Four Guards arrived with Andalor. Disa flicked his cheek with her finger. "Ye naughty boy. Ye have worried your sister to tears." She blotted her eyes. "Ye must stop running about the countryside proclaiming ye are the Queen's Chosen."

"I am her Chosen. She will free me." He thrust out his lower lip. "Don't want to go with ye. Ye are mean to me." The Guards cuffed and shackled him. Then they dragged him to the door and shoved him into the carriage. Disa paused on the carriage step. "My thanks, Commandant. I pray we won't meet like this again."

The Commandant bowed. "Milady, an honor to serve ye. Are ye sure an escort is not needed?"

"As ye can see, my coachman is quite strong and can control my brother."

"Then, farewell. Ye might take him to the Red Holder. 'Tis said she can heal all ills."

"An excellent suggestion. Again, my thanks." She signaled the coachman to leave.

Once they had left town, Andalor began to laugh. "Did ye leave the key at home?"

She fished it from the bag. "Since my home is wherever I go, I spoke the truth." She freed his wrists and

then his legs.

He put an arm around her. "Ye make a lovely lady. I never noticed before."

Disa looked up at him. Something stirred inside, except the words of choosing would not be said to him.

That thought made her sad.

The coachman stopped near a grove of trees. "This is our destination," she said. "Our horses are hidden beyond the trees." She climbed down and paid the coachman. "My thanks." "Ye be most welcome. The coins will feed my family for a lunar."

As Disa headed to where the horses had been left, she pulled off the trinkets and stuffed them in her pouch. By the time they reached the horses, she had stripped off the gown and was again dressed as Andalor's squire.

"Would ye like to eat before we journey on? I've meat, cheese, bread and berry pies."

"What, no wine?"

"Just water. The inn's wine was sour and the brew flat." She pulled the food from one of the packs and

handed him a share. "Tell me true. Are ye the Queen's Chosen?"

"'Tis the truth."

"Why did she send ye away?"

He stared at the sky. "I can't tell ye the reason. Why did ye return to the Guardpost? Ye could have

taken my coins and left me to await Reena's men."

"I owe ye a life."

He shook his head. "I don't see why. Ye diverted the ape and that saved me. There is no life owed."

"Ye are wrong. There is no life owed or given in the midst of a battle. Ye saved me when ye begged me

to cling to life on the way to the Healer's House."

"Then I won't accept this life."

"Ye do not have the power to refuse. Only I can say when ye are paid."

He finished his food. "Then we are stuck together. To horse, Milady."

She laughed. "On to Quato, Milord."

CHAPTER 16.

From The Queen's Diary She moves like a shadow through the land. She and the bratling she bore. No matter where I look, she has been and gone. She seeks to enlist the Holders-my Holders, those whose Jewels are subservient to mine. With one, she has succeeded. Another wavers. A third cries neutrality and stands apart. They do not know that the Black has touched their Jewels and tainted them enough for the Black to control. They will learn that only the strong will survive.

Reena stood at the window and stared into the palace garden. Alone, she thought. She was Queen and what had changed. Her mother had relegated her care to her nursemaid. Her father had cared for another. There'd been Macker, teacher and foster father and a tool of the Brotherhood. He was dead and she hadn't been told so she could take part in the ceremony of pa.s.sing.

And Andalor. Though she spoke to him nearly every night, 'twas not the same as being in his company. 'Twas not the same as being held in his arms and being loved. She frowned. He had become just a voice whispering in her mind.

There was Gregor with his dark mutterings about her Chosen's vanished loyalty. His hints that her Chosen had betrayed her with the tavernmaid troubled her. Gregor ordered her to control Andalor through the Jewel, the way she had forced him to leave the Healer's House. All that had done was bind him more closely to the tavernmaid.

She paced to the door. Where is my half-sister? Nay, I cannot call her that. To name her as sister would mean there are bonds between us. My cousin seeks the White and I hope she finds it. Then all this uncertainty will end.

A welcome pulse of cold spread from her fingers as she brushed the Black. She resisted the lure of attunement. She would not plunge into that dark abyss and lose control.

The Jewel slid from her grasp. She stared at her mother's portrait. Why did ye exile me and fail to train me to use the Jewel? Why did ye leave this ch.o.r.e to Gregor? Reena swallowed. Though she distrusted the mage, each day and every encounter weakened her ability to resist him.

She strode to the desk and read the reports from the various Guardposts. As Andalor had reported, a double hand of Guards had been slaughtered by the fanged apes. The most direct route to Quato had been closed for several tendays but thanks to her Chosen, the road lay open again.

The next reports troubled her. Riots had broken out in two towns east of Pala, and to the west, famine grew. The sands of the Great Desert ate more land every lunar. Rumors spread through the land that the mages ruled the Queen.

Never, she thought.

The Jewel throbbed. Ice traveled along her skin, and this time, she didn't resist the communion. She raised the Black and gazed into its ebon depths. Rain, a gentle rain to bathe the earth and slake the thirst of the plants and trees. She swirled into blackness. Thunder rumbled. Lightning flashed and rain pounded the palace walls.

