Sea Horses (9 page)

The pony made small eager noises in his throat. ‘Shh!’ Tamzin said. ‘It's all right, Moonlight, Joel's coming and – oh!’

Moonlight had jerked away from her, head high and mane tossing. Tamzin made a frantic grab for his halter rope and her fingers closed round it just before he could snatch it from her reach.

‘Moonlight, no! Shh, now, what's the matter?’ She tried to soothe the pony but he snorted and stamped, and when she pulled on the rope he pulled too, nearly dragging her off her feet. It was all she could do to hold on as they performed a strange, silent dance around the garden. Twice Moonlight almost broke free, and Tamzin was on the verge of giving up and shouting for Nan when footsteps thudded on the track beyond the garden and Joel arrived.

‘Quick!’ she whisper-shouted. ‘I can't hold him!’

Joel came running, and between them they managed to get Moonlight under control. The pony was sweating; he stamped again and Tamzin jumped back, her feet only just getting out of the way of his hoof in time.

‘Whatever's wrong with him?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘I don't know.’ Joel was puffing with the effort of trying to calm Moonlight. ‘He must have come here for a reason but I've no idea what it is. Moonlight! Moonlight, boy, what is it? Stand still!’

Moonlight lowered his head, and it seemed that he was going to obey. Joel's grip on the rope relaxed – and in an instant Moonlight had jerked it out of his grasp. The pony half reared, turning on his haunches, and before Tamzin or Joel could do anything at all, he took off at a standing gallop. The low stone wall surrounding the garden was nothing to him; he rose like Pegasus, sailed right over it, and was gone into the darkness.

Tamzin and Joel rushed for the gate and piled through. ‘Which way did he go, did you see?’ Joel gasped.

‘Towards the beach, I think. Come on!’

Tamzin started to run. She pounded round the curve of the track – and Joel nearly cannoned into her as she stopped dead.

Moonlight was standing in the middle of the path, facing them. A wind from the sea blew his mane and tail like white smoke, and he let out a shrill whinny.

‘Moonlight…’ Tamzin took a slow pace towards the pony, holding out one hand.

‘Careful,’ Joel whispered. ‘Don't excite him, or he'll bolt again.’

Moonlight didn't bolt. Instead, as Tamzin stepped forward he stepped back. He wasn't going to let himself be caught. But neither did he want to run away.

‘Joel,’ Tamzin whispered, ‘he wants us to follow him.’

‘That's crazy!’ said Joel. ‘He's only a horse; he can't reason like humans.’

‘I think he can. And I don't think he's
only
a horse. Watch. I'll show you.’

She took another step towards the pony and said aloud, ‘All right, Moonlight. I'm coming. I'm coming now.’

She began to walk along the path. For a second or two Moonlight watched her, then he turned and trotted on ahead. A few steps and he stopped, looked back to be sure that Tamzin was still behind him, then moved on again.

‘See?’ Tamzin called to Joel.

Joel didn't argue any more. He caught her up at a run, and they both started to follow Moonlight along the path.

T
he white pony led them at a trot on the uneven track. Joel had brought a torch, and the beam made a pool of light bobbing ahead of their feet and showing them the way. Tamzin's heart was thumping like a hammer. Once, she glanced over her shoulder. Back there was the safe haven of Chapel Cottage, while ahead lay mystery, the unknown; possibly even danger. Her sensible self said,
Don't do this
–
go home now and lock yourself indoors where it's warm and safe
. The desire to run away was powerful, but Tamzin fought it. She trusted Moonlight, and Joel was with her. Whatever was happening, wherever the pony was leading them, she had to see it through. Telling herself sternly that she must
not
look back again, she hurried on.

The cliffs rose up to their left, blotting out the moon, and suddenly the only light came from Joel's torch. They could no longer glimpse Moonlight, but they could hear the sea ahead of them, a deep, surging murmur in the night.

‘We're almost at the beach,’ Joel whispered.

