by Poppy Shire
Emily explained all this to Sasha, and together they lifted Arin up. He was delighted to ride. Then they set off again, the two girls leaning close to Crystal as they plowed on.
Suddenly a dark shape loomed ahead of them, with squares of yellow light shining through the snow. As they drew nearer, Emily realized it was a log cabin, with smaller wooden buildings at one side.
“We’re home!” cried Arin.
“You star, Crystal!” Emily murmured in his ear. “I can’t believe you did it!”
Crystal snorted. “Nothing to it,” he murmured, but he sounded proud of himself.
“Emily, thank you! I was so scared! Come on, the stable is this way.” Sasha took Emily’s arm to guide her. “My pony, Clover, will keep Crystal company tonight.”
Sasha pushed open the door to a barn. Inside, a pretty chestnut pony with a white splash on her nose stood knee-deep in a bed of thick straw. She whinnied happily when she saw Crystal.
Emily took off Crystal’s saddle and bridle, shook the snow off, and placed them on hooks beside the door. Crystal went over to Clover, and they touched noses. Emily looked around the stable. It seemed very cozy, but she was still worried that Crystal would be cold in the night.
Sasha noticed her worried face. “It’s all right, Emily. Crystal will be fine. He’s got lots of hay to eat, so he can keep himself warm. But we’ll put a blanket over him, too.”
Arin fetched a heavy dark blue blanket from a chest by the wall, and the two girls unfolded it over Crystal’s back, buckling it under his tummy.
“Have you brought guests back from the bonfire, Sasha?” asked a friendly voice. A kind-looking man with twinkly eyes was leaning against the door.
“Emily, this is Gregor,” said Sasha. “He helps my father with the farm. Emily’s visiting for Spring Festival, Gregor. I was just telling her that her pony will be warm enough. He’ll be fine, won’t he?”
“Definitely. You’re a beautiful boy, aren’t you?” Gregor stroked Crystal’s neck. He smiled at Emily.
Emily couldn’t help thinking she knew him from somewhere—his smile seemed very familiar. In fact, he looked a lot like Mr. Barker from the fair! Surely those were the same twinkling eyes? Gregor winked at her.
Before Emily could say anything, the door to the stable opened, and the most enormous dog she had ever seen slid through the gap. He was almost as big as Crystal, with shaggy dark gray fur. Emily gasped.
“Ivar!” cried Arin in delight. He stood on tiptoe and flung his arms around the dog’s neck. The dog licked Arin’s ear with a long pink tongue.
“Ivar sleeps in the stable, too. He’s too big to sleep in the house!” Sasha explained. “Oh! Did you hear that? Mother’s calling us for dinner. Come on, Arin.”
“No! I’m playing with Ivar. Go away, Sasha!” Arin dodged around his sister and ran to the corner of the stable, where he disappeared on a path that sloped down under the floor.
Emily stared in surprise. Where had Arin gone? Crystal looked puzzled, too, with his head held up and his ears pricked.
Gregor chuckled. “He’s hiding in the apple cellar again. Well, I’ve got to be off. Nice to meet you, Emily—and you, Crystal.” He winked once more, then let himself out of the barn.
With a sigh, Sasha ran down the slope after her brother. Emily followed her, stopping halfway down the path. At the bottom, she could see a dark little room that stretched away under the floor. It was full of apples, and the air was filled with a sweet, fruity scent.
Sasha came back, pulling Arin behind her. “Sorry about that, Emily. Let’s go and have dinner.”
Emily gave Crystal one more hug. “Sleep well,” he whispered to her. “Remember, we’ve got to find our special task in the morning!”
The farmhouse was as warm and cozy as the stable, and the smell of the wooden walls reminded Emily of Christmas trees. She’d never stayed in a log cabin before!
Sasha’s mother bustled around the kitchen. She seemed very pleased to meet Emily. “Sit down, sit down! Make yourself at home. You look frozen,” she scolded gently as she fetched a plate to lay an extra place at the table. Then she went over to the stove to stir a steaming pot of stew.
