The House of Puzzles

by Richard Newsome

  Gerald blinked after her.

  Then a broad smile broke out on his face.

  ‘She didn’t say no,’ he said out loud.

  Gerald’s reverie was broken by the appearance of Felicity. She crooked her elbow through his and yanked him to his feet. He looked at her with dazed surprise. ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘Change of plan,’ Felicity said. She looked around, as if anxious not to be noticed as she guided Gerald towards the door. ‘There’s a beautiful girl out here who is desperate to meet you.’

  Chapter 12

  Gerald gazed into two large brown eyes. He stood mesmerised.

  ‘Isn’t she gorgeous?’ Felicity whispered in Gerald’s ear. ‘I know you two are going to fall deeply in love.’

  Gerald blinked. The big round eyes staring back at him did not.

  ‘But,’ Gerald said in a voice soaked in doubt, ‘I hate horses.’

  The chestnut mare, sensing Gerald’s unease, unleashed a lip-flapping blast of hay breath straight into his face.

  Gerald struggled to keep his breakfast in his stomach. ‘That is disgusting,’ he said.

  Felicity stepped between Gerald and the horse and ran a hand down the length of the mare’s face. ‘Don’t be foul, Gerald,’ she said. ‘You’ll hurt Marjory’s feelings.’

  ‘That’s another thing,’ Gerald said. ‘The name. Can’t you find one called Flash or Lightning or Thunderbolt?’

  Felicity glanced sideways at Gerald. ‘I think Marjory is just about perfect for you.’

  Gerald and Felicity stood outside one of a line of horse stalls inside the Oates stable complex. Marjory tilted her head and gently took a sugar lump from Felicity’s cupped hand.

  ‘This is the genius of it, Gerald,’ Felicity said. ‘We ride out to the checkpoint to find that stamp and we can be back in time for dinner tonight. No camping in the snow. No sore feet at the end of the day.’

  Gerald looked with uncertainty at Marjory, then ran a hand over his backside. ‘It wasn’t my feet I was worried about,’ he said. ‘Aren’t we meant to hike out there? Isn’t that all part of the deal?’

  Felicity pulled a carrot from her pocket and clamped the thick end between her teeth. Marjory latched onto the other end and chomped it out of Felicity’s lips.

  Gerald put a hand over his mouth. ‘That is truly disgusting.’

  ‘Don’t be such a boy,’ Felicity said. ‘Look, the way I figure it we’ve already done the hike, or most of it. It doesn’t seem fair that we have to do it twice because of that snowstorm. If we get caught we just say we didn’t know there was a rule against it, and there’s no harm done. But if we don’t get caught—and we won’t—then the first leg of the Triple Crown is done, we keep Mason Green happy and we can concentrate on solving that coded message. Plus, I get to take you on that ride I’ve been promising. Tell me that’s not a good plan.’

  Gerald screwed up his nose. ‘And I have to take Marjory.’

  ‘Well, technically she’ll be taking you. She’s the oldest and most sedate of the horses at this camp, so I can’t imagine you’ll cause her too many problems.’

  ‘Me cause her problems?’ Gerald almost choked. ‘Have you not seen her? She’s bleeding enormous. The only camp she should be at is a weight-loss camp.’

  Felicity clamped her hands over Marjory’s ears. ‘Shush! You’ll hurt her feelings.’

  Gerald snorted. ‘You’d have to turn her hearing aid on first.’

  Felicity spent the next half hour giving Gerald a quick riding lesson in the mounting yard. He soon relaxed, and the mare responded to the gentle pressure of the reins and the tap of his heels.

  ‘You’re a natural,’ Felicity called from astride her horse. ‘I think we’re ready to find that checkpoint.’

  Felicity led the way to a narrow path that ran away from the stables and across rolling countryside. Gerald trotted up level with her.

  ‘We can avoid the driveway and the front of the camp, and any curious eyes, by going this way,’ Felicity said. ‘I’m guessing we should come out quite close to that big pile of rocks that you and Sam climbed. We know the way from there.’ She gave Gerald a playful glance. ‘See if you can keep up with me and Belle.’ Felicity nudged her horse and they cantered forward, leaving Gerald staring after them.

  Gerald looked down at his horse as she plodded along the path. ‘Let’s see what you’re made of, Marjory.’ He dug his heels in.

  Marjory twitched her ears.

  ‘Oh come on,’ Gerald said. ‘I could go faster than this on my own. Move!’ He banged his boots harder into Marjory’s ribs and finally got her to lift the pace to a brisk walk.

  Gerald looked ahead. Felicity and Belle had disappeared over a hillock.

  ‘We’ll never catch up at this rate,’ Gerald said. He flailed the reins up and down. This prompted a mild annoyance from Marjory who continued her easy gait.

  They rounded a bend and Gerald could make out the edge of a lake through a tangle of bare trees. The path dipped and Marjory carried Gerald into the woods.

  The air was still. Gerald was suddenly aware of the sound of the horse’s hooves in the mush of half-melted snow and decayed leaves on the path. There was no bird song. No other sound at all. Just the steady clop, clop, clop of the hooves. Gerald lost sight of the lake. The trees were closer together, branches snared over the top of the path like entwined fingers.

