The Assassin's Tale (Isle of Dreams) (63 page)

She
deliberately left out the part about Golden evoking a strong reaction of
disgust.  She felt they’d already spent quite enough time discussing the
half-nymph for one evening.

The door to
the tavern suddenly banged opened and the other first year apprentices streamed
in.  The twins wandered over to their table.  Phantom was smiling but
Phantasm’s face bore the same reserved expression of the last time he had
spoken with Fabian.

‘Mage De
Winter,’ he greeted Fabian politely with a nod of his head.

‘Phantasm,
would you and your brother care to join us for a drink?’  Fabian asked
amiably. 

Phantasm hesitated
and Mistral glared at him, sure he was about to refuse.

‘Thank you,’
he murmured, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

‘I’ll get
them,’ said Phantom brightly, turning and swiftly making his way to the bar to
return a few seconds later with his hands full of tankards.

‘Mistral said
you were at the Council this week,’ Phantom said conversationally as he set the
tankards down on the table and took a seat.  ‘How is the thriving centre
of our Isle these days?’

‘The same,’
Fabian gave a dismissive shrug.  ‘A lot of talk and not much action,
although Putreo was looking decidedly chagrined.  Eximius had stripped him
of a few privileges since his underhand tactics with Rufus and St Martine.’

‘I’d like to
have been a fly on the wall when he did that,’ chuckled Phantom.  ‘I used
to be terrified of Count Putreo as a child.  He was so sinister! 
Always appearing from around dark corners when you least expected it.’

Fabian smiled
thinly, ‘Putreo does not have many redeeming features.’

‘Was Mage
De’ath at the meeting?’  Phantasm asked in a deliberately light
voice. 

Mistral
glanced at him; Vilius De’ath was his mother’s husband.

Fabian frowned
while he tried to remember before shaking his head, ‘No, I haven’t seen Vilius
for a while.  I think he’s been sent on a long-term placement abroad.’

Phantasm
nodded tightly and Phantom hid his face in his tankard to take a long drink,
reminding Mistral of a story she wanted to tell Fabian.

‘I missed the
famous basilisk liquor the other night,’ she said, smiling when the twins
cringed.

Fabian
laughed, ‘Floris isn’t still brewing that vile stuff is he?  I thought it
would have been listed as a banned poison by now!’

‘Not wishing
to change the subject –’ said Phantom with a shudder.

‘But you’re
going to anyway,’ laughed Mistral.

‘We all have a
meeting with Master Sphinx in the morning in the Refectory to find out about
the hunt.  Apparently we’ve been divided into small hunting groups. 
A notice has been put on the Contracts board.’

‘Have you seen
it?’  Mistral asked, leaning forward with sudden interest.

‘Yes.’

‘And?’ 
Mistral demanded impatiently.

‘And
what?’  Phantom asked with a puzzled look.

‘Who am I
with?’  Mistral almost shouted.  ‘Because if Leo has put me with
Columbine then I’m leaving right now!

‘Ah,
yes.  Well ... we’re sorry to tell you –’ Phantom began, looking sadly at
her.

‘No!  Not
Columbine!  We’ll end up hunting each other!’

‘Mistral,
can’t you tell when Phantom is winding you up yet?’  Phantasm said with an
exasperated sigh.

‘That you’ve
got us!’  Phantom finished with a grin.

‘I don’t know
whether to be happy or punch you!’  Mistral snapped.

‘Do
both.  You usually do,’ muttered Phantom from the depths of his
tankard. 

Fabian laughed
quietly and looked at Phantasm, ‘Do they always fight like this?’

Phantasm
nodded, ‘It can get tiring,’ he admitted with a sigh.  ‘But on a serious
note, we need an early night.  Staying out overnight in December is not
something we want to do unprepared.’

‘I’ve got a
wolf skin I brought with me from … before,’ Mistral said, shooting a quick
glance in Fabian’s direction. 

She hadn’t
talked about her dull upbringing in Nevelte yet and cursed inwardly at the
flicker of interest she saw register on his face.  It looked like she was
going to have to relive that boring story again later. 

‘That would be
handy.  It wasn’t one of the Blackheart Wolverines was it?’  Phantom
asked hopefully.

‘I wish,’
muttered Mistral.  ‘I swear I’m going to have one of those foul mutts as a
doormat so I can wipe my boots on it every day.’

Fabian gave
her a stern look, ‘No hunting one without me, remember?’  

‘Of course
not!’  Mistral agreed slightly too quickly. 

‘Oh, there’s
one more thing you need to know.  We’ve an interview apiece with the
Divinus on Saturday morning,’ said Phantom casually.

Mistral’s face
fell.  She had been hoping to spend all day Saturday with Fabian.

‘How long will
that last?’

‘Funnily
enough, I didn’t ask him when he popped by to invite us!’  Phantom replied
sarcastically.

