The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (8 page)

Cain laughed ruefully, ‘It was a
game with some spriggans,’ he said by way of explanation.

Mistral shook her head and raised
her eyebrows questioningly, ‘Nope, sorry, you’re going to have to explain that
one to me in full.’

Cain sighed, ‘Well, a sack of
spriggans is released and we all try and get as many as we can with throwing knives. 
We bet, obviously, on who’ll get the most.  Anyway, Grendel got a bit
excited and got me by mistake.  I’m not sure if he’s just a terrible aim
or whether that means I look like one of the nasty little gits.’

Mistral snorted into her
tankard.  Cain’s hob blood gave him distinctively sharp features that
could possibly be likened to the pixie-like faces of the annoying small forest
creatures.

‘Anyway,’ Cain continued, taking
a long drink from his tankard.  ‘Ah, that’s good … but, as I was
saying.  Anyway, will you stitch it for me?  Only I don’t want to
waste valuable drinking time at the Infirmary.’

‘No problem.’  Mistral
responded promptly.  ‘Got your kit?’

Cain nodded and reached into this
saddlebag for this canvas medical kit.  Dropping it on the table he laid
his arm next to it for Mistral to stitch whilst drinking from his tankard with
the other hand.  Mistral examined the wound and began to clean it,
listening to their boisterous bantering she smiled to herself.  She had
missed their company more than she let herself admit and it was good to have
them around again. 

The door banged open and Xerxes
swaggered in, his arm draped casually around the plump waist of a pretty
blonde.  Mistral glanced over with brief interest before returning her
attention to threading a needle to stitch Cain’s arm. 

The blonde giggled and whispered
something into Xerxes’ ear.  He smiled and patted her on the behind.

‘Course I will, but off you go
now sweetheart.  This is a strictly men-only card game.’

The blonde pouted and glared
pointedly at Mistral, ‘What’s she then?  The waitress?’

Xerxes grinned, ‘No that’s
Mistral.  She’s more of a man than most.’

‘Thanks Xerxes.’  Mistral
muttered, biting the thread of silk off between her teeth.  ‘I’ll take
that as a compliment.’

‘It is, sister, it is.’ 
Xerxes turned back to the blonde.  ‘I’ll see you later on
sweetheart.  Promise.’  he winked and watched her sway seductively
out of the bar, yellow stalks of straw shining clearly in her long hair.

‘What’s that one called?’ 
Brutus asked with a frown and began to shuffle a worn looking pack of
cards. 

‘No idea.’  Xerxes shrugged
cheerfully and reached for a tankard.  ‘I’ve started calling them all
“sweetheart”.  They seem to like it and it gets me out of the problem of
trying to remember their names.’

‘You’ll get in trouble
Xerxes.’  Mistral warned and began to stitch Cain’s arm. 

‘Probably.’  Xerxes agreed
then gave her a long look and grunted.  ‘So, no Sight yet then.’ 

‘Don’t need Sight to know what
you’re thinking.’

Xerxes laughed and took a drink
from his tankard. 

Mistral frowned.  Would
having the Sight make her look different, heaven forbid, like the
Divinus?  She looked up, catching Xerxes’ eye, ‘How could you tell?’ 

‘Brutus is dealing you in,’ he
replied with a shrug.  ‘There’s no way any of us would play cards with a
Seer.’

Mistral smiled and concentrated
on finishing off the stitching.

‘There you go Cain,’ she said in
a satisfied voice.  ‘Another Contract, another scar.’

He examined the wound before
nodding appreciatively, ‘Neat work.  Thanks.’

‘Done any interesting Contracts
recently?’  Saul asked, taking a seat next to her.

‘I wish.’  Mistral muttered
broodingly.  ‘Until I master the damned Sight Leo has forbidden me from
doing anything vaguely challenging.  So far this year I’ve done nothing
more exciting than a bit of tracking, the odd knucker hunt and, oh, how could I
overlook the heady thrill of helping some sad woman confirm that her husband
was actually cheating on her with the saucy barmaid from the local tavern.’

Saul grimaced sympathetically,
‘Sounds dull.  It must be driving you crazy.’

‘It is.  But, anyway,’ she
said, giving herself a shake, ‘enough of the doom and gloom.  How about a
small wager?  Just to make things interesting?’

Xerxes grinned, ‘Now you’re
talking sister.’  

By early evening Mistral was
half-drunk and well up in the money stakes. 

‘Where did you learn to play like
that?’  Cain demanded, grumpily dropping his hand of cards on the table and
sliding a small pile of silver coins across the table towards her.