A frantic pounding broke the trance and left her shaken and bereft. "Go away." she shouted, The door crashed against the wall. A scowling Gregor stood framed in the doorway. "Ye have been playing with the Black. 'Tis not a toy. Ye must allow me to train ye in the way to use the gem. The Brotherhood demands-"

"The Queen holds and rules, not the mages. I am the Queen."

His features shifted from scowl to smile. "Indeed ye are, and no man can hold a Jewel. Ye lack training. When your mother came to the throne, she was my student in all things. She welcomed the training sessions. If ye do not learn control, ye will die and another Queen will come. Mayhaps 'twill be your sister."

She clutched the gem. "She is not my sister but a usurper and a fool. When I need your help, I'll ask. Until that time, begone."

He wheeled. She laughed. Another round in the battle of wills belonged to her.

"Wait," she called. "Where are the six Holders? I grow tired waiting for them. Today, I leave to wrest their Jewels from them and choose others to Hold them."

"Two arrived last night and two this morning."

"Why was I not informed?"

"That is what I came to tell ye before I found ye toying with the Jewel's powers."

"And the other two? Have ye located them?"

He shrugged. "Ye would benefit from a lesson to aid ye in finding them."

"I think not." She hid her smile. He did not know about the Yellow. Her own troop of Guards

dispatched to Thanis had reached, not Quato, but a small fishing village, and had sent a man ahead with a report. The Yellow Holder had sent her Jewel to Quato and her cousin was the courier. She laughed. Andalor would find them both.

"Have the Holders brought to the throne room within the hour."

"Why, when ye have waited a lunar for them? Why face them before ye can control them?"

With the Black in her hand, she strode toward him. She could call lightning to strike him...but not yet.

"Now, I said." "As ye wish, my Queen." She nodded. He will not tell me what to do. I am the Queen and I do not share the rule. She clapped her hands. Two maids arrived and helped her dress in a gown beaded with jetta and black crystals. Her hair was brushed until it crackled. She lifted a black metal band to her head. Then, escorted

by a hand of Guards, she walked to the throne room. The Commandant of the Pala Guard stood beside the door. He bowed. "My Queen, the Holders have arrived."

She swept into the room and ignored the cl.u.s.ter of women who stood near the dais. Once she settled on the throne, she raised the Black. "Commandant, make the introductions." He clicked his heels. "Waika, Holder of the Red; Lippa of the Green; Gila, Violet Holder; Phila of the Orange."

"Well come," Reena said.

A wizened crone stepped forward. "Ye have the look of your mother. Be ye as fool-hearted as she? Ye

be the fourth Queen I've seen." "Have ye the strength to aid me?" Waika cackled. "So your mother lied and the White awaits the rightful ruler. Her sister sought the gem but no one tainted by the Black can touch the White. I am content to watch this battle of wills." "There is no place for one who chooses neutrality. Surrender your Jewel." The Red Holder laughed. "Would ye have a novice at your side? I've no desire for the death that comes to a Holder when she parts with her Jewel." Her laughter rebounded from the stone walls. "Power is never ceded willingly and experience will out over youth." "My dear, she is absolutely right." Lippa waddled to Waika's side. Though not as old as the Red Holder, the Green Holder's hair was streaked with white and her green eyes were a muddy hue. "Why must ye battle with the White? Send the mages to deal with your cousin."

"Her death will not mean the end," Phila said. "I've studied the matter fully. As long as the White exists, the Black is in danger." "Pish-tish," Lippa said. "My dear Queen, before we begin wrangling, I have some requests. Your mother sapped my power without asking my permission. Do not do the same. The bounty of the earth is mine."

"And the famines as well," Reena said. "I will do what I must for Earda."

"Then order your servants to provide softer sheets and warmer blankets. My skin is tender and the

rooms are cold. Stone, ye know. My house is made of weed. Much warmer. And the palace food-abominable. I'll gladly lend ye my cook. Her meals are divine and her confections magnificent."

Phila laughed. "And with each bite, ye grow an inch wider."

"Do not insult me. I know how ye took your Jewel from your mother and laughed when she died. Ye are

not a nice young lady."

"Ye were not there," Phila said.

"Do not be prey to gossip," Reena said. "This is no time for dissension among the Holders."

"I do not understand," Gila said.

Reena studied the girl who had barely left childhood. "How did ye come by a Jewel?"

"'Twas my mother's. Just before she died, she placed it around my neck. She spoke of chaos carried in

the whispers of the wind. She could not bear to see the end. Until the Guards came, I thought 'twas but a pretty bauble. What does it do?"

"Gives ye power," Phila said. "Allows ye-"

Reena held up her hand. "Enough. Phila is right. Ye must learn to use and control the power of your Jewel. I'll send ye a guide." She smiled. With Gregor busy attending this child's training, she would be freed from his attention.

Phila winked. "She's a sweet thing, but do ye think she can bond to the Jewel?"

Reena's lip curled. "As well as ye have."