Erin felt panic rising in her throat. ‘You can’t leave us here!’
Marianne’s voice was silky-smooth. ‘I most certainly can.’
‘Let us out!’ yelled Chloe, running over to the rock.
But there was no reply. Marianne had gone.
CHAPTER
Eleven
‘What are we going to do?’ exclaimed Erin, staring at the slab of rock that was blocking the entrance.
Chloe looked round. ‘What about the hole in the ceiling where the moonlight shines through? Could we get through that somehow?’
‘It’s too small!’ Erin remembered how the sky horses could swirl into mist. ‘You and Mistral would be able to get through it though, Tor.’
‘But that would mean leaving you here,’ said Tor.
Chloe’s eyes lit up with an idea. ‘Maybe you and Mistral could fly out, then you could scrape away the soil until the hole was big enough for us to get through.’
Tor nodded slowly. ‘Yes, that would work.’
‘But it would destroy the gateway,’ protested Mistral.
‘Then you can’t do it. This is the only gateway left that we know about!’ cried Erin. ‘If we destroy it, you’ll never get back to the sky.’
‘We do not have a choice,’ said Tor in a voice that would brook no argument. ‘It is the only way. We have to get you out and then we have to stop Marianne.’
‘What did she mean when she said she would make a dark gateway, Tor?’ asked Chloe anxiously.
‘It is a gateway made using dark magic,’ Tor replied. ‘It can only be used by the spirit who creates it. It gives that person complete access to the cloud world so they may come and go as they please.’
‘But, if someone does that, doesn’t it make the sky horses ill?’ asked Erin, remembering what she had read in her mum’s diary.
Tor nodded. ‘Marianne will not care about that though – all she wants is power. In fact, if the herd is weakened, it will be easier to make them do as she pleases. I did not realize she would try this. To make a dark gateway she needs to use the power of another weather weaver.’
‘My power?’ said Erin.
Tor nodded. ‘But not just yours. That would not be enough on its own.’ He broke off. ‘I should have realized what she was really after. Did your mother leave a lock of hair?’
‘Yes,’ said Erin in surprise. ‘Why?’
Tor spoke heavily. ‘Weather weavers usually do. Hair holds power in weather weaving. Marianne must have been after the diary because she wanted the lock of hair. You know that the magic of weather weavers who are related is linked? That the power from one adds to the power of the other. By using your mother’s hair as well as one of your hairs to create the dark gateway, she will increase the power she can get from you.’
‘But she hasn’t got one of my hairs,’ said Erin.
‘She might have!’ exclaimed Chloe in horror. ‘Erin, do you remember that time we went to Marianne’s house to find the binding stone when Tor was captured? We took the stone with her hair on but left another stone with three of your hairs on in its place so Marianne wouldn’t notice her own stone was missing. Well, when you broke the binding spell, she must have realized her stone had gone and I bet she would easily have guessed the hair we left was yours.’
Erin stared. She had almost forgotten that.
‘We must stop her before she starts to make the dark gateway!’ Tor turned sharply to the colt, who was beside the rock at the entrance. ‘Come on, Mistral.’
‘Wait, Father!’ said Mistral. ‘Maybe I can move this rock and then we wouldn’t have to destroy the hidden gateway. Look!’ He shimmered and changed to his solid form, then he pushed his shoulder against the rock. It moved a few centimetres. ‘We might be able to push our way out.’
Erin and Chloe hurried over and added their strength to his. They leant against it, pushing with all their might. The rock moved a few more centimetres and then refused to budge any more.
‘This is useless!’ said Chloe in frustration. ‘If only you could push it with us, Tor, we’d be bound to be able to move it.’
But the cave was too small and low for the stallion to change into his solid form. Mistral’s ears were almost touching the roof and he was much smaller than Tor.
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Erin.
Tor looked at the gaps. ‘Maybe I could push it. Mistral, come with me!’
Tor’s body lost its horse shape, dissolving into a stream of silvery mist that swirled out of one of the gaps at the side of the rock.
Mistral looked puzzled, but followed him, his body shimmering into mist too.
‘What are they doing?’ asked Chloe.
Erin didn’t know, but it felt horrid being in the damp, dark cave completely on their own without the horses’ company. ‘Tor!’ she called anxiously. ‘Where have you gone?’
