Stardust and the Daredevil Ponies. Stacy Gregg. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Stacy Gregg
Издательство: HarperCollins
Серия: Pony Club Secrets
Жанр произведения: Природа и животные
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9780007340682
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      Stardust and the

      Daredevil Ponies

      STACY GREGG

       www.stacygregg.co.uk

      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

      The author and illustrator assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work.

      Conditions of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form, binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780007245161

      Ebook Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780007340682

      Version 2020-08-18

      For my editor, Sally Martin, who

      always makes everything better

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

       Map

       Chapter 1

       Chapter 2

       Chapter 3

       Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       The Pony Club Secrets series

       About the Publisher

       Chapter 1

      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