Faris and Jack

by Melanie Cusick-Jones

  Chapter 10 – The Caves

  Owwwwwwwwwww –

  “Nearly there now mate,” Jack nudged Faris’s shoulder with his long, black nose, interrupting Faris’s thoughts of sore feet, sleep and grumpiness.

  “Nearly where?” Faris whispered suddenly wide-awake, all grumpy thoughts gone from his head. He couldn’t wait to get out of the passageways.

  “You’ll see, you’ll see…” Jack said in a singsong voice grinning. “It’s just around this corner and…Ta-daaa!”

  They rounded the final bend, Faris trotting to keep alongside him. When they stepped into a large open space, his feet faltered and stopped.

  Jack gestured to the surprising scene in front of them with a swing of his head. “Now what do you think to this?”

  Faris couldn’t speak. To be perfectly honest, he couldn’t really believe what he was seeing. The passage they had been walking through had completely disappeared, as had the rock path they had been walking along and the low stone ceiling (that had been so low that Faris couldn’t have sat on Jack or Holly’s back for a break as they walked).

  In front of them was a huge cave, except it wasn’t a cave. It can’t be a cave! Faris thought as he looked up to where the roof should have been. Instead of a stone ceiling – or any ceiling – Faris found himself looking up at what appeared to be the night sky, complete with a crescent moon and bright twinkling stars.

  Faris glanced quickly at Jack, who just grinned back at him.

  What is this place? Faris wondered as he gazed around, trying to take in everything. He might have thought that they were back outside again, except in certain places Faris could see that around the edge, where they now stood, there were holes leading off into other passages and at the closest edges could see the shape of the rock wall behind trees and bushes that spread down the hillside that had appeared in front of them. Finally, Faris managed to speak.

  “What is this place?” he breathed, shaking his head in bewilderment. “I mean…are we inside, or outside, or…I…I…I just don’t get it…” His voice trailed off as he gawped at the unbelievable picture in front of him.

  “You’re kind of right, mate.” Jack replied. “C’mon, let’s get down into the valley, I’ll tell you on the way.”

  “I’ll go ahead and let them know we’re here,” Holly told them. She turned and galloped away, her light tail streaming out behind her as she ran.

  Faris could think of nothing to say and just nodded his head as they began to walk down the gentle, sloping hillside towards the bottom of the valley (still inside the cave!) The path beneath their feet changed from stone to grass and Faris sniffed a little snort of amusement as he noticed this.

  “Time for an explanation I suppose,” Jack said. Faris nodded his head up and down; he was still lost for words. “Now, where should I start? Hmmm…” Jack began mumbling to himself.

  Faris happily ignored Jack’s muttering. He had become quite convinced in the last few minutes, that he must still be at The Foundation, having a very strange, real-seeming dream. If that wasn’t the case, then he was pretty sure that he had gone mad and was hallucinating from too many years of Mrs Ladle’s bad cooking and questionable gruel. Admittedly, this was a pretty big hallucination, but then it was very bad gruel.

  When Jack spoke again, he was using full sentences and so Faris tuned back in. It was only polite to listen to your overactive imagination, after all.

  “Do you remember that I told you an ancient evil was rising in the world and threatening our safety…?” Jack asked.

  Faris nodded, yes, he remembered.

  “And that we might need your help to protect people from it?”

  Faris nodded again.

  “Well, over the past few months, things have started to happen…”

  “What kind of things?” Faris asked.

  Jack’s furry black lips pressed into a line, making him look sad – or maybe even scared, Faris thought. It made him wonder again, if he could really be dreaming something like this – it seemed too complicated to not be real. Could he really have imagined Jack all on his own? Faris didn’t think so. Not really.

  “What kind of things, Jack?” Faris prompted, when the horse didn’t answer straightaway.

  “Things that tell us a great evil we’ve not seen in many years is gaining strength. Magic creatures – cruel, monstrous things – are returning to areas they haven’t been seen in centuries. That wouldn’t be possible if they didn’t have support.” Jack shook his head as he stopped speaking, as if trying to shake away the words.

  “What is it that you think has returned?” Faris asked, trying to make sense of anything he was being told.

