Pegasus and the Flame Read Online Free Page A

the filth from the mud and leaves that covered its body and matted its mane, and ignoring the countless cuts and gashes from the thorns, Emily was awestruck. She’d never seen anything so amazing in her whole life.
    From the moment she’d discovered the horse on the roof and seen its wing, a name had sprung to mind. A name long forgotten from an old book of myths her mother used to read to her. But worry for the animal had distracted her from those thoughts. Now it came flooding back. Stepping clear of the bushes, Emily approached. As she did, the stallion stepped up to her.
    ‘It’s really you, isn’t it?’ she whispered softly as she fearlessly stroked the soft muzzle. ‘You’re Pegasus, aren’t you? I mean the really real Pegasus.’
    The stallion seemed to pause for a moment. Then he nudged her hand, inviting another stroke. In that one rain-drenched instant, Emily felt her world changing.
    For ever.

4
    Paelen awoke, stiff and in a lot of pain. His back felt like it was on fire and every muscle in his body cried out in protest.
    Around him he could hear the soft sound of voices. Keeping his eyes shut, he took a moment to remember what had happened to him. The last thing he recalled was finally catching up with Pegasus and reaching for the golden bridle. He remembered tearing it away from the stallion and feeling its weight in his hand. Then there had been a blinding flash …
    After that, everything went blank.
    Opening his eyes, Paelen discovered he was in bed in a very strange room. The walls were white with no decorations and it smelled very odd. Over to his right was another bed, but it was empty. Outside the large window, the storm was still raging. It shocked Paelen to see the flashes of lightning and hear the roaring thunder. The way the battle had been going, he thought it would all be over by now.
    Paelen turned away from the window. He saw a strange assortment of devices with beeping sounds and blinking lights. Above him, he was alarmed to see clear bags of fluid dripping down tubes that actually entered his left arm.
    ‘Doctor, he’s awake,’ said a woman from beside the bed.
    Paelen focused his eyes on a man in a long white coat approaching the bed.
    ‘Welcome back to the land of the living, young man. I’m Doctor Bernstein and you are in Belleview hospital. We thought we were going to lose you there for a bit. That was a rather nasty fall you took.’
    Paelen said nothing as the man leaned forward and shone a bright light in his eyes. When he finished, he straightened again and whistled. ‘I’ll be darned if I know how you’re doing it, but you are healing faster than anyone I’ve ever treated before. At this rate, those broken bones of yours will be knitted together in no time. As it is, that burn on your back is healing even as we watch.’
    Switching off the light, he put it in his pocket. ‘Now, can you tell me your name?’
    As Paelen opened his mouth to speak, the lights in the room flickered and dimmed.
    ‘I hope the generators keep working,’ said the woman as she looked up at the lights. ‘I’ve heard the blackout hit the whole city. They’re saying it’s as bad as the one in seventy-seven.’
    Paelen understood the words, but not their meaning. What was a ‘blackout’? Seventy-seven what? What did it all mean?
    ‘The generators are fine, Mary,’ said Doctor Bernstein. He reached out to touch Paelen’s arm reassuringly. ‘The hospital has spent a fortune keeping the back-up generators serviced. So don’t you worry about a thing, we have plenty of electricity and you are perfectly safe.’
    Paelen was about to ask where he was when a new person entered the room. Dressed in dark clothing, the man drew up to the side of the bed.
    ‘I’m Officer Jacobs from the Fourteenth Precinct,’ said the man, holding up his police badge. ‘I’ve been called in to take the details of your mystery patient. So, is this the young man who fell from the sky?’
    The doctor and nurse