by Daniel Huber
"Twilight Bloom was interrupted…some kind of attack…"
Clea reached over in front of Krisel, flipped off the subspace transmit decoder and stared ahead to the blue and green swirls of Bethel as it came into view. A red light began to flash on the control panel, a warning light that never flashed when coming home to Bethel. Never, until today.
"Krisel." Clea kept her voice low and quiet, didn't look to him just yet, only stared ahead. "How well can you operate the holographic projection system?"
"I can operate it, I think." Krisel's voice was dry, and he had to clear his throat before he could speak again. "Gannet showed me how to control it, and I can monitor our projection with no problem. But Gannet's the expert on maneuvering. I can only follow his lead."
"Well here's the chance to test your abilities. Everything you've ever learned, remember it now."
Clea loaded a standby veil; the one she simply called 'darkness.' It was a projection of the night sky, would make the ship seem like no more than a mere distortion to the naked eye from the surface of any planet.
"But where will we land, Clea?" Krisel had real concern in his voice, but Clea found it easy to ignore. He had no clue… no clue of what was really happening. It would be a small consolation, landing in an undesignated spot on the planet, an act that would, under normal circumstances, be an unthinkable thing.
"I know a spot. A clearing in the Kadashamrian forest. We'll go in slow. Just plot a course for the projection away from the planet. We won't have to follow it for very long. I'm sure they aren't watching every ship they've turned away."
As he plotted Duplicity's bogus course, every once in awhile a smattering of confused chatter could be heard slipping through the transmission lines. The tone and the words were more of the same of what they'd heard only moments ago, and as the ship descended toward the forest while their projection moved further away from the planet, Clea activated the veil and stared straight ahead.
"Gods above and around Quade," she whispered to herself, "what have you done?"
To be continued…….
Accolades
To our readers, we sincerely thank you for reading Destiny’s Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen. This series has been more than ten years in the making and we always love to hear your comments, feedback and would genuinely appreciate it if you would post a review on Amazon to help generate more readership. You have the power to make the world of Destiny’s Kingdom flourish and thrive!
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank some other people that have been instrumental in the publishing of this book. Much appreciation goes to Jeremie P. and Scott B. for reading and critiquing, and offering their support and kind words about the ability of this book to stand against the traditionally published books that are out there. Michelle for for always supporting us when we decided to take this leap. Thanks to Derek Murphy, our amazing book cover designer, who brought to life things we’d only before seen in our heads. Special thanks to Mike for always believing in us and offering encouraging words.
And of course thanks to all our family, friends and loved ones who have been part of this journey from the start, and who have offered patience and support more recently throughout this learning curve of doing it our way. It hasn’t been easy, but we certainly think it was worth it.
Visit us at www.Twofoldpress.com
Follow us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/TwoFoldPress
Follow Jen on Twitter JenniferJSelzer
Follow Dan on Twitter Daniel_M_Huber
Coming September 2012
Destiny’s Kingdom: A Prophecy Revealed
By Jennifer Selzer & Daniel Huber
Special Preview
Destiny’s Kingdom:
A Prophecy Revealed
Jennifer Selzer & Daniel Huber
CHAPTER 1
Trina Val-Vassu sat on the floor of her father’s study, the Keystone’s head resting in her lap. She stroked her father’s hair, enjoying the thick silkiness of it, the warmth at the nape of his neck, telling her his blood still flowed, he was still alive. The memory of the hot beam of light cutting through the night sky repeated in her mind; it struck his chest and he collapsed to the ground. From where had that light issued? The curtain wall of the castle? She murmured to her father. He didn’t respond. The scene kept repeating over and over in her mind’s eye, as she’d witnessed it from the castle courtyard. All had seemed normal, hadn’t it? Her father’s speech had been somewhat odd but right now she couldn’t recall the words. Only the white shaft of light, her father stiffening, then collapsing, the sight of him lying on the rug of his study as she burst through the doors. And now, so surreal, holding her father’s head, the way he had held her when she was a child and had been afraid or upset by something. A sense memory flooded through her, of a time when she was so small that when he held her against his chest his hand was so big it covered the whole side of her head, blocking out the world, creating a barrier so the only thing she heard was the beating of his heart. Vaguely, she heard Aazrio, the family guard speaking, once then again, more insistently.
“What?” she startled from her haze of memory.
“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”
“Who?”
“Quade, Daughter Keystone. Have you any idea where he might be?”
“He must be here somewhere Aazrio, where else would he go on the night of Twilight Bloom? He was standing right by the horses.”
