Chapter 17: Dealing With the Forces of Evil

Back inside White Diamond's castle, Jasper, Eyeball and Aquamarine eventually regained their composure but were frustrated with how Jamie and the fairies had managed to escape.

"I told you we should've had guards watching him," Jasper scolded her colleagues. "That way, the fairies would've been caught more easily."

"That says a lot coming from you," replied Aquamarine crossly. "Considering how the green one treated you like a ragdoll, even guards probably wouldn't have been enough."

But before their argument could escalate any further, Eyeball stopped them.

"Don't you think that we should be going after those pesky fairies instead of squabbling amongst ourselves," the red minion suggested. "That way we can stop them from reaching the princess in time and make every single one of them our prisoners."

Jasper and Aquamarine agreed, to which the former pulled the inside lever, reopening the gate. Then all three minions spread out their wings and began to hunt down the rescue party.

Elsewhere, the fairies and stable hands had made significant progress, having already covered a quarter of their journey towards Blue Diamond's castle. Along the way, Jamie had numerous conversations with the fairies regarding Lapis and how the kingdom saw her in a positive light.

"She's a wonderful friend," Steven told him. "Lapis will always listen to what you have to say and also takes the feelings of others into consideration before her own."

Whilst Jamie was thrilled by what he was told, he also felt a sense of sadness in his heart, knowing how Lapis willingly placed herself under White Diamond's curse to ensure his safety. However, this also increased his motivation in wanting to save her, as a repayment for the kind yet heavy-hearted sacrifice she made for him. As they continued travelling, Jamie asked Peridot a burning question regarding his rescue.

"I say Peridot," he asked. "Why didn't you or Bismuth use that levitation spell on Jasper, to begin with? Surely it would have made my rescue easier."

"Yeah, we could have," the green fairy replied sarcastically. "But I thought it would be funny to take the mick out of a mean brute like her and put her in her place."

"Too bad it won't be happening again!" boomed a familiar voice.

Everyone looked around and to their shock, they saw Jasper, Eyeball and Aquamarine flying high above, having caught up with them.

"This time we're going to make sure that all nine of you pay for your actions," the light blue minion spoke. "Thereby setting an example for others who wish to meddle with our mistress' plans."

The rescue party was shaken, for they didn't want to fight the three minions as it would further hinder their progress. Luckily Pearl had an idea.

"Bismuth, Peridot, Steven," she instructed. "I want you to escort the stable hands to Blue Diamond's castle, whilst Garnet, Amethyst and I deal with these three pests."

"But what if you get hurt or captured?" Steven replied.

"Don't worry Steven," Garnet added. "We won't let that happen. Now go, and hurry."

And so, Steven, Jamie and the others continued their journey, whilst Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl stayed behind to deal with the three minions.

"So, you've chosen to give yourselves up to allow those human runts to escape," Jasper mocked. "How pathetic."

"That's untrue," Pearl retorted. "We're going to make you pay for your crime of kidnapping Jamie and how you hurt Steven's feelings earlier."

"Alright then," Aquamarine scoffed. "Give us everything you've got, foolish fairies."

Soon the fairies and minions were in close combat with one another, with the former attempting to direct their magic towards the latter, but Jasper, Eyeball and Aquamarine kept successfully dodging their attacks through flight. However, Jasper soon had a malevolent idea, for she saw this distraction as an ample opportunity for her to capture Jamie and the others. She looked down and saw that they were making their way to the forest. Without warning, she charged directly at them from above, which alerted the rescue party as well as Eyeball and Aquamarine.

"I've got you now!" Jasper cried as she flew closer and closer at Jamie, much to his horror. But just as the stable boy positioned his shield to try and soften Jasper's impact, Garnet aimed her wand and with a wave, her magic hit the orange minion directly. To everyone's surprise, Garnet's magic had petrified Jasper into stone. Eyeball and Aquamarine were furious, angered that their colleague had been defeated by a simple magic spell.

"You'll pay for what you've done!" Eyeball scolded. "Just wait until White Diamond hears about this!"

And so, the two minions flew back towards White Diamond's castle to alert their mistress, determined to make the fairies suffer greatly. Whilst Garnet and Pearl felt they had done enough to thwart them, Amethyst, however, had other ideas.

"You guys go rejoin the others," she instructed. "I'm going to take care of those two."

"You will do no such thing," argued Pearl. "We've got to reach Lapis, and we've already wasted enough time dealing with them already."

