‘I fear so.’
They had reached Mistral’s door and Phantom leaned his ear against the wood before he knocked.
‘You have to stop doing that!’ Phantasm hissed.
‘I know, sorry. Force of habit. Hang on ... I think she’s crying –’
Phantasm frowned and rapped on the door.
‘Come in!’ Mistral called brightly.
The twins shared a puzzled look and slowly pushed the door open, poking their blonde heads cautiously through the gap to gaze into her room.
‘Are you alright?’ Phantom asked, eyeing her cheerful expression dubiously.
‘Yes,’ she grinned. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘Only the obvious.’ Phantasm stepped into her room and peered around suspiciously. ‘Your Mage hasn’t stolen back in the night and hidden in your room has he?’
‘No!’ Mistral laughed. ‘But I have just spent the last hour with him.’
The twins spun round to stare at her then Phantasm’s face cleared and he smiled.
‘Ah, but of course. The Divinus.’
Phantom let out a sigh of understanding, ‘Your Mage persuaded the Divinus to read him every day for you.’
Mistral nodded happily.
‘Very clever.’ Phantasm murmured, strolling over to sit down beside her.
‘I know. Fabian thinks of everything.’ Mistral sighed contentedly and picked absently at a loose thread in her old black shirt.
Phantom and Phantasm shared an bemused look. Phantom twirled his finger beside his temper, signalling that Mistral was insane.
‘We have some good news for you.’ Phantasm moved over to sit beside her.
Mistral looked at him eagerly, her mind instantly filled with an image of Fabian riding into the Valley.
‘We are going to compete in The Festival of the Arcane!’
‘What’s that?’
‘It’s a three day event in the South. Arcanes only, lots of fighting and bloodshed. Just your type of thing. We’re leaving on Monday.’
Mistral’s face fell slightly, ‘Leaving?’
The twins frowned at her.
‘We thought you’d leap at the chance to spend three days trying to kill a variety of opponents in a different location to the Valley!’ Phantom exclaimed.
Mistral sighed and gazed down at the thread she had tugged from her shirt, ‘It just means I won’t be able to hear Fabian, doesn’t it?’
‘Ah Mistral.’ Phantasm sighed softly. ‘I think Mage De Winter’s plan to give you something to stay in the Valley for has worked a little too well.’
‘Come on Mistral! It’s only a few days and the change of people to beat up will do you good! Those poor first years are starting to flinch every time you walk past them!’
‘No they are not!’ Mistral snapped.
‘Not that the one you were training with this afternoon was doing much walking.’
Mistral scowled, ‘Huh! He really annoyed me. Can you believe he called me “Lady De Winter”?’
‘Such an insult.’ Phantom murmured sympathetically.
Mistral gazed at the black thread in her fingers, twisting it thoughtfully, ‘I suppose it would be fun.’ she finally conceded. ‘Oh, alright then – but on one condition.’
The twins eyed her dubiously.
‘Yes?’
‘Your gift.’
‘What about it?’
She gave them a supplicating look, ‘Can you use it to tell Fabian something?’
Phantom cringed, ‘No Mistral, I really don’t think I would be comfortable saying those three little words to Mage De Winter –’
‘No! Not that!’ Mistral burst out laughing. ‘I want you to tell him that if he’s sees Golden while he’s out there to stick a knife in her for me.’
‘Oh, we can do that, no problem.’ Phantom said with a sigh of relief. ‘We’ll have to tell him you’re going to the Festival anyway.’
‘Well, we can try. I don’t want to get your hopes up Mistral, but we’ve only ever used our gift to influence people actually in our sight. I’m not sure how effective we are yet over long distances.’ Phantasm warned.
‘Well I appreciate you trying anyway.’ Mistral leapt up with purposeful expression on her face. ‘Right! Time for an hour’s practise then down to The Cloak to rob those brothers of mine blind!’
The twins sighed resignedly and sat obediently side by side on the bed while Mistral stood before them and began to read their auras, trying to force her mind to see beyond their emotions and hear their thoughts.
By the end of the hour the twins were bored and Mistral had a headache.