  “We don’t know, exactly.” Jack’s front hooves stamped harder into the ground as they walked, showing his frustration. “But, the signs are there – everything points towards evil awakening in our world, we just don’t know what exactly is behind it. These other creatures, they’re usually around and we have to be careful, especially when we’re on The Surface. It’s just that recently it’s changed…they are getting stronger and they seem organised.”

  Jack paused as he collected his thoughts. Faris didn’t interrupt this; he just waited and kept walking. Golden light trickled over them as they followed the mossy path through the trees and Faris marvelled that anything dark or dangerous could threaten such a beautiful, safe place.

  Jack cleared his throat. “When you were talking to Holly, back at the Cave of History did she tell you that there are two types of horses that live in the world now?”

  “She said there are ones that know of the old, magical world – like you – and that there are some that don’t.”

  “That’s right. The horses – or any other animals for that matter – that don’t know about the old world are no use to the monsters that have been preying on us. They don’t have the same type of spirit as we do – they don’t have magical energy in them. It is only our spirit that is of use to these evil creatures and although they have always hunted us, over the past few months it has gotten much worse. They find the magical horses in their hiding places on The Surface and they kill them or sometimes worse…”

  Jack’s voice trailed off and he and Faris walked in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Faris broke the quiet.

  “What are you doing to stop these things? There has to be a way to protect the horses.” Faris gently prompted Jack into continuing his story.

  “There’s not always much that we can do against these creatures. Often, they are big and wild and we have no way to defend ourselves once they’ve found us. Sometimes they are smaller, so we can run away or fight against them. But, even then, many horses have died. It’s getting too dangerous to be on The Surface now – there have been so many attacks. We can’t hide from the truth that the creatures that hunt us are growing stronger. So, now we’ve had to make the decision to leave The Surface – the world you’ve grown up in – and we’re heading to The Core.”

  “The Core?” Faris echoed, he thought Holly might have mentioned something about a core, but he couldn’t be sure.

  “The Core is the protected, magical heart of our world.” Jack replied. “We will all be safe there, with the Seers and other magical creatures. The boundaries are strong and cannot be breached.

  “For us, The Surface is the world where you have lived, Faris. Thousands of years ago, all our people lived on The Surface, but since The Dark War we have often had to return to safety beneath the ground at The Core or in places like this.” Jack nodded his head at the cave walls around them. “We are careful and have been able to live on The Surface along with the people, other horses and animals. We try and teach them about the old world and also help people of power, like you Faris, who have grown up in the other world. But, it’s become too dangerous now for us to stay there.”

  “And that’s why you had to come for me?” Faris wondered out loud.

  “No, that wasn’t why we came.” Jack’s head shoo
k and he turned dark eyes onto the small boy’s face. “I would never have left you in that awful place, if we had known you were there before now. We found you by accident – Holly realised what you were – I didn’t think there would ever be another Hoofer.”

  Faris reached up and patted Jack’s neck. “I’m just glad you found me at all.”

  Jack bobbed his head, accepting the thanks.

  “Do you have any idea what – or who – is behind all this?” Faris asked. Jack’s story was making him nervous, although he tried to hide any fear in his voice when he spoke. “It must be something bad, to be as dangerous as you say.”

  “It’s hard to say.” Jack looked down at his hooves. “All we know for certain, is that the evil we fought in the past has been growing stronger. These last few months it has moved out from the shadows where it has hidden for centuries and begun to attack us in the open.”

  Faris listened to Jack carefully, although he didn’t particularly understand what The Core was, or the evil that was forcing the horses to go there.

  Jack keeps talking about this evil – but what is it?

  At this moment in time Faris couldn’t imagine anyone more horrible than Mister Grimbaldi. But there was a funny feeling at the bottom of his tummy told him that the evil Jack was telling him about was many times worse than the cruel Mister Grimbaldi.

  Just as Faris was about to ask Jack some of the questions bouncing around his head, Holly reappeared at the bottom of path they were walking down, still in her horse form. When she caught sight of them, she charged up the hill to meet them.

  “You’ve got to come quickly Jack, there’s a problem. Not everyone has made it to the Caves.” Holly’s brown horse-eyes were filled with worry and her words tumbled quickly from her lips. She turned away as soon as she finished speaking and galloped back the way she had come.

  When Faris looked at Jack he saw the same look of fear on his long, black face. This was obviously not good news.

