The Assassin's Tale (Isle of Dreams)

by Kirsten Jones

  Mistral raised her eyebrows. She didn’t want to interrupt, but couldn’t help being surprised. It went against all that the Ri were taught to leave a warrior behind. Catching her expression, Fabian smiled sourly and lifted his shoulders in a gesture of indifference.

  ‘Oh, there’s no love lost between Eximius and myself. He has no patience for my choice of lifestyle, and since he had kept his side of the bargain he obviously felt that he owed me nothing.’

  Again, Mistral couldn’t help but interrupt.

  ‘Explain … please,’ she said with a frown.

  ‘Which bit?’ he asked politely.

  ‘All of it.’

  He sighed and leaned forward to catch one of her hands again, turning it over to examine the palm. She shivered as his fingers ran across her skin, although his touch was warm.

  ‘Eximius thinks that I am a fool for shunning the Craft. It is powerful in my line and he feels that I could do a lot to benefit the Council with it. But I feel differently,’ he shrugged again, disinterested. ‘As to the bargain, Eximius agreed to offer you safe passage on his warship in return for my attendance in any negotiations.’

  His face was passive, but his eyes avoided hers. Mistral frowned at the knowledge that he had been meddling behind the scenes to try and protect her. She felt a brief spurt of irritation, but a larger part of her liked that he had shown concern for her.

  ‘Why are you smiling?’ he asked curiously.

  She shook her head, ‘Nothing. Um, so ... is that what you and Mage Grapple were discussing by the ford at the Amber River?’

  Fabian nodded and looked beseechingly at her, ‘Please don’t be angry with me for interfering. I was only trying to protect you. I knew that you would try and board the warship even though Eximius had forbidden you.’

  ‘But he hadn’t forbidden me,’ Mistral said. ‘Quite the opposite.’

  Fabian’s eyes tightened briefly as he realised how easily he had been manipulated into doing Mage Grapple’s bidding, but his expression quickly softened. He gazed down at her hand again, curling his fingers through hers.

  ‘Eximius will always get what he wants. It is of no consequence now. So,’ he continued in a clearer voice. ‘Back to my long adventure. I ended up missing both ships and was left stranded in The Desert Lands with just the small matter of an ocean between us,’ he paused and an ironic smile lifted the corners of his mouth. ‘I waited at the docks for the rest of the day and tried to charter a boat, but no-one was going out. They were all too busy celebrating the truce. I thought I might catch something the next day but a storm had rolled in –’

  Mistral made a face. She remembered lying curled up, sick as a dog, in a stall with Cirrus for the entire journey.

  ‘And it wrecked all of the sailing vessels left in harbour. So I was left with no choice but to ride along the coastline, stopping at every harbour to try and find a ship willing to take me … without any success. Eventually I decided to keep on riding until I reached a more northern port and, to cut a long story short, I’ve been travelling to get back to you since the last time I saw you.’

  Mistral stared at him in frank amazement, at his tattered clothes, his haggard appearance. He had ridden back from The Desert Lands ... for her? Confusion suddenly clouded her face.

  ‘But, you’re a sorcerer.’

  Fabian gazed at her, his eyes black, velvet soft, ‘I detest the Craft and I love you. The two just don’t go together.’

  Oh!

  He had said that word again and Mistral’s heart soared. And, yes, she would have been that self-destructively stubborn about something she believed in too. Mistral suddenly grinned at him, the muscles in her face protesting, unused to the action. Fabian smiled back then suddenly leaned across the table and slid a hand around her face, pulling her into a kiss.

  For half a second Mistral froze, then her heart catapulted itself into the stratosphere and she responded, rising out of her seat and leaning towards him, reaching up hungrily to twine her fingers through his dark, tangled hair, pulling him even closer to her, kissing him back with unashamed need.

  A slow handclap and a few good natured cheers reminded them that they were not alone and they broke apart reluctantly. Mistral sat back down looking dazed, her cheeks flushed. Fabian grinned at her, his eyes blazing triumphantly, making Mistral realise faintly that she had never seen him look so happy. Or so handsome.

