Starlight Stables: Bush Bolts

by Soraya Nicholas

  ‘Why don’t you guys stay in front?’ Poppy said, knowing that she had to balance the danger with getting back fast. She still had to make sure it was safe for Sarah, and her friends knew their way around the farm. ‘We’ll go as quick as we can but you two can set your own pace to keep your ponies happy.’ She was desperate to gallop with them, but she knew she had to keep Sarah safe.

  ‘You sure?’ Katie asked. ‘We’ll still stay close.’

  Poppy nodded, and Milly burst into a canter, taking off and leaving Katie to play catch up. Crystal thrust her head in the air and started to jig-jog, but Poppy sat deep in the saddle and tightened her reins.

  ‘Not today, girl. We’re just going steady.’ Crystal wasn’t impressed, her body like a taut rubber band beneath Poppy, but she started to calm down once the other two horses were further into the distance. They’d ridden a long, long way from the stables, and Poppy knew heading home was when Crystal always started to get excited.

  The other farms surrounding Starlight were home to horses too, which was why they were all allowed to ride over each other’s land. They had jumps scattered down most of the fence lines, and Poppy watched as Joe soared over a fence up ahead, followed by Katie on her palomino. Poppy would have to find a gate to lead Sarah through – Milly had definitely chosen the most direct route back.

  ‘Sorry you have to babysit me,’ Sarah apologised.

  ‘Don’t be crazy.’ Poppy felt guilty because she had kind of been wishing that Sarah wasn’t there so she could race off. ‘The storm will be a way off yet. Sophie was just being cautious.’

  ‘Thanks, though.’ Sarah smiled when Poppy looked across at her.

  ‘Hey, I bet you didn’t want to be sitting in your room watching DVDs every weekend with me when Dad died,’ Poppy said, taking a big breath. She’d practically lived at Sarah’s house when they’d first found out that her dad wouldn’t be coming home. ‘Or listening to me cry all the time. I think you’ve done plenty of babysitting me too.’

  ‘You’re my best friend, Pops.’ Sarah looked like she had tears in her eyes and Poppy realised that she did, too. She quickly brushed them away. Sometimes talking about her dad was okay; other times it made her want to cry her eyes out and hide under a doona for the rest of the day, curled up in bed.

  They were almost at the fence line now, and Poppy was looking around for somewhere they could get over that didn’t involve jumping when the rumble of hooves made her head snap up. What was going on?

  ‘How close did Sophie say that other fire was?’ Sarah asked, as if she was reading Poppy’s mind.

  Just as Poppy was about to answer, she saw Milly and Katie riding back towards them. Milly was waving one hand frantically. They were still a way away, but Poppy’s body was suddenly covered in goosebumps. Why were they coming back? Something was definitely up.

  Poppy looked up at the sky. The clouds were starting to look strange. There were swirling, murky grey ones swallowing the fluffy white clouds that had been sitting peacefully still in the bright blue sky while they’d been having their lunch. Poppy knew that because she’d been admiring them every time the leaves parted.

  ‘The weather’s changing here already,’ Poppy shifted in the saddle, gripping her reins a little tighter as Crystal started to dance beneath her. She cast a quick look at Missy, saw that the little pony looked more alert than usual. ‘It’s okay though, just a little wind.’

  She didn’t tell Sarah her suspicions – that this was why the horses and cows had been spooked before, and that the only reason Aunt Sophie had phoned them was because she was super worried. Sophie didn’t overreact to anything. Not ever.

  She got off Crystal when they approached a gate, opening it quickly and getting the two horses through before mounting again. She was just pushing her feet into the stirrup irons when a thundering of hooves made her look up.

  ‘Poppy!’ Katie yelled out as she and Milly neared, pulling Cody up hard so he came to an almost dead stop from a canter. Something was definitely bad for Katie to be behaving like that. She never yanked on her pony’s mouth! His sides were heaving, his nostrils flared from blowing hard.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ said Poppy.

  Then she saw that Katie was holding her mobile.

  ‘It was Mrs D,’ Katie panted, still breathless. ‘She said there’s another fire and it’s much closer this time.’

