The Dark Rider

CHAPTER Fifteen



The children had been downstairs watching television when the storm swept in. Hearing the rain, and seeing the curtains light up like strobes, they had run upstairs to watch in the darkness from their bedroom window.

“I hope they remembered their umbrellas,” said Vicky.

“Who is it they’re meeting this time?” asked Neil.

“They were going to look at the health club, gym thing on the harbor.”

A great streak of lightning lit the sky with a flash.

“One, two, three,” counted Neil before a crashing rumble of thunder rolled around the cottage.

“It’s getting closer,” said Vicky.

They sat in silence, waiting for more.

The sky flickered, but they did not see the lightning itself. A faint rumble followed.

“I think it’s moving away,” said Neil. “Show’s over, I’m going to watch TV.”

He got up and went to the door.

“Coming?” he asked.

“No, I’m going to watch for a bit longer,” said Vicky.

“Okay,” he said and disappeared from view. She heard his footsteps receding on the stairs and then a moment later the faint but unmistakable murmur of the television. She turned back to the rain-soaked window and looked out into the pitch darkness.

For a few minutes she saw nothing, but then on the horizon she saw a light flicker for an instant. She began to count, but when she got to twenty she stopped for she did not hear any thunder. Then she noticed that the sky was clearing, for she could see a few stars between the mass of cloud. The lights flickered again in the same place and again there was no thunder. She fixed her gaze on the same spot and waited.

There. Little balls of light were dancing for a few seconds, just above the land.

A fox barked suddenly.

Vicky looked down. In the garden below she could just make out the shapes of foxes moving across the lawn. One of them stopped and looked up at the window.

Another bark penetrated the night.

“It’s you again. What do you want?” whispered Vicky.

The fox called again, still staring up at the window. Then it turned and followed the others towards the hedge.

“Do you want me to follow?” she whispered breathlessly.

The fox turned back and barked once more and then disappeared into the shadows.

Trembling Vicky got up and went over to the door.

“Neil?” she called. Then again, a little louder. The sound of the TV went quiet and she heard the pad of footsteps crossing the lounge. A second later her brother’s head appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

“What?” he asked.

“Come up here, there’s something weird going on.”

“But I’m watching a shark program.”

“Please?” she asked.

“Okay then,” he sighed and began to climb up the stairs. He pushed the door open to find his sister standing and staring out the window at the horizon. He went over to her.

“Look, over there,” she said.

“What? I can’t see anything.”

“No, wait.”

They waited for a full minute. Neil began to wonder if his sister was imagining things and then he saw something. Just for a few seconds balls of light danced on the horizon

“There,” she said waiting for the implication to sink in.

“More lightning. Wow, big deal.” He turned. “I’m going downstairs.”

“But the storm’s gone,” insisted Vicky.

Neil paused and then turned back to look out the window seeing stars above them. As he did so more lights flashed.

Vicky waited for a moment before replying. “It’s in the same direction as the wood. We have to go out there.”

“What? I’m not going out there. It’s cold and dark and wet. What if Mum and Dad get back and we’re gone? They’ll go crazy.”

“Something’s happening,” replied Vicky earnestly.

“How do you know?” asked her brother.

Vicky clamped her mouth shut. She did not want to tell him about the fox for he would think she was just being silly.

“I just know,” she said. “Please, come with me.”

He looked at her, seeing the look in her eyes.

“You’re going anyway, aren’t you?” he said.

“Yep,” she replied.





The children crept out into the cool of the night and around the side of the house. Everything was soaked with rain from the storm. Above them the last of the clouds were clearing away to the east, and the moon soon appeared lighting the land in pale ivory. Neil turned off the flashlight he was carrying for it was bright enough without it.

They found the gap in the hedge and squeezed through. The land stretched away in front of them, shadows stark across the monochrome landscape. It looked cold and uninviting.

“Well, I guess this is the point of no return,” said Neil. He looked at his sister. “You still want to do this?”

She nodded, swallowing down the apprehension she was feeling inside.

He set off, leading the way across the field towards the edge of the moorland. They reached the gate and went through.

The land was silent.

“I’m scared,” whispered Vicky.

“Hey, this was your idea, remember.”

“Is this the right way?” asked Vicky. “What if we get lost?”

Neil peered into the distance. Lights flickered again like strobes, nearer now.

“It’s got to be that way,” he said. “Come on.”

They walked on, treading uncomfortably across the mounds of wet heather. A wind began to blow, and as they walked further they felt it tugging on their clothes. Ahead the landscape flickered, sudden bright balls of light shooting across the heather outlining the moorland in stark detail. On the horizon they could just make out the wood but it was still far away. Behind them a sudden volley of barks made them jump.

“Foxes,” exclaimed Neil. As he spoke they heard the heather rustling and, before they could react, a fox bounded past them followed quickly by another. Neil snapped on the flashlight and swung it around them. Foxes were everywhere, all running in the same direction towards the lights.

“Whoa, this is getting weird,” said Neil. “Are you sure you want to keep going?”

“Yes,” said Vicky, her voice determined.

They pressed on, the wind and the noise beginning to increase. More balls of light arced across the land.

“This is getting too weird. We should go back,” said Neil, having to raise his voice to be heard.

“No, we can’t,” said Vicky. “We have to go on.”

“Look, there’s something there,” called Neil running forward.

“Neil, wait,” cried Vicky running after him, not wanting to lose him. All around her light, noise, and wind began to increase in intensity, overloading her senses. She stumbled on, reaching her brother who was kneeling next to something on the ground. With a shock she realized it was a body.

“Neil, come away, let’s get out of here,” she cried over the roaring but he did not respond. She went forward numbly. He turned to her.

“It’s a woman, she’s still breathing,” he shouted.

“Neil,” cried Vicky looking all around her. Balls of light were shooting all around them, and within each one she was sure she could see shapes and shadows, people, animals, creatures. It looked like they were fighting.

“Look.”

He turned, looking around him, seeing what she saw. And then, through the lights coming towards them, they saw a figure, and Neil’s stomach lurched. Walking towards them was the man they had seen earlier in the wood, the one who had chased them away with the dogs.

“Neil, we have to leave,” shouted Vicky.

“We can’t leave her,” he said desperately. Beside him the girl stirred. He looked down to see her eyes snap open, looking around wildly before locking onto the man, a snarl coming from her throat, her limbs moving swiftly to push herself up from the soggy ground. The man’s eyes widened and he spoke in a strange, harsh tongue and she answered in the same language, her voice a high-pitched scratching, and then the man raised his arm pointing towards her. As he did so he was surrounded by a melee of shapes and shadows, owls, talons thrust forward, wings thrashing.

The man threw his arms up to protect himself, and as he did so a loud, unearthly whinnying and snorting cut across the roaring of the wind. In shadows of grey light a monstrous warhorse appeared bearing down on them, its rider’s piercing blue eyes fixed on the girl, a massive sword held in his hand raised and ready to strike. For an instant the rider and girl locked eyes and time seemed to stand still.

Vicky screamed and Neil pulled his sister to him, wrapping his arms around her. A frenzy of lights suddenly appeared surrounding the rider, and all merged into a shifting melee of shapes and forms. One light, brighter than the others, surrounded them and the girl and Neil peered mesmerized into its center where he saw a tall man with orange hair and hawkish eyes stare at them coldly and then they were enveloped in a ball of white.