Paraku

by Jesse Blackadder

  ‘You should call that fella “Paruku”,’ he said. ‘Then everyone knows where he came from when he’s famous.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Mike said. ‘People might come back here to get more horses.’

  ‘They can come and get them all,’ Eddie said. ‘Save us a big headache.’

  Rachel rolled the name around in her mind. Paruku. She liked it. It was the stallion’s home, and he’d always carry it with him.

  ‘We’d better scoot back to camp and pack your bags if you’re going to make that plane,’ Mike said. ‘Let’s go, girly.’

  Rachel took one last look at Paruku and the pregnant mare. Paruku raised his head and looked straight back at her, and she remembered the first time she saw him. He’d been a wild horse then, and he’d looked at her without wanting anything.

  Eddie and Dan were looking at her as she turned away from the yards. Eddie reached out and shook her hand. ‘You’re good with them horses. Look after ’em, eh?’

  ‘I’ll try,’ she said.

  She and Dan looked at each other for a second, embarrassed. She didn’t want to shake his hand, and didn’t know what else to do.

  ‘Bye,’ she said at last.

  ‘See ya,’ he said, looking away as though he wasn’t even talking to her. Then he glanced back at her once. ‘It’s good you caught Paruku. He’s better off.’

  Rachel wondered what he meant as she climbed into the troopy. She waved goodbye to the people she’d met over the past weeks. A bunch of kids ran after the car as it took off, and she looked back. Dan was perched up on the rails of the yards. He lifted his hand and gave a single wave. Rachel gave one wave back and then turned around to face the front. She’d been furious at him, but if he hadn’t shown her father the video of Paruku, the horse might not have been caught. If Paruku did end up belonging to Rachel, she’d have Dan to thank for it.

  She wouldn’t see her father for weeks, she realised. Should she ask now about keeping Paruku? While ever she didn’t ask him, she could hope that he’d say yes. If he said no straight away, her dream was crushed.

  ‘Dad?’ she said hesitantly.

  ‘Yep?’ He kept his eyes on the red-dirt track.

  ‘You know how you talked about selling Rapscallion and getting me another horse?’

  ‘Mmm.’

  Rachel took a deep breath. ‘There’re thirteen brumbies. The Sheik only wants twelve. Why can’t I have one?’

  Mike hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. ‘Rachel! They’re great big wild horses. You’re just a kid.’

  ‘I’m not any more,’ she said.

  There was a pause. ‘No, I suppose you’re not. And I suppose you’ve picked yourself one, have you?’

  Rachel opened her mouth and then closed it. She knew her father wouldn’t be happy about her keeping Paruku.

  ‘Not yet,’ she said casually.

  ‘Oh really?’ Her dad glanced over at her. ‘I have a bad feeling about which one you mean. I’ll have to talk to your mother. Don’t get your heart set on this idea, all right?’

  ‘Sure,’ Rachel said, her heart beating fast. Her father would have to believe she could manage a horse like Paruku. She’d have to find a way to show him that she deserved the bay horse.

  Chapter 11

  The screen door banged shut behind Rachel as she stepped outside, her breath making clouds of mist in the morning air. Blue and Brownie rattled their chains and barked, tails wagging, begging to be released.

  Rachel knew just how they felt. She’d waited nearly a month for this day and, now it had finally arrived, she wanted to jump up and down with impatience. She crossed to the kennels and let them both off their chains, rubbing their heads with her mittened hands.

  Today! Today the truck was due to arrive, with her father and the brumbies, having travelled halfway across the continent. Today she’d see Paruku again at last.

  She’d thought of him constantly since she arrived home more than three weeks earlier. When she closed her eyes at night, she saw him galloping over the grasslands by the lake, rearing up, looking at her. Working in the stables during the day, she imagined him standing in one of the stalls, his head over the half-door, looking at her like Aragorn, nickering for a feed. School was a total write-off: all she could do was stare out the window and daydream of Paruku.

  It had been strange, arriving back home. Something had changed. Her mother had seen it at once. When she met Rachel’s plane, Helen had flung her arms around her daughter and squeezed her so hard that Rachel could hardly breathe.

