The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (19 page)

‘Er, is this really
necessary?’  Phantom asked, hesitating at the doorway.

‘Yes.’  Fabian replied
shortly.  ‘No-one in their right mind would get in a stable with this
horse.  We will not be disturbed.’

‘Shouldn’t we be guarding the
delegates?’  Phantasm enquired in a more reasonable tone.

‘Eximius has two warlocks on duty
in the banqueting hall.  He knows that I needed to speak with you, which I
still do, so please hurry up and get in this stable.’  Fabian grunted and
shoved Cirrus back while the twins hurried into the stable.

Mistral looked around the stable
in astonishment.  It was easily the size of two stalls in the Valley
yard.  She turned in a slow circle, taking in the white-washed walls and
acres of deep straw.  She let out a cry of pleasure when her gaze fell
upon her tack, crossbow and saddlebag stacked neatly on a bale of straw at the
back.  She rushed over, falling upon her saddlebag to tug out some bread
and cold venison wrapped in a linen cloth.

‘It’s been searched,’ she said
with a frown, noticing that her medical kit was undone.

‘Of course it has.’  Fabian
replied, looking out over the half-door at the stableyard.  His survey
complete, he turned sharply to face her.  ‘Did you manage to conceal a
knife?’ 

‘Yes.  I’ve got a dagger in
my boot.’

‘Same here.’  the twins
murmured in unison.

‘Good.  Now, tell me
everything that you have seen over the last couple of days.’  Fabian strode
across the stable to sit next to her, his gaze fixed intently on hers. 

‘Um, well.’  she quickly
swallowed a mouthful of bread.  ‘You’re right about Guillane.  He’s
got a violent streak a mile wide; Antoine’s aura was more positive though, lots
of purpose and intent … er, there was nothing to worry about in Etienne’s or
Christophe’s –’

Fabian stiffened, ‘You are a
terrible liar Mistral.’

She dropped her gaze and fiddled
with the parcel of food in her lap, ‘Well nothing you should worry about
anyway.’

‘What happened by the lake?’

‘Nothing!’  Mistral replied
quickly and forced herself to meet Fabian’s eyes.  ‘He told me his name
but Prospero growled at him and that was it.  I swear he didn’t try and do
anything Fabian.’

She held his gaze, willing herself
not to look away while his black stare scorched into hers.  After what
felt like an eternity, Fabian nodded.

‘I believe you.’ 

The matter apparently closed, he
abruptly switched to another subject entirely. 

‘What of Putreo?’

Mistral pulled a face, ‘Greed,
envy, ambition, purpose and –’ she paused and bit her lip, betraying the
anxiety she felt, ‘a lot of anger when he looked at you.’

Fabian shrugged unconcernedly,
‘And the Council officials?’

‘Ambition and greed.’

‘Ah, the essential ingredients to
Council life.’  Phantasm sighed.

Fabian switched his gaze to
Phantasm, ‘You are correct.  Such emotions are perfectly normal, expected
even, however the Rochforte delegation will be bringing out the worst in
them.  Everyone will be trying to ingratiate themselves with the cousins
in the event of their petition being successful.  Antoine would make a
powerful ally.’

‘Talking of people who have
powerful friends, just how did Columbine get to be working here?’  Mistral
suddenly asked.

Fabian looked at her, ‘It appears
that she is working for Putreo in a bodyguarding capacity as a personal favour
to his new wife.’

Phantasm exhaled sharply, ‘She
worked fast!’

‘That
is
impressive!’  Phantom agreed.  ‘She could teach our mother a thing or
two!’

‘Who are you two talking
about?’  Mistral demanded irritably.

‘Golden of course!’  Phantom
exclaimed.

Mistral stared at him, ‘I’m sorry
to sound stupid.  But are you actually telling me that
Golden
is
Putreo’s wife?’

‘I think she prefers to be known
as Countess Darke these days.’  Fabian said quietly.

Mistral scowled, ‘Oh joy. 
Columbine and Golden in my soon to be new place of work.  I can’t wait.’

‘Please concentrate
Mistral.’  Fabian snapped.  ‘We don’t have much time to work this
out.’

