The Assassin's Destiny (Isle of Dreams) (9 page)

‘Ah, details, how they bore me.’
 Xerxes reached into the top pocket of his jerkin and bought out a folded
piece of parchment.  ‘One Contract.’ he unfolded it with a flourish and
laid it on the table.

Brutus immediately picked it up
and began reading it, a small frown creasing his brow as his eyes slid over the
Requirements section.

‘Time for my patented pre-Contract
pick me up.’  Cain pulled a battered silver hip flask from his saddlebag
followed by a stack of small cups made from horn.  Setting six of them
onto the table he proceeded to pour out a measure of dark liquor into each one.

‘To a good hunt.’  Cain
raised his cup with a wink in Mistral’s direction and tilted the contents into
his mouth with a satisfied sigh.

‘Good hunt!’ the others echoed,
downing their drinks and pulling faces.

‘You know Cain, I think you need
to do something with the flavour.  It’s worse than the last one!’ 
Saul gasped.

‘What
is
in that?’ 
Mistral choked as the liquor scorched her throat and sent a fire burning
through her empty stomach.

‘It’s a little something I brew
myself to a secret recipe, although I will admit to adding a touch of manticore
poison to give it a little extra kick.’

‘Isn’t that stuff illegal?’ 
Mistral asked with a frown.

‘Probably.’  Cain shrugged
dismissively.  ‘Want another?’

‘Yes please.’  Mistral
promptly held out her horn cup.  ‘It seems to be curing my hangover quite
well.’

Saul shot her an anxious look,
‘Er, is that wise Mistral?  Remember what happened last time you had
manticore poison in your system?’

Mistral stuck her tongue out at
him and downed the cup Cain filled for her.

‘Fine, no more, I promise – but
honestly Cain, that stuff could make the dead get up and walk!  It’s
fantastic!’

‘I know.’  Cain agreed
smugly.  ‘I have quite a flare for brewing … in fact, I was thinking of
going into the apothecary business when the time comes for hanging up my
sword.’

‘Retire already?’  Mistral
exclaimed, looking horrified.  ‘I haven’t even managed to finish my damned
training and you’re talking about pipe and slippers!’

‘Not quite yet!’  Cain
laughed and shook his head.  ‘But I like to plan ahead.  There’s a
store up for sale in the village and I was thinking about putting a deposit
down on it.  I could rent it out till I’m ready to quit.  Don’t you
have a plan Mistral?’

Prospero whined and laid his
heavy head on Mistral’s knee, soaking the leg of her trousers with drool as he
eyed the platter of meat on the table.  Absent-mindedly dropping another
couple of slices of cold beef onto the floor for him Mistral drummed her
fingers thoughtfully against the table-top.

‘I haven’t really thought about
the future.  I can only manage to think as far as getting through this
year; but never mind that!’  she said with sudden brightness.  ‘Let’s
talk about this hunt!  Are cyclops attracted to female scent like
manticores are?  If so, I’ll get going now and start leading it to you –’

‘Told you giving her that stuff
was a bad idea.’  Saul muttered to Cain, casting a dark look at Mistral’s
over-enthusiastic face.

‘Come on Brutus!  How long
does it take to read a few lines?  What are the Requirements?’  Mistral
demanded abruptly.

‘Just a second,’ he murmured,
tracing his finger along a line of writing.  ‘This bit is worded very
strangely –’

‘Who bought the Contract?’ 
Cain asked, looking up interestedly while Brutus concentrated on reading
through the details.

‘Don’t know.  Scrimshaw gave
it to me himself yesterday when I reported back in.  Said it was urgent
and … this is the really good bit … money up front and not in lieu of training
fees!’  Xerxes replied.

Saul frowned, ‘Sounds shady.’

‘But don’t half the Contracts we
take?’  Xerxes grinned.  ‘Come on, it’s a cyclops – aren’t they
protected by Council law or something?  It’s probably some rich vineyard
owner who’s getting his crops decimated by the thing and wants rid of it
without going through the rigmarole of following official Council procedures
for moving on a dangerous protected species.’

‘Who writes these damned
things?’  exclaimed Brutus.  ‘Listen to this …
upon the auspicious
culmination of this Contract a considerable bonus shall be bestowed upon all
Contracted Parties for the additional procurement of the optical organ of the
subject …
what the hell does that mean?’

‘They want us to bring back the
eye,’ said Cain thoughtfully.  ‘They’re used in some really obscure banned
potions.’

‘It sounds like Scrimshaw has a
side-line going in black market apothecary goods!’  Xerxes
exclaimed.  ‘The crafty old devil!’

