The Seer (10 page)

Mistral woke
at dawn to the blissful realisation that not only was she held loosely in
Fabian’s arms but they were going home today.  Opening her eyes sleepily,
her gaze fell on the red silk dress thrown over the back of a chair and another
happy thought sprang into her mind.  She was going home in trousers.

With a deep
sigh of satisfaction she rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow to
look at Fabian.  He was still asleep, his dark hair spread on the white
pillow in a tousled mass.  Smiling indulgently at the peaceful expression
on his face, she lazily traced the outline of a raised scar on his chest. 
She frowned and studied it more carefully.  It was crescent shaped, like a
bite of some kind, but had three distinctive outlines.

‘Manticore.’
 Fabian murmured faintly.

‘Ah yes, three
rows of teeth.’  Mistral smiled, following the curve of each bite with her
finger tip.  ‘And this one?’  she ran her fingers down a long white
scar on his side.

‘Sword …
mercenary Contract in the East.’  Fabian opened his eyes a fraction to
watch her.

‘Oh.’
 Mistral stroked a single finger over another scar just beneath it. 
‘And this one?’

‘I have no
idea.’  Fabian abruptly reached up and pulled her into his arms.

Mistral awoke
later to find that Fabian had been replaced by Prospero.  The huge dog was
sprawled on the bed next to her staring at her intently, his pale blue eyes
inches from her face. 

‘Bad swap.’
 Mistral muttered, pushing him away with a grimace at his breath. 
Sitting up and stretching, she looked out of the window and realised that once
again, she’d slept far longer than normal.  Smiling to herself at the
cause, she slid out of bed and reached automatically for the black silk shirt
Fabian had been wearing the day before, throwing it on and dragging on her
tattered old trousers she opened her bedroom door and ran down the stairs with
just one thought in her mind.

Breakfast.

‘Finally!’ 
Phantom exclaimed when she appeared in the kitchen.  ‘I thought you were
going to sleep until noon!’

‘It’s not that
late is it?’  Mistral asked distractedly and opened a cupboard door to
peer hopefully inside.  ‘Is there any honey left?’

‘What is it
with you and honey?’  Phantom asked with a frown, opening a different
cupboard and pulling a jar out.  ‘Do you want some bread with it or just a
spoon?’  He asked, putting the jar down on the kitchen table.

‘Bread too
please.’  Mistral grinned, sliding onto one of the chairs. 

‘Here you
are.’  Phantom placed a plate of freshly baked bread onto the table and
sat down opposite her, gazing at her intently.  ‘Now … Mage Grapple –’

‘Hmm,
yes.  Mage Grapple … but first, where’s Fabian?’

‘With Master
Sphinx.’  Phantom waved a hand dismissively.  ‘Mage Grapple?’ 
he persisted, his green eyes shining with anticipation.

‘Leo
again?’  Mistral frowned, her gaze sliding out of focus as she listened
for Fabian’s thoughts.

Phantom
watched her with growing impatience.  ‘Mage Grapple?’  He finally
prompted.

Mistral
frowned and held a hand up to silence him, her eyes staring unseeingly out of
the window, ‘I don’t believe it!’  she exclaimed, blinking and glaring
furiously at Phantom. 

‘What?’ 
He cried.

‘Precisely
brother!  What!  Just what do they think they’re playing at!’ 
Mistral cried angrily.  ‘I need to speak to them … both … right now!’

‘Who?’ 
Phantom shouted again, watching Mistral storm from the house and bang the door
loudly behind her.  ‘I don’t believe that girl!’  he cried in an
exasperated tone.  ‘She’s even more frustrating now she’s got the Sight!’

‘I’m sure
we’ll find out soon enough.’  Phantasm said unworriedly. 

‘Oh, you found
them did you?’  Phantom looked over to see his brother sat on the sofa
sewing the pearl buttons back onto Mistral’s dress.  ‘Where had she
managed to lose them?’

‘Down the back
of the sofa.’

Mistral ran
across the snow-covered village square and up the icy path to the Main
Building, swearing angrily every time she slipped over.  Reaching the
sanctuary of the Entrance Hall she sprinted up the stairs, taking the final
flight two steps at a time to burst breathlessly into Leo Sphinx’s tower room
without knocking. 

