QUEEN'S-COMMANDER KELSEY CAFFERTY stood on the dark overhang, head bowed, shoulders shaking. In the valley below, flames leapt, incinerating the mounded dead. Acrid black smoke billowed upward. After a moment, she drew her shoulders back and with head held high stepped into the choking cloud.

Through burning eyes, she watched the myriad pinhead-specks of light and waited. Drawn to her glow of life, they floated toward her, surrounded her. Their touch tickled, spider silk against bare skin. She cocked her head, straining to hear the ethereal whispers. They spoke of anger, sadness, and hatred of Dirkk and his Ru'taha, but above all they whispered of fear of what lay beyond the beckoning white light. In none of the voices did she detect bitterness or hate directed toward her. No, no one blamed Kelsey Cafferty for their deaths, no one except Kelsey Cafferty. Had she been wrong to attack Dirkk's evil with an army of farmers and merchants that had more courage than experience?

Coughs wracked her body and she stumbled back out of the smoke. Shivering, she hugged herself and stared upward at the pale moon. Here in Daradawn it was known as Kayla, not Luna.

She freed the sword from the sheath on her back and saluted the glowing orb. "I honor you, my fallen! May you at last find peace."

Behind her, a branch cracked. She whirled. Gripping the sword waist-high in front of her, she searched the dark warily.

Three pale nude figures slipped from the shadows into the moon's glow. Ru'taha. Each clutched a chain mace. Midnight-black almond-shaped eyes stared at her from chiseled faces of alabaster perfection. Kelsey stood six feet tall, but these creatures dwarfed her. Towering above her, they circled first left, then right, silently. They glanced at each other, then back at her, and paced three steps forward in unison. She shadowed them, sword held steady, wondering how they moved as one without speech.

She drew in a shuddering breath. Three of the Ru'taha, and any one a match for six warriors more seasoned than herself. She smiled grimly. For once she should have listened to Angus and not slipped away from her royal guards. She was going to die. Well, so be it.

With a defiant scream she sprang forward and buried her sword up to its jeweled hilt in the chest of the nearest Ru'taha. Its knees buckled. She jerked her sword free, ducked and rolled, feeling the kiss of wind as a mace narrowly missed her cheek. She leaped to her feet and backed away.

The Ru'taha advanced, trampling over the still-thrashing body of their comrade. They swung their maces. Kelsey blocked with her sword, the shock of iron striking steel vibrating up her arm. The Ru'taha swung again and two lengths of chain whipped around her blade. With numbing fingers, Kelsey tightened her two-fisted hold on the hilt, but she knew it was useless.

The Ru'taha jerked their maces back. The sword flew from her nerveless fingers, and she screamed as white-hot fire arced through her right shoulder.

She dove to the left, rolled, and came up on one knee. Her chest heaving, her right arm dangling useless, she scrambled to her feet. With a feral grin, she beckoned them. What would they do if she kicked them in their jewels? One thing was certain; she'd make them cut her to pieces. There would be nothing left of her body to be formed into one of them. No soldier could look into the eyes of a Ru'taha and not wonder if what had once been a friend looked back.

"Come on. Fight, you refugees from hell!"

The Ru'taha lurched forward.

"Nak'iha auk Ras'pota." The words, more growl than yell, grated in the night air. Kelsey jerked her head to the right. An axe-wielding blur charged from the darkness. With the axe's first pass, a Ru'taha's pale head sailed, the neck-stump spouting blood before the knees hit the ground.

"Girl, drop."

Kelsey did, feeling the deadly breeze as the battle axe swept within inches of her head. She rolled, screaming as her arm struck the ground. Teeth clenched, she levered herself to a sitting position with her left arm. The Ru'taha, its guts trailing like rope sausages, towered above her. It raised its mace.

Kelsey caught another movement out of the corner of her eye as the Ru'taha's arm was separated from its shoulder. The monster swayed, stumbled backward, then toppled toward her. She dug in her heels and crab-walked to the right. The Ru'taha landed with its head at her right hip. Against her will, her eyes sought its face, seeking but fearing recognition.

"Is it your arm again?" Angus Bladeheart asked, unspoken reprimand sharpening his voice.

Flat on her butt, her eyes were on the same level as the dwarf's. His gleamed, like a newly minted shekel, with disapproving rage.

She refused to look away; she was his commander now, not his student. "Thank you, friend."

He ripped a length of cloth from his tunic and silently bound her arm to her side. Then he moved to her left and waited. Bracing herself for the wash of pain, Kelsey placed her left hand on his shoulder and pushed upward. She gasped, her vision graying at the edges.

"Lean on me. We will go to Helena."

Kelsey breathed deep. "Peter is to meet us here. A few more minutes will make no difference."

Angus swore beneath his breath. He wiped the blood from her sword with the tail of his tunic, then presented it to her hilt-first. She took it from him and he spun on his heels and strode to the butte's edge.

Staring at his rigid back, Kelsey pulled her dented helm from her head. Honey- blonde hair cascaded to graze the top of knee-high, scuffed leather boots. The wind grabbed her hair, whipping it into her eyes. With a soft curse, she pulled the curls together and stuffed them beneath the neckline of her chain mail vest.

