The Soul Riders ~ The Circle of Aideen

Chapter Seven

Sasha was riding Stormchaser through the Everwind Fields as wild and uncontrollable as the wind. As she rode Stormchaser, Sasha felt powerful, unstoppable, absolutely in control — a perfect combination of horse and human. Stormchaser raced over the grassy hills at the speed of sound, heating and cooling the air around them so that Sasha didn't even feel the heat.
It didn't take long for Stormchaser to pick up speed to a wild and steady gallop. The pace didn't slow, and it felt as if Sasha was riding a excited hawk in a calm and steady rhythm. Trees flew past them and grass flew past underneath them. She glanced over her shoulder to see that the stable and the center are both behind them.
Sasha lowered herself slightly as the grassy ground disappeared underneath them for a bit. Stormchaser had leapt over a stony wall. She felt her golden-blonde hair flowed behind her and her stomach lurched. She almost felt as if she and the stallion were both flying. She tightened her grip on the reins and Stormchaser slowed down for a moment, long enough for her to regain her balance again and calm down her excitement. Sasha took a deep breath, calming herself down and nodded to Stormchaser, who nickered softly with a excited look and they both continued their gallop.
They went onto the trails that carried them farther from Moorland Stable and Silverglade Equestrian Center. But that fun bonding time that they were both doing together was interrupted by Sasha's mobile phone started ringing in her pocket. Stormchaser came to quick stop on the top of a hill, looking a little annoyed. Sasha got her phone out of her pocket and checked the message from Linda curiously.
"Come to Silverglade Manor immediately!" Linda's text said.
"Looks like we're heading towards Silverglade Manor," said Sasha.
The two of them turned around and galloped back towards Silverglade Manor. Sasha slowed Stormchaser to a stop as they both saw Linda and Meteor by the stable.
"Hey Linda and Meteor," greeted Sasha with a smile. "What's up?"
"Great news! Alex is coming back!" Linda exclaimed excitedly.
"Nice to see you again, my friends. It's been a long journey and unfortunately, it was pretty unsuccessful." Alex sighed and shook her head sadly.
"What happened to them?" asked Sasha, ready to help the friends she hadn't met yet.
"Both Lisa and Anne have been traveling the world," Alex explained to Sasha. "Lisa toured with her rock band and have done great concerts all over the world. But people say that some time ago, when the tour was over, she returned to the Jorvik stables, picked up Starshine and rode away. Since then, no one has seen her. But we believe that she is somewhere here on Jorvik."
"Anne was a successful dressage competitor. Suddenly one day she disappeared during a competition in France. There's not a single clue of where she went. She's disappeared without a trace. This was almost two years ago and not a peep has been heard from her," Linda continued, a little sadly. "The next step will probably be to try and find Lisa. She's probably the only one we have chance of finding. When we know more about where Justin could be, we'll search for him too."
A few weeks ago, Justin was assumedly kidnapped and brainwashed by Sabine and was taken away when Sasha was busy helping Councilor at Silverglade Village. Sasha still felt very guilty and ashamed about losing her guard over Justin. She decided to keep her distance from Moorland Stable for now.
"The Druids, Keepers of Aideen, has called a council meeting. They've announced that they want you and Stormchaser to attend, Sasha," Alex said, her voice regained Sasha's focus. "However, I don't know how you can get there, because it's a very special place. Linda and I will get there our own way, but you need to talk to Elizabeth in Valedale. She can transfer outsiders to the Secret Stone Circle where the meeting will take place."
Sasha rode Stormchaser out of the manor and towards Valedale Village in a speed of lightning. The green fields had became crowded with tall oak trees and the grass became duller in color. Sasha and Stormchaser both arrived to the village, she greeted her druid friends. She soon saw Elizabeth keeping a keen lookout for her, she smiled when Sasha and Stormchaser had both arrived excitedly. Sasha felt a thrill of excitement within her, she could barely wait for her newest adventure with Stormchaser.
"It's great that you could come," greeted Elizabeth. "I'll teach you how to go to the druid's meeting without having the special attributes as a druid or Soul Rider has."
Sasha perked up excitedly and Stormchaser rotated his ears towards Elizabeth's direction.
"The path behind my house leads to the four rune stones. Continue past them." Elizabeth explained to her. "There, you'll find a spiral path surrounded by other rune marked stones. Be sure to ride in a clockwise spiral along the path until the portal opens in the middle. Ride into the portal and you'll travel to the Secret Stone Circle and meet the druid Council there." Elizabeth hesitated before she had continued. "Listen to the Council, ask your questions and talk to me back here again when the meeting is finished. Keep it a secret how to travel there, please."
Sasha followed Elizabeth's directions and she soon saw the four circles in the Hollow Woods of a glade. There was five tall, gray stones surrounding the circles. She pulled on the reins to the right of them and they both started galloping on the first circle. Sasha looked at the second in the first circle and Stormchaser galloped onto the second. When they were done, Sasha stopped Stormchaser in the center of the circle.
Time had passed; minutes or maybe seconds. Suddenly, she and Stormchaser weren't at the mysterious Hollow Woods. They were soaring above a place where everything was purple and in flux. She heard voices calling out to her. Alex, Linda, Tin-Can, and Meteor. The air around them swirled with a mix of color and energy while she learned to control the energy flows and weave magical light patterns around her, she used her hands as they were teleported to the secret meeting place of the druids and three of the Soul Riders.
Sasha soon saw a ball of pink, purple, blue, and gold light surround her and Stormchaser. Darkness soon covered her eyes.
