Free Cloud Magic by Linda Chapman Page A

broken, they can be protected,
    But one coming willingly lets the dark’s power grow.’
    Marianne drew herself up to her full height. ‘You may have broken the binding, but my power has indeed grown.’ And, with that, she vanished.
    In the same instant, Xanthe broke free.
    ‘Quick! Let’s go after her!’ Chloe cried, flying into the air.
    ‘No, Chloe!’ exclaimed Xanthe. ‘Marianne is too powerful. We cannot stop her by chasing her now.’
    Chloe stopped reluctantly.
    ‘We need to wait and plan,’ said Xanthe. ‘We need to gather our strength.’
    Tor pawed the ground. ‘You are right,’ he said, but he did not sound as if he liked it. Looking at the anger on his face, Erin was sure he wanted to go flying after Marianne straight away.
    Chloe flew down again. ‘What did all those words she said mean?’
    ‘It sounded like a prophecy,’ Xanthe said grimly.
    ‘I’ve heard those words before,’ said Erin, her heart thudding. ‘They’re on a piece of paper that used to belong to my mum.’
    ‘It must be a weather-weaving prophecy,’ said Xanthe. ‘Marianne must have realized that if a sky horse came through the gateway willingly then she would become more powerful. It sounds as if she has been using her magic to cast visions of Tor being mistreated into the cloud world, knowing that his son would feel compelled to come through to try to help him.’
    ‘And then we helped her by coming here tonight,’ said Erin slowly.
    ‘And now my son is her prisoner, caught within a trapping stone, unable to break free,’ Tor said heavily.
    Chloe looked at him. ‘What will you do now? Will you go back to the cloud world?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Erin. ‘We can find Mistral and you can tell us what to do, how to free him.’
    ‘Your herd needs you, sky stallion,’ said Xanthe, looking up at the stormy sky.
    ‘I cannot go,’ Tor said in frustration. ‘To free Mistral after he has been trapped in the stone, I will need to speak his sky name. A sky horse’s secret name must not be spoken by any apart from those from the cloud world, or the sky horse will become earthbound forever.’
    ‘But what about the storms?’ protested Erin. ‘If you stay here, then what’s going to happen?’
    ‘All hope is not lost. If you will help me by learning to use your weather-weaving powers, we will be able to control the weather and calm the skies from here,’ said Tor. ‘But I will need you to work your magic.’
    ‘I’ll do anything!’ said Erin fervently. ‘ Anything! ’ She looked at the giant hagstone – the gateway to another world. She could almost see the faint outline of the colt, ears pricked, as he had burst through it and landed on the shingle.
    Tor touched her shoulder with his muzzle. ‘Thank you. Maybe together we can defeat the dark one.’

    They flew back to Chloe’s house. Tor said he would stay in the woods. Now Marianne had the foal she would not try to capture him again.
    Back at Chloe’s house, Xanthe made them some hot chocolate. As Erin sipped the froth off the top of her mug and nibbled at a biscuit, she sighed. She felt shaken. Tor should have returned to his cloud kingdom. She’d done the magic and the binding rope was broken, but now that Marianne had Mistral he still couldn’t go back.
    Xanthe squeezed Erin’s shoulder as if she could read her thoughts. ‘You should be really proud of what you did tonight, Erin. Working the spell to break the binding rope must have been incredibly hard, and to do it when you have only just become a weather weaver… well, that’s amazing.’
    ‘It didn’t help though, did it?’ Erin said unhappily.
    ‘Erin!’ Xanthe moved round so she could look into her eyes. ‘Of course it helped! Tor is free. He can be either his earth form or his cloud form and now that he is no longer controlled by Marianne he will be able to work with you to manage the weather in the skies, stopping the storms and then freeing Mistral. If he had still been bound by