Tamzin nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see her in the dark and said, ‘Yes.’ The ground was getting more uneven and they slowed down, mindful of the danger of twisted ankles. Then suddenly the valley opened out and they were at the beach.

The cliffs' black shadows stretched across the sand and made it invisible, but beyond the headlands the scene was lit again by the moon. The tide was far out, and the lines of breakers showed white and ghostly against the pewter-coloured sea.

Joel raised the torch. Moonlight was illuminated in the beam like a phantom horse. He was looking at them, waiting for them. As they started to move again he disappeared over the edge of the rough beach slope.

With the joggling torch to guide them they slithered down the slope until their feet ploughed into sand. Moonlight was a pale, dim shape cantering towards the sea. He reached the point where the headlands ended and the beach widened out, then stopped, and his shrill whinny carried back to them on the wind.

Tamzin splashed through the shallow stream that spread across the beach, running to catch up with the pony. As she emerged from the shadow of the headlands the moon's cold white eye sailed out from behind the cliff, bathing the scene in spectral light. The wind was much stronger here, whipping her hair back and blowing a fine mist of spume in her face, and the sea's noise had grown to a roar. It was like a voice calling to her with a strange, wordless power. She stopped, suddenly afraid, but Moonlight whinnied again and came to meet her.

‘Moonlight!’ Tamzin hugged his neck, feeling his warm breath on her face. ‘What is it? What do you want?’

Joel came hurrying up and took hold of Moonlight's halter rope. This time Moonlight didn't try to jerk away. Instead he pulled, quite gently but with real determination.

‘He still wants us to follow,’ Joel said. ‘Where, though?’

‘I don't know,’ said Tamzin. ‘But we've got to go with him.’

Moonlight tugged insistently on the rope again, as if agreeing with her. Joel stared at the sea and narrowed his eyes. ‘The tide's turned. It's coming in.’

‘Maybe, but we've
got
to find out what Moonlight wants!’ Tamzin looked up and down the length of the beach, which stretched away into the vague distance. She admitted to herself that she was scared. Scared of the night and the thundering surf and the incoming tide. Yet she had come this far. She couldn't back out now. This mystery
had
to be solved.

‘All right,’ Joel said. ‘We'll let him lead us a bit further, and see what he does.’ He slackened the halter rope. ‘Come on then, Moonlight. Show us.’

Moonlight immediately set off. Tamzin and Joel went with him, and at first they thought he was heading for the edge of the sea. But suddenly he veered off to the left, and Joel realized what he meant to do.

‘He wants to go round the headland!’ he said breathlessly. ‘We can't let him. It's dangerous. We might get cut off by the tide!’ He hauled on the rope, trying to stop the pony. ‘Moonlight! Moonlight, whoa!’

Moonlight fought him, whinnying and rearing, and Tamzin cried, ‘Joel, let him go! He knows what he's doing!’ A huge, suffocating sense of excitement was building up in her. They were close to something, she knew it – something vital!

Impulsively she made a grab for Moonlight's rope and snatched it out of Joel's hand. Joel shouted, ‘Tam, don't!’ But Moonlight was already trotting away, and Tamzin was running with him. For a second Joel hesitated. Then he raced after them towards the headland.

As if he knew that Tamzin could not run at his speed, Moonlight kept his pace across the sand to a trot. But Tamzin could feel his excitement. It was like an electric charge transmitted through the halter rope. Whatever Moonlight wanted her to see, it was very close.

The pony passed the first cave but as they drew level with the second he wheeled sharply and pulled towards the yawning mouth. The cave looked black and vast and menacing, and Tamzin's own excitement was swamped by a wave of fear. She tried to push it down, telling herself that it was only a cave and darkness couldn't hurt her. Moonlight was walking now, and she laid a hand on his neck to give herself courage.

They reached the entrance of the cave and were just about to go inside when Joel caught up with them. ‘Tam!’ He grabbed her arm. ‘You can't go in there!’

