"There, girl, there." She panted. George stopped squaking and Westly sat on his hind legs.
"Matt, please can you take George back to the aviary and Westly into the kennels? Palvus, I think you should go back to the castle. I'm going on a little trot with Lightning in the countryside behind the castle," Annabel handed Matt George and Westly.
"Bye!" she waved as Palvus and Matt walked away, "I'll be back at 7 o'clock."
It was 5 o' clock now, so she told Lightning to jump over the fence surrounding the field. She did so with great grace, and then they were out of bounds of the castle. Annabel immedietly kicked Lightning and told her to go round part of "Trail Valley" and over to the "Lost Land" and the legend was that dragons lived there, though Annabel had been there many times in the summer and hadn't seen one. Now it was the Spring, though and it might be different.
Lightning raced across the dewy, grassy turf surrounding the grand castle. From here Annabel could see everything; the four tall towers with their tiny, thin windows with guards prowling behind them in case of an attack, the large bit in the middle of the castle where there were three red flags with the national flag on which was crimson.
As Lightning rounded a sharp turn near the wide river where the castle got all its water, Annabel looked in front of her and saw the huge, "Rocky Caves". As they galloped nearer, Annabel thought she felt the earth shake and a low, mournful rumble. But it was so quiet and she could hardly hear it with Lightning's loud "THUMP" of the hooves that she thought she was imagining things. But then she thought about the old grannies of the village, saying that dragons lived in the caves, but then she remembered she'd been here many a time and hadn't seen a single lizard, let alone a mighty dragon.
With a "clippety-clop" Lightning gound to a halt out side the damp, wet, eerie caves. Annabel explained to Lightning that she had to follow behind her at all times. Lightning neighed in agreement; but Annabel still was scared to go in, even with her best horse and her knowing there was nothing to be afraid of, as she was a normal visitor at the caves. She tip-toed cautiously into the dark with Lightning. There was an icicle hanging from the ceiling. "Drip, drop..... drip, drop..... drip, drop....". Annabel accidentaly stepped in a muddy puddle because it was so dark.
"Oh! I'm all-",
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRR!!!!!" went an unknown person or thing. Lightning neighed with fright, stood up on her hind legs, waved her front hooves in the air and raced out. Annabel screamed,
"No! Lightning! Nooooooooo!" and she struggled to grip the horse's rough hair, but it was in vain. Lightning was all ready in the distance racing home.
"He..e, helll.....oooo...?" stammered Annabel, stepping slowly backwards, grabbing the walls. There was a low rumble and one of the icicles fell from the roof of the cavern onto the floor with a crash. Annabel felt the floor shake. She gulped. In a flash, she turned round, headed for the light at the other end of the cave and started running. She wasn't very fast and wished Lightning was here so she could jump on her and get a quick ride home.
She scampered across the many fields full of corn, wheat and other things that the people in the town harvested. She started to gulp air and pant. But she was still going, because she was a very fit child. She was going at an amazing speed, that amazed even herself.
She raced back the town in a few seconds. She felt great burst of wind coming at her. What was the monster doing? Then she heard a sort of flapping, like when a bird starts to fly. A shadow gained on Annabel from above her. Then it hit her, this creature could fly!