by Daniel Huber
"No not yet." Her voice was sleepy too. "In an hour or so."
"Make sure you wake me when you do, okay? I have to talk to your father."
"Is he expecting you?"
Quade wrapped his arm around Trina's waist and nestled his head into her shoulder. "Yes. I'm supposed to be here at ninth hour." Her muffled laugh was all he heard as he fell back to sleep.
The passage that connected the north and south wings of the Castle of Sighs was long and curved, as it was actually the inside of a rotunda, and it featured one of the more stunning traits of the castle; beautifully leaded glass which covered half of its circumference, floor to ceiling. Aazrio pulled the drapery rod along its circular path, morning sunlight flooding the corridor as the heavy drapes gradually opened. The rasping sound of the grommets as they ran along the metal bar had always been an abrasive noise to Aazrio, and he scowled up to the top of the drapes. He stood back and looked at the semi-circle of the interior, at the spanning length of the curtains, which were only open a fifth of the way. His eyes moved back and forth from one end of the tapestry to the other, then he brought his hands together in front of his face. There was a second or two of focused concentration and then his palms swept apart, and by this gesture the hanging rings rose off their track and the curtains flew open with a quiet whoosh. Pleased, Aazrio continued down toward the south rooms.
The Keystone's ship had been prepared, the garden staff was ahead of themselves readying the grounds for Twilight Bloom, the entertainment was arranged, and the guard had now walked the entire castle through twice. Aushlin would be finishing up his morning meal soon, so Aazrio headed toward the Keystone's study to make sure all was in order for his meeting. Upon his approach, the guard noticed that the door was slightly ajar, and his eyes narrowed in instant suspicion.
Aazrio's hairless brow arched high upon his face, and were he not bald, it would surely have disappeared into any bangs he may have had. He stood for a moment in the doorway, analyzing the situation he'd just come upon. Quade sat opposite the Keystone's desk in his usual spot, a high-backed, sculpted chair. He ran his finger along the soft, velveteen brush of the fabric, then ran it back over the same path, watching how the color changed as the nap was raised. And of course, he pretended not to notice that Aazrio was about to bore a hole in his head from staring at him so intensely. The family guard walked into the room slowly, purposefully. Quade glanced at the clock on the wall. Next time he'd know better than to come downstairs five minutes early. He'd never done it before, and he'd surely never do it again. As Aazrio walked over to him, the soles of his boots made a thick clunking noise on the stone floor, which resounded off the high walls of the study.
"How did you get inside the castle before ninth hour?" he asked, a sharp edge in his voice, making the accent he usually spoke with seem almost condescending. Quade looked up with a questioning, innocent expression. He didn't answer.
"The castle doors open for no one before ninth hour." Aazrio now stood directly in front of him, glaring down with the look Quade had grown used to being on the receiving end of over the years. "Explain this to me, Quade."
Quade yawned. He hadn't meant to; it was a completely unintentional reaction. But he had to stifle a laugh when he opened his eyes to the extreme irritation of the family's guard, knowing what an impression that gave. At that moment the study door opened with a flourish, and Keystone Val-Vassu entered the room. Quade exchanged one last look with Aazrio as he stood to greet the Keystone, knowing the interrogation was over - for now.
"Joyous morning to you Quade," the Keystone said, reaching out to grasp his hand, briefly pulling him close then thumping him warmly on the back as he made his way around his desk. "What news from the Venrey? I looked over the report you transmitted last night. Interesting territory, this Nivas system." Aushlin settled behind his desk, pulling up the data to review it again. "Lots of potential shortcuts, if the leylines are stable."
"They're stable, but the Venrey still have to finish where they left off. The connecting nexus points are still fairly distant, and that area of space is too thick with debris to travel so extensively outside of the leylines."
