Stormchaser and the Silver Mist

by Belinda Rapley

  “And why the ponies were being exercised around the lanes,” Mia added, “rather than in the estate!”

  “Fair enough,” Rosie frowned, “but why didn’t Nick just say that’s why he closed the rides? I mean, everyone would’ve understood if he’d done it to keep horses safe.”

  Charlie nodded. “Whatever his reason, it doesn’t help us get any closer to finding out why anyone would deliberately try to hurt a horse, and especially like this.” She felt a cold sweat break out. She’d wanted to canter Phantom along that path. Her fine limbed horse was lucky to still be walking on all four legs… Charlie put the thought from her mind, and focused on what they already knew – that someone recently had been putting horses’ lives at risk without a care.

  “Emma said something…” Mia said, concentrating hard as she recalled their conversation. “Oh yes, for Mr Perryvale, horses are just machines to get him glory. If they don’t do that, they’re chucked out. He doesn’t care about them. All he cares about is making himself look good. Oh, and winning the Winter Cup…”

  “And right now,” Rosie said, her breathing coming fast, “Nick’s likely to beat him, as long as he has Stormchaser in his team.”

  “Stormchaser…” Mia gasped. “Maybe he’s the key to this! Mr Perryvale gave him to Nick hoping he’d injure the riders and ruin the team before it had even got started. But instead the horse Mr Perryvale gave away became the Abbey’s star. So what does Mr Perryvale try next? First, he tries to ruin the club’s reputation, by making out that Billy is responsible for riding round on his motorbike letting out horses. But what if that wasn’t the only way Mr Perryvale was trying to ruin the Abbey? What if he dug holes in this land, wanting to injure Nick’s team of horses…?”

  “If that really is the case, it sounds like Mr Perryvale will stop at nothing to see Nick Webb fail,” Charlie said, shaking her head.

  “And there was something else Emma said…” Mia wracked her brains. Suddenly her face dropped. “She said that Mr Perryvale would let Nick beat him in the Winter Cup over his dead body. He’s really serious about not being beaten.”

  “But while the Abbey is still up and running, and while they still have Stormchaser on their team, they’ve still got a good chance of lifting the Cup,” Alice said, her mind racing.

  “So what if Stormchaser’s been Mr Perryvale’s target all along,” Rosie said, starting to panic, “with all these holes in the gallops? What if it’s over Stormchaser’s dead body…? They didn’t care about Cracker dying when Max let him out of Hope Farm. They might not stop there!”

  While they’d been talking, the girls had been looking at the holes in the ground. When they looked up, they realised the mist had rolled in swiftly. Now it surrounded them with its icy chill. They couldn’t hear a sound from the charity riders, who had moved on far into the distance. The girls’ vision along the path through the woods was getting patchy, and they didn’t have a clue who was around.

  “So far, its seems like Mr Perryvale and Max normally operate at night,” Mia said, her blood running cold.

  “Unless there’s an opportunity during the day,” Charlie shivered, “when everyone else is occupied with a big Charity Ride…”

  “And the mist is around to give them cover…” Alice added, as goosebumps rose all over her.

  “We need to get to the stables,” Rosie squeaked. “Fast!”

  The girls started to jog their ponies, keeping a lookout for holes while they headed through the ever-thickening mist. The grey outline of the arena emerged in front of them through the haze. The stables were to the left of the arena and most of the stable doors were open. As the ponies’ metallic shoes clopped on the concrete leading up to the stables, Thimble and Rumour bobbed to their doors. But the girls were aware of one thing: silence. Alice felt her heart begin to thump harder. Stormchaser was never silent, even in his stable. And that could only mean one thing…

  As they rode through the gloom, they all gasped at the same moment. Stormchaser’s stable door hung wide open.

  Then they heard what sounded like someone walking with a limp. The girls looked at each other, willing their ponies to stay quiet. There was a grunt, as someone emerged from the woodland at the other side of the entrance to the drive. A car door clicked open, then clunked shut. An engine purred into life and the mist cleared momentarily, revealing a Range Rover that was parked right across the Abbey’s exit. Its driver reversed, straightening up, then revved hard before accelerating past the girls and their ponies, scattering pebbles from the drive in its wake. The driver didn’t even look left or right. He didn’t see them standing by the entrance to the stable block. He leant forward, going hell for leather to get out of the estate.

