“Oi, Merida, wait!” Young Macintosh called as he scrambled up to follow her. “Where are you going?”

“I just told you,” Merida replied, pushing some tall reeds out of her way. “I’m going to find the source of the Fire Falls.”

“But…today? Now?” Young Macintosh said doubtfully. He glanced back toward the castle. “Shouldn’t we go back for the Rites? Your mum—”

“If you’re ’feert, go back to DunBroch,” Merida teased. “I’m sure you can manage to find your way.”

“I’ve never been ’feert in my life,” Young Macintosh bragged, puffing out his chest. “Even as a wee baby!”

“Oh, really?” Merida teased him. “Because I noticed that you didn’t drink from the Fire Falls during our climb, and I couldn’t figure out why. Of course, most people would be ’feert to lean backward from such a height—”

“I wasn’t ’feert,” Young Macintosh scoffed.

Merida and Young Macintosh kept bickering as they walked along the twisting stream. The shrubs grew thicker, full of brambles and wild berries. Merida stepped carefully to avoid the thorns. Soon, the bushes were so dense that it was difficult to see anything but dark green leaves all around her. Her heart started pounding in her chest as she pushed the branches aside. She knew that they were near the source of the Fire Falls.

Then Merida stopped short. She found herself standing at the edge of an ordinary-looking loch. Not a bird chirped; not a beetle buzzed. There was a strange stillness around the loch, as if it hadn’t been disturbed for ages.

Young Macintosh’s voice shattered the silence. “Not much to see here,” he announced. “Just a regular loch, isn’t it?” Young Macintosh picked up a pebble and threw it from the shore. The stone skimmed across the water, leaving rippling circles behind it. The ripples vanished almost as quickly as they had appeared.

Merida stared at the water in silence.

“Is something wrong?” Young Macintosh finally asked her.

“I thought it would be something more,” Merida replied. “I fancied we would have an adventure, but the source of the Fire Falls is nothing more than…a common loch, isn’t it?”

Merida leaned down to skim her fingers through the loch. The water was surprisingly cool, even though the day had grown quite warm.

When she stood up again, Merida leaned against a boulder that was covered with flowering vines. She turned away so that Young Macintosh wouldn’t see how disappointed she was. As she turned, her shoe caught on a root, causing her to lose her footing for a moment.

She had put her hand on some vines to regain her balance, but the vines broke away. Merida stumbled backward and disappeared, swallowed up by a dark hole.

“Merida!” Young Macintosh yelled with concern. He charged toward the spot where Merida had been standing just moments ago. “Oi! Where are you?” he called into the darkness.

“I’m here,” Merida’s voice called out, with a strange echo following it. “There’s a cave behind the vines. And you’ll never believe what I’ve found!”

“What’s back there?” Young Macintosh asked.

“The real source of the Fire Falls,” Merida replied. “That loch wasn’t the source at all. Come see for yourself!”

Young Macintosh had no choice but to follow her. He stepped carefully into the cavern, holding on to the rocky wall with one hand for support. At first, it was very dark inside. If he strained his ears, he could hear a faint trickle of water.

Young Macintosh found Merida kneeling in the very center of the cave near a pool of water. Her hands were cupped around something that glowed. The golden light flickered over her face.

“Look at this,” Merida whispered. “Have you ever, in all your life, seen anything like it?”

“What have you got there?” Young Macintosh asked as he crouched next to Merida to get a better look. He saw a rough stone ledge in the middle of a shallow pool of water. Someone had carved a design along the edge of the stone. It looked like a chain of knots that were linked together by oval-shaped loops.

At that moment, Merida moved her hands, flooding the cave with a beautiful light. Young Macintosh blinked in surprise at two large, glowing emeralds sitting on the ledge in front of them.

“These emeralds—someone must have put them here,” Merida said.

“Look at the water seeping onto the stone,” Young Macintosh said. “It must come from underground.”

“The water swirls around the emeralds and trickles off the ledge,” Merida realized. “Then it flows down through the loch and becomes the Fire Falls!”

With one finger, Merida cautiously reached out to touch the emeralds. “I’ve never seen emeralds glow like this. They must be very lucky.”

“Lucky? Why’s that?” asked Young Macintosh.

“Because emeralds bring good luck, of course,” Merida replied. “Everyone knows that.”

Young Macintosh started to laugh. “No, that’s all wrong,” he said confidently. “My father told me that emeralds are a symbol of power. In ancient times, lords paid tribute to great kings with emeralds. My father said that one king’s vault had more than a thousand sparkling emeralds inside!”

Now it was Merida’s turn to laugh. “A thousand emeralds? There can’t be that many in all the land!” she exclaimed.

Young Macintosh glared at her. “I suppose you think you know more than my father, then—the great ruler of the Macintosh clan!”

“Your father is as mistaken as you are,” Merida said firmly. “Emeralds have always been lucky for our people.”

Then, to Merida’s surprise, Young Macintosh grabbed one of the emeralds! He jammed it into the pouch attached to his kilt.

“Put that back!” Merida ordered.

“I’ll do no such thing,” he said. “Emeralds mean power, and I’m bringing this back for my father. The Macintosh clan will be stronger than ever!”

Merida’s eyes flashed angrily. “Then I’ll be taking this one,” she said as she plucked the other emerald from the ledge. She shoved it into the leather pouch on her belt. The emerald was so large that Merida couldn’t completely close the pouch’s drawstring around it. “And you can see for yourself the good luck it will bring to all of the people of DunBroch!”

Merida and Young Macintosh made their way out of the cave, arguing all the way back to DunBroch Castle.

With the emeralds hidden in their pouches, neither one noticed that the gems had stopped glowing.