CHAPTER 8.

From The Songs of Earda She came to him in the evening, When the sun was low in the sky.

Her heart was filled with love.

"I would have thee as my Chosen.

Without thee I will die."

He gazed into the Jewel she held And looked into her crystal eyes.

He knew she was his fated love.

"I will be thine forevermore And honor thee beyond the grave."

Andalor studied Disa. What had she meant when she said she was called? For the past five days, she'd more than done her share of work. She'd gleaned mushrooms and spring berries and greens to add to their provisions. After tasting his sole attempt, she'd cooked the meals.

For some reason, she reminded him of Reena and he didn't know why. Disa was tall and slender. Her hair was an amber shade where Reena's was near white.

Who was she? She'd come from Pala. She said she'd been a tavernmaid who'd refused to work abovestairs. He didn't know how she'd avoided that fate. She was comely, and even the plainest of the tavernmaids he'd met earned extra coins on their backs. Why was she on the run? She feared the Guards and trembled at the mention of the mages. Was her fear an act? Could she be a spy set on him by the Brotherhood?

The chief mage, Gregor, had been angry when he had learned Reena had Chosen a minstrel. The hatred in the mage's dark eyes had made Andalor shudder. Reena had vowed to dismiss the mage and his ilk. She hadn't. In one day, she had changed from a laughing maiden into a cold and haughty Queen. But he was her Chosen and bound to her for as long as she lived.

He laughed at the turn his thoughts had taken. 'Twas fodder for a minstrel's tale, with him in the leading role and Reena as the heroine. What part would Disa play in this adventure?

He noticed the ruins of an abandoned farm and turned off the road. "'Tis a good place to camp for the night," he called. A lazy stream formed a deep pool near a stand of trees. He tethered his horse beneath a willah tree.

Disa slid from her mount and began to build a fire circle. Andalor set up the tent. "Tell me true, why are ye running away?"

She looked up. "I've told ye before. 'Twas to escape my uncle by marriage and because... Ye wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"There was this voice that called me and no one was there. 'Come,' it said. Then Fancher made his demand and I ran."

"Ye just walked out."

"Hardly. I waited 'til the tavern closed and Fancher was abed. Why all these questions?"

"'Tis a minstrel's curiosity. That's all."

She lifted one of the pans. "Are ye really a minstrel? I've seen minstrels in the tavern when they came to

cadge a meal. There's none of them like ye."

He chuckled. "On that I'll agree. How many minstrels become the Queen's Chosen?"

She headed to the pond. "'Twas said on the streets she enjoyed a lot of men."

"'Twas the old one, not my Reena."

She bent to fill the pan. "So ye are a Chosen and I'm a Jewel Holder."

He arched a brow. "Really. Which Jewel?"

"Of course I'm not one of them. I'm just Disa, tavernmaid from Fancher's."

"Where in Pala is Fancher's? Mayhaps I've been there."

She opened her knapsack and took out what looked like stale bread. To this, she added sausage and

cheese. "Ye have never been there. I would have remembered ye."

"This was my first trip to Pala, but I expect to go again. How about I give this Fancher a black eye?"

She smiled. "That would be a sight. He'd make two of ye. Place is south of the market, not far from the

city walls." She cut cheese in chunks and put them in the pan. "Fill the other with water," she said. "For all

I know, ye might be a clever thief, but it's no matter. At least ye can play the lute and ye have horses." He strode to the pond and filled the second pot. When he returned, he saw the sausage had been impaled on sticks and was toasting over the fire. She'd cut the bread in pieces and dropped it in the melting cheese.

"So this is dinner."

She nodded. "'Twas my da's favorite. When Mum and me traveled in his wagon, it had to be this meal at least once a tenday." She dropped chakla leaves in the second pan.

Andalor took one of the sausage sticks and took a bite. Then he fished a chunk of cheese-smothered

bread from the pan, blew and ate. "'Tis good. So ye weren't always a tavernmaid?" "Not 'til my aunt died. She was Fancher's second wife and was training me to be a cook." "She did a fine job." He finished the bread and reached for his lute. Disa poured mugs of chakla for them both. She raised the cup and before she drank, she inhaled the steam. "'Tis heavenly." Andalor shook his head. "Haven't drunk this since I was a lad." "'Tis my weakness. Cook at the tavern used to flavor cakes and make chakla sweets for me."

He pulled a skin of tragon from the hamper. "A dram to help ye sleep?"

She shook her head. "None for me. I've no head for the stuff. Best save it for a real need. Who knows when we might need the warmth it brings." She pointed to the burnt sh.e.l.l of the farmhouse. "Wonder what happened here?"

He thought about the many abandoned farms he'd seen during his travels, and the nearly deserted villages with more graves than people. "Looks like a fire destroyed the house."

"Before or after the people left?"

"We'll never know."

She stripped leaves from willah wythes and began to weave the slender branches. "Just where does this road take us?"