‘Not much else to do with my time
except slaughter the first years in training then rob them blind in The Cloak
afterwards, plus they don’t know me well enough to notice when I’m reading
their auras!’

‘Nice!’  Cain laughed.

‘So.’  Xerxes leaned across
the table with a conspiratorial look on his face.  ‘Your Mage is out of
the Valley till what?  Middle of next week?’

Mistral sighed and nodded.

‘And the twins are where
exactly?’

‘Stuck in some mind-numbing
session with Mycroft “I love the sound of my own voice” Casterton.  It’ll
probably go on all night –’

‘So, should you accompany us on
the small hunting Contract we have planned for tomorrow, it wouldn’t get you
into any trouble?’’

‘Now you’re talking
brother!  Just tell me what and where and I’ll go get my horse!’ 
Mistral’s eyes glistened at the thought of some action.  Fabian had been
so restrictive as her Training Lieutenant she’d thought she would suffocate and
she was fairly sure that he would have given the twins some “don’t let Mistral
have any fun” type instructions for when he was out of the Valley.  But
they were busy and Fabian was away … and here was the perfect opportunity to
actually enjoy herself for a change.

‘Good!’  Xerxes sat back and
offered her a sly look.  ‘Want to guess what we’ve been Contracted to
hunt?’

Mistral blew out her cheeks and
thought of all the weird and wonderful creatures that called the Isle home.

‘A hint?’  she asked
finally.

‘Big.’

Mistral pursed her lips and asked
hopefully, ‘Dragon?’ 

Xerxes grinned and shook his
head, ‘Man-shaped.’

Mistral gasped, ‘A giant?’

‘Close.  It’s a cyclops
actually.’

‘Cyclops?  Really?’ 
Mistral gazed at him with an expression close to ecstasy on her face.

‘You sure Mage De Winter is out
of the Valley all weekend?’  Cain asked quickly.  ‘Because I’m pretty
sure he wouldn’t be happy about this.’

Mistral frowned dismissively,
‘Let me worry about Fabian.’  

‘Relax Cain!’  Xerxes cried
with an expansive wave of his hand.  ‘It’s a group Contract and we’re
going to need all the help we can get!’

‘Where’s Grendel?’  Mistral
asked, suddenly business-like as she began to mentally plan a strategy for
bringing down a ten-foot tall creature.

‘Back tomorrow morning,’
confirmed Xerxes.  ‘Believe it or not Grendel is hot property when it
comes to Contracts.  Despite his aromatic whiff his strength makes him an
unbelievably popular warrior.’

Mistral laughed and took a long
drink from her tankard.  Suddenly her weekend was looking up. 

‘Deal me in brother.  I feel
the need to teach you all a lesson in card playing.’

‘That’s fighting talk sister.’
 Brutus warned with a grin. 

‘You better make your threats to
my dog.’  Mistral retorted as Prospero growled in response to the tone of
Brutus’ voice.

‘Is he coming tomorrow?’ 
Cain asked, throwing the huge slumbering form of Prospero an admiring
look. 

‘Never leaves my side.’
 Mistral reached down to affectionately rub her dog’s
head.   

By midnight they had sung all of the
songs they knew, told tales and reminisced until they had cried with laughter
and drunk far more than was advisable.

‘Come on, we’ll walk you back.’
 Brutus offered, rising unsteadily to his feet.

‘Are you staying in the dorms
then?’  Mistral asked while he helped her up.

‘No.  We’ve got rooms here,
but I think we could all use a bit of fresh air ... Damn!  Quick! 
Hide brother!’  Brutus suddenly hissed when the door banged open and the
blonde from earlier stormed in.

Xerxes quickly slid from sight
beneath the table.  The blonde had marched over, her face blazing angrily.

‘Where is he?’  she demanded
sharply.

‘Who?’

‘You know who Brutus!  Your
stupid brother!’

‘Oh him.  Er, he left hours
ago.’  Brutus gave her a wide-eyed look.  ‘I thought he was going to
see you.’

‘So did I.  But he hasn’t
turned up.’

‘Oh dear.’  Brutus shrugged
helplessly.  ‘Sorry, but I’ve absolutely no idea where he could be.’
 

The blonde glared at him,
‘Really.  Well, you can tell him that if he’s not round to see me straight
away tomorrow morning then we are off!’

Brutus nodded, ‘Will do
sweetheart.’  

‘And its Marietta not
sweetheart!’ she fumed and marched towards the door.

‘Knew it was something beginning
with ‘M’.’  Xerxes muttered and hauled himself from under the table.