The leylines were the only magic that was readily prevalent that far from the galactic core, but they were rarely unstable. Even out on the Cric they were generally worthy of travel, but since so much of the area was unexplored, one would never know what one might encounter once the leyline ended, and oftentimes it was a dangerous area of space just by nature. Quade handed over the box of data cartridges, and from beneath his desk the Keystone activated his viewers. The projection screens flickered into view in front of him, a holographic device that was left off when not in use, keeping the Keystone's study a quiet and meditative place uncomplicated by the extensive use of technology that was at his disposal if he needed it. A drawer slid open and he dropped the cartridges into place, then slid the drawer shut, and they fed one by one into the data banks of the holographic viewer by touch of the Keystone's fingertips on the screen. He scanned them quickly while Quade sat and watched, pleased approval crossing his face as he did. After looking over several of them, Aushlin began to speak off handedly as he reviewed the information.
"Aazrio and I are of course both glad for your safe return, Quade. Though Aazrio will hold in his enthusiasm, as is his usual way." The Keystone glanced up to the family guard, his eyes holding the slightest glint of mischief. Aazrio folded his arms over his chest and stared out the window in response. Aushlin looked back to the data that was displayed on his viewscreen and his eyes squinted with distaste at the name of the new system of leylines and nexus points that had been discovered. "The Thanach idieum?" He cast a questioning glance to Quade who shrugged in reply, then he shook his head and sighed.
Quade shifted in his chair. "It was a safe but strange journey, Keystone," he said. Aushlin looked up, piqued by the tone in Quade's voice.
"Strange? How so?"
"Well, it started with something the Venrey said. Thanach told me that there had been some really unusual things happening, ships found abandoned, ending up far off their course with no evidence of attack or struggle. They actually had to cut their hunt short this time because they found a nexus point destroyed."
"Destroyed?" The Keystone stopped his analysis of the data cartridges, and turned his attention to Quade. His brow knit together and he didn't say anything for a long moment. "I've never heard of that happening in the past. Not ever. Very strange. Did the Venrey have any ideas on what it could be?"
"No, not really. They said no one knows. But here's something else, and this is what made everything all the more peculiar. On my way back, at the Bet/Kos leyline, I came across a wayward ship. I thought they were going to make the jump into the nexus but they didn't, they just were drifting. And then…"
Quade stopped in mid-sentence. Flying in a circular pattern around Keystone Val-Vassu's head were the two emissaries, the ones who'd appeared on his ship the previous day. They were shrunk down to the size of tiny birds, no larger than Quade's thumb, and they both squealed in the high pitched voice that their miniature size leant to them.
"Speak no more Quade!"
"Tell this one nothing! Heed our words! Hold your tongue!"
"Hold it or I shall hold it for you!"
The Keystone seemed altogether unaware of them. He did, however, seem completely aware that Quade had stopped talking mid-sentence.
"Go on, Quade," he said, leaning forward a bit. "And then?"
"And then…" Quade stammered. The tiny emissaries still flitted about Aushlin's head, and the Keystone had no idea of it. They still cried out to him. What was he to do? "And then…sorry, Aushlin." He cleared his throat, and looked away. Looked to the floor. He could still hear the voices, warning him not to speak. He could see the tip of Aazrio's boot, which was right next to the leg of his chair. He could feel sweat breaking out on his forehead. He couldn't just stop now, but how to cover? He looked back up to the Keystone and the vision was gone. Gone but
for the trailing glimmer of blue and gold dust that floated in a ring around the Keystone's head.
"I hailed the ship several times but they never answered. When I got no response I just left the area. I did send a report to Kosch's information central, alerting them of the abandoned ship, but I figured there wasn't much I could do there by myself."
The Keystone thought on this for a moment then leaned back, beginning to browse the info cartridges again. "Well I don't think one lost ship has anything to do with the destroyed nexus point. From the way you were talking, I thought it was something much more dire than that."
"No Aushlin, sorry if I led you to believe that." Quade washed through with guilt and unease. He didn't like keeping this from the Keystone. He didn't like feeling as if he'd lied, although he hadn't really told any untruth. He'd just left out a major portion of the story.
"If you don't mind, Trina's waiting for me in the garden for breakfast," he said, hoping to make a quick escape, and hoping it didn't seem too abrupt. The Keystone was back to being involved in his study of the new information.
"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. "Q
uade, 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.