  ‘Maybe we should go for a walk?’ he suggested quietly, reaching out to take her hand. ‘There are things I want to tell you without being overheard.’

  He led her by the hand towards the door, steering her carefully around tables, chairs, and people. Mistral kept her eyes fixed on him, avoiding the obvious looks and shameless asides she was getting from everyone in the tavern. She thought she caught the twins grinning blatantly at her out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t look at them, not wanting anything to break the spell Fabian had cast on her, a spell that was blindly leading her out of the door and into the complete unknown.

  Truth and Revelations

  Mistral stepped out from the smoky warmth of the tavern and shivered as a blast of icy air enveloped her. At once Fabian wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer into the heat of his body. She leaned in willingly, inhaling deeply the familiar musky scent she thought she would never smell again.

  The night was perfectly still. A few flakes of snow were drifting lazily down through the cold air settling on the dark ground at their feet while they walked slowly together in no particular direction, wrapped in each other’s warmth. Mistral felt a surge of such total and utter completeness fill her. It was as though the desolation of the last few months had never happened.

  ‘Can I ask you a question?’

  ‘Be my guest,’ he smiled.

  ‘That time in Leo’s room, when he was outlining the Contract – do you remember it?’ she began and then paused, hesitancy tainting her voice.

  Fabian nodded and smiled encouragingly.

  ‘You looked at me and gave the strangest smile,’ she paused again, unsure of how to ask.

  ‘You want to know what I was thinking. Whether it was about you?’ Fabian asked in an amused voice. ‘Surely you just read my aura?’

  Mistral shrugged her shoulders and looked away, feigning indifference. She didn’t want to admit to that just yet.

  He stroked her cheek and sighed, ‘I thought you looked like you had a temper.’

  Mistral snapped round to glare at him.

  ‘But I was obviously mistaken,’ he added quickly.

  Her anger evaporated as suddenly as it had come and she laughed, reaching out tentatively to hold the hand that had stroked her cheek with a sense of disbelief. A part of her couldn’t believe that she could touch him ... was touching him ... and that he wanted her to touch him.

  ‘I also thought I saw something in you that reminded me of myself,’ he murmured softly, his lips brushed her hair with the ghost of a kiss.

  They walked in silence for a few moments and Mistral thought about what he had said. She had also felt almost instant affinity with Fabian but had refused to admit it to herself. She looked up at the cloudy sky and sighed, wondering how much pain they could have saved themselves if they had just been honest from the start. She glanced up at him, her expression hesitant once more. She had kept silent for so long about how she felt it was difficult to break the habit and ask the questions that burned inside her.

  ‘When we rode out together for the Amber River, you barely spoke all day. Why?’

  ‘Did it bother you?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly, his dark eyes glinting with amusement.

  She shook her head, ‘No, but I did wonder what you were thinking.’ Mistral looked at him closely, watching his expression.

  Fabian didn’t reply for a few moments, his face thoughtful. When he spoke, his voice was low, reflecting the strain of the memory.

  ‘I was happy,’ he looked at her briefly, an apologetic smile hitching up one corner of h
is mouth. ‘Forgive me, but I assumed it was because I was going to see Emiror again.’

  Mistral felt a ragged tear inside her. Her face immediately froze into an unnaturally stiff expression. If Fabian noticed her reaction, he gave no sign. Instead he sighed and looked up at the heavy clouds pressing down into the Valley. With a surge of anguish Mistral wondered where his thoughts had taken him. To Emiror again?

  ‘The only trouble was, every time I actually thought of Emiror the feeling vanished.’

  He looked at her wonderingly, his eyes roaming over her face. Raising one finger he gently traced the outline of her lips.

  ‘It only came back when I looked over and saw you riding next to me.’

