The Seer (77 page)

Night fell,
the stars forgave the blackness to shed their diamond bright light down on
Mistral, cantering a weary Cirrus over the rolling downs of the Moors towards a
small group of figures, their sleeping forms huddled around the glowing remnants
of a fire at the base of a high grey peak of rock.  As she slowed Cirrus
to a walk, one figure stood upright and walked towards her.  Giving a
deep, lingering sigh, Mistral blinked and gazed through her own eyes at the
tall figure striding towards her through the darkness. 

He gave a low
chuckle and reached out to take Cirrus’ reins, patting Prospero on the head
with his other hand.  ‘I wondered when you’d appear.’ 

‘Good to see
you to Brutus.’  Mistral yawned and dismounted stiffly.

‘I’ll tether
Cirrus, you sleep.’

‘Thanks,’ she
yawned again and pulled her Wolverine skin off the back of the saddle. 
‘Wake me when the shouting starts.’

Mistral was
woken what felt like only seconds later by the sound of Phantom’s voice
muttering nearby.

‘I vote for
leaving her asleep.  She’ll probably still be here when we get back.’

Cautiously
opening one eye Mistral met Fabian’s granite hard stare.  Phantasm was
stood beside him wearing a thunderous look, but it was no worse than she’d been
expecting.  At least they weren’t shouting at her … yet.

‘Morning!’ 
Mistral opted for the breezy approach.  ‘Er … Surprised?’ 

‘Not
really.’  Phantasm snapped coldly.  ‘Only you could be so utterly
irresponsible as to ride for two days solid in your condition!’

Fabian inhaled
sharply and nodded to someone behind Mistral.  She turned to see Cain with
his dreaded saddlebag held in his hands.

‘If you could
give us a moment please.’   

Cain’s voice
had a sharp edge to it and Mistral immediately spun around to look beseechingly
at Fabian but he was already striding away across the makeshift camp, the rigid
set of his shoulders telling her just how furious he was.  

Cain didn’t
speak to her until he had finished checking her blood pressure and listening to
the baby’s heartbeat.  Finally he sat back on his heels and shook his head
disgustedly at her.  ‘You and your baby are both fine.  Which is more
than you deserve!  Just what the hell were you thinking?’

Oh here we
go
... Mistral shrugged indifferently rather than be drawn into an argument. 

He continued
to glare at her, waiting for her response.  She stared sullenly back,
refusing to speak.

‘Have you
forgotten your promise?’  He finally exploded.  ‘You
swore
on
Saul’s life to listen to me!  He
died
for you Mistral!  Or
have you forgotten that as well?’

‘I’ve
forgotten nothing!’  Mistral instantly flared.  ‘And I’ll listen to
you when you stop trying to control me with guilt over Saul’s death!  You
know damned well that I would’ve traded places with him in a heartbeat! 
But I can’t!  And I won’t hide from this fight!  You need me! 
I’m coming with you and that’s final!’

‘Don’t be so
stupid!  You’re pregnant!’

‘Am I
really?  Gosh!  I hadn’t noticed!  But let me tell you this
Cain, I may be pregnant but I’m still me!  Saul would never have tried to
change me the way you all have!’

Cain snorted
angrily, ‘Saul’s better off dead than wasting his life loving a selfish –’

Mistral
flinched as though Cain had physically struck her.

He immediately
stopped and drew in a sharp breath, ‘Oh, forget I said that Mistral.’

‘No Cain.’
 Mistral said after a long pause.  ‘It was completely true.  I
am selfish, I know.  And you know what?  I’ve every right to
be!  If wanting to fight beside my husband and my brothers to protect our
future makes me selfish than I embrace that title!  And next time just
finish your sentence and call me a bitch, because I know that’s what you were
going to say… but don’t call me a whore because Fabian tends to kill people who
do that and, despite how much you annoy me, I would miss you.’

He gave a
short laugh and turned his head to look at her again, ‘But why,
why
can’t you ever be sensible?  Why do you have to be so damned reckless all
the time?  It’s going to be a bloody enough fight as it is without
worrying about you too!’

‘Worrying
about me?  I’ll be the one winning the damned fight!’  Mistral
grinned.  ‘Come on Cain, you
need
me in this fight!’

Cain blew his
cheeks out and gave her an assessing look, ‘That’s really a decision to be made
between you and Mage De Winter, not by me.  But if…
if
he were to
agree to you going then you can only shoot crossbow not longbow, and definitely
no swords.’ 

