Cloud Magic

all his attention focused on her.
    She’d done it. She had returned from the vision!
    But just then the circle of bindweed round her – the real-life circle of bindweed – burst into flames. She screamed and heard Chloe scream too.
    ‘Throw the thread into the flames, Erin!’ Tor’s voice rang out. ‘Then use your stardust magic to quench the fire!’
    Erin did as he said. As the thread burnt, the fire flared up, reaching towards her. She didn’t have time for doubts…
    ‘Rain be with me!’ she yelled.
    A second later, rain was pouring down, dousing the fire. With a sizzle, the flames died. The raindrops soaked her, streaming over her hair and face, soothing her heat-scorched skin.
    ‘Rain be gone!’ she gasped through the water.
    The raincloud vanished. Erin’s heart hammered in her chest. She looked at the circle of smoking, charred grass with just a few remaining bindweed leaves. Her eyes met Chloe’s. At the same moment, a triumphant whinny rang through the clearing and Erin swung round to see Tor rearing up in the air.
    ‘The rope!’ Erin gasped, staring at his neck. ‘It’s gone!’
    ‘You broke the spell!’ Tor exclaimed. ‘I am free!’
    Erin jumped to her feet.
    The next minute Chloe was hugging her. ‘And you’re OK, Erin! Oh, I’m so glad you’re safe. It was horrible when you went into that trance. You cried out and then just went really still. I didn’t know what was happening and then the fire…’
    Tor plunged towards them and, as he did so, he seemed to change. The solid lines of his body blurred and faded, and in front of their eyes he grew bigger, filling the air of the clearing. He was no longer a stallion of flesh and blood, but a stallion made of swirling mist, his muscles rippling like scudding clouds, his mane and tail glittering like snow crystals caught in sunlight.
    ‘What’s happening to you?’ Erin cried.
    ‘My true cloud form!’
    Tor reached them, and returned to his usual size. But his outline stayed cloud-like. ‘Now the binding rope has gone, I can choose which form I take – real horse or sky horse. Oh, weather weaver…’ He bent his head and touched his muzzle to her forehead. ‘I knew you were special. Thank you.’
    ‘Thank you for showing me how to use my powers,’ Erin breathed, feeling a tingling coldness where his skin touched hers. She reached out to stroke his neck. It was like an icy mist, there but not there, soothing the last of the pain from her fingers.
    ‘I must return to my kingdom,’ Tor said. ‘I need you to open the gateway for me – the gateway between this world and the cloud world. It is at World’s End.’
    ‘Is it the rock that looks like a hagstone?’ Erin asked.
    ‘The rock that is a hagstone,’ Tor said. But just then a figure in a silver dress came flying through the trees. She was holding her head and looked pale.
    ‘Xanthe!’ Erin exclaimed. ‘Are you OK?’
    ‘I’ll be fine, don’t worry,’ Xanthe said, flying down.
    ‘This is Xanthe, my godmother,’ Chloe said quickly to Tor. ‘She’s here to help us.’
    Xanthe landed lightly. ‘Greetings, sky stallion.’
    ‘Stardust spirit,’ Tor said, bowing his head slightly.
    Xanthe looked around. ‘Is Marianne here?’

    ‘No. We thought she was with you.’ Chloe frowned.
    ‘She was,’ Xanthe said. ‘But then she left. I tried to stop her, but her magic was too strong.’
    ‘I’ve broken the binding rope…’ Erin began.’
    ‘Oh, well done!’ Xanthe said.
    But Erin knew there was no time for congratulations. ‘Now I’m going to open a gateway so Tor can go back to the clouds.’ She had no idea how she would do it, but she trusted Tor completely. He would tell her what to do. She shook her wet hair back.
    ‘Let’s not hang around here waiting for Marianne,’ Chloe said. ‘Come on!’
    They flew out of the woods with Tor galloping below them, his outline constantly shifting and changing. No hedge or wall stopped him; he soared over them all, his mane and tail streaming out behind him like silver banners of mist.
    Above them, the stars shone down out of a velvet-black sky. The moon was round and full.
    As they flew, Xanthe explained what had happened at the house. ‘At first I talked to Marianne, as I said I would, but she got impatient, said she had somewhere to be. She told me to leave and when I wouldn’t she tried to use a stardust binding spell on me. I was ready and we fought. I managed to bind her , but she broke free when I