The Prophecy of the Gems (22 page)

When an apple fell from Jade’s bag and rolled along the ground, Amber was so tense she screamed.

“Calm down!” cried Jade, with a slight quaver in her voice. “You scared me!”

“Don’t worry, Amber, everything’s fine,” Opal assured her.

“What if- if those birds come tonight, while we’re asleep?” stammered Amber.

Jade’s blood froze at the thought. Even Opal shivered.

“We can’t go without sleep,” said Jade flatly.

“Nothing will happen!” insisted Opal, but more hesitantly than before.

By now the girls had lost their appetite. They stretched out, breathed deeply, and tried to rest, but it was no use. Their anxiety was overwhelming, and the silence was unbearable. When Jade at last suggested that they talk, to try and relax, her companions readily agreed.

The enveloping darkness hid their faces, making it easier for them to confide in one another. Jade began to describe her life in the palace of Divulyon and, like the other two girls, she forgot about her fear as she spoke of the homesickness she sometimes felt. For the first time, Amber told her two companions at length about the death of the woman who had been a mother to her, and she admitted how upsetting Béah Jardun’s revelations had been. Then she went into great detail about the story of Janëlle’s betrayal.

Although Jade and Amber had expected Opal to keep quiet when it was her turn to speak, she did tell them — hesitantly at first, almost shyly — about the ordinary life she had known and, growing bolder, she explained how much she was enjoying her new life, in spite of her distant air. Pausing, she wet her lips nervously and ended by saying how much she had “appreciated” Adrien’s company.

Jade and Amber kindly pretended to be surprised.

By the time the girls dropped off to sleep, their anxiety had vanished. They didn’t realise it, but that night, something changed. After talking openly about their deepest feelings, there was no chance they could ever be enemies. The Stones and their shared adventures had already drawn them close to one another, but it was this conversation that bound them together for good.

They spent all of the next day in the vast coniferous forest, breaking the silence with frequent peals of laughter, for the girls were in a good mood and
amused each other by telling stories. However it was a difficult climb up the mountain, and the three of them soon ached all over.

For the moment, they did not seem to be in any danger. Amber even convinced herself that she had imagined the howling of the wolves the previous night. As for the birds of prey, the girls began to wonder if they actually existed.

And so the whole day passed uneventfully.

Night found them in a clearing where they promptly fell asleep, exhausted.

Opal awoke at dawn the next day knowing only that she’d had a ghastly nightmare, and although she was unable to recall it clearly, she was still terrified and her face was bathed in tears. She could feel her heart pounding wildly, and it was a little while before she could pull herself together.

Jade and Amber woke up not long afterwards and they were frightened, too.

“I don’t feel well,” murmured Amber. “My stomach’s in a knot, I’m quaking — and I don’t know why!”

After a moment’s reflection, Jade said grimly, “We must be getting close to the birds. Amnhor said they
sent out some kind of waves that make you frightened. But we must still be quite far away, because we aren’t completely panicking yet!”

When she heard that, Amber’s heart sank. She had thought she would be able to confront the birds, but now that she was about to do so, her determination was falling apart.

The girls got up, looking at one another in dismay and apprehension.

“Let’s go back,” suggested Amber abruptly.

Jade and Opal considered the tempting proposition for a moment and almost wavered, but finally Jade sighed.

“We’ve made a huge effort to get this far. Ever since the liberation of Nathyrnn, we’ve risked our lives several times trying to reach Oonagh. We’re so close to our goal now, we can’t just give up.”

Amber and Opal had to admit she was right.

“Anyway,” piped up Amber, “we’ve got the potion.”

“But we’re not supposed to use it except as a last resort,” Jade reminded her.

They resumed their journey. This time, though, they felt so shaky that they couldn’t carry on a
coherent conversation, and they made slow progress, haunted by their visions of the birds of prey. In her bag Opal carried the potion that Amnhor had given them; she took it out to look at it and felt reassured by the smooth glass vial.

