The Lightstone

Chapter 19

For some time after that, I stood off to the side of the throne with Atara. Still stunned by what had just happened, all I could think to ask her was, 'Why didn't you tell me who you really were?'

'That's just it,' she said sadly. 'Atara Ars Narmada is who I was. But now I am Atara Manslayer.'

'Is that the only reason, then?'

'No – I was afraid that if you knew, you'd look at me differently. As I'm afraid you're looking at me now.'

'Please don't mistake my astonishment for anything else,' I told her. 'There's only one way I could ever see you. I know who you are.'

As my heart measured out the moments of my life in great, surging beats, I looked for that deep light in her eyes and found it. For a single, brilliant moment we returned to our star. Then I smiled at her and said, 'It is astonishing what passed with your father. My apologies if what was said caused you embarrassment.'

'Please don't mistake my astonishment for anything else,' she said, returning my smile. 'But perhaps you should have asked me first if I would marry you.'

'Will you, Atara?'

'No, I won't,' she said sadly. 'I've made my vows, and I must keep them.'

'But if someday you fulfill them, then -'

'This is not the time for anyone to marry,' she said. 'Should I bear your children only to see them slain in the wars that must surety come?'

'But if the Lightstone were found and the Red Dragon defeated, war itself brought to an end, then -'

'Then it would be then,' she said, smiling at me. 'Then you may ask me about marriage – if that is still what you desire.'

She squeezed my hand, and turned toward Master Juwain, Maram and Kane, who were fighting the throngs streaming toward the doors.

They came up to us, their gold medallions showing beneath their cloaks.

'This is a kingly gift,' Maram said, cupping his hand beneath his medallion. 'I never thought to be given anything so magnificent.'

'And I never thought to hear you vow to seek the Lightstone,' Master Juwain told him. 'But you seem to have a fondness for making vows.'

'Ah, I do, don't I?' Maram said.

'I seem to remember you were to forsake wine, women and war.'

'Well, I suppose I'm not very good at forsaking, am I? And that's just the point, isn't it? I won't forsake this Quest.'

Maram's sudden earnestness made me smile. I clapped him on the shoulder and said, 'But why make vows at all? Didn't you set out only so far as to see Tria?'

'True, true,' he said. 'And i have seen Tria. And a great deal else.'

'We've vowed to seek the Lightstone until it is found,' I reminded him. 'We can't do very much of that seeking in taverns or boudoirs.'

'No, perhaps we can't, my friend. But maybe we'll find a few glasses of beer along our way.' Here he paused to eye a beautiful Alonian woman dressed in a blue satin gown. 'And perhaps great treasures as well.'

'We also vowed to go on seeking unless we're struck down first.'

'Ah, I am mad, aren't I?' he muttered as he shook his head and turned back toward me. 'But someone is bound to find this cup, and it might as well be us. 'Do you think I'd let you have all the fun yourself?'

With a brave smile, he clapped me on my shoulder. Then I nodded at Master Juwain and asked him, 'But what about you, sir? Didn't you come to Tria to verify the truth of the prophecy?'

'I did,' he said, 'but Kane has already verified it as much as these things can be. I'm afraid I must tell you, though, that my true business was always the finding of the Lightstone.'

We stood there wondering what to do next. All our plans and efforts had been directed toward bringing us to King Kiritan's palace by the seventh of Soldru; by the slimmest of chances (and more than one miracle), we had succeeded. But there were four points to the world, and five of us, and all directions beckoned with the gleam of gold upon the horizon.

'I'm too hungry to think about the Quest just now,' Maram said as he watched the last of the nobles leaving the hall. It's the King's birthday why don't we help him celebrate it?'

'I think the King has seen enough of us for one night, eh?' Kane said. 'Others have seen us, too. So, we should find a quiet inn where we can sleep safely tonight.'

Kane's was the voice of prudence, and perhaps we should have heeded it. But before leaving the palace, Master Juwain wanted to use the King's library, said to be one of the finest in the city. Atara wished to talk with her mother. As for me, now that I had already called attention to myself, I didn't want to have to slink away like a whipped dog.

'We've come this far through much worse,' I said- 'If King Kiritan has gone to so much trouble to honor us, then we should accept his hospitality.'

I led the way out of the north door of the hall. There we found a broad corridor giving out onto a vast lawn. The King's thousands of guests easily might have become lost upon it if not directed by a line of torches toward a long pool where many tables had been set with food. Against the backdrop of great, spraying fountains lit up with glowstones, these tables fairly groaned beneath the weight of mutton joints, beef roasts and whole roasted pigs. There were fowls and cheeses and breads, too, pastries and fruits, and many vegetables: buttered lentils with scallions, baked potatoes, asparagus drowning in a sauce made from lemons and eggs – and strange-looking roots called yams that were said to be grown in the Eiyssu. This being Tria, the King's cooks had also set before us braised salmon, smoked herring and huge, insect-like shellfish called lobsters. I couldn't believe that human beings could eat such things, but the Trians seemed to relish and regard them as a delicacy. The nobles, I thought, were used to feasting on delicacies, and to drinking the finest wines, as well. These were set out in bottles on marble tables around the fountains. The best vintages, it was said, came from Galda before it had fallen and from the vineyards of Karabuk. Although the Alonians were forbidden to trade with this kingdom directly, cargoes of wine -and spices such as pepper, doves and cinnamon – had somehow found their way into the holds of ships sailing up the coasts of Galda and Delu and then through the Dolphin Channel into Tria.

