The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (45 page)

‘You could say that.  Where
I was raised was, well you’ve seen it … and then the Valley … let’s just say
that I think I’ve led a bit of a sheltered life so far.’

‘I would hardly describe your
life as that Mistral.  You’d find trouble in a puddle.  But, I think
you’re going to find meeting the Arcanes to be something of a revelation. 
I know we did when we moved from the Council to our tribe.’

Mistral nodded and tried to stop
herself from staring too obviously at some of the extraordinary creatures that
met her curious gaze.  Some of the Arcane races she was already familiar
with and recognised easily; tall elves, furtive looking goblins and dour
huddles of drows, but others were creatures of myth and legend that she had
only seen in books.

‘Are they what I think they are?’

‘Yes Mistral, centaurs. 
Don’t stare!  They take offense very easily.’

‘Isn’t there supposed to be a
tribe in The Velvet Forests?’  Mistral muttered and tried to keep her gaze
fixed on Cirrus’ ears.

‘That’s them.  To call them
reclusive would be a slight understatement.’

Mistral stole a curious glance
out of the corner of her eye at the strange creatures.  Their upper bodies
were bare, revealing muscular chests and arms.  Their faces were bearded,
wild and proud yet also somehow deeply mystical.

‘What are their traits?’ she
whispered curiously, referring to the fact that each of the Arcane tribes had a
skill unique to their bloodline.

‘Stargazers.’  Phantasm
muttered back.

‘What does that mean?’ 
Mistral frowned, switching her gaze to meet his.

‘They try to predict the future
from the movements of the stars.  It’s a calling that consumes whole
lifetimes and often the results are too ambiguous to be of any real use. 
But they have been known to produce Seers.  The one before the Divinus was
from their tribe.’

Mistral was unable to resist
looking at them again and promptly met the deep stare of a large male
centaur.  She quickly dropped her eyes to look at her reins.

‘They are also formidable
hunters.  They usually win the live target shooting event.’

Xerxes chuckled, ‘Mainly because
they have unfair advantage by being at one with their mounted steeds!’ 

‘A tasteless and dangerous joke
to make Xerxes!’  Phantom hissed with a worried glance in the centaurs’
direction.  

‘Oh hello!’  Xerxes
exclaimed under his breath. 

They were approaching a large
silver and pink tent adorned with multiple strings of brightly coloured
bunting.  A giggling group of nymphs smiled and beckoned seductively from
the open tent mouth.

‘I know where I’ll be
later!’  Xerxes grinned, waving back cheerfully.

‘Get your money ready then
brother, because those girls charge!’  Cain warned.

‘What?’  the grin faded from
Xerxes’ face.  ‘I have to pay them?  Surely it should be the other
way around!’

‘You could try and persuade them
to work for free, but I doubt even your famous charm will work on them.’
 Cain dropped a wink in Mistral’s direction to bring her in on the
joke.  ‘They’re immune to smarmy half-bloods.’

Mistral watched Xerxes scowl
disgustedly at the nymphs and stifled a laugh.  She wasn’t at all
surprised to find nymphs working that particular profession.  Golden was
only too happy to trade on her looks to gain what she wanted.

‘You could always try your luck
with them brother.’  Mistral titled her head towards a tent made of animal
hide where some long-limbed females were sat skinning a bear between them.

‘Amazons!’  Xerxes
muttered.  ‘Thanks but I value my safety!’

Phantom watched the
fierce-looking women for a moment then whispered to his twin, ‘Do you think
Mistral’s got amazon blood brother?’

Phantasm glanced across and
studied them briefly, ‘I agree, she has some amazonian tendencies, but no, I
really don’t think so.  Just look at their colouring and size for a
start.  Grendel would struggle with one of them.’

‘You’re right.’  Phantom
agreed and looked away quickly when one of the amazons caught him staring and
raised her eyebrows suggestively. 

‘There’s the registration tent.’
 Xerxes called, pointing to a huge black mass of billowing canvas where
two female dryads were sat around a table piled high with parchment. 
‘We’ll go get some entry forms while you lot set pitch the tent.’

‘So much for the winner’s
privilege!’  Cain muttered, watching Xerxes and Brutus dismounting and
leading their horses over to the two dryads.

‘Never mind brother, I’ll pass
you the pegs.’  Mistral murmured consolingly.  ‘You can hammer them
in and imagine its Xerxes’ head.’

