Sky Horses: the Royal Foal Read online

  As she and Chloe practised, she made it rain in different places and began practising how to move rainclouds around and make the rain heavier or lighter.

  ‘That’s really good,’ said Chloe, looking impressed as Erin made a raincloud change from drizzling to pouring and then back to drizzling.

  ‘Thanks.’ Erin smiled. ‘It feels much easier tonight.’

  ‘I bet that’s because you believe you’ll be able to do it now,’ said Chloe. ‘Xanthe always says that’s the most important thing with magic.’

  Xanthe was Chloe’s godmother. She was an adult stardust spirit and she had helped them the night before when they had set Tor free. Unfortunately she didn’t live close by. That morning she’d had to return to Devon where she lived with her daughter, Allegra, but she had promised to come back again as soon as she could.

  Chloe put out a fire she had made with a wave of her hand. ‘Let’s have a race!’

  Erin laughed, glad to have a chance to play. She flew after Chloe and together they swooped through the sky.

  *

  When Erin woke up the next morning, the sun was shining through her window and the house was already alive with its usual noise. The TV in the lounge was showing a football programme and from the kitchen there was the sound of a sports station playing on the radio. Jake, her twelve-year-old stepbrother, was shouting down the stairs to her dad about a tennis tournament he was playing in that day.

  Rubbing her eyes, she got up. Sam and Ben, her other two stepbrothers, were in the kitchen. They were eating huge bowls of cereal and talking about windsurfing.

  ‘Pity there’s no wind today,’ Ben commented, looking out of the window. ‘We won’t have a chance to get up on the boards.’

  The sky was a perfect blue without a single cloud in sight. Erin felt a wave of relief as she looked at it. It looked like Marianne hadn’t started trying to use Mistral to cause chaos with the weather yet. That seemed a bit strange. Only a few days ago massive storms had been threatening. Why was everything so calm? She shrugged to herself, deciding to just feel glad that it was.

  ‘You going horse riding today, squirt?’ Sam asked her.

  ‘Yep,’ she said, getting a muffin out of the bread bin.

  There was the sound of feet thundering on the stairs and Jake burst into the kitchen. He had a tennis ball in his hand. He chucked it at Ben, who caught it easily and chucked it back, making Erin duck as it almost hit her head. Jake grabbed it and, pushing past Erin, swiped the muffin.

  ‘Hey! I was going to have that!’ she protested.

  ‘And now you’re not!’ Jake grinned, taking a huge bite. He picked up a carton of orange juice from the table and drank it straight from the spout.

  ‘Jake! You know Jo hates you doing that!’ Erin exclaimed.

  ‘Who’s going to tell her?’ Jake challenged.

  ‘Tell me what?’ Jo, Erin’s stepmum, came into the kitchen.

  ‘Nothing, Mum,’ Jake said with a grin, hastily putting the carton down.

  Jo looked at Erin. ‘Nothing,’ Erin agreed. Her stepbrothers could be really annoying – especially Jake – but most of the time she got on OK with them and she didn’t want to get them into trouble.

  Jo went over to the kettle. ‘What are you doing at the stables today?’ she asked Erin.

  ‘Well, there’s a new pony,’ said Erin, trying to turn her thoughts to normal things and away from magic. ‘He’s called Kestrel and he’s gorgeous. He arrived yesterday. I really want to ride him. No one’s ridden him in a lesson yet, but Jackie said one of us could try him out today. I really hope I get to…’

  Erin’s voice was drowned out as behind her Sam and Ben started arguing about whether they would go swimming or play cricket seeing as they couldn’t windsurf, and Jake turned the radio up.

  ‘I’ll give you a lift to the stables in half an hour,’ Jo said, above the noise.

  Erin nodded and thankfully left the noisy kitchen to go and get dressed.

  When Erin got to Hawthorn Stables, she headed to the tack room to put away her lunchbox. Fran and Katie, two of the other helpers and Erin’s ex-best friends, were in there. They glanced up as she came in.

  ‘Hi,’ muttered Erin.

  ‘Hi,’ said Katie briefly.