‘It’s to
assess our gifts Mistral,’ Phantasm said quietly.

‘So in your
case it won’t take long at all.’  Phantom said waspishly.  ‘And do
please try not to lie in.  It really won’t do you any favours to be
late.  We’ve been summoned up to his eyrie straight after breakfast.’

‘Great,
Saturday just keeps getting better!  A meeting with the Divinus in the
morning and an evening spent in the Main Hall being bored to death,’ Mistral
sighed, dispiritedly twisting her empty tankard in her hands. 

‘Then I think
we had better make the most of what precious free time you have,’ smiled
Fabian, rising to his feet and holding out his hand towards her.

Grinning in a
most unladylike way, Mistral sprang to her feet and bounded around to his side
of the table.  Slipping her hand into his she followed him across the busy
tavern.

‘Don’t be late
for breakfast this time!’  Phantom called loudly, causing a few laughs
from around the packed room. 

Mistral sighed
and melted blissfully against Fabian’s warm side, wrapped beneath his arm while
they walked up the path to the Refectory.  Maybe Bonding wasn’t too scary
if it felt like this for most of the time …

‘I’m looking
forward to hearing about the wolf skin,’ murmured Fabian into her ear.

Mistral
groaned and the feeling of contentment faded slightly, ‘Let’s eat first,’ she said
quickly.

‘Now who’s
avoiding the subject,’ laughed Fabian.

‘No, I’m
not.  I will tell you anything you want to know, it’s just that my
upbringing with my adoptive parents was definitely not very exciting, quite the
opposite actually.’

Fabian looked
at her curiously, ‘Did you ever know your parents?’

Mistral shook
her head, ‘I’m an orphan, I think … no-one knows what blood I have,’ she said
then added.  ‘I personally don’t care, but it seems to obsess the twins
and Serenity … and Leo too.’

‘I’m sure it does,’
said Fabian broodingly.  ‘A gift like yours can only come from certain
blood-lines.’

‘Does it
bother you?  That I don’t know who – or what I am?’  Mistral asked,
looking at him anxiously.

Fabian stopped
walking and turned to face her, holding her away slightly so that he could look
into her eyes.

‘Not in the
slightest.  I already know what you are.’

Mistral stared
at him, ‘You do?’

Fabian nodded,
his eyes burning into hers, ‘You are mine.’

Mistral awoke
in the half-light of dawn feeling a deep sense of happiness knowing the long
body she was resting against and the arms around her were those of her Mage.
 He was still asleep, his breathing deep and regular against her
hair.  Sliding reluctantly from his embrace, Mistral swung her feet to the
floor and stood up, still fully dressed at Fabian’s insistence. 

Today was the
hunt.  Her saddlebag lay already packed on the floor beside her bed with
her swords and crossbow propped up against the wall next to them.
 Slipping silently from her room, Mistral padded softly down the corridor
for a shower before anyone else was up.  She was surprised to see
candlelight glowing beneath the door of the room that Columbine shared with
Golden.  It was unusual for them to be up so early, or maybe Golden had
been forced to spend a night in her own room for a change and couldn’t sleep
because of Columbine’s snoring.

Returning
after a rare hot shower Mistral hurried back along the corridor and pushed open
her door, filled with the sudden fear of finding the room empty and Fabian to
have left without saying goodbye.

Mistral let
out a sigh of relief at the sight of the lean figure stretched out asleep on
her bed.  He was even more perfect in sleep with his dark hair spread
across the pillow in a black halo.  Stealing barefoot over to the bed
Mistral gazed down at his pale features, trying to absorb every detail; the
long sweep of jet black eyelashes against the ivory skin of his cheek, the
perfect curve of his lips.  Unable to resist, she bent and kissed him.

He immediately
responded and pulled her back onto the bed.

‘Good
morning,’ he murmured, sighing deeply.  ‘I could get used to being woken
up like that.’

‘I could get
used to waking you up like that.  See, a night with me wasn’t so bad, was
it?’

‘No, your
snoring was acceptable.’

‘I do not
snore!’ 

Fabian laughed
softly and kissed her again, ‘No, you don’t, and waking up with you was worth
riding through the night for, but you know I couldn’t do that every night … and
I don’t think you could either.’

‘I often sleep
in my clothes,’ she said innocently.

‘Don’t be
obtuse, you know what I’m referring to,’ he murmured, deliberately caressing
her neck with his warm breath and making her eyes close involuntarily.
 When he touched the soft skin under her jaw with the ghost of a kiss, a
shiver ran down Mistral’s spine.

‘I think I’ve
proved my point,’ he said, abruptly sitting up and setting Mistral firmly on
her feet beside the bed.

Flushed and
slightly dazed, Mistral gazed at him wordlessly for a long moment before taking
a deep breath and giving herself a mental shake.

