Sea Horses: the Last Secret

by Louise Cooper

  Tamzin had never been on a boat in her life. But she wanted to see the rock for herself. She needed to see it.

  ‘Tamzin?’ Nan’s voice floated up the stairs. ‘Are you awake yet? Breakfast’s almost ready!’

  ‘Coming, Nan!’ Tamzin called back.

  She looked at the painting of the horse and the moonlit sea. She thought of her dream, and she thought of Lion Rock.

  Then she pushed both thoughts from her mind and hurried downstairs.

  Even if the weather wasn’t truly summery, it was still good enough for Tamzin to want to spend nearly all her time at the stables. Through the winter, when there weren’t so many customers, she and Joel had been able to ride to their hearts’ content. Now, though, with the holiday season starting, the ponies were all too often booked up. Today was typical, and Tamzin arrived at the stables in time to see Mrs Richards leading a long string of riders out of the gate for a morning hack.

  Joel was cleaning saddles in the tack room. ‘Got to do stirrups and all the metal bits this morning,’ he told her, pulling a face.

  ‘I’ll help.’ Tamzin looked on the shelf for the metal polish and a fresh cloth, and for a while they sat silently working. Then Joel said, ‘By the way, Mum wanted me to ask – are you still OK for the beach day?’

  Tamzin had never lived in a holiday area before, and she was astonished by how much was going on in and around the village duringthe summer months. The Carnival would last a whole week, with different events every day. And two weeks before the Carnival there was to be a beach fair, with games, music, displays, swimming and surfing competitions and – if the weather improved enough to allow it – boat trips from the cove. The Richardses were organizing pony rides on the sand; Tamzin had offered to help, and now she nodded eagerly.

  ‘Oh, yes! I’m really looking forward to it.’ She paused in her polishing and frowned. ‘There’s going to be a swimming competition, isn’t there?’

  ‘If the sea’s calm enough, yes.’

  ‘Your dad was telling me about it. He said that boats take all the competitors out to Lion Rock, then they swim back.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s right. Dad’s going in for it.’ Then Joel saw her face. ‘What’s up, Tam? You look like something’s bothering you.’

  ‘No-o,’ Tamzin said uncertainly. ‘I justwondered… if the boats get close up to the rock, what they’ll see.’

  ‘Ah.’ Joel understood. ‘Well, I wouldn’t worry too much.’ He squinted at the sky. ‘If it’s anything like today, there won’t be any boats going anywhere! Look, let’s get on with the work. Sally-Ann and Lark aren’t booked this afternoon, so Mum said we can take them out for an hour or two, provided we don’t tire them.’

  ‘Brilliant!’

  Again Tamzin shook her thoughts off. Since Moonlight had gone, Lark, a pretty little brown mare with a white star and socks, had become her favourite pony at the stables. She could never replace Moonlight in any sense, of course, but she had a sweet and willing nature and was fun to ride.

  The morning’s work went more slowly than it should have done, because Tamzin got a splinter from the bench in her hand. Luckily Mr Richards was around; he got the splinterout with tweezers, disinfected Tamzin’s hand and put a plaster on it, just to be on the safe side. It was quite sore, but Tamzin tried to ignore it as they finished the tack cleaning. Then, after the usual sandwich lunch, she mounted Lark while Joel climbed into Sally-Ann’s saddle, and they set off.

  They rode up the valley to where the path met the road, then crossed over to a stretch of ground dotted with heather and gorse bushes, where once a tin mine had stood and worked. There was a network of paths level enough for cantering and in places the remains of old stone walls made ideal small jumps. Tamzin was learning to jump, though so far she hadn’t tried anything higher than about thirty centimetres. Now Joel put her through her paces, reining Sally-Ann in and watching closely as she cantered Lark towards one of the broken walls and they sailed over.

  ‘Not bad!’ he said. ‘You just need to get your weight a bit further forward before Larktakes off. It helps her, and you’ll balance better too. Try again!’

  They spent an enjoyable hour at the jumping practice. By the end of it, to her own surprise, Tamzin had confidently cleared a wall nearly twice as high as any she had attempted before.

  ‘We’ll have to start taking you over the proper jumps in our field,’ Joel said. ‘I’ll ask Mum.’

