"Do ye know the dangers for a woman traveling alone? Even the jewel Holders travel with armed

escorts."

"Why do ye think I go dressed as a boy?"

He dragged her to his tent. "Why do ye fear the Guards?"

"My uncle...he owns a tavern in Pala... He wants me to work abovestairs... If ye take me to a

Guardpost, they will return me to him or worse, give me to the mages."

She felt his gaze burn through the bravado she had donned. "The mages... Why?"

She shrugged. "They kept an eye on the tavern and threatened to take me to one of their houses."

"I wouldn't want to see that. Ye remind me of someone I know. Not in form or face, but the loneliness

in your eyes. If ye promise not to steal what I have, ye can travel as my squire."

He meant those words. She heard the truth in his voice. "Ye have my promise. Just who are ye?"

"Andalor, a minstrel, at your service."

"I've never seen a minstrel dressed as fine or outfitted so grandly."

"I'm the Queen's Chosen."

Laughter brought tears to her eyes. Mayhaps he was a minstrel after all. They were known to spin fanciful tales. "Her Chosen, so ye say. Where are your Guards?"

"I'm on a secret mission." He winked. "So will ye join me?"

Should she? At least she wouldn't have to walk. "Why not? I will be your squire for as long as our roads run together."

CHAPTER 6.

From The Lore of the Jewels And on the day the White Holder gave birth to twin daughters, trouble stirred in the land. The Holder was pleased, for her daughters were beautiful. One was in her image and the other bore the likeness of the mage who had fathered the pair.

As the girls grew into womanhood, there was no love between them. They vied for the honor of holding the Jewel. When the younger bonded with the White, the older left the Palace of the Seven Jewels and sought a way to wrest the White from her sister.

The crow of a banta c.o.c.kerel roused Liara from a troubled dream. She pressed her hand against the silk-wrapped Jewel and thought of her foster mother. Was Tana still on this plane, or had her shade departed? Had the Guards arrived to force the dying Holder from the High Sanctuary? Liara had to believe all was well or she would climb on her pony and turn back the way they had come.

Too late to turn back, she thought. She and Brader had spent a full tenday on the road, camping in the woods or begging shelter in barns like this one. Though spring had come, the nights were cold and snow still threatened the pa.s.ses. She rose and splashed cold water on her face and quickly dressed. Then she shook Brader's shoulder.

"Come. 'Tis dawn. We must be on our way."

He groaned and crawled from his blanket. While he washed and dressed, she rolled their blankets and loaded the pack pony.

"We've been invited to break our fast with the family," he said.

Liara looked away. Last night, she'd been glad they had arrived when the family was ready for bed. Brader had a tendency to brag about his heritage and his skill with arms. Instead of a brother and sister heading to Thanis to seek employment, she'd become one of the Holder's maidens being returned to her family and he the armsman who escorted her. Though the tale had been told to farmers, Liara feared the story would reach the ears of one of the hands of Guards they'd seen.

Brader lifted the saddles from the straw. "About breakfast."

She shook her head. "We can't afford to linger. Tana said-"

"I know. She should have sent us a tenday before she did." He saddled the ponies. "Can't wait to sleep in a bed again. Mayhaps when we reach Thanis we'll have to wait for a ship to arrive."

"I pray there is one waiting. I don't think it wise for us to remain long in one place."

His shoulders braced and she waited for an explosion. Since they'd left the keep, his temper had been short and often it exploded for no reason. Instead of shouting, he spoke quietly. "As long as ye remember your place, we should have no trouble.

Ye are a village woman who has found a job in Thanis."

"Not a member of Tana's court."

He grasped her arm. "'Twas tragon speaking."

"Then leave it alone."

"And ye must act meek and follow orders, not give them."

She looked away. "Even if ye endanger us?"

He made a face fraught with frustration. "What do ye know of the world? Mother sheltered ye from strangers and ye have had little experience with even the villagers... And ye think ye should rule Earda."

"I have no desire to be Queen."

"So ye say but I imagine ye could be tempted by the power a queen has."

She mounted her pony. His comments sent her thoughts in a direction she had avoided. The White Jewel-myth or real? What she'd said was the truth and Brader was also right. What did she know about being a ruler? She rode into the yard where Brader waited.

One of the children ran from the farmhouse. "Mum asked if ye would break fast with us."

Brader shook his head. "We must go." He pointed to the sky. "A storm threatens and I would be through the pa.s.s before it breaks."