‘You’re incorrigible.’
 Mistral wobbled slightly and tried to negotiate the walk to the door.

‘And that’s a big word for
someone so drunk.’  Saul tucked a supporting arm around her waist and
ignored the sharp look Cain threw him.

‘Probably,’ she admitted with a sigh. 
‘But it beats the hell out of being bored.’

Prospero heaved himself to his
feet with and padded dutifully after his mistress weaving up the pathway to the
dorms, supported on either side by Brutus and Saul.

Mistral woke shortly before dawn
with a dry mouth and a splitting headache.  She was lying fully clothed on
top of her bed with her arms wrapped around her snoring dog.

‘You smell worse than Grendel,’
she groaned when Prospero licked her face lovingly.

Hauling herself from her bed she
dragged herself for a long shower and returned to her room feeling marginally
more awake.  She quickly buckled on her knife belt then added both swords
and her favourite dagger just for good measure.  Finally she was ready to
go.  Grabbing her saddlebag Mistral opened the door and whistled for her
dog. 

‘Come on boy, let’s hunt!’  

Revived by the fresh morning air
Mistral arrived at The Cloak and Dagger in good spirits to find the rest of her
brothers enjoying a breakfast of cold meats and bread.  Grendel had
returned and grunted a greeting in her direction that Mistral would have
struggled to understand anyway, even if it hadn’t been through a mouthful of
half-chewed meat. 

‘Morning Mistral!’  Cain
called cheerfully.  ‘Breakfast?’

Mistral wrinkled her nose at the
plates of food and dropped a couple of slices of beef on the floor for
Prospero, ‘No thanks.  Just water.’ she reached for the flagon of water on
the table and poured herself a cup.

‘Feeling a bit delicate?’ 
Cain grinned.

‘Nothing killing a ten-foot,
one-eyed savage creature won’t sort out.’  

‘Are you talking about
Marietta?’  Brutus asked, winking at Xerxes. 

Xerxes shook his head and sighed
mournfully, ‘They always start out by being so nice and compliant and then something
seems to happen and they mutate into screaming harpies!  I just don’t get
it.  What’s up with them?’

‘You probably,’ said Mistral
truthfully. 

‘What’s wrong with me?’ 
Xerxes demanded looking offended.  ‘I’m an exceptional lover!’

They all laughed and Mistral
groaned, ‘Please – I’m feeling sick enough as it is!’

 ‘And I never make a promise
I can’t keep.’  Xerxes continued with an air of justification. 

‘You did last night.’
 Brutus reminded him.  ‘You promised Marietta you’d see her later and
then didn’t bother.’

‘I never specified exactly when
later though did I?’  Xerxes responded defensively then sighed.  ‘It
is starting to bother me though.  Why do they all just
change
into
totally different people when I start dating them?’

Mistral shrugged disinterestedly
and rubbed Prospero’s ears until she realised that Xerxes was waiting for a
response.  She looked at him incredulously, ‘You don’t seriously expect me
to offer advice on your love-life do you?’

‘Why not?  Mage De Winter
seems to have survived you so far.  You two are practically
married!’ 

‘That’s totally different!’ 
Mistral snapped.  ‘And also not up for discussion.’ she added quickly when
Xerxes looked about to ask another question.

‘Well thanks for nothing! 
At this rate I’ll have dated all the girls in the village by the end of the
summer.’  Xerxes folded his arms bad-temperedly.  ‘Do you think
they’ll let me start at the beginning again?  That girl from the saddlery
was quite entertaining,’ he added in a more hopeful tone.

‘I doubt it.’  Cain smiled
breezily.  ‘She’s going out with me again tonight.’

‘I don’t believe it!’ 
Xerxes gave Mistral a reproachful look, as though it were her fault. 
‘Come on sister, I’m being out-dated by a cheating hob!  Can’t you give me
just a little inside help here?’

Mistral blew out her cheeks in
frustration.  The truth was out of the question.  Xerxes would never
accept that the girls were finally realising he was a selfish oaf with the
morals of a sewer rat.  There was nothing for it.  She was going to
have to lie.

‘Look Xerxes, I’m sure it can’t
be your fault.  Maybe you just haven’t met a girl capable of appreciating
your many qualities.’

Xerxes grinned, ‘That’s exactly
what I thought too!  I knew it was them with the problem and not me. 
Right, I’ll just keep going till I meet the right one.’

‘I’m so glad that’s sorted
out.’  Brutus said heavily.  ‘Now can we please get on with the
plan?’