Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders (19 page)

Everyone came out of the stables to watch them take flight, and Fabrice and Tara were astonished by the power of the pegasus's takeoff. Within a second it was a dozen feet in the air. It flew like an arrow to the end of the field, galloped first in the air then on the ground, vaulted easily over trees. It even did a loop the loop, which made the two earthlings gasp. Graceful and quick, the pegasus appeared to carry Chanfrein's weight easily.

Cal nudged Tara to attract her attention.

“So what do you think?” he asked with a hint of mischief.

“They're magnificent!” she said ecstatically.

“Hey, they're just big flying animals; nothing to get excited about.”

Tara was about to protest when she realized that Cal was kidding. She was thinking of a snappy comeback when she became aware of something exercising a strange, powerful attraction on her.

Cal was baffled to see Tara heading for the forest, like a sleepwalker or a blind person. Deaf to his shouts, she was listening to a voice singing in her mind.

“Come to me,” said the voice. “Don't be afraid. I am here. Come! Come to me!”

Cal alerted Fabrice and Sparrow, and they all followed her.

They tried to keep Tara from entering the cold, dark forest, but failed. With surprising strength, she shoved them aside and disappeared into a grove of trees. In a panic, Sparrow yelled for Master Chanfrein. Cal and Fabrice plunged into the forest on Tara's tracks.

She now heard nothing but the cajoling, caressing voice, which led her to a sun-dappled clearing. Suddenly, a huge winged form swooped down from the sky.

Her friends screamed.

T
ara looked up, met the pegasus's strange golden gaze, and felt something deep inside her click. Weeping with joy, she threw her arms around the winged familiar that had just chosen her.

She would never be alone again. She would never again be judged, but instead supported, loved, and helped. She and her familiar would form a single being, a single spirit, united forever.

Alerted by Sparrow, who by now was in a complete panic, Master Chanfrein immediately knew that the big white horse wasn't from his stable. Landing next to it, he exclaimed, “A pegasus? Where did it come from? What's going on here?”

“Oh, it's nothing, Master,” said Angelica maliciously, who ran up panting. “This girl enjoys being the center of attention. She's not one of us. She probably saw the pegasus and—”

No one would ever know what Angelica was going to say. Spurred by Tara's anger, the winged stallion strode menacingly toward her.

Angelica yelped and ran to hide behind Chanfrein. “Look at that!” she cried. “She's trained it to attack me!”

Chanfrein examined the pegasus carefully. When he noticed its golden eyes, he shouted, “Tradilan trash me, it's a familiar!”

Seeing Tara's hand on its flank, he asked, “Did it choose you, girl?”

“Yes, Master. He says his name is Gallant.”

A strange hint of calculation appeared in the trainer's eyes.

“That's good. In fact that's very, very good! So your familiar is a pegasus, eh? That's terrific!”

As the young spellbinders looked on in astonishment, Chanfrein started jumping and dancing around.

“This is a real secret weapon!” he cried jubilantly. “It's gonna make that Tingapore donkey jockey swallow his spurs! C'mon, kid, let's get you a saddle and see what you can do.”

Still feeling stunned by everything that had just happened, Tara followed him, her hand on the powerful stallion's neck.

“If looks could kill, you'd have died long ago,” Cal whispered while pointing at Angelica, who was pale with fury,

“Oh, Cal, it's incredible,” said Tara with a deep sigh. “Gallant chose me—
me!
”

“This actually gives us a problem with Manitou,” he said, frowning. “Someone's bound to remember that your familiar was supposed to be a dog. And nobody can have two familiars.”

Fabrice, who was listening, spoke up.

“Has anyone really made the connection between you and Manitou, Tara?”

“No. That is, I don't think so. He doesn't follow me around, he snores all day long, and goes out at night. Why?”

“Do you think he's lucid enough to pretend to be mine?” asked Fabrice.

“I don't know, but I can ask him. You want him to pretend he's your familiar?”

“Yeah, while I'm waiting to be chosen myself. You can't risk attracting even more attention, and two familiars is one too many.”

“It's a good idea. Let's try it.”

