A Ride to Freedom

by Olivia Tuffin

  “Help me,” Seb cried again. “I’ve done something to my leg and the current is too strong.” Then he gave a panicked shout and Alice watched in horror as he jerked violently. “The branch is snapping!”

  “Don’t panic!” Alice shouted, although she knew he’d be swept away if the branch broke. All kinds of debris was rushing through the muddy water so she knew he would struggle to swim through it. Then she thought about something she’d watched on the news once, about the rescue of a dog from a river. Four men had made a human chain and pulled the dog to safety. But it was just Alice … and Secret.

  Alice looked at her little gelding, an idea starting to form. Holding on to his head collar, she stretched out her arms, estimating their reach, before unclipping Secret’s lead rope.

  “Seb,” she called urgently. “I’m going to throw the lead rope to you. Try to catch it. Come on, Secret!”

  Alice clung on tightly to Secret’s head collar as she tentatively moved forward into the water. The current swirled around her ankles and knees until it reached her waist and she didn’t dare go any further in. Taking a deep breath, Alice threw the lead rope, and cursed as it landed with a splash behind Seb. She pulled it back and gasped as the branch sagged even further. She had to get this right. She threw again, and this time the rope landed with perfect precision on Seb’s shoulder, just as the branch gave way with an almighty crack, plunging into the churning water. For one awful second Alice thought Seb had also been washed away, but the sudden weight on her right arm told her he’d got hold of the rope.

  “OK, Secret,” Alice said. “Back up, back up!”

  Secret snorted, taking the weight of both Seb and Alice, and took a couple of steps back. One step back, then another, and Alice’s yard boots were slipping and sliding in the muddy ground. Just another and Seb would be in reach of the bank.

  Then Alice’s feet slipped, and she fell heavily on to her hip. Secret spooked sideways as the sudden movement frightened him. Only years of falling off ponies and grimly hanging on to reins helped Alice. She still had hold of Secret’s head collar and the lead rope. The rope was burning as it pulled through her hand, but she held on as Secret continued to back away. After what felt like an age Seb was finally dragged from the water, falling back as he collapsed on the bank, spluttering and gasping, and Alice finally let go of Secret.

  For a few seconds they were silent, trying to get their breath back before Alice staggered to her feet, then Secret whickered and wheeled back to her. Pressing her forehead against his, she thanked him silently.

  Kneeling beside Seb, Alice saw that his breeches were torn and covered in blood, his knee badly swollen. He was freezing cold and shivering violently.

  “It’s OK, Seb, you’re safe now,” she said, trying to sound calm despite her heart hammering against her chest. “What happened?”

  “Clea spooked.” Seb’s tanned face was horribly pale. “Bolted and then threw me on the edge of the ford, and I caught my knee on that—” he pointed to a gnarled-looking tree stump, and Alice winced—“I was pulled in, but I managed to hold on to the branch.”

  “We need to get help.” Pulling her phone from her pocket, Alice groaned in frustration. It was soaking wet and wouldn’t turn on.

  Alice knew she needed to get Seb back up to the centre, and fast. For a second she felt very alone. But she shook herself, realising it was down to her to help him. And she wasn’t really alone. She had Secret.

  “Seb, listen,” she said. “You’re going to have to ride back to the chateau.”

  Seb stared at her. “Alice,” he said with a trace of his former arrogance, “have you seen my leg?”

  “Yes, I have,” Alice said with a frown, “but I’m going to give something a try.” Turning away from him, she patted Secret. “Right,” she said. “This is a big thing, but please try, for me.”

  And then, exactly as Celia had showed her, Alice stood back from Secret. She gestured towards the ground, bowing and scraping the ground, trying to encourage her pony to roll.

  “What are you doing?” Seb said impatiently.

  “Trying to help you!” Alice said between gritted teeth. “Try to drag yourself over here using your good leg and get ready to climb!”

  Seb staggered slowly to his feet and hobbled over.