"There be an inn 'tother side of the pa.s.s. Pa and me stopped there when we took the sheep-silk to Thanis."

"Thanks."

The boy ran back into the house, but returned almost at once to thrust a napkin into Brader's hand. "Be boiled eggs and fatback on fresh baked bread."

"My thanks to your mother," Brader said.

"May her larder be always full," Liara added.

All too soon, the rocking gait of the pony gave Liara time to think. Her mother had been Queen. She must have held the Black, but that Jewel and the Queen were evil. Have I been tainted? She shuddered.

Even in the High Sanctuary where peace and justice had ruled, tales of the Queen's injustices had been told. People dragged from their homes, never to be seen again. Lands seized by the Brotherhood of Mages. Young women taken from their families and enslaved by the Guards. Young men forced to serve in the mines or be impressed into the Brotherhood. Floods and droughts. Strange beasts and diseases sweeping through farms and villages.

Tana had confirmed the stories. Only her power as Yellow Holder had kept the island free. What would happen when Tana died?

A lump formed in her chest. She should have stayed to see her foster mother safely on her journey into death.

She touched the silk-wrapped packet. For years, she had been sure she would be the one to follow. But another would hold the Yellow and reside in the High Sanctuary. How could she be sure the one who claimed the legacy would use the power for the people and not for herself?

Her thoughts raced in circles until she shoved them into a dark corner. Speculation never solved a problem but only added more worries.

She caught up with Brader. He pa.s.sed her a portion of the farm wife's gift. "How far to Thanis?" she asked.

"In kils?" He shrugged. "We near the last of the three pa.s.ses. Once through, the road leads down the mountain and across the plain. Maybe three days. Then we have the sea voyage to face. Who knows how long that will take?"

"A tenday or so. 'Twas what Tana said. She also said when she came here, the sea treated her ill." She chewed a bite of the food. "Do ye think she's all right?"

His shoulders hunched and his expression grew bleak.

"Liara." His voice broke.

"What's wrong? Tell me."

"Before we left, I closed her eyes and said the blessing."

Tears surged so violently she couldn't stop the flow. "Why... Why did you keep this from me?"

"She ordered us to leave. If ye had known would ye have left?"

She wiped her eyes on her cloak. "We should have stayed for the ceremony of parting."

"And been taken prisoner by one of the hands of Guards we've seen? What if they had sealed the gates?"

Though she knew he was right, she wished she'd had the choice. "Don't ye care?"

He looked away. "How can ye ask that? She birthed me. She raised me. She was my mother, though

since our fourteenth year, I have wondered if she wished to cast me off and choose ye instead."

She heard anger and pain in his voice. "I never meant... There was much she felt I had to learn. I wish..."

He shrugged. "She was a Holder. She saw a need, one I couldn't fill. What will happen to her Jewel?

Will the Guards take it to Pala?"

"I have the Jewel. She said her successor would meet us on the way."

"Is it true when a Holder cedes her Jewel, she dies?"

The question caught her unprepared and raised a storm of guilt. By becoming a courier for the Yellow, had she hastened Tana's death? Though the choice had been her foster mother's, Liara wondered if she had done the right thing.

Brader rode ahead and left her to deal with her newly charged emotions. Why had her foster mother sent them to find a myth? Why had Tana accepted her death? She heard Tana's voice.

"The Holder's life belongs to her Jewel."

* * * When the sun reached mid-day, Brader turned from the road into a stand of trees. Though they were concealed, the road could be seen. As they lunched on flatbread and cheese, a hand of Guards galloped past, heading toward Thanis.

Liara saw a flash of envy on Brader's face replace the sullen anger of the morning. The Guards awakened her fears and stirred Brader's admiration. Why the different reactions? Hadn't he heard stories about the Guards? Had this hand been among those at the High Sanctuary? Did they seek the Yellow Jewel?

When she and Brader resumed their journey, she watched clouds gather. The wind held a chill and a hint of moisture. A short time later, they reached the pa.s.s. As they rode through the gap between the high cliffs, rain misted in the rapidly cooling air.

Brader waved her to his side. "Looks to be a drencher, but there's an inn ahead."

"Should we seek a public place? Mayhaps we'll find a farm."

"Who would farm in this tumble of rocks?"

"What about camping out?"

"Do ye see any trees to provide shelter?"

"What if it's discovered we're from the High Sanctuary?"

"How? If ye remember your role, all will be well."

"But if there are questions?"