Liara pointed to a narrow ledge below the one where she, Valmir and Andalor stood. "There is the way."

"Are ye sure?" Valmir asked.

"We must go down. Disa and Stilenta have nearly reached the plain."

Andalor jumped down and helped her. Though she sensed Valmir's need to be the one, she knew to touch him would bring a lapse in her concentration. When she had healed his eyes and ears, they had come close to merger. Not yet, not yet.

A short time later, they reached the plain. Disa and Stilenta walked to her side. The four men stood two on either side with their weapons ready.

Before them stood the Queen, her Black Jewel glimmering about her pale throat. About her cl.u.s.tered a double hand of Guards and seven mages.

"Cousin, we are here in answer to your challenge," Liara said.

"Did I challenge?" Reena asked. "Do ye think ye can win? Though your tricks wrought havoc among the Guards, full twenty men have remained. The Brotherhood supports me. Earda is mine and belongs to the one who holds the Black."

"As to that, we will see," Liara said. "The mages have power but it is of the dark. They created the Black so they could control the land and the Holders. As ye see, there are three who will not bow to their rule."

"Ye are wrong. I control the Black and the mages."

Disa stepped closer to Liara. "There is one among the mages I have seen before." She kept her voice low.

"Where?" Stilenta asked.

"In Fancher's tavern. He is the reason I fled. He wasn't a mage but one labeled a traitor. Guards and mages came for him and questioned me. Mayhaps he is here to help us."

"We cannot depend on other than ourselves." Liara raised the Jewel and caught the rays of the sun. The sky above the plain brightened.

Reena raised the Black and the light dimmed. "Child's play."

"Disa, now," Stilenta said. "The Green."

Liara concentrated on holding the light steady. She saw strands of Blue and Yellow emerge from the Jewels Stilenta and Disa held. The rays coiled and twisted into a rope of brilliant green.

A startled cry arose in the ranks of women who stood behind Reena. A mage stepped toward the woman in green but his interception came too late. The Green Holder collapsed.

Reena laughed. "Do ye think one small victory will stop me? She was old and indulged her fleshly appet.i.tes too frequently. Ye have done what I would have done after my victory. Mayhaps ye and I are more alike than ye think, sister."

Sister? How? For a moment Liara's concentration faltered. "We are hardly sisters. Since our mothers were twins, we are cousins."

"Aye, cousins from our mothers, but our father was the same man. Just as ye have lured my Chosen to your side, so my mother enticed your mother's beloved."

"But ye are wrong about Andalor. He is no more than a friend and traveling companion." Liara sucked in a breath. Sister, she thought. She is my sister and now we stand opposed. How can I harm one who shares my blood? She had to put the personal aside. The land and the people would lose all if she wavered.

Reena stepped closer. "Ye are a fool if ye did not corrupt him. Ye are no true daughter of our mothers. Ye cannot imagine all they did."

"I know I have never been brushed by the Black and thus, I am different from those who crave the power they believe that a Jewel brings."

"So ye will die before ye live."

"So be it," Liara said. "Do not think ties of blood will change the outcome. 'Tis not ye and me but the Jewels who will determine."

Reena rotated the Black to send dark rays across the plain. "Do ye have so little control of the White?

The Black doesn't control me. The power is mine."

Beams from the White sliced through the dark rays. "I am the Jewel and the Jewel is me," Liara said.

"Then let the battle begin," Reena said. "Guards, destroy her men at arms."

CHAPTER 39.

From The Armsmen's Guide a.s.sess your men's strengths and weaknesses, and if ye must, pair unknown with known.

Brader raised his sword. Sunlight glinted on the bi-colored blade. "Andalor, to me. Nalor with Valmir. We are but four against twenty, so make each stroke count. The Guards fight in a stylized pattern, so once ye know how they will move, 'twill go better. They fight by twos."

The shift was quickly made. Brader watched the double line of Guards separate and move from their place behind the mages. Would the black robes intervene or would their attention remain on the battle of the Jewels?

His concentration on the advancing men was blocked by the question. He glanced at Andalor. "Why have ye changed sides?"

"The Black has changed Reena into one I do not know. Evil resides in her heart, and even love cannot unseat the darkness."

"Don't fail us."

Andalor laughed. "I won't. If what ye say about their style of fighting is true, they are less dangerous than the fanged apes."

The Guards attempted to circle Brader and Andalor. "Back to back," Brader said. "No overhand swings. We don't want to defeat ourselves."

Dark clouds covered the sun. The earth shook and the winds rose. "'Tis the Black," Brader said.

He engaged a pair of Guards. With a knife in one hand and his sword in the other, he attacked. Metal clanged against metal. Using his sword to fend off one man, he lunged with his knife and plunged the blade into his opponent's gut. He felt pain in his arm and saw the fallen Guard had sliced his left arm. He whirled on the second Guard and sent the man's sword flying. The Guard turned and ran, but another pair instantly replaced him.

Thrust and parry. Small wounds on his chest and his arms. He glanced at Andalor. The minstrel fought two Guards and had them both on the defensive. More Guards appeared and Brader leapt toward them. He leaned back to keep from being skewered. Where had these Guards come from? Had the Queen hidden resources?

Then the answer struck him as a sword sliced a line down his chest. Shadow men. "Begone," he cried. "Ye be but shadows and can't harm me." He moved to Andalor's side. "Not men. Shadows."

"How can that be?" Andalor glanced at Brader.

The minstrel's opponent slashed Andalor's thigh. He fell. When the Guard poised to stab Andalor's chest, Brader knocked the blade aside. "Begone, I say." He knelt beside Andalor and bound the bleeding wound.

"Help the others," Andalor said. "Protect the White."

"Will ye be all right?"