  Tamzin adjusted her hard hat, smiling happily. ‘That’d be great!’ She patted Lark’s neck. ‘She jumps really well, doesn’t she?’

  ‘She’s got rosettes for it. I’ll show you when we get back.’ Joel grinned. ‘Want to try the wall again?’

  Tamzin agreed eagerly. She set Lark to the wall, approaching at a steady canter. Weight forward, drop your hands –

  With no warning, something small shot out from a gorse bush and bolted across their path. Lark shied, then stumbled, and beforeshe could do anything to prevent it, Tamzin was pitched forward and fell from the saddle. She landed right in front of Lark’s forelegs; instinctively she rolled sideways, and the pony’s iron-shod hooves missed her head by centimetres.

  ‘Tam, are you all right?’ Joel came running to help her up, while Lark stopped, snorting, a few paces away.

  ‘Y-yes, I think so…’ Tamzin rubbed a bruised shoulder. ‘What was that animal?’

  ‘I don’t know. It was too small for a rabbit – a stoat or weasel, maybe. Though I’ve never seen one up here before.’ Joel picked up Lark’s trailing reins. ‘Sure you’re OK?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Tamzin nodded. ‘No damage done.’

  She started to mount again, and Joel added, ‘You’re accident-prone today, what with the splinter as well. Be careful, huh?’

  Accident-prone… A sharp, unpleasant memory was triggered in Tamzin’s mind. Small mishaps, little upsets… This sort ofthing had happened before. Like a warning from the Grey Horse…

  She thrust the thought away, telling herself firmly that it was just coincidence. She was fine now, and to boost her confidence she said, ‘How about one last good gallop, before we go home?’

  Joel looked relieved. ‘Right!’ he said, and shortened rein. ‘Race you to that big clump of gorse bushes by the road!’

  Both ponies took off, small stones scattering from their hooves. It wasn’t really a race, as the path was too narrow for overtaking, but the speed of it, the pounding of hooves and the jingle of harness and the wind whipping through their hair were exhilarating. Tamzin urged Lark faster and pretended she was riding in a famous chase, with hundreds of people cheering her on. All too soon the gorse clump showed ahead, and they slowed down, finally coming to a halt and allowing the ponies a few minutes to get their breath back.

  ‘I’m as puffed out as they are,’ said Tamzin, panting. ‘The wind felt like a gale, we were going so fast!’ She blew air out through pursed lips. ‘Whew! That was fun.’

  ‘And look,’ said Joel, pointing upwards.

  ‘The weather’s clearing. There’s a patch of blue sky out over the sea. Maybe summer’s going to come at last.’

  Tamzin looked. Amid the grey there was a patch of blue – as Nan would say, just enough to patch a sailor’s trousers. Grey turning to blue. She needn’t worry about the accidents – this was a good omen.

  She was smiling as they crossed the road and headed back down the valley path towards home.

  chapter three

  To the relief of everyone in the village, the weather forecast turned out to be right, and within two more days the wind had dropped to a breeze and the grey clouds given way to clear blue skies.

  Tamzin and Joel were thoroughly immersed in their preparations for the beach fair and the Carnival. But one morning, on her way to the stables, Tamzin heard an engine on the road above the path and looked up to see a small truck heading down to the beach. The truck was towing a trailer, and on the trailer was a boat with an outboard motor.

  Was someone going to sail out to Lion Rock?
Tamzin stared at the truck as it swayed on down the road. It vanished, and for another minute she stood still, her heart thumping. Then she ran towards the stables.

  ‘A grey truck?’ Joel said as he put a bridle on Jester, who was due out in a few minutes.

  ‘That’ll be Mr Thomas, from the village. He’s got a boat. Sea must’ve calmed down quite a bit if he’s going out.’

  ‘Could we go to the beach and see?’ Tamzin asked.

  He shook his head. ‘You go, if you really want. But you did promise to help with the stable work this morning.’

  Tamzin sighed. A promise was a promise, and she couldn’t let Joel down. Yet she so desperately wanted to find out what was happening.

  ‘Look, Tam,’ Joel went on more kindly, ‘if Mr Thomas is going to Lion Rock and finds anything, everyone in the village will hear about it soon enough.’

  ‘I know.’ There was an edge in Tamzin’s voice. ‘But…’ She was remembering her dream. The Blue Horse was calling to her, she was absolutely certain. And she needed so much to answer the summons.