  Alice turned back to Secret. He definitely wanted to roll, Alice could tell. As he started to sink Alice praised him, and just hoped he’d stay down long enough for Seb to clamber on. She had a packet of mints in her pocket. They had disintegrated in the water, but there was enough left for her to smear the minty paste on to her hand for Secret to lick off.

  Helped by Alice and half using his own strength, Seb hauled his good leg over Secret, giving a sharp gasp of pain as his bad knee took his weight for a second. Startled, Secret lurched to his feet. Gripping on to his red mane, Seb managed to stay on, and Alice gave a deep sigh of relief as Secret rolled his eyes at her.

  “Well done, boy.” She gave his forehead a stroke.

  Side by side Alice and Secret walked slowly back up the drive towards the centre. The rain had finally stopped, and everything seemed to sparkle. The whole rescue started to feel like a bit of a dream.

  “Alice!”

  Appearing from a trail that led off from the drive was Finn. Alice didn’t think she’d ever felt so relieved. Today was the second-year anniversary of his mum’s death, and she still wanted desperately to tell Finn that she knew, and that she was there for him. But she couldn’t say anything, not in front of Seb.

  “Where have you been?” she cried instead. “I’ve been searching for you all night!”

  “I just went for a walk that went on and on,” Finn said, his eyes widening as he looked at Seb slumped on Secret’s back. “When the storm came I found a barn to shelter in. What happened?”

  Alice realised that she, Seb and Secret made quite a strange sight! Suddenly Alice’s legs felt weak, the adrenalin finally wearing off. “Walk with us,” she said wearily. “And I’ll explain on the way back.”

  They were met by Mathis in the yard, who had just arrived to start the morning routine.

  “Sebastian!” Mathis rushed up to his son, and with another groom’s help managed to get him off Secret’s back. Deathly pale and in pain, it was clear Seb needed urgent medical attention.

  Mathis put Seb’s arm round his shoulder and escorted him towards the house, ringing for an ambulance as he did so. Then, when the call was finished, he looked at Finn, and Alice couldn’t read his expression.

  “We need to talk, Finn, when I’ve made sure my son is OK.”

  Finn watched Mathis hurry away and then turned to Alice. “What did he mean?” He sounded totally confused and Alice took a deep breath.

  “The fashion team have had a valuable piece of jewellery go missing, a ring, and, um, well, they are just eliminating possibilities, and you weren’t here… I’m sure it’s nothing.” She blustered over her words. She felt terrible, partly blaming herself for telling Seb about Finn’s money troubles.

  There was a minute or two of silence as Finn let the words sink in.

  “And they think I’ve taken it?” he asked Alice, his dark eyes unreadable.

  Alice couldn’t do anything else other than nod.

  Finn helped Alice put Secret away, checking his legs over and sponging off the worst of the mud. He was absolutely fine and happy to turn his full attention to his hay net.

  Just then a police car pulled up, and Mathis came to the door to meet them. Alice was sure he glanced over at her and Finn.

  “Who called the police?” Maria suddenly appeared along with Gabby, looking alarmed.

  Gabby frowned. “Mathis did. If someone did take the ring, we need to find out who, and fast. You know how much it’s worth, Maria.”

  “Well, if you hadn’t been so careless in the first place…” Maria snapped, glaring at Finn and Alice.

  “I didn’t take the ring,” Finn replied in a level tone. “I don’t know why you would think
that.”

  Gabby placed a hand briefly on Finn’s arm. “Don’t worry,” she said quietly as the policeman came over with Mathis. “They’ll talk to everyone; it isn’t just you.”

  “But perhaps we can talk with you first?” The policeman directed Finn towards the living area. “It won’t take long.”

  Finn followed Mathis and the policeman, glancing back at Alice. She shook her head, hoping he’d hear her thoughts somehow and know that she was going to try to help him. Finn didn’t deserve this, she thought angrily. Today of all days.

  Secret nudged her and she reached up to stroke his mane. Then he leaned over the door and began chewing on his damaged box sign.

