Gathering Storm

by Louise Cooper

  Tamzin stared in astonishment. ‘That’s incredible!’ she said.

  Joel nodded. ‘Just shows how unstable these cliffs can be. Come on, let’s go and see your nan.’

  As they approached, they saw someone else standing at the foot of one of the fallen boulders. He was talking to Nan, and as the ponies arrived Nan turned to greet them.

  ‘Hello!’ she said. ‘Spectacular, isn’t it? This is Mr Brewer – he’s here on holiday. This is my granddaughter, Tamzin, and her friend Joel.’

  ‘Hello.’ The man, who was about Nan’s age, smiled at the two riders. ‘Pleased to meet you.’ He had a pleasant, friendly face, with thinning fair hair and a bushy beard. He didn’t look like a beach holidaymaker; more like a hiker, with a belted jacket, heavy boots and trousers tucked into his thick socks. Near him on the sand was a canvas shoulder bag with a flashlight strapped to it.

  Mr Brewer saw Joel looking curiously at the bag, and grinned. ‘Mrs Weston isn’t strictly right about the holiday bit. I’m here to do some research. Or I was, until this happened.’ He waved a hand towards the rockfall. ‘I’ve been told that there are some old tunnels and air shafts that link up with this cave. People say they were dug by miners, but I’ve got a theory that they’re a lot more ancient than anyone realizes.’

  ‘Are you an archaeologist?’ Tamzin asked.

  ‘Yes. My special interest is ancient Cornwall, and this area in particular. My ancestors came from here, way back, you see.’

  ‘Did they?’ Joel asked. His voice sounded a little sharp, Tamzin thought. ‘Whereabouts?’

  ‘Well, I’m not exactly sure where – or even when, for that matter. But it was certainly within a few miles. And a very long time ago.’ He smiled again. ‘Too long ago for me to call myself Cornish, I’m afraid!’

  Nan and Tamzin both laughed, but Joel did not. His face was very serious, and he seemed to be thinking hard. Before he could say anything, though, Mr Brewer continued.

  ‘I gather your family has been here a long time, too, Tamzin. Your nan knows a lot about local history.’

  ‘Oh, yes, she does,’ Tamzin agreed. From the corner of her eye she saw Joel giving her a strange look, but she ignored it. Mr Brewer turned to Nan again.

  ‘I don’t know if you’d be willing, Mrs Weston, but I’d love the chance to talk to you about that. Your knowledge might help me to a few short cuts with my research.’

  ‘I’d be delighted,’ said Nan. ‘I tell you what: why don’t you come to tea this afternoon, if you’re not busy?’ She nodded towards the cave. ‘You’re not going to make much progress here, after all.’

  He beamed. ‘I’d like that very much!’

  ‘Then it’s settled. Chapel Cottage isn’t too difficult to find; it’s just –’

  ‘Tam, shall we ride on?’ said Joel quietly, as Nan started to give directions.

  Tamzin blinked, surprised. ‘What? All right, then. If you’re in a hurry.’ She glanced at Nan for permission, Nan smiled and nodded, and Mr Brewer said, ‘See you later, I hope, Tamzin.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tamzin. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’

  Joel was waiting, and as Tamzin gathered up her reins ready to go, he suddenly dug his heels into Dandy’s flanks. Dandy took off at a gallop, sand scattering from his hooves.

  ‘Hey!’ Tamzin shouted. ‘What about our race? You said you’d give me a head start!’

  Joel called back but she couldn’t hear what he said. Dandy was already almost at the sea’s edge and Lark pranced, wanting to gallop too. What on earth was the matter with Joel? Tamzin sighed, then gave Lark her head and they set off in pursuit with the wind flying in their faces.

  She only caught up with Joel when he halted Dandy near the far end of the beach.

  ‘Joel,’ she said, ‘what’s the matter?’

  For a few moments Joel didn’t reply, but stared out to sea. Then at last he said, ‘It’s that man.’

  ‘Who? Mr Brewer?’

  ‘Yes. I don’t trust him.’

  ‘You don’t even know him!’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Joel. ‘And I think it’s a bit weird that he should just happen to turn up when he did.’

  The ponies were standing in the shallow water at the sea’s edge. Lark put her head down and snorted at the small wavelets.

