Peter Kerry The Star Riders and the Mystery of the Fairy Circles Dieses ebook wurde erstellt bei Inhaltsverzeichnis
The Valley of the Fairy Circles
Prolog I stand barefoot on desert sand, high dune mountains on either side. The sun burns mercilessly and brightly from the cloudless sky. In the distance ahead, a black cloud approaches with a rumble of thunder. A shudder runs through me. The black cloud wall has almost reached me. It goes over me, under me, behind me, to my sides. I put my hands over my ears, but the merciless noise forces me to my knees. Everything is unexpectedly quiet. I let go of my ears again. Everything is black around me. Suddenly, out of the darkness, a burning devil's grimace shoots at me with a deep roar. I scream in panic. "Peter...Peter...what's the matter with you?" he hears a soft female voice asking. She pulls his covers aside. He lies huddled in terror, sees his mother's eyes, rushes up to cling to her. "Oh mommy..." and he tells her what he just experienced. "Oh Peter, you don't need to be afraid. That was just a bad nightmare. None of that has happened and never will. Go on sleeping. Your father and I are next door.” She gently runs her hand through his hair. He lies back on the bed. She kisses him goodnight and leaves his room. The children It was a hot summer day just before the school holidays in 1978. As they often did, the children played on the wide hill near their houses as soon as they finished their homework. Peter, with his brown hair and deep blue eyes, was of normal height for his age, not strong, not slight. Always ready for a prank, he was usually nice to everyone. Only once had his mother spanked him when he and John wanted to make a small fire in a hollow on a slope and didn't notice that a small tree was growing above it. Well, after the fire there wasn't much left of the tree. They managed to get the fire under control and put it out before anything worse could happen. John, red-haired with freckles and emerald green eyes, was half a head shorter than Peter. "Johann!" His mother called him when she was angry with him, and gave him loudly a piece of her mind. The two, who had known each other since kindergarten, soon stopped making fires. That was two years ago now. Tom, actually Thomas, but like John he didn't want to be called by his full name either, had just moved to Offenbach am Main with his parents a year ago. Until then, his family had lived in Botswana for six years, where his father had worked as an engineer for a construction company. With his blond hair and light blue eyes, Tom wasn't much taller than Peter, but he was fit and somehow always tanned. The others believed that it had taken root in his skin from his time in Africa. The three boys should celebrate their tenth birthday this summer. When Tom started in the same class as Peter and John, they hit it off and he became the third in their friendship. On the one hand, they shared their fable for the music of the Beatles, one more reason why John didn't want to be called Johann, but like one of his great role models. On the other hand, they never tired of playing knights. The other children on the hill usually had enough of it after an hour at most, but the three of them would have missed dinner if their mothers hadn't kept shouting loudly at them to remind them. Today was different. Peter had taken over the defense of the castle. Actually, that was just a tiny knoll on the hill where they had posted a homemade flag that featured a gold star on a deep blue background. John and Tom led the attack on the castle to capture the star flag. Peter took over the defense. "Come out, Sir Peter," called Tom, "you don't stand a chance against our superior troops anyway." "Never will I surrender to you cowardly wretches," answered Peter. "So it should be your last day on earth," John called and everyone brandished their