  She hadn’t told Joel about the dream, but he could see how troubled she was and he said, ‘OK, I tell you what. If you’re that worked up about it, we’ll go after lunch. We might be able to ride. I’ll look at the bookings and see if any of the ponies are free. Or if they’re not, we’ll walk. Come on. Don’t look so dismal. Mr Thomas’ll be out at sea for ages, so there’s no point going till this afternoon anyway.’

  Tamzin hesitated, then nodded. ‘All right.’ She glanced at him. ‘It’s funny, I’d have thought you’d want to know what’s out there just as much as me.’

  ‘Oh, I do.’ Joel’s voice was light, but he wasn’t smiling. ‘You bet I do. But there’s a bit of me that… I suppose that wants to put off finding out.’

  ‘Why?’ She was mystified.

  Joel stared at the ground. ‘Because I’ve got this feeling that when we do find out… well, that it might stir things up again. We both know that the Grey Horse is still around. This could be like a challenge to it.’ He looked at her once more. ‘And that scares me, Tam. It really does.’

  Dandy and Sally-Ann were not needed until four o’clock that afternoon, so after lunch Mrs Richards said that Tamzin and Joel could take them to the beach, so long as they were back in an hour. Tamzin rode Sally-Ann, as the beach was likely to be busy and Dandy could be a handful among crowds of people.

  Even from a distance they could see that the car park was nearly full. They made their way carefully through the lines of vehicles, with Dandy snorting and trying to go sideways, and stopped at the top of the rock slope that led down to the sand.

  The tide was out beyond the two craggy headlands and the beach was a riot of colour. Rugs, windbreaks, chairs, towels, swimsuits – everywhere you looked there were holidaymakers enjoying the change in the weather. At the sea’s edge red-and-yellow flags on tall poles marked out the safe bathing area, and the lifeguards, also in red and yellow, patrolled the shallows, keeping a watch on the swimmers and surfers in the water.

  ‘Whew!’ Joel checked Dandy, who was now trying to go backwards. ‘The season really has started! Still, it’ll be quieter round the headland, I expect.’

  Tamzin did not reply. She was staring beyond the people in the water, out towards Lion Rock. She could see no sign of a boat and her spirits sank. There were no pounding, white-crested breakers today, only small waves rolling gently in to shore. It was calm enough for the smallest boat to have put to sea. But perhaps Mr Thomas had changed his mind. Or maybe he had never meant to go out at all.

  Then she saw the trailer. It was on the sand, just clear of the tide. And coming towards it, almost in the shallows now, was the boat!

  Others had seen too, and several people were moving towards the trailer to help bring the boat in.

  ‘Walk on, Sally-Ann!’ Tamzin’s voice was eager and she touched her heels to the bay mare’s flanks.

  They started down the rocky slope without waiting for Joel, and when they reached the sand it was all Tamzin could do not to urge Sally-Ann into a canter. She could hear Dandy’s bridle jingling as he fussed and fretted behind her, but she did not look back as the pony moved carefully between sunbathers and sandcastle builders. Small children stopped their play and stared enviously, but Tamzin didn’t even notice. All her attention was fixed on the distant trailer and the boat now surging in on the surf towards it.

  Then they were clear of the cove and on open sand. The huge, dramatic expanse of the beach at low tide opened out to right and left, but Tamzin didn’t even notice it. Sally-Ann broke into a trot. The boat had reached the shore now and willing hands helped to haul it in. Tamzin knew Mr Thomas by sight, though not to speak to, and as he jumped over the side into the shallows she could see him talking eagerly. More people were gathering round; someone beckoned, and one of the lifeguards came running.

  ‘Tam!’ Joel called from behind her, but she ignored him.

  Sally-Ann was cantering now, and they halted with a slither and a scattering of sand. And now Tamzin could hear what Mr Thomas was saying.

  ‘… Split completely in half, it has! There’s a channel in it that you can take a small boat through! I know – I just did it!’

  On the edge of the small crowd Tamzin leaned forward in her saddle, listening intently. Dandy pulled up beside her and Joel started to say, ‘Tam, you shouldn’t have –’

  ‘Sh!’ She waved furiously at him. ‘I’m trying to hear!’