  ‘Look,’ Joel went on, very quickly as though he wanted to get the words out before his nerve failed, ‘what if the earth tremor wasn’t a coincidence? Then the morning afterwards, a stranger suddenly comes along and gets involved with us. Well, that’s happened once before, hasn’t it? At Christmas. And you know as well as I do what it led to!’

  ‘You mean… Marga?’

  ‘Yes.’ Joel took a deep breath. ‘What I’m saying is, how do we know that this Mr Brewer isn’t something to do with the Grey Horse as well? This could be a trap, Tam. Just like last time!’

  Tamzin sighed. Joel had not wanted to believe in the Grey Horse at first. But what had happened at Christmas had changed his mind. He had allowed himself to be fooled, and his mistake had almost ended in disaster. Since then he had felt guilty, and now he was suspicious of everyone and everything. The smallest incident, to him, was a new sign of the Grey Horse’s power, and he saw – or imagined – threats around every corner.

  ‘Joel,’ she said, ‘this is crazy! We can’t go around suspecting everyone we meet of working for the Grey Horse. Mr Brewer seems perfectly OK to me.’

  ‘Then why is he so interested in that particular cave? We both know what happened there last year!’

  Tamzin shuddered as she recalled that night, when she had had her first direct encounter with the Grey Horse. But she pushed the memory away and said, ‘There’s such a thing as coincidence. That’s what Nan said last night. She’s no fool. If there was anything fishy about Mr Brewer, she would have sensed it. And she certainly wouldn’t have invited him to tea!’

  ‘She might be wrong, though. Mightn’t she?’

  ‘OK, she might. But I don’t think she is. She never met Marga, remember. If she had, things might not have gone wrong the way they did. I trust her, Joel. Can’t you do the same?’

  Joel shrugged. ‘I want to. But…’

  ‘Please. We can’t let this get to us, or we’ll both go nuts with worrying all the time.’

  He paused. Then at last he let out a long breath. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll try. But do me a favour, will you? Just be careful.’

  ‘Of course I will,’ said Tamzin.

  Mr Brewer’s teatime visit was a great success. He and Nan were soon on first-name terms, and he insisted that Tamzin, too, should call him Alec. He was very interested to learn all that Nan could tell him about local history, and he had quite a few pieces of information of his own to add.

  Then, as they were finishing the last of Nan’s home-made ginger cake, he said something that gave Tamzin a jolt.

  She had been joining in the talk, but at that moment she was sneaking titbits under the table to Baggins, who loved cake of any kind. So she was not really paying attention when Alec said, ‘And of course there’s the old tale about a disaster that happened round here centuries ago. Did you know about that?’

  ‘A disaster?’ Nan frowned. ‘No, I’ve never heard of it.’

  ‘Ah!’ said Alec. ‘Not many people have, I gather. But I found it in an old book; written in the nineteenth century, I think. The book was very vague, because even then the tale was almost forgotten; it was something about a flood, or a tidal wave, that threatened to destroy the coastal villages.’

  Tamzin’s head came up sharply and she stared at Alec.

  ‘The writer didn’t say whether it did destroy them,’ Alec went on. ‘He obviously didn’t know. But according to him, the local people certainly used to believe that something terrible had happened.’

  Tamzin was wide-eyed. A flood, or a tidal wave, centuries ago… Could it be connected with the legend of the battle between the Blue and Grey Horses?

  She looked at Nan, and found that
Nan was already looking at her. Tamzin desperately wanted to ask Alec how much more he knew, but she couldn’t find the words to begin. Then Nan gave a tiny little shake of her head. It wasn’t enough for Alec to notice, but it warned Tamzin to say nothing.

  ‘If the disaster story is true,’ Alec went on, ‘then it seems that it happened along this stretch of coast. The book I saw mentioned your beach, and a passage through the cliffs that was an escape route of some kind; though again it was all very vague. So when I heard about the tunnels in that cave, I hoped I might find some clues to what actually happened.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘Now, though, it doesn’t look as if I’ll get the chance.’

  ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ said Nan thoughtfully. ‘If you can’t get to the cave from the bottom, how about trying from the top?’

  ‘The top?’ Alec’s face brightened. ‘Do you think it’s possible?’