It was a clear, beautiful night with a full moon and many stars. The city spread out in all directions below us. little lights like those of fireflies flickered from the many houses and buildings. Some areas were dark, such as the Narmada Green, a two-mile long expanse of woods just to the west of the palace grounds. There the King rode to take his exercise and to hunt the few boar and deer that still remained there. To the south, the great Tower of the Sun stood like a silver needle between the Hastar and Marshan palaces, while to the north, arising from Narmada Hill and Eriades Hill, were the Tower of the Moon and the Tower of the Western Sun. East of the palace, on terraces cut into the lower slopes of the hill on which it was built, the Elu Gardens seemed almost suspended in space below us. In the bright light of the moon, I could still make out its many acres of lawns, flower beds and well-tended trees. It formed a great barrier between the palace and the populous districts below it. A little farther to the east, the great, golden Star Bridge – now almost silver in the moonlight – spanned the Poru River and drew the eye out toward the harbor and the gleaming sea to the north. Following Maram's lead, we all filled our plates with mounds of food, and found an empty table near some lilac bushes where we could take our meal in peace. But peace we could not have, for even as we finished eating and stood around the table drinking wine, various men and women began coming up to us and presenting themselves. The first of these I was very glad to see for he was a Valari knight whom I knew from my childhood: Sar Yarwan Solaru of Kaash, King Talanu's third son and my first cousin by my mother, who was sister to the King. Sar Yarwan, a striking man with a great, hawk's nose, clasped hands with me warmly, and then told me the names of the six other knights who accompanied him. These were Sar Manthanu of Athar, Sar Tadru of Lagash, Sar Danashu of Taron, Sar Laisu, also of Kaash, Sar Ianar of Rajak and Sar Avador of Daksh. These last two knights were the sons of Duke Rezu and Duke Gorador; I admitted to them that I had met their fathers on our passage through Anjo and that I had been told to look for them in Tria. Sar Ianar, who had his father's sharp features and sharpness of eye, looked at some Alonians milling about a nearby table and said,

'Sar Valashu Elahad, it's good to see another Valari here – so few of us made the journey.'

Sar Yarwan rested his hand on my shoulder and said, 'We all appreci-ate what you said to the King.'

'The truth is the truth and must be told,' I said.

'Nevertheless, it takes courage to tell it – especially when few wish to listen.' He bowed his head to me and continued, 'We didn't know you would be coming to Tria. It's too bad you arrived so late.'

Although he was my cousin, I didn't tell him about the Grays and that we'd had to fight for our lives to arrive at all.

'We would have asked you to join our company,' he said to me. His bright eyes seemed to be searching for something in mine. 'We would still ask you. There are seven of us, and that is good luck and accords with the prophecy. But we're all agreed that it would be even better luck to have you with us.'

'You honor me, I said. Then I nodded at Kane, Maram, Atara and Mas-ter Juwain.

'But as you can see, we've already formed our own company.' I presented my friends, who each bowed in turn to the Valari knights. 'Five is too few to make a company,' Sar Yarwan said. And then in that blunt, outspoken manner of too many of my people, he went on, 'Kane almost looks Valari, and he would be a welcome addition, too. And Atara Ars Narmada – Atara Manslayer. If any warriors are almost the equal of the Valari, it would be the Manslayers of the Sarni. But as for your other friends, well, we're a company of knights. Surely they could find other companions who shared their sensibilities and skills.' Sar Yarwan's artless words seemed not to perturb Master Juwain in the slightest. But Maram stood there biting on his mustache and blushing. For once, he was speechless. And so I spoke for him instead, saying,

'Thank you, Sar Yarwan – we would certainly welcome your company, to say nothing of your swords. But we journeyed here together, and we'll journey from here together as well.'

'As you wish, Sar Valashu,' he said. He glanced at his companions again and nodded at me. 'We wish all of you well, wherever your journeys take you. May you always walk in the light of the One.'

I said the same to him, and Atara did, too. Then she looked over towards one of the fountains and her face brightened. I turned to see Queen Daryana walking toward us accompanied by a large knight bearing the crest of two oaks and two eagles on his green tunic.

'Mother,' Atara said as she greeted the Queen, 'may I present Sar Valashu Elahad? I was hoping you might be able meet him in less difficult circumstances.'

I bowed to Queen Daryana, who smiled at me before glancing at the fountain where the King stood talking with two of his dukes. Then she said to me, 'It seems that all circumstances will be difficult so long as you remain in Tria.'

