The Seer (32 page)

Bad luck brother.

You’re going to owe me money today
brother!

Shut up Brutus!

Mistral’s mind instinctively flew out to each of
her brothers, hearing how they had fared while she notched another poisoned
arrow into her bow.  She listened to them briefly but it was too
distracting.  She needed to concentrate.  Blocking them out, she
finished reloading and took aim once more.  Fabian had already reloaded
and positioned himself back at the edge with his bow drawn tight, aiming for
one of the surviving dragons dipping and wheeling through the air in panicked
circles, the bestra forgotten as they sought out the danger firing at
them.  Mistral pulled her bowstring tight, following the progress of the
three remaining dragons.  Aiming carefully for the gleaming emerald green
eye of the dragon gliding through the air nearest to them she began to relax
her finger –

The queen is here!

Phantom’s silent exclamation made her finger
contract.  Forgetting the juvenile dragon in her sights she immediately
looked around for the fabled queen. 

And suddenly, she was there.

Mistral was abruptly oblivious to everything
around her; the sound of Fabian firing, the resulting scream from the dragon it
struck, the bow gripped in her hand, the last two dragons bearing down on her
brothers with muzzles twisted into snarls of rage ... none of it
mattered.  All she saw was the glorious sight of the dragon queen gliding
out of the snowstorm.  No books could prepare her for the
sheer majesty
of the creature now circling slowly above them.  Mistral
could only stare helplessly, her bow dangling
forgotten by her side
.  The queen was easily twice the size of her
offspring.  She
soared through
the sky on wings the colour of an autumn sunset, her vast body armoured by
gleaming scales of scarlet and gold that tapered smoothly down to a long,
barb-tipped tail. 
She turned in the air, swooping down with silent
and terrible grace, raking the mountain with
eyes of molten bronze, seeking out the danger that threatened her
family. 

‘Be completely still!’  Fabian breathed out a
warning, inching his body protectively in front of hers while the queen circled
in the air above them.

We can’t fire!  She’s too close to
you!  If we miss, she’ll just attack …

Damn!  Damn!

Where the hell are those sedated arrows!

!!!

The twins’ frantic thoughts sounded emptily in her
mind.  She and
Fabian were frozen statues, camouflaged in the
falling snow by their white fur cloaks.  The queen swept around in a
curving arc, her head weaving left and right, searching.  A sudden gust of
icy wind swirled around them.  Fabian swore violently as it blew their
scent right into the flame-red nostrils of the queen.  She reacted with
lightning speed, swooping down to glide past their ledge, near enough for
Mistral to feel the air displaced by each powerful sweep of her wings. 
Her nostrils flared, drawing in their scent.  With a low growl her head
snapped around to stare directly at them, so close that Mistral could see her own
fur-clad figure reflected in the metallic sheen of her eyes.

‘Get
back!’  Fabian snapped and stepped quickly in front of her, already
drawing the string of his bow tight, aiming for one the bronze eyes.  With
a movement so fast that neither of them saw it coming, the queen lashed out
with her long tail, striking Fabian around the legs and knocking him to the
ground.  Mistral was left staring into the eyes of the dragon queen,
hovering in the air in front of her.  Opening her mouth wide the queen
exhaled a long breath, enveloping Mistral in a sweet-scented cloud of warm
air. 

Mistral’s bow
fell unnoticed from her hand, her mind suddenly filled with the certainty that
the queen not only knew her, but had been waiting for this day for a long
time.  Thoughts battered against Mistral’s stupefied mind, the twins’
startled fear, Cain’s shout of warning, Fabian’s panic ... it all drifted away
to become mere background noise.  She locked gazes with the most feared
creature on the Isle and felt an overwhelming burst of love.

Everything
that identified her life was suddenly insignificant.  Her gift, the twins,
even Fabian … her Mage ... it all faded to nothing in the face of such
all-consuming emotion.  Her world imploded to be instantly resurrected by
the one simple fact that she was loved, completely and utterly; a love that was
pure, uncomplicated by passion or jealousy, boundless and unquestioning. 

Unconditional. 

For the first
time in her life, Mistral experienced a mother’s love.

