Destiny's Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen by Daniel Huber, Jennifer Selzer

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