  ‘… looks just like one of those cheeses. You know, cracks and holes everywhere, so many that I lost count.’

  ‘There must have been a flaw in the rock all along,’ said someone else in an awed tone. ‘And it took that earth tremor to expose it.’

  Mr Thomas nodded agreement. ‘Mind, I wouldn’t advise anyone to go through that channel unless they know exactly what they’re doing. There’s quite a tide-race even on a calm day like this. Much more of a swell and it’d be deadly.’

  ‘Sure,’ said the lifeguard, ‘but what about an inflatable? If there’s any way of mooring up, it’d be worth taking a closer look to see if those holes lead anywhere.’

  ‘Sooner you than me, boy,’ Mr Thomas replied with a grin. ‘I’m impressed enough by what I’ve seen, without wanting to risk my neck rock-hopping!’

  Two small girls suddenly appeared at Tamzin’s side as if from nowhere. Looking up, the older one said, ‘Can we stroke your pony?’

  ‘What?’ Tamzin was startled. ‘Oh – oh, yes, if you want to.’

  Sally-Ann lowered her head and closed her eyes blissfully as the girls stroked her neck and muzzle.

  ‘Can we have a ride?’ the smaller one asked.

  Tamzin wasn’t sure what to say, but Joel came to the rescue. ‘Not today,’ he said, ‘but we’ll be doing pony rides at the beach fair next week.’

  ‘We’re on holiday,’ said the little one, and frowned at her sister. ‘But we’ll still be here next week.’

  The older one nodded and Joel smiled. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Come and see us then and you can have a ride.’

  The girls wandered away, satisfied. To Tamzin’s annoyance, Mr Thomas had stopped talking about Lion Rock, and he and several other men were now heaving the boat on to its trailer.

  ‘Oh, those kids!’ Tamzin exclaimed in frustration. ‘I missed the rest of what he said!’

  ‘Tam.’ Joel leaned across from Dandy’s back to lay a hand on her arm. ‘You heard the important thing – you know what’s happened to the rock. That’s enough, isn’t it?’

  Tamzin blinked as she realized he was right. Strange. She had got it into her head that there would be more; that what Mr Thomas had discovered would explain something. Thanks to her dreams, she felt certain that Lion Rock had some part to play in the conflict between the Blue and Grey Horses, and she had somehow expected the mysterious connection to have been revealed. But that was foolish, of course. If there was a link with Lion Rock, Mr Thomas wouldn’t find it. It was waiting for someone
else. It was waiting for her.

  She bit her lip and forced her tense muscles to relax. ‘Sorry,’ she said to Joel. ‘I’m being silly.’

  ‘OK.’ He smiled at her. ‘Well, there’s nothing else to see now. And there are too many people around for a gallop along the beach. Let’s go back, shall we?’

  Tamzin nodded, and they turned their ponies towards the cove and the bright crowd of holidaymakers. She said nothing as they walked sedately over the sand. But in her mind was a single thought.

  There was a secret hidden in Lion Rock, and the Blue Horse wanted her to find it. The only way was to get out there herself. Tamzin didn’t know how that would be possible. But by some means, any means, she was absolutely determined to do it.

  chapter four

  Tamzin didn’t tell Joel about her idea. He might agree that Lion Rock could be important, but she suspected that he wouldn’t be willing to help her find a way to get there. No, if she was going to do this, she would have to do it by herself. But how? That was the problem.

  She chewed it over for several days, but didn’t get anywhere. Then, early on Saturday morning, Hannah phoned.

  ‘It’s my Carnival Queen dress,’ Hannah wailed. ‘Mum’s trying to make it for me, but it doesn’t fit properly! Honestly, Tam, it looks awful, and Mum doesn’t know what to do.’ She paused. ‘Your nan’s doing your costume, isn’t she? Do you think she’d help, if I brought it over?’

  ‘I’ll ask.’ Tamzin put the phone down and went to find Nan, who said of course she would and Tamzin hadn’t needed to ask.

  ‘Brilliant!’ Hannah said with relief when Tamzin told her. ‘I’ll be there in about half an hour.’

  Twenty-five minutes later Hannah came hurtling down the track on her metallic purple bike. She skidded to a halt outside the front door, leaped off and ran into the kitchen, where Nan and Tamzin were finishing the breakfast washing-up.