‘I’m so
sorry,’ she panted glaring angrily at Leo and Fabian when they spun around,
surprised at her dramatic entrance.  ‘I would have knocked … only you were
both shouting so loudly I don’t think you would have heard me!’

Two sets of
eyes bored into hers.  One burning black, the other icy blue.  Fire
and ice.  Two brothers; elements of the same essence.  With eye
contact came instant access to Leo’s mind.  His angry thoughts surged into
her mind, joining Fabian’s in a deafening cacophony.  Instinctively she
reached up to cover her ears, desperately wishing for silence and suddenly they
were gone – not fading away as Fabian’s had done when he’d travelled beyond the
range of her gift, but abruptly silenced, as though a door had slammed on
them.  Exhaling slowly Mistral lowered her hands and looked first at her
husband and then her brother-in-law, her eyes finally resting on a linen money
bag on the table.  It was yellowed with age and bore the emblem of a black
snowflake; the De Winter family crest. 

‘Now, would
someone please tell me exactly what is going on?’ 

Fabian and Leo
continued to regard her until Fabian broke the tense silence, ‘Surely … you
know?’

‘Oh yes,’ she
confirmed in a flat voice.  ‘But I want you to say it.’

A shadow crossed
Fabian’s face.  Leo snorted disdainfully and turned away.  ‘Very
well.’  Fabian said coldly.  ‘I wish to settle your apprenticeship in
one single payment and release you from the completely unfeasible schedule of
Contracts that has been proposed for you!’

‘You want to
buy my freedom?’ 

‘No
Mistral!’  Fabian snapped angrily.  ‘You fail to see that you are
being used here!  Mage Grapple has submitted a schedule of meetings that
is quite unacceptable!  The amount of time he wishes you to spend at the Council
is utterly ludicrous!  I will not have my wife ordered around like a
servant!’

Mistral held
his burning glare for a long moment before looking down at the linen money bag
on the table, ‘And … is that what I think it is?’

Fabian gave
her a questioning look.

‘Oh, I’m
blocking both your thoughts,’ she explained softly.  ‘I think I need to
hear you say these words to actually believe them.’

Fabian stared
at her expressionlessly, ‘Yes.  It is money from the De Winter vaults.’

‘I see.’ 
Mistral gave a mirthless laugh.  ‘Or rather, I almost wish I didn’t See –’

‘This is a
waste of time!’  Leo snapped impatiently.  ‘Mistral may be your wife
but she was an apprentice to the Ri first and has two years to pay back. 
You should be grateful Fabian!  As a Seer Mistral can enjoy the luxury of
Council Contracts to repay her training costs.  Despite her innate ability
to attract trouble they will present far less dangerous work than most warriors
can ever hope to be offered!’

Mistral stared
at Leo blankly while his words sank in.  The winter solstice had passed on
her second year.  She had finally finished her training ... and now owed
the same time back to the Ri.

‘And the fact
that you have accepted this quite frankly astounding schedule without so much
as a murmur has nothing to do with the fact that you wish to ingratiate
yourself with Mage Grapple and further your ambitions of becoming the next
Divinus?’  Fabian hissed back.

‘Remember that
what is advantageous to me is also to you Fabian!’

‘Stop
it!’  Mistral shouted, staring at them both in disbelief. 
‘Wife?  Apprentice?  Seer?  What happened to
me
?’ 
she paused and turned to fix Fabian with a blazing look.  ‘Have I missed
something or did I lose my voice as well as my identity when I gained the
Sight?  Only I’m sure I told you that I would
never
touch a penny
of the De Winter estate!  And yet here you are!  Trying to buy me
with that very same money!’

‘Mistral! 
I am not trying to
buy
you –’

‘Wait
Fabian!’  Mistral cut him short with an angry gesture.  ‘I want you
to hear this!’

