Destiny's Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen (12 page)

"No, not at all, Quade. Tell her good morning for me. I've not seen her yet today. Unfortunately the way my schedule appears I probably won't have a chance to see her before I go."
 

Quade rose from his seat and walked briskly toward the door. "I will, Keystone. Thank you. Good day, Aazrio," he said, looking up for a brief moment to see the blazing suspicion of the guard's stare as he slipped out of the room.
 

Aazrio approached the Keystone's desk but before he could speak Aushlin put up a halting hand. "Let it be, Aazrio," is all that he said.

Quade walked along the backside of the castle, taking the long way out to the garden, taking a few minutes to try and clear his mind. As he walked he raised his face to the sky and took deep breaths of the clean, crisp morning air. How long, he wondered to himself, would he continue attempting to convince himself that things would go back to normal? How could he tell Trina what it was that he was going through? As he neared the corner of the castle, he stopped and leaned against the stone wall, looking over the valley that spread out before him. Getting lost for a moment in the sight that was familiar, but always so welcome, he found himself in a calm enough state of mind to round the corner and join Trina for breakfast.
 

She smiled at him as he walked through the garden, up the winding, hedgerow-lined path toward the ivy-covered gazebo. He would probably marry her in that gazebo someday, he had often thought, in the place where they regularly took their morning meal. They had even talked about it once, when she was ten and Quade was just thirteen. In the whimsy of her childhood mind, Trina had said she wanted them to be on horseback. That way, the horses could get married, too. He laughed to himself at the memory as he looked at her now, reaching to pour tea in a mug for him, her willowy features graceful in the clean light of morning.

"Hey," she said, not looking up, "are you hungry? We've got some good stuff this morning. Pastries and melon and grapes still warm from the vine."

Hunger, Quade thought. Yes, focus on hunger. Hunger is good, hunger is normal, is natural, can be explained. "Starving is more like it. I can't even remember the last time I ate."

"So feast well, then." Trina settled back into her chair and Quade sat across from her, choosing a pastry and reaching for his mug of tea. He knew that Trina had already added the sugar for him. She always did.

"That took longer than usual. A lot to report this time?"

"Sort of," Quade replied. "Some strange stuff going on out near the Kosch system… " Quade stopped himself before he went on too far and started to tell her about the destroyed nexus point and the lost ship that he found, fearing that the emissaries might show up, and just when he'd started to calm down again. "Thanach was telling me about some unexplainable things that have been going on out there."

"Oh, yes. Thanach." Trina's voice changed tone completely, became all at once agitated and sarcastic. "What life is he on now? His third?"

"Fourth actually," Quade said. The Venrey were a safe topic that he knew would be where his comment would lead them. "He was missing that nasty scar on his arm that he had the last time I met with him."

"Shame he didn't get back to his precious orb to save that memory before he died again," Trina said, her voice heavy and caustic. "Shame to be missing such an impressive battle scar." She bit into a slice of ripe melon, looking at Quade, her eyes flat and emotionless, reflecting her regard for the Venrey. "One step closer to ending his worthless existence. Good."

Quade laughed. It was their usual debate, whenever he came back from a contract with the Venrey. "Come on, Trina. I know you hate them but we need them. Soulless is somewhat accurate, but worthless…I'd have to disagree. Their recklessness got us some valuable information this last run. Uncharted territory that could be really useful. They may be soulless, but they're very good at what they do."

"I know," she conceded, looking away. "That doesn't change how I feel about them, though." She scowled. "And it surely doesn't help that they keep going around and naming stuff after themselves."
 

Trina wasn't alone in her feelings and Quade thought about how even Aushlin had reacted to the name of the most recent system that Thanach had found. Most people throughout the galaxy held a vehement dislike for the Venrey, and many thought that their very method of survival was an affront against nature. It wasn't even necessarily the cloning that they hated, or the mysterious and powerful magic they used to save their memories and continue on into their next lives, but it was their general manner of living, that their one single goal centered around hunting and claiming territory. Their manner of existence didn't garner them any love among the masses either, because after their first natural life had ended, they continued without the presence of a soul. Though they could go on four more times beyond their first life through cloning, it leant to them a certain lack of care or consideration for anything but the hunt, which was all that filled their otherwise empty lives.
   