  ‘My little girl!’ Helen had said, holding her at arm’s length and looking her up and down. ‘You’re all grown up. How could that be?’

  When Rachel looked at her mother, she saw that her face had lines of exhaustion. Although Auntie Dot had been helping, Rachel could see how hard it must have been for her mother to manage the place and keep an eye on Cassie in hospital.

  After the campsite and the swags, her bedroom seemed small and childish with its fluffy toys and patchwork quilt. Even her beloved Rapscallion seemed different. He was so tiny! Her legs really did hang down below his belly when she rode him, as though she had grown taller in the time at the lake. She wondered if her dad was right about selling him. Scally would be bored if she was riding another horse.

  Cassie was still in traction, and still irritable. She hardly remembered to ask about the desert. ‘How’s Aragorn?’ she demanded.

  Rachel shrugged. ‘He looks fine to me.’

  ‘Mum’s not working him properly. She hasn’t got time. He’ll be so unfit. I don’t know how I’ll get him ready.’

  ‘He’ll be OK, don’t worry,’ Rachel said.

  Cassie just pouted. ‘I hate it in here.’

  On her first morning at home Rachel got up earlier than anyone else in the house. She stoked the wood stove and made a pot of tea and some toast for her mother and Dot, so when they stumbled into the kitchen before dawn, ready to go out and work the horses, the room was already warm and cosy, and smelled of toast.

  ‘Am I dreaming?’ her mother said, blinking.

  Rachel swallowed her mouthful of toast. ‘It’s only two months until the next championships, and Cassie wants to ride. I could help you work Aragorn. I’m not much of a jumper, but I can ride him in the ring and keep him fit. It means you’ve got a bit less to do.’

  Helen sat down heavily. ‘Where’s my daughter? Who are you?’

  Dot laughed. ‘Oh, come on, Hel. The kid’s growing up.’

  ‘What did you do out there?’ Helen asked. ‘Don’t tell me you were riding brumbies or something?’

  ‘Of course not, Mum. But I need a new horse and it’s time I rode something bigger than Scally.’

  Helen swallowed her tea, still looking dazed. ‘We’ll give it a try. But I’m going to lunge you the first few times, just to make sure you’re both all right.’

  The first time Rachel clambered up on Aragorn she felt a very long way off the ground. He was tall and narrow, completely unlike her round, short pony. She had to resist the urge to grab the pommel of the saddle to steady herself, and she was glad that they were only trotting around the ring on the lungeing rein.

  He was a fidgety, easily spooked horse, completely unlike steady Rapscallion, but Rachel enjoyed getting to know him — and her riding improved fast. She needed to show her father that she could manage a big, strong horse, and she was well on the way. Within a week she was riding him so confidently that Helen left her alone in the mornings and afternoons to work him. Aragorn nickered to her when she came into the stables and she had to be careful to pay Rapscallion the same amount of attention.

  It wasn’t only riding that Rachel worked on before and after school. As often as she could manage, she watched her mother working the young horses she was training. Although Rachel had watched her before, she’d never taken much notice of what she was actually doing. When she saw Rachel was interested, her mother started talking her through the process with a young gelding who hadn’t y
et been ridden.

  Helen stood in the centre of the round yard with a short flagged stick, and the horse moved uneasily around the outside of the ring. Rachel expected her mother to soothe the horse, and was surprised when she snapped up the flag sharply and frightened him so that he broke into a canter, round and round the perimeter.

  ‘This is called pushing him away,’ her mother explained, never taking her eyes from the young horse. If he showed any signs of slowing up, she flicked the flag again, making a sharp, flapping sound, and he sped up.

  ‘This is what the lead mare of the mob does to the young colts. She drives them away and keeps them away by staring at them and facing them, just like I’m doing. It’s a punishment for when they misbehave. After a while of being pushed away, he’ll want to come back to the herd — which in this case is me. If you watch, you’ll see him start to drop his head down low and put his tongue out.’

  Rachel thought that sounded ridiculous, but after a few minutes she saw that her mother was right. The horse dropped his head, trotting with his nose low to the ground, and she could see his tongue protruding from his mouth.