  Without realising it they had stopped walking and were facing one another, close enough for her to feel the warmth of each breath and the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Fabian bent his head down to her upturned face and kissed her again, slowly at first and then with more passion. Mistral closed her eyes, losing herself in the sensation of his lips against hers, his arms pulling her into him. Sliding her hands beneath his long cloak Mistral wrapped her arms around him, feeling his muscles tense to hold her more tightly. When Fabian eventually released her, it was with a deep sigh. He pushed her away gently, holding her at arm’s length to gaze at her with dancing eyes.

  ‘Well,’ his voice was low, seductive. ‘Now that we have got all of the important questions out of the way, will you allow me to explain?’

  Mistral sighed and rolled her eyes. Details, details. Did it matter? They were alike in so many ways and yet he seemed to suddenly feel the need to explain his actions whereas she never did. However, Mistral mused, if it meant staying out with him longer then she would happily listen to him recite from a dictionary all evening.

  Mistral looked around and was surprised to find that they were back near the stableyard. She realised that they must have walked in a complete circle around the village.

  ‘We could climb up into the hayloft, no-one will overhear us there,’ she said and suddenly blushed, hoping he wouldn’t read a double meaning into her words.

  He grinned at her and she blushed harder.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he whispered close to her ear. ‘I’m a perfect gentleman.’

  Ducking her head down to hide her flaming cheeks, Mistral stalked across the cobbled yard and into the dark stables. Pausing for a moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the heavy darkness, she heard Fabian chuckling while he followed her. She scowled in the darkness and then abruptly smiled, pleased to find that he still irritated her. At least that was one emotion she recognised.

  Fabian walked to the ladder leading up to the hayloft ahead of her and climbed swiftly up. Mistral waited until she heard his boots on the wooden planks above her head before she began to climb. He was waiting for her at the top with one hand outstretched, offering to help. She accepted with as much grace as she could muster, wondering wondered darkly whether he actually realised that she killed things for a living.

  The low-roofed loft was filled with the sweet smell of dry hay. Faint rustlings of mice and the miniscule high pitched squeak of bats were the only noises louder than their breathing. Fabian hefted great handfuls of hay into a large pile and threw his cloak down. Giving her a mocking smile he bowed, gesturing for her to sit.

  Mistral giggled and instantly stopped, wondering at the sound as she quickly sat down. She didn’t think she had ever actually giggled in her life. It was both exhilarating and terrifying not to be in control anymore.

  Fabian sat beside her and leaned back against the bed of hay, hooking an arm around her to draw her closer to him. She sighed contentedly and curled against the warmth of his body, listening to the steady beat of his heart. After a few moments, Fabian began to speak in a low, soft voice while Mistral listened dreamily, her eyes half-closed, wrapped in the bliss of his arms.

  ‘Do you remember when I said that Leo was like my brother?’

  She nodded wordlessly against his chest.

  ‘Well,’ he paused significantly, ‘he is more than like my brother. He is my brother.’

  Mistral lifted her head in surprise to look at him. He was staring up into shadowed rafters, his face carefully composed. His hand brushed her hair briefly but she said nothing, resolving to let him explain without interruptions this time.

  ‘Leo’s parentage is ... sensitive, to say the least. Eximius had an affair with my mother. I know you must find it hard to imagine someone as cold as Eximius being in love, but he wasn’t always so emotionless.

  ‘My father found out and issued her with an ultimatum: end the affair or be thrown out. My mother would not bring shame onto the great name of De Winter, or onto me – I was just a young boy then, so she ended the affair.’

  Fabian’s voice was bitter. Mistral pressed herself closer to him, hating the pain in his voice.

  ‘But, she was already with child by then. She swore to my father it was his and he believed her.’ Fabian drew a deep breath, his voice shook with suppressed emotion when he continued.

  ‘She died giving birth. My father was devastated. Despite his faults, I think he truly loved her. He took one look at the child, a baby boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and knew it wasn’t his. Driven half-mad with grief and rage he ordered the child to be left in the forest to die but the nursemaid stole the child away and brought him here, to the Valley of the Ri. The Divinus himself met with the maid to hear her tale and agreed for him to be raised here, as a Ri warrior. He swore her to secrecy and the child was raised ignorant of who his parents were.’

