“All ready,men?” Glum faces nodded in assent. No one was up for the challenge, but they had no choice. Their very livelihood was threatened, so something had to be done.
“Off on a fool’s errand, if ye ask me,” muttered Merfi, falling into step alongside Ohraygan as they marched off.
“You think so?” Ohraygan glanced at her uniform. The fine green corduroy was pressed smartly, the buttons polished so brightly that she had half expected to be told to blacken them. She looked around at her comrades: none of them looked particularly thrilled but then, she had always been the one to enjoy dressing up.
“Yeah, of course. We’d have found it by now if it was there for the finding. No, it’s long gone.”
“Where to? I thought there had been rumours that it was still in the Mother Country – isn’t that why we’re here?”
“Bejaysus, surely on me ma’s grave will some rascal have smuggled it out by now, Some smart city boy will have got an export licence and sent it across to the other side of the Union. Probably even got a cash incentive for new trade, I’ll be sure.”
“Silence in the ranks!” The column halted, so suddenly that Ohraygan was startled into taking an extra step, scuffing her shoes on the heels of the recruit in front. “Disperse!”
The soldiers silently scattered to either side of the metalled track they had been marching along. Ohraygan winced as she slid into the ditch, trying to avoid the mud. The rain had stopped long since, but there was still water lying on the bog, puddles glinting here and there. The country had been sodden for weeks, with no respite from the relentless downpours. Drainage ditches had been dug, taking all the water they could, but still it came. The sun had vanished: it was hard to believe that it had ever shone at all. Without it, there was no chance of the water drying up. This mission was a last desperate attempt to restore the natural order and bring the country back to normality.
From where she lay, Ohraygan could hear nothing. Then it began. Merfi gripped his spade, tensing at the approaching noise. It was unlike anything Ohraygan had ever heard before, but it completely beguiled her.
The tinkling was the sweetest sound she had ever heard. It was as if thousands of tiny bells were all ringing at once, creating a melody which rose and soared into the air, free from the mud and the damp. Peeping up, Ohraygan blinked, rubbed her eyes, blinked again. Dancing down the track, barely seeming to touch the ground, were hundreds of fairies. Dressed in gossamer, the pastel hues of their dresses moved and merged as one. They looked like nothing as much as an ethereal, shimmering rainbow.
There was a sharp intake of breath beside her. “Look – there it is!” Merfi pointed, his hand shaking, his face so pale it was positively green. Following his sharp little finger, Ohraygan saw it. In hundreds of tiny hands, a rainbow swooshed and whirled in streamers over the fairies heads. The wind seemed to be trying to snatch it, but it was held fast, tangling and twisting until the colours blurred into a white that had become grey.
Ohraygan waited. Surely it would come into sight soon. Then, as a knot of fairies drew nearer, her pulse quickened. This must be it.
At the signal, the leprechaun army erupted from the sides of the track like lava spilling over the side of the volcano. Within seconds, the fairies were surrounded. Fury was written over many of the soldiers’ faces, but discipline held them in check. The King, mounted on a huge toad, spurred up to the head of the fairy column.
“Bring forth your leader!” he commanded. The fairy crowd shivered, colours mingling, then flashing brighter as a gap appeared and the Queen stepped forward. The gold crown on her head was impressive, but even without it she would have been the most beautiful being ever seen.
“Madam.” The King bowed. “You know what we have come for. Please return it to us, then we can let you go on your way.”
“Return it?” The Queen’s voice, silvery soft, echoed her amazement. “It does not belong to you, so how can we return what is not yours? In any case, how can creatures as ugly and careless as you be responsible for our treasure?”
“You are right,” replied the King, “we are not worthy of it. Yet we have been given the guardianship. See for yourself what happens when it is out of our hands. The country is flooded. The crops will soon lie ruined in the fields. And, once the world hears what has happened, the economy will collapse. No longer will adventurers come here to try their luck. No longer will tourists flock in amazement, spending their time and then their money in the gift shops on lucky charms, lucky bracelets and so on. Even our exports, what is left of them, will lie on the world market, unsold. The rainbow has to return and so, with it, the Promise.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” the Queen smiled, a mischievous glint in her eye. “We only wanted to borrow it for our millennium party anyway.” She clicked her fingers. Immediately, a rustling in the fairy ranks began as the fairies started pulling the rainbow into coils, reducing it to a shimmering heap. “But I can’t give it to any of your soldiers,” she added, casting a stern eye over the Rainbow Warriors. To a man, their faces were blackened and their camouflage gear was covered in mud. Then she caught sight of Ohraygan. “Come here, Private.”
Ohraygan stepped hesitantly forward. Her uniform was still neatly pressed, the buttons still shiny.
The Queen beckoned, and Ohraygan found herself clutching it in her arms, wrapped in all the colours of the rainbow. The Pot of Gold.
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