Tor whinnied from outside. ‘Stand back! Mistral and I are going to try to push the rock inwards.’
‘But it’s really heavy,’ said Erin.
The girls heard the clatter of hooves on stones and then the cloud horses began to push. The rock slowly began to edge into the cave. As the gaps between it and the wall grew larger, Erin saw Tor, his head lowered, his shoulder pushing, the muscles and veins under his skin standing out with the effort.
‘Be careful!’ begged Erin. The rock was heavy and she didn’t want either of the horses to hurt themselves.
‘It won’t go any further!’ whinnied Mistral as the rock got caught on a chunk of stone jutting out of the roof of the entrance.
‘But we can’t quite get out yet,’ said Chloe. The gaps were just too narrow for either of them to squeeze through.
‘We will move it!’ Tor pushed with all his strength, forcing the rock against the stone spur in the roof. Suddenly there was a loud crack as it broke. At the same moment, the rock blocking the entrance rolled into the cave and the stone chunk fell down from the ceiling. Tor saw it coming and shied back out of the way, but he was too late. The pointed heavy stone crashed into his front right leg.
‘Tor!’ cried Erin in alarm. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes,’ the stallion said. But he was holding his leg up and Erin could hear the pain in his voice.
‘You’re not! You’re hurt!’ She ran to the rock. The final push had left a gap wide enough for her to scramble through. She squeezed around the rock, hardly noticing as she grazed her arms and legs. Stumbling out of the cave, she stopped by Tor. ‘Your leg, Tor!’ She crouched down as Chloe joined her. His leg was not bleeding, but she could tell from the way he was holding it up that it was causing him a lot of pain.
‘Do not worry,’ replied Tor, nuzzling her hair. ‘It is injured, but it will heal in time.’
‘Father! Look!’ whinnied Mistral, staring at the top of the cliff. A dark-grey mist seemed to be swirling over the trees there.
‘Marianne has started the spell,’ said Tor. ‘We must act now!’
He turned into his cloud form, limped forward a few paces and then plunged up into the sky. Once he was flying, he moved more easily. Mistral followed him. Erin and Chloe raced after them. Erin pushed all the questions that were racing around her mind away. They had to stop Marianne!
CHAPTER
Twelve
Tor and Mistral flew over the edge of the cliff with the girls following. Marianne was standing on the ground among the trees. She was holding a seeing stone in one hand, waving the other hand over it and muttering words that Erin could not hear. The dark mist swirled above the topmost branches. It was thick and grey and dense. It seemed to suck light from all around it.
Tor whinnied. ‘Stop!’
‘You!’ Marianne swung round, looking momentarily shocked. ‘How did you escape?’
‘It is enough that we did,’ Tor told her. ‘We are here now and you will not open the dark gateway.’
‘You cannot stop me.’ Marianne gestured upwards at the mist. ‘The magic has already begun.’ Reaching into the p
ocket of her dress, she pulled out a blue leather-bound book. ‘And it’s all thanks to this! The power of the child was not enough, but with the power of her mother too…’
‘So Tor was right, it wasn’t the hidden gateway you needed the diary for!’ cried Chloe. ‘It was the hair!’
‘That little pothole would never have given me the complete access to the clouds I need,’ Marianne said. ‘It can only be used when the tide is out and the moon is in the right place. It is next to useless.’
Erin stiffened. ‘I want the diary. It’s my mum’s. Give it back!’ She felt the air shift beside her, but her gaze was riveted on Marianne.
Marianne smiled. ‘No. It is mine now.’
The next minute, Marianne was staggering back, the book gone. ‘What –’
Chloe appeared in the air, flying away from her. The book was in her hands. She had camouflaged herself and swooped down on Marianne while the dark spirit was distracted talking to Erin! Chloe raced to Erin and thrust the book at her. ‘Here!’
Erin gaped. Chloe had moved so fast!
For a moment Marianne looked furious, but then she shrugged. ‘You can have it. I do not need it now anyway. At last I am going to be able to control the weather in the skies as I have always dreamed of.’
Erin clutched the diary. ‘No, you won’t. We’ll stop you!’
‘You!’ laughed Marianne. ‘Even my sister at the peak of her strength only just managed to stop me last time. How could a child like you stand in my way?’