"Well let's not dwell on it," Quade leaned across the table to kiss her. "I'm just glad to be back." Trina smiled, and looked at him with affection as he sat back in his chair.

"So am I. Clea was asking about you yesterday, when I hadn't heard from you. Oh, it's too bad you're going to miss her this morning. She had some exciting news."

"But I'm not going to miss her," Quade said casually, "I dropped a note at her door last night on my way here. Told her to join us this morning." He paused for a moment, looking away slightly. "In fact, that'll be her coming over the ridge. Am I right?"

Trina looked over Quade's shoulder and to the distant hill that rounded at the bottom of the garden. Just then a figure came into view, a figure that seemed to be braiding her long hair as she crested the hill.
 

"How do you always do that?" Trina asked, and Quade just smiled.

"It's not many people that I get up early for," Clea called as she approached, twisting a band around the bottom of her long braid. A few stray curls escaped the restraint, framing her face and she brushed them away with her hand. "Hello Quade," she said, walking around behind him and grabbing a handful of grapes. "When did you finally get back?" She settled herself at a chair between them, and reached for the pot of tea, pouring herself a cup.

"Last night, late."
 

"Well, you're here early then." She looked back and forth between the two then leaned over the table to Quade. "Scale the wall again?"

"Mmm."

"I figured."

"And Aazrio nearly went for blood when he saw me this morning," Quade said with a laugh. "I went downstairs to wait for the Keystone five minutes before ninth hour."

"Oops," Trina said.

"I know," Quade replied.

"You guys should really have some kind of system worked out by now," Clea said, pulling off a segment of spiced breakfast bread. "As it is you’re lucky I had a late night myself, otherwise I wouldn't have even seen your note until I was leaving this morning. But I was prepping the ship…" She paused then continued. "Quade, did Trina tell you? I made a deal with Ryder Deluka yesterday."

"No she didn't mention it," he said, and Clea looked up with sparkling eyes.

"Tal-Min Vista," she continued. "And guess for how much?"

"Not the coveted ten thousand?"

"The very one!" Clea sat back and let out an exhilarated peal of laughter and Quade watched her, basking in her happiness, in her triumph.

"Congratulations, Clea," He and Trina exchanged a mutual smile. "I know Tal-Min is your favorite little danger zone. And Ryder Deluka," Quade shrugged. "Well, if anyone can handle him, you'd be the one. Be careful though, he's been known for some pretty unscrupulous tricks." Clea waved her hand, barely acknowledging the warning.

"I know he's up to something. I knew from the minute I sealed the deal." She looked at him over her mug of tea, no level of uncertainty in her stare. Trina glanced between Clea and Quade and smiled.

"I'm glad you stopped by Clea," she said. "It's been awhile since we've all been together."
 

"How could I resist a handwritten note under my door?" she replied. "Any particular reason Quade? Or did you just want to surround yourself with as many natural humans as possible after almost a week among the Venrey?"

"Oh, I don't know," Quade began, feeling his stomach tighten from anticipation of what he was about to say. "Perhaps that. Perhaps because I've been having these really strange dreams lately." He was looking at Trina, fixed on her eyes as she stared into his with interest. Surely, if anyone were to be a part of the impossible scenario that haunted his mind, it would have to be Trina.
 

"What sort of dreams?" she asked.

"Well," he realized that the words were getting difficult to say. "I don't really know how to explain it, Trina. But do you know anything about a place called P'cadia?"

Before Trina could answer she was startled by the sound of Clea choking on her tea. She grabbed her napkin and coughed into it, her eyes watering as she looked at horror over to Quade. Trina reached over and offered her another napkin.