And with that, she motioned toward the knight standing next to her; with a wry smile, she said to me, 'This is Baron Narcavage of Arngin. The King has sent him with me to make sure that you don't attack me.'

I nodded my head slightly to this great Baron, who reluctantly returned the bow. He had a deep chest and great arms, and his large head was sunk down into a thick neck swollen with muscle or fat – it was hard to tell which on account of his thick, blond beard. His little blue eyes seemed the only small thing about him; they were almost lost beneath his overhanging forehead and bushy eyebrows. But they peered out at me with a sharp intelligence all the same. There was cunning and resentment there – and the wit to hide them as well.

'Sar Valashu Elahad,' he said to me, 'the King sends his regrets that he is too busy to further make your acquaintance. But he has also sent his finest wine to thank you for honoring him tonight.' So saying, he showed everyone a large green bottle that he had held in the crook of his arms. 'This comes from the Kinderry vineyards of Galda. May I pour you a glass?'

'Perhaps in a moment,' I said. 'We haven't finished making the presentations.'

I told the Queeen the names of my friends, then presented Sar Yarwan and the Valari knights. She cast them, sn me a wary look. We were Valari, afterall, and she was still the daughter of a Sarni chieftain.

As the moon rose higher over the cool lawns and bubbling fountains, we stood talking about the quest. Sar Yarwan announced has plan to journey to Skule in the wilds of northern Delu. Me would search among the ruins of that once great city for any sign that Saran Odinan might have brought the Lightstone there.

'Skule lies on the other tide of the Straights of Storm,' Baron Narcavage said fo him

'If you'll be crossing them from Alonia, you'll have to pass through Arngin. Which you may do with my blessing.' 'Thank you, that would be the most direct route,'

Saw Yarwan agreed. 'And the safest – to go back down the Nar Road and skirt along the Alonian Sea would take many months. You'd have to cross through most of Delu. which is now nothing more than a dozen savage provinces practically ruled by their warlords.'

'No, you're wrong about Delu,' a strong voice called out. Here Maram stepped forward and looked Baron Narcavage in the eye. 'Delu is certainly much more than you have said.'

'Forgtve me,- Prince Maram,' the Baron said, 'but I've journeyed through what is left of your father's kingdom while you've been off learning your dead languages at the Brotherhood's school.'

'Delu has its troubles,' Maram admitted. 'But it wasn't so long ago that Alonia had worse.'

To cool their rising tempers, I came between them and said, "We live in a time of troubles.'

'We do indeed,' Baron Narcavage said, smiling at me. 'We've all heard that we can expect war between Ishka and Mesh.'

'That hasn't been decided yet,' I told him. 'We can still hope for peace.'

'How can there ever be peace in the Nine Kingdoms when each of your so-called kings insists on coveting his neighbors' lands?' 'What do mean, "so-called"?'

'Is thhe King of Anjo truly a king? Or Anjo a kingdom? And what of Mesh? My own domain is bigger than your entire realm.'

Now I felt my temper rising, too, and Maram gripped my arm to steady me. To Baron Narcavage, he said. 'That might be true, but at least his, ah, sword is longer than yours.'

Being well-pleased with his riposte, Maram grinned broadly and then winked at Queen Daryana.

Baron Narcavage shot him a dark look and then said, 'Yes, the famed Valari swords

– used mostly to cut each other to pieces.'

I wondered at the Baron's purpose in belittling Maram's and my kingdoms. Perhaps it was pride in Alonian accomplishments; perhaps it was resentment. From talk I had heard in the hall, I gathered that the Baron's grandfather had fought fiercely with King Kiritan's grandfather to keep Arngin an independent domain. But in the end, he had knelt to King Sakandar even as Baron Narcavage kneeled to King Kiritan. It was said that Baron Narcavage was now the most trusted of the King's men and his greatest general. If so, then he must have harbored deep hurts that he chose to inflict on other people.

Queen Daryana seemed to like neither the Baron nor his usurping the conversation.

To distract us all from squabbles almost as old as time -and to reclaim for herself the center of everyone's attention – she said, 'We live in a time of swords, and it's said that the Valari do have long ones. But this is a night of peace. Celebration and song.

Who knows the Song of the Swan? Who will sing it with me?'

As I touched the silver swan embroidered on my tunic, she smiled at me, and I loved her for that. Her warmth and generosity of spirit moved me: this, after all, was Sajagax's daughter, who couldn't want me ever to marry Atara. But she chose to let our natural regard for each other shine forth even so.

Atara and I both drew close to her as we all started singing the song. It was mostly a sad song, telling of a king who falls in love with a great white swan. To gain her love in return, he builds a magnificent castle in which to keep her, and feeds her delicacies even as he dresses her in the finest silks. But the swan soon sickens and starts singing her death song. The grief-stricken king then goes among the people of his realm offering a great measure of gold to anyone who can tell him the answer to the riddle of how he may heal her without letting her go.

