Free LANCE OF TRUTH by KATHERINE ROBERTS Page B

that chain on her mother’s wrist, her hand tightened on Excalibur’s hilt.
    Gareth kept looking at her, as if he wanted to tell her something. Finally, when Lancelot and his men galloped off to check yet another tower, the boy held the pony back and said in a sly tone, “If you want to know how Sir Lancelotbroke the Lance of Truth and why he’s scared to mend it, I saw it happen.”
    Rhianna stiffened. “How did it break?”
    “He was trying to kill your father, of course.”
    “That’s not true!” She halted Alba so suddenly that the little mare threw up her head in protest.
    That hurt my mouth,
the mare complained.
I will mist if you do it again.
    Gareth smiled. “How else do you think those splinters ended up stuck in the Pendragon’s shield?”
    Rhianna stared at him, remembering how the splinters had glimmered when the Lance of Truth was near. A shiver of excitement went through her. “Are you saying Sir Lancelot jousted against the king?”
    “Ha!” Gareth said. “They jousted all right.At dawn up by that lake where you found your father’s sword. It was misty that morning, so they never knew I followed them. King Arthur rode his golden mare and carried Excalibur. Sir Lancelot rode his big white horse and carried the magic lance. When they met, you could hear the crash back at Camelot.”
    “How do you know, if you were watching them at the lake?” Elphin said.
    Gareth scowled at him. “I know, all right? The other squires told me. Anyway, there was this big flash, like lightning, and the lake went all sparkly. When I could see again, the king lay on the ground and Sir Lancelot was standing over him. But the lance was broken, its head splintered. King Arthur drew Excalibur, and I thought he was going to kill Sir Lancelot. He wounded him, I think. I saw blood on his arm.But then this woman with long green hair came up out of the lake – stark naked! She must have been swimming in there. While King Arthur was staring at her, Sir Lancelot grabbed the broken pieces of the magic lance, jumped on his horse and got away. Ran back to Camelot to hide behind the queen, like the coward he is.”
    Gareth smirked at them. “So now you know. I reckon that woman in the lake was your father’s secret love, and that’s why he never really bothered too much about Sir Lancelot loving the queen.”
    “Don’t listen to him, Rhia!” Arianrhod said, shaking her head. “It’s all lies. Your mother and the king loved each other very, very much. Anyway, have you ever seen a woman with green hair? He’s just a stupid squire. He doesn’t know anything.”
    But Rhianna knew differently. “It was Lady Nimue in the lake,” she whispered, thinking of the fish-lady who had given her Excalibur last year.
    Gareth’s eyes lit up. “See? What did I tell you? The Lady Nimue… King Arthur’s secret love!” Turning, he pushed Arianrhod so that she fell off the pony. The girl rolled down the bank into the ditch with a little scream, while Gareth laughed at her. “Stupid squire am I, witch’s maid?” he called. “I can ride better than you, anyway!”
    Sir Bedivere, who had been watching Lancelot’s men return empty-handed from the tower, approached with a frown. “A knight would not let a lady take a tumble like that, Gareth,” he said. “I thought I told you to look after her?”
    “She slipped, sir, and she’s not a lady anyway. Nobody’ll ever marry her with a scar like that.”
    Arianrhod said nothing. She fingered the pentacle on her cheek and avoided looking at Gareth.
    “You can ride with me, Arianrhod,” Elphin offered.
    The girl gave him a grateful smile, and one of the guards legged her up on Evenstar’s hindquarters behind the Avalonian boy.
    Alba snorted.
I have told Evenstar not to mist, or the human girl will fall off again.
    Rhianna barely heard. She was still trying to make sense of what Gareth had just told them. Her father and Sir Lancelot had fought over her mother, setting two of the Lights