‘Anything?’ Phantasm enquired without any real hope.
‘Nothing.’
‘Drink?’ Phantom suggested, springing lightly from the bed and heading over to the door.
‘Several.’ Mistral sighed and followed him out into the corridor
The following Sunday afternoon the twins were once again in Mistral’s room. Phantasm was packing for her and Phantom was laid on her bed next to Prospero reading a heavy book entitled “Sorcering Blood-lines: the Complete Guide”. Mistral was sat cross-legged on the floor staring intently at each of their auras in turn with a look of intense concentration on her face.
‘Phantom!’ she suddenly exclaimed. ‘What are you reading? You’re aura’s just gone bright pink!’
‘Nothing!’ Phantom quickly turned the page.
‘It’ll be the Lacey family tree.’ Phantasm said without looking up from the neatly folded shirt he was packing in Mistral’s saddlebag. ‘We went to school with the daughters and Phantom had a crush on one of them.’
‘Didn’t!’ Phantom snapped, going faintly pink.
Mistral laughed, ‘Really? I just can’t imagine your mother thinking any girl was good enough for either of you.’
‘That was the problem actually.’ Phantom admitted uncomfortably. ‘When mother found out that I liked Eloise Lacey she actually invited her parents around for tea and began to discuss wedding plans. We were twelve! It was horrendous!’
Despite the laugh Mistral had to stifle she felt genuine sympathy for Phantom. She had experienced first-hand how overpowering Melsina De’ath could be. The evidence was gathering dust under her bed in the form of the most torturous piece of underwear Mistral had ever worn.
‘Enough chat.’ Mistral frowned heavily and concentrated on Phantom’s aura again. ‘I’m trying to master my damned gift here –’
‘I think that’s part of your problem actually.’ Phantasm’s muffled voice came from under the bed where he was fishing out the black trousers his mother had given Mistral.
‘What do you mean?’ Mistral demanded, hastily checking to make sure he hadn’t also grabbed the other embarrassing item Melsina had given her.
‘Well, you’re going at this like it’s a training exercise, all effort and intensity.’ Phantasm explained patiently. ‘I think you’re trying too hard. You need to relax and let your mind roam.’
‘You sound like Serenity.’ Mistral grumbled.
Phantom looked up from his book, ‘Well its advice worth listening to then. She really helped us improve our gift.’
Mistral sighed and gazed dejectedly down at her wedding ring, ‘I’m never going to master it am I?’
‘Yes you are.’ Phantasm paused in his packing to fix her with a stern look. ‘However, I do think that deep down you have some reason for not embracing your gift and it’s holding you back.’
Mistral tried to hide the guilty look that instantly flickered across her face.
‘I knew it!’ Phantom cried, sitting up suddenly and making Prospero growl. ‘What is it? You don’t really want to be with your Mage and holding back on gaining Sight is the only way you know of letting him down gently!’
‘Are you insane?’ Mistral snorted, giving him an incredulous look.
‘No, that’s not it.’ Phantasm tilted his head to one side and regarded her carefully. ‘I think you’re actually afraid of gaini
ng Sight.’
Mistral gave him an angry look but didn’t argue.
‘Well?’ Phantom demanded impatiently. ‘Are you?’
Mistral dropped her gaze, admitting in a small voice, ‘A bit.’
Phantom made an exasperated noise, ‘And just which part of having a rare and powerful gift that will ensure you money and status for the rest of your life are you frightened of exactly?’
Mistral looked up miserably, ‘All of it.’
‘I’m not sure I understand Mistral, is it the responsibility?’ Phantasm frowned.
‘I admit I don’t like it when Mage Grapple and Leo pull the whole “the Isle is depending on you” line. It does freak me out a bit.’
‘I can appreciate that.’ Phantasm gave her a perceptive look. ‘But there’s something else –’
Mistral sighed and looked away, ‘I don’t want to look like the Divinus.’
The twins shared a look over her head.
‘Why would you think that’s how you’ll look?’
‘Well he’s a Seer – the only Seer – on the Isle, so I assume that’s how I’ll look!’
