The Pegasus Quest

by Jordan Quinn

  “Why have you come to Wrenly?” he asked gently. Lucas noticed that the creature had smudges of dirt and scratches on his body.

  The animal shook his head. Ruskin then translated what the prince had said. The pegasus whinnied and lifted his head toward the great cloud in the sky—the same cloud that had been hovering over Wrenly since the blue moon had begun. Ruskin whimpered understandingly.

  “What did he say?” asked Lucas.

  Ruskin loved to act things out for the children. First he pointed his muzzle toward the sky.

  “The blue moon?” Clara guessed.

  Ruskin shook his head no.

  “The great cloud?” offered Lucas.

  Ruskin nodded.

  Then the dragon lifted his wing and let it flop to his side. He followed his action with a whimper.

  “Your wing hurts?” Clara asked.

  Ruskin shook his head and pointed at the pegasus.

  “Oh, I get it!” Lucas said. “The pegasus has a hurt wing!”

  “And he can’t fly back to his castle in the sky!” said Clara, putting it all together.

  Ruskin squawked in agreement.

  Lucas walked up to the great winged stallion and stroked his face gently.

  “Don’t worry,” he said softly. “We promise to take good care of you.”

  The Stall

  * * *

  * * *

  The children led the pegasus back to the royal stables.

  “I’ll talk with André and Grom first thing in the morning,” said Lucas. André and Grom were the two finest wizards in Wrenly.

  “But don’t tell them we have the pegasus,” warned Clara. “Then the whole kingdom will find out.”

  “Don’t worry; I won’t,” said Lucas reassuringly. “I’ll be clever. They will never suspect a thing.”

  Clara looked relieved.

  When they got near the stalls, Lucas went ahead to make sure no one was around.

  “All clear,” he whispered upon his return. Then they walked the pegasus into an empty stall and covered him with a large wool blanket.

  “Without your wings showing, you look like a regular horse,” Lucas declared. “And hopefully, the hunter won’t recognize you either.”

  The pegasus blew air through his nostrils. He seemed to like the safety of the enclosed stall.

  “Well, I’d better be going before my parents get worried,” Clara said. “I’ll come back first thing in the morning.”

  Ruskin squawked.

  “Shhh!” scolded Lucas.

  Clara kneeled down and hugged Ruskin. “I’ll see you in the morning too,” she whispered.

  The dragon crooned happily and curled up on the straw beside the pegasus.

  “Looks like Ruskin wants to stay the night,” said Clara.

  “Good thinking, Ruskin,” Lucas said, patting his dragon on the head. “You can keep the pegasus company.”

  “And stay on the lookout!” added Clara.

  Ruskin thumped his tail. Then the children headed for home.

  The next morning Clara elbowed Lucas on the way to the stables.

  “Look!” she hissed. “On the road up ahead!”

  Lucas stopped in his tracks. It was the hunter, talking to the royal guards! The children ducked into the bushes. Then they crept along the inside of the hedge all the way to the stables.

  “Phew!” Lucas said when he saw that the pegasus was still there.

  “That was close,” said Clara as she unhooked a bucket from the wall. “We’ll have to work fast.”

  Then Clara crept outside to the trough to fill her bucket with water. Lucas got to work too. He examined the hurt pegasus’s wing. The stallion winced.

  “Sorry,” whispered Lucas.

  Clara’s bucket of water sloshed as she carried it into the stall.

  “I’ll wash him and keep watch,” she said. “You go talk to the wizards and see what you can find out.”

  Lucas gently lowered the hurt wing and turned to leave.

  “Hurry,” she whispered as she dipped a sponge in the water. “We don’t have much time.”

  Night Flight

  * * *

  * * *

  Clara wiped her brow. The stall had become hot in the late-morning sun. Finally the door creaked open. Lucas had returned.

  “What did you find out?” Clara asked.

  Lucas patted the pegasus. “Not much,” he said. “The wizards said time is the only thing that would heal a strained pegasus wing.”

  Clara groaned. “That’s the one thing we don’t have. That hunter is getting closer!”

  Lucas looked at the poor pegasus thoughtfully. “Well, we’ll just have to help the pegasus learn to fly with an injured wing.”