Each minute seemed to drag by as if time were somehow solidifying, as if every instant were heavier with anguish than the one before. Even though they expected the birds to appear at any moment and swoop down on them, the girls didn’t spy a single one.

When the sun was at its zenith, they emerged at last from the forest. Now the climb was even steeper. A few shrubs replaced the conifers, and then even the bushes were few and far between, finally giving way to grass sparsely dotted with spindly flowers. Looking anxiously up at the sky and dazzled by the sun, a fiery sphere in an ocean of azure, Amber could see no trace of the dreaded predators.

Nevertheless, the girls could feel fear growing inside them and knew that soon they would no longer be able to bear this rising terror. They continued on for another hour, but their steps began to drag slower and slower.

Suddenly, Amber spotted menacing shapes up in the bright sky, gliding on long wings. Even though the birds were flying at a great height, there was no doubt what they were. The girls felt engulfed in a whirlwind of fear as soon as they caught sight of the birds, which did not yet seem to have noticed them, for they continued to soar overhead.

The raptors soon made their power felt.

Although she was shivering, through some miracle Opal still managed to stay reasonably calm by convincing herself that she shouldn’t panic.

Jade clenched her fists, proudly tossed back her hair, and stood up staunchly to the terror. She was trembling and her pulse was racing, but she refused to lose her head.

Amber, however, was petrified. She could not help imagining the birds diving down to devour her, and she was shaking so hard that her knees were knocking. She just couldn’t tear her eyes away from the birds.

“The vial-” she could hardly stammer out the words “-Opal, I need it!”

But Opal would not give in. The birds had not come down yet, and Amnhor had warned them to use the potion only at the last possible minute.

Slowly the birds descended towards their prey. There were more than fifty of them, darkening the sky. Now the girls could make out their grey plumage and above all, their horrifying size. They seemed to be two — or even three — times bigger than a man.

Amber cried out, certain that she was living out her worst nightmare. Even Opal felt herself falter.

The birds flocked together, uniting their strength. To live, they fed on fear, so it was important that their victims’ terror reached its full height. In order to achieve this, the raptors used a method that was almost infallible.

The three girls soon discovered it. The birds glided down, hovering about ten metres above their heads. The girls were already rooted to the spot after sighting them, and were now almost driven out of their minds by those long curved beaks and razor-sharp talons.

The worst was yet to come. The birds reawakened the girls’ most terrifying fears, the ones they dreaded above all others. Now many of the birds were no more than five metres away. Their piercing eyes burnt with concentration, greed, and the expectation of victory.

Opal was tormented by an image of Adrien in agony and she thought she saw him dying, his chest a
welter of blood, his eyes now closed to this world. Unable to intervene or speak to him, Opal was torn apart with rage and pain.

Jade was confronted with nothingness, with infinite eternity. She staggered, blinded by this dark and endless void. Then an image of her adoptive father — old, sick, lying on his deathbed — appeared to her and made her weep when she saw how thin and frail he was. The image swiftly transformed itself into the malevolent Council of Twelve, planning her death in detail and sending the Army of Darkness in pursuit of her. Jade let herself lose heart without a fight.

As for Amber, so many images and emotions assailed her that they were all a blur. She felt she had touched the very depths of horror.

Then, miraculously, she felt her fear melt away — and had the presence of mind to remember that before finishing off their prey, the birds first absorbed their victims’ terror.

“Opal,” she whispered hoarsely. “The potion!”

Startled by Amber’s voice, Opal got a grip on herself and rummaged desperately through her bag. She found the blue glass vial and tossed it to Amber,
who caught it and, in a spasm of fright, pulled out the cork and drank a mouthful of the contents. Her hands trembled so violently that she dropped the vial, which fell and shattered into smithereens. The last mouthful was lost in the grass.

Opal shot a look of despair at Amber, who had just destroyed their only chance at survival.