‘And do we look like that since we developed our Gemini gift?’
‘No,’ Mistral said slowly, but still wouldn’t meet his eyes.
‘The Divinus looks the way he does because he has lived for a long time, over two centuries in fact. Its age that’s withered his appearance, not his gift.’
‘Oh, right.’ Mistral muttered, sounding unconvinced.
‘Would it help if you could see what he looked like before time ravaged him?’
Mistral turned to give him a doubtful look, ‘Maybe.’
‘Come with us then!’ Phantom leapt from the bed and hauled her upright. With Phantasm and Prospero following he pulled her from her room and along the corridor, heading towards the stairs leading to the third floor.
‘We’re not going to visit him are we?’ Mistral asked, dragging her feet and trying to resist Phantom’s fierce grip on her arm.
‘Don’t be stupid! We’re going to a place you’ve probably never been to in your life.’
Mistral gave him a confused look and allowed herself to be dragged up the stairs to the floor housing the huge Training Room and the Magnate’s tower rooms.
‘Here we are!’ Phantom announced, stopping outside a polished wooden door that Mistral had never noticed.
‘And where exactly is here?’ Mistral asked, panic edging her voice.
‘Aha! Look and you shall see!’ Phantom gave her an enigmatic smile and slowly pushed open the door to the Ri’s library.
‘I can feel sleep coming on already.’ Mistral groaned and stepped into the musty, silent room. She turned in a slow circle, staring around at rows and rows of shelves holding thousands of tightly stacked books reaching right up to the distant ceiling.
‘Marvellous isn’t it.’ Phantom sighed happily and stroked the faded spine of a huge leatherbound book on the nearest shelf.
‘Does anyone actually come up here? Apart from you two that is.’ Mistral pointedly ran a finger through the thick layer of dust on the shelf.
‘Not many people.’ Phantasm admitted and began to walk down the central aisle.
‘We see Master Nox and Master Casterton in here quite a lot.’ Phantom added, following his brother and hauling Mistral after him.
‘What a fun time you must have.’ Mistral stumbled along after Phantom, casting bored looks down the endless narrow aisles that branched off on either side, each lined with towering shelves filled with even more books.
‘I am underwhelmed by your wild enthusiasm.’ Phantom sniffed. ‘I suppose a philistine like you will be relieved to know that we’re actually here to look at something, not read it.’
‘Are you suggesting that I can’t read?’
Phantasm cut across them in a sharp voice, ‘No, Mistral, my brother is not. He is trying to tell you there is something here we want you to see.’
‘I can’t wait.’ Mistral said heavily and resigned herself to being towed deeper into the dimly lit depths of the library.
‘Who actually writes all this stuff?’ she muttered when they passed what felt like the hundredth row of shelves.
‘This library houses works from authors all over the world. It is the second most well-stocked on the Isle, obviously the one at the Council is the first. It’s nearly twice the size –’
‘What a waste of space! It’d make a great training room!’
‘Really Mistral, show some respect for the lifetime accomplishments of some of history’s most learned beings! There are original works here from some of the world’s most influential thinkers: Plato, Socrates – ’
‘Who?’
Phantasm rolled his eyes wearily, ‘Well I suppose it would have been too much to expect you to have heard of them, they were after all, humans. But, perhaps the fact that a copy of every Contract ever taken by a Ri warrior is stored here will impress you.’
‘Every Contract?’ Mistral echoed, showing interest for the first time since stepping into the library.
‘Yes, and if you think that I am going to help you search through them just so that you can sigh and trace a finger over Mage De Winter’s name you can forget it!’ Phantom snapped.
‘Don’t be stupid! I wouldn’t do that!’ Mistral bridled, privately thinking that was exactly what she’d do.
Phantom gave her an “oh really?” type of look which she ignored while her cheeks went red.
‘Ah, here we are. This is what we wanted to show you.’ Phantasm announced, saving Mistral from the teasing Phantom was about to inflict on her.
