The Painted Ponies of Partequineus and The Summer of the Kittens by Peter H. Riddle Read Free Book Online Page A

gallop to freedom.
    The ground flashed by beneath them, and Alyssa screamed in panic. She was terribly afraid of the dragon’s huge wings and long, sharp claws. She pulled on the reins, desperately trying to make the pony turn around, and Steven faltered and stumbled.
    But Alyssa also knew that if they reached the forest of Paximus, everyone would be free. She decided to take the risk. She let go of the reins and grasped the saddle and hung on tightly. Steven recovered his balance, seized the bit in his mouth, and flew off across the sand of the desert, hoping that Guaryntis wouldn’t see them in time to stop them.
    Mile after mile flew by beneath Steven’s flashing hooves, and Alyssa dared to hope that they would succeed. But they had left it too late. The blood-red sun was already too far in the west, and she watched in dismay as it slid behind the mountain peaks until just the barest sliver of light clung to the crest. Then that too slipped out of sight.
    The pony stumbled once more, his legs suddenly too weak to hold them both up. He crashed to earth, throwing Alyssa onto the ground as his body began to change. The saddle vanished, and a few seconds later, a golden bronze tunic appeared in the air above him and floated down about his shoulders. When at last he pulled himself to his feet, he was a boy again.
    He and Alyssa were stranded in the middle of the desert, too far from Paximus to have any hope of reaching it on foot. And as they stood there in despair, the great dark cloud-dragon rose up from the horizon and swept over them. He gathered them up in one gigantic wing and hurled them out of the desert all the way back to the meadow.

EIGHTEEN
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    Alyssa limped along the beach, favouring an injured leg. She and the other girls were all painted ponies once more. Back in their own bodies again, the boys were sitting in the meadow. Steven lay stretched out on the ground, bruised and battered and feeling miserable. “I failed,” he said sadly.
    â€œYou tried your best,” Alexander said to him.
    â€œThis is all so awful,” Vanessa said to them. “We have to find some way to get at least one of you across the desert to Paximus.”
    â€œIt’s impossible,” Spencer said. “You saw what Guaryntis is like. He’s too big and powerful for us to fight him.”
    â€œBut I noticed something else,” Vanessa said. “He’s slow. He’s big, but just like a real cloud, he can’t change direction very fast. Maybe if you zig-zagged across the desert, he wouldn’t be able to grab all of you.”
    â€œWe tried that once,” Aaron said. “All seven of us tried to go in different directions. But he’s too big. He just unfolded those huge wings and scooped us all back together again like fish in a net.”
    â€œBut what if you spread out in a really long line first? Then maybe you’d be too far apart for him to reach.”
    â€œWe tried that, too,” Alexander said. “That was really scary.”
    â€œWhy?” Vanessa asked.
    â€œQuick as a flash, Guaryntis shrank himself down from cloud size to ordinary dragon size. He’s terrifying that way. He can fly so fast, ten times quicker than we can run, and he can turn on a dime. He lashed his tail and knocked us down. And his claws are as hard as steel. When he grabs you, he squeezes all the breath right out of you. It feels like you’re going to die.”
    â€œAnyway, the desert is too big,” Tristan said. “The dragon just picked us off one at a time and threw us back into the meadow. I was sore for a week. Alexander made it almost halfway to the forest, but by then the rest of us had been caught, and Guaryntis had plenty of time to head him off.”
    â€œThat’s when you should have zigged and zagged,” Vanessa told Alexander.
    â€œI couldn’t avoid him,” he said. “I was too busy watching where I was going, so I wouldn’t