by Stacy Gregg
Issie walked across the lawn towards them. She had let Mystic go as soon as she had reached the Blackthorn Farm driveway, since she didn’t want to risk him being seen by anyone. Now, as she came into view of the manor, the dogs began barking furiously and bounded up to meet her. Aidan saw her too and came running after them.
“Where have you been?” Aidan panted as he reached Issie’s side. “Hester has been mad with worry. She called in the rangers. We were just about to set out with a search party.”
“I know, I’m so sorry,” Issie said. “I didn’t mean to worry anyone. I thought I would be back home way before now.”
“Back from where?” Aidan asked.
“The lake,” Issie said. “I went down to the lake to look for the horses…”
“You did what?” Aidan was stunned.
“Aidan, I found the stallion and I nearly caught him! If the rest of the herd hadn’t spooked him and I hadn’t dropped the halter it would have all been OK, but then Blaze got scared too and she bolted and I was stuck out there in the middle of nowhere and Blaze is gone and…”
Aidan shook his head in disbelief. He looked up to see Aunt Hester approaching them, hopping along briskly on her walking cane across the lawn.
“Listen,” he hissed at Issie, “don’t tell her any of this! You’ll never be allowed out of the manor again if she thinks you’ve been off hunting wild stallions. Just keep quiet and leave it to me.”
“Isadora! Thank heavens you’re all right!” Hester dropped her walking stick and grabbed Issie, smothering her in a Chanel-scented bear hug. “Where on earth have you been? We’ve all been so worried!”
“I… umm… I …”
“Issie went for a hack on Blaze and got thrown,” Aidan said quickly.
“Really?” Aunt Hester raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You seemed pretty upset this morning. I thought perhaps you had dashed off to do something rash?”
Issie looked sideways at Aidan. “Ummm…well, I guess I was upset. So I thought I’d go for a ride to calm down. I know I should have told you that I was going out but I thought you might not let me because of the Grimalkin, so I decided to sneak out. I’m really sorry I caused so much trouble. I thought I’d be back before anyone noticed I was gone—”
“So you’re back safe and sound I see!” Cameron’s voice booming across the lawn interrupted her. The ranger didn’t look pleased to see Issie at all. “Well that was a complete waste of our time then, wasn’t it, Hester? We’ll be packing up and leaving you now.” The ranger glared at Issie. “You gave your aunt quite the scare young lady and wasted valuable time. I hope it won’t happen again.” Cameron nodded to the other rangers, who set about packing away their backpacks and walkie talkies before piling into their Jeeps and setting off down the driveway.
“Don’t worry about Cameron,” Hester said as she waved them goodbye. “A good search and rescue mission is what those men thrive on. They’re just cross that we found you so quickly and ruined their fun!” She turned to her niece now with a serious expression. “Now, are you going to tell me what’s really going on? Where is Blaze?”
“I… I went to find the wild horses and I… Blaze got spooked by the stallion and she took off. I lost her and I had to walk home again…” Issie sighed.
“Are you OK?” Hester asked, her face grave with concern.
“I’m fine, Aunty Hess. But Blaze is still out there. She’s probably terrified by now. Aunty Hess, we have to go and get her!”
“She’s a horse, Isadora,” Hester said firmly. “She can cope with one night of freedom out there in the wild. Besides, it’s too late in the day; you don’t want to be out there in the dark horse-hunting. You and Aidan can take Diablo and Paris out together tomorrow morning at first light and look for her.” Hester looked sternly at Issie. “And don’t you go disobeying me on this matter. No more racing off again half-cocked to rescue wild horses, OK? I know that Cameron’s news about the cull must have come as a shock to you and I love that you want to save the ponies, but we must be sensible and think this through – together.” She smiled at Issie. “Now let’s get you inside. You need a long hot soak with some Epsom salts in the bath. You must be aching from walking all the way home.”
“I guess so,” Issie replied.
Issie took one last longing look up the driveway.
“Don’t worry,” Aidan’s voice was reassuring. “We’ll find her tomorrow. We’ll saddle up and set off as soon as it’s light. I’ll meet you down at the stables at around six a.m. OK?”