  Fran didn’t say anything. She had short blonde hair and big blue eyes. Katie was much taller with brown hair tied back in a ponytail. They went to the same school as Erin and she used to be friends with them, but a few months ago they had found out that she was going to go to a different secondary school from them in September and since then they had been leaving her out and being mean to her.

  Erin tried to pretend she didn’t care, but she did. She’d been very glad when she had met Chloe a week ago and become best friends with her. They didn’t go to the same school at the moment, but at least they went riding together now and could meet at night time as stardust spirits.

  Now she had to step over Fran and Katie’s legs to put her lunchbox away, and, although Katie shifted her feet out of the way slightly, Fran didn’t budge. She just stared at her, almost as if she was daring Erin to ask her to move. Erin could feel herself blushing.

  She put her lunchbox down and Fran lifted her leg. She smirked as Erin stumbled against one of the saddles.

  ‘I wonder who we’ll get to ride in the lesson today,’ said Katie.

  ‘I really want to ride Kestrel,’ replied Fran. ‘Jackie says he’s brilliant at jumping.’ She looked at Erin. ‘Bet you won’t get to ride him ever. Jackie usually gives you all the ancient ponies, like old Wilf.’ She grinned. Wilf was the oldest and slowest pony at the stables.

  Erin heard Chloe calling her outside. She went out to meet her.

  ‘Hiya!’ said Chloe.

  Jackie looked out of the office. ‘Hey, you two, could you bring in Pippin and Kestrel for me, please? They’re in the top field.’

  ‘Sure,’ Chloe replied. ‘Who are we going to ride today, Jackie?’

  ‘You’ll be on Smoky, Chloe, and I thought you could ride Kestrel today, Erin.’

  Erin felt a rush of delight. So she was going to ride him after all! Chloe grinned at her.

  When they reached the field, Erin called Kestrel’s name. He lifted his head and walked over with his ears pricked. He was a beautiful pony with a dished face, large dark eyes and a long silky forelock. Erin clipped on his lead rope and he pushed his nose affectionately against her shoulder.

  Chloe joined her with Pippin, and they led the two ponies back to the yard. When they got there, Fran and Katie came over. Fran gave Erin a sour look. ‘Jackie says you’re riding Kestrel. Well, I bet you won’t be able to cope with him. Jackie told me he’s really lively.’

  Erin blushed and turned to go, but Chloe had overheard. ‘Of course Erin will be able to cope,’ she said loyally. ‘She’s a much better rider than you, Fran!’

  ‘Let’s go, Chloe,’ said Erin, tugging Chloe’s arm. She hated arguments. Chloe frowned and for a moment Erin thought she was going to argue further, but then she gave in and they led the ponies away.

  ‘I don’t know why you don’t stand up to those two more,’ said Chloe. ‘You should just tell them to get lost when they’re mean to you.’

  Erin wished she could, but she always worried that if she said anything back then Fran and Katie would be even nastier. It was easier just to keep quiet. However, she knew Chloe wouldn’t understand that. Chloe was so brave and never frightened of anyone or anything.

  ‘Just forget it,’ she sighed. ‘Let’s get grooming.’

  An hour later, Erin was riding proudly round the ring on Kestrel. At first he was very well behaved, but as they started to trot he began to shake his head and try to catch up with Misty in front of him. Erin struggled to slow him down.

  ‘Steady, boy,’ she whispered. But he didn’t listen; he pulled at the reins and went faster, almost bumping into Misty. She put her ears back and squealed, and Katie, who was riding her, gave Erin a cross look.

  Erin circl
ed Kestrel into a space. He almost bounded into a canter. She pulled on the reins.

  ‘Are you OK, Erin?’ asked Jackie.

  ‘Yes, fine!’ gasped Erin, going red as everyone looked at her.

  To her relief, Jackie told them all to walk again and Erin began to get Kestrel more under control, but then Jackie told them to trot.

  Kestrel speeded up. Erin’s throat tightened. She closed her fingers on the reins. He threw his head up and down, making her wobble in the saddle.

  ‘Keep him steady, Erin,’ warned Jackie.

  Kestrel shied. Erin lost a stirrup and grabbed at his mane. Feeling her hold loosen on the reins, Kestrel plunged forward. Erin tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. He set off round the ring at a canter.