  ‘I don’t know. But there are all manner of clefts and gullies up on the cliffs. There might be a way through, provided you were careful.’

  Alec grinned. ‘I’ve been in enough tricky situations to be very careful indeed! Really, Isobel: you think it would be worth a try?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Nan. ‘I do.’ She caught Tamzin’s eye again. ‘I definitely do.’

  Alec left an hour later. Nan had told him how to explore the clifftop by the safest paths, and he planned to go and investigate the following morning.

  When he had gone, Tamzin was eager to talk to Nan about the disaster tale he had told them.

  ‘I wanted to ask him if he’s ever heard about the Grey Horse,’ she said. ‘Do you think there could be a connection, Nan?’

  ‘If the disaster really happened, then I think there could,’ said Nan gravely. ‘But I also think we should be careful.’

  ‘You mean, you don’t trust Alec?’ Cold, invisible spiders ran down Tamzin’s back as she remembered what Joel had said. But Nan shook her head.

  ‘It isn’t that, love. I like Alec, and I’m as sure as I can be that there’s nothing suspicious about him. But he isn’t the kind of person who would believe in anything supernatural. He wouldn’t take the Grey Horse seriously; he’d think it was just an old story that someone made up.’

  Tamzin was crestfallen. ‘So he’d laugh?’ she said.

  ‘Well… maybe not. But he wouldn’t believe. So I think it’s best if we don’t tell him too much about it, at least not for the time being.’ Nan paused. ‘Mind you, I wouldn’t mind seeing what he does uncover. You never know: it might prove very useful…’

  *

  Tamzin was at the stables early the next day. She had thought hard about Nan’s advice, and she had decided that there could be no harm in her riding up the cliff path this morning, to see whether Alec had managed to find a way to get into the cave.

  The only problem was Joel. Tamzin wanted to tell him about her plan and ask him to go with her; but she knew how he would react. All his suspicions would come to the surface again. He would probably refuse to go, and if she said she was going alone he would probably try to stop her. She didn’t want to quarrel with him. But how could she persuade him to do what she asked?

  She was still dithering about what to do when she reached the stables. However, the problem was solved for her – because Joel was not there.

  ‘His mother’s taken some customers out on a half-day trek,’ said Mr Richards, who was in the stable yard. ‘There are quite a lot of them, so Joel’s gone along to help. They won’t be back until after lunch.’ He smiled at her. ‘Tell you what, there isn’t much work to do this morning. Why don’t you go for a ride on your own? You can take Moonlight; he isn’t booked today.’

  It was the ideal answer to Tamzin’s dilemma. If Joel wasn’t here, he couldn’t argue about going to the clifftop. She would tell him later, and if he wasn’t happy about it – well, by then it wouldn’t matter, because she would have found out what she wanted to know. And she would be perfectly safe, she thought. Yesterday on the beach, she had been riding Lark. Today, though, she would be on Moonlight. And if Alec Brewer couldn’t be trusted, Moonlight would know.

  She groomed Moonlight, then saddled him and rode out of the yard. She knew her way around the paths pretty well by now, and took the wider, inland track that would bring her out at the top of the high cliffs. The day was sunny again, and as they reached the top the whole sky opened out like a brilliant, upside-down blue bowl. The sea was blue, too, moving like silk as the swell rolled in. It was a good omen, Tamzin thought.

  She turned Moonlight along another path towards the headland above the cave. The cliff sloped quite gently towards it, and the path led to a natural, shallow dip directly over the cave. As she approached, Tamzin could see that the grass and heather were scoured away where the rock had fallen; she halted Moonlight at the edge of the dip and looked down.

  Alec was there, at the bottom of the dip where the path ended. He was digging around with a trowel, and Tamzin saw that there was a narrow, gaping fissure in the rock near where he stood.

  He looked up, saw her and waved. ‘Hello!’

  ‘Hello!’ Tamzin called back. ‘Have you found anything interesting?’

  ‘I certainly have! See this hole? I’m pretty sure that it goes right through to a tunnel. I just need to clear a bit more of this loose earth away, so I can get a proper look.’

  ‘Could I come down and see?’ Tamzin asked.

  ‘Certainly!’