“Oh, Aidan…” Issie began, “it’s all my fault. Blaze is out there all by herself and the Grimalkin is out there too…” She shivered at the thought. The Grimalkin had killed Meadow. What if it hurt Blaze?
“We’ll get her back. I promise,” Aidan said softly. “I’ll see you at six.”
“Aren’t you going to come into the manor now and have dinner with us?” Issie asked.
“No thanks,” Aidan said. “I’ve still got to feed the horses. Besides, Hester is doing a roast.” He pulled a face. “I’ve had one of her roasts before and once was enough.” He smiled at Issie. “I’m really glad you’re OK, Issie. I was… I mean, your aunt was worried about you.” And with that, Aidan waved a hasty goodbye as he turned and set off down the driveway.
When Issie arrived at the stables the next morning Aidan already had both horses tacked up and ready to go. “I’m taking Diablo, you’re on Paris,” he said, handing Issie the mare’s reins. Aidan looked at his watch. “Ten to six,” he said. “We should be at the lake in a couple of hours if we make good time along the ridge track. Come on, let’s mount up.”
“Stand still, Paris,” Issie said as she popped one foot in the stirrup and bounced up neatly into the saddle. It felt strange to be on a horse that wasn’t Mystic or Blaze. Paris felt new and totally different. She was stockier than Blaze – a Quarter Horse like Diablo, with a short neck and broad shoulders. Issie’s legs wrapped around the barrel of the mare’s wide belly. She looked down at the golden palomino and hesitated for a moment.
“She’s a lovely ride; you’ll have no trouble with her. She’s Hester’s favourite.” Aidan smiled.
The dawn light was turning the sky pink on the horizon as Aidan led the way through the gate on to the ridge track. “Are you ready?” Aidan asked. He was having trouble holding Diablo back; the piebald wanted to go.
Issie nodded and clucked Paris on, settling the mare into a steady pace beside Diablo, the two horses matching each other stride for stride.
They cantered on in silence all the way along the ridge. Occasionally Issie cast a wary eye at the forest next to them, but it was quiet. There was no sign of the Grimalkin. Issie stood up in her stirrups and leant low over the Paris’s neck as she cantered. The sun had risen now and the palomino looked even more beautiful bathed in golden morning light.
It wasn’t until they were past the forest and heading down into the farmland that Aidan finally slowed Diablo to a trot and they were able to talk.
“Thanks for coming with me to find Blaze,” Issie said to him.
Aidan shrugged. “That’s OK. I don’t think Hester would have let you ride back out again on your own and anyway, it’s kind of fun. I don’t get to do much hacking out these days; I have too much farm work to do.”
“Oh,” Issie said, “I see. I’m really sorry. I know you have loads of work and better things to do than go looking for my horse—”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Aidan stopped her. “I just meant… I’m having a really good time.”
“Me too.” Issie smiled. “But you have a big movie coming up, don’t you? Aunty Hess says you’re really busy with trick-training the horses.”
Aidan smiled. “Hester worries too much. Most of her horses are totally ready – they don’t need any more training. Take Diablo here,” Aidan said, “he knows every trick in the book. He can climb stairs, count to ten, dance a waltz and take a bow at the end. Hester taught him all of that and I guess
she’s trained me too,” he laughed. “She knows a few things about convincing animals and people to do whatever she wants.”
Aidan gave Diablo a pat on his neck. “Hey, do you want to see one of his tricks?” Issie nodded.
“Here we go then!” Aidan suddenly pushed Diablo on into a canter. Issie pulled Paris up to a halt to watch as the piebald cantered a circle in front of her. Aidan waved over his shoulder to Issie.
