‘Joel,’ she said, ‘where does that path lead?’
‘To the cliffs,’ Joel told her. ‘And then on to the beach.’
The same thought came to them both and Nan said, ‘We’ll take my car.’ She looked quickly around. ‘I wish we had Alec with us! He was here a while ago, but I don’t know where he’s gone now.’
‘I’ve got my mobile,’ said Joel. ‘I could ring him.’
‘Yes – yes, that’s a good idea.’ Nan fumbled in her handbag and took out a piece of paper. ‘Here’s his number – ask him to meet us at the beach.’
Within minutes they were driving out of the field and away on the coast road. Joel got through to Alec, who said he was in the village but would follow them as soon as he could. The road ran beside the cliffs, and Joel leaned out of the window, looking for some sign of a pony or bicycle. There was nothing. But when they drove down the hill and into the beach car park, his heart jumped under his ribs.
‘There’s Lark!’ He pointed to the cafe.
‘Then they are here.’ Nan sounded relieved. She swung into a parking space and switched off the engine. Joel was already out of the car and running to the top of the slope. Nan followed, and they peered at the beach.
‘I can’t see them anywhere,’ said Nan. ‘Let’s ask someone.’
Joel didn’t answer, and she saw that he was staring at the boats in the corner of the car park.
‘Joel? What’s the matter?’
‘Mr Roskear’s boat.’ Joel’s voice sounded hollow. ‘It was down here with the others. But now it’s gone.’
For a moment Nan was silent. Then she said, ‘Someone must have seen them. Quickly – let’s start asking!’
It took them only a few minutes to discover what Tamzin and Hannah had done. On the sand they found one of the holidaymakers who had helped to launch the boat and, as he was explaining, the lifeguard who had been out on his rescue board came to join them.
‘They were heading out towards Lion Rock,’ he said. ‘But don’t worry. The sea’s quiet enough and Hannah knows how to handle the boat. She wouldn’t have taken it unless her dad said it was OK, would she?’ He saw Joel’s and Nan’s faces. ‘Would she?’
Nan’s fear grew. ‘You’ve got to go after them,’ she urged the lifeguard.
‘The rescue board’s too slow,’ said Joel. ‘I’ll go. I can take Jerry Martin’s boat – he won’t mind. I’ll explain to him later.’
‘No, Joel!’ Nan protested. ‘Not on your own!’
‘I can handle a boat as well as Hannah,’ said Joel. ‘I want to find them, Mrs Weston. I’ve got my mobile – if there’s any problem, I’ll call.’ He turned back towards the car park. ‘Get some others to help launch the boat.’
Halfway up the slope, Joel and the lifeguard met Alec coming down. Joel explained in a few short sentences, and Alec joined them. A second boat, smaller than Mr Roskear’s but with a more powerful engine, was carried down the slope and pushed to the water’s edge, and a minute later Joel was surging away out to sea.
‘I shouldn’t have let him go,’ Nan said worriedly to Alec. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Alec. As if…’
‘As if what?’ Alec shaded his eyes to watch Joel’s rapidly moving boat.
‘I don’t know. Tamzin thinks the Blue Horse will protect her. But I’m not sure that it can.’
‘Is there anything we can do?’ Alec asked.
Something nagged at the back of Nan’s mind. ‘It sounds crazy,’ she said, ‘but I’ve got an instinct about the Grey Horse statue. As if I ought to have it here.’
‘Then let me go and get it,’ Alec said instantly. His eyes were serious. ‘I learned back in the spring that instincts are worth trusting.’
‘Yes – yes, you’re right.’
From feeling helpless, Nan was suddenly decisive. This was the right thing to do. This was what the Blue Horse wanted her to do.
‘Here’s my key.’ She took it from her purse and handed it to him. ‘The statue’s in my studio, top drawer in the big desk. Alec, hurry. Please.’
Alec nodded once, briefly, and ran back up the slope towards the car park.
chapter ten
Tamzin had to force herself not to shut her eyes as My Maid headed for the channel between the two halves of Lion Rock. The swell was certainly bigger out here; surf was creaming against the foot of the rock, and the backwash set the boat lurching like a switchback.