‘Haven’t even
got them with me.’  Mistral lifted her hands palm uppermost in a gesture
of innocence.  The fact that her holster no longer fitted was beside the
point.

Mistral
watched Cain pack away his saddlebag, savouring the brief moment of relief at
having made up with one brother; now there was just the small matter of the
twins … and Fabian.  She leaned back against Prospero and rummaged through
her saddlebag for the parcel of food she’d packed, unwrapping it she tore a
chunk of bread in half to share with her dog while she mused on the best way to
go about the unpleasant task that lay before her.  Apologising was out of
the question.  She wasn’t the one who had contrived to have her abducted
and imprisoned with the centaurs.  If anything, Fabian and the twins
should be apologising to her!  Sighing and pulling off another piece of
bread, Mistral abandoned the idea of that particular approach; a heated
confrontation with the twins would only waste time and send her temper into the
stratosphere, something she wanted to avoid if it meant Cain checking her blood
pressure again.  The twins ... Mistral narrowed her eyes while she tried
to remember something Phantasm had said to her the night she’d returned from
the centaur tribe … he’d asked why she had to make every stage of her life such
a battle … Mistral smiled grimly and wiped the bread crumbs from her
hands.  It was time to take a leaf out of the twins’ book and become a
little devious.

Closing her
eyes, Mistral let her body go limp and her mind empty, allowing the vision of
Bellicose La Monte’s hooded face to manifest in the grey void.  Having
seen a vampire in its unadorned form through Malachi’s subconscious, Mistral
now knew why Bellicose kept the hood of his cloak fully drawn at all
times.  Foregoing the image of the abhorrent creatures Malachi’s mind had
afforded her, Mistral focussed instead on Bellicose’s eyes; twin orbs of red staring
at her with malign hatred.  She sunk down into their crimson depths,
submersing herself in his mind. 

Disjointed
thoughts jarred her mind.  Fragments of sentences, more noises uttered
with intense feeling rather than coherent words.  A manic excitement
overwhelmed her as she shared in the uncontrollable bloodlust that gripped him.

‘So
good
–’

The long drawn
out sigh of pleasure held no satisfaction.  Unquenched by the warm liquid
flooding her mouth, the raw thirst that clawed at her throat burned on
relentlessly, demanding more.  She leapt up with frightening speed,
bounding away on all fours after one of the many stumbling figures trying
desperately to flee from the nightmare creatures hunting them.  Mistral
felt the thrill of her sharp teeth sinking into warm flesh.  The hot,
salty blood that flooded her mouth was richer than any wine she’d ever drunk
and far more intoxicating.  With a savage growl, Bellicose began to rip
frenziedly at his victim’s body, tearing the skin, drinking the life giving liquid
that he craved.

A spasm of
revulsion gave Mistral back the control she needed.  Detaching herself
from the overpowering hold of Bellicose’s bloodlust, she looked out through his
eyes.  Seeing the dying body in his hands Mistral felt a shock of recognition
but quickly pushed it aside and forced her mind to focus on the details at the
edge of Bellicose’s peripheral vision, trying to see something significant that
would help identify where the tribe were hunting.  She could just make out
a large spike of rock rising up at the head of the gorge where the tribe had
trapped their prey.  The rock had a distinctive abnormality that would
make it easily recognisable to anyone who knew the area.  Dragging her
unwilling gaze away from the rock, Mistral forced herself not to hear the
sickening gurgling sounds or see the flecks of blood flying up in front of her
eyes, but looked at the other creatures feeding, seeing not their gruesome
actions but their numbers.  She counted the white crouched figures twice over
before allowing her mind to fly back to the safety of her body.  She had
Seen enough.  Immediately wrapping her arms around Prospero she buried her
face into his fur and inhaled deeply of his honest, earthy scent. 

‘Where were
you?’  a voice asked tersely.

‘Bellicose La
Monte,’ she replied, not lifting her head out of Prospero’s fur.

A silence
fell.

‘Oh, very
clever.’

‘You wouldn’t
say that if you’d just Seen what I have.’

Relinquishing
her hold on Prospero, Mistral turned to meet Phantasm’s green eyes.  Noting
the conflicting anger and curiosity in them she permitted herself a moment of
satisfaction.  Her plan would work.