“Watch this!” He grinned. While Diablo was still cantering, Aidan quickly swung one leg over the back of the saddle so that he was standing up in the stirrup, balancing on one side of the horse and clinging to the saddle with both hands. Diablo kept cantering smoothly as if there was nothing at all unusual about having his rider hanging off the saddle like a performing monkey. As they circled once more, Aidan crouched down. Now Issie couldn’t even see him as he rode past her on the circle. He was hanging on so low he was hidden behind Diablo, and the horse looked totally riderless as he cantered by. Then she saw Aidan appear, hanging upside down now, dangling underneath the horse’s belly. He cantered around once more, clinging on with just one hand. With the other hand he reached all the way down to the ground and as he raced past he snatched up a wild daisy. He swung himself gracefully back up into the saddle and pulled hard on Diablo’s reins. The gelding reared up dramatically, thrashing the air with his front legs. Then he came down to the ground again, snorting and prancing, clearly pleased with his performance. Aidan rode up to Issie and handed her the daisy.
“Wow!” Issie grinned, taking the flower from Aidan and reaching forward to tuck it into Paris’ bridle behind the horse’s ears. “That was incredible!”
“Cowboy tricks!” Aidan smiled. “It’s just like in those Western movies. You know, when the cowboy hides by riding low on the side of the horse so the other cowboys don’t even know he’s there to shoot? Diablo is great at all the cowboy tricks. Hester even taught him to play dead when a gun is fired; that’s how she broke her leg. He dropped to the ground and she got pinned underneath him by mistake.”
“I know, she told me,” Issie said.
“So, Hester says that Blaze knows a few tricks too?” Aidan asked.
“She can’t do anything as fancy as Diablo, but she can bow. She learnt that when she was in the El Caballo Danza Magnifico,” Issie said. “And she always comes when I whistle.”
“Well, that trick may come in handy,” Aidan said. “There’s a whole lot of land out here. You may have to do a fair bit of whistling before we find your horse.”
Issie looked up ahead of her. Aidan was right. Blackthorn Farm went for hundreds of miles in every direction. How on earth were they ever going to find her horse? It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Issie was about to say as much when she heard a shrill whinny carrying clear and sharp in the morning air. Could it be Blaze? She looked up to where the sound was coming from. Ahead of her, on the horizon to the far left of the valley, she saw the grey shape of a pony, his dapples flashing in the brilliant sunshine. She squinted hard and tried to look again. The horse had disappeared, but she knew she wasn’t seeing things. It was Mystic. He was trying to tell her to follow him. He was leading her to Blaze.
“This way!” she said confidently to Aidan. “I heard a horse; we need to go this way.”
As they cantered on through green pasture, Issie kept checking the horizon for the little grey gelding. Sometimes she would see Mystic just up ahead of her, as if he were waiting for her to join him. But as soon as she got close enough the little dapple-grey would run again, always staying ahead of her, guiding her on.
They had ridden for several miles like this when Issie finally rode up to the brow of the hill and looked down the other side. When she saw a horse in the valley below at first she assumed it was Mystic. Then she realised it was one of the grey mares, the one with the little black foal at her feet. Next to the grey mare grazed the chestnut skewbald, the buckskin and a couple of bays.
“Aidan!” Issie called back excitedly over her shoulder. “Aidan, we’ve found the herd!”
As Aidan drew Diablo up next to her, Issie scanned the horses, looking frantically for Blaze. The chestnut mare and the black stallion were nowhere to be seen.
“Aidan. She’s not here!” Panic rose in Issie’s voice. Where was Blaze? Had something happened to her beloved pony?
“She’ll be here. Stay calm,” Aidan said.
Just as he said this, over the brow of the hill came Blaze.
Issie was relieved to see that Tom Avery’s much-loved cross-country saddle was still on her back. The saddle had slipped a bit to the left and Blaze’s reins were broken and dangling loose around her legs, but otherwise everything looked OK. As for Blaze, she looked just fine. She cantered along with her head held high and called out once more, a high shrill whinny. This time another horse answered her call.
Now the black stallion came into view. His enormous strides swallowed up the ground as he caught up to Blaze. Issie was struck once more by the beauty of the black horse.
“Isn’t he beautiful?” Issie said to Aidan.
“I can’t believe it. He’s just like Avignon – except he’s jet black!” Aidan said.
“Do you think so?” Issie said.
“Absolutely. Hester will go wild when she sees him,” Aidan said. He was transfixed by the big black horse and couldn’t take his eyes off him.
“What do you mean?” Issie said.