‘We’re not going to get through this way,’ Hannah said. ‘The current’s running from seaward and it’s too strong. We’ll have to go round and try from the other side.’
Tamzin nodded and tightened her grip on the gunwales as Hannah swung the tiller. They turned aside from the rock and headed around it, Hannah keeping a good distance between them and the surf. For a brief moment Tamzin wondered what they would find on the far side. But as it came into view, she relaxed a little. It was just rock. Nothing more.
‘There’s the entrance to the channel.’ Hannah pointed to where a dark cleft showed. ‘It’s quite wide. Shouldn’t be any problem. Hold tight, then – here we go!’
Slowly and carefully she guided the boat into the gap. The sunlight turned to deep shadow as rock walls towered on either side of them, and the noise of the boat’s engine echoed loudly in the enclosed space. The current was trying to rush them along, despite Hannah’s efforts to keep their speed down. But Tamzin noticed none of these things. All she knew was that a powerful force was tugging at her mind, telling her what she must do. Inside the rock, it told her. Inside the rock…
She peered into the gloom ahead. The walls were pitted with holes, as the fishermen had said. But one was much larger than the rest.
‘There!’ she shouted over the sounds of the engine and the surging sea. ‘See that ledge, with the big hole above it? That’s where we’ve got to go!’
‘Wow!’ Hannah sounded breathless. ‘You don’t want much, do you?’
‘I’ve got to reach it!’ said Tamzin. ‘Try, Hannah, please!’
‘All right, if you say so. Hang on…’
The engine snarled, and Hannah steered past the ledge then quickly swung right round. The boat tilted so alarmingly that for a moment Tamzin feared they would be thrown out. But the jutting ledge protected them from the current, and the water on the far side was calmer.
‘There’s a spike of rock,’ Hannah called. ‘Talk about luck – we can tie up to that!’
Tamzin suspected that luck had nothing to do with it, but she didn’t say so. She took hold of the mooring rope and, as Hannah expertly eased the boat up to the ledge, she looped it round the rock spike. Hannah tied the rope and turned off the engine. Then the girls climbed from the boat up on to the ledge.
The hole was like a small cave mouth. They peered in and saw a tunnel beyond, and Hannah shivered.
‘It looks really spooky. I haven’t got a torch – have you?’
‘No.’ Tamzin could have kicked herself for not thinking of that. But as she stared into the tunnel she saw a pale glimmer inside.
‘It isn’t completely dark,’ she said reassuringly. ‘See, there’s some light. It must be open to the sky a bit further in.’ She moved forward. ‘Come on. I want to see where it leads.’
The tunnel ceiling was high enough to get through in a kind of crouching walk. Ducking, Tamzin went in. Hannah hesitated, then followed.
They had only gone a couple of metres when the tunnel abruptly ended – and Tamzin’s eyes widened as she stared in astonishment at the scene before them. They had emerged on to a wide rock shelf inside a cavern, lit by an eerie, phosphorescent glow. The shelf extended away to left and right. And below it, stretching across the cave, was a huge pool of absolutely still water.
‘Sheesh!’ Hannah whispered.
Lion Rock… Lyn Rock… a lake! Her instinct had been right!
There was something on the far side of the pool. For a minute or so Tamzin couldn’t make out what it was, but as her eyes adjusted to the weird light she
saw it more clearly. It was a crude carving of a rearing horse. But, unlike the broken statue, it was life-sized.
‘Hannah, look,’ she breathed.
‘That’s incredible!’ Hannah was awed. ‘Whoever could have put it here?’
Tamzin shook her head. She didn’t know the answer, but a question was hammering in her mind. Was this a carving of the Blue Horse or the Grey Horse? She was certain that the Blue Horse had led her here, so surely this cavern couldn’t be the Grey Horse’s lair? Yet the statue did not reassure her. There was something ominous about it. As if –
‘Tam, I don’t like this.’ Hannah’s quavering voice interrupted her thoughts. ‘It’s really spooky. I don’t think we should hang around.’ She turned to go back into the tunnel.
‘No, Hannah!’ Tamzin protested. ‘We can’t go now, not when we’ve only just found this!’