With a low cry
of joy she ran to the edge and flung herself out into thin air, trusting
implicitly in the creature that called to her.  The jaws that closed
around her were an embrace more tender than Fabian’s arms.  She suddenly
knew how it felt to be adored, cherished ... safe.  And it was paradise.

A low growl rumbled from the jaws that held her so
carefully, a crooning that was almost musical.  A lullaby.  Mistral
felt her eyes begin to close.  She gazed dreamily up into the slitted
glimmers of bronze and knew complete peace.  With a smile of contentment
she submitted to the irresistible pull of sleep, just as the world began to
spin uncontrollably around her.  Deep within her drugged mind Mistral
suddenly knew that something was wrong.  She forced the leaden lids of her
eyes to open and stared uncomprehendingly at the blizzard spinning past her in
dizzying spirals.  With a burst of fear she realised that they were
falling.  Wind streamed past her, lifting the fur hood of her cloak away
from her face and freeing her vision to see fully the creature that held her so
gently in its jaws.  The bronze eyes that met her frightened look were
filled with such deep loss that Mistral immediately began to cry.  To have
found such love only to lose it so quickly was insufferable.

The queen fell soundlessly, tumbling thought the
air to crash heavily onto the frozen ground.  Mistral was flung from the
queen’s jaws by the force of the impact and lay in the snow beside her still
head, staring numbly into the glazed bronze eyes. 

‘
No!
’

Her anguished sob was drowned by the sound of
Fabian calling her name.  But Mistral couldn’t see him.  All she
could see was the queen.  Her bronze eyes closed.  She gave a last
shuddered gasp of warm, sweet breath and Mistral knew no more.

Mistral could hear Fabian’s voice through the
heavy fog that surrounded her brain.  She struggled to call out to him but
her lips felt strangely stiff and unresponsive.  Forcing her eyes to open
a fraction she recoiled from the light that struck her blurred vision. 
Wherever she was, it was definitely day.

‘She’s awake.’

A voice she couldn’t place.  Who was
it?  She recognised the speaker … a male … someone she had met recently –

‘Mistral?’

Ah, now that voice she would know anywhere.
 Forcing her lips to respond, Mistral breathed his name.  ‘Fabian.’

Eyes of blackest night stared anxiously into hers,
she smiled stiffly in response. 

‘How do you feel?’

She frowned.  The action felt strange, as
though the muscles of her face had been frozen and were not yet fully
thawed.  ‘What happened?’  She mumbled, forcing the words out through
wooden lips.

‘The queen breathed on you Lady De Winter. 
Twice.  You’ve been the recipient of a double dose of a powerful
narcotic.  Dragon breath.  You are fortunate to still be alive.’

Mistral’s eyes swiveled to focus on the speaker,
stood at the end of the narrow bed she was laid in.  Ah yes … now she
recognised the voice of the elven chieftain, Castor ... but she hadn’t
understood a single word he’d just said.  ‘How’d I get here?’  She
turned her eyes back to Fabian, her head seemed unwilling to move yet.

‘Grendel carried you.’

‘Oh.’  Mistral forced an eyebrow to rise
slightly.  It resisted and she was left with a frozen expression of
surprise on her face.  ‘Wh –’  she was going to ask ‘why?’ but her
lips struggled to purse and shape the word and Fabian was left to assume her
question.

‘When?  We arrived in the early hours of the
morning.’

Mistral gave up with trying to express any sort of
response and simply gazed at Fabian, suddenly too tired to even try to read his
thoughts or do anything other than close her eyes and let sleep claim her
again.

Fabian watched her eyes close and looked over at
Castor, ‘I want Cain to check her over again.  I simply cannot believe
that she has no injuries!  She was crying with pain when I reached her.’

‘It is very strange I admit.’  Castor
regarded Mistral’s sleeping form pensively.  ‘But then, there is much we
do not understand here.’

Fabian stared at him coldly, ‘Such as?’

‘Well,’ Castor began, rubbing a hand thoughtfully
across his chin, ‘there has never been a female warrior in contact with the
herd before, let alone a Seer.  Dragons are an ancient and powerful breed
about which little is known due to their savage natures.  I admit that I
am very curious to know why the queen behaved the way she did,’ he paused and
looked at Fabian, his eyes roving over the dark shadows under his eyes. 
‘But you should rest my friend.  We will know more when your lady awakes
again.’

‘I will not leave her.’