"Clea are you okay?" She nodded, still coughing, but now looking down. She reached out and took another deep swig of her drink, calming her throat enough that she could breathe. She inhaled deeply for a moment, then wiped her eyes. Quade couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Could it be Clea? How did she know? What did she know? He went over in his mind what it was that he'd been told. It will often be those most close to you. He had invited Clea over that morning on a whim, to cover all the possible options, but he'd never really believed she could be a part of this.
 

"Clea, what do you know of a place called P'cadia?" Quade asked.

"P'cadia?" Clea covered her mouth with a napkin, still looking down. "I don't even know where P'cadia is."

"That didn't answer my question, Clea." Quade felt a wave of desperation swell within him, and he leaned over to her and grasped her wrist. "What do you know of this place?" Clea looked straight up into his eyes as she spoke, her jaw tight and her teeth clenched.

"How can I possibly know something about a place when I don't even know where it is?" She glanced angrily down to his hand, her expression full of threat that had serious intent behind it. Quade let her wrist go and sat back down. Trina watched what was happening, puzzled and taken aback from Clea's hostile reaction. She had never seen Clea offer that look to someone she considered a friend.

"Okay you two," Trina said, crossing her arms over her chest, "what's going on? Dreams, information, a strange, unidentifiable place? Do I get to be a part of this little game? " Neither of them said anything for a minute, then Trina continued, almost in jest, to see if this was some strange joke that she didn't get. "Clea, are you having dreams of P'cadia too?'

"No," she said offhandedly. "No dreams here. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then she looked across the table with an expectant expression. "Quade?"

"I don’t know," he said, sighing and swirling his tea in its mug. "Sometimes I have really weird dreams. About strange places. I can't quite grasp what they mean."

"Did it ever occur to you that a dream might be just that? A simple dream?" Clea said indignantly, pushing her food around on her plate no longer having an appetite to eat it.

"No," said Quade. "Not my dreams." He looked at her with purpose.
 

"Well, are they bad dreams, Quade?" Trina leaned into him, genuinely interested. "Nightmares? Perhaps they're premonitions?" A look of amused consideration crossed her face. "You may find that you can grasp some form of magic after all, if that's what they are."

Quade looked away from Clea, who had such a barrier wrapped around herself that he knew he'd get nowhere with her now, and back to Trina, who was staring at him, awaiting an answer. It isn't Trina, he thought. It's Clea! He reached his hand across the table and held hers within it, squeezing with feigned assurance.

"Oh, I don't know about that, love," he said quietly. "I think they're just really weird dreams."

Clea stood up, taking a last deep drink of her tea. "Well Quade I'm sorry that I can't stay around to help you figure them out," She didn't look at him as she spoke. "But I have to meet Ryder in just about thirty minutes." She put her hand on Trina's shoulder lightly. "I'll talk to you about the Twilight Bloom when I get back, Trina. Thanks for breakfast." Her eyes shifted briefly to Quade, full of suspicion, full of confused anger, then looked away.
 

"Goodbye, Quade." As she walked away, Clea didn't look back. Trina thought for a minute as she watched the back of her friend then she turned to Quade to see that he was watching her as well.

"What was that all about?" she asked. "Is something going on that I should know about, Quade? Or can I safely assume that the two of you are involved in some kind of birthday hijinks for the Daughter Keystone?" She paused when she got no response and then changed her tone. "If it's the dreams that are really bothering you maybe you could mention it to my father. He has access to any kind of information you would ever need. Maybe he could help figure it out."

Quade had to bite his tongue to keep from telling her everything. Not yet, not until he was sure. But he was already sure. Now he knew that something was truly happening to him, that all the things he'd been dealing with for months might actually have purpose.

 
"No, not now," he said. He looked up, doing his best to push it aside. "You're father's too busy anyway…he told me to tell you good morning in fact, because he probably won't have a chance to see you before he leaves." Trina glanced up to the castle, but she looked back to Quade when he continued. "I'll figure it out, I'm sure it's nothing so big that I can't handle it myself. I should get home anyway. Haven't been there for a week now. I do have a lot of follow up work to do."