Andalor's expression mirrored his pain. "I've more lives than a lyrcat."

Brader rose and swallowed. Across the plain moved a ma.s.s of fanged apes, dire wolves and creatures he couldn't name.

CHAPTER 40.

From The Queen's Diary The Jewel is mine. She is dead but she lives within the Black. Every time I use the gem, I hear her screams. Mayhaps I am the one who died and she lives. Where is our Chosen? He saw the child, welcomed her and vanished. Even Gregor cannot find him.

Reena watched as her Guards fell before the swords of the usurper's men. Ruthlessly, she seized power from the Red to create shadow men. When they vanished, she screamed in anger and pulled the Orange into her control. Beasts arose and thundered across the plain. Let them deal with claws and poisoned fangs.

In the periphery of her vision, she saw one of the mages step toward the Red Holder. Before he reached Waika, she collapsed. Then a mage crumpled bonelessly to the ground, blood staining the ground about him. What was happening? A second and then a third mage fell. The mage whose face had seemed like one from her dreams swept off his hood. His silver blond hair gave her an instant recognition. "Father, why do ye seek to hinder me?" He swiftly removed another mage, a long knife visible in one hand. Gregor raised his hand and a ball of fire struck the man, but not before he completed another thrust. Then he crumpled.

Reena screamed. She pulled power from the Red, the Orange and the Violet. She called the wind; she conjured giants and created all manner of beasts. Andalor fell. She laughed. "Traitor, thee have paid. So will all who oppose my power." The winds died. The sun shone once more. The shadow men and beasts vanished. Reena raised the Black, "Ye may have destroyed my creatures, ye may have defeated my army, but ye will not prevail." "'Twas not of my doing," her sister said. "Ye do not understand how to use the Jewel. Ye must flow with the power and not control." "Ye are wrong. 'Tis control or be controlled. The Queen-Was she your mother or mine? She gave me that lesson. The Black will absorb all ye are."

"And the White will reflect. Already the Green and Red Holders have put their Jewels aside. Disa, Stilenta, to me." Reena screamed in frustration. Colored streams of lightning flashed overhead. The power from the Violet and Orange Holders diminished. "Ye cannot have them." "I can't breathe," Gila cried. "My head. My head. Ye tear my head," Phila screamed. "Let me be." "Your Jewels are mine," Reena shouted. "Earda is mine. Mine!"

CHAPTER 41.

From The Songs of Earda White is the color of the true Queen's Jewel To Earda it brings new light. Black is the color of the false Queen's gem And naught but death is seen.

Andalor grasped the hilt of his sword and struggled to his feet. His wound burned the way the ones caused during the attack of the fanged apes had burned. He planted the sword's point in the earth to brace himself. He stared at the strange creatures that flowed across the plain. Shadow beasts, he thought, but they looked so real. Had the fanged apes and the dire wolves been created in a like manner? Had Reena sought to break the bond between them by his death?

Reena wheeled and hurled a fireball at one of the mages. Why would she destroy one of her allies? Now of all the mages, only one remained standing.

She held her hand in invitation to draw the mage to her side. She cannot join with him. The thought made Andalor shudder. He pulled his knife from his belt and prayed for the strength to see the deed to the end. Blood soaked the bandage where Brader had bound his wound. His vision faded. He sucked in a breath and hurled the knife toward his beloved.

As soon as the knife left his hand, he wished he'd chosen another course. "Reena! Beware!" he shouted.

"Do thee think to hurt me, little man?" She laughed. "Thee will dance to my tune."

His body jerked and his limbs moved in a grotesque dance. The knife flew end over end and on the course he'd chosen. Reena stepped aside. The knife plunged into the mage's chest.

Reena laughed. "Thee may have helped me more than thee know."

Andalor collapsed. "Liara, destroy the Black, even if ye must destroy her."

CHAPTER 42.

From The Lore of the Jewels When the Jewels have been touched even slightly by the Black, they bear a taint and must be cleansed lest their power be corrupted. Ye must plunge with the light and scour their hearts. When this is done, ye must be ready to face the Black.

Liara looked at the fallen minstrel. "So be it, my friend. If I can find another way, I will."

She held the White high and called Disa and Stilenta to join her. Though she could create illusions to battle those her half-sister had formed, that wasted power. She had to cleanse the Jewels.

"'Tis time."

She felt the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the moons. Into the heart of the Yellow, she rode the

light from her Jewel. A muddy color throbbed. She used the rays from the White to shatter the murk and return the core of the Yellow to pure color.

Now the Blue, where streaks of black pooled. She excised the dark spots until all were gone.

Where next? Violet, Green, Orange, Red. The Green and Red Holders were dead, but they had long been touched by the Black. "Violet," Stilenta said. The instant the ray touched the Violet, the Holder fainted. The cleansing took but a moment. When she touched the Orange, the Holder fought. "Ye will not take my Jewel." "I do not want your Jewel, only to cleanse the evil from its heart." "Ye cannot do that, for when she loses the Black, I will take it." "Impossible." Liara plunged with a blaze of light into the heart of the Orange.

"Then let us make a bargain. Let me be as I am and I will not bother ye."

"'Tis not to be." Liara scoured not only the inroads of the Black, but the vivid streaks of the Holder's craving for power.

The Green held less of the ebon touch than Liara had expected, but the darkness of greed prevailed.

The White held steady as she cleansed the heart of the gem.

Now the Red. The excision of the traces of evil in the gem took what seemed like hours. When the Red was cleansed, Liara felt exhausted. Then she felt Valmir's hands on her shoulders and the touch of the Yellow and the Blue. Every trace of exhaustion vanished.

"What now?" Disa asked.

"I must carry the White into the heart of the Black. Stand with me, sisters in power."

"Must ye go alone?"