The Fire Horse

Chapter 4 - Jacqueline

     I woke up early in the morning knowing there was a long ride ahead of me. I was still wondering if My was jumping to conclusions, but we had no other lead so I'd agreed to go and see. Plus I was worried about where Ace had gone. He had been stalking me and Shadow most of the summer and we were constantly chasing him away. Shadow had grown a lot stronger and I was starting to be able to use magic as well. I had mostly the same power as Shadow but I couldn't practice it much since I had horrible aim and now lived in the city. That would end pretty badly. Shadow however let himself out of his stall at night and would go to the Forgotten Fields to practice until like one in the morning. Maybe I'll get the chance to practice up in the Everwind Fields while we are in Silverglade I thought to myself as I grabbed the bag I'd packed last night. Shadow, who'd left the stable before anyone woke up, was waiting outside my house with Thunder beside him. I only had to wait a minute before Nina came racing down the street on foot, she now lived right down the road from me. My mom waved goodbye out the window, I'd just told her I was going to meet a friend in Silverglade, that it was urgent, and I'd be back as soon as I could. I had adjusted quickly to living on Jorvik, my mom gave me a lot more freedom here then in the U.S probably because it was a lot more peaceful and friendly on Jorvik. I had entered school in September at Jorvik High School. The people I'd met over the summer went there so I had people I knew which made it a lot easier to transition. The only soul rider that didn't go there was My, she lived around Silverglade so she went to some school there that I could never remember the name of. As me and Nina rode out of the city I remembered the school wondering why Anne wasn't there for the first week and how me, Nina, Lisa, Linda, and Alex had to try and make something up. Anne didn't wake up when Fripp said she would so we all had been worried. I had gone up to Valedale in late August to see if I could help and right when we walked up to her Shadow had said "I know what the problem is" he had explained that somebody had used powerful dark magic to trap her in Pandoria and Shadow had said "when a powerful dark magic is forcefully removed, sometimes the dark energy lingers and the person will be asleep, trapped in the darkness, the only way to wake them up is to remove the darkness with a powerful light magic" we had tried a few times but we weren't strong enough. That's one reason we'd been trying to improve our magic, we had to help Anne. In about ten minutes after leaving the city me and Nina were galloping through woods, our horses moving way faster then a normal horse. As we entered the woods Shadow removed his disguise letting his huge black wings show. I knew that he would have to disguise again once we reached Nilmers Highland but for now we just enjoyed our freedom. "I'm going to fly above you for a bit, be back in time for lunch" I said to Nina. She nodded and watched as Shadow took off. He hadn't been able to fly for a while, that was one thing he couldn't risk doing even at one in the morning near a city. But here there was no one but us. As we flew Shadow said "I wish I didn't have to disguise all the time, then we could fly whenever we wanted." "It's only because we need to lay low while Ace and the dark riders are roaming around" I replied "once we defeat Ace I promise you we will fly all the way across the island and not care who sees" "Thanks" he said softly fading into silence. I knew Shadow loved to fly and it was hard for him to hide it all the time. Even in the wild he'd had to hide it. We eventually  had to land for lunch. We ate right next the bridge which we would cross right after lunch. At this rate we'd be at the equestrian center by one, which was earlier then I'd planned but it was probably better. As we ate I thought about what I'd promised Shadow. I'd promised him freedom to be who he was. And I knew I would do anything to keep that promise.