  ‘Whoa!’ Erin gasped, pulling on the reins, but he was too strong. She couldn’t stop him!

  ‘Sit down in the saddle, Erin!’ Jackie shouted. ‘Turn him in a circle!’

  Erin’s heart pounded as Kestrel raced past the other ponies and veered round the corner. His legs slipped and she thought he was going to fall over. She pulled as hard as she could on the left rein. He started to turn. She kept pulling and as he circled he began to slow down. With a snort, he dropped back to a trot. Feeling sick, Erin halted him.

  Jackie strode over. ‘Are you OK?’

  Erin nodded, trying to blink back the tears that were prickling her eyes. She caught Chloe’s sympathetic look.

  ‘I said he was too lively for you to ride,’ Katie muttered from Misty’s back.

  Jackie didn’t hear. ‘You did very well to stop him, Erin,’ she said. ‘I never expected him to be so lively. I should have lunged him before the lesson. Look, why don’t you take him in and tack Wilf up?’

  Erin slid off his back. Her legs were trembling so much that as her feet met the ground she almost fell over. She caught Kestrel’s saddle to steady herself and Fran sniggered.

  ‘Take him in and come back as quickly as you can,’ Jackie told her.

  Erin put Kestrel in his stable and, after giving him a quick, nervous look, she tacked Wilf up. She rode into the school and joined in behind Katie. Katie looked round and smirked at her. Erin felt her cheeks burn and looked away. She caught sight of a long grey hair from Kestrel’s mane caught on the back of her glove, and an image of Tor telling her to take a hair from his mane the night before flashed quickly into her mind. She felt a little better as she imagined what Fran and Katie would say if they knew she was a stardust spirit with special powers who was friends with a sky stallion.

  Oh, she thought. If only they knew.

  CHAPTER

  Three

  ‘How was your day at the stables?’ asked Jo when she collected Erin that afternoon. ‘Did you have a good lesson?’

  ‘Mmm.’ Erin didn’t want to talk about Kestrel cantering off with her, so she changed the subject. ‘What have you been doing?’

  ‘I went out for a bike ride with your dad this morning,’ Jo replied. ‘Then I went round to see Aunt Alice. She’s going to have supper with us tonight. I thought we could pick her up in the car now to save her walking to ours.’

  Aunt Alice was Jo’s great-aunt. She was very old and she moved very stiffly now, but she still lived in her own cottage and her mind was very sharp. Erin often went to visit her with Jo, and Aunt Alice would tell her all sorts of amazing stories about the past.

  They drew up outside the house. Erin jumped out of the car. ‘Hi!’ she said, as Aunt Alice opened the cottage door.

  ‘Hello, dear,’ said Aunt Alice. ‘How were the horses today?’

  ‘Oh, fine,’ said Erin quickly.

  ‘I remember when I was eleven,’ said Aunt Alice, getting her coat. ‘My friend Dolly lived on a farm and she had three ponies…’

  ‘Solo, Finch and Beauty,’ Erin said, following her. She’d heard about the ponies Aunt Alice used to ride many times before.

  Aunt Alice smiled. ‘That’s right. We used to take them on to the beach. One day we rode out to Four Rocks, but the tide came in and cut us off. We had to swim back to the beach on the ponies.’

  Erin had heard this story too. ‘I thought that happened when you had a picnic by the rocks at World’s End?’ she said.

  ‘Four Rocks is just another name for World’s End, dear,’ said Aunt Alice.

  ‘But why was it called Four Rocks?’ asked Erin, thinking about World’s End where there were two straight stones that jutted into the sky and one giant hagstone with a hole big enough for an adult to climb through. They were on a spit of land not far from where Aunt Alice lived. ‘There are only three rocks.’

  Aunt Alice looked puzzled. ‘You know, I can’t remember why it was called Four Rocks. But I always liked going there.’

  Erin wondered what Aunt Alice would say if she knew that the giant round stone was the gateway between their world and the world of the sky horses. It was there that Marianne had captured Mistral.

  ‘Anyway, enough of my old memories,’ said Aunt Alice with a smile. ‘Let’s get into the car and you can tell me all about what you’ve been doing today.’

  Erin nodded. Apart from Kestrel, she added in her head.