She drew in a
long breath and lifted her chin, meeting Leo’s icy gaze evenly, ‘I accept that
I must pay the Ri back for my training.  I have no money, so I must work
the debt off.’  She looked at Fabian.  ‘It’s only right.  Why
should I expect or even deserve special treatment?  And more to the point,
I don’t want special treatment.  I owe, and so I shall pay – however,’ she
turned back to Leo and tilted her head, regarding him impassively, ‘never try
to conceal your true desires behind the pretence of caring about how dangerous
my Contracts are.  I See your ambitions as clearly as though you’d painted
them on the wall of The Cloak and Dagger.  You willingly agreed to Mage
Grapple’s schedule for exactly the reasons that Fabian gave … and Mage Grapple
presented you with such excessive requirements for precisely those
reasons.  And I
will not
be a part of this stupid farce!

‘These are my
terms,’ she continued, leaving her position from the doorway to walk across the
room towards them.  Leo raised an eyebrow but Mistral met his cold look
evenly.  ‘Hear them and accept them, or I walk.  You lose a Seer,
warrior, pawn in your game … whatever.  But I will still be me.’  She
turned to look steadily at Fabian.  ‘Please take that money back to the
Council vaults.  I never want to see it being used for anything to do with
me … ever.  My apprenticeship will be paid back, we always knew
that.  However, I feel that there are certain extenuating circumstances
that need to be taken into account.’  Mistral had reached the table and
leaned her hands against the edge to turn her gaze to meet Leo’s.  ‘I will
repay one year for the two I have trained in Contracts solely of your
choosing.’ 

Leo glared
icily at her, ‘One year?’

‘Yes. 
One whole year of being beholden to your will.  That is my offer – and
it’s nothing to do with special treatment,’ she added quickly, ‘but because I
should be free to serve the needs of the Isle and not just you.’

Leo stared at
her woodenly but Fabian …

Fabian.

His eyes
burned with an emotion that was so intense Mistral couldn’t hold his
gaze.  She turned slowly back to face Leo.  ‘That was my first
condition.’

‘First?’

Mistral
nodded, waiting for him to speak again.

‘And the
second?’  He eventually demanded.

‘The Contract
Mage Grapple is going to offer you today.  Its mine.’

Leo frowned,
‘I am not expecting another Contract from Mage Grapple.’

Mistral gave
him a pitying look, ‘Trust me, he will offer you another Contract today.  And
whatever the normal procedure is for deciding who gets it, I don’t care! 
If you expect me to dance to your tune for another damned year of my life then
I want this in exchange!’

‘I do not
appreciate being blackmailed!’

‘I don’t care
what you appreciate!’  Mistral spat, leaning across the table towards
him.  ‘I don’t appreciate being argued over like some prize at a
fairground stall!  Wife!  Apprentice!  Seer!  Never forget
that is not who I am!  I am me!  And I will not be bought by anyone!’

Leo glared at
her coldly but Mistral didn’t flinch, ‘Do we have an agreement?’ 

There was a
long silence before Leo nodded curtly and turned away, stalking across the room
to stare broodingly out of the long mullioned window.  Mistral switched
her gaze back to the bag on money on the table, reaching out slowly to touch
the black emblem embroidered into the faded cloth.  Fabian watched her
silently, waiting for her to speak.  ‘You lied to me,’ she said quietly,
still staring at the bag of money on the table.

‘No Mistral. 
It was never my intention to deceive you.’

Mistral tore
her gaze away from the dirty linen bag to look at him, ‘When did you get it out
of the vaults?’ 

‘When I
travelled to the Council to inform Eximius of the Divinus’ passing – but please
believe me Mistral, it was never to buy you.’  Fabian’s gaze was so
sincere that she nearly faltered.  He reached out for her hand.  ‘It
was to release you!  I know you hate the notion of being beholden to the
Ri.’

Mistral’s hand
lay lifelessly in his, she stared at it blankly before slowly raising her eyes
to meet his, her gaze disbelieving, almost shocked, ‘I already had the Sight
when you took this bag of money from the vaults … but I haven’t heard you think
about it once … you’ve been deceiving me –’

Fabian continued
to hold her gaze steadily, ‘I forgot about it Mistral, that’s why I haven’t
been thinking about it.  It was just a wild idea I had while I was at the
Council and I acted on impulse.  It’s been in my saddlebag since then and
I only remembered it this morning, when Leo and I began arguing.’