Читать книгу Comet and the Champion’s Cup - Stacy Gregg - Страница 9

“We’re nearly there!” Issie pressed her face up against the window at the back of the truck cab and mouthed the words through the glass at Stella and Kate.

“What’s she saying?” Kate was frustrated. “I can’t hear her through the glass!”

“Issie!” Stella shouted back. “We can’t hear you! What are you saying?”

The cab of Aunt Hester’s horse truck wasn’t big enough for all the girls to fit up front so it had been decided that Issie would travel in the cab with Aidan while Kate and Stella rode in the back.

The girls didn’t mind riding in the back. The truck was fitted out a bit like a camper van, with a shower, kitchenette and bunk beds, and it was comfy enough travelling on the bench seats. Plus, from where they sat, Stella and Kate could keep an eye on Toby and Coco who were travelling at the very back of the truck in their stalls. The girls could see Issie and Aidan too by peering through the little window with very thick glass at the back of the truck cab.

Issie tapped on the glass and tried again. “I said…We’re nearly there!”

“Oh, give up, Issie!” Aidan grinned. “They’ll figure it out for themselves soon enough. We’re about to reach the turn-off.”

The six-hour drive to Blackthorn Farm had somehow seemed shorter this time. That might have been because she and Aidan hadn’t stopped talking from the moment Issie got into the truck. There was so much for them to catch up on.

“I haven’t seen Nightstorm since he was two days old,” Aidan said, “so that would make him…”

“Three months old!” Issie said. “He’s already almost thirteen hands. Avery reckons he’ll grow to sixteen-two, and he’s so beautiful. He’s losing all his foal fluff and he’s got the most amazing deep bay coat, with a thick black mane and tail and black points. He looks so cute with his white blaze. He’s exactly like his mum in some ways, but he’s kind of like Marius too. He has his own personality though–he’s really smart. I taught him to wear a halter in just one day.”

Aidan pushed his long, dark fringe out of his eyes and looked at Issie. “It must have been hard to leave him.”

“Uh-huh,” Issie said. She didn’t want to tell Aidan that she had been in floods of tears when she said goodbye to the colt last night. She knew it was only a month, but it seemed like such a long time to be away from him when he was so young.

“Well, I’m really glad you came,” Aidan said softly. Then he realised he sounded mushy and tried to make up for it by adding, “Ummm…cos Hester really needs your help.”

Issie smiled. “Hester says you’ve been schooling up a few of the Blackthorn Ponies that we caught when we were here last time.”

The Blackthorn Ponies were a wild herd that roamed the hills around Blackthorn Farm. On her last holiday at the farm Issie and Aidan had saved the herd from a cull. Most of the ponies had been sent to new homes, but Hester had kept a few of them with her at the farm.

“That’s part of the problem,” Aidan continued. “The cost of those extra ponies adds up fast. Hester has thirteen horses now–that’s a lot of farrier bills and hard feed.”

“So the riding school will cover the bills?”

“Uh-huh,” Aidan said. “We won’t make a fortune out of it, but hopefully we’ll make enough to keep the farm going until the next movie job comes along.”

Issie looked worried. “And what if another film job doesn’t come along?”

“Something will turn up soon,” Aidan said reassuringly. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“But, Aidan, what if it’s not fine?”

“Well, if things got really tight, I guess we’d have to sell some of the horses,” said Aidan quietly. “Diablo and Stardust are experienced stunt horses–they’re both worth quite a lot. But if that’s not enough…”

“Then what?”

“Then Hester will have to sell Blackthorn Farm.”

For the first time since they had set off on this trip, silence settled over the truck cab. Issie stared out of the windows at the road ahead and couldn’t help wondering if this would be the last time she would be making this journey.

By the time the horse truck came through the narrow Gisborne gorge and began to travel up through the green cornfields towards the high country, Issie had pulled herself together again. In fact, she was positively filled with resolve.

“You’re right. Things will be fine!” she said firmly, smiling at Aidan. The riding school would make enough money–or they’d think of something else. No matter what, there was no way her aunt was going to lose Blackthorn Farm.

Half an hour later, they reached the crest of a very steep hill. To the right, Issie could see the bright blue sea of the Gisborne coastline, and on the left was farmland and forest. Up ahead she could see a gravel road that veered to the left off the main highway.

“We’re here!”