  “Not now, Secret!” Alice cried in an irritated voice as she tried to move his muzzle away. “I’ve enough to think about without you destroying your stable!” Defiantly Secret looked right at her and pulled hard on the sign, lifting it away from the door altogether. The movement caused something shiny to fall out from behind the sign and land on the cobbles. Alice’s heart beat faster as she bent to pick it up, examining a ring as its huge cluster of diamonds shone in the morning sunlight.

  “Secret,” she said slowly, turning to her little red gelding in disbelief, “what is this doing here?”

  Thinking hard, Alice turned the ring over in her hand. Someone must have put the ring there … but who? And why? As she stared hard at the glittering ring she noticed that despite the heavy rain and being soaked in the ford her index fingers and thumbs were still stained from the no-chew lotion slathered on the sign. The ring had to have been put behind the sign deliberately … and whoever had put it there would also have stains on their hands.

  Her heart in her mouth, Alice ran over to the communal area where the police were sitting with Finn. Maria and Gabby were in a huddle away from the table with some other members of the fashion team. Finn was doing his best to answer the questions.

  “You don’t know where you were last night?” The policeman was making notes as Finn sat in front of him.

  “I don’t know the area,” Finn said quietly. “I just kept walking.”

  “And what time was this?”

  “I don’t know,” Finn mumbled. “I don’t wear a watch.”

  The policeman shrugged. “OK, well, thank you, we’ll perhaps have some more questions later. Did you notice anything unusual before you left on your walk?”

  Finn shook his head. “No, nothing.”

  “Um … sorry to interrupt.”

  Alice blushed as everyone turned to stare at her as she held the ring in front of her. “I found this.”

  Quick as a flash Maria and Gabby jumped up. Alice noticed Maria had turned very pale.

  “Where did you find that?” she hissed.

  “It was tucked behind the sign on Secret’s stable. Actually, it was Secret who found it,” Alice said, keeping her voice steady. “Is it the missing ring?”

  “Yes, that’s it.” Gabby looked extremely relieved but very serious as the policeman examined the ring. “But how did it get there?”

  “Yes, how?” Maria repeated. “What was it doing in your stable?” She looked pointedly behind Alice at Finn, and following her gaze, Alice felt a rush of anger.

  “It wasn’t Finn!” she said. “Why on earth would Finn take the ring and then hide it there?”

  “Ha,” Maria snorted. “You two are in on it together, I’m sure!”

  Gabby frowned. “Maria, stop – there’s no evidence against Finn or Alice,” she said. “Now we know the ring was hidden in the stables, we can check the footage from the CCTV cameras.”

  Alice noticed Maria grow even paler, and as she pushed her sunglasses up her head in a haughty manner, her hand trembled.

  Alice blinked. As she fiddled with her sunglasses she saw that Maria’s perfectly manicured hand had a large brown smudge near the fingertips. Alice held her own hands in front of her, examining the stain from the no-chew lotion.

  “Maria,” Alice asked quietly, “what made that mark on your hand?”

  Maria glared at Alice. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” she hissed, quickly crossing her arms.

  Alice held up her own hands. “Look,” she said slowly. “These marks are from the sign where the ring was found. They’re caused by the lotion that we put on the sign to stop Secret chewing it. I think that whoever took the ring and hid it behind the sign will also have this stain on their hands.”

  Alice noticed a flicker of panic cross Maria’s face as Gabby turned towards her, a questioning look on her face.

  “Show me your hands, Maria,” she said firmly, her voice authoritative. Reluctantly Maria held out her hands in front of her. There was no mistaking the marks.

  She tried to laugh. “Don’t be absurd! It’s all so dirty around here… You have no proof…” But it was clear she was panicking.

  “You put the ring there,” Alice burst out angrily. “But why?”

  And then, to the shock of everyone in the room, Maria snapped.

  “It wasn’t meant to happen like this, Gabby,” she screeched. “I had to make people realise that things always go wrong when you’re in charge. You’re too soft, letting the kids off when the ponies ruined things, inviting complete strangers to help with the photo shoots. And so careless! I just thought if the ring went missing on your watch then other people would see what is so obvious. That you should never have got the job of editor.”