Moonlight snorted angrily. Tamzin stared at the cave's black interior and swallowed. ‘I think I've got to,’ she said, her voice unsteady. ‘Moonlight wants it. It's important.’

‘Look at the tide!’ Joel pointed towards the sea's edge. ‘It's coming in fast, there isn't time!’

‘There is,’ Tamzin said stubbornly. ‘Moonlight knows. He won't let me come to any harm.’ She flashed Joel a look that was pleading and challenging at the same time. ‘I've got to do it, Joel. I'm going to, whether you come with me or not!’

Joel opened his mouth to argue again, then realized that it would be no use. Tamzin was determined, and nothing he could say would stop her.

‘All right.’ He nodded sharply. ‘But I'll wait by the headland, where I can keep watch on the sea. Here, take the torch. If the tide starts getting too close I'll shout – and whatever you're doing, stop it and come running!’

‘I will,’ she promised. She glanced at the sea. It did look perilously close, and she suppressed a shiver.

‘Give me Moonlight's halter rope,’ Joel added. ‘He'd better stay here with me. He's overexcited, and you might not be able to handle him on your own.’ Tamzin hesitated, but he didn't give her time to protest. ‘
Go on
!’

Moonlight didn't want Tamzin to go alone. He fussed and danced and fought, but Joel had a strong grip on his halter and made him stay. Tamzin took a few paces, then looked back at them both. Moonlight was staring after her, but Joel's face was in shadow. She took a deep breath and entered the cave.

The sound of the sea changed to a hollow echo as she moved deeper in. It was cold in here, a dank, clammy coldness that seemed to clutch at her bones. What was she supposed to do? She didn't like being in the cave alone, and was tempted to run back and ask Joel to bring Moonlight and come with her. But when she turned to look at the silver-grey beach she saw how close the tide was. It was better, safer, that Joel should stay outside, to keep watch. She had so little time…

She turned again and started to move the torch slowly from side to side, scanning the cave walls. At first the beam lit only the craggy, broken rock face, veined with dull colours. But as the light reached the back of the cave, it was echoed by a quick, bright flicker that wasn't made by the torch.

Tamzin's heart stopped, thumped, then started to beat very fast. Right at the back of the cave was a long fissure. Something was there. Something that glowed with a small light of its own.

She switched the torch off, to be sure. The glow was still there, and it showed a small object wedged in the fissure, about three metres up. From here Tamzin couldn't see what it was. But a powerful intuition told her that this was what Moonlight had wanted her to find.

She switched the torch on again and looked at the cave floor. There was a pool at the back of the cave but it didn't look too deep, and beyond it were rocks that she could scramble up. She should be able to reach the fissure quite easily.

She pulled off her shoes and socks, rolled up the legs of her jeans and waded cautiously into the pool. The water only came to her knees, but it was stunningly cold and her feet tingled as she climbed up on to the lowest rock. The glow was still there, but it seemed to be fading. No matter: she knew where the object was. All she had to do was reach it.

Tamzin searched around for a safe foothold. Climbing with the torch in her hand wasn't as easy as she had hoped, but she went slowly and carefully, and within a couple of minutes her head was on a level with the object. The glow around it had vanished altogether now, and a rock spur cast a shadow in the torch beam, so she couldn't see it clearly. But it looked like a piece of stone, smaller than her fist… and with a thrill she realized what it must be. The missing piece from the statue she had broken – part of the head of the Grey Horse, which would make the figure whole again! It must have been washed here when she threw it into the sea. And, somehow, Moonlight had
known
.

Here was the chance she had been so desperately hoping for – the chance to put right all the wrong she had done. Tamzin took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. Then she reached out and her fingers closed round the stone fragment. It was slippery, so that when she tried to prise it from the crevice she found it hard to get a grip. But after a few seconds of scrabbling and wiggling, it came free. Tamzin thrust it deep into a pocket of her jacket and started to make her way back down the rocks. She splashed through the pool again and back on to firm sand.

She was about to reach into her pocket to take a proper look at what she had found, when something moved at the cave mouth.