard
the sound of hoof beats, looking around eagerly in the hope of seeing a bright
palomino, only to be privately devastated when it never was.  In those
moments Mistral suffered abject terror that she would never see him again,
convinced he had grown frustrated with waiting for her to master Sight and left
her. 

By the afternoon Mistral was
almost insane with despair.  She stared listlessly at Serenity’s aura for
the thousandth time, trying to distract her mind from returning to the scene by
the river and failing.  Her emotions rocketed from scorching passion to
sheer desperation as she relived every moment over and over.

Mistral gritted her teeth and
dragged her attention back to Serenity’s aura.  It was beautiful,
reflecting perfectly her gentle nature in a mist of unblemished pale blue edged
in glimmering yellow, reminding Mistral of sunlight on water which instantly
bought to mind more unbidden images of Fabian in the river.  She curled
her hands into sharp fists, forcing her mind to focus again, but after a few
seconds her gaze flicked back to the long window overlooking the path the North
Gate.

‘What’s wrong?’  Serenity’s
voice asked quietly in her ear.

Mistral sighed dejectedly, ‘Oh,
nothing.’

‘What’s nothing?’  Serenity
enquired from across the other side of the room.

Mistral looked around in
confusion.  How had Serenity spoken in her ear then moved across the room
so quickly?  ‘How did you do that?’

Serenity glided towards her, a
small frown puckering the smooth white skin of her brow, ‘I’m sorry Mistral,
but I’m not sure I understand.  I haven’t done anything.  I just
walked across the room to stretch my legs since you appear to be a little
distracted today.’  Serenity raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Mistral ignored the question and
frowned, ‘But you asked me what was wrong!  I heard you.  You were
right next to me.’

Serenity shook her head slowly,
her gentle brown eyes fixed intently on Mistral, ‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘But, I heard you!’  Mistral
insisted, growing frustrated.

‘I didn’t say it Mistral.  I
thought it.’  

Mistral’s face froze, her eyes
staring unseeingly into nothing.  Serenity watched with her healer’s eyes,
waiting for the realisation to sink in, tensed ready for hysterics, wild
denials, jubilation, shock – anything but what actually happened. 

Leaping to her feet and knocking
her chair over in her haste, Mistral bolted from the room and sprinted along
the corridor.  Skidding through the Entrance Hall she leapt down the steps
and then she was running faster than she ever had in her life, tearing down the
path in time to the beat of her pounding heart.  Grabbing Cirrus from his
stable she threw his tack on and had one foot in the stirrup before they were
out of the stable.  Whistling for Prospero she kicked Cirrus hard and
charged off along the path leading out of the Valley. 

Riding at a breakneck gallop
wherever she could, Mistral made it to the only place on the Isle she ever
wanted to be in just one hour.

Unstrapping Cirrus’ saddle and
bridle and dropping them on the ground she led her panting horse to the paddock
where she was relieved to see Spirit grazing. 

He was here. 

Running on shaking legs towards
the house that she knew so well and taking the flight of stone steps up to the
front door two at a time, Mistral burst through the door and abruptly halted in
the doorway, taking in the scene before her eyes.

Fabian spun around, startled at
her dramatic entrance.  He was wearing only a pair of loose trousers, his
hair and body wet.

‘Mistral!’ his tone was
surprised, then, seeing the wild expression on her face, immediately became worried. 
‘What’s happened?’ he demanded urgently.