Cloud Magic

loose thread from the binding rope…’
    ‘But that’ll burn Erin, won’t it?’ interrupted Chloe.
    ‘It will and I am sorry, Erin,’ Tor said gently. ‘But it is the only way.’
    Erin thought of how much Tor must be hurting right now. ‘I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘What do I have to do when I have the thread?’
    ‘Sit down with it in the bindweed circle and wind it through the hagstone. When it is all wound up, unwind the dark spirit’s three hairs without breaking them. As the final hair comes free, you will enter a vision. In your vision, the bindweed circle will burst into flames. You must ignore it and begin to unwind the thread from the stone, all the time saying the spell: unwind, untwist, free the bound one like this. When you unwind the last of the thread, the vision will end. But remember –’ Tor’s voice took a note of urgency – ‘if any words other than the spell pass your lips while you are in the vision, you will be trapped there. You must only speak the words of the spell.’
    Erin could feel panic swelling inside her. How could she remember everything? ‘Unwind, untwist, free the bound one like this,’ she repeated.
    Tor nodded. ‘Be careful. It is very important that once you have started the spell you must not stop. If you break off, then the binding rope can never be broken. Do you understand?’
    ‘Yes,’ Erin answered, her lips dry.
    Tor nudged her gently. ‘Then use your magic, weather weaver.’
    ‘Good luck,’ Chloe said desperately. ‘I know you can do it!’
    Erin took a deep breath and took hold of a loose black thread in the rope round Tor’s neck. It burnt her skin anew and she gasped.
    Trying to ignore the pain, she pulled and the thread slid out of the rope. Erin ran into the circle with it and sat down.
    Magic seemed to tingle through her from the stars and, as it did so, the pain from her fingers seemed to lessen slightly. Erin began to wind the thread through the hagstone, holding one end and taking the other through the hole and round and round. The thread cut into her fingers, but it wasn’t burning in the same way. She gritted her teeth and thought about the pain Tor must be in with the rope round his neck all the time
    Don’t stop , she thought. Keep going!
    Winding the last of the thread on, she tied the ends loosely and then began to unwind the three hairs – first one and then the next and then finally she started on the third.

    The tingling feeling of magic increased and the edges of the world around her seemed to grow dark and blurry.
    From the corners of her eyes she saw the white flowers of the bindweed seem to rise up and blaze with a bright light. She pulled the last hair away from the stone, and then suddenly the whole circle of bindweed burst into flame.
    Erin cried out in alarm. Fire surrounded her. It’s a vision , the word drummed in her head. It’s not real.
    But it felt real. She could feel the heat. Sweat broke out over her body. The flames seemed to be creeping closer. The woods, Tor, Chloe, everything had gone. There was just her and the flames and the hagstone in her hand.
    Finding the loose ends of the thread, she tried to untie her own loose knot. But it was hard to concentrate; her eyes kept flicking back to the flames. They were definitely closer! Her breath grew short in her chest; panic started to rise through her.
    Use your magic, Erin! Tor’s voice seemed to ring in her ears.
    Erin looked up at the sky – a cool, dark sea above. The stars were shining brightly, pinpricks of light and hope. Her panic ebbed, the ends came free and she started to unwind the thread from the stone. ‘Unbind, untwist, free the bound one like this,’ she whispered.
    She could do this. She was a weather weaver. Tor had told her she was special. She put her trust in the cloud stallion.
    ‘Unbind, untwist, free the bound one like this.’ She pulled at the thread again. She was almost there. It was starting to burn her fingers again though, hotter and hotter.
    ‘Unbind, untwist…’ Her voice rose as she forced herself to block out the pain and think only of Tor. ‘Free the bound one like this!’
    On the last word she pulled out the end of the thread. There was a flaring of white light; she had a feeling of falling and suddenly Erin was out of the vision, sitting again in the clearing in the woods, the hagstone with the thread beside it in her hands. She blinked. She could see Chloe, her eyes wide with concern. She could see Tor,