Yes, she had looked over at Quade just moments before the otherworldly light had struck her father, had returned his affectionate gaze. Quade had been there most of the evening, had helped her get dressed and even found her missing amulet. Aazrio had come looking for Quade then too, demanding that the Keystone wanted to see him. Trina scowled. What was going on with Aazrio and Quade? Aazrio had always been overprotective, had always acted as if she had needed a guardian even from the one who loved her most. Her thoughts paused. So then, where was Quade now? He had to be here somewhere. Unlike Clea. She hadn’t even showed up to ride in the ceremony, for the first time in fourteen years she’d missed her part in Twilight Bloom and for what? Had Ryder offered her a new smuggling contract, another accomplishment on her long list of flawless runs? Quade would rush through the doors at any moment; he probably had just gotten caught up by the crowd. The Keystone was almost as much a father to Quade as he was to Trina. She looked at her father’s face and felt her eyes stinging again, remembering him fall to the ground. What happened?
“Father… what happened? What happened?” She pressed her face into his shoulder; let her tears soak into his ceremonial cloak as she repeated her words.
The door to the Keystone’s study burst open, and half a dozen men and women entered, the air all at once thickening with the power of their presence. The healers had arrived. They rushed to the Keystone, where one of them lifted Trina by her shoulders, gently but sternly removing her from her place on the floor with her father. The thrum of chants began simultaneously and Aushlin Val-Vassu was levitated, and moved to a velvet chaise. Trina slumped against the wall, body convulsing with the sob that overcame her. She held her head in her hands as she watched the healers try to save her father’s life. And within her private anguish she longed for the arms of her love, who she just knew would burst through the door at any second, to assure her that she wasn’t alone and her father would be just fine.
CHAPTER 2
Clea watched as her last remaining crew member, Krisel, ran across the meadow, glanced anxiously from her portable data reader to the back of the quickly disappearing form of Krisel. The data dump and Krisel’s departure took just about the same amount of time, and once he was safely out of view, Clea quickly latched the reader, now erased of all info, back onto its mount beneath the command panel of her ship. Hastily, she powered down the ship’s holographic systems. It had only been a few minutes since they’d made their clandestine landing on Bethel, but she was certain that she didn’t need to continue piloting their ghost deco
y that would make it appear as though they had turned away from the planet. She did however leave Duplicity’s veil in place. The ship’s disguise on the ground would need to be maintained but with the planet on lockdown, it was unlikely anyone would be out here in the forest poking around in the deep of night.
Securing the last of Duplicity’s systems, Clea sprinted down the steps and turned to walk backwards only long enough to watch the hatch seal behind her. When she spun around to continue her brisk pace toward Sigh City, Avalon was at her side. Not surprised by his presence, Clea ignored him at first, brushing aside the wild tendrils of her hair where they flew around her face. She was not in the mood for a lecture on duty and destiny. But after a few short minutes her anger and anxiety got the best of her and she blurted out her thoughts.
“What did he do?” she demanded. “What did Quade do to Aushlin?”
“Quade did what he was meant to do. The thing that his destiny required of him.”
“No,” Clea shook her head as she marched across the field. “I don’t want to hear that right now, Avalon. What’s happened to Aushlin? What will I find if I go to the castle? Is Aushlin okay? Did Quade do something that cannot be undone?”
“Ah, but you are not heading toward the castle, Clea.” She stopped abruptly, turned to the muse who’d been keeping up with her, his long strides matching her shorter, panicked scurry of a walk. His hair tumbled over muscular shoulders, patient expression ever present, even now.
“No, you’re right. I’m not heading toward the castle.”
“To where then?” Clea didn’t look at him but started walking again.
“To the hangar. I need to see where Quade has been. What he did with that riddle. Find out if he went to P’cadia! If his ship is still there I can check the logs.”
“Quade has accepted his part and that is what you must do as well, my Clea. You must not ignore events that unravel around you.”
“But the legend says nothing of the Keystone! Says nothing of an attack on him! We had almost no communications coming into the planet, just these smatterings of messages overlapping about an attack on the Keystone, and Quade’s name mixed in! So what am I to think? No way to communicate, no way to get home. Leylines, gone, destroyed! But I figured out a way past it and here I am. I’m home. But it still makes no sense, Avalon. Why would Quade attack the Keystone? What does my destiny have to do with that?”
“Answers will come to you. Answers you might’ve known had you not been so eager to avoid them.”
“Is this my fault?” Clea stopped again as the icy thought cut through her. “Could this have been avoided if I’d have gone with Quade?” Avalon looked down at her from his height, and in the darkness his green eyes were steady, but somehow full of something else as well. Sadness? Sympathy? Alarm rose within her as Avalon began to speak.
“The Keystone lies in stasis. Whether he lives or dies depends on whether the Chosen are united. You know well your place in this.”
Clea’s breath came in gasps from both her pace and from her panic. “I still have to know where Quade has been. I’ll check his ship’s logs, then I’ll get to the castle, right afterward.” She broke into a jog, grabbing Avalon’s hand, then looked up to him, as he ran alongside her. “Come with me?”