  “Come on Faris, get on my back, we’ll get there faster.” Jack’s voice was tense.

  Faris didn’t need telling twice. He grasped Jack’s mane with both hands and pulled himself onto his back, just as Jack started to charge down the hillside after Holly.

  “It so-ounds ser-io-us.” Faris said, his voice breaking up as he bounced around on Jack’s back.

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Jack agreed. He put his head down and ran even faster.

  Faris and Jack reached the bottom of the valley quickly and disappeared into the thick wall of trees that stood at the edge of the wood. A minute later they stood in an empty glade and Faris dismounted, looking around for Holly. After a few seconds she appeared between the trees on the other side of the clearing and without speaking the pair of them followed her deeper into the wood. They had been walking only a minute when Faris heard voices ahead of them. It sounded like a lot of different voices talking at once. And they all sounded worried.

  The voices grew louder as he followed Jack and Holly through the trees. Faris wondered what could have happened to have everyone so worried. Listening to the voices he suddenly wondered if these might be people of power – just like him. He picked up his pace and pushing through some thick bushes he found himself standing at the edge of the trees. The woods had opened up onto a large, rolling field. A river flowed through the field from a waterfall next to where Faris, Jack and Holly had just walked into the space. Silence surrounded them, where there had been raised voices only seconds before.

  Faris’s face registered his obvious surprise at the sight that met his eyes.

  Well, they certainly were not people of power…

  On every side of him – everywhere Faris could see – were horses. Big ones, small ones, dark ones, light ones. And all the horses were looking at him and Jack. A whisper ran around the large crowd of horses and one by one they dropped down onto their front hooves, as though they were bowing.

  Faris had no idea what was happening, but Jack obviously did. He stepped forwards into the large group his head held high. Faris wondered what he was doing.

  Jack’s voice was calm and commanding as he spoke. “Thank you my friends. But, there is no need for ceremony.” There was a rustle of noise as the crowd of horses rose to their feet again. Jack continued looking around the gathering of horses. “Holly-Hob has told me that there has been a problem with our plans. Can the Council step forward to the Heart-Stone to confer. Thank you.” Jack turned away from the crowd, signalling that he had finished speaking for the moment.

  Faris stood awkwardly next to Holly as there was more movement among the horses and several of them nudged one another with their long noses and looked towards him. Faris was suddenly very conscious that he was the only none-horse in the gathering. He felt uncomfortable with them and turned away, ignoring the staring horses.

  He looked at the large black horse stood next to him, wondering what was happening and who Jack was to command the attention of the other horses. This was a completely different Jack to the one Faris had spent the past day with.

  A moment later six horses stepped forward from the gathered crowd and walked towards the waterfall. The rest of the horses moved away, still muttering amongst themselves and looking at the new group that was forming around Jack. This was obviously ‘the Council’ Jack had asked for, but Faris had no idea what that actually meant.

  “What’s the Council?” Faris whispered to Holly out of the side of his mouth.

  Holly turned her golden brown face towards him. “There are seven different families of the old horses and the Council is made up of the lead horse from each family.” Holly whispered back. “You see that each horse is very different?” She asked, tilting her head towards the group gathering around Jack. “That’s because the families spread far and wide across the world after the Dark War and have only come together here for the first time in thousands of years.”

  “Does that mean that all the horses of the old world are here right now?” Faris wondered aloud. Holly didn’t get chance to answer because just at that moment Jack nudged Faris to get his attention.

  “Stay close to me. I’m not sure what’s happened, but it looks as though we may need your help sooner than we expected. Keep quiet and I’ll answer any questions you have later OK?” Faris nodded. “Good.” Jack said and flashed Faris a quick, toothy smile. “Let’s find out what’s happened.”

  They walked towards the waterfall. Faris wondered whether it was ‘Hoofer’ help the horses would need or something else as he, Jack and Holly joined the group of six horses. Faris noticed a large heart-shaped stone sat in the soft grass at the edge of the waterfall pool and Jack stood next to this.

  “I was about to ask what has happened, but I think I may have an idea.” Jack said slowly, looking around the group of horses. A large dark brown horse, with bright eyes nodded at Jack.

  “Cheval,” Jack spoke to the dark brown horse. “Where are Mooncoin and the eastern horses? Have they arrived here yet?”