‘I don’t care,’ Hannah said stubbornly. ‘It isn’t just spooky, it feels dangerous too. I’m going back to the boat, and if you’ve got any sense, you’ll come with me.’
‘Hannah!’ Tamzin shouted.
But Hannah had plunged into the tunnel and was gone.
Tamzin hesitated. She desperately wanted to stay, to learn more. But the thought of being left on her own frightened her. She should go after Hannah. Maybe she could talk to her, persuade her that it was all right and they were in no danger. It wasn’t like Hannah to react this way…
She called, ‘Wait for me!’ and started to follow. Then from the far and of the tunnel she heard a cry.
‘Oh, no! Tam – Tam, come quick!’
Alarmed, Tamzin scrambled as fast as she could to the end of the tunnel. What she saw horrified her. The sea had suddenly become much rougher. White-crested water was racing through the channel, and the boat swung and danced madly at the end of its mooring rope. Hannah had somehow managed to get into the boat and was trying to start the outboard engine.
‘Quick!’ she yelled again. ‘Get in! Oh, hurry!’
Suddenly the mooring rope came loose from the rock. In a moment the powerful tide-race had hold of the boat and started to pull it away. Hannah grabbed the rope and threw it towards Tamzin, but it fell short, splashing back into the water. Again Hannah yanked on the engine cord. The engine spluttered and coughed, but refused to start.
Then a big surge caught the boat. It swung wildly and was swept into the channel.
Hannah screamed Tamzin’s name, but Tamzin was helpless. She could only watch as the boat was carried away on the tide-race. Hannah looked back. Tamzin had just one more glimpse of her white face before My Maid lurched round a bend in the channel and was lost from sight.
‘Hannah!’ Tamzin cried. ‘Hannah!’
Hannah did not answer her. But something else did. From inside the cavern, echoing unnervingly, came a sound that was midway between a horse’s whinny and a horrible laugh.
Tamzin had heard that sound before… With a wordless cry, she scrambled back through the tunnel – and froze on the cave threshold.
The life-sized carved horse was gone. In its place stood a real horse, huge and menacing, with eyes that burned like cold fire. Its head was lowered, its ears lay flat on its skull. And its coat was the colour of a stormy sea.
The Grey Horse! Tamzin’s mind reeled as she realized that she had made a terrible mistake. She had thought that the Blue Horse was calling her to Lion Rock, but she had been wrong! The Grey Horse had tricked her – it had lured her to its lair, and now she was in deadly danger.
Just like Hannah…
Suddenly Tamzin’s fear was swamped by a great rush of fury and she screamed at the dark spirit horse, ‘You swept Hannah away!’ Her voice rose hysterically. ‘I’m your enemy, not her! If you want to attack someone, attack me. But leave her alone!’
The Grey Horse snorted and pawed the rock, its hoof making a sound like a hammer ringing on metal. It seemed to be mocking Tamzin, but it made no threatening move. Why? Tamzin asked herself. What was it planning? Something was going to happen, she knew it in her bones. And this would be their last confrontation – the final battle of wills.
Tamzin’s fury suddenly collapsed and the fear came back again. In her mind she remembered all the past attempts the Grey Horse had made to harm her. Each time, Moonlight had saved her life. Now, though, Moonlight was gone, and no one else was here to help her.
In her mind Tamzin tried to picture the Blue Horse, but it was impossible. So many different images swirled confusingly together in her head: Nan’s paintings, her dreams, Moonlight… Without knowing it, she clasped at her own wrist, where the glass talisman hung on the silver bracelet.
The Grey Horse snorted again, angrily, and its head came up, so that its blazing eyes glared into her own. Tamzin felt the air around her turn cold. Then for the second time the eerie whinnying-laughing sound echoed through the cave… and from somewhere overhead came a creaking groan.
Tamzin looked up. The cave roof seemed to be quivering. The ledge shifted under her, throwing her off balance, and for a moment she thought that an earth tremor was beginning, like the ones that had struck the district in the spring.
But it was not an earth tremor. With dawning horror, Tamzin realized that the walls and roof of the cave were moving together. Slowly but surely, the whole mass of Lion Rock was starting to close inwards. If it continued, the split would seal itself, the rock would be whole again – and she would be crushed and killed!