As we worked through the verses, Maram and the Valari knights joined us, and then other knights and their ladies came over and began singing, too. One of the women caught my eye: she had iron-gray hair and a pretty, pleasant' face, and around her neck she wore the same gold medallion as did Atara and I. I remembered her earlier giving her name to King Kiritan as Liljana Ashvaran; she was one of the few Alonian woman to have vowed to make the quest. Although obviously no knight, she had an air of courage about her. She pressed in closer toward Queen Daryana, all the while singing with a measured assurance. When she thought I wasn't looking, she stole quick glances at me. Once, for a moment, we locked gazes, and I thought that her penetrating hazel eyes hid a great deal.

We stood there singing beneath the moon and stars for quite a while, for the song was a long one. When we reached the part of it where the king asks his people for advice, 1 took note of a new voice added to the chorus. Although in no way overpowering any other, it distinguished itself in subtle harmonies with its clarity and perfection of pitch. It came from a slender man whose black, curly hair gleamed in the light of the glowstones. He had the large brown eyes and the brown skin of a Galdan, those comeliest of people; his fine features seemed in perfect accord with the great beauty of his voice. His age was perhaps thirty or slightly more: the only lines I could make out on his face were the crow's-feet around his eyes – I guessed from smiling so much. He struck me as being spontaneous, witty, gifted, guileless and wild, and l liked him immediately.

I cocked my head, listening as we sang out the words to the king's terrible dilemma: How do you capture a beautiful bird without killing its spirit?

And then the answer came, from this man's perfectly formed lips and those of many others:

By letting it fly;

By becoming the sky.

The song ended happily with the king tearing down the walls of stone that he had built to imprison his beloved swan – and himself. For he realized that his true realm was not some little patch of earth, but of the heart and spirit, and was as vast as the sky itself.

The Queen took note of this man, too. When we had finished singing she called him over to her. He gave his name as Alphanderry of Galda. Although no noble, with his silk tunic trimmed in gold and elegance of carriage he managed to look more distinguished than any of the princes there. He was a minstrel, he said, exiled because his songs had offended Galda's new rulers. At the Queen's request, he lifted up his mandolet and sang one of these for us.

No bird, I thought, not even a swan, had a voice so beautiful as his. It spread out across the lawn and seemed to touch even the grasses with dewdrops of light. As we all grew quiet, it was much easier to appreciate its power and grace. His words were beautiful, too, and they told of the anguish of love and the eternal yearning for the Beloved. As with the Song of the Swan, its themes were bondage and the freedom that might be attained through the purest of love, like the ringing of a perfect golden bell his verses carried out in the night – so sweet and clear and full of longing that they were both a pain and a pleasure to hear.

And as he made his music, flick suddenly appeared above him and whirled around and around like a tiny dancer raimented in pure light. Alphanderry, I thought couldn't see him nor could any of the nobles gathering around him. But I felt Maram's hand squeeze my shoulder as Atara flashed me a look of relief almost as sweet as Alphandery's singing.

At the end of his song, he lowered his mandolet and smiled sadly. I, like everyone else, was filled with a sense that he had been singing just for me. We looked at each other for a moment, and he seemed to know how deeply his music had touched me.

But there was no pride or vanity in him at this accomplishment, only a quiet joy that he had been gifted with the voice of the angels.

'That was lovely,' Queen Daryana said to him as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

'Galda's loss is Alonia's gain. And Ea's, as well.'

Alphanderry bowed to her, then gripped the gold medallion that King Kiritan had given him. Now his smile was happy and bright; like a butterfly among flowers, he seemed able to flit easily from one color of emotion to another.

'Thank you, Queen Daryana,' he told her. 'I haven't had the privilege of singing before such an appreciative audience for a long time.'

Baron Narcavage stepped forward and raised the wine bottle that he still held. He said, 'Allow us then to show our appreciation with some of this. I think you'll like the vintage – it's Caldan, from the King's special reserve. I was just about to pour Sar Valashu and the Queen a glass.'

So saying, he motioned to a groom, who brought over a tray of goblets. The Baron uncorked the wine, then poured the dark red liquid into eight of them. He handed the goblets one by one to me and my friends, and to Alphandeny and the Queen. The last one he took for himself. I thought it rude of him to ignore Sar Yarwan and the Valari knights – and everyone else who gathered around looking at us. Liljana Ashvaran seemed especially watchful of this little ceremony. She stood with her little nostrils sniffing the air as if any wine not offered to her must be sour.

'To the King,' the Baron called out. 'May his life be a long one. May we honor him in drinking his health as he has honored us in requesting our presence at his fiftieth birthday and the calling of the Quest.'

He nodded at the King, who was still talking with his dukes near the fountain while a dozen of his guards kept watch nearby. Kane, who stood a few yards from me scowling at his goblet, turned to scowl at the King instead. Then I gripped my goblet tightly in my hand as I looked down into the blood-red wine.

'It's not poison, Sar Valashu,' the Baron said to me. 'Do you think the King would poison you in front of his guests?'

