The Seer (11 page)

Mistral
listened to his words and frowned.  She couldn’t recall seeing Fabian’s
saddlebag at the twins’ house.  She looked around the cluttered tower room
until she saw the familiar worn leather bag slung on the floor near the
door.  Fabian had left his saddlebag in his brother’s room, not at the
twins’ house where she was staying.  ‘Why is your saddlebag here and not
at the house?’  She demanded, suddenly growing angry again.

Fabian’s brow
creased into a perplexed frown, ‘Force of habit I suppose –’

‘Force of
habit!  Or because you didn’t want to risk me seeing it?’

‘No!  I
will never conceal anything from you Mistral!  You know that!’

‘No, I
don’t!’  Mistral cried, shaking her head furiously.  ‘I don’t even
think I know you now!  How could you ever think I would want you to pay
for my apprenticeship with that money?  I don’t know you, and you
obviously don’t know me at all!’ 

‘Mistral! 
Wait!’

But she was
gone, running down the stairs before he could catch her.

‘Brother!’ 
Leo’s hand gripped Fabian’s arm.  ‘I still need to know what she Saw last
night!’

‘Not
now!’ 

The brief
exchange was enough to give Mistral the head-start she needed.  By the
time Fabian had reached the Entrance Hall she was nearly at the stables, filled
with the burning need to get Cirrus and ride out of the Valley, away from
Fabian and be alone with her turbulent thoughts.  She careered into the
stableyard and skidded on the icy cobbles, crashing into the massive bulk of
the Ri’s Equus, busy smashing the ice on the water trough with a heavy
hammer. 

‘Watch
it!  I nearly fell in then!’  Clovis growled angrily.

Mistral’s half
muttered apology was lost in the sound of Clovis noisily resuming his
task.  Grabbing hold of the edge of the trough she pulled herself up and
immediately began to run towards the stables again only to trip over something
solid and heavy at her feet.  Stumbling to her knees beside the object,
Mistral found herself looking at a wooden bucket with three mewling kittens inside. 
She stared at the pathetic scraps of fur trapped in the bucket, watching them
clambering over each other, desperately trying to escape and realised with a
sob that Clovis was breaking the ice on the trough to drown them.

‘You can’t do
that!’  Mistral gasped, staring at Clovis in horror.

‘Nearly broken
enough of it now, then I can.’  Clovis grunted, misunderstanding her.

‘No Clovis, I
meant the kittens!  You can’t drown them!’

Clovis glared
over his shoulder while he continued to smash at the ice, ‘You’ve seen me drown
dozens of kittens Mistral!  That damned brother of yours isn’t the only
one who uses my hayloft as a love nest!  I’d be overrun with cats before
the year was out if I didn’t do this.’

Mistral looked
down at the kittens trapped in the bucket.  Three sets of innocent blue
eyes blinked back at her.  She suddenly knew that she couldn’t stand there
and let them be drowned just for being an inconvenience to Clovis.  ‘I’ll
take them!’  impulsively grabbing the bucket, Mistral ran out of the yard
before Clovis could stop her and fled towards the twins’ house, throwing
herself through the door and collapsing on the sofa in floods of tears.

Hearing the
commotion of her arrival, the twins came running down the stairs to be met by
the sight of Mistral sat in the middle of their sofa with a bucket of kittens
on her lap and tears pouring down her face. 

They surveyed
her silently, ‘Do you think she’s finally lost it?’  Phantom finally
murmured, eyeing her uncertainly.

Phantasm ignored
him and took a step towards her, ‘What’s going on Mistral?  You ran out of
here without a word of explanation this morning and then you come back less
than an hour later, in tears and holding a bucket of kittens!’

Mistral gave a
sob and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of Fabian’s silk shirt, ‘Clovis was going
to drown them!’

The twins
looked at each other.  ‘She’s definitely lost it!’  Phantom
whispered.  ‘I’ve seen her use those stray cats for throwing knife
practise before!’

Phantasm
lifted his eyebrows in silent acknowledgement and looked back at Mistral with a
slight frown, ‘Mage De Winter was here only a few minutes ago, looking for
you,’ he said softly.  ‘Have you two argued?’

Mistral
sniffed and nodded tearfully, ‘He … he lied to me!’  She wailed and
promptly started crying again.

Phantasm
frowned at her for a moment before walking quietly over to the sofa and taking
the bucket of kittens from her and passed them back to his brother without
looking at him.  Phantom took the bucket with a hissed ‘
and just what
do you expect me to do with these?’
 before placing it down on the
floor near Prospero and giving the dog an encouraging nudge with his toe.

