The Seer (24 page)

Mistral nodded and turned her attention back to her porridge, struck by the
depressing realisation that once again, she had placed them all in danger
through her selfish actions.  She had been so caught up in the excitement
of landing the Ten Year Cull that she hadn’t even considered the risk they were
taking, and not just from dragons.  In fact, the more she thought about
it, the more she realised just how blind she had been.   The Gemini
and the Ri’s Seer were out in the most uninhabited range of mountains on the
Isle, in winter ... to hunt dragons.  And if that alone didn’t provide
enough opportunities for them to die, then there was always the fact that they
were barely two day’s ride from the Council where Rochforte supporters were no
doubt biding their time for a chance just like this one.  She groaned
inwardly, imagining their glee at the news. 
Guess what?  If they
don’t freeze to death or get devoured by dragons we can have them killed and it
will look like a complete accident, if the bodies ever get found that is …
When
would she learn?  Mistral silently reprimanded herself and glanced
guiltily at Fabian.  His expression was set in hard lines of concentration
while he outlined the route they would take into the mountains.  She
sighed, no doubt he would shoulder the burden of trying to protect her from
everything that came their way once again; dragons, corrupt Mages, Rochforte
fanatics, renegade trolls …the list was endless, as was his ability to try and
die in her place.  Well, not this time.

‘Fabian?’ 

He frowned, ‘Is there a problem with the route?’

‘No, the route’s fine … but, can we have a word?’

 ‘Of course.’

She stood up and walked towards the door.  Ignoring the looks of
exasperation from her brothers and the patter of questions that instantly
invaded her mind from the twins she opened the door and stepped out into the
frozen street.  The predawn sky was empty of stars, a black void
stretching out over the jagged peaks of the Northern Range. 

Fabian stepped out behind her, closing the door he turned to look at her
with eyes stolen from the black sky above them, ‘What is it Mistral?’

‘I’m really sorry,’ she whispered, starting to shiver with cold.  ‘I’ve
just realised quite how reckless and stupid I’ve been.’

He sighed and pulled her into his arms, ‘What have you done now?’ 

‘M’sorry.’  Mistral leaned into the reassuring warmth of his body and
tried not to cry.  ‘But the best of it is that this time it was completely
unintentional.’

‘What was?’  he prompted softly.

Mistral heaved a deep sigh, ‘This Contract, I didn’t think – huh! That
could be my epitaph!  But I’ve only gone and sent me and twins out like
bestra to the slaughter, haven’t I?  And given you the job of trying to
protect me … again,’ she paused and looked up at him stubbornly.  ‘Well
not this time.  I’m not going.’

‘That, of course, would mean none of us could go.  It is your name on
the license after all.  Now, would you like to tell your brothers, or
shall I?’

Mistral scowled up at him, ‘Just get the twins to use their gift to
persuade Powers and Silver to think it’s your name on the damned license and
have a good time without me!’

‘Not possible, I’m afraid.’  Fabian sighed regretfully.  ‘You are
sadly integral to my happiness these days.’

‘Fabian!  Stop laughing at me!  I’m being serious here!’ 

Fabian smiled gently at her, ‘Mistral, tell me why we are here.’

‘Well, you lot are going to hunt dragons.  I’m going to stay here to
do some knitting or something –’

‘Yes, to hunt dragons, that is quite correct.  And why are we hunting
dragons?’

‘Er, because Mage Grapple gave Leo the Contract and I practically snatched
it from his hand before he could argue?’

‘Hmm, nearly, but not quite.  Try again.’

Mistral frowned up at him, perplexed by his amusement, ‘Oh for crying out
loud Fabian!  Is Phantom telling you what to say?  Only you’re
becoming nearly as irritating as him!’

Fabian laughed softly and bent his head to whisper in her ear, ‘We are hunting
dragons on a Council Contract because there are no Mages in the employment of
the Council prepared to take the work.  If they are unwilling to travel
into the winter mountains to hunt the dragons themselves, then I seriously
doubt they will be keen to hunt Ri warriors engaged in that same,
life-threatening pursuit.’ 