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After a while, Sasha opened her eyes and Stormchaser's ears perked up, alert, with twitching ears. She looked around with a confused frown, uncertain of where they are. They were at an ancient stone structure in inhospitable terrain that seemingly used to be empty. Sasha had overheard stories about this legendary place from her druid mom. It was called the Secret Stone Circle, but has more complicated names beyond language, time, and space. It was an old site of worship, ritual, and magic. The place consisted of a circular, paved area where no weeds had grew. But Sasha could see wildflowers: red, white, and sun-yellow roses wound their way along their cliff; cow parsley and daisies shone white. Beneath her and Stormchaser shone a purple druidic marking was all of the Guardians and the Soul Riders on the stone floor. On the standing stones that shone with mysterious purple glows from strange carvings.
Everything beyond the trees was shrouded in thick mist.
She soon saw Elizabeth on the right side by the gate. She was with Alex, Linda, and their horses, who standing on the other side. They were all accompanied by dark cloaked figures. Sasha knew at once that they are the mysterious druids.
The eternal leader of the druids, stepped forward. Despite his squirrel-like in appearance, he was something else entirely. His fur was bright blue, his eyes are dark and wise, and his chest was white. Here and there are red runes could be seen. He stepped forward and addressed everyone, including Sasha and Stormchaser.
"We are the Keepers of Aideen," said Fripp. "We greet you, newcomer. I am Fripp."
"Druids and Soul Riders, we are gathered here today for an extra council." Elizabeth stepped forward to address everyone. "Especially welcome our newcomer. This is Sasha, and she's the one I told you about."
"Well done, honorable Sunbeam," Fripp said. "Sasha, it's so sad that we have to meet under these circumstances when time is short and the cold fingers of the darkness reaches for us. But we wouldn't have summoned you if it wasn't important."
"She's not ready. She's too inexperienced. As far as I know she's not even able to talk to her horse yet, is she?" A druid interrupted, his voice was deep and filled with worry. "You should know that I was against this from the very beginning, I..."
"Quiet!" snapped Fripp, silencing the worried druid. "If we could get hold of all four Soul Riders we wouldn't need to do this, but Elizabeth Sunbeam assures that Sasha is of the right kind and has the best qualifications to be a legendary Soul Rider. Actually, better than anyone in a long time. Tell us, Elizabeth."
"Thank you, Fripp." Elizabeth's voice was strong and has an authoritative presence here. "I've told you that she passed the "test." You know, the first test where you can see which of the four powers you belong to by activating your power's runestone. To keep the secret, I've only told Fripp about what really happened, until now..."
"Get to the point, druid," said the druid stubbornly. "I'm not convinced yet."
"She activated all four runestones." Elizabeth's words had stunned everybody to silent, making Sasha give an inward nervous sound deep in her throat and Stormchaser snorted, but he had curiosity shining in his eyes.
"Sasha possesses all four powers," continued Elizabeth. "As you all know, it's been more than a hundred years since this happened the last time. This innocent little girl has the potential to be the strongest Soul Rider of them in modern times! Maybe the strongest ever... But enough about that. She needs training and experience, but we don't have the luxury of time now."
"But she doesn't have any training," protested the druid.
"Hey, we didn't have any training when it started for us," Alex said defensively, backing up Elizabeth.
"True, true." Fripp looked at everyone before he continued. "We're done with this now, and I assume that no one questions her participation here any more? Good. We have much more important things to talk about so we have to do the best we can and have time for regarding training of Sasha when the opportunity arises. Let's summarize the situation. We know that Jorvik once more is being threatened by the great Darkness, the one called "Garnok." We tell by the illegal and dark magic which has started haunting the neighborhood in a lot of different ways. Even our perceptive Sasha has noticed this. That's why it's time to perform the Light Ceremony so we can stop Garnok for now, but it's not that easy. Alex and Linda are two of the four Soul Riders we can get hold of. Lisa and Anne have disappeared. Sasha could probably replace one of them, but we have to continue our search for Lisa or Anne because we need four Soul Riders for the ceremony and that's how it was even before the Lost Book of Ceremonies disappeared."
"Well summarized Master Fripp," Elizabeth explained. "So far Garnok is not that strong, but we've noticed that there seems to be a lot of strange characters out there, who are interested in what we do and they're curious about the dangerous side effects that will appear when Garnok gets stronger. We also have to focus on finding and identifying our enemies before they grow too strong."
"Well, the time has come. We'll spread the word to all of the druids in Jorvik," said the druid. "We'll tell them that it's time for the ceremony again. The primary goal for all of us is to find at least one of the disappeared Soul Riders. Let's call a meeting again soon, when we have more information to share."
"Sasha, feel free to ask your questions and we shall answer them with the best of our efforts," Fripp said to Sasha.
Fripp, Elizabeth, Avalon (the worried druid), Alex, or Linda told her stories about their adventures before Sasha's arrival, past and new; about the Keepers of Aideen and Soul Riders; about their struggles and history with Dark Core and Garnok; about the Guardians of each magical circle; and about the disappearances of Lisa Peterson and Anne Von Blyssen. They answered her questions with forthright honesty and spoke about all the past events, both good and bad.
Sasha doesn't want to replace anyone. She may have the strongest form of magic, but that doesn't mean she should try to replace anyone in the Soul Riders. But Sasha remembered that she had felt a warm tingle of magical energy coming from Greendale and Sasha thought she had saw a white stallion with a long blue mane and tail who was wandering through Greendale when Sasha and Stormchaser both made their way towards Jorvik Stable. But she decided not to say anything, it might increased worried fears and overprotective acts from the druids.
"This meeting has come to its ending," said Fripp with a knowing sparkle in his eye as he silently caught Sasha's eye. "May Aideen light all of your paths."
Sasha and Stormchaser exchanged swift, but determined looks. One thing's for certain, they're both heading towards Greendale to start a new search party for Lisa and Starshine, but she has to be patient and gather enough information to locate Lisa and Starshine's current location.