‘Who cares!’  Mistral burst
impatiently.  ‘Can we just get out there and kill it now please?’

They regarded her silently for a
second, noting with trepidation her tapping fingers and raised eyebrows.

‘You’re really susceptible to
manticore poison aren’t you?’  Cain said with a slightly awed look on his
face. 

Saul sighed, ‘I think it just
boosts her natural levels of recklessness.’

‘Alright, so … the plan.’
 Xerxes banged both hands against the table top.  ‘We need bows,
crossbows and poison to tip the arrows and bolts.  Grendel?  Can you
pick up a couple of coils of rope and six of those really long spiked polearm
things … what’re they called Saul?’

‘Sarisas.’  Saul gave an
approving nod.  ‘They would be useful in keeping it at bay.’

‘Right, destination; it’s in the
Western Range … about a couple of hours ride by the look of the map.  So
we get there, track it, and then lure it onto a trap –’

‘I’ll do that!’  Mistral
interrupted, earning a panicked look from Saul.

‘As I was saying,’ Xerxes
continued in a louder voice, ‘we lure it – or drive it using the sarisas, into
a trap of us armed with longbows, shoot it with poisoned arrows and get out of
the way sharpish while the poison takes effect.  We only need the
crossbows for back up, or if we need to shoot it on the move … all in
agreement?’

Brutus, Cain and Saul’s noises of
assent were drowned out by Mistral’s shout of annoyance.

‘No way!’

‘Why not?’  Xerxes asked in
a weary voice.

‘No fighting?  Are you
mad?  We shoot it with poisoned arrows and
wait
for it to
die?  Where’s the fun in that?’

‘Mistral.’  Xerxes fixed her
with a hard look.  ‘This creature is more than twice your size and could
probably rip your head off with one hand.  We’re going to fulfil the aims
of the Contract and return alive and richer.  Are you really so desperate
to burn in the village square that you want to pick a fight with a cyclops?’

Mistral scowled and crossed her
arms.

‘I’ve got a really bad feeling
about this.’  Saul muttered to Brutus.  ‘Is there any way we can
leave her behind?  Mage De Winter doesn’t strike me as the kind of person
that’ll appreciate having his girlfriend returned to him in pieces.’

‘I heard that!’  Mistral
snapped, switching her malevolent glare onto him.  ‘Try to leave without
me and it’ll be the last thing you do Saul!’

Saul wisely kept his mouth closed
and held his hands up in defeat.

‘Right, everyone ready?’ 
Xerxes asked, rising to his feet.

‘About time!’  Mistral leapt
up and strode towards the door.

‘I know you used to carry a bit
of a torch for her.’  Cain murmured to Saul as they watched her stalking
towards the stableyard.  ‘But I really can’t help but feel you had a
narrow escape.  That Mage is a brave man.’

Saul said nothing but gazed after
Mistral, his expression unreadable.

A short while later they were
leading their horses out from the stables, nodding briefly to the Equus when he
appeared from the feed room to greet them.

‘Going out early.’

‘Hunting!’  Mistral
confirmed happily and pulled herself up into the saddle.  Cirrus wheeled
excitedly and tossed his head, picking up on her buoyant mood.

The Equus raised a craggy
eyebrow, ‘Your Mage away is he?’ 

‘Sorry Clovis.  Got to go!’ 
Mistral called over her shoulder and kicked Cirrus into a fast trot out of the
stableyard, closely followed by Prospero.

Mistral’s mood soared as they
cantered along the path leading to the North Gate.  Since the start of her
second year she’d barely left the Valley apart from for a couple of tracking
Contracts and to ride out to the mountain house.  Even though Fabian, her
keeper, had gone she still felt constrained.  The twins were spending more
and more time in the company of Mycroft Casterton, ostensibly to further their
knowledge of Council politics and current affairs but Mistral felt it was more
to enjoy the warmth and comfort of Mycroft’s lavishly furnished tower
room.   Well let them have warm toes; she was going to have some fun
for a change. 

She ignored the worried glances
she caught Saul throwing her.  Nothing was going to dampen her spirits
today.  It wasn’t raining for once and she was heading out of the Valley
on a hunting trip with her brothers.  Even the constant ache of Fabian’s
absence was dulled by the prospect of the day’s prey. 

‘Tell me everything you know
about cyclops Cain,’ she demanded, cantering Cirrus up alongside his dappled
grey mare.