  ‘Now he wants to come back to me for safety, so I ease off the pressure and let him know he can,’ Helen said. ‘I stop looking at him, and stop flicking the flag. When he realises that’s what’s happening, he’ll come to me of his own accord. Once he does that, he trusts me, and everything else builds on that.’

  Rachel was pleased — though she didn’t let it show — that Cassie wasn’t due to come out of hospital until a few days after their father would be arriving with the brumbies. She needed a chance to prove herself, without her sister around taking all the airtime. Cassie would be the centre of attention once she got out of hospital, and anything Rachel wanted would be overlooked. This way, she could show her father — and her mother — that she was mature enough to have Paruku.

  The frost crackled underfoot as Rachel headed to the stables. It was a sunny winter morning, and the magpies and butcherbirds carolled all around. Their calls reminded her of the lake, with its honking brolgas and swans, the raucous galahs and the sweetly chittering budgerigars.

  Rapscallion and Aragorn both nickered when she opened the stable door, and Rachel nickered back to them. She collected Aragorn’s saddle and scratched Rapscallion’s forehead on the way past. ‘Sorry, boy. No ride this morning.’

  Rapscallion snorted in disgust, but she knew as long as he had a good feed, he wouldn’t mind too much about missing out. She’d turn him out in the paddock once she’d worked Aragorn, and he’d be happy.

  She didn’t know if she’d grown or just got used to Aragorn, but she could saddle him now without needing to climb up on a footstool. It was still hard to mount him by herself, but she did it, though with an undignified scramble. She rode him out of the stables and into the arena. Her mother was in the round yard working one of the young horses, and they waved at each other.

  Aragorn settled down into a steady canter around the arena, arching his neck. Rachel relaxed, keeping her body upright but soft, the way her mother had taught her. Soft rider, soft horse, Helen always said.

  The dogs suddenly burst out barking and Aragorn shied a little. Rachel slid to one side, but quickly recovered. She couldn’t stop to see what the dogs were barking at. It was important to steady Aragorn and then praise him for his recovery. She’d always been able to daydream while riding Rapscallion, but she couldn’t lose concentration for a moment on Aragorn. She fixed her gaze between his ears and focused on calming him.

  ‘Cassie? Is that you?’ a familiar voice called out.

  ‘Dad?’ Rachel swung her head. Her father was standing by the side of the arena, staring at her. She hadn’t even heard the truck!

  ‘Rachel? My God. I didn’t know you were riding Aragorn.’

  ‘I wanted it to be a surprise,’ she said, turning the horse towards him.

  ‘Mike, is that really you?’ Helen called out.

  ‘Oh, it’s really me, all right,’ he said with a grin. ‘Will you women leave those horses alone and come and welcome a man home?’

  Rachel pulled Aragorn up and slid from the saddle. Helen was climbing through the railings of the round yard and they both reached Mike at the same time.

  ‘Me first!’ Helen said, throwing her arms around him. ‘That was far too long away, husband.’

  Rachel hooked Aragorn’s reins over a railing and jiggled up and down while her mother and father hugged. She could see the truck parked down the driveway and a man leaning against the side of it. The brumbies were in there, and she had to force herself not to run straight to it.

  After about a million years, her parents stepped apart and then Mike hugged her too. ‘How’s my offsider?’

  ‘Great!’ Rachel said, squeezing him. ‘How are the horses?’

  ‘I know that’s all you both really want to see,’ he said, letting go.

  ‘Can we?’ Rachel asked eagerly.

  He shrugged and grinned. ‘Don’t worry about me. I don’t need a cuppa or anything, not after a four-thousand-kilometre drive.’

  ‘Good,’ Rachel said. ‘Let’s go.’

  Mike rolled his eyes. ‘I’ll get Dave to drive up to the holding paddock and we’ll turn them straight out onto the grass.’

  It seemed to take forever for the driver to bring the truck slowly up the drive and reverse it, beeping loudly, through the gate. At last the engine went off and in the silence that followed Rachel’s ears rang. She heard a horse snort from inside.