  Marjory’s ears flickered and turned backwards. Gerald felt a movement roll through his thighs, as if the horse had shivered.

  Then he heard something—a sudden fizzing.

  Marjory cried out as if she had been whipped. Gerald’s eyes shot wide as the horse reared. He gripped on tight, his fingers clutching at a handful of mane as Marjory rose high, stabbing her forelegs at the air.

  Gerald’s breath caught in his lungs. His thighs clamped in hard. Then Marjory landed heavily. Gerald slid forward in the saddle, the fork of his jeans snapping tight and sending a lump to his throat. Tears sprang from his eyes; his face exploded purple. A high-pitched cry spilled from his lips.

  Then Marjory took off.

  Bare branches whipped at Gerald’s face as he thundered through the wood. Each hoof-fall sent a jolt of pain through his shoulder and a hammer blow further south.

  ‘Whoa, Marjory!’

  The horse shot clear of the trees and galloped along the lake path. Gerald caught a blurred glimpse of Felicity as he bolted past. He looked up in time to see he was heading straight towards a stone wall.

  He scrabbled with the reins, hauling at them.

  ‘Whoa! Marjory!’

  Gerald felt the horse’s rear legs coil. He was shocked at the power they unleashed as he went sailing into the air. Gerald was sure he saw two squirrels squabbling over a chestnut on top of the wall. Marjory’s hooves barely cleared the edge. He seemed to hang in the air for an age before the horse landed on the other side. Gerald hit the saddle hard.

  A second lump joined the first one in his throat. His eyes bulged.

  ‘Gerald! Lean back and pull on the reins!’

  Gerald took a m
oment to register that Felicity was riding alongside him, the two horses neck and neck streaking across the open field. He rattled his head to regain his senses. He gripped the reins and pulled.

  But nothing was going to stop Marjory.

  She galloped on, oblivious to Gerald’s cries and his attempts to pull her up. Felicity urged Belle forward, struggling to keep pace. She leaned out and tried to grab Marjory’s bridle. The ground beneath them was a blur. But Marjory flicked her head to the side and strode on, relentless. They were fast approaching another stone wall. It was twice as high as the one Marjory had only just cleared. Gerald’s eyes popped.

  ‘Whoa! Bloody well whoa!’

  The wall loomed ahead, ancient stones seemingly held in place by thick ropes of ivy.

  ‘Stop, dammit! Stop!’

  Gerald heaved back on the reins but he had no effect. He threw his arms around the horse’s outstretched neck, desperately holding on.

  The wall rose in front of them. Gerald had a vision of Marjory hitting it at high speed, but at the last second she lurched to the right, sending Gerald sprawling to the side. He struggled to stay in the saddle as the horse charged on. He managed to right himself to find Marjory was galloping alongside the wall.

  Towards the lake.

  Felicity surged across the field on Belle, trying to cut them off.

  ‘Gerald! Hold on!’

  Great advice, thought Gerald. What else was there to do?

  He clung on, his thighs screaming.

  The lake was only twenty metres away.

  Marjory galloped on, as if a pack of ravenous wolves was at her heels.

  Then, at the water’s edge, she stopped. And her rider was catapulted out of his stirrups over her head. He landed with a skidding crash.

  The lake was frozen solid.

  Gerald slid like a hockey puck across the ice.

  He finally came to a stop, flat on his back and staring up at the grey sky. ‘Well that’s just great,’ he said.

  After a moment he sat up and looked back to the shore. Felicity was holding both horses by their reins. Gerald carefully rolled onto his hands and knees and climbed to his feet. He only fell over seven times before he got back to land.

  ‘What happened, Gerald?’ Felicity helped him up the bank. ‘What did you do?’

  ‘What did I do?’ Gerald said. ‘I didn’t do anything. The stupid horse just reared up and bolted.’

  Felicity gave him a curious look. ‘Are you sure?’ She moved across to the horse and ran a hand down her flank and over her legs. ‘She seems all right.’

  ‘Well thank goodness for that,’ Gerald said, sweat cooling on his face. ‘I wouldn’t have been able to sleep if she’d done a hamstring or rolled an ankle.’

  ‘Don’t be rude, Gerald,’ Felicity said. ‘She’s been through an ordeal.’

  Gerald was about to inform Felicity of his definition of an ordeal, when she suddenly straightened. ‘Oh, what’s this?’ she said.

  ‘What’s what?’

  Felicity ran a finger over a large welt on Marjory’s rump, showing red through her dark coat.

  ‘It looks like she’s been stung by something.’

  ‘A wasp?’

  ‘It’s too big for that,’ Felicity said. ‘No wonder she bolted. It must really hurt.’

  Gerald clamped a hand over his groin to make sure everything important was still in the right place. He would tell Felicity about real pain but he did not have the energy.

  ‘She seems all right,’ Felicity said. ‘Let’s keep going before she gets cold.’

  Gerald wiped ice from his jeans and jacket. ‘Yeah, that would be a tragedy,’ he said.