‘Probably not.’  Mistral agreed reluctantly.  ‘But –’

‘As I said before, it has not completely escaped my attention that this
Contract presents our enemies with more than a few options for conveniently
dispatching you and the twins.’

Mistral looked up again, a deep frown on her face, ‘Then why did you agree
to let me take the Contract?’

‘Well, apart from the fact that you are impossible to reason with once
you’ve set your mind on something.’  Fabian paused and gave her a bemused
smile.  ‘You may also recall that I was not exactly in a position to argue
with you at the time you agreed to take the Contract.’

‘I remember.’  Mistral raised an eyebrow.  ‘You were in my bad
books.  But I think there’s another reason too.’

‘You are right.’  Fabian was suddenly more serious.  ‘Leo and I
agreed that whatever attempts are going to be made against you and the twins
will happen wherever you are.  Look at last year!  You were abducted
from the forests not an hour’s ride from our house!  Until this matter is
concluded it is immaterial where you are, or who you are with.  The threat
will find you Mistral, of that I am certain.’

She sighed deeply and laid her head back against his chest, ‘Trouble always
seems to find me.’

He smiled sadly, ‘Which is precisely how I managed to find you.’

Mistral looked up sharply, ‘You’re not trouble!  I’m trouble! 
When will I learn Fabian?  I keep blundering along, making the same stupid
mistakes time and time again!  I thought having the Sight would at least
change that about me!’

‘Mistral, I
spent half a lifetime waiting to find you.  I am in no hurry to change
you.’

Mistral gazed
at him, unwilling to voice the panicked thought that sprang into her
mind.  Half a lifetime gone already?  Did that mean she would only
have half again?

Fabian’s eyes
roved over the face, reading too easily the unspoken fear hiding in her eyes,
‘It is not for us to say how much time we have Mistral.  All I know is
that until I found you, I had not yet begun to live.  My lifetime started
the day you agreed to share yours with me.’

She looked at him with eyes that spoke her love
louder than any words ever could, holding his deep gaze until he smiled,
brushing a hand gently over her hair. 

‘I may also have a less noble reason for agreeing
for you to take this Contract,’ he frowned slightly.  ‘Or do you know that
already?’

‘Is it what you and Leo were arguing about on the
ride north?’

Fabian nodded, his expression guarded.

‘Then, no, I don’t know.’  Mistral shook her head.  ‘I blocked
both of you out.  It all got a bit too tedious to be honest.’

Fabian smiled, ‘Perfectly understandable.  Nothing is less interesting
than other’s quarrels.  However, in my defense, I must point out that I
know how much you hate to be confined to the Valley, even if it is for your own
safety.  This Contract presented you with an opportunity to achieve an
ambition with both my protection and that of all of your brothers, and I had
hoped that in doing so you would perhaps be more amenable to a request –’

‘Of yours or Leo’s?’  She interrupted, frowning at the thoughts she
could hear in his mind.

Fabian said nothing but looked at her closely for a moment before he spoke,
‘How do you feel?’

‘Fine.  Why?’ Mistral replied, looking slightly bewildered at the
abrupt change in subject.

‘Well, there is one way we can know whether any plans have been made to try
and have you and the twins killed – if you are feeling well enough to try that
is –’

‘There’s nothing wrong with me Fabian!  Now what’s that I can hear in
your mind?  Something about Leo?’

Fabian hesitated, his expression slightly reluctant, ‘Do you think you
could try to read into a mind remotely?’

She frowned, ‘Anywhere on the Isle?  Like the Divinus could you mean?’

He nodded but kept quiet while she considered the question. 

‘I don’t know … I haven’t really tried yet.  I can hear you and my
brothers, and probably Leo too, if it was absolutely necessary, but no-one
else.  Who did you have in mind anyway?’ 

Fabian hesitated. 

‘Sorry, let me rephrase that.  Who did Leo have in mind?’ 
Mistral amended irritably.