  “I-I don’t understand!” Gabby looked horrified. “You took the ring from the safe?”

  “You left it open! I was going to put it back when I’d given you a scare and taught you a lesson,” Maria said defiantly. “I didn’t steal it!”

  “And you told everyone you thought it was Finn in order to teach Gabby a lesson?!” Alice could feel herself boiling with anger at the unfairness of it all.

  “I wasn’t trying to frame him! He did that to himself when he went missing. I was always going to put the ring back!” Maria hissed.

  “Hello, what’s going on?” June burst through the door, an anxious look on her face. Alice suddenly realised in all the drama last night that June had never made it back to the centre.

  “The road was blocked by the flood,” June continued. “I’ve had the most awful journey. Now, what’s happened? What are the police doing here?”

  As June caught up on what had happened Alice’s adrenalin started to wear off again and she felt exhausted. She gave a start as Finn slipped his hand into hers.

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  “Finn, I…” She spoke softly so only he could hear. “I know what day it is today. Your mum … I just want to say I’m sorry, and I’m here for you.”

  Finn squeezed her hand. “I know,” he said quietly. “We’ll talk later. But first, you’ve got a showjumping competition!”

  Just a few minutes later, Alice was back in the yard. She could hardly believe the events of the past few hours. First rescuing Seb, then proving Finn hadn’t stolen the ring – it was all so extraordinary! She needed time to digest it all, but the big competition was finally here and Alice knew she had to put the events of the night behind her for now and do well. For herself, for Finn and for her beloved pony.

  She gave Secret an extra good brush, before changing into her cream jodhpurs and navy jacket, her hands shaking slightly as she tied her stock. Scooping her pale hair into a bun, and fastening her velvet hat, she took a deep breath. There was always something to jump for – a place in the team, success at an area event, a red rosette – but jumping for Finn and the Flying Fillies today seemed the most important reason of all. She was exhausted, but she had to keep going. For just a few hours more! Secret danced a little as Alice led him from the stable and swung herself up into the saddle.

  “Alice, are you OK?” Holly joined her on Minstrel as they set off down the drive. “We heard that you rescued Seb – you’re amazing! And everyone is saying that Maria had something to do with the missing ring?”

  Alice nodded, rememb
ering Holly’s horrible comments about Finn, and Holly paused.

  “Look,” she continued. “We’re all really sorry about what we said about Finn. Seb and Maria were saying stuff and—”

  “It’s fine,” Alice said shortly. “But it’s Finn who you really need to apologise to.”

  “You’re right.” Holly nodded. “We’ll do that.”

  Just then June came jogging over. “Alice,” she said in a kind voice. “You brave girl. You must be so tired; are you sure you still want to jump?”

  It hadn’t even occurred to Alice not to jump! She nodded her head. “I’m absolutely sure,” she said firmly, patting Secret. “We’re ready. I can catch up on sleep later.”

  “OK.” June was back in district commissioner mode. “Well, I had a look at the course on the way back,” she said briskly. “It’s up to height, no doubt about it.”

  As Alice and Secret neared the arena a few minutes later she could see what June meant. Mathis had been right. The jumps were enormous, huge spreads seeming to stretch as wide as the ocean and uprights that felt as high as tower blocks.

  “Yikes!” Holly gulped, patting her pony. “I think Minstrel and I will just jump the easy ones, keep it safe.”

  But Alice was already planning her route, working out which ones she needed to jump to gain the maximum score. She’d never felt prouder of Secret and more convinced of their special bond. This was her big chance, and she was going to go for it!

  Alice wasn’t feeling quite so confident after walking the course. The top scoring jumps were not only big but technical as well. She couldn’t just cling on and hope for the best if Secret got out of control. The strides had to be ridden accurately, the corners taken with pinpoint precision. And the last fence on the course – the joker fence – was bigger than anything Alice had ever jumped, with a hairpin corner leading up to it. This, the highest-scoring jump on the course, had to be ridden perfectly.

  “Just do your best,” June said, giving Secret a pat. “And enjoy it.”