The stew was delicious, and it warmed Emily right down to her toes. As she finished off the bowl she could feel her eyelids drooping.
“Do you want to come and see where you’ll be sleeping?” Sasha asked.
“Yes, please.” Emily stood up, trying not to yawn. “Thank you for the lovely meal, and for letting me stay,” she said to Sasha’s parents.
As she followed Sasha to the stairs that led out of the kitchen, she peeked through the shutters at the window. There was a tiny window in the stable wall next to the farmhouse, and Emily could see Crystal and Clover munching their hay together. They looked very comfortable.
Sasha led Emily into her parents’ room, which had a big double bed in the middle, covered with blue knitted blankets. A narrow wooden ladder was fixed to the wall on the far side of the bed. Sasha went over and started to scramble up the ladder. “Come on,” she called over her shoulder, and Emily followed her, popping her head up through a trapdoor into the sweetest little attic bedroom.
There were red and white quilts on the bunk beds and a warm furry rug on the floor. Sasha lent Emily a thick cotton nightgown, and she pulled it over her head before clambering sleepily into the top bunk.
“Good night, Emily,” Sasha called from the bottom bunk.
“Sleep tight,” Emily replied. As she burrowed her cheek into the soft pillow, she glanced out of the window. Through a chink in the curtains she could see the dark sky, patterned with snowflakes. The wind had died down, and the air was filled with fluffy flakes drifting gently to the ground.
Emily sighed happily. This was the best adventure she had ever had. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow!
Chapter Four
“Wake up! Wake up!”
Someone was shaking Emily’s shoulder. “Go away, Max!” she muttered.
“Who’s Max? I’m not Max, I’m Arin! Come on, it’s time to get up!” Arin was standing on the steps of the bunk bed and had reached across to shake Emily awake.
“Arin! You know you’re not allowed up here.” Sasha shooed her little brother back down the ladder.
Emily scrambled out of bed and stretched her arms. Tiny specks of dust danced in the sunbeams that slanted through the window. It had stopped snowing, and the sky was clear and blue.
Sasha smiled at Emily. “Do you want to come for a pony ride today? I’d like to show you one of my favorite places.”
Emily nodded. “That sounds lovely,” she said.
“I want to come, too!” Arin shouted up the ladder.
“No, Arin! You’re too little. You have to stay with Mother today.”
Emily could hear Arin stomping downstairs, complaining. Sasha started to get dressed. “Come on! Let’s go while the sun is shining. We’ll grab some bread and cheese on our way out.”
The two girls shot downstairs, wrapped up some bread in a handkerchief, and said good-bye to Sasha’s mother. Then they ran out to the stable, leaving Arin wailing behind them. “Please let me come! I’ll be good, I promise!”
“No, you have to stay here, Arin!” Sasha called. She rolled her eyes at Emily. “Little brothers can be such a nuisance!”
“I know,” Emily agreed.
Crystal seemed very pleased to see her when she went into the stable. He tossed his head and blew gently into her hair. Emily gave him a hug, then took off his blanket and put on his heavy leather saddle over the red saddlecloth. Clover had a saddle like Crystal’s, but her saddlecloth was green. She didn’t have bells on her bridle, either.
Soon the ponies were trotting through the town toward the mountain. As they left the meadows, the path grew steeper and rockier, and the ponies slowed down to pick their way carefully over the stones.
Emily let Sasha and Clover get a little way in front. Then she leaned forward and whispered in Crystal’s ear. “Do
you think it’s all right to go riding like this?” she asked. “Shouldn’t we concentrate on finding who the magic carousel wants us to help?”
“Don’t worry.” Crystal gave a cheerful whinny. “The magic will make sure we find out what we’re supposed to do.”
“Oh look!” Sasha gave a shout from up ahead.
“What is it?” Emily asked, craning her neck to see. Sasha was pointing at something on the ground by a ring of tall silver birch trees.
“Do you see that patch of blue? They’re gentians—spring flowers, Emily!”
The gentians looked like little scraps of deepest blue paper peeping through the melting snow. They were beautiful, but Emily was a bit puzzled that Sasha was so excited.
