The Seer

by Kirsten Jones

  ‘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.’

  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 middl
e 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.