Aidan turned off down the private road, slowing down a gear as the truck struck gravel. Issie watched as the trees closed in around her and the truck became cocooned in the dense native forest that bordered the sides of the driveway that led to Blackthorn Farm. Low-hanging pohutukawa branches scraped against the roof of the truck.

“I keep telling Hester we need to prune the trees back to get the truck through,” Aidan said as he heard the branches scraping the roof above him. “She just tells me to ‘add it to the endless list of things that need doing’!”

A few more scrapes and bangs later and they had emerged into the bright sunlight once more. Issie’s heart leapt when she saw the familiar sight of the cherry trees, their white and pink petals falling in a snowy carpet on the circular lawn in front of Blackthorn Manor.

The tumbledown mansion was just as she remembered. The enormous two-storeyed country manor must once have been very grand, but was, she noted with fresh eyes, definitely rickety and in desperate need of a new coat of white paint.

“It must have been horrible being here over the past couple of months. You know, with all those movies cancelling at the last minute.”

“Actually,” Aidan said, “this will sound weird, but it’s been great. I mean, yeah, it’s been stressful, especially for Hester. But having no film work has meant that I could spend more time riding. I’ve been doing loads of training sessions on Destiny.”

“Like movie training?” Issie asked.

Aidan shook his head. “Showjumping. Destiny’s a natural jumper. He picks his feet up really cleanly and never knocks the rails.”

“How high have you been jumping?”

“He can do about a metre twenty,” Aidan said. “Easily big enough to put him in the prize money.”

“What prize money?” Issie was confused.

“The Horse of the Year Show,” Aidan said. “I haven’t asked Hester yet, but I was thinking of entering him in the novice horse class.”

“Do you think he can win?”

Aidan nodded. “Yep–and it’s decent prize money too. The Horse of the Year is the richest competition in the whole Southern hemisphere. There’s half a million dollars in prize money. If Destiny and I win the novice class, that’s worth $10,000.”

“$10,000?”

“There’ll be loads of competition though,” Aidan continued. “There are riders from all over the country coming down for it.”

“I know,” Issie said. “Tom is coming down next week. He’s bringing Dan and Ben. I think Dan’s riding in the novice class too.”

Aidan seemed to go very quiet at this news. When he finally spoke his voice sounded quite different. “That guy Dan. You go to pony club with him, right?”

“Uh-huh,” said Issie.

“And he’s, like, a friend of yours?” Issie nodded. Aidan went quiet again for a moment.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Issie was stunned. She hadn’t been expecting this. “No,” she said, “no, he’s not.” Aidan looked relieved.

“Hester is probably waiting for us down at the stables,” he said. “We’ll drive straight through to unload the horses.” He nosed the truck to the right of the circular lawn so that they swept right past the front door of the manor and headed down the limestone drive towards the stables.

“Issie?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You know what I said before? About me being glad that you were here? Well, I am, Issie. I’m really glad. It seems like ages since I saw you and…” Aidan stopped paying attention to the road and stared at Issie. He was fidgeting nervously with the sleeve of his tartan shirt. “The thing is, I’ve been wanting to ask you something the whole way down here…”

He was suddenly interrupted by Issie who let out a loud shriek. “Stop the truck, Aidan! You’re going to hit him!”

Aidan’s foot instinctively went for the brake as he turned to see what had made Issie shout out. In front of them, galloping straight for their truck, was a pony.

“Aidan!” Issie yelled again.

“I see him!” said Aidan, sounding the horn at the pony.

“What’s wrong with him?” Issie asked. “Why doesn’t he get out of the way?” The pony was still galloping towards them. There was no way the truck could stop in time. They would hit him for sure.

“You’ve got to stop!” Issie shouted.

“I’m trying!” said Aidan. “It’s not that simple–we have horses in the truck to think about!”

Issie realised that he was right. If Aidan slammed the brakes on too quickly then Toby and Coco would be thrown forward violently and might be badly hurt. But if Aidan didn’t brake fast enough then the poor pony that was bearing down on them would be killed.

It felt as if everything was in slow motion as the pony continued to gallop at them and tyres skidded against the limestone gravel as Aidan tried to stop. The horrible squeal of truck brakes filled Issie’s ears, overwhelming her in a rush of memory. She had a sickening sense of déjà vu–as if she was reliving that awful day at Chevalier Point. The day when Mystic had been killed. It was nearly two years ago now that the accident had happened. Her mind always got so confused when she tried to think about that day.