Sasha scrambled out of Clover’s saddle to kneel by the flowers for a closer look. “These are the first ones I’ve seen this year! That means spring is nearly here. I’ll have to tell everyone we’ve seen the gentians when we get back.”
She got back on Clover, and the girls carried on up the path, spotting more flowers. Some were blue, like the gentians, while others were pale yellow and creamy white, a bit like snowdrops. As they rode deeper among the trees, the air filled with the sound of dripping water. Drip, drip, drip.
Emily looked up. The snow was melting off the branches. Emily yelped as a cold droplet went down the back of her neck. Drops splashed onto Crystal’s mane, resting on the black hair like gleaming jewels.
“Come on!” Sasha called, pushing Clover into a brisk trot. “There’s the cat rock! It’s not far to my secret place now.” She pointed to a rock by the path that really did look like a cat, with two pointy ears and a lump on its back that could have been a tail curled up.
The path grew narrower and more overgrown. Although she wasn’t cold inside her thick clothes, Emily shivered. It looked as if no one had been this way for ages!
Finally they stopped at a wall of gleaming gray stone that sloped steeply up the side of the mountain. Sasha slid out of the saddle and tied Clover’s reins to a tree branch. She turned to face Emily, one hand resting on the shining stone.
“I found this a few weeks ago,” Sasha explained. “Isn’t it beautiful? It’s a frozen waterfall!”
Emily looked closer at the cliff. It wasn’t made of stone at all. It was a giant sheet of ice! She jumped off Crystal’s back and tied his reins to the same branch as Clover’s.
But when she turned around, Sasha had vanished!
Emily’s heart started to pound. Where was Sasha? She stared into the trees, noticing how quiet and lonely this place was. “Sasha? Sasha, where are you?” she called.
Suddenly she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She spun around and gasped in shock. There in the waterfall—inside the ice—was Sasha!
Chapter Five
Suddenly Sasha popped out from behind the wall of frozen water and waved at Emily.
“How did you do that?” Emily gasped. “You were inside the waterfall!”
Sasha beamed. “Not exactly. I told you my secret place was special, didn’t I? Come and see.” She beckoned, so Emily ran along the path to where she was standing.
The sheet of silvery ice stretched up beside them, but there was a gap between the wall of ice and the mountainside behind it. “Come on!” Sasha beckoned once more, then slid into the gap.
Emily took a deep breath and followed her. Behind the frozen waterfall, the mountainside arched away to form a large rocky cave. The dappled light of the forest changed to a pale, watery glimmer as it filtered through the thick sheet of clear, greenish ice. It was like being underwater. Emily laughed in delight.
“Come and see this!” called Sasha, who was standing at the back of the cave.
The floor of the cave was rocky and uneven so Emily kept one hand on the wall for balance as she walked over to Sasha. Suddenly she noticed strange patterns under her gloves, delicate swirling lines in all different colors. “Sasha, look! The walls are painted!”
“I know! Aren’t they beautiful? I think they are paintings of Spring Festival—there are people dancing over here, surrounded by pictures of flowers.” She stood on tiptoe and pointed to some dark blue splashes. “See, those are gentians, like the ones we saw. I wonder if the painters used squashed-up gentian petals for the color. I don’t know how old the paintings are. They’re probably ancient.”
Emily nodded. Then she peered more closely at the cave wall. One of the shapes was bigger than the rest, painted in light brown with four stubby legs.
“It’s a pony, just like Crystal!” Emily cried. She pulled off one of her gloves and traced her finger around the shape. The small, delicate head and spiky mane were exactly like Crystal’s!
They followed the paintings along the wall, spotting more flowers and different animals. Eventually, Sasha said, “We ought to get back. It’ll be time for lunch soon.”
Emily stood in the middle of the cave and took one last look around. “Thanks so much for bringing me here, Sasha. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. I never dreamed I’d walk behind a waterfall!”
They went back out to Crystal and Clover, who were happily munching sweet mountain grass. Even though the wind was still cold, it felt much warmer out in the bright sunshine. It was strange to hear the sound of dripping water and birds singing after the quiet cave.
