Destiny's Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen (42 page)

The old crone reached from within her bosom and withdrew a long leather cord, on the end of which was a mirrored disk. Quade squinted his eyes in distaste at her motion, and tried not to seem uneasy as she looked at him from beyond the necklace.

"Wear this, Quade Decairus, and I shall see through your eyes. And with it, I give the power to transport you anywhere that you have been before. Simply look in the mirror and visualize where you want to go, and you will be taken there."

"And you'll see through my eyes? I told you I could offer you unlimited Vicarious Life and you could live through anyone's eyes! Why are you so interested in mine?"

"Because you have no choice but to give it. And you have no time to decide."

There was a racket outside in the close proximity to the cottage, and Quade knew that Aazrio had arrived. The crone shot a look in the direction of the door and Quade heard the bolt being thrown.

"The lock will not keep him out for long Quade. You must decide now."

"Why?" Quade looked at the necklace that she held before his eyes, half wild with panicked inclination to run away and half giving into the resolution that he had no other choice than to agree. "Why do you wish this from me, and why is it worth so much to you that I give it?"

"These portals in this mirror shop are conjured from places that I have been, worlds that I have touched. Through your eyes I will expand my inventory of portals, through your life, I will create the ability to travel to these places. And through your life I will live. I'm too old for Vicarious Life, too old to leave this shop on most days. But through this, I shall live as you live. I shall see things that I've never seen."

The door rattled noisily at the command of the guard's hand as he tried to open it and Quade nearly passed out from terror.

"Okay!" he whispered harshly. "Tell me again how to do it, how it works! But tell me now, before it's too late!"

The crone lifted the necklace over Quade's head and as the cold, smooth mirror rested atop his shirt, she flattened her hand against his chest and said the strangest words:

"From these words now spoken here, this power I decree

that through these portals travel you and through your eyes I see

twofold the price you pay to me, and hence requite this truth

twofold your debt becomes undone the essence of your youth."

The spot where her hand laid upon his chest felt cold and strange and when the crone looked up to him, she smiled a most peculiar smile.

"How does it work?" Quade took the pendant between his fingers, looked down at the thin alabaster frame of the mirror. Images began swimming across the smooth surface, images of places Quade had been; Clea's ship, the obelisk on Shescheri, the wall walk of the castle.

"Imagine the place and it will appear." The door began to give under the weight of Aazrio's pounding, then suddenly Quade heard silence but the door was still giving way. He had begun to use his magic to gain entrance.

"Just imagine it and It'll go there?" He stared at the disc tried to concentrate on Shescheri, on the image he'd seen a moment ago.

"Imagine it and when it appears, will yourself there. But you must be wearing the necklace; it must be around your neck for the portals to work."

"Thank you," Quade said, staring hard at the mirror and willing the barren terrain into his mind.
 

"I shall thank you as well, Quade. And because I'm fond of you I shall offer you something else, something for free. You will find it on your person, when you're looking for an answer. An answer to what it is you seek."

Something in her voice made Quade look up, but just as he did she faded from view and he realized it was not she that was fading but it was himself. Before he could ask or say anything else, he was gone.

The door flew open, a howl of the night air cutting through the shop, shuffling in leaves and clanging the bells that hung on the handhold.

"Where is he?”

"Aazrio, you dare take such a tone with me!" The crone turned her back to him and walked toward the counter.

"You were harboring a criminal old crone! Where did he go?"

"I harbor no one and you shall leave this place, esteemed guardian of the Keystone." Her tone was snide, held no respect or regard. She turned back to face him, gazed passively in his face of rage. Aazrio stalked fast toward the counter, seething.

"You do not wish to battle with me old crone, I would crush you in an instant! You will heed to my demands!" As he advanced she put up her hand and a powerful wind pushed him back and the front door slammed shut behind him.

"Avast! I shall do nothing of the sort! Make no demands on me, you non-being!" The tinkling sound of the wind chimes that hung throughout the shop glimmered from the breeze that blew through them. Aazrio caught his balance and stopped in his tracks, halted by her glittering eyes, by the threat in her stare. "Shall we speak of days of old, Aazrio? Of days in my youth when I was a force to be reckoned with?"

"I will not leave and you will heed!" Aazrio began to conjure a ball, a sphere of glimmering shards of white heat and fiery sun but with a roar the old crone threw forth her hands and the sphere was blown away from the guard and crashed through one of the mirrors, which glowed afterward. Aazrio began to conjure something else but his magic was failing him. Too hard; too hard to will himself the energy he needed, too hard when he was divided such that he was. The crone seemed to know this somehow and offered a threatening sneer in her tone as she spoke.