  “Non.” Cheval said, shaking his head from side to side. He spoke with a strong accent. “We ‘ad not ‘eard from their group during the movement to The Caves, but that eez not so unusual, you know?”

  Jack nodded at the horse’s words, while Faris wondered why the horse had a different voice to Jack and Holly.

  “You are right. All of you have travelled long distances across The Surface to get here; it isn’t unusual that you’ve not met up before you arrived at The Caves. Have any of the eastern horses arrived at all?” Jack asked.

  “Yes.” Cheval said. “But it does not look good. Zey were attacked before zey reached The Caves, several of zem taken.”

  “Taken?” Jack echoed. “By who?”

  “By Spriggans they think. They were attacked by dozens of them – very unusual for them to work in such a big group – and the Spriggans managed to take three of zem.”

  “So we’re missing three horses…” Jack mused looking down at his hooves in tho
ught. Unfortunately Cheval had more to report.

  “Non. Unfortunately not mon roi,” Cheval shook his dark brown head again. “Zee others, including Mooncoin, were taken – but not by the Spriggans – they have been taken by people. So per-aps they are safer there, non?”

  Jack nodded thoughtfully. “You may be right Cheval. You may be right…so how many of the eastern family made it to The Caves?”

  A very small, white Shetland pony stepped forward to speak. “Ten of the seventeen coming have made it here. But one of them is sick. The Spriggans got her good. We’re taking care of her so hopefully she will be OK. They are all tired and resting at the moment, they arrived only minutes before you did.”

  “Right.” Jack said. “Do we know what kind of people have Mooncoin? And do we know where the Spriggans are now?”

  “Mooncoin and her family were travelling with a horse racing team, hiding among the stock as they were brought over from Europe. When the Spriggans came they freed all the horses on the boat and Mooncoin and the others were found among the main group. They’ve all been taken to the Great Irish Racing College and will go on sale from there in two days time.” The small horse said.

  “And the Spriggans?” Jack prompted.

  “Disappeared back into the hills after the attack, probably to re-group,” a different horse said. “From what we can tell they lost some of their ugly little pals in the fight.”

  Jack grinned, flashing his large, white teeth. “I knew she wouldn’t go down without a scrap Mooncoin – feisty girl!” The other horses nodded in agreement at his words, their large heads swinging up and down. “Do we know who’s controlling the Spriggans yet?” Jack asked next. “It’s very unusual for them to be this organised.”

  The group of horses fell quiet. Faris thought it was an odd silence after the rapid conversation of the last few minutes. It was as if no one wanted to answer Jack’s question – or perhaps they didn’t want to guess at who might be masterminding the Spriggan attacks against the horses.

  Jack allowed the silence to stretch between them. He looked around at the other horses and decided to keep his thoughts to himself for now. Their bowed heads and drawn faces told him that they had already gone through enough today, without him scaring them with his own ideas about who could be organising the Spriggans. That could wait for now, at least until he had some evidence. Jack straightened up, raising his head above the others and addressed the group.

  “We can leave it at here for the moment, I need some time to think. Go back to your families and we will talk about what action we’re going to take shortly. I will summon you once I am ready.”

  “Very well.”

  “Of course.”

  A murmured of agreement rippled around the gathered horses, before they began to move away from the waterfall where they had gathered back into the open field. The other horses were waiting for them. Faris guessed that each group must be a family, because the gathered horses all looked so similar to one another: Cheval joined a group of large-framed, dark coloured horses; the small pony joined a group that were a range of colours, but all equally as miniature as each other, with shaggy coats and long manes that curled in waves around their small heads.

  Faris watched them go. He thought that most of the horses looked relieved now that Jack had arrived and taken charge of the situation, he certainly seemed to know what he was doing. But, there was something else lurking in the horses’ eyes, behind the sense of relief – something that Faris couldn’t quite put his finger on. He gazed at the small white pony that had stepped forward to speak at the Heart Stone. As he watched her move away with the others, she turned to look back at Faris, her dark eyes thoughtful but scared. As their eyes met, Faris realised in that instant what he could see in the eyes of all the other horses. Fear.