‘He’s keen for you to focus on Bellicose and Malachi.’  Fabian
admitted.  ‘However, I think it would be beneficial if we could also hear
the thoughts of Christophe and Etienne Rochforte, however, I refused to allow
Leo to ask you to try either until you felt well again.’

Mistral felt her shoulders droop at the prospect of dedicating the next
year of her life to their personal obsessions; Leo’s paranoia about Malachi’s
campaign and Fabian’s desire for revenge on Christophe and Etienne
Rochforte.  It was going to be a long year.    

‘Can you recall their faces clearly enough to be able to reach into their
minds?’  Fabian continued, oblivious to her dejected slump against his
chest.

‘Oh, yes, perfectly,’ she responded with a sigh.  Every detail of
Etienne and Christophe’s faces staring in horror at their dead cousin on the
floor of the Council chamber was indelibly etched into her memory.

‘Then we shall start with those two when we have finished today’s trek,’ he
concluded in satisfied tone.  ‘Now, back to the matter in hand.’

‘Dragons.’

‘Yes, Mistral, the small matter of the two female dragons we’ve been
Contracted to cull.’

Mistral untwined herself from his arms and smiled.  Taking his hand
they walked together into the cabin to catch the end of a conversation about
dragons.  Mistral’s mind was instantly inundated with curious thoughts
from Phantasm which she ignored and focused instead on what Phantom was saying.

‘– and if the claws and teeth don’t get you there’s the breath to watch out
for!’

‘Is it worse than Prospero’s?’  Mistral asked, wandering over to the
fire to warm up again.

‘Infinitely!  According to that book we read, dragon breath is a
powerful narcotic.  One blast of that and you’re off to sleep while they
enjoy a meal!  Mind you, if you’ve got to the being breathed on stage,
you’re pretty much already a goner.’

‘Narcotic breath is a bit of a waste of time isn’t it?’  Cain asked
with a frown.  ‘Surely they’d just toast you instead!’

‘Only the males breathe fire.’  Fabian said quietly. 

Mistral suddenly remembered an unusual scar he had on one of his arms,
rippled like sand at low tide.  A burn. 

‘Right, time to get furry!’  Xerxes started throwing random items at
each of them, a long hat with a white fur trim landed on Cain’s head making him
look even more pixie-like, eliciting a roar of laughter from his
brothers. 

Mistral walked over to Xerxes and picked out the suede trousers Brutus had
held up to her earlier then started to grab items without really looking at
them.

‘Allow me.’  Phantasm’s cool voice murmured in her ear.  ‘Then
you can just relax and tell me all about why you felt the need to shiver on the
doorstep to talk to your Mage.’

Mistral sighed and let Phantasm take over while she pulled the suede
trousers on over her own, ‘You’ll laugh I know, because I’m sure you two saw
this days ago, but it’s just dawned on me that I’ve practically painted big
targets on us and sent us out into an archery contest at the wrong end!’

Phantasm said nothing for a moment but continued to pluck items from the
pile of fur in front of him, ‘There, these should fit,’ he finally turned to
face her, meeting her troubled look with a smile.  ‘Of course we knew
it.  But Mistral, if we weren’t together on this particular Contract then
it would only be another one, more than likely at the Council.  And I
think I fancy my chances of staying alive on a dragon hunt more than if it were
a Contract to spend time with some of the Councilors I’ve met!  We’re just
going to have to face the truth here.  We’re all going to be looking over
our shoulders until the Rochfortes are either annihilated or brought under Mage
Grapple’s rule, so please stop being such a martyr and put these on, we’re
already late!’

By the time Mistral had completed pulling on boots, hat, gloves, scarf, a
fur-lined jerkin and finally a long cloak she was feeling slightly suffocated
by all the extra clothing, ‘Now I know how Cirrus feels when he gets his winter
coat!’ 

Phantasm tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, running a critical eye over
her before he finally smiled, his angelic face glowing with the look she
detested; the one where he was pleased with the outfit he’d dressed his
life-size doll in, ‘You know Mistral, white does suit you.  You should
wear it more often.’