‘I think you
had better explain.’  Phantasm sat quietly down on the sofa.

‘He had a
b-bag of money from the De Winter vaults, his father’s money, but h-he hated
his father!  He was trying t-to pay Leo for my apprenticeship with
it!’  Mistral sobbed and looked at Phantasm beseechingly.  ‘B-but he
knows I want nothing to do with that money!’

Phantasm sighed
softly, ‘Ah, I see.’ 

‘No you
don’t!  I do!  And that’s the problem!’  Mistral howled
dramatically.  ‘Fabian was trying to buy me to stop Leo agreeing to send
me to practically live at the Council on a load of Contracts just to please
Mage Grapple so he can be the next Divinus!’

‘That made
sense.’  Phantom muttered.

Phantasm
ignored his brother and looked at Mistral intently, ‘Do you trust your Mage?’

Mistral choked
back a sob, ‘Trust?’ 

‘Yes Mistral,
trust.  Or put another way, has he ever let you down?’

Mistral picked
morosely at the wet sleeve of Fabian’s shirt, ‘He did today.’

‘I
disagree.  However, you still haven’t answered my question.  Do you
trust him?’

Mistral drew
in a breath and let it out slowly, ‘Trust!  I never used to trust
anyone!  All I ever needed was me, and a dagger –’

Phantasm
smiled briefly, ‘Yes, you were the most independent walking disaster we’d ever
met.’

Mistral gave a
short laugh and looked up to meet his green eyes, ‘But then I met Fabian and I
lost all that.  And now I’ve got the Sight it’s even worse.  I can
hear every hidden dark thought and secret desire and it’s horrible!  The
words that people say are never what they really mean!  Take last night in
The Cloak for example, when Xerxes was trying to smooth talk the girl from the
saddlery by telling her that he couldn’t forget her.  I could hear his
thoughts and he couldn’t even remember her name!’  Mistral stopped and
drew in a shaky breath.  ‘I sat there and listened to the empty words
coming out of every warrior’s mouth and then heard their true thoughts and the
two never matched!  And all I could think was “Fabian isn’t like that”…
how wrong was I?  I’m so stupid to have trusted him at all!’ 

Phantasm shook
his head lightly, ‘You’re not stupid to trust your Mage.  He’s never let
you down and he hasn’t today, despite how you feel.’

Mistral glared
at him, ‘Don’t you dare take his side!’

‘No Mistral,
I’m taking your side.  Listen to me now.’  Phantasm looked intently
at her.  ‘There’s nothing that Mage De Winter wouldn’t do to protect
you.  How many times has he been willing to give his life for
yours?’  he paused and looked questioningly at her but she just shrugged
moodily and avoided his gaze.  ‘And now he’s even been willing to give his
soul to protect you.’

Mistral snapped
her eyes up to meet his again, ‘What do you mean?’ 

Phantasm’s
gaze slid from hers to look down at the floor, an ironic smile playing around
the corners of his mouth, ‘Despite the fact that I know he would probably kill
me in a heartbeat if I ever crossed him, your Mage is actually one of the most
principled and moral people I have ever met.  And he was willing to
compromise all of that for you today by using his father’s money, because he
loves you Mistral.  More than his own soul in fact.’

‘More than his
own soul?’  Mistral echoed, staring at him with a frozen expression on her
face.  ‘Do you really think so?’

Phantasm
nodded slowly.

‘Oh!’  a
tear trickled slowly down her cheek.  ‘Have … have I … overreacted a
bit?’ 

Phantasm smiled,
‘Not too badly, considering how you can react.  But I think you might have
both learned something.’

Mistral leapt
to her feet, ‘I need to speak to him!  Oh!’

‘What?’ 
Phantom demanded, instantly recognising the unfocused look on her face.

‘They’re coming
–’

‘Who?’ 

‘Fabian … Leo
… and Mage Grapple.’

‘Here?’ 
Phantom cried, looking anxiously around their small house.

‘Yes.’ 
Mistral’s voice took on a flat, lifelessness infliction as she recited the
thoughts she heard.  ‘They’re talking in Leo’s room … Mage Grapple is
saying he wants to see me … he’s asking Fabian where I am … he knows, Fabian
knows I’m here,’ she blinked and looked accusingly at the twins.  ‘You
used your gift to let him know!’

‘Of course we
did!  What else can you See?’  Phantom said impatiently.