"Well, I'm not letting them alert White Diamond!" Amethyst retorted crossly. "They've made us suffer enough with their tricks, and I don't want them to ruin our chance of victory any further!"

Garnet and Pearl were silent for a few moments, shocked by the lavender fairy's response and her determination to ensure they succeeded. Soon Garnet, who felt that Amethyst proved a viable point, broke the silence and told her to pursue Eyeball and Aquamarine to stop them from telling White Diamond.

"Just remember, once you've stopped them, rejoin us immediately," the magenta fairy spoke to which Amethyst agreed.

So, as her two colleagues headed into the forest, Amethyst dashed after the two minions, who by now had quickly made it back to White Diamond's castle, where they began shouting to their sleeping mistress about Jamie's escape. But the lavender fairy soon caught up with them.

"Oh no you don't," she whispered, as she began firing numerous specs of magic at them from her wand.

Frightened, Aquamarine and Eyeball did their best to dodge Amethyst's attacks, all whilst continuing to cry out to their mistress. But soon, with one last wave of her wand, the lavender fairy's magic hit the duo, turning them to stone as well. With her task complete, Amethyst rushed back to join the others as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, just as she left, White Diamond emerged from her bedroom to scold her two minions.

"What's with all that noise!" she shouted. "Can't I get at least…"

But before the wicked fairy could finish her sentence, she realised that both Aquamarine and Eyeball had been petrified, looking like a set of demonic gargoyles on the battlements they stood upon. Shocked by what had happened, the wicked fairy looked up ahead and caught a glimpse of Amethyst racing away from her castle. Out of suspicion, she quickly made her way to the highest tower, where she spotted Amethyst flying down towards the forest from a far distance. Recognising that the fairies had likely helped Jamie escape, White Diamond was left outraged, for her curse was now on the verge of being broken.

"I should never have gone to sleep if I knew those fools that I call servants would be going after them," she said to herself. "I will just have to take care of the matter myself."

Just then, a nasty idea came to the wicked fairy's mind, one that would prevent the rescue party from reaching Lapis any further.

"This will put an end to your quest of true love," she spoke as she began to wave her staff in the air, causing the dark sky to be filled with the sounds of thunder and lightning. This drew the rescue party's attention, who were concerned by the sudden change in weather.

"What's going on?" Steven asked. "I wasn't expecting thunder and lightning to cause a problem for us."

"That isn't just any thunder and lightning," Pearl answered, for she and the other fairies knew what was happening.

"Quickly, head for the forest exit!" exclaimed Garnet, as the rescue party began to pick up their pace, all whilst watching the clouds act wildly as White Diamond started to cast a dark spell.

"The princess' days shall be forever doomed, and the castle's highest tower shall remain her tomb," the wicked fairy chanted. "A forest of thorns will ensure this claim, and her true love shall never see light again."

With a flash of lightning, a massive thicket of thorns surrounded Blue Diamond's castle, fencing it off from the kingdom and continuing to grow until it spanned the last quarter of the rescue party's journey. Once Jamie and the others made it out of the forest, the thorns greeted them, thus halting their progress. All whilst they heard the wicked laughter of White Diamond lightly echoing in the distance.

"Darn it," cried Amethyst. "Now how are we going to reach Lapis?"

As they debated a plan, Jamie took one look at his sword and remembered what Garnet had told him about it. Without warning, he swung his sword at the thorns, dismembering them. This gave him an idea.

"Hey everyone," he said. "I can use my sword to create a new pathway for us, which the fairies can assist by using their magic."

"Great idea Jamie," Bismuth replied. "Come on everybody, let's get rid of these troublesome thorns as quickly as possible."

So, the rescue party began to cut their way through the thorns, with the fairies using their magic to make them shrink, whilst Jamie used his sword to chop them down, with Connie and Lars following closely behind him. It took a while, but at last, Jamie could faintly make out Blue Diamond's castle amongst the sea of thorns from a distance.

"Quickly!" he shouted to the others. "I think we're getting closer by the minute."

And with that, the heroes continued to hack their way towards the castle. However, White Diamond had been observing their carnage from afar, noticing how some of her thorns were beginning to disappear quickly.

"No!" she yelled in outrage. "That is one of my most powerful spells, yet even that isn't stopping them!"

With no other viable options left, the wicked fairy knew that there was only one way in which she could get rid of Jamie and ensure that Lapis' slumber remained eternal. So, she teleported away from her castle tower, to confront the rescue party, personally.