  A bright flash and a loud popping sound close to his ear interrupted Faris’s thoughts. He turned quickly to find that Holly transformed from a horse back into a faerie and sat on the Heart Stone next to Faris’s foot. Taking his cue from Holly, Faris plopped down onto the soft grass next to the stone. Jack wandered over to them and looked down at them both.

  “It’s begun,” Jack said sadly. “I had hoped we’d have been able to get through the move to The Core before the problems started, but it looks like I left it too late.”

  “This isn’t your fault Jack – you gave the command to return to The Core as soon as you felt it was right. We knew that we were the last creatures of the old world still living in large groups on The Surface and that there were risks with that. We all agreed – many years ago when we moved back to the Surface – that it was what we wanted. We knew that it was the best and only way to help those who needed it.” Holly’s eyes flashed with determination as she spoke. For a tiny creature she certainly had a lot of power in her voice. When Jack said nothing, Holly pressed on. “From everything the Council have said it’s obvious that the Spriggans have got someone powerful organising them, otherwise they would never have stood a chance of getting to a horse like Mooncoin and you know it.”

  “I suppose you’re right, Hol.” Jack conceded as he lowered himself down onto his knees next to Faris and Holly.

  “And look at it this way – they didn’t get Mooncoin, the humans did. And they’re bigger, less sneaky and much easier to get around. No offence.” Holly said, glancing at Faris.

  “None taken,” Faris smiled back at her. He poked his thumb firmly at his chest as he spoke. “Class myself as a Hoofer through and through now anyway!”

  “That’s the spirit!” Jack grinned at him. Although this wasn’t the introduction to the horse world Jack had hoped for the young Hoofer, he was pleased at how well his new friend was taking things. He’s a credit to all Hoofers, Jack thought proudly.

  “So…can I ask my questions yet?” Faris asked. “Or are you going to give me a bit of an explanation anyway. Like, why did the other horses bend down to you? And how did you get to be so bossy?” His words tumbled out of his mouth, without him even bothering to wait for an answer in between the questions.

  “Thanks mate!” Jack said with a huff. He was secretly pleased that Faris was taking in so much – for ten years old he was a pretty smart boy. “Bossy! Really!” He muttered, keeping up his act of being offended.

  “Jack doesn’t like to brag about it.” Holly said, looking fondly at giant black horse that sat next to her. “But he is a very special horse, well, he’s a very special creature.”

  “Is that why you’re friends with him Hol? Because you said Figlia faeries protect special creatures when we were talking at the Cave of History?”

  “Ah – ” Jack said, opening his mouth to explain, but was cut off by Holly’s tinkling voice.

  “I’m friends with Jack now because I like him!” Holly grinned. “But, when we first met it was because his father, the King of Horses, commissioned me to be his protector.”

  “The King of Horses?” Faris couldn’t disguise the surprise in his voice and he turned to stare at Jack with wide eyes.

  “Ah – ” Jack said, but was cut off again.

  “Yes, the King,” Holly replied as Faris’s head flicked back to her.

  “But then…doesn’t that make you a …Prince?” Faris said, his voice rising with excitement as he looked at Jack again.

  “Ah – ” Jack said, but was cut off. AGAIN!

  “It did many years ago,” Holly said. “When Jack’s father died, he became the King.”

  Faris’s eyes opened so wide they looked as though they might pop out of his head.

  “You’re the King?” He said loudly.

  “YES!!!” Jack neighed loudly.

  Holly and Faris both stared at him, surprised at his sudden outburst. “There’s no need to shout you know,” Holly said touchily.

  “No need to shout? NO NEED TO SHOUT!” Jack exclaimed, his voice only getting louder. “When you two have quite finished talking about me, can I get a word in edgeways?”

  “G
o ahead – it’s not like I’m stopping you,” Holly grinned and winked at Jack. She knew full well she had cut him off several times, she hoped a little joke might help him relax.

  “Not stopping me?” Jack said suspiciously, looking down at the tiny faerie. Catching her cheeky grin he realised she’d been trying to make him laugh. How could he be mad at her for that? “Ooooh it’s a good job I’m fond of you little faerie-pants or I’d squish you with my giant hoof for your cheekiness!!” Jack said in a mock-angry voice. He grinned back at the tiny faerie. “Well, now that I’m allowed to talk…” He waited a second for Holly to interrupt again, but when she didn’t he carried on speaking. “Yes, I am the King – but it’s really not a big deal for us – ”

  “Not a big deal – how can it not be a big deal?” Faris exclaimed, his voice going squeaky. “You are their King!”

