Emily ducked as Pegasus stepped under the door. Steve pulled it closed again once everyone was through. As they looked around, the overwhelming smell of horses and filthy, soiled straw filled their nostrils. Up ahead, multiple carriages stood in a long row.
Above them on the upper floors, they could hear the sound of horses’ whinnying.
‘They know we are here,’ Diana said as she listened to the calls of the horses. ‘They are suffering.’
‘So will we be if we don’t grab a carriage and get out of here,’ Joel warned.
‘You choose a carriage, I must see to the horses.’ Diana started to climb a tall ramp to reach the upper floors.
‘Diana, wait! We don’t have time for this!’ Joel cried.
‘There is always time for animals,’ Diana called back as she disappeared up the ramp.
Beneath her, Emily could feel Pegasus reacting to the distress calls from the horses. She looked around at the filthy walls and chipping paint. ‘Dad, this place is disgusting,’ she said.
‘I know, honey. I would love to see all of the stables in the city shut down. But until then, we’ve got to get moving.’
Emily wanted to help her father and Joel look around. But she was feeling too ill. She knew now that something was seriously wrong with her leg. Sensing her pain, Pegasus turned back to check on her.
Emily could see the question resting in his eyes. ‘I’m not feeling very well, Pegs,’ she admitted quietly. ‘But I can’t tell them yet. We’ve got to get out of the city and find the Daughter of Vesta first.’
She looked into his beautiful face and felt a rising twinge of jealousy. Somewhere out there was another girl who was calling to him. This stranger held the stallion’s heart, not Emily. Despite all the danger they were in, Emily found herself resenting the unknown girl and the place she would hold in Pegasus’s life.
‘We’ve got something,’ Joel called from the back of the building. ‘Emily, bring Pegasus here.’
Suddenly shouts and screams came from above. Emily barely had time to catch hold of Pegasus’s mane before the stallion had dashed down the hall and up the ramp. At the first level, Pegasus kept moving. He was starting to race up the second ramp towards Diana when an unconscious man tumbled down from above.
‘Diana!’ Emily called, as a second man was also thrown forward and tumbled down the ramp.
‘I am here.’
Pegasus leaped over the second man and made it to the next level. He ran down the narrow hall between the tiny stalls, skidding to a stop a short distance from Diana. She was standing before the open door of a stall. Her head was down. Emily could see tears shining on her cheeks.
‘What’s wrong?’ Emily asked. She looked into the stall and saw a chestnut mare lying on the floor. It wasn’t moving.
‘She is dead,’ Diana said softly. ‘They worked her to death. But those men didn’t care. I heard them cursing her. She lived a life of misery in this wretched place and they were complaining about what it would cost them to replace her.’
When Emily’s father arrived, Diana charged forward and seized him by the collar and hoisted him in the air. ‘What kind of world has this become where you treat your animals like this?’
‘Diana, please, put him down!’ Emily shouted. ‘Put him down! He didn’t do anything!’
‘Perhaps not. But he lives in a world that allows this to happen.’ Diana lowered Steve to the ground. ‘It is unforgivable.’
Both Joel and Steve looked at the dead horse.
‘I know it’s terrible,’ Steve said. ‘I’m ashamed of what we’ve become and how we treat our animals. But some of us are trying to change things. To make them better.’
‘Then you are failing in your attempt!’ Diana spat. She pointed at the dead horse. ‘I have been away far too long. When this is over and my world is restored, I will return. This will not be allowed to happen again. Such places as this will know my wrath.’
She looked at Joel. ‘You said you knew of me from your books?’ she said. ‘Then you know I feel about animals. I will not tolerate this kind of abuse.’ She crossed to another stall and started to open the door. ‘These horses must be set free. This is no life for them.’
‘I agree with you completely,’ Steve said. He stepped over to Diana and put his hand over hers. ‘But we don’t have time to help them all. Diana, listen to me. We don’t have long before those two guys wake up or someone else notices we’re here. We may have already tripped some alarms. Who do you think will be interested to hear of a break-in at a livery stable? A LIVERY STABLE, Diana. The CRU, that’s who. And who will they think of?’ Without waiting for an answer, he pointed at Pegasus. ‘They’ll think of him. We must get out of here as quickly as possible.’
Pegasus stomped his foot and started to whinny. Diana paused. Finally she calmed as she walked over to the stallion and patted his neck.
‘Of course, my dear friend, you are correct.’