Mistral glared
at him briefly then drew in a deep breath and let her gaze drift off again,
‘Fabian … he’s not willing for Mage Grapple to accompany him … he wants to see
me alone …
Fabian
… he’s filled with such remorse … but Mage Grapple is
insistent … he wishes to question me on what I Saw at the banquet and …
Ah!  Finally!  There it is!’  Her eyes snapped sharply back into
focus with an excited gleam.  ‘Mage Grapple has a Contract to offer!’

‘What is
it?’  Phantom hissed.

‘I can’t See …
he knows I am listening, he won’t think of the details, but it’s big!’

‘How long do
we have before they arrive?’  Phantasm asked quickly.

‘Not long,
maybe half an hour.’

Phantasm rose
swiftly to his feet and eyed Mistral’s tear streaked face and bedraggled
clothes with a frown, ‘Right you!  Go take a bath right now!’  He
ordered briskly.  ‘And try and put something on that wasn’t worn by your
Mage the day before.  In fact, all this talk of trust has made me realise
that I don’t trust you when it comes to dressing appropriately!  You go
get in the bath and I’ll find some clean clothes for you.’

Mistral
scowled at him and stomped off up the stairs.  Phantasm watched her go
before turning to his brother.  ‘What have you done with those
kittens?’  He demanded in a low voice.

‘Prospero’s
dealt with them.’  Phantom replied smugly.

‘You let the
dog eat them?’

‘No!’ 
Phantom exclaimed in a failed attempt at innocence.  ‘Well, I tried, but
he actually seems to quite like them alive.’

They both
turned to look at the huge half-wolf, laid out in front of the fire with three
purring kittens nestling between his front paws.

‘Right.’ 
Phantasm cast an appraising glance around the room.  ‘Mage Grapple will
stand by the fire.  You and I will take the sofa with Mistral between us
and Master Sphinx and Mage De Winter will take the armchairs.  I’m sure
Master Sphinx will wish to stay as close to Mage Grapple as he can.  We’d
better get some wine and some goblets ready.’

‘Are you sure
Mage Grapple won’t want the sofa?’  Phantom asked, already moving towards
the kitchen to collect a pitcher of wine.

‘Definitely. 
Standing while we all sit indicates that he’s more powerful.’

‘Huh, you can
see where Master Sphinx gets it from!’

By the time
the knock sounded on the door, Mistral was sat on the sofa, clean and
presentably attired in new trousers and shirt.  Her red-rimmed eyes
snapped up at the sound of the knock.  ‘It’s them,’ she whispered, staring
longingly at the door.

Phantasm
nodded and moved silently to the door, opening it and greeting his guests
politely, as though a visit from the Head of the Mage Council were an everyday
occurrence, ‘Mage Grapple, Master Sphinx, Mage De Winter, please, come in.’

Mage Grapple
strode into the room and walked straight to the fire.  He glanced briefly
at the recumbent Prospero and kittens before turning to face the sofa, placing
his back to the blazing heat.  Leo entered swiftly after him, taking the
armchair nearest to Mage Grapple just as Phantasm had predicted.  Fabian
remained standing in the doorway staring at Mistral, his face tightly
drawn.  She stared back, listening to his thoughts for the briefest of
moments before leaping from the sofa and running across the room to throw
herself into his arms.

‘Oh not
now!’  Phantom exclaimed under his breath, staring in disbelief at Mistral
and Fabian kissing passionately in the doorway.  ‘Talk about
inappropriate!’

The rest of
Phantom’s unhappy mutterings were cut short by the rare sound of Mage Grapple laughing,
‘Perhaps we can finally have a productive meeting now that matter is resolved,’
he said and accepted a goblet of wine from
Phantasm.     

Mistral led
Fabian to the sofa, her eyes never leaving his while she sat down next to him,
neatly ruining Phantasm’s seating plan.  Meeting his brother’s dismayed
look, Phantasm indicated that he should take the armchair and seated himself on
the sofa, a respectful distance away from Mistral, wrapped tightly beneath
Fabian’s arm and gazing expressively up at him.

‘Lady De
Winter, please tell me everything that you Saw at the banquet last night.’
 Mage Grapple requested in an iron voice, forcing Mistral to tear her gaze
away from Fabian.

‘Where would
you like me to begin?’

‘I think that
Malachi and Bellicose would be an appropriate starting point.’

Mistral drew
in a deep breath and relayed the thoughts she’d heard in the minds of the
vampire and his son, leaving nothing out but being careful not to include her
own personal opinions either.  Mage Grapple was definitely not the type of
person to appreciate conjecture or flippancy.