Prologue
England, 1590 A.D.
There was nothing left of what had, only hours before, been a green and healthy clearing in the middle of the forest. The earth was burned dry of vegetation, the nearby trees had all fallen down, leaving an ugly, charred wasteland where once there had been beauty. The clearing was silent, as silent as death.
Only one living being stood there, in the middle of the disaster, angry and unsatisfied. He was tall, wore a dark green cloak, and his face was pale and intense. He was the last one standing and it should have made him happy, but his victory had a bitter edge to it: the battle had weakened him considerably and he would need centuries to recover. Also, the war was not over yet: his adversaries had not left this earth before casting one last powerful spell.
"I will wait," he said harshly. "Hundreds of years if I have to, until your rebirth. And once I have found you – " He laughed, long and loud, malicious joy choking up his voice until it sounded barely human.
He stooped down to reach for the four small objects lying on the ground, but drew back suddenly, as if he had burnt his hand trying to touch them.
"So be it," he snarled, his triumphant mood passed away like a cloud covering the sun.
He turned around, threw his cloak over his shoulder, and was gone.
From the opposite side of the clearing, a little bird came down and lighted on the same spot where the stranger had stood: it looked like a swan, but was only the size of a sparrow. It was a female, and she was crying.
With a small pop and a fluff of her feathers, she turned into a tiny winged woman with long white hair and a gown embroidered with feathers. She picked up three of the objects, which were golden rings: a white diamond, a ruby, and a sapphire. To her they were the size of necklaces, so she slipped them over her neck.
Briefly she hesitated, touching the rings with her eyes to the ground. Two tears from her huge dark eyes soaked into the earth at her feet.
"Oh, my Lady," she whispered to herself. "I should have come down and helped. I'm so sorry..."
"Pearl…"
She jumped and turned around; behind her a young man with black hair and wings was standing with his cloak pulled in around him. His own eyes, yellow as the eyes of a bird of prey, were glistening too and his face was like a stone. He was carrying the fourth ring, a black diamond.
"It's not your fault," he said. "I'm the one who knows how to fight. I should have been there with Lord Raven right to the very end, but I stayed away…he made me swear to stay where I was, and I was too weak to refuse."
"Onyx…"
Pearl involuntarily took a step closer and reached out her hand, as if wanting to comfort him.
Onyx looked down at her hand, then into her face, so intensely that she dropped her hand and backed away again. He sighed and rustled his wings.
"I'd better leave, then," he said awkwardly.
Pearl looked as if she were about to say something, then swallowed and nodded at him.
"Yes, well…goodbye, Onyx."
"Goodbye, Pearl."
They looked at each other one last time, then flew away in opposite directions into the early morning sky. Their rings caught the light of the sunrise as the wind quickly carried them out of sight for human eyes.