The Seer (26 page)

The track rose steeply up through the lower pastures of the
mountains.  Despite their ungainly appearance the bestra climbed the
rugged paths with surprising agility, much to the envy of the warriors
struggling breathlessly behind them.  Before too long they were passing
the Council’s herd of bonacon kept for the purpose of feeding the
dragons.  The cattle-like creatures were famed for being exceedingly
stupid.  It was a standard joke that even their horns were backward since
they grew in curls facing towards the rear of the animal rather than pointing
forwards.   Mistral eyed them disdainfully.  She was severely
disappointed that the dragons were content to hunt such unchallenging creatures
and never venture farther afield.  It just didn’t fit with the image she
had in her head of them being the ultimate creature to face.  She couldn’t
help it, she felt let down.  It was almost like being told that Prospero
was actually afraid of cats.

The sun rose gradually in the sky, revealing the stark majesty of the
Northern Range.  The higher they climbed the more Mistral found herself
increasingly in awe of her surroundings.  The barren rocks that rose up
all around her were black and cold, but still possessed of an undeniable
beauty.  She had been born, would live a life then wither and die before
any of the rocks around her so much as crumbled.  To be faced with such
immeasurable timelessness was a humbling experience.     

Can you read Powers and Silver?

A sudden thought pierced her mind.  Fabian’s.  Mistral glanced at
the two hooded Mages.  Both had remained suspiciously mute throughout
their long trek.  She suddenly remembered that she’d Seen something
suspicious in Mage Silver’s thoughts and nodded to let Fabian know.  He’d
been hiding something, deliberately thinking about a mundane matter to prevent
her from Seeing his true thoughts.  She took Fabian’s hand so that he
could guide her along the path while she let her senses turn inwards. 
Clearing her mind, Mistral called up a picture of Mage Silver’s face and
focused her attention on his eyes.  In her mind they stared at each other
until she heard his thoughts creeping slowly into her mind.  She listened
to him for a while then switched switching her attention to Mage Powers to
repeat the process, all the while walking by Fabian’s side, letting him guide
her while she gazed unfocusedly ahead, lost in the thoughts of the two Mages behind
her.  The ever perceptive twins quickly caught on to what she was doing
and fell silent, watching her react to the thoughts she heard with barely
concealed impatience, eager to know what she’d Seen. 

The morning passed by without event, apart from Phantom nearly falling into
a crevasse because he was too distracted by watching Mistral instead of looking
where he was going.  Unperturbed by his near mishap, Phantom continued to
stare obsessively at her and by midday both twins had begun to invade her
thoughts with increasing insistence, forcing her to mutter responses under her
breath.

How’re you going to tell us what you’ve Seen with those two Mages hanging
around like a bad smell?

‘Use your gift … get them to wander off or something.’

Fabian glanced at her curiously.  Quickly realising that she was
responding to the twins’ unspoken questions he joined in, his silent voice
immediately overriding theirs.

Cain has a sedative prepared.  I doubt Powers and Silver will drink anything
we offer them so I agree with your suggestion, we’ll have to ask the twins to
use their gift to make them accept a gourd of laced drink.

Mistral nodded.

What did he say?

Mistral rolled her eyes at Phantom and gave him a ‘tell you later’ look.

No, tell me NOW!

‘Can’t,’ she muttered and looked pointedly at the two Mages walking quietly
behind them.

Oh for pity’s sake! 

Mistral? 
Fabian’s unspoken question drew her
eyes to meet his. 
I’m going to ask you some questions.  Please
use the code you and the twins agreed on to answer me.

Mistral silently signaled ‘no’, knowing that Fabian would understand the
reverse to be true.

You Saw something in Mage Powers’ thoughts this morning that troubled you.

Mistral repeated the signal. 

I suspected as much.  Does he have a plan involving you and the twins?

Again, Mistral wordlessly gave a negative signal.

Did you See this plan?

Mistral gave an affirmative signal and Fabian nodded fractionally, knowing
that she’d been unable to See his plan, only the intention.

We will talk more later.

