The Seer (23 page)

The sound of low voices woke Mistral.  She opened her eyes, frowning
in irritation.  It was still dark, she cursed whoever was disturbing her
sleep and closed her eyes to try and sleep again, but the voices persisted in a
low murmur, one of them sharply petulant, like a child’s.

‘I do not snore!  Now can we please change the subject, it is growing
rather old!’

‘You do snore brother, I’ve never heard anything like it!  You make
Grendel’s snores sound like birdsong in comparison.  Now I’m only saying
this from a professional point of view.’

‘Oh I see, now you’re going to recommend that I buy one of your overpriced
cures are you?’

‘Tried and tested brother!  Guaranteed to give the loved ones in your
life the peaceful night’s sleep they deserve – which is us by the way, so
please buy some.’

Mistral’s eyes flew open wide at the sound of Cain and Phantom’s
voices.  They were up, it must be morning … she was hunting dragons
today!  Throwing back the Wolverine skin, Mistral sat up and looked around
the room.  The Mages had gone and Prospero was stretched out in front of
the hearth.  Phantom was stood over him, stirring something in the cooking
pot.   Cain was knelt nearby, the contents of his saddlebag laid out
in front of him while he sorted through various different coloured glass
bottles.  There was no-one else in the room.

Mistral yawned and stretched before rising to her feet and walking over to
the fire, ‘Where is everyone?’  she asked, bending to rub Prospero’s head
affectionately.

‘Getting provisions.’  Cain replied, not looking up from his
inventory. ‘We’re going to have a meeting over breakfast.’

‘Which is?’  Mistral enquired, peering cautiously into the pot.

‘Porridge,’ said Phantom shortly.  His face wore the unmistakable
grumpy expression brought on by an over-indulgence of cider, and he was
obviously not taking the personal slight on his sleeping habits too well
either.

Mistral hid a smile and asked instead where she could have a wash.  Phantom
indicated moodily to a wooden door set in the back wall of the cabin. 
Grabbing some clean clothes from her saddlebag, Mistral took herself off for a
wash, leaving Cain extolling the virtues of his patented snoring cures to a
stony-faced Phantom. 

By the time Mistral was washed and dressed in clean clothes, Fabian,
Phantasm and Grendel had returned and were unloading items from two large
hessian sacks. Fabian looked up as she strolled towards him, still combing out
her wet hair.

‘Good morning,’ he murmured, catching her around the waist to kiss
her.  She inhaled the scent of snow mixed with wood smoke on his cold skin
and shivered, for once with cold.  Even with a vest, two shirts and her
jerkin on she was still freezing. Fabian felt her shiver and pulled her over to
the fire.  ‘Did you really have to wash your hair the same morning we are
trekking up into the Northern Range?’  he asked with an exasperated smile.

‘Habit I guess,’ she shrugged.  ‘I’ll make sure it’s dry before we
leave.’  moving Prospero with the toe of her boot, she sat down on the
stone edge of the hearth to bask in the heat of the fire and continue her
conversation with Fabian.  ‘It is colder than I thought though,’ she
admitted.  ‘Even if I wore my Wolverine skin under my cloak I think I’m
still going to be a frozen statue by the time we get up to the dragon
territory.’

‘Have no fear Mistral!  We’ve thought of everything!’

At first all Mistral could see was a tall furry creature stood in the
doorway of the cabin and was struck by the ridiculous notion that a yeti had
burst in on them.  The mass of fur parted to reveal Brutus’ grinning
face.  He staggered into the hut followed by his brother bearing a similar
mountain sized bundle of fur in his arms.

‘It’s time to fur-up!’  Xerxes announced, dumping the huge pile of
furs on the floor.  Prospero leapt to his feet with a growl and stalked
over to investigate.  ‘This should keep us warm!  Hey, get off that
Prospero!  It’s for wearing, not chewing!’  Xerxes dragged Prospero
away from the large bestra skin he was sniffing interestedly. 

‘Where did you get all that from?’  Mistral eyed a long white chimera
skin covetously, privately wishing she’d been on some of the hunting trips to
obtain them.

‘This is a mountain settlement Mistral!  They always have loads of
furs for winter hunting trips.’  Brutus pulled out a pair of suede
trousers.  ‘I think these’ll fit you – there’s never been a female on a
dragon cull before and none of the elven women go hunting so I’m afraid you’ll
have to wear men’s clothes. ’

Phantom looked pointedly at her shirt, ‘Not an issue for her, I assure
you.’  .

