“So,” Sophie folded her arms. “You’ve translated the prophecy. Now we find out if I’m guaranteed to destroy this world. Chrysanthemum?”
Chrysanthemum sighed. “Are you not in a good mood today, or something?”
Celia laughed. “Blue’s been pissing her off all morning.”
“Where is Blue?” Chrysanthemum frowned.
“He and Tala have gone back to their lives. We can call on them, if and when we need them. But they aren’t…tame.”
“Interesting phrasing,” Chrysanthemum said, drily. “Well, I’ve worked out the prophecy. And a lot of what we have to do to prevent it. Shall I tell you?”
“Please do,” Sophie grumbled. “Get on and tell us.”
Chrysanthemum smiled faintly and recited in a soft voice that was almost chanting:
“When night royalty rare walks the ashen land
Men shall live and die by bloodied hand
In war brief and black as night
The royal one shall gain the sight of ages
To find the noble Doors of Death hidden far
And their portal gate unlock, unbar
By that hand or none, shall power be undone
To release the cauldron of the dead unto the lands of the sun
And nation rise and fall and die by that will
Empty lives shall perish just as those fulfilled
Yet strong stands the heart of the one who shall not kill.”
There was a long, seemingly endless, pause.
“It sounds better in Latin,” Chrysanthemum added.
“Well, you can understand their concern,” Sophie said, a little shakily. “Release the cauldron of the dead…that sounds dramatic.”
“That’s not the point of this,” Chrysanthemum dismissed the prophecy. “The point is that I’ve found out a little more about the Doors of Death.”
“What have you found?” Sophie asked, eagerly.
“With a bit of help from our Necromancer friends, I’ve found out how you stop them being opened,” Chrysanthemum announced, triumphantly.
Diana gave a slight bow.
“How?” Celia demanded. “How do you stop them?”
Chrysanthemum shrugged. “Oh, you only need to find them and have a Night Princess…”
“Hey, we can do that!” Sophie said, happily.
“And find the key to the Doors and find the Gatekeepers and send one into the land of the dead…” Chrysanthemum broke off. “Ok, so it isn’t easy. We’ll have to work hard.”
“What is the key?” Sophie asked.
“We don’t know,” Diana sighed. “There are rumours, but not one Necromancer can remember what the key was like, or who unlocked the doors. But we do know that a magician who lived…oh, about two thousand years ago, wrote it all down. Everything we need to know about the key.”
“He wrote it down?” Sophie perked up. “Where?”
“In a scroll that has been missing for centuries,” Chrysanthemum shrugged. “Where else?”
“Great,” Sophie snapped. “Just great. And what’s this about Gatekeepers?”
Diana smiled. “The Gatekeepers were entrusted with the act of guarding the Doors. There are two of them, always siblings but usually twins. The problem is, the post has been dormant for centuries. The Gatekeepers will not know who they are.”
“Will they be magicians?” Sophie asked. “Necromancers?”
Diana shook her head. “Mortals or magicians, it really makes no difference. Anyone, in this entire world, could hold that power.”
“But we need them to close the gate. And this key, which we don’t even know what it is,” Celia raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t sound too tricky, does it?”
“Hold on, hold on,” Sophie held up a hand. “Just to clarify, we have to find a scroll that no one has seen in centuries, find a key that no one has seen in centuries or knows what it is, find some Gatekeepers out of absolutely everybody in the universe and get them to close and lock the Doors of Death before Lord Legion finds any of them or forces me to open the Doors?”
“Yes,” Chrysanthemum nodded. “That sounds about right.”
“Ok,” Sophie took a deep breath. “Diana? Where should we start?”