  Fabian’s voice suddenly became hard and cold, forcing out each word as though it were made of stone.

  ‘For years I thought that the child had been left to die under my father’s orders and I loathed him for it. I blamed him for my mother’s death and for the death of an innocent. I hated him. I resolved to have nothing to do with the cursed name of De Winter or the Craft. I left as soon as I was of age and came here, to the Valley, to be trained. It broke my father’s heart to lose the last member of his family. He died not long after I left.’

  Mistral listened to the brittle words falling from his lips with a deepening sense of shame. How could she have begrudged him wanting to unburden his soul to her? She felt chastened, the misery of the last few months was nothing compared to what Fabian had been forced to suffer in his lifetime. Unable to find any other way to express her feelings, Mistral pulled herself closer. Fabian’s arm tightened fractionally around her and he sighed before continuing in a calmer voice.

  ‘When I met Leo I was intrigued by his story. It didn’t take much for me to work out that the orphan raised in the Valley was exactly the same age as the brother I had lost. He looked so much like my mother, and not unlike his aunt –’

  Mistral felt a jolt inside her. So that’s why Emiror had looked so familiar.

  ‘Over the two years I spent here I made every effort to get to know Leo to find out what kind of person he was before I revealed to him what I knew. I found his character to be as I expected, brave, resourceful, clever and very ambitious. I had lived my entire life having everything dictated to me because of my family name and the only choice I had freely made had resulted in my father’s death. I had paid a heavy price for freedom from my destiny and I was determined that Leo should not suffer the same fate – the Ri can be an unforgiving master too.’ Fabian paused and drew in a breath. ‘So, I told him the truth about his birth, knowing that if he was anything like me he would appreciate being given a choice in his life. He has the Craft you see, he is born of two sorcerers.’

  Mistral listened intently, amazed at what she was hearing. Every word he spoke was like a piece of puzzle dropping into place, completing a picture. How he and Leo behaved around each other, Fabian’s obvious trust in Leo, his hatred of the Craft and Mage Grapple.

  ‘Does Mage Grapple know?’ she murmured, breaking her promise not to interrupt.

  ‘No,’ he replied shortly and paused for a heartbeat
before carrying on. ‘That is Leo’s decision to make.’

  Fabian rolled suddenly so that he was facing her, winding his arms around her waist, his face inches from hers. Even in the darkness she could see his eyes burning into hers with heart-stopping intensity. When he spoke his voice was urgent.

  ‘But you can see why I rushed to the Valley once I knew of Putreo’s scheme. I was sure that Leo would go on the mission and seize the opportunity to confront his father away from the sanctuary of the Council. I was afraid that Eximius would persuade him to claim his birthright and embrace the Craft once he knew that Leo was his son. Eximius can be … compelling.’

  Fabian was silent for a moment, lost somewhere in his own thoughts. At length he continued.

  ‘Anyway, it turns out that I need not have worried. Leo had a new distraction keeping him in the Valley.’

  Fabian’s expression had grown strangely disapproving. Mistral looked into his eyes searchingly, her unspoken question prompting him to reply.

  ‘Golden.’

  Mistral felt her eyebrows shoot up but managed keep her reaction silent. That explains a hell of a lot!

  ‘I should have left when I saw that Leo was still in the Valley and had not taken the Contract, but he forced the truth out of me and seemed convinced that Putreo’s plan would work. He persuaded me that we had to send word to Gleacher. Leo told me he had some first year apprentices who hadn’t been able to take the Contract but were keen for the chance to prove their worth.’

  Fabian’s voice broke and his face wore the agonised look she had seen before. Mistral had no need of his aura to know the pain he was feeling.

  ‘Mistral, as soon as I saw you walk into the tower room I knew I had made a terrible mistake. I never dreamed he would send you. Can you ever forgive me for nearly causing your death?’

  His expression was distraught, pulling unbearably at her heartstrings. She immediately moved closer and kissed his lips gently.