  They waited until after dark, and then they snuck the pegasus out to an open field. The children massaged the pegasus’s wing under the light of the blue moon. Then, on the count of three, the pegasus ran as fast as he could and took off in flight. The great stallion rose gracefully into the starry night. Then he whinnied in pain and glided back down to the earth.

  They tried again, but it was no use. The pegasus needed to heal before he could fly all the way home. Ruskin nuzzled the pegasus and stayed close to his side.

  The children plopped down in the tall grass and listened to the crickets.

  “Now what?” said Lucas.

  But before Clara could respond, they heard something rustle in the woods nearby. Ruskin’s ears perked up. The children stared into the darkness. A shadow emerged from the forest. It was the hunter!

  Lucas and Clara scrambled to their feet and blocked the pegasus from the woman who gripped her lasso.

  “Stay back!” Lucas ordered in a commanding voice.

  But the stranger continued to walk toward them, into the moonlight. Suddenly the children could see her face. To their surprise, the stranger’s eyes seemed to glow with kindness. She looked lovingly at the pegasus as if it were a long lost friend. The pegasus nickered and walked past Lucas and Clara, right up to the stranger.

  “I thought I’d never see you again!” the woman said gently, stroking his muzzle.

  The pegasus whinnied softly.

  “We don’t have much time,” said the stranger.

  Lucas and Clara threw a curious glance at each other.

  “We must get you home by tomorrow,” the stranger said, “or else you will be trapped here, away from your family . . . forever.”

  Grace

  * * *

  * * *

  “Who are you?” asked Lucas, not knowing where else to begin.

  The woman turned toward the children. “Oh, please forgive me,” she said. “My name is Grace.”

  Clara took a step toward Grace. “And what do you want with the pegasus?” she asked.

  Grace looked at the great cloud in the sky and then back at Clara.

  “I want to help him get back to his homeland. When the blue moon is over, his castle in the sky will move on.”

  Lucas felt his shoulders relax.

  “Phew,” he said. “We thought you were a hunter.”

  “I am,” she said. “But I hunt animals to help them—not harm them.”

  Ruskin squawked in approval.

  “And I owe a great deal of thanks to you both,” Grace went on. “How did you win the trust of the pegasus?”

  Ruskin squawked again—only a little louder this time.

  “Oh,” Grace said to the dragon. “Did you have something to do with that?”

  Lucas patted Ruskin on the back. “The pegasus seems to understand him,” he said.

  “What a good dragon,” Grace said. Then she turned her attention to the pegasus. She examined the stallion’s wing in the moonlight.

  “I knew something was wrong,” she said, massaging the wing. “A pegasus often eats enderberries when it’s in need of healing. Did you know that?”

  The children shook their heads.

  “Then,” Grace continued, “when the trolls began to patrol the ender
berry bushes, the pegasus fled.”

  Lucas came closer. “But how do you know all this?” he asked.

  Grace continued to massage the pegasus. “I met the pegasus once in a different kingdom,” she said. “I became enchanted by this beautiful beast. After that, I studied everything there was to know about pegasi. When I saw the shooting star the other night, I knew a pegasus had returned. But I never dreamed it would be my same old friend.”

  “That is amazing,” said Clara.

  Grace smiled. “And now the pegasus is in urgent need of more enderberries,” she said. “Do you know where we can get some?”

  Lucas nodded. “We have enderberries at the castle,” he told her.

  Grace sighed in relief. “That is good news,” she said, smiling. “The pegasus needs rest first. Is there a safe place for him? He is a rare animal in this world, and there are many people who would cherish owning a pegasus.”

  “You can stay in the garden shed,” suggested Lucas. “It’s safe and quiet. Plus Ruskin can stay with you. Clara and I will bring you the enderberries before dawn.”

  “That is a good plan,” said Grace.

  The Salve

  * * *

  * * *

  Early the next morning Lucas crept down the stairs to the larder while the rest of the castle slept. He helped himself to the last two baskets of enderberries. Then the prince slipped quietly out the kitchen door. Clara met him at the bottom of the steps. They each carried a basket.