Erin stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’
Marianne smiled. ‘Oh, Erin, I know you’ve been trying to figure it out because I’ve been watching you these last few weeks, listening in to your conversations. You want to know how we are related, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’ The word escaped Erin before she could stop it.
Marianne’s blue eyes met hers. ‘You think I am called Marianne. But my real name is May. I am your great-grandmother’s sister.’
Erin vaguely heard Chloe’s astonished gasp and Tor’s surprised snort.
‘May?’ Erin echoed in astonishment ‘But… but you can’t be. You’re not old enough.’
Marianne smiled. ‘That is the power of dark magic, Erin. You know this face –’ she pointed to herself – ‘but now see my real one.’ She waved a hand once in front of her and started to change. Her smooth, unlined skin collapsed into wrinkles, her eyes sank deep into her face, her body shrank, her long blonde hair became grey and wispy, her fingers curled like claws. She looked ancient. Her eyes glittered and she laughed at Erin, who instinctively shrank closer to Tor.
Venomous words hissed out of Marianne’s mouth. ‘Your great-grandmother was my oh-so-wonderful older sister who everyone adored. Always telling me what to do, always lecturing me when I wanted more power. I could have had complete control over the weather, but no – she wouldn’t let me. She forced me to let the stallion I had captured go, but then I waited. And as she got old I used my magic to stay young until the moment came when I could try again. That time is now and you will not stop me, my great-great-niece. No one will. I am finally going to get what I have been waiting for. The skies are finally going to be mine!’
She turned, held up the hagstone in her hand and screamed out: ‘Begin!’
The mist swirled downwards like a tornado and then streamed towards the stone in her hand.
Tor plunged forward. Mistral too. They galloped towards Marianne. But they were too late to stop it. The mist was already flowing through the stone. It formed a perfect circle that hovered in the air.
‘The dark gateway!’ hissed Marianne in triumph. As the sky horses landed, she suddenly began to change shape, her neck lengthened, her arms became legs…
‘Erin! She’s turning into a horse!’ cried Chloe.
Before the words were even out of Chloe’s mouth, Marianne had transformed into a coal-black horse with blazing eyes. She leapt at Mistral, ears flattened. The foal had no time to react. The black horse’s teeth raked down his shoulder before it squealed and swung round, rising on to its hind legs to clash with Tor, who had galloped over to protect his son. Their forelegs struck out. But Erin saw that Tor could hardly use his left one.
One of the black horse’s hooves sliced his good shoulder. The other landed a savage blow on his injured leg. Tor staggered back to the ground.
Mistral lunged furiously at the black horse again, but it was already swinging round. Erin saw its muscles bunch and then it leapt upwards through the dark gateway.
The gateway and the horse disappeared. There was nothing. Just empty air and silence.
Chloe stared. ‘She’s gone.’
‘Yes, to my cloud world,’ said Tor grimly, ‘where she will try to take control of the herd.’
Erin thought about the storms that would come, the flooding, the lightning – the danger. ‘She’s won!’ she said in despair.
‘No, she hasn’t,’ Tor responded.
Mistral stared at him. ‘But what can we do, Father? She’ll use her dark gateway to come and go as she pleases and that will make the herd ill. Erin’s right. She has won.’
Tor lifted his head and looked at the skies. ‘All is not lost yet. We can still stop her.’
‘How?’ demanded Chloe.
‘By going through the hidden gateway and bringing her back,’ Tor answered. ‘Then Erin can use her magic to destroy her dark gateway and afterwards seal the hidden one under the ground so that neither Marianne nor anyone else can ever pass between the worlds again. We can do it.’ His dark eyes flashed. ‘Marianne may have won this time, but we are still strong and we can still fight. She has not defeated us yet.’
Erin felt hope fill her. ‘No, she hasn’t!’ She looked around at the others. ‘We’re not going to give up, are we?’
‘Of course not!’ said Chloe, and Mistral whinnied in agreement.
‘We’ll bring her back and seal the gateway,’ Erin told Tor, putting a hand on his neck.
Tor nuzzled her, and Erin gazed at the stars glittering in the velvet-black sky. The night looked so peaceful, but she knew that out there Marianne was waiting. The storm was still to come…
Sky Horses: the Whispering Tree Page 6