Castor nodded and turned to leave, ‘Then I shall
leave you alone.  I will return later.’

The sound of the door closing quietly was
immediately followed by it opening again as the twins slipped quietly into the
room.

‘Has she awoken yet?’

‘Briefly.’

‘Did she speak?’

‘Yes.’

The twins waited expectantly for Fabian to
continue but he relapsed into a brooding silence, watching Mistral sleep. 
Phantom shared a pained look with his brother at Fabian’s unforthcoming
manner.  ‘Did she say anything about what happened?’  Phantasm
persisted.

‘No.’

‘We will stay with her if you wish to take some
rest Mage De Winter.’

Fabian did not respond for a moment but continued
to stare at Mistral.  When he finally looked around it was all Phantasm
could do not to express shock at bleakness in his eyes.  ‘How can I leave her?’ 
He asked in a deathly whisper.  ‘She is all I am.’

Phantasm held his gaze for a moment then nodded
and turned to leave the room, his brother following quietly behind
him.  

It was dark when Mistral opened her eyes once
more.  The room was lit by the glow of a single candle, the faint light
revealing the shadowed figure of Fabian, asleep on a chair beside her
bed.  She studied his face in the flickering candlelight, noting with a
burst of compassion that he looked exhausted, haggard even.  Shadows like
bruises marked the skin beneath his closed eyes, he was rarely clean-shaven but
the dark stubble that covered his jaw was longer than usual.  She lay
still, unwilling to move and wake him, watching the steady rise and fall of his
chest, rhythmical and hypnotic, matching her own breathing to his she soon
succumbed to sleep once more. 

When Mistral awoke again Fabian was gone. 
She stared unhappily at Cain, sat in his place on the wooden chair beside her
bed.  ‘If you’re here it means something bad’s happened,’ she said
resignedly.

‘Ah, good morning!  And how is my favourite
patient today?’

Mistral wriggled each of her toes, then her feet,
ankles, legs, working her way up her body to finally blink her eyelids
experimentally.  ‘All present and correct, you may go now,’ she replied
briskly.

Cain laughed quietly and reached down to undo the
flap of his saddlebag, ‘Nice try, but I’m under orders from your Mage to be
here.’

‘Where is here anyway?’  Mistral asked,
gazing around curiously at her surroundings, now lit by bright rays of morning
sunshine.

‘Diannah’s house.’  Cain replied distractedly
while he shook a bottle of tonic and held it up to the light to read the label.

Mistral looked around the small room.  Apart
from the chair Cain was sat on and another neatly made single bed opposite
hers, the only other piece of furniture in the room was a wardrobe.  The
wooden doors were pitted with distinctive arrow marks, as though it had been
used for target practice.  A pair of battered looking longbows were leant
against the closed doors and beside them lay a pile of animal skins; trophies
from past hunts.  The walls of the room were bare apart from a large piece
of parchment pinned lopsidedly beside the window where the light was best. 
Mistral studied it curiously.  It had no writing on it, only rows of
numbers.  Some were circled, others scored out.  Mistral recognised
the chaotic mass of numbers instantly.  It was a tally of wagers. 
She looked around the room with fresh eyes.  She was in Brutus and Xerxes’
old bedroom.

‘Oh please tell me this was Brutus’ bed,’ she
groaned.  ‘I don’t think I could cope with Xerxes boasting that I’ve been
in his bed!’

‘That should be the least of your worries,
considering what you’ve just been through.  Right, I need to check to see
if any bruising has come out.  There wasn’t any when I examined you last
night, but it could have been deep –’

‘What bruising?  Hang on a minute!  You
examined
me when I was asleep?  What the hell did you do that for?’

‘Unconscious, not asleep.  You make me sound
like a pervert or something.  And your Mage was here the whole time. 
Come on, sit up … and you’ll need to take your shirt off –’

‘No I damned well won’t take my shirt off Cain!’
 Mistral grabbed the blanket and pulled it higher up.  ‘And I hope
you didn’t last night either!’

Cain sighed in exasperation, ‘Mistral, my mother
was the tribal midwife, I’ve seen more women undressed than Xerxes has, and I
want to see your back anyway.  I need to check there’s no bruising to the
spine.  Now please, just sit up and shut up.’

‘No way!’