  The blue moon still shone in the sky as they walked across the empty field. Clara spied a swirl of smoke streaming above the trees at the edge of the woods. Grace had built a fire and had set a kettle over the flame. The children placed the baskets of enderberries in front of Grace. She looked at them gratefully.

  “Good morning,” she said as she stirred the mixture.

  “Good morning, Grace,” Clara said. “What are you cooking?”

  “It’s called a salve,” said Grace. “This will be a special potion to heal the pegasus.”

  Grace motioned to the enderberries. “Those are the most important part,” she said, removing her spoon.

  Grace added both baskets of enderberries into the kettle. The mixture bubbled, and the berries began to melt and pop in the hot liquid.

  Grace kneeled and stirred in all the berries. Then she let the mixture cook for an hour.

  “The salve has to cool before we apply it,” Grace said, removing the kettle from the fire.

  Ruskin and the pegasus, who had just woken up, joined the group. They yawned and watched Grace tend to the other kettle.

  “What are you making in that one?” asked Lucas.

  “Breakfast,” Grace said cheerfully. Breakfast sounded very good after a late night and a very early morning. The children got bowls and wooden spoons from the cabin. Grace heaped the bowls full of porridge. As they ate, the sun climbed higher into the sky.

  “It is almost time,” she said, keeping her eye on the sun. “When the sun peeks over the mountains, the castle will be revealed. That will be the pegasus’s only chance to get home.”

  Lucas and Clara looked at the great cloud that still hung over Wrenly. The sun had nearly reached the top of the mountain.

  Grace dipped her finger into the salve.

  “It’s still warm, but it’s cool enough to be applied,” she said.

  Lucas and Clara dipped their hands into the salve and rubbed the mixture onto the pegasus’s injured wing. They rubbed extra salve on the area where the wing was attached to his body.

  Grace, who had been keeping her eye on the sun, suddenly called out, “It’s time!”

  Lucas and Clara backed away from the beast carefully. Then the pegasus moved his great wings up and down. At the same time, something extraordinary happened. The great cloud over Wrenly moved away and revealed a grand, glistening castle in the sky.

  Lucas whistled when he saw it. He had never seen anything so beautiful.

  “It’s now or never!” Grace cried.

  The pegasus held his head high and whinnied to all his friends. Then he galloped toward the mountain, flapped his great wings, and lifted himself high up into the air. Ruskin squawked as he watched his new friend fly away. The pegasus neighed and then grew smaller and smaller in the distant sky. Finally, the winged creature landed safely on the craggy edge of the castle’s land. Rearing up on its hind legs one last time, the pegasus seemed to wave good-bye to his friends below.

  The floating castle began to move on. The friends stood side by side and watched the castle and the blue moon slip over the horizon. They were quiet for a long time.

  Then Lucas whispered, “Our wishes all came true.”

  JORDAN QUINN grew up in a fairy-tale castle in England. It had a spiral stone staircase, a moat, and a dungeon. As a child she liked to play hide-and-go-seek and ride her beloved horse, Prince Charming. When she wasn’t riding, she wrote stories about fairies, trolls, dragons, and wizards. Today, Jordan lives on a ranch in California with her husband, son, and a golden retriever named Sir Toots-a-Lot.

  ROBERT McPHILLIPS has been involved in a wide variety of projects over the years—from illustrating greeting cards to animation. But he has always loved children’s books, and after many years he has turned his attention back to that. Robert makes his home in Wiltshire, England, with his wife, Sam.

  KingdomofWrenly.com

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  First Little Simon hardcover edition April 2016

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  Designed by Laura Roode

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Quinn, Jordan.

  The Pegasus quest / by Jordan Quinn ; illustrated by Robert McPhillips. —

  First Little Simon hardcover edition.

  pages cm. — (The Kingdom of Wrenly ; 10)

  Summary: “As Lucas and Clara set out to investigate some mysterious happenings in Wrenly, they discover a young horse with wings that is lost and in danger”— Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5871-9 (hc) — ISBN 978-1-4814-5870-2 (pbk) —

  ISBN 978-1-4814-5872-6 (eBook) [1. Animals, Mythical—Fiction. 2. Princes—Fiction.]

  I. McPhillips, Robert, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.Q31945Pe 2016

  [Fic]—dc23

  2015018537