“I’ve just got to tighten Clover’s girth,” Sasha said. “It felt a bit loose as we were coming up.” She started to fiddle with the leather strap.
Emily stroked Crystal’s ears. “There was a pony just like you painted on the cave wall,” she whispered.
Crystal tossed his head, as if he was pleased. “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Is there anywhere around here to have a drink?”
Emily noticed a pool of melted water at the foot of the waterfall. Drops were still running down the sheet of ice into the pool, and Emily wondered how much longer the waterfall would stay frozen. She led Crystal over to the water so he could drink.
But Crystal just stood there with his ears back.
“What’s wrong?” Emily asked. “Aren’t you thirsty anymore?”
“There shouldn’t be so much water here,” Crystal muttered, looking up at the waterfall.
“Why not?” said Emily.
Crystal gave her a worried look. “The waterfall shouldn’t be melting this early. The weather must be warmer than usual, which explains why all the flowers are out. I think the spring thaw is happening too fast!”
Crystal’s voice was so serious that Emily felt anxious, too. “What does that mean?”
“If snow melts too quickly, it can be dangerous. All the snow that fell yesterday could turn into an avalanche!”
Emily caught her breath. She’d read about avalanches. They were great falls of snow that rushed suddenly down mountains. They could bury people or even whole towns!
Emily turned to see where Sasha was. They had to get back to the village! She opened her mouth to call out, but Crystal nudged her. “Don’t shout, Emily. Loud noises can set an avalanche off.”
Quickly Emily led him back over to Sasha, who was tugging at Clover’s girth to make sure they were tight enough. She turned and grinned at Emily. “Ready to go?”
“Yes. But, Sasha, listen. I’m worried. Did you see that big pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall? The spring thaw’s happening very fast….”
Sasha looked at the water and then at the dripping trees along the path. Her rosy cheeks paled till her face was as white as her blond hair. “Emily, you’re right! We must get back to the town and warn everybody. There could be an avalanche!”
Chapter Six
The girls trotted back down the mountain as quickly as they could. Emily clung tightly to Crystal’s mane as he plunged through the snow and scrambled over loose stones. They reached the village square just before lunchtime. The sun shone brightly down on the people bustling about.
Just as the girls were about to blurt out their warning, Emily noticed Crystal’s ears twitch. Then he l
aid them flat back along his head as if he was scared. Emily stroked his neck. “What’s the matter, Crystal?”
“We’re too late. I can hear an avalanche coming!”
Emily gave a gasp of horror. They hadn’t had a chance to warn anyone! She could hear it now, too—a dull rumbling sound like thunder, growing louder all the time. Emily stared up at the mountain. There was a faint white mist hanging near the peak—far above Sasha’s cave. Was it a cloud, or was it snow plunging down toward the village?
She looked at Sasha and knew she had heard the avalanche, too. She was even whiter than before. “Avalanche!” she shouted, cantering Clover right into the middle of the square. “Run!”
The villagers started to panic, dashing around like startled hens. “Avalanche!” shouted someone. “An avalanche is coming!”
“The village is right in the path of the avalanche,” Crystal said grimly. “Everyone needs to leave at once.”
“But where will we go?” Emily asked him. “Oh, Crystal, we should have warned everyone sooner. I’m so sorry!”
“We came back as fast as we could,” said Crystal. “I don’t think we’ve found our task yet.”
They had to stop talking then because Sasha and Clover cantered over to them. “We normally shelter in the village hall,” she explained, “but it’s being rebuilt. There’s nowhere for everyone to go!”
Emily thought hard. What they needed was a sheltered place out of the way of the avalanche, big enough for all the villagers. Suddenly she had an idea. She leaned forward and whispered to Crystal, “Do you think the villagers could hide in the cave?”
He tossed his head, making the bells on his reins jingle. “That’s a great idea! Tell Sasha quickly.”
“Sasha! Can we take the villagers to your secret cave? It’s so big—everyone can be safe there, and the waterfall will shield us from the snow.”