The Prophecy of the Gems (23 page)

“Remember, they can’t attack us twice. But I think we can follow this underground path,” suggested Opal. “It must lead somewhere and I’m curious to find out where.”

After a short discussion they decided to keep going and so, still a bit shaken by what they had just been through, the three of them headed off along the path. Strangely enough, instead of getting darker the tunnel gradually grew lighter, until the girls could see their
surroundings perfectly. This powerful supernatural light seemed to emanate from all around them, rather than from a little crack filtering in sunshine from outside.

After a long walk the girls stopped short in alarm: footsteps were echoing along the passageway — and growing louder. Their hearts racing, the girls were expecting to see a horrifying creature lunge at them… when a little girl appeared. She couldn’t have been more than five years old, and although she wasn’t human, she was still a sweet little thing and seemed honest and open. Her flared white dress left her slender arms and short legs bare, revealing skin of a very pale blue. Her face was solemn and innocent, with huge blue-violet eyes, and her blonde hair cascaded all the way down to her tiny bare feet.

“Hello!” she chirped in a crystalline voice.

The three girls smiled at her.

“What are you doing here?” asked Amber kindly. “Do you live here?”

The little girl simply laughed gaily, revealing sparkling white teeth.

“What’s your name?” inquired Amber in a soft voice.

But with a playful and mysterious expression, the child refused to speak.

“We’ve come here to see Oonagh,” said Jade. “Do you know if we still have a long way to go?”

“Oonagh, Oonagh,” repeated the girl slyly. “I can help you.”

“Thank you,” replied Amber. “But how?”

“Come,” said the child. “I know Oonagh. Just follow me.”

With that, the strange creature went skipping away. Jade, Opal and Amber set off after her without hesitation. Their guide was merrily singing a song whose words were simply “Oonagh, Oonagh,” as though this were the nicest name in the world, and sometimes she looked back with amusement at the three big girls following curiously in her wake.

In several places the tunnel branched out, but each time the child chose her path with evident confidence and familiarity. At last, after an hour, they arrived at an extraordinary wall glowing with light. Dazzled, the girls heard the child’s clear voice ring out.

“Enter the light, it will not hurt you!”

And the three thought they saw her pass through the shining wall.

“What do we do now?” exclaimed Amber in dismay.

“I don’t think we have much choice,” observed Jade. “Either we go back the way we came, without our guide, and risk getting lost — or we try to cross this barrier.”

Amber had no time to protest before Jade stepped forwards and vanished into the light. Opal made as if to follow her, but Amber held her back.

“Who knows what’s behind this barrier? I really don’t think we should go through it.”

“We’re not going to abandon Jade,” insisted Opal. “If she’s in any danger, then obviously we should be with her.”

Resigned, Amber went forward and disappeared into the light with Opal.

They crossed the wall as though it weren’t solid, and were greeted by an incredible sight on the other side: a great chamber lit up by walls of brilliant crystals sparkling in every possible colour.

Opal and Amber saw Jade ahead of them, lost in the same admiration.

“This is where all the light in the tunnel conies from,” thought Amber.

Looking around for the child who had led them to this fairy-like place, the three girls saw her half hiding behind a tree.

“Oonagh, Oonagh,” she called laughingly. “This is where she lives.”

“Wonderful!” cried Jade excitedly. “And where is she?”

The little girl stepped towards them, suddenly serious.

“Right here,” she said simply.

She spoke so frankly and distinctly that it was impossible to doubt her words. Seeing her differently now, the three girls noticed the mature intelligence behind her childish smile, and when Jade looked into her gaze she knew at once that the creature was telling the truth. Reflected in those huge violet eyes was a wealth of years, thoughts, madness, wisdom, experience — of joy as well as sadness. Jade felt as though she might get lost in that gaze, it was so filled with life, and she understood that beneath her frail and youthful appearance, Oonagh had watched more time pass than Jade herself would ever see.

“It’s about time you arrived,” said the magic child. “I’ve been expecting you.”

The three girls were almost dizzy with anticipation.

“Who are our parents?” asked Jade abruptly. “Why were we driven from our homes? What danger is threatening us? Why is the Council of Twelve looking for us?

Flushed and breathless, she was going to continue when she saw the placid look in Oonagh’s eyes, and fell silent.

Then the child’s clear voice rose in song, filling the entire chamber.

“People have been reciting this passage from
The Prophecy
for centuries,” added Oonagh. “They have been waiting patiently for you. Your destiny has been marked out. Only its outcome is uncertain.”

A shudder ran through the three girls.

“I don’t understand any of it,” sighed Amber.

“One will convince the two others to die
,” gasped Jade. “What’s that supposed to mean? That one of us will make the others kill themselves?”

Frightened by her own words, Jade stopped speaking, and a heavy silence fell. So that was the reason why they were supposed to be enemies: one of them would betray the others and urge them to die.

“That’s awful!” burst out Jade. “It can’t be true!”

“None of us would do that,” insisted Amber.

Oonagh said nothing.

“Who is the Chosen One?” asked Opal, to distract them from this shocking revelation.

“Within two weeks, on the day of the summer solstice, a great battle will take place,” said Oonagh, evading the question. “Néophileus specified the date. Good and evil will clash on the plains of the Outside, in front of the magnetic field of Fairytale. On one side
will be the Army of Darkness, with the Council of Twelve and the Knights of the Order; on the other, the Army of Light.”

“Who will be in the Army of Light?” asked Amber.