Mistral laughed and realised that it was one of his, ‘Sorry brother, you
can have it back after the hunt.  Now, is that porridge ready yet because
I’m starving!’

‘Nearly.’  Phantom peered into the pot and gave the contents another
stir.  ‘There’s a jar of honey in my saddlebag if you want some.’

‘No thanks!’  Mistral pulled a face.  ‘I think it was the honey
that was making me sick, whenever I think about it now I just want to throw
up!’

‘Not near the breakfast!’  Phantom quickly pushed her away with an
alarmed look on his face. 

‘I think you should leave Prospero here for the hunt Mistral.’  Fabian
said, watching the dog nosing amongst the pile of furs.  ‘He would love
it, I’m sure, but he may well end up as extra bait if we’re not careful.’

Mistral frowned, ‘But where can I leave him?  I can’t just shut him in
here can I?  We don’t know how long we’re going to be up in the mountains
for.’

‘Our mother will have him.’  Brutus gave his brother a sideways
look.  ‘She was very fond of our old hunting dog, Elspeth.’

‘Really?’  Mistral looked unconvinced.  ‘She’ll be able to cope
with him will she?  Because he’s not exactly a lap dog.’

‘Er, you did meet Diannah last night didn’t you Mistral?’ Cain asked. 
‘She was the scary-looking woman shouting at Xerxes in the middle of the
tavern.’

‘Yes, yes, enough of last night.’  Xerxes interrupted with a scowl
then turned to Mistral.  ‘Elspeth was trained to hunt bears Mistral, she
was a big dog.  Prospero will be just fine with our mother.’

Mistral looked worriedly at her dog, ‘Well, if you’re sure –’

Xerxes and Brutus shared an amused look at Mistral’s ability to worry about
creatures that could blatantly take care of themselves.  Brutus smiled
reassuringly at her, ‘He’ll be fine.  Mother will enjoy the company too.’

‘Right, breakfast is served.’  Phantom announced, pulling the pot away
from the fire with a flourish.  ‘Get the bowls please brother.’ 

They sat on the floor by the fire to eat their breakfast and discuss the
plan for the day. 

‘Castor has sold us two bestra to use as bait and lent us a third to carry
provisions.’  Fabian informed them all while he carefully unfolded an old
piece of parchment and spread it out to reveal a map of the Northern
Range.  He placed a finger against a small ink dot on the map.  ‘This
is where we are now.’  tracing a finger across the parchment he followed
their winding route to a small drawing of a dragon.  ‘The dragon herd’s
territory is here.  In good weather, such as we have now, it’s a day’s
hike.  If we leave soon we should be able to camp safely on the outskirts
of their territory this evening.’

Mistral glanced out of the window at the still black sky, ‘What time is it
anyway?’  she asked.

‘Early.’   Phantom responded in a resentful tone.

‘We leave at dawn, which is in one hour Mistral.’  Fabian
smiled.  ‘So your brother is right, it is still early.’

‘For you anyway.’  Cain muttered.  ‘Anyone would think you
hibernate the way you sleep!  You didn’t even stir when Prospero bit one
of the Mages last night.’

‘He didn’t!’  Mistral looked appalled.  

Fabian nodded, ‘Yes, Mage Powers inconsiderately moved during the night and
rolled onto Prospero.’

‘Oh no!  Is he all right?’

‘Looks it.’  Cain said, glancing over to where Prospero was happily
chewing a manticore skin from the pile of furs.

‘The Mage not Prospero!’  Mistral cried.  ‘They could have him
destroyed as an illegal dangerous hybrid or something!  He isn’t really a
dog after all, more of a wolf really –’

‘He’s having the bite cleaned now.  It was only a couple of
superficial puncture wounds.  Castor is there to smooth everything over.’
 Fabian murmured unconcernedly and continued to pore over the map. 
‘Here,’ he stabbed a finger down.  ‘And here – these two positions would
be ideal to place the bestra.  The rockface above both points will provide
plenty of places for both hunting parties to conceal themselves and has the
added benefit of being sheltered from the wind.’

‘Who fetched the rope?’  Phantasm asked, rummaging through one of the
hessian sacks.

‘Me.’ Grendel grunted, indicating to the huge coil wound around his chest
and shoulder.