‘Right, let’s find a suitable
pitch.’  Phantom said briskly.  ‘Somewhere not too noisy –’

They rode at a slow walk down a
long avenue of brightly coloured tents, talking little and soaking up the
atmosphere of the festival.  Laughter and singing drifted out from almost
every tent they passed.  Loud banter and roars of laughter were coming
from a large red and white striped tent that seemed to be bursting at the seams
with representatives from every Arcane tribe on the Isle, all clutching
tankards of ale.

‘Ah, the unifying bond of
alcohol.’  Cain smiled.  ‘I wonder if we can persuade some of them to
join us in a game later.  Mistral?  Would you consider aiding and abetting
me in some slight defrauding of our fellow races in the beer tent later?’

Mistral grinned at him and shook
her head, ‘I’ll play, but not read.  I  don’t fancy my chances
against one of those amazons if they work out what I’m up to.’

Cain followed her gaze to see one
of the amazons winning an arm-wrestle with a Ri warrior they both recognised.

‘I agree,’ he muttered, giving
the amazon a fearful look as she won her bout and promptly reached across the
table to force a passionate kiss on her startled opponent.  ‘They make
Eudora look like a lady!’

‘Let’s hope for your sake that
they don’t like the cheeky type.’  Mistral muttered when the amazon caught
Cain’s awed look and winked at him.

‘Quick!  Hide me!’

Mistral laughed and kicked Cirrus
into a trot, shielding Cain from the amazon’s view.  They both pulled
their horses back to a slower pace again once they’d left the drinking tent a
safe distance behind.  There was too much to see to ride at anything
quicker than a walk. 

‘This will do us I think.’  Phantasm
announced a short while later, stopping at a space large enough for their
tent. 

‘Who’s is this?’  Cain asked
Saul while he helped him unroll the bundle of canvas from the back of his
saddle. 

‘Gleacher’s.  He uses it for
overnight Training Contracts with the apprentices.’

‘Oh good.’  Cain heaved a
sigh of relief.  ‘I was worried it belonged to his Leoship and he’d used
it to take Golden on a nice camping trip last year.’

‘Ugh!  Cain!’  Mistral
pulled a disgusted face.

‘Sorry.  I forgot that now
you’re married you have no sense of humour.’

Mistral felt her good mood slide
away at the reminder of her missing husband, away trying to kill the man who
had abducted her and allowed his wife to torture her.  She vented her dark
mood on the tent pegs, hammering them into the ground with angry blows that
drew meaningful looks from the twins. 

They had just about finished
erecting the tent when Brutus and Xerxes arrived surrounded by a noisy group of
hob, all talking and joking at the same time. 

‘Look out, here comes
trouble.’  Cain muttered, eyeing the approaching group mistrustfully.

Xerxes and Brutus both sat down
wearing identical looks of bemusement while the hob converged on Cain with loud
cries of greeting.

‘I thought Cain was the most
annoying creature on the Isle, but this lot win the title with no
contest!’  Xerxes exclaimed.

‘Are they from his tribe?’ 
Phantom asked, looking up interestedly from the fire he was lighting.

Brutus nodded, ‘Cousins
apparently.  They saw us at the registration tent and must’ve guessed that
we were Ri because they immediately starting asking if we knew of this giant
half-hob warrior called Cain.’

‘Giant?’  Mistral echoed and
looked over, raising her eyebrows in surprise when she realised that compared
to the slightly built, sharp-featured hob, Cain did indeed look huge.

‘Cain!’ 

One of the hob hailed him more
loudly than the rest, a wide grin of pleasure lighting his impish features.

‘Hermes.’  Cain responded
reservedly.

‘I can’t believe you’re
here!  We all thought you’d have been murdered out the back of some seedy
tavern for cheating at cards by now!’

‘Sorry to disappoint you.’

Hermes laughed and pulled Cain
into a swift one-armed hug, quickly breaking off when his eye fell on Mistral.
‘Hello sister.  In need of a little charmer in your life?’  he sidled
up to her with a mischievous smile on his face.

‘Careful Hermes.’  Cain
warned.  ‘She’s married to Mage De Winter.’ 

‘Really?  Can’t say I’ve had
the pleasure.’  Hermes murmured, running his gaze roguishly over Mistral.

‘Neither’s she.’

Mistral shot Cain a blistering
look.

‘Sorry, but am I missing
something?  Is this lady bedding a Mage or not?’  Hermes asked with
an enquiring glance at his cousin.

‘They’re married brother, the two
are quite different.’