  As the Range Rover accelerated past them, the girls saw the insignia on the side of the door – it was for Perryvale’s Polo Club.

  The Pony Detectives didn’t waste a second. As soon as the Range Rover was out of sight they jogged their ponies over to where Mr Perryvale’s car had been.

  Alice felt all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “Look at those footprints!” she squeaked.

  The others stared as she’d pointed to an impression left on the frosted drive. One foot, the left, was a full print. But the right was just of the front of a boot.

  “Fran said he’d had a bad accident,” Rosie remembered with a rush, “and that he couldn’t walk very well. Maybe his limp explains the odd print!”

  “The same one that we saw by the common land!” Charlie said. “He must have been the one who dumped Cracker and Frostie there! I bet that’s the way he gets rid of his useless polo ponies!”

  “I bet Max staked out the land first!” Rosie gasped. “That’s how he knew about our ponies!”

  “And if those two horses were at Perryvale,” Alice squealed, “India and Billy would’ve known them. They knew they were trained to play polo!”

  “All that’s important, guys, but right now we have to concentrate on what’s happened to Stormchaser,” Mia said, feeling slightly queasy at the thought. She knew they had no time to lose.

  “Mia’s right,” Alice agreed, scouring the ground from Scout’s back. “We need to think. If Mr Perryvale blocked the path out of the estate with his Range Rover, then let Stormchaser out of his stable, where would the horse be most likely to go? Where would Mr Perryvale try to direct him, wanting the maximum damage to happen to him?”

  The girls looked around them, but they couldn’t see far in the mist. Charlie felt her heart skip a beat.

  “Well, there’s only one place that’s guaranteed to end in disaster,” she said, feeling her stomach churn. “Think about it, I bet Stormchaser exploded straight out of the stables. If the main path out of the estate was blocked by Mr Perryvale’s Range Rover, he’d have galloped straight ahead and shot straight into these woods. I reckon he’ll have headed for the woodland path that lies alongside Mr Perryvale’s land.”

  “The one our ponies bolted up the other day!” Mia gulped.

  “Exactly,” Charlie said grimly. “And if he’s scared Stormchaser into a flat out gallop, he’ll follow that path right to the other end of the estate. The trees are so dense that he wouldn’t even think of ducking off in any other direction…”

  “… and he’ll fly straight into that cattle grid.” Alice felt sick as she pictured the scene.

  “We have to head him off,” Mia said urgently. “But we can’t just chase him, we’ll make him go faster. We’ll have to go out onto the estate paddocks and head straight across them. We’ll beat him to the cattle grid that way, because the path he’ll be on curves right round and it’s much longer. Come on!”

  Mia didn’t wait for an answer. She pressed her legs to Wish’s sides. Her pony flickered her ears back, leaping forward and putting her trust fully in her rider. The mist was so thick that they could hardly see in front of them, but Mia knew her way past the stable block and up onto a long grassy expanse. It ran alongside the edge of the woods, but it wasn’t a path. She
was just praying that that meant Mr Perryvale hadn’t dug any holes in it.

  The four girls started off riding alongside each other, but Phantom and Wish soon began to draw ahead. While they were cantering through the swirling mist, Charlie wracked her brain about how they could possibly stop Stormchaser from careering straight over the cattle grid. It was straight on his line, and if they couldn’t stop him, he’d gallop full speed into it. He wouldn’t have a rider to steady him, or help lift him up into the air. He wouldn’t know to jump it, like Phantom had. Instead his hooves would plunge straight through the metal grid. It came to her in a sudden flash – they only had one choice. And that was to play him at his own game – to act like it was a game of polo. One of their four ponies would have to block Stormchaser’s path. And the only pony solid enough to even begin to do that, was Dancer.

  Charlie glanced behind her. They wouldn’t have much time to put her plan into place. She glimpsed Rosie standing up in her stirrups, bending low over Dancer’s neck, urging her mare on. Dancer poked out her nose, responding to Rosie and stretching out further, her nostrils flaring as her legs pumped. Rosie’s face was a pale mask of determination as she tried to get her mare going as fast as she could.