Phantasm
caught her fleeting look and his face hardened, ‘I doubt Mage De Winter will be
fooled by you blatantly trying to make yourself indispensable.  Good luck
with that one Mistral.’ 

He abruptly
rose to his feet and stalked away, leaving Mistral with a clear view of Fabian
striding towards her.

‘Oh no, save
me Prospero!’  she moaned, steeling herself to meet Fabian’s flinty look.

‘So she just
turned up during the night then?’  Xerxes asked while he saddled his
horse.

‘Like a bad
penny!’  Brutus laughed and flung a saddle cloth over his own horse’s
back. 

‘Well, you
can’t keep a good warrior down I always say.’  Xerxes quipped and paused
from tightening his horse’s girth to look over at Mistral, who appeared to be
accusing Fabian of something from the way she was jabbing a finger in his
direction.  ‘I’ve got no objections to her coming with us.  Mistral’s
a good shot with the crossbow, and we don’t even know how many we’re going to
be facing.  But I seriously have no idea how she’s going to get round Mage
De Winter though.  That chat they’re having looks a bit intense.’

Brutus
followed his brother’s gaze and gave a half-shrug, ‘I’m fairly sure that’s a
conversation they’re going to have a lot during their life.’

‘Is she coming
then?  Only we need to be moving on.’  Samson’s gravelly voice held a
note of irritation. 

‘You can count
on it.’  Phantom replied wearily.  ‘Mage De Winter is completely
incapable of saying no to Mistral.’

‘Wise man.’
 Samson muttered and swung himself into the saddle.  ‘Right! 
Grendel, get that damned stallion at the back where he can’t kick any of the
other horses today!  Mistral?  Fabian?  What’s the verdict?’

They responded
simultaneously.

‘I’m coming!’

‘Mistral is
staying.’

Samson let out
an exasperated breath, ‘You’ve got five minutes!’

Mistral spun
around to face Fabian again, her anger replaced by despair, ‘You can’t leave me
again!  I can’t bear it!  I have to be with you!’

‘You will
be.  I will remain behind with you.’

‘No! 
Didn’t you hear what I just Saw!  There were fifteen vampires
feeding!  Even with me shooting crossbow we’re outnumbered.  We both
have to go!’

Fabian’s
expression was unyielding.  She didn’t need to hear him speak to know what
he was going to say; so she did what she had been longing to do since arriving
in the middle of the night.

‘That’s not
going to work either,’ he muttered, slowly disengaging her arms from around his
neck.

‘I don’t
care!  If I’m never going to see you again the least you can do is kiss me
back!’

‘Don’t be so
dramatic Mistral,’ he snapped.  ‘Of course you’re going to see me
again.  I just said that I won’t leave you.’

‘Much as I
hate to break up this touching moment, we really need to be going!’ 
Samson shouted.

‘Ah, but where
to Samson?’  Mistral called back.  ‘Or are you a Seer too?’

‘What?’

‘Damn
it!  She’s been spending far too much time with us!’  Phantom hissed
to his brother who nodded back disapprovingly.

‘Look Mistral,
we don’t have time to play games!  If you’ve Seen something then we need
to know about it!  Now!’

‘I’m not
playing games Samson.’  Mistral strode over to glare up at him, startling
his mare with the abruptness of her actions.  ‘I’m just pointing out that
you need me with you!’

Fabian quickly
moved over to stand beside her.  Placing both hands on her shoulders he
turned her to face him.  ‘Did you also See where they were Mistral?’ 
he demanded urgently.

‘Yes … but,’
she held his gaze and took a deep breath.  ‘I’m not telling you where they
are.’

Samson laughed
humourlessly but Fabian’s eyes darkened, burning into hers with an intensity
that crumbled her will to dust in seconds.  She clenched her hands into
fists and closed her eyes, digging up the strength to resist the commanding
power of his gaze.  ‘I won’t tell you,’ she repeated firmly.  ‘But I
will show you.’

‘That’s
settled then.’  Samson said shortly.  ‘She’s coming.’

‘No she is
not.’ 

‘Fabian, see
sense!’  Samson urged.  ‘The Northern Range is huge!  We could
easily miss them if they’re out hunting somewhere!  Mistral can take us
straight to them!’

‘Or we could
simply travel directly to the Council and petition Mage Grapple for the
protection of his warlocks.’  Phantasm suggested quietly.