Tempest's Maw

Chapter One

Silas, Second Planet of the Gala Star System

C.E. 10,165

Within the walls of the keep, there was a garden. It was a lush paradise amongst the sandstone walls. A small man-made river ran through the middle of it, and formed two large ponds which the children of the palace swam in. Wild raspberry and strawberry bushes grew within the garden, which the palace children would eat and eat until their faces were covered with juice. Above on the walls, the palace guards kept watchful eye on anyone in the garden, especially since the children were the heirs of many powerful lords and even emperors.

However, on this day there was no one in the gardens save for one person. He was the son of Emperor's adviser, although he was the second born one and thus was able to escape the constraints that his older brother lived under—one of them being that he was able to freely walk about the gardens whenever he pleased. His name was Andrew Tygart. For three years now, he had taken to walking the garden whenever he got the chance, finding it peaceful and calming. When his brother, Maximillian, had turned eighteen and Andrew was sixteen, their father had made it clear that Maximillian was going to undergo training to replace their father as Advisor. At that point, Andrew was then given free reign throughout the entire palace as long as he was accompanied by a guard—he may not be the Advisor's Apprentice but he was still a high ranking son. Today, he had dismissed his guard, wanting to be totally alone while he was in the garden.

Andrew walked along the cobblestone path that ran parallel to the river. He took in the smells and sounds that filled the air that afternoon; the few birds sang their songs and the flowers released their scents adding to the pleasantness, along the quiet rustling of the river. It was the perfect place to mediate and reflect and Andrew intended to do just that. However, something just did not feel right. He felt someone was nearby and potentially following him.

Andrew quickly looked behind him, using a technique he had been taught when he was younger—an ability to quickly take in the smallest detail from just a quick glance. Sure enough, when he looked at a rather large bush, Andrew saw the tell-tale shape of a person's elbow. The bush's shape was random while the elbow imposed a straight, geometric shape in the randomness. Judging from the size of the elbow and the fact that only one person in the palace would ever try to follow Andrew, he could tell almost instantly know who it was and recognized their intent. Smiling to himself, Andrew resolved to allow the person following him to continue doing so for a little while before he revealed that he knew where they were. After walking a few feet and hearing the rustling of someone moving from one bush to another, Andrew broke his silence.

"I know you're there, so you can come out now," he declared.

There was the sound of a suppressed laugh, followed by more rustling. Andrew turned around to see exactly who he had expected. Adrianna Zephyr, the seventeen year old tomboy daughter of the Palace Guard Captain. She was the closest thing to a sister that Andrew had, since he was the last child born by his parents. When he had been younger, Andrew had been placed in charge of a group of children from the palace to essentially babysit them during a limited war that had taken place in the southern reaches of the planet. Adrianna had been a part of that group and had taken to being Andrew's helper. Since then, she had always been close to Andrew and looked up to him, and had earned the nickname "Andrew's Shadow" as a result. She stood there, her short dirty blonde hair tussled and full of twigs from the bush, with her cocky half grin and her guard cadet uniform covered in grass stains and mud.

"And what do you think you're doing, little one?" he asked, containing his laughter at the sight of her muddy uniform and messed up hair.

"Just walking," she replied harmlessly, her smile never lessening one bit.