Master Chanfrein treated Gallant very differently from the other pegasi. For one thing, the bridle he brought out didn't have a bit. Instead, the two reins were fastened to the nose band. For another, he didn't try to put it on himself. He first showed it to Gallant, then handed it to Tara. Gallant immediately lowered his head so she could adjust the crownpiece and the browband.

The trainer then showed her how to put on the saddle, cinching it tight enough to keep it in place, but without squeezing the horse.

Meanwhile, three stable hands had saddled the other pegasi. The spellbinders led their mounts out of the stables and headed for the exercise arena.

Gallant's presence was a constant in Tara's mind now. After telling her his name, the pegasus hadn't said anything else, but he vividly communicated his feelings to her, as she did hers to him. He was happy to be there, the saddle wasn't heavy, and he was eager to fly with her.

Teasingly, she mentally told him that she imagined her first flight would be on a broom, like some old fairy-tale witch. Gallant's indignation made her laugh. How dare she compare him, a stallion of the skies, with an uncomfortable stick of wood? He sent her images of herself perched on a broom, trying desperately not to fall and wincing in pain after only a ten-minute ride.

Tara had to admit that Gallant was right. Riding a broom couldn't be a lot of fun.

“Okay, we're ready,” said Chanfrein, after checking everyone's cinches and headstalls. “How many of you know how to transform your clothes?”

“I do!” answered Angelica.

“So do I,” said Cal.

“M-M-Me t-t-too,” Sparrow stammered.

“Then you know what clothes to wear.” Turning to Angelica, he said, “Show your friends.”

She waved her hand from top to bottom and commanded: “By Transformus, I want a riding outfit, pants, a shirt, and riding boots.”

Immediately, she was wearing black riding pants and boots, and a black and white shirt.

“By Transformus, I want a riding outfit, pants, a shirt, and riding boots.”

Cal and Sparrow cast the spell at the same time and laughed to see that they had both chosen brown boots and tan pants.

Except for Fabrice, who briefly wound up in a nightshirt, the others' transformations went pretty well. Sparrow knew that Tara was reluctant to use her magic, so she conjured her a pair of pants and boots.

Unlike the others, Tara's pegasus kneel ed to help her climb on. Once in the saddle, she took the reins, and before she even had time to think, found herself thirty feet in the air.

The feeling was incredible. She flew toward the sun, breathlessly watching as people and places shrank below her. She was riding a pegasus! And he obeyed her slightest wish, almost before she even thought it.

With a burst of laughter, she banked in a steep turn, brushing by Cal, who didn't look quite at ease. Neither did Sparrow, who was clutching her reins, terrified of falling.

Experiencing Gallant's feelings so strongly and sharing the sensation of freedom was so intense, it brought tears of joy to Tara's eyes.

Fabrice, grinning like a maniac, shouted to her: “Pretty neat, isn't it?”

Cruising alongside Tara, Fabrice sat his pegasus well. He was a very good rider back on Earth, and the two of them had often gone out together in Tagon. The count owned a half-dozen horses, and Fabrice and Tara used to ride them every Saturday. But this was something else!

Gallant's powerful muscles rippled under his white coat and his wings beat steadily. But Tara was sorry not to have braided her hair, which whipped her face with the stallion's every move. She had the same thought about the pegasus's long mane, which wrapped around her hands. Next time, she would braid his mane as well.

Master Chanfrein flew up to them on Danguerrand. Watching Tara carefully, the trainer was delighted. He'd never seen anything like it: girl and horse were flying as one. He had a plan for Tara, and if he didn't pull it off, he would eat his helmet!

After an hour's flight, Chanfrein had the whole spellbinder group return to the ground. Then, being a believer in
mens sana in corpore sano—
a sound mind in a healthy body—he made them spend a weary hour cleaning tack, grooming the pegasi, putting hay in the stalls, and straightening the stables. When they were done, he gave them permission to go back to the Castle.

Gallant was put in a stall without a lock and was free to come and go as he pleased. Because of his size he couldn't go to Tara's bedroom, of course, which saddened them both.