"I have decided that you will go for Regan tonight instead of in the morning," she told the dwarf.

Silence stretched and her lips tightened.

"If agreeable to Peter, I will go," Angus said at last.

"No. You will go, no matter what Peter decides."

The dwarf whipped around to face her. She met his gaze, unflinching.

"I obey, Queen's-Commander."

He made the title sound like an insult, and Kelsey felt hot blood flood her cheeks. The dwarf saluted, bowed from the waist mockingly, then presented his back to her.

"Angus."

The jangle of harness stopped her angry words. Peter Canterville, High Mage to Queen Tessa, rode into the clearing astride his white stallion Skylar.

The mage looked from Kelsey's face to the dead Ru'taha, then back again. His left eyebrow rose in question. She started to shrug, but knifing pain rushing through her shoulder changed her mind. Peter sighed, shaking his head as he slid from Skylar's back. They stepped over the dead Ru'taha and walked to stand beside Angus.

Peter on her right, Angus on her left. How many times had they stood shoulder to shoulder and counted burning mounds? Kelsey closed her eyes as smoke and embers drifted toward the stars. "So many dead, Peter, so many."

"Yes, many. But perhaps all of Daradawn, if not for you."

She opened her eyes and faced him. Her gaze shifted to his left cheek. She saw it clearly in the moonlight - the one-inch blue flame. The mark the Power seared into the skin of its chosen at birth. "But with Regan it would've been less," she murmured. "So what's your decision?"

He avoided her eyes. "Dirkk will send more Ru'taha and Black Vipers against us at daybreak. You will need every man."

Kelsey motioned across the valley with her good arm. "Look what today's victory cost! More than ever we'll need..." Her voice cracked and she swallowed before continuing. "Your power isn't enough, but combined with Regan's..."

"If she will not come? What then? You have been missing for seven years. You must know your sister thinks you are dead."

Kelsey winced, imagining the pain Regan had been living with all that time. If she'd been able to prevent it, she would have.

She reached beneath her chain mail, jerking a milk-white pendant free and pulling it over her head. Her hand clutched the stone for a moment before she handed the pendant to Peter. "Show her this. She'll come."

"And Jack? From what you said, he has no love for you and will attempt to stop her."

Kelsey stared out over the valley, a bitter smile curving her lips. "I didn't even stick around for their wedding. If I'd turned down that photo assignment..."

"We would still be bottled up behind the walls of Raya starving to death," Peter finished.

Kelsey's gaze returned to the pendant. It had not left her neck since her mother had given it to her. She felt naked, vulnerable, without its comforting presence. "Regan will know it's from me."

Peter shook his head. "Too many Ru'taha still prowl. Tomorrow is soon enough."

Kelsey drew herself up to her full height and stepped away from Peter. She had feared it would come to this. "No. For seven years I've been trapped here, waiting for the rift to re-open. At sunrise, Angus will be at the Mountain of the Devil to go through. If not with you then with someone else."

A muscle jumped in Peter's jaw.

She held out her hand. "If you're not going, then give me the map I drew to Regan's house. I'll give it to Angus."

He stared at her outstretched hand. "No one knows the area as I do." He turned his back on her. "I will go."

Kelsey touched Peter's arm. "Bring my sister to me. We need her."

"Why do you not go through the rift yourself?" Peter demanded. "Our world is not yours."

Kelsey stiffened. "I promised Queen Tessa. A Cafferty does not go back on her word." And how could she ever leave Rourk? she added to herself. She turned away from Peter, afraid to say more.

Angus still stood with his back toward them. He held his battle axe before him, his gaze sweeping the area.

"Angus," she said. He turned toward her. "Guard the rift well, friend."

The dwarf nodded. "You will seek Helena now, then your tent and find rest."

"Helena, yes, but rest? What's rest?" Kelsey picked up her helm. She stared at Peter for a moment, turned to walk away, hesitated. "Peter, does Rourk live?"

"I left him only moments ago with the horses."

She forced a smile. "See, I have Rourk. All will be fine until you and Regan return. Now go."

For a long moment, Peter stared down into Kelsey's eyes, then he reached out and pulled her close. His shirt smelled of sweat and smoke. The coarse weave chafed her forehead. "Take care, my friend," he whispered into her hair.

She rested against his chest for a moment, then pushed away.

To their right the brush shook and Angus jumped forward. Three soldiers burst into the clearing. Seeing the dead Ru'taha and Angus' glowering face, they skidded to a halt.

The tallest stepped forward. "Forgive me, Lord Angus," he said. "She gave us the slip again." The man cast a quick accusing glance at Kelsey.

Angus glared, then marched silently through the middle of them. The man paled.

"It was my fault, Richard," Kelsey said. "It's me Angus is angry with, not you."

"As you say you, Queen's-Commander," Richard replied, "but stick to you like honey we three do from this moment on."

And after tonight I just might let you. She turned to Peter. "Safe journey."

Kelsey watched as he swung up onto Skylar's back, then followed Angus into the dark. She waited until she could see him no more, then looked east toward the Mountain of the Devil.

"Regan, listen to Peter with your heart, not your mind," she whispered. "Come to me."