“To the edge of the hangar but then I can come no further.” She nodded as she ran, and her hand tightened around his in agreement.
CHAPTER 3
Quade Decairus had forgotten his key.
As he stood looking at the obelisk, the blazing sun at his back, one hand holding his long hair off his neck, the other shielding his eyes from the searing light, he puzzled over how he could possibly retrieve it now. He’d hid it so safely in a drawer at his house, had taken such care to make sure it would be secure. He toyed with the idea of trying to go back to Bethel, to his house and the drawer, just to snatch that key, and gain entry to this place he needed so badly to go. But he’d already come this far, and he knew the Avè was close. And going back to Bethel felt so risky since he’d only just narrowly escaped. But now, here on Shesheri, the place he’d transported himself to, away from the crone, away from Aazrio’s fearsome pursuit, he had no way to get back into P‘cadia, the Avè’s realm, not without the key that had been given to him by the young girl he’d met when he was there just the day before.
The long, high wall stretched as far as Quade could see, and the oppressive sun burned hotly against his dark clothes. It had been night on Bethel, cool and beautiful, Twilight Bloom. The scene of what he’d done flashed through his mind in a painful instant. Perched on the wall walk of Sigh Castle, the crystal orb he held had shot out a blinding hot light, directly at the Keystone and as Quade watched, drained him of the SanFear—and something else. Quade shut his mind against his thoughts. He had to reach the Avè. Otherwise, he’d never know exactly what he’d done. He pulled the mirrored pendant from his shirt cradling the alabaster frame in his palm. In his panic to flee Aazrio’s grasp and get off the planet what deal had he struck with the Crone to get this item? He didn’t really know. Willing the world of P’cadia to show itself on the mirror, it went from a reflective surface to milky white and cloudy, but none of the changeable scenery of the Avè’s realm came into view. Absently, he thought of home, and a vision of his house faded onto the mirror. The door stood gaping wide, planetary officials standing guard outside while others probed within, in search of him. No chance of retrieving the key now. So disturbing, he quickly washed this place from his thoughts, which brought him to his second home, Sigh Castle, where he saw Trina, huddled alone in the darkness, rocking back and forth as she squeezed her knees together, hands clenched against the shock of her short white hair. Pain pierced his stomach and he touched the image on the smooth surface as tears burned his eyes.
“No,” he whispered aloud and felt his body willing itself there instinctively. He felt the odd tingling begin that had originally brought him here from the crone’s mirror shop, and quickly shook himself out of it, dropping the pendant, shaking his head and reaching to clutch the wall in front of him, anchoring himself in the place where he stood. No matter how much he desperately wanted to go back to Bethel, he needed to be here, and he needed to find the Avè.
“Avè!” Quade screamed the word, scraped his knuckles against the wall. The last time he’d been there he’d been stuck on the outside of this wall too, but Trina’s amulet had ended up gaining him entrance. Now, without her amulet and no key of his own, he was stuck, and more desperate than ever. “Let me in, Avè! You must be able to hear me, you must know that I’m here! I did what you said! I took the lararium and it attacked the Keystone! You must help me!”
Nothing. No response, not even a wind or bird or stir of the sand. Anger rose inside him, got the best of him, and he slammed both fists into the wall, which this time did not give, and he felt the pain of the stone concussion down into his forearms, the scrape of uneven rock against soft flesh. He leaned full onto the wall, reached to grip the pendant again, his mind now blank, for pain and anxiety so the surface showed him nothing. Glancing to the distance he saw the place where he’d landed his ship when he’d been there the day before and without realizing where his mind wandered, the mirror brought an image of Duplicity into view, and he saw Clea jumping from the hatch in the darkness, running across a field, sapphire eyes flashing with determination. Quade dropped the pendant once again, the pain from seeing Trina now mixing with the hopelessness of seeing Clea, and he wanted to see no more. He rested his head against the wall and it hurt, jagged and sharp. He felt deserving of the pain, and for a moment he rested in that discomfort combined with the riotous knot in his belly. He thought of his time with the Avè, the strange settings and changeable scenarios. He remembered the granite table, the unfamiliar night sky, the standing stones. He felt the lararium hum inside his cloak and he looked down to the glow of bright light that escaped through the heavy fabric wondering why it had decided to hum just now. The sound somehow comforted him within his p
ain, so he listened, letting his mind empty of thought. His fingers wrapped around the edges of the pendant that hung around his neck.
“I need to see the Avè.” Quade’s mind communicated this without his willing it, his soul whispering what he so desperately needed. A swell of power blew over him and to his right he knew a portal had opened. Would it take him to P’cadia? Eyes shut, holding fast to the calm that had brought him to this state of mind, he took a deep breath. Taking a step back from the wall, he turned toward the energy, hand still clasping the mirror, and walked into the portal.
Coming September
Destiny’s Kingdom: A Prophecy Revealed
Available at all Major online book stores