I looked into the wine, which smelled of cinnamon and flowers and the strange spices of Galda. I could almost taste its fragrant sweetness. 'Do you think I would drink poison wine?' he said. Then he put the rim of the golden goblet to his thick lips and took a long drink. 'Come now, Sar Valashu, drink with me. All of you – drink!'

I sensed in him no intention to harm me, only a sudden exuberance and desire to win my good regard – most likely to atone for his previous unkindness. And that, I thought, was a noble thing indeed. Kane and my friends were watching to see what I would do. The Queen and Alphanderry, and Liljana Ashvaran – everyone was watching and waiting for me to take a drink of the King's wine.

Just as I was lifting the goblet to my lips, however, Liljana suddenly rushed toward me, crying out, 'No, it is poison – don't drink it!'

The certainty in her voice shocked me; I whirled around toward her to see if she might have fallen mad. Many things happened then almost in the same moment.

Baron Narcavage, standing to the other side of me, looked toward King Kiritan and cried out, 'To me!' He drew a long dagger and lunged at my throat even as Liljana knocked the goblet from my hand. Alphanderry, who was nearer to me than any of my friends, suddenly jumped between me and the Baron. He grabbed at the Baron's knife arm with both hands and stood locked in a desperate struggle with him. If not for his inexplicable courage, the knife would surely have torn open my throat.

For that was surely the Baron's true intention. I saw it clearly now in the way his face fell into a fury of hate as he clubbed Alphanderry's head with his other hand, ripped free his knife and lunged at me again. Now, however, Liljana was close enough to grab his arm. She held onto it with all the tenacity of a hound, even as he cursed at her, beat at her with his other arm and knocked her about Then I struck out with my fist straight into his bearded face. I felt my knuckles almost break against his thick jawbone. But he seemed invulnerable to pain and possessed of insane strength. He shook his knife arm free and aimed another lunge toward my throat. He would have killed me if Kane hadn't come up then and run him through with his sword. The Baron fell dead to the grass. Alphanderry stood dazed, shaking his bleeding head.

From the trees planted across the palace grounds, the nightingales sang their songs.

Then I became aware of a great clamor toward the fountains. Spears clashed against shields; swords crossed with swords, and the sound of outraged steel rang out to a great chorus of curses and shouts. Knights and ladies were running away in great numbers, even as the King's guards fell upon one another. At first, I thought they had fallen mad. And then I saw the King slash his sword toward one of his dukes while five of his guards fought fiercely to protect him from the others. They were trying to kill the King, I realized. And other men – all with badges bearing the oaks and eagles of House Narcavage – were running toward us to kill the Queen.

Or so I thought, for it didn't occur to me that they might be coming to kill me. There were nearly thirty of these knights; they appeared out of the throngs of panicked people like vultures from the clouds. Their swords were drawn and gleaming in the moonlight. 'To me!' the Baron had called out, and now I understood to whom he had been calling. His men must have seen him fall, for their faces were masks of determination and hate as they came at us.

Queen Daryana cried out as she saw her husband fighting for his life and positioned herself near Alphanderry for the protection he offered, as did Liljana and Master Juwain. The rest of us stared at our attackers as we decided what to do.

We had no one to lead us, or rather too many: Sar Yarwan, Sar lanar and the other five Valari knights – and Kane, Maram, Atara and myself. The leading of others into battle, my father once told me, is a strange thing. It depends not so much on rank or authority, but rather on the courage to see what must be done and the mysterious ability to communicate one's faith that victory is not only possible but inevitable. For only a moment, we stood there confused by the violence that Baron Narcavage had unleashed. And then I looked at the two diamonds shining like stars from my ring. A light flashed in my eyes, and in my heart, and I suddenly called out: 'Form a circle!

Protect the Queen!'

For another moment, my command hung in the air. And then, as on the drill field, Sar Yarwan and the other Valari knights formed up into a circle around Queen Daryana. Savages the King had called us, and savages we were: savages whose swords were our souls, and we called kalamas.

We drew them now just in time to meet the attack of Baron Narcavage's men. Kane stood to my right, and Atara and Maram to my left – all of us facing outward, Sar Yarwan guarded the point of the circle directly across and in back of me. We were only eleven against some thirty knights. And yet when our swords were done flashing and stabbing and rending flesh, all of them lay dead or dying in the grass.

As I stood gasping for breath, I realized that the Baron's knights had not attacked us at random. A good number of them had come directly at me. And there, within a few yards of me and Kane's bloody sword, they sprawled in twisted heaps. I was almost certain that I had slain four of them myself. Their death agonies built inside me like great, cresting waves. But strangely, they never quite broke upon me and crushed me down into the icy dark. Perhaps it was because I remembered how Master Juwain and my friends had healed me after the battle with the Grays; perhaps I was able to open myself to the life fires blazing through Kane and Atara and everyone around me. Or perhaps I was only learning to keep closed the door to death and others' sufferings.

Even so, the great pain of it drove me to my knees and then caused me to collapse, moaning. Queen Daryana must have thought the Baron's men had run me through, for she suddenly called out, 'Over here! A man is wounded!'

