Destiny and Stardust by Stacy Gregg Read Free Book Online Page A

shone in the sun. He had no markings, except for a slender white stripe which ran down his forehead.
    The black horse held himself so proudly with his neck arched and his tail held erect. He had the noble bearing that comes with fine breeding – his face handsome and aquiline, his body large and powerful. It was as if he was sculpted from granite. Issie was possessed with the feeling she had seen this horse somewhere before. But where? Then she realised. He looked just like the painting on her bedroom wall, the portrait of Avignon, Aunt Hester’s great grey stallion.
    For a moment the stallion and Issie stood staring directly at each other. Then the big, black horse gave an arrogant snort and began to canter down the hill after his herd, rounding on his mares and threatening them back into formation with his ears flat back. With his teeth bared and his magnificent neck arched, the stallion nipped and squealed at his mares as he cantered. The grumpy buckskin mare nipped defiantly back at him, but even she obeyed eventually, and within a few minutes the stallion had gathered the whole herd together and was standing between Issie and his mares.
    With the herd corralled safely behind him, the stallion seemed uncertain what to do next. He cantered back and forth and then stopped, pawing the ground restlessly as if he was considering his next move. Then he raised his head and let out a war cry that was filled with fury, like the bellow of a wild boar.
    Issie’s face went pale with fear. Beneath her she felt Blaze stiffen in terror.
    I’m so stupid,
Issie thought, furious with herself.
He’s a stallion and we’re a threat to his herd and now he’s going to attack. We should have run the moment I saw him. Why didn’t we run?
    The black stallion was close now – too close for Issie and Blaze to turn and run. His eyes were black with anger. His teeth were bared, ready to fight.
    Issie tried to steady Blaze, but the chesnut mare trembled with fear and rage. What would Blaze do if the black horse attacked? She was no match for a stallion! No. They had to make a run for it. What else could they do? After all, there was no one here to save them.
    And then Issie realised. Mystic! The little grey gelding always seemed to know when they needed help. Well, she was certainly in trouble right now. Surely Mystic would appear? Issie’s eyes scanned the crest of the hill. Nothing. Maybe she should call for him?
    â€œMystic!” Issie yelled. Her voice came out reedy and shrill, strangled by her fear.
    Mystic had died trying to save Issie. Since then he had saved Issie and Blaze so many times. He was always there when she really needed him. So where was her grey pony now?
    The shrill whinny of a horse shook Issie back to reality. Not Mystic’s whinny, but the piercing call of the stallion. In that split second Issie made up her mind. She couldn’t do nothing and rely on Mystic to come and fight her battles; there wasn’t time for that. She would have to find her own way out of this.
    OK, so they needed to run – but where? Issie looked around for a way to escape. To her left were the grassy slopes of the hill. Should she try to outrun the black horse? Could they make it up the hill? She looked now to the right of her at the still, deep waters of the lake.
No way out
, Issie thought.
What now?
    As the black horse began to gallop towards them Issie felt her pulse race and she realised she knew what to do. They weren’t going to run away from this horse. They were going to run straight for him.
    â€œC’mon, girl!” Issie said to her pony. And with an almighty kick she drove Blaze on straight at the stallion in a hard gallop. Blaze was only too willing. The mare’s eyes were fixed on the black stallion. She was ready to fight.
    Issie held her path as the two horses bore down on each other.
Keep your head,
she told herself,
keep going. Just a bit closer…
    Suddenly, just as