They had reached the far side of the library. Mistral looked up at the heavy oil canvas hanging on the wall in front of her. She noticed the solid gilt frame first before focussing her attention on the subject of the portrait. A fresh-faced warrior with startling blue eyes and obvious elven-blood gazed back at her. His long hair was tied back away from his handsome face in the same traditional style that both Brutus and Xerxes wore. There was something engraved on a small brass plaque at the base of the frame and Mistral leaned closer to read the inscription.
‘Chieftain Aloysius Broadoak. Well, you don’t get more elven sounding than that! But why am I looking at him?’
‘Did you think that the Divinus was born with that as his name? “Divinus” is a title bestowed on the incumbent. Now have a good look please!’
‘Oh, right.’ Mistral dutifully studied the portrait, searching the youthful face and clear eyes for some hint of the ancient, fragile figure she had been staring at for an hour every day. She eventually shrugged. ‘I don’t get it. How is this supposed to make me feel better? He’s young and handsome here as Aloysius and then ancient and blind as the Divinus! Surely that only proves my point?’
‘Details Mistral, it’s all in the details.’ Phantasm sighed and tapped his finger gently against the brass plaque. ‘Read the plaque again.’
Mistral leaned closer to the frame and rubbed her finger across the surface, wiping away years of accumulated grime.
‘Aloysius Broadoak celebrating his centenary as the Divinus of the Ri.’ Mistral read and then gasped. ‘He was already a hundred years old when this was painted?’
Phantasm nodded smugly.
‘What the hell happened during the next hundred years to make him look the way he does now then?’ Mistral demanded with a wild-eyed expression.
‘Oh Mistral, don’t you ever listen?’ Phantasm demanded exasperatedly. ‘You remember Master Nox talking about how strangely we all age?’
Mistral frowned, she vaguely remembered thinking that she wanted her and Fabian to grow older together and Master Nox talking about how some Arcane races age slowly … and Mages … they also tended to age very slowly until the Craft began to wane in them and their lifespan was nearly complete and then the aging process accelerated rapidly … was it the same for the Arcane races?
Mistral suddenly looked dismayed, ‘He’s going to die soon isn’t he?�
��
Phantasm drew in a deep breath and nodded, ‘I actually think he’s holding on for you.’
‘Oh great, no pressure then!’ Mistral exclaimed. ‘Please hurry up and master your gift so I can keel over and you can sit on my wooden throne and stare at the barren walls of a tower room all day long!’
‘That’s his choice Mistral, not a symptom of Sight. He hasn’t always been like that. I think that he is so close to death now that he feels more comfortable in the company of shades and wraiths than he does the living. He is very, very old Mistral and he has earned the right to a peaceful passing.’
Mistral felt the familiar petulant anger building up inside her. What about her rights? Her life with Fabian?
Fabian.
She suddenly missed him so much it was like a knife twisting in her side.
‘Not sure this has helped.’ Phantom muttered, catching Mistral’s desolate expression.
‘No.’ Phantasm agreed. ‘Time for Plan B?’
Phantom nodded, ‘Fancy a drink Mistral?’ he asked brightly, dragging her away from the faded portrait.
‘In a bit.’ Mistral murmured, allowing herself to be pulled back down the aisle. ‘I’ve got my daily session with the Divinus first.’
An hour later Mistral was walking slowly down towards The Cloak and Dagger. It was early evening and the air was balmy, heavy with the scents of jasmine and honeysuckle but the soft beauty of twilight went completely unnoticed by Mistral. She walked with her head down, her mind preoccupied by Fabian’s thoughts. Not that there had been many today. The Divinus had sat for long periods gazing silently into space and Mistral had even begun to wonder if he was editing Fabian’s thoughts.
Fabian was closing in on Putreo and his focus was fixed solely on the completion of the Contract. What occasional thoughts the Divinus did express had taken a darker turn and were filled with a cold sense of purpose, his mind no longer wandered to her or any other distractions.
Mistral sighed and pushed open the door to the tavern. Perhaps it was a good thing she would be away from the Valley for a few days. It was unsettling seeing into the mind of an assassin, even if it was the one she had married.
The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) Page 33