The Prophecy

The Council of the Sacred Volcano | Introductions

_ This is not a time for sad and dark faces, he said in his singing voice. Come with me, let me introduce you. This is Janis de Belfort, my granddaughter, but I imagine that you have already met, my advisers Armor D'Oïl, Killyan Kree, and Chald Iio - they bowed as the King pronounced their names and bore the committed and pleasant looks of excellent diplomats - my chief of the warriors Tomar de Tolsken....

The Pope was startled and looked around and noticed other men in the audience in military attire.

_ ... For my own safety, the king continued, reassuringly. Finally, by my side is my intimate friend Rojan de Celva.

Old Bear couldn't help thinking, when he saw the young man bowing gallantly, that he must have been more "intimate" than "friend". Apparently Quicksilver had the same idea and smiled discreetly.

_ Here is my Queen and her charming Ladies in waiting, added the King with a charming smile to the young women around him.

The Ladies bowed in a great and elegant curtsy that greatly satisfied the King. The Queen, slightly withdrawn, did not seem to attach any importance to the demonstrations of admiration of her companions. Yet their attitude might have seemed unseemly and improper, but either the Queen was accustomed to it or she had other concerns in mind. Janis who was at her side seemed to share her thoughts.

_ And finally, here are my guests, Adjuva concluded....

_ Come on, dear. Give us a chance to introduce ourselves.

The woman who had just spoken was undoubtedly a person of high lineage, accustomed to official representations. She had walked up to Old Bear and smiled kindly at him.

_ Thaïs Le Corsis, she said proudly, extending her hand towards the elf.

_ I am delighted to meet you at last, noble Queen of the Humans, said Old Bear, bowing with courtesy.

He touched Thaïs' hand and bent down to place a kiss on it, in the manner of high-ranking Humans. The Queen's hand was pale, fine, delicate. A ring decorated with a solitary gem shone on the ring finger. Old Bear noticed that it projected a strange, metallic light. As he kissed his hand brushing her skin, it seemed to him, although his eyes were closed, that a glow had emerged from the stone, and it shuddered and searched for a passage to his eyes. It was as if the interior of the stone was fluid and had awakened to its approach. The wise elf man hung above the hand, the spirit elsewhere.

And he was sucked in.

The noise of the Little Salon no longer existed, only the endless emptiness, the fall towards the center of the gem that was constantly moving. Landscapes began to form before his astonished eyes. A cliff, immense, overhung the sea, or was it an optical illusion and was he still looking at the heart of the stone? Everything seemed so real though! His attention was drawn to a silhouette moving on the cliff. Without having to make the slightest movement, he was thrown a few steps away from it. He realized that they were two women, one of whom looked familiar to him. One of them, whose face was almost entirely hidden by a large hood, was dressed in a coat that she would have liked to pass for common. The other was dressed in the manner of the elf women from the Eastern Forest. However, she was not an elf. She was indeed a Human. They were facing each other and the tension between them was palpable.

_ I will not come back! There's nothing else to discuss, said the elf-like woman with a hint of anger in her voice.

_ Think again! I beg of you! Your Father can't stand your absence any longer. Think of him! He has already suffered enough, don't you think?