“All those who wish to fight for freedom: knights, men, creatures… The Army of Light is assembling even now. But it will never be able to fight if the Chosen One does not appear. It is for him to lead it to victory, to sacrifice his life in battle if he must. It is said in
The Prophecy
that one of you will recognise him. No one knows who he is; perhaps he himself does not know. People have always thought that he would have appeared long before now, and many people have made it their mission to find him. They believed your role was simply to confirm he was indeed the Chosen One. It is not so.

“You must go to the palace of Yrianz of Myrnehl. Part of the Army of Light is waiting there for the Chosen One. Perhaps he will be there. If not it is up to you to seek him out — you
must
find him!”

“And how do we get to this palace?” inquired Jade.

“Never fear. A man named Rokcdär will guide you there. He is one of Death’s councillors, and can be trusted.”

The three girls looked at one another in astonishment.

“On the way to the palace you must go and see Death,” exclaimed Oonagh earnestly. “She must give up her strike so that the battle may take place. You alone are capable of making that stubborn creature listen to reason.”

While Oonagh went to fetch an object in a far corner of the chamber, the bewildered girls grew more and more uneasy. Go and see Death? Argue with her? How could they manage that? Oonagh returned and gave them a map to help them find their way to the gloomy land of Death.

Jade spoke up suddenly in a strangely subdued voice. “That’s all very nice, this business of the Chosen One, the battle and all that, but what I want to know is, what do I have to do with it? I want to know who I am!”

“You are the three Stones of the Prophecy,” explained Oonagh. “You are the ones who will tip the world into good or evil. While the two armies clash, you will go to Thaar, the City of Origins, where you will fight the ultimate battle.”

“And that’s also where one of us will lead the others into death?” asked Jade sullenly. “I’ve had
enough! Why should I go and see Death, and then look for this Chosen One? Why should I go to Thaar to fight the ‘ultimate battle’, which basically means, get myself killed? Why shouldn’t I just go on home? What’s forcing me to risk my life? I’m tired of being scared. I don’t want to keep asking myself questions without getting any answers!”

After catching her breath, she added more softly, “Just tell me what’s keeping me from going quietly back to my palace, seeing my father again, and finally living in peace.”

“Jade, the Army of Light needs all three of you to win its victory. If you don’t even fight, evil will carry the day.”

“So what! It has nothing to do with me!”

“You
must
go to Thaar,” continued Oonagh. “Because your parents sacrificed themselves for you. Because knowing that one day you would fight against the Darkness, they gave their lives to protect you. You have no right to betray them.”

“They’re dead?” cried Jade. “They’re dead!”

“They hid you safely before being killed by the Army of Darkness, or the Council of Twelve. By evil.”

“But who were they? What were their names?”

“What use would it be to know that? You mustn’t live in the past. Don’t weep over what cannot be helped. Devote your energies to what you can still change. You haven’t the right to give up the struggle.”

“And
my
parents?” asked Opal suddenly.

“I’m so sorry,” murmured Oonagh. “They were not spared. They were forced to flee, to hide you. The Army of Darkness and the Council were very powerful, and hunted them down. Your parents had guessed what fate lay in store for them, so they placed you in the hands of people whom they trusted absolutely.”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” interrupted Jade. “Who are we? Why do we have so many enemies?”

“The Chosen One and you three… are the sorcerers of Light,” said Oonagh gravely.

Her admission was met with profound silence.

“Ah!” said Jade finally. “And where does that get us?”

“Listen to me. When you were born, you were already clutching your Stones in your fists. These Stones grant you considerable power, but they belong only to you, they are part of you. Until your fourteenth birthdays your Gifts lay dormant in you.
They were not yet ready to awaken. It was vital that you should not discover them too soon, and above all, that you should discover them together. Alone, you are vulnerable and your Gifts are useless to you.”

Opal coughed nervously. Although she knew she had found her Stone too early, she had never imagined that this might have dangerous consequences.

“Opal,” said Oonagh sternly, “your heart is telling me what you’re trying to conceal. And what it tells me is bad, very bad. If you discovered your Gift too soon, you must have attracted the attention of the Council of Twelve — which may well have had access to your mind through telepathy.” Oonagh sighed heavily. “No matter. What’s done is done! So, I was saying that ever since your fourteenth birthdays, your Gifts have been evolving. You had to undergo a good many trials to strengthen them, however, and reaching me was the last stage necessary for these Gifts to develop fully. And during these tests, if you had discovered your destinies before the allotted time, your powers would have ceased to grow.”

“So,” Jade concluded, “we were chased out of our homes so that we could discover our so-called Gifts
when we turned fourteen, and we all had to be together to discover them? And then we had to go through terrifying adventures so we could wind up deciding the fate of the world? Don’t you think that’s a little too much for the three of us? Especially since the finale doesn’t look like much fun, if two of us are supposed to die.”

“That’s how it is,” said Oonagh.

“I mean, really,” screamed Jade, “do you think we’re mad? We’re not going to deliberately go and get ourselves killed in Thaar!”

“Do you have any choice? Go home if you like, but the Council or the Army of Darkness will catch you and kill you. The three of you are capable of changing many things. It’s up to you to decide whether that’s worth it or not. But know this, Jade: if you refuse to go to Thaar and somehow manage to survive, you may escape the hatred of others, but you will hate yourself for ever.”

Jade could say nothing in return. Although she didn’t want to believe Oonagh, Jade knew she was speaking the truth.

“And our famous Gift, what is it?” asked Opal.

“One will discover the Gift,” replied Oonagh. So it is written by Néophileus. It is not for me to reveal to you that which one of you alone must understand.”

Although the three girls bombarded her with questions, Oonagh would not say another word. Wearing her lazy little-girl smile, she began to sing:

The girls understood that Oonagh would say no more to them, and they turned as one to cross back through the wall of light and pursue their destiny.