"Leave this place or I shall shatter every mirror around to transport you into oblivion, magic one. You go! Serve your purpose for what it's worth now." Aazrio was barely able to contain the seething rage of his inability to take control of this situation. He grasped the edges of his cape in his fists, and the swirling green pattern of his ring glowed like a tiny phosphorescent sun on his finger.

"What bargain did you strike with him to let him get away?" he demanded.

"What concern of yours is my business? I say one last time you go! Your life is protecting so proceed in your purpose! Now, the one you still have left, better guard her well. Or further show this kingdom how inept a protector you've proven to be!"

With a flourish of her hand the front door flew open again and the noise of the chimes tinkled riotously around him. Aazrio could feel the swell of her magic building around him, could see some of the mirror faces beginning to bulge from whatever it was she was threatening to do. Though he would normally never doubt himself Aazrio knew he could not risk battling her with his own powers this diminished, and in the whole of it all, Quade was gone and there was nothing else he could do. He turned from her then and stalked from the shop, and with a fierce gesture of his hand he slammed the door shut behind him and took just a little satisfaction that there was the sound of breaking glass inside as he walked away.

It didn't take long for Aazrio to find the horse; he could sense it as soon as he put his mind to his surroundings, and as he came closer he could also sense its pain and its fear. Shadduk backed away from him as he approached, but couldn't move far with his lame foreleg and the tight knot of the reins that were tied to a nearby tree. Aazrio bent to inspect the wound, placed his hand over it and repaired the damage. Shadduk was none the worse for wear; animals quickly forget any handicap they are afflicted with once they are free of it. The guard led the horse to a nearby stream and allowed him to drink before jumping onto his back and heading at a swift gallop back toward the castle.
 

"Safe journey to you, Clea."

Gannet paused at the hatch of Duplicity, let Delora exit in front of him to the docking module that connected Clea's ship to the hangar landing where he and Delora would find passage to their respective home planets.

"And to you, Gannet." She tried to remain composed but it was getting harder the more time that passed. Already, the celebration would have started on Bethel. Already, she should've been there to ready her horse and take her place before the crowd at the head of Sigh Castle. And all this for a run to Medius, a run that should've taken no more than a couple of hours, max. And then there was that nexus point… that nexus point that had been destroyed.

"I'll hear from you soon, then?"

"Hopefully not, Gannet. Right now you just need to go home. Go and be with your family." Gannet leaned over to where she stretched to an overhead compartment, replaced some equipment that had been left out after their run to Medius.

"Again Clea…be careful."

That exchange had been only two hours ago but it could've just as well been a week. Clea held her head between her hands, clutched her hair in anger and anxiety. How could she miss Twilight Bloom? And had Quade gone to P'cadia? The closer they came to the planet, the deeper her worries grew. Suddenly Duplicity dropped from the leyline and was released through the nexus and into open space. Immediately, their communication channels were overwhelmed with transmissions.

"What is all that?" Clea flipped a few levers, checked their course that would take them on home to Bethel. The travel time was only about ten minutes. Krisel was moving his fingers over the com panel, trying to sort out the layers of signals.

"Hard to tell, Clea. Lots of activity…transmissions are all overlapping."

She reached over, tried to omit the weaker signals, tried to decipher what anyone was saying with any level of clarity. The sound of the many voices talking over one another was unsettling, and rubbed against her already raw nerves.
 

"There's a message coming through Clea. From Sigh City's central hangar. A general message being broadcast through all of the leylines and all open frequencies."

"What do you mean? A general message saying what?"

"I can't make it out. Here, I'll boost the signal, maybe you can make sense of it."

The transmission was weak and static, as if it were far away though the source was
 
actually very close. A broken voice commanded sternly an order which seemed impossible.

"No ships incoming…. Or outgoing…. From the planet Bethel. All interplanetary travel is immediately ceased until further notice. All supply vessels may maintain orbit until instructions are given. All others… divert course…"

"Shut that off!" Clea lost her grip on the panic that was rising inside of her just long enough to bark that command, and as silence filled the cockpit she covered her face with her hands and spoke more calmly. "I'm sorry, Krisel. Activate subspace link, filter all but the strongest signals."

Krisel nodded, and took a moment to lock in on the nearby ships' communications. The channels were again jammed with activity as there was much confusion and many lines of communication open ship-to-ship. A few words began to jump through the garbled confusion however; words that made Clea's pulse turn to ice.

"Twilight Bloom was interrupted…"

"What happened to the Keystone?"

"Did you hear?"

"The Keystone…"

"No one knows how it happened…"

"But they said everyone saw him running from the grounds…"

"Who?"

"I heard it happened right at the start of Twilight Bloom…"

"There was a flash of light, someone told me, that's all I heard… then he collapsed."

"It was Quade Decairus… they saw him running…"

"Right in the middle of Twilight Bloom…"

"Have you heard about the Keystone… does anyone know if he's okay?"

"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."