The Black Horse - a star stable story

Chapter 9

     The others were waiting for us outside. As we walked out Linda was the first to speak. "So what was in there?" Linda asked us curiously. I told them most of the story. I didn't mention the brother I was so confused about and didn't go into much detail on the rest. I just gave them the basic details, how the only way to save the world was to kill Ace and how Shadow and I had to get stronger with magic. I then asked them a question. "What is Dark Core" I asked "it was mentioned briefly as an enemy but I have no idea what it is." "Dark Core is an organization and an evil one too" Alex said "Yeah" Lisa added "they want to control darkness and take over the world but we think they won't be able to and are more likely to destroy it" "Well they sound nice!" I said sarcastically. Elizabeth suddenly interrupted us saying "We should get to the meeting now, we can discuss this more there." We walked over to what looked like a pointless swirly path and started to walk along it. As we neared the middle a portal opened and we went through it. "Wow" I whispered as we came out in a strange place. There was a large image glowing softly purple on the ground and around the edges the rocks has purple symbols on them. We gathered in a circle and there were some strangers there as well. Heading the meeting was what looked like a magical blue squirrel. "We are having this meeting because a lot has gone on lately that needs our attention." the squirrel said. I realized that this squirrel was Fripp, who Elizabeth had mentioned before. I glanced over at Nina who was standing to my left right next to me. I would've felt really awkward without my friend there being the only one who didn't know anyone here. "The dark horse who we believed to have died five years ago has been sighted multiple times and attacked Jacqueline and Shadow" Fripp continued. How he knew my name, I had no idea. Shadow suddenly spoke up "He never died" all eyes turned to us making both me and Shadow slightly uncomfortable. Shadow continued, "I was there. My mother may have destroyed the power he had over the island but she didn't destroy him, and I have a strange sense he is starting to slowly regain his grip on this island." Shadow fell silent and I could sense the memory of that day was upsetting him. I leaned forward and stroked his neck as Fripp started to talk again. "I believe Shadow is right. The dark horse is slowy rising again. And with this we also have Dark Core to worry about and they seem to be getting more aggressive then before." he said. Suddenly something hit me. "Hold on" I said getting everyone's attention "Dark Core wants to control darkness but Ace is darkness, he is the only being able to control it. So what if they try and get Ace to join them?" Everyone started whispering to each other. Clearly I'd gotten somewhere with that. Fripp then got everyone's attention and said "This is a possibility. This could make defeating Ace even harder. If Jacqueline gets powers of some kind from partnering with Shadow then if Ace were to partner with somebody they would most likely get powers too." What if he already has? I thought thinking back to my broken bridle. I kept this to myself though. Everyone was acting worried now. Lisa suddenly said  "Calm down guys, we will win this not only do we have Jacqueline and Shadow, we also have four soul riders, the fourth has almost completed her training. I believe we are strong enough." "Well put Lisa" Fripp said "I think that's all we need to discuss for now, I will contact you again if anything else comes up" Suddenly without even walking through the portal we were back by the swirly path. As for the random people there, who knows where they went. As we walked back I turned to Lisa. "Who is the fourth soul rider?" I asked "didn't there used to be a girl named Anne? I read something about her helping you guys with something." "She's been missing for a while now so we had to recruit someone new" Lisa explained "her name is My, she should be here in a couple minutes I just texted her before the meeting  asking her to come." As we arrived back at Elizabeth's house sure enough a girl came riding up to us on a black horse with a blonde mane that stood out against the black body. "I came as fast as I could!" she said breathlessly to Lisa "I had to ride here all the way from Silverglade, I'm amazed Sapphire was able to run that far!" "Thanks for coming so fast" Lisa said. She then turned to me and Nina. "This is Jacquline and this is Nina" she said pointing at each of us in turn. "Nice to meet you, I'm My, My Pinetree!" My said still out of breath. She then asked everyone "Is there a well nearby? Sapphire is probably thirsty after galloping all the way here!" "Over by the stables" Alex said "and maybe you should get some lunch too Silverglade is and hour ride normally!" I was reminded how hungry I was by that statement. "Why don't you all go get some lunch?" Elizabeth suggested "I have some stuff to sort out anyway." The six of us decided to go. We headed over to the well first so My could water her horse. We put the horses in the stable then so they could have lunch too. Well except Shadow. I tried to put him in but he didn't want to go. "Come on go have some hay!" I told him. "No" he replied "I'm not hungry and it just doesn't feel safe to leave you alone." "You don't have to protect me, I'll be fine just go have some lunch!" I repeated "I'm going to follow you to the restaurant wether you want me to or not" Shadow replied. It went on like this for a good ten minutes until I gave in and let him come. We walked over to the small cafe Shadow following close behind. The biggest table could only hold four people so we pushed a smaller table against it to make a bigger one. I simply ordered a cheeseburger and some water. We chatted and enjoyed lunch for about an hour. Afterward the others went to make sure their horses were settled in for the night. Shadow insisted on following me to bed too. We stood near the edge of town where near the little hotel we were staying in waiting for everyone else. I spent the time trying to convince Shadow to go in the stables for the night but he still refused. Suddenly something in the woods caught my eye. Shadow tensed up meaning he noticed it too. We turned to see Ace standing there. What is with him and just showing up? I thought. He started to glow which I knew meant he was going to attack. I jumped on Shadow and we raced into town. I thought he wouldn't follow us into town. We only ever saw him before away from other people. I was wrong. He chased us down the street shooting dark energy beams at us. As they missed they shattered windows and flipped over the few cars in town. One hit a paddock fence releasing a bunch of now terrified horses. We made it clear across town and realizing we wouldn't be able to outrun him Shadow spread his wings and leapt into the air. Ace continued to fire at us from the ground and follow. We went up into the mountain range to the north. Ace was now a tiny dot below and he had almost no aim firing at us. Of course just as I thought we were safe he managed to hit Shadow. He totally lost control and we tumbled out of the sky down towards the mountain forest below. The trees raced at us and suddenly everything went black.