Destiny's Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen (34 page)

Q
uade walked to the door of his house, his hand clutching the strange instrument the Avè had given him to use to capture the SanFear. The safest place, he thought, it needs the safest place in the world to be stored. Then to the castle to check on Trina. It wasn't a romantic interlude he sought, or even to fulfill her request for him to come see her, but peace of mind that she was unharmed. He keyed the door and walked inside where dim lights welcomed him. He dismissed the thought that he hadn't remembered leaving the lights on, and stepped to a heavy shelf that was carved into the wall. Opening a deep drawer where he stored some woolen gloves for the winter season, he placed the Shrine, nestled between the cushioning gloves. Even if the planet shook beneath his house it would come to no harm within these soft confines. Next to the sphere he placed the two pouches, the suede one and the silk one, wondering how he was going to manage to retrieve the items to fill these bags. From his pocket he pulled the ornate key that the Avè’s apprentice had given him. Not knowing exactly when he might need it next, he placed it carefully in a wooden box on one of the shelves. Then he felt a stirring on the air that caused him to stop, and he turned toward his bedroom door.
 

Along the floor was a trail of silver dust. Shimmering powder, like Mimic's, only silver rather than gold. Quade stared at it, puzzled. There was a flickering light coming from the bedroom, the door was slightly ajar. He glanced about the walls for any sign of the emissaries and saw none, but instead felt a curious tickle at what he did sense. He crossed the common room and slipped into the hall, a familiar warmth coming closer as he approached his bedroom.

Pushing the door open the muted light of a single candle flickered weakly off the ceiling and Quade found his bed to already be occupied. Relief and content washed through him when he saw the snowy white hair against his dark sheets, long, slender, sun-kissed arms wrapped around a pillow. Trina's face was turned away from the doorway, but she stirred as he walked to kneel at the bedside.

"Hey," he said gently, laying his hand on her bare back. "What a beautiful surprise." She sighed and turned her head on the pillow, looking up at him sleepily in the pale, fluttering light.
 

"I was starting to wonder if you were going to get back tonight. I guess I fell asleep waiting for you."

"What fine occasion is this that I find you breaking into my house and crawling into my bed?" Quade leaned down close to the mattress, brushed a lock of hair from Trina's eyes.

"Some might be content to call it an act of mystery and romance," she replied, her voice dreamily teasing.

"Imagine that…romantic unauthorized home entry. Quite an unusual combination, and a questionable trait I think, for a future Keystone to possess."

"I like to think of it as being well-rounded in all the arts." She smiled at him, but her smile quickly vanished. "I was worried about you. This morning you seemed so out of sorts."

"I'm sorry," he said, "I was out of sorts."

"I don't want you to apologize, Quade. I'd like for you to tell me what's wrong. But until then I just wanted to make sure that you were safe."

"Safe and sound, my love." The thought crossed his mind at how ironic it was that Trina was worried about his safety. He struggled with his words, couldn't bear to lie to her. "But I've had this lingering sense of feeling ill, of late."

"Aazrio told me that you mentioned feeling sick to my father. You left that part out this morning at the stables." Her words were not accusing, but warm and concerned.

"I didn't want you to worry. But trying to keep it to myself didn't work very well either did it? I suppose you know me all too well." He smiled, tried to make light of the situation, to keep her from being burdened, but Trina's words carried more news that was troublesome.
 

"That may be true but everyone has seemed just a little out of character lately and Aazrio told me the strangest thing tonight. He said that my father has wished for complete seclusion. He didn't even come down for dinner and we were having one of his favorite meals."

"Probably just a lingering effect of his last trip. Maybe the peace covenant on Maylyn wasn't quite so peaceful as he'd expected. Or maybe it's that space travel is taking its toll on more than just me." Quade wanted to change the topic as quickly as he could. "But I'm feeling fine now. Better than fine with you here." Trina reached a hand from beneath the pillow, twined her fingers in his long hair and Quade's eyes grew heavy and weary.

"Well come lay down then, you look exhausted."

"Not exhausted. Just savoring the moment. This is a rare occasion indeed." Trina rolled to her side and leaned to him, the sheet falling from her shoulders, and she kissed his lips, his cheeks.

"Well savor it next to me then. I didn't come here so you could kneel on the floor and watch me sleep in your bed."

And his bed hadn't ever felt so inviting, so much a haven. Trina blew out the candle over his shoulder as he drew her into an embrace, and Quade mused to himself that everything in his world seemed right once she was in his arms. Aazrio had always been so militant in his protectiveness but holding Trina now was the clearest sense of ease that Quade could imagine, for Aazrio could not protect her from the things that Quade knew. It was all the better that she was out of the castle, away from the threat of any harm. His mind eased into contented bliss, and his body followed close behind, putting aside the weight of the world, of the galaxy in fact, and simply indulging in a moment of his life.

The Daughter Keystone stepped carefully within the octagonal tiles of flat stone that paved the streets of Sigh City using great caution that she did not touch the self-chosen boundary of the mortar in between. On tiptoe, she spun gracefully around, her long, pleated cape twirling out and wrapping about her as she hopped to another tile, which was just big enough to fit her foot, turned about-face and crouched down low. Agility, Trina thought, and unpredictability. Two good traits to employ in a fight. The sun had not yet risen over the high tops of the tress that stood tall along the streets, but the dusky glow of pre-dawn cast a bluish light over the dome shaped houses and the neatly kept roads. Though the city didn't possess the ancient feel that the Castle and village did with it's cobbled streets and stone-lined footpaths, the blue-black flat stone used for the more frequently traveled roads had a natural quicksilver sheen that was pleasant to look on, and the homes and nearby shops splayed out in a unique pattern around all the towering trees and the sloping hills.