He sprang to his feet and began
to pace across the stable, his head bent in thought.  Mistral and the
twins watched his silent pacing for a few minutes until Mistral sighed and
returned to her parcel of food.  If Fabian was going to be lost in thought
for a while then she might as well be full while he did it.  Tearing off
another piece of bread and taking some cold meat, Mistral passed the parcel
over to the twins.

They had all finished eating by
the time Fabian stopped pacing and spoke again. 

‘Columbine will undoubtedly have
informed Putreo of your aura reading ability, and of the twins Gemini power.’

‘Without a doubt.’  Mistral
agreed.  ‘Gossiping witch.  But please eat Fabian.’ 

Fabian distractedly accepted the
food Mistral held out, his eyes narrowed in thought, ‘He cannot be directly involved
in any efforts to sabotage the outcome of the meeting since your joint skills
would alert us to his intentions and also permit us to influence his
mind.  So, that begs the question, what devious plan will he have laid in
place?’ 

Fabian tossed the last of his
bread to Prospero and resumed his pacing.  He halted at the far side of
the stable and turned to face them, ‘I fear this is going to be more bad than
good.’

‘Why?’  Phantom promptly
asked.  ‘As you said, he knows of our gifts.  Maybe he realises that
he’s been outmanoeuvred and will simply accept the Council’s decision to allow
the Rochfortes sanctuary on the Isle.’

Fabian scowled, ‘Putreo
capitulate?  It is not in his nature to ever admit defeat.  He will
do anything to protect his position of privilege and having Antoine take a
higher position in the Council will be more than he can abide.  This will
have driven him to take extreme actions in order to achieve his desired outcome
... but I cannot predict what those actions will be.  How can he hide from
us?  We will be able to read every emotion in his twisted mind and
influence his every thought!’ 

Fabian frowned in frustration and
ran a hand through his tousled hair before looking up, his gaze no longer angry
but resolute.

‘We prepare for a fight.’

Mistral smiled and the twins
shared a brief look before nodding in unison. 

Fabian began pacing again, ‘We
have backed him into a corner.  Bloodshed of some kind is the only option
left open to him now.’

‘Is there any chance of getting
our weapons back?’  Mistral asked hopefully.

‘None.’  Fabian turned to
meet her gaze, his eyes flat.  ‘We will deal with whatever happens however
we can.  In light of this, I want to change our original plan.  If
you are all in agreement then I think we should drop the pretence of why you
are really here.  Thanks to Columbine, I am sure Putreo will have happily
revealed who you truly are to Antoine in the hope of gaining his trust. 
So, Phantom and Phantasm?  I want you to sit next to each other.  You
will need to be together to use your gift more effectively.  If it comes
to a fight, try to influence the Mage sat to Eximius’ right.  He is the
Captain of the Guard and will control the warlocks.

‘Mistral?’

Mistral met his sombre black gaze
and would have laid her life down for him in a heartbeat.

‘Stay by my side.’

She nodded once then abruptly
frowned.

‘What is it?’  he asked
quickly.

‘Prospero.’

‘Prosper will regretfully not be
allowed in the meeting.  However, that is probably a blessing.  If
spells are cast he would be unprotected.’

Mistral automatically reached
down to rub the solid head of her loyal dog.  She had no doubt that he
would die trying to protect her and felt just as fiercely the desire for that
never to happen.

Fabian drew in a deep breath,
‘Are we in agreement?’

They all nodded.

‘Then I feel it is time we made
our way back to the Council chambers.  The meeting will be starting soon.’

Phantom and Phantasm began making
last minute checks to their armour, adjusting the straps and ensuring that
their knives were concealed beneath the cuff of their boots.  Mistral
quickly checked her own before glancing at Fabian to see him looking at her,
the expression on his face unreadable.

‘Why is it that whenever you are
involved the situation suddenly becomes life threatening?’ 

‘You’ve finally noticed that have
you?’  Phantom sighed.  ‘It does get a bit tiresome.’

‘I disagree.’  Fabian’s
voice was soft, his eyes locked on Mistral’s.

Taking the hint, the twins left
the stable quietly.  Neither Fabian nor Mistral noticed them go.

Alone for the first time in days,
Fabian walked over to sit beside her.  He opened his arms and she
immediately slid onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and tilting
her face up to gaze at him.  She could live a lifetime lost in the dark
shine of his eyes, longer in the sculptured planes of his face, so effortlessly
perfect that angels must surely have wept when he was born.  She lifted a
finger to slowly trace the rough edge of his unshaven jaw until her fingertip
touched the soft skin of his lips.  She traced them once, then again
before he abruptly kissed her.  