  As Erin got ready for bed that night, she found the hair from Tor’s mane and wound it round the strap of her watch. It would be easier to carry around that way, and she wanted to keep it with her in case she needed to talk to him. Then she went to the window in her room where there was a small dark wooden box. It had belonged to her real mum and was full of hagstones. Erin’s dad had given it to Erin almost eight years ago when her mum had died. Erin had always liked it, but now she knew how special it was. The ability to be a weather weaver passed down from mother to daughter, which meant her mum would have been a weather weaver too. It was a very weird thought.

  There was a piece of paper near the top of the box. Erin took it out. It had five lines written on it:

  When the dark one returns, the door shall

  be reopened

  And danger will threaten all living below.

  If the binding is broken, they can be

  protected,

  But one coming willingly lets the dark’s

  power grow

  Until…

  Erin had always wondered what the lines meant. The night before last, Xanthe had said she thought they were the start of a weather-weaving prophecy – a prophecy that now seemed to be coming true. Marianne was the dark spirit whose power was growing, and Mistral was the one who had come through willingly.

  It looked as if someone had spilt a drink on the paper as some of the words were washed away. Erin wondered what else the prophecy had said.

  Idly thinking about it, and worrying about how she was going to do weather-weaving magic that night, she let her fingers run through the stones and took a white one out of the box. It was one of her mum’s. Erin knew because her mum’s stones somehow felt different from the stones she had collected herself. They seemed to almost buzz with energy when she held them. The single hole in the centre was a dark shadow. As she stared at the hole, the edges of the room around her seemed to go hazy.

  For a moment the thought flashed across her mind that she should put the stone down, but the hole in the centre of the stone seemed to pull at her eyes. The smooth surface tingled beneath her fingers.

  Excitement filled her. Maybe she could work out where Marianne was on her own.

  How cool would that be? She imagined how pleased Tor would be, and almost before she realized what she was doing she instinctively whispered a name: ‘Marianne’.

  The darkness seemed to explode and suddenly she wasn’t looking at a shadowy hole but at a picture – a moving image. It looked like the inside of a cave. There were rocky walls and an opening through which Erin could see the sea. Although part of her knew she was still in her bedroom, she could hear the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks, hear the faint cry of a lone gull in the sky, smell the seaweed in the air. There was a white circle on the floor of the cave and a woman kneeling out
side it. Her long blonde hair snaked down the back of her silvery-blue dress.

  Marianne! The thought leapt into Erin’s head.

  The woman turned and her eyes seemed to look straight at Erin. She had a hagstone in her hand. ‘Come!’ she said quietly.

  Erin hesitated. She knew that it was a bad idea, but the vision seemed to be pulling her in. No, she thought, trying to fight the urge.

  Marianne’s blue eyes met hers. ‘Erin, come here.’

  Her voice was soft; her smile looked reassuringly familiar. Erin’s resistance melted and she stepped forward into the vision…

  CHAPTER

  Four

  Erin’s world turned black. For a moment, she felt herself falling and then she landed in a heap on the ground, with damp rock beneath her hands. She blinked and glanced around. She was in a cave. There was only a split second to take in the sound of waves crashing on the rocks outside before Marianne stepped in front of her. The softness had vanished from her face.

  Panic gripped Erin. She scrambled to her feet, aware of the cold air on her bare skin.

  ‘Bind her!’ The word hissed out of the dark spirit’s mouth.

  Erin found she couldn’t move. It was as if a giant iron fist was holding her fast. Marianne muttered a string of words. Out of nowhere, white strands of mist appeared. They wound around Erin like a cobweb. As her hands were pinned against her body, Marianne walked over and plucked the seeing stone that Erin was still clutching out of her hand.

  ‘I have been waiting for you, Erin. I thought you would try to find me. Your powers are strong even if you do not yet know how to use them.’ She regarded Erin coolly. ‘What shall I do with you now?’

  Erin tried to struggle, but the misty cobwebs held her fast.

  Marianne laughed at her attempts to break free. ‘I could take your stardust or I could just keep you here. Your body would be found in your bedroom on the floor, living and breathing – but it would seem as if you’d left it. Your mind would be gone.’