  They led the horses back across the fields. They were in the heart of the woods, where the branches formed a canopy overhead, when Gerald said, ‘This is where she took off. It would have been better if I’d fallen here. It would have saved me some hassle. And before you say anything about how brave Marjory was, I—’

  Gerald stopped. He handed the reins to Felicity and squatted.

  ‘What is it?’ Felicity asked. She peered over Gerald’s shoulder. The two horses nuzzled each other behind them.

  Gerald held up a bright red sphere about the size of a marble. He turned it between his thumb and forefinger. ‘This doesn’t look like it belongs here, does it?’ He scanned the area. ‘There are boot prints in the mud over here. They lead off into the trees.’

  ‘So?’

  Gerald went back to the horses and held the ball next to the welt on Marjory’s rump. ‘Do you think this could be what set Marjory off?’ he said.

  ‘Could be,’ Felicity said. ‘But it would have had to hit her really hard to leave a mark like that. Do you think someone was hiding by the trees and threw it?’

  ‘You’d have to have an arm like a slingshot to throw it that hard,’ Gerald said. He paused. ‘Maybe it was a slingshot.’

  ‘Why would someone come all the way out here to hurt a beautiful horse like Marjory?’

  ‘I don’t think they were out to get Marjory,’ Gerald said. ‘I think they were trying to hurt me.’

  ‘Oh, Gerald,’ Felicity said. ‘Don’t be paranoid.’

  He tucked the ball into his pocket and shivered. ‘Felicity, one thing I’ve learned over the past year is that when you’re paranoid, you’re seldom disappointed.’

  Gerald took Marjory’s reins and led the way out of the woods and back to the path. Someone had tried to knock him off the horse, he was sure of it. And he had a sneaking suspicion that the Hello Kitty bandit might be involved.

  By the time Gerald and Felicity reached the checkpoint Gerald’s backside felt like an over-ripe strawberry.

  ‘Sore! Sore! Sore!’ Gerald yelped as he rolled out of the saddle and dropped to the ground. He hobbled towards a stout A-framed hut nestled in a stand of trees. The place was deserted. Gerald spotted a wooden bench outside the hut and flopped onto it. Instantly, he sprang to his feet. ‘Sore! Sore! Sore!’ he yelped again.

  Felicity found Gerald draped face first over a picnic table, doing a jig. ‘What exactly are you doing?’ she asked as she tied the horses to a tree trunk.

  ‘I’m trying to get the blood back into what used to be my bum,’ Gerald said. He rubbed his hands across the most sensitive bits. ‘What exactly is it that you enjoy about this riding thing?’

  Felicity grinned to herself. ‘It gives me a legitimate way to torture boys every now and then,’ she said. She tugged the riding gloves from her hands and pushed open the door to the hut.

  Gerald raised his head. ‘Is the stamp in there?’ he called.

  A second later and Felicity was out the door and pulling her gloves back on. Gerald looked at her with surprise. ‘You’ve got it?’

  ‘Yes,’ Felicity said as she breezed past him and unwound the horses’ reins from the tree trunk.

  ‘You mean that’s it?’ Gerald said. ‘There’s nothing else we need to do?’

  Felicity fitted her left boot into a stirrup and hoisted herself into the saddle. She led Marjory over to
Gerald and gave him the reins. ‘What were you expecting?’ she asked.

  Gerald looked at the length of leather in one hand and ran the other once more over his tender behind. ‘A bit more of a rest?’

  Felicity looked down at him with a complete absence of pity. ‘Toughen up, toots. We’ve got a twenty-mile ride ahead of us and these horses will need to be stabled before dark.’

  Gerald closed his eyes and took in a deep breath to steel himself for the ordeal ahead. He turned to face Marjory. She let out a light nicker and nuzzled against his shoulder.

  ‘See?’ Felicity said. ‘She likes you.’

  Marjory let out another lip-flapping burst of hay breath right in Gerald’s face. He raised his eyes to Felicity. ‘Best friends forever,’ he said.

  Gerald slotted a boot into a stirrup and threw his other leg over Marjory’s back. He settled tentatively into the saddle. ‘Sore,’ he said. ‘Sore. Sore. Sore.’

  Felicity gave Belle a nudge in the flanks and led the way back along a narrow path towards the valley. Gerald trotted up next to her, wincing at each thump of his backside against the saddle. ‘So let’s see it then,’ he said.

  Felicity pulled the map from her jacket and tossed it to Gerald. He caught it on his chest. In the middle of the map was a large red stamp. It was shaped like an egg with a stippled band of dots around its perimeter.

  ‘What’s it supposed to be?’ he asked.

  Felicity retrieved the map and tucked it back into her pocket. ‘I’m not sure it’s meant to be anything,’ she said. ‘But it does mean we’ve completed the first leg of the Triple Crown, which is something.’

  ‘It’s a pretty distinctive shape,’ Gerald said. ‘I wonder why we need it for the next stage.’

  The sound of an approaching vehicle cut through the still winter air. The rough country path was no place for a car. Gerald looked up just as a Land Rover painted camouflage green came over the hill and thundered towards them. He tightened his grip on the reins. He was determined not to take a return journey on the Marjory express.