  Tamzin tapped Moonlight’s flanks gently with her heels and the pony started down the path again. But they were no more than halfway to Alec when Moonlight suddenly stopped.

  ‘Come on, Moonlight!’ Tamzin urged. ‘Come on. What’s the matter?’

  She tried to make him move again, but Moonlight flatly refused. He stamped and pawed, backing away and almost sitting down on his haunches. Tamzin tried to get him under control, but he fought her, shaking his head, snorting and dancing sideways. He was making such a fuss that to stay on his back could be dangerous, so Tamzin quickly slid from the saddle and went to his head, trying to calm him down.

  ‘Are you having trouble?’ Alec called.

  ‘He’s never like this normally!’ Tamzin was breathless. ‘Stop it, Moonlight! Quiet, now!’

  ‘Hang on,’ said Alec. ‘I’ll come and help.’

  He started up the path. But as he reached them, Moonlight became even more agitated. He shied away from Alec, almost rearing, dragging Tamzin with him as he backed further up the path.

  ‘Here, let me,’ said Alec. He reached out to grasp Moonlight’s bridle – and, so fast that Tamzin hardly saw it happen, Moonlight’s head snaked out. He clamped his teeth on Alec’s arm; Alec yelped with surprise and tried to pull free. But Moonlight would not let go.

  ‘Moonlight!’ Tamzin cried. Moonlight took no notice. He yanked at Alec, at the same moment scrabbling backwards and towing Tamzin on the end of the reins. As Alec lost his balance and stumbled, there was an ominous grumbling sound beneath them. The ground underfoot seemed to shiver – then the grumbling swelled to a groan, and a whole section of the path where Alec had been standing started to slither away. Alec yelled ‘Look out!’ and suddenly the three of them were stumbling and scrambling to get clear as a mini-avalanche of rocks and stones and earth went sliding and tumbling down into the dip. They struck the fissure at the bottom; there was a crack, and the fissure widened to a gaping mouth, into which all the rolling debris vanished with an echoing roar.

  Tamzin had tripped and fallen as she reached the top of the path, and now she sat staring dazedly at the huge, dark hole where moments before there had been solid ground. A metre away, Alec was getting to his feet. His face was pale and he looked shocked. When he spoke, his voice was shaking.

  ‘The tremor must have loosened more rock than I realized…’ He turned and looked at Moonlight, and swallowed. ‘Your pony saved our lives.’

  Moonlight was standing rigid, head high, nostrils flared, and Tamzin realized the truth. The pony had known that the landslide
was about to happen, and when he grabbed Alec’s arm, it had not been an attack but an effort to pull him clear in time. Then following that thought came another that frightened her. Yes; Moonlight had saved their lives. But where had the threat come from? Could it be that the Grey Horse knew exactly where they were at that moment, and had tried to lure them to disaster? If so, then it wasn’t just trying to kill Tamzin, but Alec and Moonlight as well…

  She got to her feet and went to Moonlight. He lowered his head and nuzzled her as she put her arms around his neck, hugging him. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw that Alec had stood up, too. He was staring at Moonlight with a strange, respectful look, almost as if he was in awe.

  ‘I know that animals are supposed to have a sixth sense,’ he said slowly, ‘but I’ve never believed it. Now, though…’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tamzin. ‘I know.’ She paused. ‘Moonlight’s very special. And he’s a good friend to me.’

  Alec didn’t answer, but held out a hand to Moonlight. Moonlight snuffled at his fingers, clearly trusting him – and suddenly Tamzin had an overwhelming urge to confide in Alec. She needed help. And what had just happened proved to her that Alec was an ally and not an enemy.

  She said shyly, ‘Alec… there’s something I want to tell you. And I want to ask for your help.’

  He looked at her. ‘Of course, Tamzin. Anything I can do – especially now.’

  She nodded, and bit her lip. This wasn’t going to be easy, but…

  ‘All right.’ She took a deep breath, and Moonlight whickered as though he was encouraging her. ‘Have you ever heard the legend of the Grey Horse…?’

  Alec Brewer looked at Tamzin and said, ‘Do you believe that the legend is true? That the Grey Horse and the Blue Horse really exist?’

  ‘Yes!’ Tamzin replied. ‘I know they do!’ She looked up at him. ‘But you don’t, do you?’