"Quato."

She looked as though she listened to a voice. Did she have something like the crystal in his pocket?

Something that allowed her to talk to a person at a distance?

"Aye, that sounds like the proper destination."

He strummed his lute. Disa finished weaving and carried the net and the pan used for the cheese to the pond. When she returned, she rolled in her blankets.

He waited until her breathing changed into a sleep pattern. Then he slipped beyond the willah trees. He pulled the black crystal from his tunic pocket.

A breeze rustled the thin branches of the trees at his back. He stared into the crystal and envisioned Reena's face. The mist cleared and she appeared. A wave of yearning to be with her arose.

"Thee are late. Why?"

"We had to travel until sunset before we found a camp site. The road is near deserted and the farms are in shambles. What do the Guards say about the Quato road?" "I've heard nothing amiss. What more can thee tell me about this Disa? Thee cannot expect me to discover who she is unless I know where in Pala she worked."

"The tavern owner is Fancher and the place is located south of the market near the wall."

"And she's headed to Quato?"

"She never said where she was headed until I mentioned that was my destination. She looked as though she talked to someone. Could she be thy cousin?"

"Describe her."

"Tall for a woman and slender enough to pa.s.s as a boy. Her hair and eyes are the color of amber."

"Not my cousin. Her eyes would be as blue as mine." Reena frowned. "Is this Disa pretty?"

He heard a trace of jealousy in her voice. "It's thy image that's forever in my thoughts. Would that I could be at thy side."

"Soon we will be together. I miss thee." She scowled. "I must go. Gregor waits for me."

"I thought thee planned to dismiss him."

"Not while I can use him. Good night."

The crystal darkened to deep ebony. He slipped it into his pocket. Why had she kept the mage and the Brotherhood in the palace? Had she forgotten the things she had wanted to do before the Black had come into her hand?

CHAPTER 9.

From The Queen's Diary She cannot have him. I saw him first. Then she looked into his eyes and said the words to bind him until death. There is but ten minutes between us. Why should the oldest sister have more than the younger? Since the Black came to Earda, there have been no twins born to the Queen until us. I wonder what it means? Still, I will have the Black and I will have him.

Reena put the crystal on the table beside her bed and turned to glare at Gregor. "Ye do not have my permission to be in this room."

The ebon-eyed mage smiled. "I'm sorry to have interrupted your time with your Chosen, but ye have a duty to your Jewel. The White stirs and your mastery of the powers is sorely lacking. If ye desire the minstrel's company, ye should have permitted me to send mages to find the usurper."

She could have done that, but she had little reason to trust the mages. She also believed Gregor posed a threat to her Chosen. "The decision was mine. I don't believe a mage would have suited. Do ye think she would trust someone from the Brotherhood?"

"Mayhaps ye are right, but trust is not the issue. Finding and destroying her before she learns who she is seems to me more important."

Reena laughed. "What do ye know of her? Do ye know where she was raised?"

He shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"My cousin spent her childhood in the home of the Yellow Holder." She moved away but not before she saw a flicker of astonishment in his eyes. "Did ye not know that my mother kept diaries? I have read them." "I want to see them." "Destroyed. She seemed quite mad, ye know. My cousin was allowed to live because she's my test." A smile crossed his lips but failed to reach his eyes. "Cousin. She is your half-sister. If the minstrel sees ye in her face, what will happen to your bonds? Your mother proved they could be broken." "Did she?" Reena's memories of her father proved even death couldn't break the bonds. "I have more information about Andalor's traveling companion." She related what the minstrel had disclosed. He grasped her shoulders and turned her around. "Have him take her to the nearest Guardpost. She was caught talking to a traitor-a man who flits about Pala spreading treason. One day, she talked to him and the next, she was gone." "Why hasn't this man been brought to my attention?" "The last time he surfaced was the day after your mother's leave-taking." She crossed to the window. "And what is the news about the other Holders?" "'Tis less than a lunar since Guards were sent to escort them to the palace. Why your mother allowed them to reside away from Pala puzzles me. Sometimes she refused to heed my advice." He stroked her arm. "But ye, my Queen, have more sense."

An involuntary shudder rippled through her body. She jerked away. "Do not touch me in that manner.

When does Macker arrive?"

"He won't be coming. Before the Guards reached the manor house, he left. Alas, he had a most unfortunate accident. His carriage was attacked by bandits and Macker did not survive."

Reena sucked in a breath. "Why did he leave? Who told him he could go?"

"'Twas the Brotherhood who placed him as your teacher and the Brotherhood who released him from his duties. 'Twas his choice to leave the manor. Ye are the Queen and have no need for those who knew ye as Milady Reena."

Her hands clenched. Alone. She was alone, but then she'd always been. "Ye are dismissed." He stared into her eyes. His fingers touched her arms and felt like ice. She could not look away. "Take out the Jewel. 'Tis time for another lesson in control."

CHAPTER 10.