GALLERY

The Black Diamond Race

India, 1920s

Mr. K (Elmo Van Der Graaf – the villain of this story), is an ambiguous businessman of South African origin, with a past that is definitely not spotless. A shamaness he has known since childhood, who passed on her tribal and black magic beliefs to him, revealed that merging the energy of four diamonds can create an incredibly powerful magnetic field, which then activate a connection with immortal entities capable of answering any and all questions about the future.

Four diamonds in four countries

Mr. K is devising a plan to seize four famous and precious diamonds: the Regency (located in France), the Florentine (which has gone missing), the Green Dresden (in Germany) and the Black Diamond (in India). However, simply owning the four diamonds isn’t enough to reap the benefits of their power. The new owner can only claim them by winning a race against their rightful owners.

Thanks to some detective work, Mr. K discovers that the heirs of the diamonds’ rightful owners have something in common: a passion for car racing. He also discovers that not all the heirs are aware of their connection to their specific diamonds (in fact, the Florentine heir is uncovered thanks to the shamaness’ clairvoyance).

The origins of the Black Diamond

Mr. K begins his quest with the Indian Black Diamond, which is in the hands of Maharaja Singh. The Maharaja also collects cars, so Mr. K challenges him to a car race. If the Maharaja wins, Mr. K will give him the remaining three diamonds. On the other hand, if Mr. K finishes first, the Black Diamond will be turned over to him. 

The Maharaja has mixed feelings at first (he does not know whether to trust his competitor, especially since the other three diamonds belong to museum collections and, as tempting as it may be to own them, that would mean being accomplice to a theft), but the Maharaja convinces himself that Mr. K will never get his hands on the three diamonds, and thus accepts the challenge. To convince him even further, Mr. K offers him a priceless antique dagger to clinch the deal.

The car race

Mr. K gives the rules: the two teams will race across India with four crews each. The Maharaja’s teen-age children will drive one of the four cars (his daughter Rani has a deep-rooted passion for racing, even if her father has always opposed it), but who will be the other members of their team?

So the Maharaja’s children set off for Europe in search of four cars, crews and three drivers to hire for their team. With Mr. K secretly moving his pawns around at a distance, the kids unknowingly find themselves hiring the unsuspecting heirs of the rightful owners of the three remaining diamonds.

Mr. K’s henchmen act on three fronts: first, they want to control the youngster’s search for car drivers, and also make sure their cars aren’t unbeatable. Then, they try to steal the newest patents from the car manufacturers that the Maharaja’s children turn to during their search, so that they can further improve Mr. K’s four cars. Mr. K’s thugs also steal the three other diamonds, replacing them with fakes. These thefts will occur throughout the storyline and during the race itself (which will have different legs with stopovers between each one).

A race full of plot twists

Once the teams have been put together, the race begins. Mr. K plays dirty: during the race he threatens irreparable damage if the Maharaja’s team wins. The Maharaja is thus aware that he must lose in order to avoid a disaster. He doesn’t inform his children of this checkmate, because he knows that if he wants to save his people, the race must go on according to the rules. Also, worrying the youngsters would be useless and counter-productive.

The Maharaja secretly tries to boycott his own team too. At first, the team thinks it’s the opponents damaging them. Then, they realise that something is off. The Maharaja’s children will uncover some truths and try to figure out just how Mr. K is threatening their father.

Little by little, the youngsters manage to uncover the link between the diamonds and their race; the connections between the diamonds and their team members are gradually revealed too.

The Maharaja’s children succeed in thwarting Mr. K’s attack, but this “distraction” leads them to risk losing the race…