  Just as Dancer was starting to slow, the far end of the estate came into sight. The wooded path that they thought Stormchaser was on followed the edge of the estate, and as fast as the polo pony may be galloping, the Pony Detectives knew they’d still beat him to the grid.

  Charlie was first to pull up. Phantom was still full of running, and Charlie had to fight for a second to slow him to a walk. His breath plumed heavily and he continued bouncing. Charlie had to hold onto him tightly while the others pulled up around her.

  Dancer was at the back, puffing, her neck dark with sweat.

  “So what do we do now?” Rosie gulped, trying to get in air.

  “Stormchaser will come charging out of the woods, straight for this grid, just like Phantom did,” Charlie said, out of breath too. “This mist will hide it from his view. We’ll have to try to guide Storm off his line, like we’ve seen other riders try to in the arena, before he gets here.”

  Alice shook her head. “But we’ve never seen another polo pony manage that in the arena!” she pointed out, thinking that Scout would be tiny and powerless next to Stormchaser’s heavy bulk. “What happens if we can’t turn him?”

  “Rosie, I think Dancer will have to block his path,” Charlie said grimly. “She’s the sturdiest of all our ponies. If he sees Dancer standing side on, by the cattle grid, he might just duck away in the last stride.”

  “You know he won’t!” Rosie squealed. “Barging other ponies out of the way is Stormchaser’s trademark move in the polo arena – the other ponies are terrified of him! I can’t ask Dancer to do that!”

  “If you don’t,” Charlie said, trying to stay calm, “Stormchaser will break his legs, right here in front of us! He could come galloping out at any moment – we’ve got to do something and we haven’t got time to argue! I’m going to try to ride alongside him, Mia, I’ll need you for that too. We’ll try to turn him before he gets to you, Rosie, but you need to come and stand here, now! Alice, you and Scout stand between Rosie, and me and Mia. If me and Mia can’t turn Stormchaser from his path, it’ll be down to you to try to shift him before he reaches Dancer!”

  Charlie ignored the terror on Rosie and Alice’s faces, she had to. She turned Phantom, and cantered him away into the mist. Mia, looking uncertain of their plan, said good luck to Rosie before cantering Wish after Phantom.

  Rosie trembled all over as she realised the huge responsibility Charlie had given her and her cobby mare, but they didn’t have any choice if they were to have the slightest chance of saving Stormchaser. She felt terrified, but she’d just have to pray that Charlie’s plan worked from the start. Then Charlie and Mia would have diverted Storm to safety by the time he reached the grid. Rosie pushed Dancer into position on the dirt track, and sat there, shaking.

  Alice turned in the saddle. “Will you be okay?” She asked, looking anxious.

  Rosie nodded, trying to look confident, even if she didn’t feel it. Alice took a deep, frosty breath and trotted Scout into position, just beyond the mist. Suddenly Rosie was all alone with Dancer, in their small, silent pocket of visibility.

  Charlie and Mia cantered their ponies nearer to the exit from the woods. Charlie’s heart felt like it might burst out of her chest. She stood in the hushed silence, barely able to see the exit, feeling the freezing mist close in around her. Phantom wouldn’t stand still. He danced beneath Charlie, swirling and wanting to be off. She could tell that his nerves were getting seriously on edge, as the seconds ticked by. Then suddenly, another distant gunshot rang out, echoing around the woods and spooking the ponies.

  “No!” Charlie cursed under her breath as Phantom’s head came up and he bounded under her. Charlie grabbed at her reins, and it was all she could do to turn Phantom back towards the woods, when suddenly, bursting out of a gap in the trees at full flight, powered a thundering Stormchaser. His nostrils were flaring as he snorted furiously, the whites of his eyes wild.

  The bay horse’s bulk was low to the ground, his body like a ball of taut muscle. Phantom wheeled round, spinning away from him and almost throwing Charlie from the saddle. Mia closed her legs around Wish, and the obedient mare leapt forward to race alongside Stormchaser. Charlie finally managed to turn Phantom back. She sat in her saddle and drove her horse on, pushing with her hands on the reins until she and Mia were both flat out to the right of Storm.