Across the now rippling expanse of the pool, the Grey Horse tossed its head as if in triumph – and vanished.
And Tamzin screamed out in terror, ‘Moonlight! Oh, Moonlight, Blue Horse, save me! Help me now!’
chapter eleven
The sea was getting rough as Joel approached Lion Rock. He wasn’t too worried, but he knew that if conditions got much worse he would have to turn back. As his borrowed boat motored on, he strained his eyes, searching for Tamzin and Hannah. There was still no sign of them.
Then he saw a disturbance just inside the entrance to the split in the rock. Something that wasn’t water, moving fast – and a moment later a small boat shot out of the channel like a cork bouncing on the churning water.
Joel recognized the boat’s yellow hull immediately. But then he saw that the boat was completely out of control. And there was only one person on board.
Hannah was frantically trying to bale water out of My Maid when she heard someone shouting her name. She looked up wildly.
‘Joel! Oh, Joel, help me!’
Joel sped to intercept her. She threw him the end of her mooring rope and he towed her away from the surf creaming around the channel and into clearer water.
‘I c-couldn’t get the engine started,’ Hannah sobbed as the two boats bumped together.
‘Where’s Tamzin?’ Joel’s voice was harsh with fear.
‘Back there!’ She pointed towards the rock and gasped out the story. ‘We’ve got to get help!’
Horrified, Joel realized that it would take too long to tow My Maid to the beach. By the time he came back, anything could have happened to Tamzin.
‘Hannah, try your engine again!’ he urged. ‘Come on. See if it’ll start!’
With a shaking hand Hannah pulled the cord. Nothing happened; she tried again – and this time the engine spluttered into life.
‘Get back to the beach as fast as you can,’ Joel told her. ‘Find Tamzin’s nan, and tell her what’s happened!’
‘What about you?’
‘I’m going to the rock.’
‘But, Joel –’
‘Don’t argue, just do it!’
Joel flung the mooring rope back to her, and before she could say another word he turned his boat and the engine opened up with a roar as he sped away. For a few seconds Hannah watched him go. Then she too turned and headed back for the beach at full speed.
Joel saw at once that it would be impossible to get into the channel from this side. The tide-race was far too powerful. Though it meant losing precious minutes, he would have to
go round the rock.
He pushed the boat as fast as it would go. The sea was much rougher on the far side of the rock and clouds were gathering fast from the south-west. The weather was changing quickly – too quickly, he thought. It wasn’t natural. As if some other power was behind it…
Then he saw the split and his hopes collapsed. The tide was surging fast and furiously into the channel; much too fast for a boat of this size. He dared not go in!
Despairingly, Joel realized that there was only one thing left to do. He had to call for the lifeboat. He pulled his mobile phone from his jeans pocket. But before he could punch out the emergency services number, the swell suddenly lifted his boat and swung it violently round. Caught by surprise, Joel grabbed the tiller, trying to straighten the boat up. He was too late. Behind him, a freak wave was rising. He saw it coming but had no time to do anything before it hit him broadside on. His mobile went overboard, then the wave broke over Joel, soaking him in a second and swamping the engine. The engine cut out – and, as the wave rose higher, the boat was swept into the channel entrance. Joel clung on. Through streaming eyes, he saw the wave breaking behind him, and for a terrifying moment it seemed to take on the shape of a grey horse’s head.
But he had no more time to think about the wave. The boat was careering along the channel, spinning and pitching dizzyingly, and lurching from side to side so that it dashed against the towering walls. More water was coming over the gunwales, swamping the boat – it couldn’t stay afloat much longer, it would sink…
Suddenly the boat jarred with a grinding impact against a projecting ledge. For a moment it was stuck, and Joel didn’t hesitate. He sprang to his feet, grabbed at the rock and, with a frantic effort, hauled himself up. He was only just in time. As he sprawled on the ledge, another wave rushed through the channel, lifted the boat and dragged it away. It disappeared, and Joel lay gasping. He had been saved from one danger. But what would happen to him now?
Shivering with fright, he started to sit up. Then, above the roar of the water, he heard a faint, muffled sound.
Sea Horses: the Last Secret Page 6