Even Mistral had to laugh at that
and the atmosphere quickly lightened.  Cain’s cousins were lively company
and full of stories about Cain’s exploits with his tribe before he had joined
the Ri.

‘Of course, it was such a scandal
when Cain’s mother ran off with a Mage and came back with Cain in tow three
years later.’  Hermes sighed dramatically.  ‘I think it was the shame
that saw her off in the end –’

Mistral bit back a laugh and
glanced at Cain.  His expression showed that he was on the verge of losing
his temper with his talkative cousin.  He was obviously furious about
having his past so openly discussed but she felt little sympathy for him. 
Her brothers were only too happy to gossip about her personal life, it was nice
to see one of them on the receiving end for a change.

‘My stars!’  Hermes
exclaimed when Prospero bounded into view with a dead rabbit hanging from his
mouth.  ‘Is that a dog or a horse?’

‘That’s Prospero and he’s all
dog, well, with a bit of wolf too.’  Mistral grinned, giving her dog an
affectionate pat.

‘Can I borrow him for the horse
race tomorrow morning?’  Hermes asked, watching Prospero drop down at
Mistral’s feet and begin to make short work of the rabbit.

‘Horse race?’  Mistral asked
eagerly.

‘Yes a horse race is the first
event Mistral.  Now, if I’ve finally got your attention,’  Xerxes
impatiently waved a piece of parchment in the air, ‘could we please get down to
the business of completing our entry form, only I’ve got some rather pressing
engagements to keep!’

Brutus sighed, ‘By which you mean
money to extort from our Arcane kinsmen.’

‘Precisely that brother.’
 Xerxes said briskly.  ‘Now, do you want to hear the categories or
shall I just enter you all for everything?’

‘I think we should hear them
first.’  Phantasm said quickly.

‘Right, here we go then … horse
race tomorrow morning.  Two circuits of the Vale, bareback, no bridles …
any takers?’  Xerxes glanced round, his tatty quill poised ready.

Mistral quickly gave her name,
followed a split-second later by Cain, Saul and Brutus.  Only the twins
demurred, eyeing the parchment in Xerxes’ hand dubiously.

‘Why not?’  Mistral demanded
sharply.  ‘Your horses are so well behaved you could ride them standing on
your heads!’

‘It’s not a horse race Mistral,
it’s a brawl!’  Phantasm retorted.  ‘The race starts with all the
entrants on foot and not many actually make it to their horses!’

Mistral’s eyes lit up, ‘Even
better!’   

‘Has she got amazon blood?’ 
Hermes murmured to Cain who laughed and shook his head. 

‘No, just a strange perception of
what’s good for her.’

‘Must have if she married a
Mage.’  Hermes cast a disdainful glance at the gold ring on Mistral’s
finger. 

‘Grendel?  Are you entering
on your hobby horse?’  Xerxes asked and everyone laughed. 

Grendel growled and leaned across
to tower menacingly over Xerxes.

‘I’ll take that as a no shall
I?’  Xerxes quickly crossed Grendel’s name out.  ‘Moving swiftly on
to the afternoon’s event –’ Xerxes paused and scanned the parchment in his
hands briefly.  ‘Ha!  The traditional open category of unarmed
combat.  Winner stays on to the last man, or woman, standing.  Any
takers?’

Again, only the twins murmured
their dissent to their names being entered. 

‘Grendel’ll win that one easily.’
 Saul said confidently and Mistral nodded, keeping private her suspicions
that the amazons might give the half-troll a run for his money.

‘Day two.’  Xerxes
continued, reading carefully from the parchment in his hand.  ‘Armed melee
with non-bladed weapons only, again, last man or woman standing wins the event. 
Any takers?’

‘Are you two actually going to
enter anything?’  Mistral demanded when the twins demurred once again.

‘The afternoon is sword duelling
–’

‘Now that’s more like it! 
Skill over brawn.  Put our names down please Xerxes.’  Phantom
called, giving Mistral a haughty look.

‘All in for that one then.’
 Xerxes bent his head and quickly scratched out their names with his
quill.  ‘Last day.  Mounted live prey event –’

‘What’s the prey?’  Brutus
asked eagerly.

‘Give me a chance!  Er,
ah!  Here we go … harpies!’

They all exchanged grins and
Brutus let out a low whistle. 

‘All in again then?’  Xerxes
asked, barely bothering to look up.  ‘Good!  Now that just brings us
to the final … hmm, let’s see what it says … oh –’