‘You’ve proved
nothing.’  Mistral tried for aloof and indifferent and almost managed
it.  ‘I am in perfect control.  Breakfast?’ 

Fabian grinned
wolfishly at her, ‘You’re prepared to walk in the Refectory for breakfast with
me?  You do realise that you will be making a declaration of war? 
You’ll be teased to death!’

Mistral
shrugged and looked suddenly moody, ‘If they think that something has been
going on I might feel a bit better about the truth.’

‘Oh Mistral,’
Fabian sighed and opened his arms.  ‘Let me tell you the truth.’ 

Her sullen
mood melted like snow beneath sun as she slid back into his arms.  She
listened to the velvet sound of his voice and knew with absolute certainty that
she was incapable of denying him anything, ever.

‘There is
nothing I want more than you, but I love you enough to wait.  Can you find
it in your heart to do the same for me?’

Mistral
sighed, ‘I suppose I’ll try.’

‘Well that
will just have to be good enough,’ he laughed.  ‘Now, are you ready to
face breakfast?’

Unwilling to
relinquish her place in his arms, Mistral tilted her head to look up at him,
clinging desperately to the last few seconds of being alone with him.  

‘Where are you
going after breakfast?’ she asked, trying to keep the note of panic from her
voice that the thought of him leaving her immediately caused.

He smiled down
at her and lifted a hand to stroke her hair, running his hand softly down its
length to linger at her waist. 

‘Home … but
I’ll be back here on Saturday.’

Mistral’s eyes
widened and she grinned, ‘Really?’

‘Do you think
I would miss out on the Qualification celebrations in The Cloak and
Dagger?  Floris has something behind the bar that makes the basilisk
liquor look like a kidney flush!’  he smiled widely at her outraged
expression before dropping a gentle kiss onto her pouting mouth.  ‘I don’t
think I could actually stand to be away from you for longer than that,’ he
added more softly.    

Slightly
mollified, Mistral allowed herself to be set down onto her feet again and bent
to collect her saddlebag, swords and crossbow.

Rising from
her bed and stretching, Fabian reached over and took the saddlebag from her,
slinging it lightly over his shoulder before he collected his cloak from the
end of the bed.

‘Gentlemanly
to the last,’ grumbled Mistral and opened the door.

They didn’t
cause the stir that Fabian had predicted by walking into the Refectory
together, there were too many conversations going on about the mysterious focus
of their hunt.  Collecting bowls of porridge from the large iron pot on
the counter, Mistral and Fabian joined the twins at a table.  They were
dressed ready for travel with their heavy cloaks rolled up on the table beside
their bulging saddlebags. 

‘Aren’t you
packed?’  Phantom said, looking in askance at her lack of saddlebag.

‘Done,’
Mistral said smugly as Fabian wordlessly slid her saddlebag onto the table.

Phantom lifted
an eyebrow but made no comment, ‘Wolf skin?’ he demanded slightly petulantly.

‘Packed,’
confirmed Fabian.  ‘And what an interesting story that was –’

‘Oh you heard
all about Mistral Junior did you?’  Phantom asked with a grin.  ‘Did
she mention the puddle story – ow!’

‘Sorry
Phantom, my foot slipped,’ said Mistral, innocently spooning porridge into her
mouth while Phantom bent to rub his shin.

Fabian
chuckled softly and bent over his own porridge.

‘Have you got
your knife belt handy Mistral?’  Phantasm asked while he rummaged
distractedly through his own saddlebag.  ‘Only I think I’ve packed mine
right at the bottom.  I hope I don’t need it straight away –’

‘Never leave
without it,’ confirmed Mistral, indicating with her porridge laden spoon to the
glistening row of knives strapped around her waist.

The air of
excitement in the room intensified as the time of Leo’s arrival
approached.  The apprentices were so close to their goal now. 
Qualification and freedom were in sight.  Everything they had trained so
hard to achieve over the last year was suddenly within their grasp. 

‘I’d better
make my departure,’ said Fabian quietly rising to his feet.  ‘I don’t
think Leo will appreciate my presence.’  

Swiftly
dropping a kiss onto the top of Mistral’s head he turned and walked with
familiar loping grace between the tables, exiting the room and vanishing from
Mistral’s lingering gaze.   

‘Right!’ 
Phantom said, snapping his fingers in front of her face.  ‘Now can you
please focus?’

‘If you ever
click your fingers in my face again I will be wearing them as jewellery!’

‘Nice threat,
like to see you carry it out though!’  Phantom scoffed.

Heaving a deep
sigh, Phantasm rested his head in his hands while Mistral and Phantom
bickered.  They only stopped when Leo finally entered the room, for once
without the menacing addition of his Lieutenants.

