"What about your plans for Earda? When do we begin to make changes?"

His queries broke the enchantment. What right had he to question her?

"Those plans must wait. I need thy help, for there is a danger to me and the Jewel."

"My life is thine to command." He settled on the stool beside her. "What will thee have me do?"

"I have a cousin who wants to take my place." She related her mother's tale of the threat. "So see thee, she must be found before she finds the power to usurp my throne."

He nodded. "I will leave at once."

She caressed his cheek. "There is no need for thee to leave this night. A feast has been prepared. We'll sup and retire. Mayhaps tomorrow thee can go."

CHAPTER 5.

Sayings of the People When ye meet a Guard, make yourself small, but when ye encounter a mage, flee.

Disa reached for the brush and scrubbed the smooth wood of the bar. The last customer had finally staggered through the door of Fancher's tavern and her workday had nearly ended. The Queen was dead. The parting ceremony had been that afternoon in the market square. Disa had joined the crowd to watch the procession. She had hoped for a glimpse of the new Queen, but only two mages and a hand of Guards had been there to speak the words of parting. With such a poor showing and no family member to attend, would the Queen pa.s.s from this life into the next?

Rumors had spread from mouth to mouth about the new Queen. Disa had heard them all.

"She is equal in evil with her mother."

"She laughed when her mother died."

"She stole the Black."

Disa shrugged. Did it matter how the Jewel had been pa.s.sed? A tavernmaid would never move in

company with a Queen and certainly never have the chance to speak her mind without the mages

dragging her away.

With a final swipe, she dropped the brush in a pail, wiped the bar and carried the water to the door to fling it into the alley. As she climbed the stairs to her room beneath the eaves, she rubbed her back.

She pulled a stool to the round window at the end of the narrow s.p.a.ce. First Moon was full and Second

Moon stood just above the horizon. The nightly display of lightning had ceased with the Queen's death.

Quickly, she combed the tangles from her hair and braided the long amber strands. After removing her skirt and blouse, she stretched on her straw mat and fell instantly asleep.

Her dreams were troubled. Several times, she awakened and looked around in confusion. Who had

called her name? Who insisted she leave Pala? Where would she go?

Since her parents' death she'd lived in Pala, and before that she'd been too young to form attachments to other places. During her childhood, she and her mother had traveled with her merchant father, riding in a painted wagon filled with an a.s.sortment of wares.

When the first rays of the rising sun slid across her face, Disa rolled over and groaned. She felt as though she'd spent the night walking toward an unreachable goal.

"Disa!" Fancher's bellow sent her scurrying for her clothes.

"I'm coming." She splashed cold water on her face.

"Do ye want to be out on the streets? Work's waiting and so am I."

She pulled on a clean shift, skirt and blouse. To lose this job would leave her homeless. Fancher could easily replace her. Times were hard and work scarce.

She slipped on her clogs and clattered downstairs, tramping hard on the third step to announce her

approach. Fancher grabbed her shoulder. A scowl brought his thick eyebrows together. "Ye must be wanting to walk. Been offered one who'll work abovestairs as well as below. By the end of this day, ye got to do the same."

She shook off his hand. "What would Aunt Tira think?"

"Place be mine now, what with her three months in the grave. Ye got to choose."

Disa strode into the common room and gathered orders for food and drink. What choice did she have?

Between delivering orders of ryn porridge, rashers of fatback and eggs, she s.n.a.t.c.hed bites of bread and cheese washed down with sips of sweet, hot chakla and avoided her uncle by marriage.

Toward mid-morning, a gaunt stranger slunk into the common room and settled at a table in the shadows. He placed a gold coin on the table and ordered a skin of tragon. His rumpled and stained clothing had once been of good quality. He pushed the hood of his cloak to reveal a shock of near white hair. Disa stared. He did not seem that old.

He raised the skin and swallowed. "The Queen is dead but her evil remains. The Queen has come. Soon her soul will be as black as her Jewel. Alas, alas, my poor child will be lost... My sweet Queen, where have ye gone?"

He's drunk and speaks nonsense, Disa thought. But for him to remain in the tavern presented a danger.

She tugged on his sleeve. "Begone and take your traitor's talk with ye."

He looked up. His eyes were as blue as water beneath the sun. "'Tis the truth."

A pair of Guards and a black-robed mage pushed the doors open. Disa backed away from the stranger.

He rose.

"Halt," the Guard shouted.

The pair headed across the room. The stranger shoved Disa into their path and ran toward the kitchen.

The mage grabbed her arm. Her body and her speech froze.

"What do ye know of him?"

His dark gaze captured hers and she felt a probing in her mind. "I..." She gulped a breath. "Never been here before."

"What did he say?"

"Drunkard's talk. Made no sense." She tried to look away but she couldn't. Then in a voice she barely recognized as her own, she repeated the stranger's words.

"Forget all ye heard. Repeat not his words. Ye will be watched and if need be, ye will be taken to the house of the Brotherhood and then given to the Guards." He released her arm and strode to the door.

Fancher deserted his place behind the bar. "What business have ye with the Brotherhood?"