The potion took effect instantly. The bloodthirsty birds felt their prey slipping away from them as all Amber’s emotions and sensations gradually vanished. She just stood there, expressionless, looking around her indifferently. She could see Jade and Opal’s agonised faces, but the idea of helping them simply didn’t occur to her. She never thought to run away, to hide somewhere, because she didn’t even realise the danger she was in.

“The Stones!” screamed Opal. “Get out your Stones!”

Jade obeyed automatically and Amber as well, by reflex, but nothing happened because Amber was no longer either really alive or human. Now that she had no feelings, she was no longer a real person.

But even lost in her torpor, Amber noticed an opening in the ground. Going over to it, she found a
pathway leading into the bowels of the earth. As Opal watched, Amber disappeared into the underground passage, abandoning her two companions. Opal was almost hysterical by now and tried desperately to fight off the panic closing in on her.

She looked over at Jade and realised from the dazed smile on Jade’s face that her fear had been absorbed by the birds. One predator, which had remained above the others, now plunged towards Jade with stunning speed. Opal at once overcame her own fright, thinking only of her friend, and without a moment’s hesitation she ran to throw herself on Jade, knocking her to the ground and away from the swooping bird’s claws. Clambering to her feet, Opal ordered Jade to follow her but the poor girl couldn’t hear her or understand why they had to flee. Opal never knew how she managed to pick Jade up in her arms.

The predator had shot back up into the sky as if it found this scene amusing and wanted to enjoy the spectacle, but it certainly wasn’t going to allow its victim to get away. The other birds stayed where they were, for although they could terrify their victims and feed on that fear, only their leader had the right to
seize the prey. Opal had hardly taken a few steps before she realised that the predator would dive again and that this time it would not miss.

She didn’t try to run, but as she stumbled along, she struggled to empty herself of everything. She did not reach for the warm comfort of her Stone. She counted only on herself, in a last desperate effort. Anyone else would have believed the bird would carry the girls off, that it was useless to fight on. But not Opal. She told herself not to give up, and focused on gathering her strength; with increasing confidence, she kept thinking that the birds could not beat her. The sweet warmth of an insane hope flooded through her and she felt as though she were in contact with her Stone. Cruel talons dug into her flesh, lifting her slowly into the air. Opal held firmly on to Jade and was not afraid. On the contrary, because she did not care, she smiled as her blonde curls tumbled in the wind, and blood spurted from the wounds in her pale skin where the bird’s claws clutched her painfully. She closed her eyes, eyes bluer than the sky, and did not give up.

Then the bird began to fly lower. Opal was still impassive and refused to rejoice, simply holding on to
hope. When she opened her eyes the predator was hovering six feet above the ground and, little by little, reluctantly, it relaxed its grip on Opal. The two girls fell to earth.

In the sky the birds of prey gradually disappeared, clearly suffering from an agonising, invisible wound; they flew as if escaping from a terrible, powerful foe.

Jade, who had been indifferent to everything, now came to her senses. Opal showed her the opening through which Amber had escaped, and after Jade had vanished down the passage as well, Opal looked calmly up at the sky, once again innocent of all menace, and smiled.

Then she entered the underground passage as though nothing had happened.

JADE AND OPAL
had just begun feeling their way along the dim tunnel when they stumbled over a huddled form: it was Amber, sitting curled up in the darkness with her head in her hands. Startled, the weeping girl gave a cry that reverberated along the passage.

“Amber!” exclaimed Jade. “What’s the matter?”

Amber leapt to her feet.

“It’s you, you’re both alive!” she cried, wiping away her tears. “I abandoned you! And I thought you were dead!”

“Why didn’t you come and help us after the potion wore off?” asked Jade reproachfully.

“I just couldn’t,” sniffled Amber. “I only came round a few minutes ago, and I was sure it was already too late to save you. How did you get here?”

Jade told Amber what had happened right after she’d vanished into the tunnel, and Opal took over to describe how they had defeated the birds, although she didn’t fully understand it herself.

Then Jade thanked Opal warmly for saving her life, and Amber, who was still upset, hugged both girls in relief at finding them again.

“Where should we go now?” worried Jade. “If those birds come back…”