For a moment, I couldn't imagine to whom she might be calling. Then, through the cold clouds of death touching my eyes, I saw a great number of the King's guards running toward us. I was afraid that they, too, were traitors come to kill the Queen; even if they weren't, I was afraid that Kane and the Valari knights would see them as such and begin the battle anew. But then the Queen cried out that my friends and I had saved her life. She called for everyone to put aside their swords, and this they did.

For what seemed an eternity, confusion reigned across the blood-spattered lawns of the palace grounds. Trumpets sounded while horses thundered across the grass some distance away. I heard women wailing and men screaming that the King had been killed. Then Queen Daryana took charge, calling out commands with a coolness that stilled the panic in the air. She deployed guards to see that the palace gates were closed to prevent any of the plotters from slipping away. Other guards she sent to hunt down any of the Baron's men who might be hiding around the palace. She ordered that the bodies of the slain be taken away and their blood washed with buckets of water into the earth. And she sent messengers to call up many new guards from the garrison that manned the city walls.

Word soon came that the King had only been wounded and borne away into the palace. He had called for Queen Daryana to come to his side.

'Your father isn't badly wounded,' Queen Daryana said to Atara. 'But it seems that your Valari knight might be. Please stay with him until I return.'

As Atara nodded her head, the Queen gathered up five guards and hurried off toward the palace.

Other guards drew up in a protective wall around us. King Kiritan's thousands of guests still milled about the fountains; despite their panic over Baron Narcavage's plot, they had nowhere to flee. But it seemed that most of the Baron's knights had died in attacking our circle. As for the traitorous guards, they had all been killed, too

– or so it was hoped.

While the Valari knights gathered some yards away, Alphanderry and Liljana drew in closer above me. They watched Kane, Atara, Maram and Master Juwain kneel in a circle by my side. My friends removed my armor, as they had in the woods near the meadow where we had killed the Grays, and laid their hands upon me. So great was the power of their touch that I immediately felt a familiar fire warming me inside.

Then Master Juwain drew out his green crystal and placed it over my chest. He and the others positioned their bodies to shield the sight of this healing from the guards and others looking on.

Very soon, I was able to stand up and move about again. In a low voice, Master Juwain marveled that he had hardly needed his green crystal to help revive me.

'Thank you, sir,' I said to him as I put on my armor again. I nodded to each of my friends. 'Thank you, all of you.'

I noticed Alphanderry looking at me curiously as if wondering why I had needed my friends' ministrations at all. He smiled at me in great relief, and my eyes asked him why he had risked his life for me as if he were my brother.

Because, his soft brown eyes answered me, all men are brothers.

Master Juwain's order, of course, taught this ideal of a higher love for all beings, even strangers. But Alphanderry's selfless act was the first time I had seen it embodied so unrestrainedly.

'Thank you,' I said to him. Then I turned to Liljana Ashvaran, whose courage had been no less than his. 'Thank you, too.'

Liljana bowed her head to me and smiled. Then she pointed at Master Juwain's pocket, where he had returned his green gelstei. In a voice pitched soft and low so that none of the guards or other onlookers might hear, she said, 'I think you have one of the stones told of in the prophecy.'

'What do you know of that?' Kane said sharply. He took a step closer to her; I was afraid he was about to draw his dagger and hold it to her throat. 'How did you know the wine was poisoned?'

Liljana folded her hands together as she stood there considering her answer. Her round face, I thought, was given to sternness as easily as kindness, and she seemed a thoughtful, unhurried and even relentless woman. She looked at Kane with her wise old eyes, and told him, 'I smelled it.' You smelled it?' he said. 'You must have the nose of a hound.' 'It was poisoned with wenrock,' she said. 'Its scent is almost like that of poppy. I've heen trained to detect such things.' 'Trained by whom?'

'By my mother and grandmother,' the said. 'They were master tasters to King Kiritan's father and grandfather.'

'Then are you King Kiritan's taster?'

'Not any more,' she said. 'You see, I disobeyed him.'

As trumpets sounded and new guards took their places about the lawns, she told us a little of her past. Having studied very hard with her mother and grandmother, as a young woman she had entered King Kiritan's service in the very year he had ascended the throne. So devoted had she been to protecting him that she had forsaken marriage, as King Kiritan had demanded of her. But in the eighth year of her service, she had fallen in love with Count Kinnan Marshan and had married him against the King's wishes.

'He banished me from his court just before you were born,' Liljana said to Atara. 'He told me that love would cloud my senses and leave me unable to protect his family from his enemies. But I told him that love was like an elixir that sharpened all the senses. Unfortunately, he never believed me.'

And so Liljana had lived many unhappy years in the Count's house. Her three children had each died in infancy, while her husband had been called away almost constantly to fight in the King's many wars. One of these had ruined his leg while another had crippled his manhood. He had died soon after this, leaving Liljana a widow.

'When King Kiritan called the quest,' she said, 'I decided it was time for me to leave Tria and all its plots and poisons behind me.'

