The Prophecy
THE PROPHECY, Part 1 of the Starry Eyes series
An imaginative start to a fantasy adventure
Twin princesses Armada and Elena were separated at birth. To prevent a terrible prophecy from coming true, they must not meet for the first 13 years of their lives. The girls have lived their lives independently, without the other – Armada with the royal family in the kingdom of Tähtilinna and Elena far away in a country called Finland, in the village of Pernainen, with her grandmother. When Armada hears the truth, she waits until she is alone in the castle and then invites Elena for a visit, completely ignoring the ridiculous prophesy.
The twins may look similar, but they are totally different, yet manage to find the common ground. A castle without adult supervision offers the girls the playground of their dreams, and Elena meets the various amusing residents of the castle: the Mini-Giants, the Eekies, the Ello-Rollies, the Heggo-Heggoes, the Tsondies and others. Some of these would be best avoided in the dark! With the girls’ 13th birthday rapidly approaching, the happy co-existence soon turns menacing … What is the source of that scary rumbling noise underneath the castle?
Critics
”The Prophecy is a fine opening and a strong base for the series.” Savon Sanomat
”Hanna van der Steen’s first book is a fast-paced gem of fantasy literature. The novel is full of curious creatures: tsondies, ello-rollies, two-headed knights and mini-giants. The language is every bit as colourful, with tsondy Tikkilikki’s speech resembling fireworks - - “ Helsingin Sanomat 29.7.2011, Vesa Sisättö
“The Prophecy is written in fluent and lively language, and it contains a lot of detail that will fascinate young readers.” Onnimanni 3/2011, Merja Leppälahti
The Prophecy, is a tonic for Finnish children’s fantasy literature.” Karjalainen 20.7.2011, Savon Sanomat 25.7.2011, Etelä-Suomen Sanomat 2.7.2011, Maria Loikkanenl
Chapter 1,
in which Armada receives some exceptionally good news
Armada looked out of the tower window
onto the courtyard of the castle.
Mini-giants, two delve-lengths tall,
were playing “ten peglegs on a board” down below. They scampered after the
agile peglegs, cheering whenever they managed to lift one of them onto the
board.
Farther
away, a two-headed knight was teaching some fuzzbellies and other
would-be-dancers the steps of a line dance. The line kept growing longer and
longer, with at least twenty participants already.
Ticklick,
the castle’s chamberdelve, gallivanted there among the others, doing first
summersaults and then wintersaults.
Armada
grimaced. Why were all the other inhabitants of the castle having such fun;
after all, she had been sulking for almost three hundred days.
She took a few brisk steps forward,
pressing the weather button on the wall of the room a few times. Suddenly, it
was raining hailstones outside, and everyone was sprinting for the castle.
Armada
sniffed. Served them right. It was just a shame that the royal couple had not
been outside. They would have deserved a big rain of paint hail, the kind that would have turned them black from head to
toe.
Armada
was angry with her parents because they had done something horribly cruel and
stupid, something that no mother or father who really cared about their
children would ever do.
On
top of everything else, she had learned about it by accident. Her parents had definitely not told her the truth
themselves. On the morning of her 12th birthday, Armada had rushed into her
mother’s rooms, catching her there by surprise standing in front of a mirror.
In the mirror had been the image of a girl that Armada had at first thought to
be herself, until she had noticed that the girl was wearing odd clothes: blue
pants and a white hooded shirt.
Queen
Eleonora had been mortified when she had realized Armada had seen the girl.
Still shaken, she had told Armada the shocking truth.
Armada
squeezed her hands into fists. Thinking about what had happened, she was always
overcome by emotion. She had throughout her life felt lonely and different in
Star Castle, being the only human child living there. And all this time she
could have been sharing her life, her sorrows, and her joys with another child.
At least had her parents not been so superstitious.
Meanwhile,
the other creatures of the castle and the kingdom did not have a care in the
world. They seemed cheerful and happy. Even the circus ghosts, who had
gradually stopped trying to scare others, were these days laughing instead of
wailing.
At
precisely that moment, a small circus ghost peeked out of Armada’s walk-in
closet. What a scamp! Armada had forbidden the circus ghosts from entering her
room. The Princess decided to tell off the ghost, and was just about to step
into her enormous closet when she heard a knock on the door of the room.
Armada, annoyed
at the interruption, went to open the door.
Behind the door
stood the King, looking nervously at his daughter.
“Listen,” he
started, leaning on the doorframe in what he felt was a relaxed manner. Right
then, his hand slipped, and he fell onto his face on the floor.
Armada watched
her father expectantly. He got up, rubbing his arm with a frown.
After thinking
for a moment, he remembered what he had come to see her about.
“Dear daughter.
Would you take a turn with me by the royal ornamental pond?” He asked
majestically.
The royal
ornamental pond was a charming fish pond on the autumn side of Star Castle. Ten
or so dafteels lived in the pool: pretty, snake-like creatures, whose scales
painted the air over a foot around them in the colours of the rainbow. The
multi-coloured glow of the dafteels hung over the pool, visible in the dark all
the way to the rooms in the castle towers.
Armada figured
that her father probably had something important to tell her, as he was not in
the habit of taking walks for the fun of it. The King occupied his scanty free
time with more extreme pursuits: for example, he liked to jump from the back of
a flying unicorn with a flexible rope tied around him. (In the name of
fairness, the unicorn occasionally wanted to climb onto the King’s back and
jump down as well. And that was definitely extreme.)
So something was
clearly afoot. Maybe he had finally come to his senses.
Armada pressed
the weather button a few times, so that the weather out in the front yard of
the castle became nicer. Then she grabbed her cloak, throwing it over her
shoulders, and left with her father.