‘That should be enough to abseil down the whole damned mountain!’ 
Cain exclaimed.  ‘You sure you’re not over doing it a bit there brother?’

‘No.’  Fabian said, not looking up from the map.  ‘One of our
party died on the climb down during the last hunt because the rope was too
short.  He fell the remaining distance and broke his neck.'

There was a brief silence. 

‘Cheerful as ever.’  Cain muttered and started unpacking glass bottles
from his saddlebag again.

‘No Cain, just realistic.’  Mistral snapped defensively.  ‘Not
everyone is a chancer!’

‘Say what you really mean Mistral!  Go on!  Say “like me”. 
You think I’m disorganised don’t you?’ Cain fired back.

‘Well now you mention it, yes!  You are!’

‘Takes one to know one!  At least I’m not selfish – ’

‘Selfish?  Me?  Er, aren’t you forgetting something?  Like
the fact that I got the cull for us all!’

‘Huh!  No-one else would be stupid enough to come with someone as
reckless as you!’

‘Reckless am I?  At least I’m not a cheat!’

‘Ah, there you have me –’ and suddenly Cain and Mistral were grinning at
each other. 

‘Cheating hob.’

‘Reckless ... whatever you are,’ he countered.

Phantasm sighed wearily, ‘If you’ve quite finished trading insults can we
please finish planning this hunt before the moon rises, never mind the sun.’

‘Sorry brother.’  Mistral tried to look apologetic but ending up
grinning again when Cain winked at her.

‘Have you found that poison yet Cain?’  Fabian asked quietly, still
gazing intently at the map.

‘Yes.’  Cain was suddenly professional again, passing small bottles
filled with a thick, greenish liquid out to each warrior.  ‘This is the
poison I mixed using gorgon blood and these ones,’ he drew out a leather box
from his saddlebag and unclipped the lid to reveal a double row of dark blue
bottles, ‘contain a heavy sedative.  Be very careful with both!  The
poison is phenomenal stuff.  It actually burned a hole through my troll
skin mixing gloves!  And as for the sedative, well, let’s just say it
could knock a dragon out.’

‘That’s what we’re hoping for brother!’  Brutus laughed and held the
bottle up in the firelight to examine the contents.  ‘What’s in it?’

‘Trust me, you don’t want to know.’  Cain put the empty leather case
back into this saddlebag.  ‘Just don’t get any on your skin and for pity’s
sake don’t drink any or we won’t be seeing you till spring!’

‘Don’t suppose we could give Silver and Powers some could we?’  Brutus
asked hopefully. 

‘Not a cat in hells chance!’  Cain retorted, fixing him with a hard
look.  ‘I don’t want to be tried at the Council for drugging officials,
thank you very much.’

‘Still, it’s an idea –’

‘Let’s just concentrate on the route shall we?’  Cain turned to look
expectantly at Fabian. 

‘The route will take us through a series of short ravines.  There will
be some climbing but nothing too onerous, I’m certain the bestra will be able
to cope.’  Fabian pressed a finger against the map again.  ‘This is a
good place to camp tonight, but it will be cold,’ he looked at Xerxes. 
‘Are there some hide tents in that pile?’ 

‘Two.’  Xerxes confirmed after a quick check. 

‘Good.’  Fabian rocked back onto his heels and surveyed them all with
a serious expression on his face.  ‘The plan.  If you’re all in
agreement we’ll divide into two hunting parties.  Myself, Mistral and the
twins will form one party with Mage Powers.  Brutus, Xerxes, Cain and
Grendel will form the second, accompanied by Mage Silver.  I suggest that
Xerxes would make an effective leader for the second party.  He has
knowledge of the area, is a skilled bowman and will be able to use Elven Song
with his brother to communicate without Mage Silver’s knowledge.  The
twins and Mistral will also allow our two parties to communicate without either
of the Mages’ knowledge.’

Mistral looked at him in surprise, ‘Can’t we trust Silver and Powers then?’

‘No Mistral, I do not think we can afford the luxury of trusting any
Council officials until the situation with the Rochfortes has been dealt with
once and for all.  I would like you to read them both, but it is unlikely
that either of them will be foolish enough to think of such contentious issues
with a Seer in their midst.  We must simply assume that they are likely to
have an agenda in addition to overseeing the cull.  I am sure that the
opportunity this Contract has presented for our enemies to rid themselves of
both the Gemini and the Ri’s Seer in one fell swoop will not have gone
unnoticed.’