The city was quiet and still at rest for the most part, and she was alone in her thoughts and her performance. Trina laughed quietly to herself as she hopped and jumped along the street, imitating a routine she favored during a particular combat exercise she practiced with Aazrio. She wondered if he had missed her last night when she'd snuck out, wondered if she'd be able to slip back into the Castle undetected and be able to avoid the disapproving gaze he'd surely have for her if she did not. Climbing the wall beneath her window wasn't quite so easy for her as it was for Quade, and though she could do it, she generally preferred to slip into the rear port door that she'd conveniently left unlocked behind her as she'd left. Trina had oftentimes tried with no success to harness a levitating type of magic, thinking that it would make coming back so much easier whenever she decided to slip away undetected. But as Aazrio had told her, that was not the type of magic she had been gifted with, though she sometimes wondered if he only said that because he did not wish for her to learn something so useful for stealthy returns to her bedroom from a late-night escape.

Suddenly she heard a humming in the distance, and she stopped her dance of combat on the footpath. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her telltale hair and grasped the signal transmitter in her palm. It was Quade's transmitter, and his name would be the one that showed up on the display readout of the transport that came to pick her up. Trina's contented smile was hidden within the cowl of her cloak as she thought to herself of the potential confusion it would cause for the driver of the transport to see that indeed it wasn't Quade who would be riding in the back. She tightened her grip on the garment under her chin, remembering Quade's weak protests against her leaving his warm bed just a quarter hour ago. He was still sleepy at the dawn of this day, whereas she was wide awake and eager to busy herself with the final preparations for that evening's festivities. It was easier this way, besides; if she were able to slip back into the Castle neither of them would have to face Aazrio's disapproval later on. Trina slid quietly into the rear of the craft and the driver hardly looked back to her, rather, he read the name off of the display of his vehicle as he greeted his fare.

"Good morning, Qua-"

The driver turned around, just in time to see Trina flip the hood of her cloak back, revealing who was concealed beneath the deep confines. She glanced at him knowingly, and spoke before he had the chance.

"Dawn is such a fine time to enjoy the city, wouldn't you agree? The streets possess a serenity that I find so…charming."

"Daughter Keystone Kitrina, 'tis an honor," the driver managed, and she raised her eyebrow, slowly let a quizzical smile spread over her lips as he stumbled over his words. "Whatever are you doing in Sigh City, alone and before dawn?" Trina smoothed her hands over the front of her garment methodically as she answered.

"Does it seem odd that I should choose to walk this kingdom sir?" She looked at him directly then, and cocked her head. "Or was it just that you were expecting someone else?"

 
"Apologies, Daughter Keystone. It's just the hail that you used was from…someone else."

"Indeed it was."

The driver turned to face forward awkwardly, and Trina leaned up into his shoulder. "What's your name, driver sir?"

"Shel Fedorum, fair lady."

"If you please Shel," she said, her voice hushed, "Take me home now. As you must know well, I've much to do to prepare for tonight's Twilight Bloom. I trust that I'll see you there?"

"Without a doubt, Daughter Keystone. I've never missed it and never shall." Trina settled back into the seat, skillfully stowing enough neatly folded paper money into the driver's coat pocket to pay for a dozen trips from Quade's house to the Castle. The driver would never knowingly allow her to pay for this ride, but later he would find the gift that she was more than happy to give him.

"I'm quite certain that you can keep this fare a mystery between just yourself and me?" she asked, looking back to the thick vines of whiteflower ivy that trailed around Quade's door.

"To hold a secret for the daughter Keystone!" The driver glanced over his shoulder as he maneuvered the craft toward the Castle of Sighs. "What greater honor than that?"

CHAPTER 27

C
lea laughed, threw back her head and kicked Krisel's chair indignantly.
 

"Imagine the possibilities Clea," Krisel sat up dramatically, fixed his stare on an imaginary future. "If you became Ryder Deluka's mistress, maybe he'd pay you to not share all kinds of secrets, inter-galactic or otherwise…"

"Stop!" she commanded with a horrified laugh. "Not for any amount of money or magic! Curse this day, Krisel, that you should ever utter a thought so unspeakable! Ryder is a strategic business associate, nothing and never anything more."

"Wouldn't surprise me if he had another contract for you when you get home." Delora glanced at the readout. "He'd probably just as quickly contract you to go back out on the eve of Twilight Bloom."

"Well I doubt that," Clea replied, noting that they were coming up soon on the nexus point that would take them to Bethel, and would allow for both Gannet and Delora to catch passage to their home systems. "I think Ryder still has a few inoffensive bones in his body."

"Weren't you planning on attending Twilight Bloom this time, Gannet?" Krisel moved to toggle a couple of directional levers on the panel, adjusting the bearing of Duplicity as she traveled in open space. He was piloting while Clea leaned back and relaxed, Delora monitored the sensors and Gannet carefully browsed the operational systems for any inconsistencies.