The Queen was
waiting for them by the entrance to the castle. She had twined her thick hair
into broad braids, and pulled a broad-brimmed hat over her head, to protect her
from sunstroke. The long train of her dress trailed after her on little wheels.
Armada stared at
her in wonder, as the Queen was also not in the habit of taking walks. She
preferred to spend her time with the circus ghost babies, teaching them all the
best tricks, unless she was making tiny little chains for them or other equally
cute accessories.
The King offered
his wife a nod so deep that it made his little goatee and his mass of curly
hair wobble. The Queen curtsied in an equally formal manner. Then the three of
them walked toward the fish pond.
Armada walked
alongside her parents, dressed in a copper coloured taffeta dress. She looked
exactly like a princess was probably supposed to look, except she occasionally
walked backwards, sometimes sideways, making faces at the crawlies,
stinksnakes, and other little creatures on the way. She did so to irritate her
parents, who took her activities in stride with unusual serenity.
After they had
walked in silence for a long while, King Frederik frowned ponderously, stating:
“I think you’re
still angry at us?”
Armada looked at
her father, trying to put on a calm smile for him.
“Not at all,”
she said, kicking a large stone lying by the side of the road.
The stone turned
out to be a rockturtle, which waved its fist at the blushing Princess.
The King
fortunately did not notice what had happened, as he was busy staring at the
sky. A few bright violet pigs were flying up there. Judging by the colour of
the pigs, it would be an interesting morning. Of course, the King could have
told that much even without seeing the pigs.
“How nice that
you’re not going to hold a grudge,” the King answered Armada a little
absent-mindedly. “I actually thought that you still hadn’t forgiven us. But I
suppose you understood after all that Eleonora and I have only been doing
what’s best for everyone all these years.”
The Queen nodded
sombrely, patting her husband on the shoulder. He gently kissed his wife on the
hand.
Armada turned
her gaze away.
The King
continued in a serious tone:
“We were also
upset that you found out about the secret in such an unpleasant way. But just
like you overheard, the power of the prophecy only lasts until your and your
sister's thirteenth birthday. After that, everything will be different."
Armada huffed,
shaking her head. She could not understand why her parents had acted and
continued to act in such a stupid manner. Nothing could put right what she had
had to go through over the years, and definitely not that at some point in the distant future things would supposedly be fixed.
“So wait a
little and this, hmm, problem will be put right... Though every minute feels
like torture,” the King added, his voice breaking on the last few words.
The Queen patted
him comfortingly on the back.
Armada rolled
her eyes, feeling not a smidgeon of sympathy for her father. The King was as
empty-headed as the dafteels swimming around in the ornamental pool. A little
wait would certainly not solve this problem, at least not fast enough. But
Armada would. All she had to do was to somehow find a way to take care of it
without her parents being able to stop her.
The Queen shot
Armada a searching look, handing her a fishing rod that had been propped up against
the side of the ornamental pool.
With practiced
ease, Armada slipped a pink pearl onto the hook, taking it from the piles and
piles of pearls in the treasure chest by the pool. Then she dipped the pearl
into the water, letting it dangling there from the silver fishing line.
“As you know,
your father and I have until now stood at your side at every moment. However,
you are now almost thirteen,” the Queen said in a soft voice, looking
thoughtfully at her daughter as she fished.
Armada shot a
questioning look at her parents.
“Your mother and
I must soon leave for Heathertown to take care of some urgent business,” the
King muttered, casting his own hook into the water.
Armada stared in
surprise at her parents.
“You must of
course continue your studies, so unfortunately you cannot come with us. So what
we were wondering was whether you would be able to manage here, while we were
away? We would be gone for a few weeks at most,” the King said quickly, staring
tensely at the fishing float in the water, which was twitching.
Armada’s eyes
lit up, as she cried out excitedly:
“Oh yes, I’ll
manage!”
The Queen shot
Armada a questioning stare. The King, meanwhile, tried to shush her, pointing
at his float, which promptly stopped twitching.
“I mean I would
try hard to,” Armada added, determined to appear less happy. Right then, she
lifted up a fine eel, shining in the colours of the rainbow, which muttered:
“Oh no, I fell
for it again.”
The Princess
pried the eel off the hook, letting it back into the water. Then she looked
carefully at her parents.
The Queen
continued in a serious tone:
“Armada, you do
understand that you would be acting as the representative of the royal family
during our visit? That is a big responsibility for a girl of your age. Of
course, we would leave the decisions to the royal advisor, but you would still
be playing an important role. You alone would have to serve as an example for
all the inhabitants of the castle.”
Armada affected
a yawn, dropping the hook back into the water.
“So are you sure
you’re fine with staying behind at Star Castle?" The King asked, frowning.
“We would be leaving already in a few weeks.”
“Don’t worry.
I’ll manage,” Armada answered with a cheerful smile.
The King’s lure
still got no bites, but Armada’s float started to twitch once more. She lifted
a dafteel sparkling with vivid colours that looked very much like the one she
had caught only moments before.
“Oh no, I fell
for it again,” the eel repeated mournfully.
Armada released
the beautiful creature back into the water, replacing her fishing rod. After
news like these, she was quite unable to concentrate on fishing.
“We would only be
willing to leave you behind in the castle on one condition,” the Queen said in
a stern voice. “You must promise that you will never, not in any way, defy the
prophecy.”
Armada crossed
her fingers behind her back, quickly answering:
“Of course not,
mother. I wouldn’t even dream of doing such a thing.”
The King and
Queen smiled, looking at their daughter in relief.
(more chapters available on demand)
Translation by Arttu Ahava.
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