‘For crying out loud!  Will you just let me
do my job?’

‘No!’

The sound of the door opening made them both
turn.  Mistral cried out with relief when Fabian strode quickly into the
room.  ‘Why are you shouting Mistral?  Are you hurt?’

‘Fabian!  Please get rid of Cain before I
kill him!  Why do I need examining?   I’m fine!’

Fabian contemplated her for a moment, ‘Well,
you’re arguing so I suppose that means you must be feeling better.’

‘I’m absolutely fine!’  Mistral insisted
through clenched teeth.  ‘Now why am I in what I sincerely hope is Brutus’
bed?  Aren’t we meant to be hunting dragons today?’

Fabian stared at her expressionlessly while Cain
stood up and quietly left the room, ‘Tell me what you remember,’ he finally
said and sat down on the bed beside her.

Mistral groaned and sank back onto her pillow, ‘Oh
no.  I
hate
it when you ask me that!  Now I know something’s
happened … what’ve I done now?  Stuffed the hunt up by getting drunk or
something?  I think you’re going to have to tell me for a change because I
really can’t remember a thing!’

Fabian reached for her hand, taking it between
both of his own and gazing down at it thoughtfully while he spoke, ‘The dragon
hunt has been completed Mistral.  We were successful.  Two juvenile
females were slain.  Their carcasses were hauled back by the bestra we
took for bait.’

Mistral listened to him carefully. 
Everything he was telling her seemed vaguely familiar.  She felt an
inexplicable burst of relief at the news of the bestra surviving, but was
confused as to why she would feel like that.  She frowned in
concentration, watching his lips move while he retold the story of the hunt.

‘The remaining three juveniles were sedated and
should have awoken by now,’ he paused and looked at her, his expression in his
dark eyes inscrutable.  ‘As was the queen.’

The queen.

Mistral’s heart suddenly began to race, jolting
her memory into recalling a vision of burning bronze eyes and ... love … oh,
such much
love! 
‘She … she’s going to be alright though isn’t
she?’  Mistral asked in a choked whisper, her eyes suddenly full of tears.

Fabian’s brow creased in anger, ‘You’re concerned
for the health of that creature?  She tried to eat you Mistral!’

‘No!’  Mistral’s shout of denial reverberated
loudly around the small bedroom.  ‘I … I
Saw
her Fabian!  She
wouldn’t have hurt me!  I know it!’

Fabian stared at her in stunned silence, ‘You
heard the dragon’s thoughts?’  He finally asked in an incredulous voice.

Mistral closed her eyes to recall the events more
clearly, ‘Not thoughts exactly … more emotions.  It was like reading an
aura, only I
knew
the emotions instead of just seeing the colours and
having to interpret them.’  She opened her eyes and looked down at her
hand held between his, slipping her fingers between his and curling them around
tightly.  ‘She
loved
me Fabian.  I’ve never known anything
like it.  She just wanted to look after me.’  Mistral looked
beseechingly into Fabian’s confused gaze, willing him to understand. 

Fabian frowned, struggling to comprehend what she
was telling him, ‘You felt ...
love?  
From a dragon?’

‘I know how it sounds, and I can’t explain it
either.   But there’s no other way to describe what I felt. 
I’ve never known a mother.’  Mistral shook her head slowly.  ‘But I
can only imagine that’s how it would feel to be loved by one.’

Fabian gazed at her wordlessly then tilted his
head slightly to catch her downcast eyes, the faintest suggestion of a smile
playing at the corners of his mouth, ‘Are you trying to tell me that you’re
leaving me for a dragon?’ 

Mistral smiled and reached up her hand to touch
his face, brushing the skin with her fingertips, ‘I could never leave you
Fabian.  It would kill me.’

He sighed and closed his eyes, taking hold of her
and pulling her tightly against him, ‘You made a fairly convincing attempt at
both.  I have never experienced such complete and utter disbelief as I did
when I watched you leap from the ledge into the open jaws of a dragon!’

Mistral grimaced and muttered an apology into his
shirt, adding more clearly, ‘I think it must have been the effect of the dragon
breath.  I remember getting blasted with it when she knocked you over with
her tail.’

‘Castor thought the same.  It’s a powerful
narcotic and may go some way to explaining why you believed you felt the way
you did.’