  Jack looked at Faris, his face solemn. “You’re right it is important. I have responsibilities for the other horse families and to the people of The Core.” Faris nodded back at Jack, his expression equally serious. “But I’m still just a horse as well, you know? Just plain old Jack, to you,” he added.

  Jack didn’t resent the role he had, leading and protecting the other horse families. But, it had been nice to just be normal with Faris, since they helped him escape. Normal was what he was most of the time: with Holly or when he was on his own. Perhaps, that was why he had resisted returning the horses to The Core for such a long time…it wasn’t just for the others, but for him as well. At The Core he had to be different: he had a position of responsibility and a role he had to fill.

  Jack didn’t want Faris to think that he was different now, just because he was the King. He willed Faris to understand this, as he looked into his eyes. Jack wanted him to know that he was still the same horse he had met yesterday. He was just Jack.

  Faris stared back at his new friend and tried to understand everything he had just heard. Jack had sounded so different, so responsible when he was speaking to the other horses. But, when he spoke to Faris he was his normal self again. Faris decided that he liked both sides of Jack: one fun and caring, the other strong and brave. Combined, Faris was confident that the whole package made for pretty awesome qualities in your friends.

  “You know Jack, you’ve got two right legs and so you’ll always be twice as right as me. I’ll agree with you on this one.” Faris smiled up at the big black horse. Although he’d only known him for one day Faris already felt that he knew the real Jack. What difference did it make anyway? Faris reasoned to himself. He didn’t care what his new friend was, even though it was kind of cool to know he was important. Part of him felt that it made their link of Hoofer and horse even stronger – they were both different from the others around them, perhaps even a little bit special.

  “Great! Well, now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get to the real problem, shall we?” Jack sounded very business-like again, just as he had been when he was talking to the other horses.

  “Mooncoin’s family?” Faris asked.

  “Yes.”

  “We’ll have to rescue them won’t we?” Faris said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You and Holly rescued me no problem. How hard can it be?”

  “Good plan!” Jack smiled at Faris’s enthusiasm, pleased that he was jumping naturally into his Hoofer role. It was already obvious Faris was going to be a great protector. “Just a few problems, we need to iron out.”

  “Problems?”

  Jack nodded his head towards the other horses. “They said Spriggans are involved. Spriggans are small but dangerous folk, a bit like our friend Holly here.”

  Holly raised her eyebrows. She did not appear to be impressed at being likened to a Spriggan.

  Jack saw the expression on her face and tried to explain. “You know what I mean Hol. Spriggans are small, ugly little critters – ” His voice trailed off as Holly’s face darkened further.

  Jack wasn’t making things better.

  “I’m still not seeing the resemblance here,” Holly said through thin, pressed lips.

  “Well…you know what I mean…they can inflate themselves into images of things much bigger than they actually are.” Jack went on quickly; hoping that this made it clear that he didn’t think Holly was a small, ugly little critter. It didn’t really work.

  “Technically, I transform not inflate. And, I am a horse, or bird or whatever I change into – not just the image of it.” Holly was definitely unimpressed.

  “Fine! Spriggans are nothing like Holly. But they are small, evil faerie-folk that can make themselves look much bigger than they actually are. Is that OK?” Jack sounded mildly annoyed.

  “Yes,” Holly grudgingly agreed. “That’s a better description.”

  “Thank you!”

  “But what use is making themselves bigger?” Faris asked, distracting both of them from their argument. They looked at him as though they had forgotten he was even there.

  Holly cleared her throat. “In the past Spriggans were used to guard treasure that was hidden on The Surface. People would bury it in hills or caves and then they would call on the Spriggans, using very basic magic charms that would draw them to the area. Spriggans love gold and so they would stay in the area once they had been summoned.”

  “And they can transform themselves?” Faris asked, being very careful to make sure that it did not sound like he thought Holly – or faeries in general – were anything like the nasty Spriggans.

  “Sort of, yes,” Jack answered his question this time. “People used Spriggans to guard treasure because even though they are naturally very small, they can inflate themselves to a huge size. They don’t actually change – like Holly does when she transforms – they just blow up in size, so they wouldn’t be much use in an actual battle.”

