Page 22 of The Bookworm and the Pegasus Tamer

She bolted upright, her ears picking out the beat of wings. Pulling on the first clothes to hand, she stumbled out of the tent, Phoebe behind her, although Lady Ophelia was only beginning to stir.

“You heard it too?” Aurelia asked Phoebe breathlessly as they both stared at the sky.

“Yes! My first pegasus voice!” Phoebe sounded excited, but the tenor of the voice—so different from Echo’s reassuring words the day before—had filled Aurelia with dread.

Danton was already outside, and most of the group joined them quickly, indicating how broadly the pegasus had sent his message. Something had to be terribly wrong.

Dawn had only just broken, so it took her a moment to pick out the dark shape of the black stallion as he appeared from between two hills. He reached them with incredible speed, but he didn’t land, hovering above them, his wings beating with awe-inspiring strength.

You must come quickly. We need your help. We need your hands.

“Our hands?” Aurelia looked toward Danton. “They must need help with something that can’t be achieved with only hooves.”

He looked totally blank, so he clearly had no idea what it could be. But he reacted quickly and decisively, indicating three of the men and instructing them on what to bring in their packs. Within minutes, the three men were mounted alongside Phoebe and Aurelia, Danton already hovering in the sky beside the black stallion.

This way! the stallion instructed, wheeling to fly back the way he had come.

But for all his agitation, he took care to lead them along a path that the ordinary horses could follow. And as the air around them lightened, Aurelia looked about her, searching for anything amiss. She could see no sign of anything, however.

Her vigilance lessened as the minutes passed, and by the time they had been riding for half an hour, she was almost nodding off against her horse’s neck. But when the unknown pegasus dove down and landed right in front of her, she came back to full alertness instantly.

Without the sound of either wings or hooves, the hillside grew quiet enough for her to catch a distant braying.

“Is one of your herd injured?” she asked the stallion.

A foal, he said. She is trapped, and we cannot reach her.

“I caught sight of her from the air. She’s this way.” Danton led the way on foot, striding across the rough ground with sure steps.

The others followed, leaving their mounts behind. As they approached a rocky outcropping, Danton began to pick his steps with care, and Aurelia followed behind with even more care. The last thing they needed was for her to slip and hurt herself.

When she finally reached Danton’s side, she peered down in dismay at the back of a young bay pegasus. Her wings were folded awkwardly across her back, and she had somehow become wedged in a gap in the rock. It widened above her, but below her it grew more and more narrow, and she had stopped at the tightest spot that was still wide enough to fit her body.

The sound of her distressed breathing reached them, and she tossed her head up, giving Aurelia a glimpse of one widened eye.

“Oh, poor thing,” she murmured.

If it was possible to just reach down and pull the filly directly upward, she would escape with only a few scratches. But how could such a rescue be achieved? She might have been a young pegasus, but she was still a large creature, and it would have taken a mythical giant to pluck her out.

Not that a giant’s fingers could have fit between her sides and the sides of the rocky ravine. She was well and truly wedged in place.

The men Danton had chosen huddled around him, glancing doubtfully down at the trapped young pegasus and talking quietly between themselves. Aurelia wandered away from their conversation, following the edge of the ravine, her eyes on the rocky bottom beneath the filly’s dangling legs.

It was narrow for a horse, but she thought a human could fit—as long as they were on the smaller side. But getting down would be the problem…

“Danton!” she called, forgetting in her sudden excitement to use his title.

He looked up, his eyes meeting hers and sending a thrill of realization through her. But he didn’t comment on her slip, merely hurrying to her side.

“What is it?” he asked. “Have you thought of something?”

“Look.” She pointed at a place where the ravine dropped downward at a less sheer angle, its roughness offering a series of potential footholds. “I think I could get down there if someone helped lower me down from up here.”

“What?” He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. What if you fell? Or got wedged down there yourself?”

She stared him down. “You can’t fit and neither can any of your men. I’m the smallest of anyone here—even Phoebe—and it will be a tight fit even for me. If I don’t do this, what are you proposing instead?”

He looked away, and she knew he had no other ideas.