‘Cyclops?  Well, they’re
Greek in origin, as you probably know.  There’s only one tribe of them on
the Isle, up in the Northern Range, and it took a lot of careful negotiating
before Mage Grapple agreed to them coming here ... to call them violent would
be like calling you a little bit feisty … anyway, the fact that this one is on
completely the wrong side of the Isle to the rest of its tribe makes me think
it’s either gone renegade or been cast out; either way it doesn’t say a lot for
its general good nature. 

‘The single eye doesn’t hinder
them in any way at all, in fact, they’re rumoured to have sharper eyesight than
yarthkins.  They’re strong, bloodthirsty and incredibly tolerant to
pain.  In short, they make perfect warriors.  Fortunately for us they
are also pretty stupid so it shouldn’t present too much of a challenge –’

‘There you go, spoiling it all
again by saying that!’  Mistral exclaimed crossly.  ‘I’m tempted to
race up there and have a go before you lot come along and spoil my fun!’

Cain sighed and watched Mistral
kick Cirrus on to ride ahead, ‘Oh dear.  This could get a bit lively.’ 

They slowed to a trot at the
North Gate, waving a respectful greeting to the guard positioned high up on the
gate.  Once out in the meadows they headed west, riding hard, and were
soon travelling through the sloping pasturelands that skirted the Western
Range.  Mistral had only been through this part of the region on a handful
of occasions, one of them being the fated troll hunt that had ended in Bali’s
death.  Shaking off the memory Mistral focussed instead on the day ahead,
smiling darkly at the thought of getting into a fight with a savage beast twice
her size. 

The heavy pounding of Grendel
running up beside her snapped Mistral from her adrenaline-fuelled
musings.  She turned to greet him, noting a bundle of long, sharp pointed
polearms tucked under one arm that she guessed must be the sarisas.

‘Still not found a horse big
enough then brother?’ 

‘The Equus is on the case.’
 Grendel grunted in response, not even out of breath while he kept pace
with Cirrus. 

‘Didn’t know he had any elephants
in his herd!’  Xerxes called out, grinning widely and riding up alongside
the half-troll.

Mistral laughed and Grendel
scowled angrily.  Muttering something uncomplimentary about elves he
dropped back to run behind them leaving Xerxes and Mistral riding together.

They rode together in
companionable silence for a few minutes until Xerxes turned to look at her, his
face uncharacteristically serious, ‘Promise me you won’t do anything reckless
today Mistral.’

Mistral stared at him in
disbelief.  She was used to that type of behaviour from Fabian and the
twins, but Xerxes?  Who was he kidding?  She snorted and kept her
gaze fixed straight ahead, refusing to even favour him with a disdainful
look. 

‘I have a lot of respect for Mage
De Winter.’  Xerxes continued.  ‘I wouldn’t want to anger him in
anyway –’

‘I think you’ve made your point!’
 Mistral snapped.  ‘I’m beginning to think everyone would be happier
if I locked myself in my room where it was nice and safe until Sight decided to
magically reveal itself to me!  Well tough brother, because this hunt may
well be the only bit of fun I get to have all year and if I get the chance to
stick my sword into that cyclops I’m damned well going to, and you as well if
you get in my way!’ 

Urging Cirrus into a gallop
Mistral pulled away from him and charged ahead, jumping a low stone wall and
thundering across the pasture land ahead of them. 

‘That went well.’  Saul
commented drily as he rode up beside Xerxes.

Xerxes frowned and watched her
galloping Cirrus flat-out across the field with Prospero racing along behind
her.

‘I told you that you should have
had a word with her, she’d listen to you.’  

 ‘No she wouldn’t.’
 Saul sighed.  ‘I think even the twins would fail to make her see
reason today.  We’re just going to have to try and keep her from doing
anything too stupid.’

‘Good luck with that.’
 Xerxes muttered grimly. 

Mistral pushed Cirrus on, urging
him to gallop ever faster, leaning over his neck and revelling in the sensation
of the powerful horse plunging forward.  She could hear Prospero’s panting
breaths as he kept pace behind them; the double beat of his heavy paws and
Cirrus’ hooves in time to her pounding heart.  Before long she had left
the others far behind and slowed Cirrus to a steadier pace, letting Prospero
run alongside and catch his breath.  Her irritation at Xerxes had faded
but she still felt perplexed by his attitude.  Was he afraid of
Fabian?  Surely it was up to her to deal with any anger Fabian may or may
not have for her going on the hunting trip, not Xerxes!  Anyway, if Fabian
was so keen on protecting her all the time then where was he?  Not with
her, obviously.