Free LANCE OF TRUTH by KATHERINE ROBERTS Page A

most powerful in the land of men. Except they didn’t have time.
    Elphin nodded to Lancelot, who held out his broken lance at arm’s length. Rhianna wanted to laugh. The champion knight looked more wary of her friend’s harp than he had of her sword.
    She sat quietly against the wall with the dragon shield across her lap and picked at the splinters. They glimmered faintly in thefirelight, reminding her of her dream when they had formed into a red dragon and flown up through the roof.
    As the Avalonian music filled the ruin, the shadows drew back a bit and the men smiled in wonder. The pieces in Elphin’s lap began to glow. So did the broken lance. She caught her breath as the light brightened and her friend’s fingers moved faster over the strings.
    Some of the splinters rose into the air, and Lancelot stiffened. “Keep going,” he grunted. “I think it’s working…” But even as he spoke the glow faded, and the pieces fell back into Elphin’s lap.
    He silenced the strings, breathing hard. Sir Lancelot examined the point and shook his head. Rhianna looked at the lance in disappointment. It seemed just as broken as before.
    “I’m sorry,” Elphin said. “I think some of the pieces might be missing. I can try again later.”
    “Not here,” Lancelot said, gathering the splinters back into his bag and signalling to his men. “If Mordred’s bloodbeards heard that, they’ll be sniffing around this place come morning. The magic failed last time I used the lance, anyway. I’m not sure I’d trust it against the dark knight. You’d best ride with us until Bors and Agravaine get here. Then perhaps we can make a proper plan to deal with Mordred, as I said we should have done long ago.” He gave Elphin a stern look. “And no more fairy music for the time being, or I’ll confiscate that harp of yours.”
    Seeing her friend’s eyes darken, Rhianna put her hand on Excalibur’s hilt.
    But Sir Bedivere covered her hand with his.“It makes sense, Damsel Rhianna,” he said. “We want to get the queen back safely, don’t we? And it’s a good idea to make sure Mordred doesn’t get his hands on any of the Lights, however broken. I never much liked Bors’ idea to take him Excalibur. Everything else can wait until after we know Queen Guinevere is safe.” He looked meaningfully at Sir Lancelot.
    Rhianna wondered what ‘everything else’ meant exactly. But she relaxed her grip on Excalibur. Sir Bedivere was right. They’d gain nothing by killing each other.
    “Sir Lancelot must have trusted magic once,” she whispered to Elphin, as they mounted their mist horses. “Or he couldn’t have used the Lance of Truth as my father’s champion, could he? Something must have happened to make him so suspicious of it.I wish Cai was here… he’d soon tell us.”
    Her friend smiled. “Cai’ll have quite enough to tell us once he’s ridden all the way up here with the knights, as it is. We probably won’t be able to shut him up all summer.”
    Rhianna thought of the lookalike sword strapped across Cai’s saddle and felt a bit guilty. She hoped the squire was safe.

    They breakfasted on the last of the supplies. Then they rode east, keeping to the ditch for cover, following the Wall. Lancelot led the way on his big white stallion with Sir Bedivere on his chestnut beside him. Gareth and Arianrhod rode the pack pony, the girl awkwardly clasping Gareth’s waist. The squire didn’t look very happy about this, but since the alternative waswalking he did not complain. Rhianna and Elphin rode their little mist horses in the middle, flanked by her two Camelot guards, while Lancelot’s men brought up the rear.
    The Wall seemed to go on for ever, winding up and down the ridge. Every mile they came to another crumbling tower like the one where they’d spent the night, and Lancelot sent his men to check it out. All turned out to be deserted, making Rhianna despair that they would ever find the queen. Whenever she thought of