When most of the horse’s head was free, it tried to rise. It screamed in agony as the wing on its side moved.
‘Wait, stop!’ Emily reached out and stroked the horse’s quivering neck. ‘Don’t move. Let me see what’s wrong.’
Emily continued to stroke the strong, warm neck as she raised the flashlight and trailed the beam down along its body. She could see one wing resting on the side, but she couldn’t see the other.
‘I don’t suppose you’ve only got the one wing?’
The animal raised its head and looked at her with imploring eyes that begged for help.
‘No,’ she sighed. ‘I guess not.’
Emily soon freed the horse from the bushes. As she held up the flashlight, she glimpsed the upper edge of the other wing. Only it was at an odd angle, pinned beneath the weight of the horse’s body.
‘Your other wing is trapped beneath you,’ she explained. ‘But I guess you already know that.’
With the last of the bushes gone, she moved back to its head.
‘I’ve done all I can, but we have to get you off that wing. If I go around to your back and push, will you try to get up?’
As if in answer to her question, the horse seemed to nod its head.
‘You really are going crazy, Em,’ she muttered. ‘He’s a horse. He can’t understand you.’
She knelt down in the slippery mud and stroked the horse’s side. ‘OK, I’m sorry but this is probably going to hurt. When I start pushing, I want you to try to get up.’
Placing her hands firmly on its back, Emily leaned forward and started to push with all her strength. ‘Now!’ she grunted. ‘Get up now!’
Emily could feel the horse’s back muscles tensing beneath her hands as it struggled to rise.
‘That’s it!’ Pushing and straining, Emily felt her knees starting to slip beneath her. ‘Keep going, you can do it!’
Putting all her weight against the horse, Emily felt it move. But as it rolled forward, the trapped wing sprang free and hit her squarely in the face. Emily cried out as she was knocked backwards into the rose bushes. Lying in the centre of the patch, the vicious thorns tore large holes in her jeans and raincoat and pierced right through to her skin.
But the fresh pain from the thorns was quickly forgotten when lightning flashes revealed the horse now standing on its feet and facing her. Despite the filth from the mud and leaves that covered its body and matted its mane, and ignoring the countless cuts and gashes from the thorns, Emily was awestruck. She’d never seen anything so amazing in her whole life.
From the moment she’d discovered the horse on the roof and seen its wing, a name had sprung to mind. A name long forgotten from an old book of myths her mother used to read to her. But worry for the animal had distracted her from those thoughts. Now it came flooding back. Stepping clear of the bushes, Emily approached. As she did, the stallion stepped up to her.
‘It’s really you, isn’t it?’ she whispered softly as she fearlessly stroked the soft muzzle. ‘You’re Pegasus, aren’t you? I mean the really real Pegasus.’
The stallion seemed to pause for a moment. Then he nudged her hand, inviting another stroke. In that one rain-drenched instant, Emily felt her world changing.
For ever.
4
Paelen awoke, stiff and in a lot of pain. His back felt like it was on fire and every muscle in his body cried out in protest.
Around him he could hear the soft sound of voices. Keeping his eyes shut, he took a moment to remember what had happened to him. The last thing he recalled was finally catching up with Pegasus and reaching for the golden bridle. He remembered tearing it away from the stallion and feeling its weight in his hand. Then there had been a blinding flash …
After that, everything went blank.
Opening his eyes, Paelen discovered he was in bed in a very strange room. The walls were white with no decorations and it smelled very odd. Over to his right was another bed, but it was empty. Outside the large window, the storm was still raging. It shocked Paelen to see the flashes of lightning and hear the roaring thunder. The way the battle had been going, he thought it would all be over by now.
Paelen turned away from the window. He saw a strange assortment of devices with beeping sounds and blinking lights. Above him, he was alarmed to see clear bags of fluid dripping down tubes that actually entered his left arm.
‘Doctor, he’s awake,’ said a woman from beside the bed.
Paelen focused his eyes on a man in a long white coat approaching the bed.