  ‘Stay behind the fence,’ her father said. ‘The horses are settling, but they’re still spooky.’

  Mike lowered the ramp at the back of the truck and went in. There were compartments inside and Rachel heard him open the first door. For a long time, nothing happened, and then a grey head poked cautiously out. The horse looked around carefully, and then clattered down the ramp onto the grass. Another grey and a bay followed, snorting and raising their hooves. The last one was the mare with the bloodstain mark on her flank. The short green grass must have looked unfamiliar; the horses were certainly afraid, staring around at the huge trees with wide eyes. Sensing freedom, they broke into a trot, but came up short against the sturdy fence that surrounded the small paddock.

  The next door banged inside the truck and three more horses appeared. The leading one was the roan mare and Helen gave a low whistle. ‘What a beauty,’ she murmured. The two following the roan were pale greys and the three together were a beautiful sight. They clattered down the ramp and broke into a trot, their necks arched.

  ‘Now I see what all the fuss was about,’ Helen said to Rachel.

  Rachel barely heard her. Where was Paruku?

  The next group of four were bays and chestnuts, and for a moment Rachel’s heart leaped, but she quickly saw they weren’t the horses she was looking for. She felt like she was about to explode when she heard her father open the fourth compartment door inside the truck.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Helen said a moment later.

  The chestnut mare stood at the edge of the ramp looking around. Beside her, poking out a tiny dark bay nose, was her foal. Its legs were impossibly long and slender and on its face was a star. It was a miniature of Paruku.

  ‘What a little beauty,’ Helen said. ‘You didn’t mention a foal.’

  Her father’s voice came from the truck, echoing. ‘I wanted to surprise you. That’s Marran and little Marjii. He was born last week.’

  The mare and the foal walked carefully down the ramp and onto the grass, and Marjii skipped on his long legs. Marran made a deep rumbling noise in her chest and the foal scampered back to her side.

  Rachel could see at once that Marjii hadn’t been born wild. He didn’t have the fear she’d seen in wild foals, who’d skitter away as soon as their mothers showed signs of nervousness. He was familiar with the truck and used to finding new surroundings when he got out. He looked around, interested and unafraid.

  Her mother did a quick count. ‘That’s thirteen with t
he foal. Is that all of them?’

  Rachel shook her head, feeling a moment of fear as the ramp remained empty. ‘There’s one more,’ she said. Where was Paruku? Had something happened to him?

  ‘What’s happening in there, matey?’ Helen called.

  In answer there was a clatter of hooves, and a snort. Suddenly Paruku appeared at the top of the ramp and charged down it, frightening the mare and foal.

  He came to a sudden halt on the ground and stood a few steps away from the ramp in an odd posture. He was hunched into himself, his tail tucked in close to his legs. He looked thin and his coat was dull. A terrible suspicion began to form in Rachel’s mind as her father jumped off the side of the ramp and came over to them.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked Helen.

  ‘Oh, they’re superb,’ she said. ‘How long have I got to work with them?’

  ‘Well, that depends,’ Mike said. ‘I’ve got another surprise. The Sheik wants the horses immediately, and he wants us all to come to Dubai too, as his guests. We’ll help start the horses in their new life, so they settle in before they go into winter training. We’d travel with the horses in a private jet and stay for two weeks. If you agree.’

  ‘What?’ Helen sounded dazed. ‘When?’

  ‘We’d leave in a few days, as soon as Cassie’s out of hospital. Exciting, eh?’

  ‘But … what about the horses we have here?’ Helen asked.

  Mike grinned. ‘This is the Sheik, remember. He’ll pay for however many people we need to look after the place while we’re away.’

  ‘I suppose it would be too boring to mention school?’ Helen said.

  ‘Way too boring. The girls have an amazing chance to hang out in another country. They’ll learn more in Dubai than they would in a few weeks of school. Look how much Rachel learned from two weeks in the Kimberley. Right, Rach?’

  Rachel was staring at Paruku and not really following the conversation. ‘Dad, what’s wrong with him?’

  He didn’t answer straight away and she turned around.