A long moment passed before
either of them spoke again.  With a deep sigh Fabian released her and set
her lightly on her feet.

‘It’s time to go.’

Giving Cirrus a final pat and
instructing Prospero to stay, Mistral followed Fabian out of the stable. 
Despite his earlier lecture on propriety he held her hand during the walk back
to the Council, only releasing his hold on her when they climbed the stairs and
joined the twins waiting beside the double doors leading into the atrium.

‘Ready?’

Fabian nodded to the two warlocks
who instantly sprang into action, opening the double doors to allow them to
enter.   

Mistral walked by Fabian’s side
across the marble floored atrium, their booted steps echoing loudly in the vast
emptiness.  He strode towards a row of black doors in the back wall and
without hesitating opened one of them then stepped aside to allow Mistral to
enter first.

For the second time in as many
hours Mistral found herself awestruck by the room she walked into.  She
was stood at the top of a huge and thankfully empty room.  It was circular
with marble benches dropping down in arcing tiers to meet the floor.  The
floors and walls were tiled in white marble like the atrium and it was also
just as bright.  She looked up, expecting to see hundreds of vast
candelabras but saw instead the glass cupola she had noticed from the
moors.  Light poured in, filling the white room with eye-watering brilliance,
providing no dark corners to hide in.  Here was a room where every facial
expression, every lie and gesture would be starkly exposed.  Mistral was
suddenly impressed by the clever design of the room and perhaps even a little
by the person responsible for its creation; Mage Grapple.

‘Eximius will be seated
there.  His Captain of the Guard will be on his right and Antoine will be
on his left.’  Fabian indicated to three chairs placed on the central
floor space.  The chairs were placed back against the edge of the circle,
facing the door with their backs to the second flight of steps running up the
marble tiers.  ‘They will be visible to all and in return, all will be
visible to them.  The cousins will be seated nearby on the lowest marble
tier.  Warlocks are not permitted within the Council chamber during
meetings; however two will be guarding the door outside.’

‘Does he know we’ve been
compromised?’  Phantasm asked.

‘Yes.’

The twins nodded and Mistral
gazed around the room speculatively.

‘Where do you want us to
be?’ 

‘We will be up there.’
 Fabian indicated to a row to the right of where Mage Grapple would be
seated.  ‘And Phantom and Phantasm in direct line of sight on the opposite
side.’

‘What about Putreo?’

‘He holds a seat facing Eximius
on the centre bench.’

She frowned, ‘Will he bring
Columbine into the meeting?’

‘No.  The same rule applies
to bodyguards as it does warlocks.  This is meant to be a place of
negotiation, not bloodshed.’

Mistral raised an eyebrow but
said nothing.

The door to the chamber suddenly
opened, ending their discussion.  The first Council officials began to
make their way to their seats, talking loudly, their faces flushed from an
indulgent lunch.

Fabian quickly nodded to the
twins.  They immediately turned and walked down the stairs to take their
allocated seats.  Taking hold of Mistral’s hand, Fabian guided her to
along the row opposite until they reached their seats.  They did not speak
while the room slowly filled up, the level of noise rising until she and Fabian
would have had to shout to hear each other.  She felt Fabian stir when
Putreo entered and took his seat precisely where Fabian had said he
would. 

All noise abruptly ceased when
Mage Grapple swept into the room.  He strode down the stairs, oblivious to
the chill his presence seemed to bring and assumed his seat in silence. 
Mistral studied his scarred features.  He looked exactly the same as when
she had first seen him on the ride to Blackneath the previous year.  The
stern set of his features, the closely cropped grey hair, the unsettling opaque
eye beneath the long jagged scar running the length of his face.  It was
all unnervingly familiar. 

A thickset man took the seat on
his left, leaving Mistral to assume that he was the Captain of the Guard. 
Mage Grapple gave no indication of acknowledging his Captain’s presence but
stared rigidly ahead.  The atmosphere in the chamber tightened. 
Everyone joined Mage Grapple in staring at the door, anticipating the
Rochfortes’ entrance.  As the seconds lengthened into minutes Mistral felt
a sudden tension radiating from Fabian and knew that something was wrong.