  Charlie urged her black horse on, edging Phantom in front of Storm and trying to angle into Storm’s bulky shoulders, to try and turn him. Mia took Charlie’s lead, angling Wish towards Storm, too. But Storm put his ears back, stretched out his muzzle, wrinkling his nostrils. As Charlie opened her rein to steer Storm, the bay horse drew back his lips and flashed his teeth towards Phantom’s neck. Charlie tried desperately to get Phantom to keep his position, but her horse ducked away from Storm’s wild aggression. Wish baulked sideways in the same stride as Phantom and in an instant Charlie knew that their first chance was gone. Phantom and Wish had fallen behind Storm, and to give chase now would only make the polo pony race faster. They began to slow down, panting for breath. Stormchaser’s fate was now in Alice and Rosie’s hands.

  Rosie sat on Dancer, her teeth chattering uncontrollably between her blue lips. In the distance, behind her, she could hear the shouts, laughter and songs of the Charity Ride breaking through the silence. The riders, and Nick and his staff, had no idea what was going on under the blanket of mist which had descended on the Abbey grounds. Rosie felt her whole body tremble. She closed her eyes for a second, biting her lip.

  “We can do this, Dancer,” she whispered, leaning down to hug her mare’s warm neck. Dancer had her ears back, and her head up nervously.

  “Are you okay?” Alice called over from where she was standing, just merging into the mist. Rosie opened her mouth to shout back, “Of course not,” but she never got the chance. All of a sudden, Alice was distracted, and turned round as Scout’s head shot up and he began to bounce beneath her. Rosie peered through the mist, but she heard him before she saw him – the unmistakable rhythm of thundering hooves. She felt her legs go weak, even though she was sitting on Dancer. Her mare suddenly planted herself in fear, refusing to budge, her chunky legs splayed and her eyes goggling. Rosie stared, transfixed, as in front of her, Scout began to canter steadily towards Dancer. Then, in the next instant, the heavy figure of Stormchaser burst through the silver haze, in full flight, his hooves pounding the earth.

  Rosie watched, aghast, as Alice tried desperately to push the bull-like bay off his course. She managed to steer him away a fraction, and as Stormchaser snaked his head angrily, he slowed ever so slightly. But Alice couldn’t shift him enough. By the time Scout was outrun, the polo pony was still careering headlong for the cattle grid. All that stood between Storm and the death trap was Rosie and
Dancer. But stopping Stormchaser looked as impossible as stopping a high speed train.

  “Be brave, Dancer,” Rosie whispered, trying desperately not to close her eyes, “we’re in this together!”

  Rosie could feel that Dancer was still frozen to the spot. She gulped, and did what Charlie had told her, waiting for as long as she dared. Then, at the very last second, as Stormchaser thundered towards her, Rosie realised that there was no way Dancer could bodily stop Stormchaser at that speed, and survive. Rosie suddenly changed the plan, and booted Dancer into life. For half a breath, Dancer didn’t respond, too terrified to move.

  “Move!” Rosie yelled, desperately. Then her stocky mare sprung forward, out of Storm’s path. But Dancer was a heartbeat too late to get completely out of his way and Stormchaser careered into her hind quarters. The momentum sent him tumbling to the earth and spun Dancer round, taking her off her hooves and sending both the mare and Rosie thudding to the ground.

  “Rosie, no!”

  Rosie heard Alice’s voice cry out as she covered her head, skidding across the hard drive, just narrowly avoiding Dancer’s bulk as her mare almost rolled over, her legs straight in the air. Rosie twisted from where she lay, in time to see Storm skidding across the hard ground on his side. He came to a rest just over the cattle grid. Rosie moved to sit up, but she felt dizzy and dropped back to the ground. Before she knew it Alice was by her side.

  “Are you okay, Rosie?”

  Rosie managed a nod, but she was winded, and couldn’t speak. As Dancer heaved herself back upright, she gave herself a shake. Dancer took three wobbly steps towards her owner, then stopped. Rosie could see blood beading and trickling from grazes on her mare’s knee and shoulder, her muzzle and above her eye. Rosie felt panic rise in her chest, then Dancer lowered her head gingerly and began to nibble the grass. Rosie had never felt happier to see Dancer eating, and limped over to give her brave mare the biggest hug she could manage.