What?  WHAT?

Mistral threw a glance at Phantom.  He was staring straight ahead, his
face composed in a tranquil expression but his eyes were glowing with
impatience.  ‘All things come to those who wait brother,’ she murmured and
ducked her head inside her hood to avoid the foul look he gave her.

They were now high up in the mountains.  There were no longer any
scrubby gorse bushes or mountain heathers to soften the bleak monotony of their
surroundings.  The path wound up into a steep-sided ravine, its sheer rock
walls making Mistral feel uncomfortably hemmed in.  She gazed up at the
narrow strip of sky above them and longed to be out in the open mountainside
again.  Her unexplained dislike of enclosed spaces was something that
seemed to have intensified since gaining Sight, but at least she could now
distract herself with Fabian’s thoughts.  

The ravine ended in an almost sheer rockface, requiring them to use the
rope Grendel was carrying to climb up.  The bestra had no such problem,
nimbly leaping up almost invisible ledges in the rock to wait obediently at the
top.  The Mages were the last to climb up.  Xerxes lowered the rope
to them with a half-muttered suggestion to Brutus that they let go at a crucial
moment.  Mistral scowled at him and shook her head but he merely grinned
and called jovially down to the two sour-faced Mages.

‘Hold on tight! It might get a bit bumpy!’  Hauling sharply on the
rope, Xerxes and Brutus jerked Mage Powers up, slamming him into the hard
granite.  His corresponding shout of pain was met with an apologetic smile
from Xerxes.  ‘Oops, sorry about that Mage Powerless!  Wasn’t quite
thinking, must be the lack of second name or something –’

‘Xerxes!’  Mistral warned in a low voice.  ‘Please behave!’

Xerxes smirked unrepentantly and gave another mighty tug on the rope,
yanking the Mage up over the lip of rock to sprawl unceremoniously at their
feet, ‘No need to grovel Mage Powers!  I know my name has rather kingly
connotations, but we don’t tend to stand on ceremony in the Ri.’

‘More kill on ceremony actually.’  Brutus added while he dropped the
rope down to Mage Silver.

Mistral looked to Fabian for help but his expression was impassive.  He
wasn’t interested in her brothers goading the Mages.  His thoughts were
full of speculation as to what Mage Silver had planned.  Mistral retracted
her mind from his quickly; some of the possibilities he was considering were
extremely unpleasant.

Once Mage Silver had been dragged up to join his hatchet-faced counterpart,
they continued along the rough mountain path only to find their progress slowed
by recent falls of rock, sometimes obstructing the path completely and forcing
them to climb around.  The frequency of the falls increased until they
were clambering over loose piles of rock more than they were walking on the
path.  Fabian called a halt while he studied the mountain above them,
looking for the cause of the slides.

‘These are not natural falls,’ he muttered, indicating to several scorched
looking sections of rock.  ‘One of the male dragons has battled here,
perhaps a troll moved into the territory –’

‘I’d like to have seen that battle.’  Xerxes said eagerly, then
promptly swore when he tripped over one of the many rocks strewn across the
path.

‘If the fallout is anything to go by, it must’ve been a mammoth
scrap.’  Brutus glanced anxiously up at the sky, as though expecting to
see a dragon bearing down on him.  ‘D’you think it’s recent?’

‘No.  The male dragons have been hibernating since late autumn.’ 
Fabian studied the rockface above them.  ‘But we should be extra vigilant
for any signs of troll activity.’

Mistral the two Mages sharing a look and cursed silently.  She’d let
herself be distracted by talk of trolls instead of listening to their
thoughts.  She hoped she hadn’t missed something important.

They struggled on over the fallen boulders and heaps of loose rubble until
they were faced with a huge fall of rock that completely blocked the path,
leaving only a sheer drop on one side and the steep side of the ravine on the
other.

‘It’s impassable.  We’ll have to climb.’  Fabian began to issue
instructions for moving the bestra.  The rockface was too steep even for
them; they would have to be hauled up.  ‘One of us will have to climb up
with the rope.’  Fabian looked up at the sheer wall or the ravine rising
up above the path.

