Saturn Attempt 3

Rian woke with a start at the clamp of someone's hand over his mouth. His wide eyes met Nolan's, and the other boy raised an eyebrow. Ready?

 

Rian nodded, glad that his bunkmate had gone home for the weekend and he could sleep on the bottom bunk tonight. He couldn't imagine how much more difficult this would be if he'd had to sneak out without shaking the bedframe. He slid silently out of bed, arranging his pillows so that they could pass as the sleeping form of an eight-year-old boy at a glance, and picked up his boots. Following his brother past the three rows of full bunks, he slipped out the door and waited for his eyes to adjust to the relative brightness of the hallway. A single light shone at the far end of the corridor, sending long, creepy shadows looming towards them. Rian bit his tongue to steady himself.

 

Nolan gestured for him to follow, and the pair made their way on tiptoes down the hall towards the laundry room. There was a back door there, so that Mistress Penna could hang the washing to dry in the sun. Now, of course, the room was empty and in total darkness. Nolan eased the door open and both boys winced at the creak it made - it seemed ten times louder in the absolute silence of the night.

 

They stepped lightly into the grass, Nolan pulling the door closed behind them, and scurried through the shadows towards the stables.

 

"We're going to go sew that ribbon into your pony's mane," Nolan whispered as they neared the barn. "We'll go through that gate at the back of the grounds that heads out towards the hill."

 

Rian's eyes widened, and nerves weighed his stomach. “They’ll see the footprints near the gate. The ground is soft – there’s no way we’ll get out past the fence without leaving a trail, and I’m sure it wouldn’t take a genius to work out whose boots left it,” Rian said nervously.

 

“Nobody said we have to be on foot,” Nolan replied with a wicked little smirk.

 

They rounded the corner into the open barn aisle. Tomas was there, holding the reins of two ponies Rian recognised. Turbo, Tomas' red roan-and-white gelding, stood to attention, seemingly unperturbed by the late-night outing, and on Tomas' other side stood Mariposa, one of the Academy's steadfast school mares.

 

Tomas had swung up on Turbo and the brown-and-white gelding was now pawing at the ground, sending a loud scraping sound ringing through the barn aisle.

 

“Quit that!” Nolan hissed. “They’ll hear!”

 

Tomas hurriedly nudged Turbo in the side, moving him forward. “Let’s go!”