As she turned into the light of the moon, the medallion that she wore glowed with a soft golden light. And all the while, Kane's black eyes bored into her as if drilling for the truth.

'What I don't understand,' Maram said, stroking his beard 'is why Baron Narcavage was willing to drink the wine if it was poisoned?'

'That should be dear enough,' Kane snapped. He nodded at Liljana and said, 'Tell him.'

Liljana nodded back at him, then explained, 'Certain men and women who use poisons such as wenrock take minute quantities of it over a period of years to build an invulnerability to it.' 'And who are these and women?' Kane demanded.

'They're priests of the Kallimun,' Liljana said.'The Kallimun uses such poisons.'

At the mention of this dreadful name, Alphanderry shuddered and said, 'Before Galda fell to the Kallimun, they poisoned many. And crucified many more. My friends. My brothers.'

Kane seemed to forget himself for a moment and laid his hand gently upon Alphanderry's head. 'So, the Baron was certainly Kallimun.'

'A priest, then?' I said. 'But when he served the wine, I was sure he wanted to celebrate with me.'

'The priest hide well, don't they? Especially beneath their own emotions. Celebrate, ha! He wanted to celebrate your death.'

As if troubled by his own tenderness. Kane suddenly snapped his hand away from Alphanderry's head and stared at me.

'And now,' I said to him, 'you celebrate his.' 'That I do,' Kane said savagely; He looked about the grass where only a short while before the bodies of Baron Narcavage and his men had lain. 'The Baron's plot must have been hastily planned – evenso it nearly succeeded.'

'But were they plotting to kill the King and Queen or me?'

'Both,' he said. 'It's obvious that your death was to be the signal to attack them.'

He went on to say that all the Baron's men obviously belonged to the Kaliimun, as did some of King Kiritan's guards.

'In Galda,' Alphanderry said, 'there were many such plots before the King was brought down.'

He rubbed the side of his head where Baron Narcavage had bludgeoned him with his fist. He looked at me and asked, 'But why would the priests want to kill you?'

Kane flashed me a warning glance then, Liljana, who was staring at my forehead, said softly, 'Because he has the mark.'

At this, Kane whirled upon her and demanded, 'What do you know of that?'

We were all waiting to hear what she would say, but she would not be hurried. She carefully drew in a breath, then said, 'Earlier, I overheard the Baron whispering to one of his knights that Val had the mark. I didn't know what he meant.'

'He meant that Val was marked out for death,' Kane said 'Nothing more.'

But Liljana clearly did not believe him. Her eyes fell upon my face as if searching for the truth.

'You saved my life,' I said to her. 'Is there anything you would ask in return?'

My question seemed almost to offend her. 'Do you think I told you about the wine in hope of gain?'

'No, of course not,' I said. 'But in so doing, you've gained much, even so. My gratitude – my trust.'

She smiled, revealing her small, even teeth. She said, 'I've been looking for a company to join on the quest, it's not easy for a woman to take to the roads alone.'

Alphanderry smiled at me as well. 'I've been looking for companions myself. Would you consider adding two more to your company?'

'As you've seen tonight,' I said softly, looking first at Alphanderry and then at Liljana, 'there are those who would hunt me. If you joined us, you'd be hunted, too.'

Because I trusted them both – and because they needed to know -I told them how Morjin had sent assassins to kill me in Mesh; I told them of the Grays and of our battle in the woods; lastly, I gathered in all my faith and told them the full prophecy of Ayondela Kirriland.

'You do have the mark, then,' Liljana said, looking at me in wonder. 'I'd be sorry for you if I didn't feel so much hope. But hope or not, if what you say is true – and I'm sure it is – you need more companions to help you.'

Alphanderry, as well, looked happy, as if he were setting out on a great epic that he would one day sing about. All that he said to me was, 'Please, take me with you.'

And then Maram said, 'The prophecy told of the seven brothers and sisters of the earth. We've need of two more to make seven.' 'Yes – two more warriors,' Kane said.

'Warriors we already have,' I said, looking at Atara and Kane. 'Ours are not the only skills we might need on a long journey.'

'The seven brothers and sisters,' Master Juwain said. He smiled at Alphanderry and Liljana. 'It seems that this was meant to be.'

We all stood looking at each other. And then Atara whispered, 'Val -I can see them with us. On the road. In the forest by the sea.'

'Ah, I can see them, too,' Maram said, not quite understanding what she was talking about. I turned to Kane and asked, 'Will you have them join us?' 'Is this what you truly want?' 'Yes,' I said, 'it is.'

Kane touched his sword and told me, 'I pledged this to your service in seeking the Lightstone. And that your enemies would be my enemies. Well I suppose I should pledge that your friends will be mine as well.'

So saying, he held his hand out and laid it on top of mine. Then Atara covered his hand with hers, and so with Master Juwain and Maram. Then Liljana carefully placed her hand on top of Maram's, while Alphanderry laughed happily as he slapped his hand down upon all of ours.