“Come on, Issie. You said yourself that you nearly caught him the other day. And now he’s made friends with Blaze it should be easy. You said you wanted to save him, Issie. Well this is your chance. We can do this together. We can bring the black back home. What do you say?”
Issie looked at Aidan. “Do you really mean it?” She said.
Aidan grinned. “Uh-huh!”
Issie grinned back. “Then let’s do it!” She felt a tingle of excitement run down her spine. This time they were going to catch the black horse, and she knew it. She had a plan.
There was no time to lose. The horses still hadn’t seen them, but to keep the element of surprise on their side they would have to move fast.
“Over there, behind those trees!” Issie instructed Aidan. To their right was a small copse of blackthorn bushes, perfect for hiding out of the stallion’s line of sight. Issie and Aidan clucked Diablo and Paris into a canter and within a few strides the horses were behind the trees.
“What now?” Aidan asked.
“Now it’s time to get my horse back,” Issie said. She jumped down off Paris and peered through the trees, handing Aidan the reins. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and blew – a shrill, high-pitched whistle.
Issie and Aidan waited in silence. Nothing.
“Try again,” Aidan said. But before Issie could raise her hands to her mouth, they heard the sound of hoofbeats.
“Blaze,” Issie whispered hoarsely. Her heart was thumping in her chest. She couldn’t see a thing from behind these trees. Was Blaze coming to her? She didn’t dare stick her head out to look now in case the stallion saw her and spooked again. She cupped her hands once more and gave another low whistle. There was a nicker in reply this time, and then there was Blaze! The mare popped her head tentatively around the corner of the trees and Issie couldn’t help but giggle.
“Well, hi there!” She grinned. She dug around in her backpack for a carrot as Blaze came all the way behind the trees to join them, nickering happily as she was reunited with her girl.
“Hey, Blaze, are you OK? I missed you!” Issie hugged her pony tight around the neck, feeding her the carrot and grasping on to the broken reins. She wasn’t letting go of those again in a hurry.
Issie stood back for a moment and ran her eyes over the mare. Blaze seemed fine. She ran her hands over her body. There was hardly a mark on her.
“Good girl, I’m so glad you’re OK,” Issie cooed. She led her horse back over to where Aidan was holding on to Paris and waiting for them.
Issie quickly undid Bla
ze’s girth and slipped off her cross-country saddle. Then, still holding Blaze’s reins with one hand, she reached over and undid Paris’ girth and slipped the saddle off the palomino. Compared to Blaze’s lightweight saddle, Paris’ saddle seemed enormous. It was a stock saddle, big and bulky enough to hold the weight of a rider hanging off the side, perfect for stunt riding. She swung the saddle up into the air, throwing it on to Blaze’s back.
“Steady, girl,” Issie said to Blaze as she did up the girth.
“Why are you swapping the saddles over?” Aidan asked as Issie yanked the girth up and checked it one last time.
“Because I need the stock saddle to do the trick of course!” Issie said matter-of-factly to Aidan. “Now I need you to stay here and hold on to Paris. You can put Blaze’s saddle on her while I’m gone. Stay hidden unless I call out for you. OK?”
“No. It’s not OK!” Aidan said. “First you’d better tell me what’s going on. What exactly is this plan of yours?”
“Actually, it’s kind of your plan,” Issie said. “I got the idea from watching you do that trick on Diablo on the way here.” She turned to face Aidan. “The black stallion really likes Blaze, right? She’s a part of his herd now so she can get right up close to him. But he doesn’t trust me just yet. If he sees me on top of her he just might freak out and bolt.” Issie paused. “But what if he didn’t see me?”
“I don’t understand,” Aidan said. “How can you get near him without him seeing you?”
Issie put her foot in the stirrup now and mounted Blaze. She swung one leg back over the saddle, balancing like a gymnast on one side of the horse, with all her weight in one stirrup. From here, she practised crouching down and hanging off one side of the saddle, just as Aidan had done on Diablo.
“Like this,” she said to Aidan. “I’m going to ride the same trick that you did on Diablo. I can do it on Blaze.”
Issie practised the crouch again, then she swung her leg back up and over so she was sitting in the saddle properly once more.