  “That’s right,” Holly agreed. “They don’t get stronger when they grow, but most humans were scared of them when they saw an inflated Spriggan – they thought they were the ghosts of giants, guarding old treasure troves.”

  “Why would they be attacking horses though?” Faris wondered aloud. It didn’t sound like normal behaviour for the creatures Holly and Jack were describing.

  “Good question.” Jack nodded his agreement, whilst he chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip.

  “Spriggans are nasty little creatures and although they are not always the smartest monsters in the world, they are know for their skills as thieves and kidnappers.” Holly said. “Maybe it has more to do with those particular skills than treasure?”

  “Possibly,” Jack replied, still looking thoughtful. “But Spriggans are just not smart enough to get organised and take on a horse family like Mooncoin’s. I can’t see what they would get from targeting us like this.”

  Faris turned over everything they had said about the horse families and the Spriggans. Something about the situation was nagging at him, twisting his tummy inside him as if it were trying to warn him. He couldn’t understand what it might be. His mind drifted back to the Cave of History and the pictures painted on the walls…his tummy twisted even more when he thought about the dark figures that had been drawn, fighting against the horses and other magical creatures.

  “Maybe it’s not Spriggans…” Faris murmured, mainly to himself.

  “It’s definitely Spriggans, one of the others saw them.” Holly corrected him.

  Faris shook himself. “Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I was just wondering about someone else organising the Spriggans, if they’re not smart enough. Is there any reason why someone more powerful might want to capture magical animals like Mooncoin’s family?”

  Jack’s head swung up, he was staring at his new human friend with interest. “Now that is a good question,” he said. “It would be unusual, but not impossible for someone to be using the Spriggans.”

  “You know, I think you could be right there, Faris.” Holly added, “I’d forgotten about the kidnapping part. Do we know where the Spriggans have t
aken the rest of Mooncoin’s family?”

  “If the others in the Council knew they would have said earlier.”

  Holly shook head. “Of course they would have. Where do we begin then?”

  “Let’s think about it…” Jack mused out loud. “Spriggans definitely aren’t strong enough to transport the other horses very far magically, they don’t have any real powers… And it sounds like their kidnapping plan went wrong somewhere along the way, because it wouldn’t be worth the risk for them to only kidnap three horses…

  “You think they were expecting to get more horses in the attack than the three they got?” Holly interrupted, she had been nodding along to everything Jack said whilst Faris just listened.

  “I do,” said Jack. “This feels like a big plan, Spriggans wouldn’t normally be interested in us, so why now?”

  “They need more horses,” Faris realised. “They must need them for whoever it is that they are working for.”

  Holly jumped up from the rock she had been sitting on whilst they talked. “That’s it!” She exclaimed, flapping across to hover in front of Jack’s face. “They must be working for someone, but it doesn’t matter that we don’t know who it is.”

  “Why not?” Jack and Faris asked at the same time.

  “Because,” Holly grinned, her eyes sparking with ideas, “there is no way the Spriggans will contact whoever’s giving the instructions until they’ve made a second attempt on the horses. Whoever they are working for must be powerful enough to at least scare the Spriggans…”

  “They won’t go back empty handed!” Faris cried out, jumping up himself. “The Spriggans will try and take the horses from wherever the humans have taken them.”

  “You think they’ll attack the racing college first then?” Holly prompted.

  “That’s exactly what it sounds like,” Faris said. “I also think – if you’re right about them not being able to move the horses very far without magic – that they must be hiding close to the college itself now. It’s the only way they could make a second attempt and hope to get the horses to someone more powerful. Everything has to be close together.”

  Jack considered the idea for a minute and then nodded. “Yep. I think you’re right Faris. Their first move will be to re-group up in the hills near to the racing college, where I’ll bet they’ve hidden the other three horses. Then they’ll make an attack on the college to get the rest of them.”

  Faris and Holly stood (and hovered) nearby, eagerness keeping them on their feet.

  “So, what do we do?” Faris asked.

  Jack sat lost in thought for a few moments before he spoke again. When he did he had the gleam of a good idea, sparkling in his eye. “Holly, can you fly down to the valley and bring the Council leaders back up here. I have a plan.”