‘I’ll go.’  Mistral immediately offered, desperate to get out of the
narrow-sided ravine.  ‘I’ve done a bit of climbing in the Western Range
before –’ she’d yanked off her gloves and cloak and was already climbing before
her sentence was even finished.

‘Damn it Mistral!’  Fabian swore and began to take his own gloves off
to follow after her.

‘No, I’ll go.’  Phantasm said quickly, his green eyes flickering over
to the two silent Mages.

Fabian gave a tense nod and stood back to watch Mistral climb.  He
held his breath whenever she paused, watching her head turn as she looked for
suitable holds, only exhaling again when she moved on, fluttering across the
sheer rock like a white butterfly.

‘Ah, no-one does impulsive and reckless quite like our Mistral.’
 Xerxes sighed fondly and took a long drink from the gourd of liquor Cain
was passing around.

‘Just get ready to catch her if she falls won’t you Grendel.’  Phantom
said casually, watching Mistral fling herself sideways to reach a jutting lip
of rock then scramble lithely up and over the top of the ravine.

Phantasm quickly wound a length of rope over his shoulder and began to climb,
following the same route as Mistral.  He was more nimble than her, scaling
the rockface with graceful ease to arrive, barely out of breath, seconds behind
her at the top.

‘That was fun!’  Mistral exclaimed while Phantasm dusted himself down
after the climb.  She turned to admire the view and drew in a deep breath,
savoring the crisp dryness after the damp ravine.  The Northern Range
stretched out before her in a sea of jagged peaks and dark valleys, further to
the north snow-capped crowns pierced through their shroud of thick white
cloud.  It was unnaturally quiet, not a single breath of wind disturbed
the cold air.  Mistral gazed out at the austere beauty, letting its
silence fill her with a rare sense of peace.   She shivered a little,
cooling down after the exertion of the climb.  She knew she should move
before her muscles grew stiff but was reluctant to tear her gaze away from the
view. 

‘It really appeals to you, doesn’t it?’  Phantasm walked up to stand
beside her.  ‘All that bleakness and isolation.’

Mistral turned her head to reply when her eye caught something in the
mountain face behind them, ‘What does that look like to you brother?’  she
whispered, quietly reaching over her shoulder to pull one sword out.

Phantasm followed her gaze and silently drew his own sword when he spotted
the same dark gash Mistral had seen, ‘A troll cave,’ he admitted unhappily.

Mistral’s eyes gleamed with a fanatical light Phantasm knew from experience
to dread, ‘Let’s find out if anyone’s home –’ 

‘No, let’s wait for the others!’  He quickly grabbed her arm.

She shook him off angrily, ‘I think you’ll find it’s my name on the
license, brother!  This party is my responsibility, and that includes the
bestra!  Or do you fancy replacing them as bait if they get eaten by a
troll?’

Phantasm was torn; he had to admit that she had a point.  If there was
a troll in the cave the strong scent of the bestra would be irresistible to it
and they couldn’t afford to lose their dragon bait.  He glanced over at
the cave, examining it more carefully.  ‘I can’t smell a troll,’ he
muttered, ‘and the rock around the entrance is scorched.  I think there
may have been one there, but it looks like the dragons got to it first.’

‘Maybe, but we can’t take the risk.’  Mistral strode purposefully towards
the cave entrance. 

‘Hang on a minute!’   Phantasm quickly ran to the edge of the
ravine.  ‘There’s a cave!’  He called down to the row of tiny,
upturned faces.  ‘It looks like a troll might have been living in it ...
we’re
... going to confirm it’s no longer inhabited.’  He laid heavy emphasis on
the ‘we are’ part, leaving everyone in no doubt as to who had instigated this
little added extra adventure.  Not waiting for their response, he ran
after Mistral, leaping fallen rocks and loose rubble with long graceful
strides.

Mistral laughed at him, ‘You run like a deer!’

‘As long as this troll doesn’t think I’ll taste like one I don’t care.’
 Phantasm muttered back sourly.