"None." Disa's heart finally slowed from its rapid beating. "He came for the stranger." She ducked around Fancher. "I need three brews and there's food waiting to be served." "Don't be bringing trouble on my head."

Yours, she thought. Ye didn't have your head reamed by a mage. When she reached the kitchen and gathered the plates, she glanced through the open half-door. The Guards and the mage stood in the alley beyond the kitchen garden. A chill spread through her body. She'd heard of people who had vanished after gaining a mage's attention. She wanted to run, but not yet. She needed a plan.

"Come."

She looked around. Who had spoken? The cook stirred a pot and hummed the latest minstrel's song.

Disa shook her head. Why was this happening to her?

As the morning continued, the desire to flee Pala grew stronger. She had to leave but she had no idea

where she should go. * * * That afternoon, Disa left the tavern with the large market basket on her arm. A Guard lounged against the wall of a building across the street. He moved to follow her. Though she was tempted to wave, she resisted. To call attention to herself would only add to the danger. She stopped at a booth where old clothes were sold. The Guard paused nearby. "Cook's boy outgrows his clothes." The seller laughed. "Boys do that. How large?" "About my size but fatter." "Cook's boys usually are." She put two pair of breeches, two shirts and a jacket in the basket, paid and then moved to filled the cook's requests for fish and spices. The Guard hovered near but made no move to stop or question her.

She left the market and returned to the tavern and spent the afternoon helping the cook with dinner. The evening crowd was Guard-heavy. Fancher served them with a smile and cut-rate prices. He glared at Disa but spoke no words of blame. Those would come in the morning, but she wouldn't be around to hear them.

Every time she served one of the Guards, she hoped her voice didn't quake the way her legs did. At least the increased traffic kept Fancher from demanding she serve abovestairs. After her closing ch.o.r.es were done, she crept into the dark kitchen and retrieved the clothes and a knapsack from a pantry shelf. Into the knapsack, she put links cut from a sausage rope, a small cheese, two rounds of bread, one small pan and a metal mug. She made packets of salt, sugar, kaf beans, ryn meal and chakla leaves. She filled an empty wine skin with water and headed to her room.

In the garret, she donned one of the boy's outfits and her scuffed boots. She considered cutting her hair but instead pinned the braids and pulled on a knit cap. She opened the end window and watched the Guard who patrolled the alley behind the tavern, to time his rounds.

After rolling the blanket from her bed, she tied it to the knapsack and waited for the Guard to start his march to the end of the alley. Then using the route she'd found as a child to escape Fancher's tantrums, she crawled onto the kitchen roof.

From there, she grabbed a branch of the large oka tree, found a perch and pulled up her pack. After the Guard pa.s.sed, she dropped to the flat roof of the building next door and made her way across the rooftops to the one that ab.u.t.ted the city wall. She lowered her pack, then used the rope to climb down. As she ran down the road, she waited for shouts of discovery, but none came.

For two days, she traveled by night and slept by day, choosing thickets to hide herself from the road. The voice that had called her out of Pala was silent, but somehow, she knew she'd chosen the right direction.

On the third day, a lack of hiding places kept her on the road past mid-morning. Then she spotted a neglected appa grove. Briars and vines provided a sheltered spot, plus a bounty of gnarled, dried appas to add to her provisions. She ate two, a slice of cheese and a chunk of dry bread. Then she used the knapsack as a pillow and drifted to sleep.

The nicker of a horse woke her. She jumped to her feet and crept to where she could see through the mesh of vines.

A slender man with copper-colored hair dismounted and tied not one, but two horses to one of the trees. The sun was near setting and the sky had grayed. Disa watched as he pitched a small tent. She eyed the horses. The riding one was a magnificent beast, glossy black with a polished ebony horn and a body built for speed.

With a mount like that, she could soon reach her destination. Such a beast could out-run any Guards and keep her out of the mages' reach.

The man opened a hamper and took out enough food to feed her for several days. He leaned against the tree and began to eat.

She crept from her hiding place and edged toward the horses. Though it had been years since she'd ridden, she had to take the chance. For some reason, she knew speed was essential. As she freed the black's tether, the horse nickered. The man leapt to his feet and was across the clearing before she could run.

Her body slammed against the ground. Air whooshed from her lungs. She tried to scratch his face but he caught her hands and pulled her to her feet. She struggled to free herself but his grip was more powerful than she'd thought possible. During the struggle, her cap fell off and her braids tumbled free.

"A female thief," he said.

She met his glare with one of her own. "I'm..."

He arched a brow. "Just what were ye planning to do with my horse?"

"Ride him." She caught a glint of humor in his copper- tinted eyes.

"Where?"

"To... I don't know... I have to go...west."

"The very direction I'm headed. Be ye a spy?"

She shook her head. "I... I am called."

"Called?"

She nodded. "There's a voice that I hear. 'Tis like something from a tale."

His laughter rang out. "I suppose ye can go with me 'til we reach the nearest Guardpost."

She froze. "Let...let me go... I won't bother ye again."

"So ye don't like the Guards?"

She nodded. "They..."