Issie remembered trying to stop the runaway horses from heading out on to the main road, her sense of horror as Mystic had reared up to face the truck. Then she was falling backwards and the tarmac was rushing up to meet her. There had been a sickening crack as her helmet hit the road, and the taste of blood in her mouth before it all went black. After that, she couldn’t recall anything until she woke up hours later in the hospital with her mother calling her name. Her mother told her what had happened. She explained how Mystic had saved Issie by throwing her clear of the truck. Issie still remembered the desperate expression on her mother’s face as she struggled to answer her question. “Mum? What about Mystic? Is Mystic OK?”

It was the very worst moment in Issie’s life. Her first pony Mystic had been her best friend. She had loved him so completely, so deeply. Losing him was like losing her own soul.

Now, suddenly, she was living through it all over again. Only this time she was watching it all from inside the truck, powerless to do anything as she sat waiting for the awful, inevitable moment of collision with the horse in front of her.

Issie shut her eyes and held her breath. She couldn’t bear to look. Instinctively she put her arms on the dashboard to brace herself for the impact. A few seconds later, when the crash didn’t come, she opened her eyes again.

The truck had stopped. The horse was nowhere to be seen and Issie suddenly realised that she was crying and shaking and Aidan was holding her tight in his arms. “It’s OK,” he was saying, “it’s all right. We didn’t hit him.”

“Aidan!” Issie felt like she couldn’t breathe. “We were going to hit him. I was sure we were going to…”

“Shhhh, it’s OK. I know. I thought we were going to hit him too. He got out of the way just in time. Are you OK?” Aidan let go of Issie and sat back in his seat.

“Uh-huh.” Issie dried her eyes. “I’m fine.”

“That was close, huh?”

“Where did that horse come from?” Issie wondered. “He seemed to come out of nowhere.”

“He must have jumped out of his paddock again.” Aidan shook his head. “That’s the third time this week. He might have escaped the truck, but I’m pretty sure that this time Hester is going to kill him!”

“You mean he’s done this before?”

“Yeah. Last time he jumped out, he managed to get into the garden shed and ate all of the dog biscuits. He is totally crazy, that pony. Hester is so fed up with him. She can’t afford to put up deer fences to keep him in–and, knowing Comet, he’d probably jump over them anyway!”

“Comet?” Issie said.

“Uh-huh,” Aidan replied. “He’s one of the Blackthorn Ponies that Hester decided to keep. Although I think she’s been regretting the decision ever since.”

Just as he said this, Issie saw her aunt emerge from the rear of Blackthorn Manor. She had a makeshift lead rope in her hands that she had made out of the belt from her dress. She was using it to lead a cheeky-looking skewbald. The pony, for he was just a pony and couldn’t have been more than fourteen-two hands, was skipping merrily at her side. He didn’t seem to notice or care that Hester was looking at him with a murderous expression. The skewbald looked so pleased with himself that, despite the heart attack he had just given her, Issie couldn’t help but immediately have a soft spot for him.

“So that’s Comet?”

“The one and only,” Aidan said darkly. “The skewbald that no paddock can hold.”

As Comet came closer, Issie could see that he was actually rather pretty. The pony was a chestnut with white patches, and he had white socks and a broad, white stripe down his nose. Comet was sturdy and muscular, like all wild Gisborne hill ponies. He had solid legs with thick cannon bones, strong shoulders and powerful hindquarters made for jumping–a fact which he was clearly using to his advantage to get out of the paddock whenever he liked. The pony’s conformation was powerful, but it was his eyes that had Issie totally bewitched. Those eyes! They burnt with an intensity that she hadn’t seen before in any horse.

Comet seemed thrilled that everyone was paying him so much attention. As he danced along at Hester’s side, Issie could have sworn he had the attitude of a champion racehorse. In his mind, this pony wasn’t little at all. He was a colossus.

“Comet! Stand still, naughty pony!” Hester growled. Then she turned to Issie and Aidan. “Isadora! Lovely to see you. I take it you’ve already met Comet?”

“You could say that,” Issie smiled.

“Well, my favourite niece, as you can see, this place hasn’t changed a bit–it’s still completely mad!” Hester said. “Welcome back to Blackthorn Farm.”