As the spellbinders walked away from the stables, Tara found herself on the verge of tears. Leaving Gallant was causing her almost physical pain. It didn't last long. Despite the stable hands' efforts, the pegasus walked out of his stall and joined her just as she reached the Castle.

Heads turned as the imposing stallion walked by, and everyone gathered as an embarrassed Tara tried to make him understand that he had to go back to the stables.

Her embarrassment turned to horror when she saw Master Dragosh making his way toward her through an excited crowd of courtiers—followed by the king, the queen, and the chimera.

When Dragosh saw the reason for the excitement, he bared his canines in a sinister rictus. Tara thought he looked ready to bite her. OtherWorld vampyrs apparently didn't fear sunlight, because Dragosh was paying it no mind.

“Well young lady, what have you done to attract attention now?” he hissed malevolently.

“I haven't done anything!” said Tara defensively. “It's just that Gallant can't stand not being with me.”

“That animal has no business being here, young lady. Take it back to the stables right away. You will be punished.”

Frowning, the queen was about to remind the vampyr that Tara was a guest, when Cal spoke up: “He's her familiar. She was just chosen!”

A murmur of surprise greeted this statement. Such a big familiar! Very unusual! The king and queen exchanged a smile of delight.

The vampyr was surprised as well, but quickly recovered.

“That it's her familiar is neither here nor there. The fact remains that this animal may not enter the Castle. So take it back to the stables, young lady. The punishment stands.”

Tara felt a fierce, abnormal rage slowly rising in her mind. Something inside her hated being contradicted. Was this miserable little vampyr daring to cross her? He would learn the price of opposing her. Driven by the demonic rage, she was about to speak when a booming voice stopped her.

“What's going on here?”

Old Master Chem was making his way through the crowd. His eyes widened to see the king and queen, Tara, the pegasus, the vampyr, and the chimera, its tail slowly sweeping back and forth.

“Nothing that I can't handle, Chem,” said the vampyr calmly.

Still, Tara could see how much the wizard's intervention annoyed him.

Master Chem paid him no attention. Staring at the pegasus's golden eyes, he instantly grasped the situation.

“My word, you've been chosen by a pegasus!”

Tara tried to restrain the abnormal fury boiling within her and coldly answered, “Yes . . . Master.”

“May Dragondor dash me, this is really something! What were you going to do?”

“She was just returning to the Castle, Master,” said Cal, ignoring the vampyr's menacing look. “Gallant couldn't stand being separated from her. You know how it is in the beginning; the attraction is almost irresistible. So he left the stables and caught up with Tara just as she was about to enter the Castle. Master Dragosh wants to punish her because he's sure she deliberately attracted Gallant here to show off. But that's not true. He only followed her!”

“Regardless of the reason why this animal is here, it still can't enter the Castle with her,” said the vampyr firmly. “It must go back to the stables!”

“Can't enter the Castle?” asked the old wizard in surprise. “Why ever not?”

“Yes,” chimed in the queen severely, “that's exactly what I was going to ask.”

For a second, the vampyr looked stumped. Then he said, “Well for one thing, it's much too big!”

“Bah, that's nothing,” said the dragon wizard. “I'm a good twenty feet tall in my natural shape. Besides, if my memory serves, Tara's grandmother was chosen by a ten-foot Bengal tiger. It obviously runs in the family! Here is what we did in those days.”

He pointed at the pegasus and said: “By Miniaturus shrink the winged horse, so it can accompany Tara as a matter of course.” As she watched in amazement, the pegasus shrank and shrank until it was the size of a German mastiff—still big, but quite acceptable.

“To return it to its normal size,” Chem kindly informed her, “simply say: ‘By Normalus it would be wise if you regained your normal size.'”

And the pegasus grew again.

“Go ahead, Tara, try it,” said Fabrice.

“Don't bother,” hissed the vampyr. “This ‘guest' of yours can't control her power! You saw what happened in the Throne Room.”

At that, the courtiers cautiously backed away from Tara. They were in no hurry to experience her power again.

“That's irrelevant,” said the old wizard, frowning. “She can control her magic perfectly if she's careful.”