Soon after that, King Kiritan and Queen Daryana, accompanied by many guards, strode from the palace and rejoined the celebration. The guards from the garrison stood about with their shields and spears to provide a sense of enforced safety at odds with the gaiety that the King wished to encourage. After all, this was still the night of his fiftieth birthday and the calling of the quest, and he wasn't about to let a little poison and death spoil it for him.

The King and Queen walked straight toward us across the lawn. The glowstones around the fountains cast their pure white light upon them – and upon the faces of Belur Narmada, Julumar Hastar, Hanitan Marshan, Breyonan Eriades, and other great nobles of Tria who stood near us. Baron Maruth of Aquantir and Duke Malatam of Tarlan, waiting with other lords and their ladies, bowed their heads to the King. Even Sar Yarwan and Sar Ianar and the other Valari knights seemed glad to see that he was still alive.

The King drew up close to us; he stood stiffly and sternly, as if in great pain. I noticed that he seemed unable to use his right arm. His eyes fell upon me with a great heaviness as he said, 'Sar Valashu Elahad, we wish to thank you and your friends for saving the Queen's life. We had heard that the traitors wounded you.'

'They did,' I said, bowing my head. 'But it was nothing that Master Juwain couldn't take care of.'

The King smiled as if he didn't quite believe me. Then he turned to Liljana and said,

'It seems we should have kept you in our service after all. Perhaps you would have sniffed out the Baron's plot even as you did the poison in his wine.'

She returned his smile and told him, T'm sorry, Sire, but I had to follow my heart.'

'As you now follow Valashu Elahad and my daughter to lands unknown?'

The hard glint of his eyes told me that, gratitude or no, he would never relent in his pronouncement that I must bring the Lightstone into Tria if I ever hoped to marry Atara.

Liljana smiled at me, and then took this opportunity to speak on our behalf. She told the King that the power of love between a man and a woman was greater than the force that raised up mountains and must always be exalted. Then she said that the recovery of the Lightstone would be meaningless in the absence of this purest and most purifying of forces.

'Why else should we seek the Lightstone,' she said, 'if not to bring a little more love into the world?'

'Why, indeed?' King Kiritan said. Then he sighed and called out to us, 'Well, why don't we all drink to that, then?'

He nodded at a groom standing near the fountain. A few moments later, the water bubbling out of it gave way to a dark red liquid I mistook at first for blood. But it proved to be wine: a special vintage with which King Kiritan had filled this fountain and reserved for the ending of his celebration. The King, I saw, was a man who would insist on his child getting right back on a horse who had thrown her.

He motioned for us to follow him over to the fountain, and this we did. He took up a goblet and filled it with the rich red wine and invited us all to do the same.

Considering the evening's earlier events, the King's guests were reluctant to drink it.

And then Liljana sniffed the contents of her goblet and smiled, and many others did, too. Then the King raised his goblet and called out, 'To die finding of the Lightstone and to those who have pledged here tonight to seek it!'

I clinked goblets with my friends, and took a sip of the wine. The tang of the grapes touched my tongue, along with the fainter tastes of chocolate and oranges. We all stood about drinking and laughing with that nervous relief that comes after a narrow escape from death.

Then the King gave another signal, and the sky over the Elu Gardens filled with a booming like thunder. All at once, fireworks burst into the air like lightning splitting the night. Flowers of blue light opened outward in perfect spheres; millions of red and silver sparks spun through space and outshone the very stars. Flick, perhaps mistaking these lights for Timpum, spun with them. I saw him as a swirl of silver against the line of trees at the edge of the Gardens. Farther to the east, in the districts of the city running down to the river and beyond it, more fireworks were exploding: from the rooftops of buildings and above the various great squares and out above the dark islands at the mouth of the river. I was afraid they might set the nearby houses on fire, but Tria was a city of stone. And that night, it was a city of happy people, for the King had commanded that free bread and wine be distributed to them so that the whole populace might help him celebrate. The distant roar of their cheering spread out from the West Wall to the East Wall, and from the docks along the river to the Varkoth Gate, for now the sky above the whole of the city blazed like a fiery umbrella of light.

As I stood there with my friends, Maram admitted that he had never seen such a sight in all his life. None of us,. I thought, had. It called us to hope that the Lightstone might someday be regained, even as we had vowed it would. Toward that end, we began discussing our dreams of finding it.

'When I set out from Mesh,' Maram said, looking out at the fireworks, 'all i wanted was to reach Tria safely. I never really thought about the Lightstone as existing somewhere, ah, you know, in a place where someone could actually go and find it But now it's now. And now I suppose we do have to go looking for it. But who has any idea of where to look?'

At this, Alphanderry smiled at us and said, 'I know where.' We all turned toward him as his large eyes Iit up with a different kind of fireworks. He said, 'You see, I know where Sartan Odinan hid the Gelstei.'

And then, as three great, red flowers of fire burst in the air above us and my heart boomed like thunder, he smiled again as he told us where the Lightstone might be found.