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Stardust and the
Daredevil Ponies
STACY GREGG
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2008. HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk
Text copyright © Stacy Gregg 2008
Illustrations © Fiona Land 2008
Cover design copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020 Cover photography © Shutterstock.com CBBC logo © British Broadcasting Corporation 2016
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Source ISBN: 9780007245161
Ebook Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780007340682
Version 2020-08-18
For my editor, Sally Martin, who
always makes everything better
Contents
The dark castle gleamed in the rain, its stone turrets like blackened teeth against the moon. It had seen many storms like this one. Perched high on top of a rocky citadel, it was at the mercy of such grim weather. As the rain fell like a cloak, the huge iron portcullis that hung over the drawbridge creaked and groaned in the wind. A wolf howled at the cold moon. Then, louder than either of these, came another sound–the thunder of hoofbeats.
Far below the castle, at the foot of the mountain fortress, a horse and rider could be seen in the moonlight. The rider was a young woman with long blonde hair. She wore pale blue jodhpurs and her white cotton blouse was soaked from the lashing rain. The horse she was riding was impossibly beautiful, a golden palomino with a mane and tail so white they almost sparkled in the pale light.
The palomino’s hooves flashed and clattered against the cobbled stones of the mountain path as the girl drove the horse on, up and up the terraced steps which wound like a corkscrew around the mountainside to the castle above.
As the girl and the horse galloped up to reach the second terrace it suddenly became clear that they were not alone. Seven riders on jet-black horses were quickly closing in on them. The riders looked enormous compared to the girl. They wore long black robes that billowed out behind them as they rode. Black hoods hid their faces, making them look like ghostly apparitions in the dark night.
The hooded horsemen were gaining on the girl and by the time she reached the third terrace they had surrounded her. Trapped, the palomino turned on the horsemen and reared in the air, lashing out with her front hooves, catching