A tense
silence fell while every pair of eyes watched him striding purposefully down
the aisle between the tables.  Mistral stole a glance at Golden.  Her
eyes were locked on Leo, the expression on her face was scathing, almost
contemptuous.  Mistral could immediately see that Leo had made a vengeful,
if not dangerous enemy by spurning her.

Leo turned
abruptly at the counter and faced the sea of expectant faces before him. 
He paused dramatically then slowly drew out his sword and placed it, point
down, in front of him.  Resting both hands on the hilt he leaned forward
slightly and surveyed the room with his icy blue gaze.

‘I sincerely
hope that you have all remembered yours,’ he turned his sword, the point
squealing against the floor.  ‘Because the prey you are being sent to hunt
has a hide that cannot easily be pierced by arrows or bolts –’

Mistral felt a
tingle of excitement and began to mentally run through all of the bizarre
creatures on the Isle.  Most were notoriously tough-skinned and many were
poisonous.  She suddenly hoped it wasn’t another troll.

‘It is fast,
resourceful and merciless,’ Leo continued in a ringing voice.  ‘Your prey
is also blessed with formidable strength and an innate desire to kill.  Be
warned, if you fail in your attack, it will not.’

A shiver ran
down Mistral’s spine.  She stole a glance at Phantasm and saw from the
look on his face that he was thinking the same as her.

‘I want each
party to bring me back a Blackheart Wolverine!’ 

Mistral
immediately felt eyes boring into the back of her head.  She shifted
uncomfortably and turned to see Saul staring at her. 

‘Mage De
Winter’s going to be furious,’ Phantom muttered to Mistral, taking a drink of
water to hide his words from Leo. 

‘Make a nice
rug though.’  Mistral quipped with a lightness she didn’t feel. 

In truth, her
desire for revenge on the wolverines had been dampened by the knowledge that
they were running in the same forests as a band of elves planning to use her
and the other apprentices for target practise.

‘Do you think
Leo knows about the elves?’  Phantom hissed, as though reading her mind.

‘Definitely.’
 Mistral muttered back.  ‘He probably thinks they’ll add a bit of
spice to our hunt!’

‘You should
all know which hunting party you have been placed in by now.’  Leo
continued loudly.  ‘I want all parties to have left within the hour. 
There will be no joining up and hunting together.  I have sent my
Lieutenants into the forest to split the pack into four smaller groups to allow
each party an equal chance of success.  Some have been driven up onto the
mountains, others left to roam the forests ... you will need all your tracking
skills to find your quarry. 

‘Questions?’ 
Leo’s icy gaze raked the room, challenging any apprentice to dare raise their
hand. 

Mistral toyed
with the idea of asking some inane question just to annoy him but a sharp look
from Phantasm stopped her.

‘Good,’ Leo
said in a satisfied tone.  ‘We will all meet again in the village square
at sunset tomorrow.’ 

‘Who got
Grendel?’  Mistral whispered urgently while Leo swept from the room. 

‘Xerxes and
Brutus,’ Phantom whispered back.  ‘Do you know what?  I actually envy
them having Grendel with them on the hunt,’ he added, echoing Mistral’s
thoughts.  ‘His stink will probably keep the wolverines away but if they
are daft enough to attack he’ll squash them like rats!’

‘Who’re in the
other two groups?’  Mistral asked, her mind doing swift
calculations. 

‘Konrad, Golden
and Columbine make up another hunting party, huh!  That one’ll be a barrel
of laughs!  And the last group is just Cain and Saul.’

‘Just two of
them?  They’ll be massacred!’  

‘Not if the
Lieutenants really have split the pack,’ replied Phantom.

‘Oh you
reckon?  Don’t you think it’s more likely that they’ve just cleared off
for a drinking session in one of the villages?  They don’t care about what
we’re going to be facing.’  Mistral said scathingly.  ‘There were six
of us the last time we tried to hunt those wolverines and we were
outnumbered.  They would’ve ripped us apart if those elves hadn’t turned
up.’

‘The elves had
a pretty good go at trying to kill us as well!’  

Mistral
narrowed her eyes, ‘Hmm, I’m starting to think that it makes sense about Leo
forbidding us from hunting the pack back in the summer.  He must’ve
already had them in mind for our Qualification Hunt.’

‘Definitely,’
Phantom agreed in a low voice.  ‘In fact, I’m willing to bet that he
ordered the Contract on one of those elves himself just to stir them up and
keep us from being able to hunt in The Velvet Forests.’

Mistral
snorted, ‘That’s pushing it a bit brother!’

‘Is it?’

‘Yes.’ 
Mistral said firmly then frowned.  ‘But there is something Leo said that’s
puzzling me.  If the wolverines’ hides really are nearly immune to arrows
then why did they run when the elves turned up?’

‘I’ve been
thinking about that too.’  Phantasm joined in the conversation, his
expression thoughtful.  ‘They must have been using Elven Song.’