  The wind came through with a whooshing noise then and Poppy cringed, goosebumps again rippling across her arms. They definitely didn’t want to get caught out in this storm, and if there was another fire . . .

  She gulped. They needed to move.

  She checked her watch, saw that they’d been gone about three hours including their lunch break. It wouldn’t have taken them half that time usually because they’d be cantering and racing each other, but it was slow going at a walk, which meant they needed to go faster.

  Poppy looked up, overwhelmed. It was too much to deal with. The weather, figuring out which way to go, how to make sure Sarah was safe when they didn’t have time to walk, and now another fire.

  ‘Poppy?’ Katie cried, her voice almost a scream.

  A big plop of rain landed on Poppy’s arm. She tipped her head back and looked up at the sky, ignoring the fact that Crystal was starting to shift nervously beneath her. She needed time to think. Poppy shut her eyes, wondering if the fact that rain was coming would make it less likely for a fire to start, but she knew how dry the grass was, that it would have to bucket down with rain to put out any fires or stop one from spreading. She couldn’t even figure out the safest way to get home – away from trees – that would still get them back quickly.

  ‘Poppy.’ This time it was Sarah saying her name. Her friend’s voice was quiet, calm. And just what she needed to hear.

  Poppy opened her eyes, sat up straight and a plan formed in her mind. She could do this. Her friends were depending on her and so was Aunt Sophie. Milly had arrived now, and both she and Katie were watching her intently.

  ‘We need to get back fast before the worst of it hits, and I think I know where we’re best to ride,’ explained Poppy. ‘But I need you guys to stay close this time.’

  ‘Oh, but we rode for hours to get here!’ Milly moaned. ‘Should we all jump back over the fence?’

  ‘No,’ Poppy said. ‘No jumping. And we need to stay this side anyway. I’m going to get Sarah up behind me. She can hold on to me tight, and that means we can canter back. It’ll be safer and way faster.’

  ‘No way,’ Sarah protested, looking terrified. Her eyes were wide. ‘I can’t do it.’

  ‘Yes, you can,’ Poppy replied. ‘You’ve been riding like a pro, so I know you can do it.’ She nodded at the others. ‘I want you two to keep the horses calm, then Katie, you can help Sarah up while Milly holds Cody.’

  She filled her lungs with air, another big plop of rain cold against her skin.

  ‘We’re going home a different way to get back faster. Down the side here, following this property, then back down by the bush. It’s much shorter.’

  ‘Poppy, we can’t ride through trees in a bad storm. That’s crazy,’ Katie said.

  ‘No, but we can ride alongside the trees. It’ll be way faster than the way we came.’ So long as they stayed a safe distance away, they’d be fine. She hoped.

  Her friends still looked like they were in shock, but Poppy was feeling confident now. Aunt Sophie trusted her and Poppy knew the farm like the back of her hand. The worst that could happen was the horses would spook or that lightning would strike too close, but she just had to do her best.

  ‘Come on. We need to get going,’ she ordered.

  Katie turned Cody around and Milly nodded.

  ‘You’re sure about this?’ Sarah asked, her voice barely a mumble.

  ‘Yep,’ Poppy replied. She was still nervous, but she’d come up with a plan, and she was going to stick to it.

  Sarah was clinging on to Poppy so hard that Poppy was struggling to breathe. She shortened
her reins, tightened her grip on Missy’s lead rope and braced herself for the worst.

  ‘You okay?’ she asked Sarah.

  Her friend just squeezed her tighter around the middle. Poppy doubted she’d ever fall off she was holding so tight! The horses were super jittery now, and Crystal felt tightly coiled beneath her, body quivering she was so desperate to flee.

  ‘Let’s go!’ she shouted, her voice whisked away on the roaring wind and almost impossible to hear. ‘I’ll set the pace!’

  Poppy was leading and she asked Crystal to walk before pushing her straight into a canter. It would be too hard for Sarah to balance to a bumpy trot, but Poppy had to fight Crystal to keep their canter steady when her pony wanted to flatten out and gallop for home. It would have been easier to get Katie to lead Missy, but Poppy knew neither she or Milly had any experience riding and leading at the same time, and she wanted to make sure she got everyone back safely.

  The wind whipped against her face and a rumble of thunder nearly made her jump, but Poppy focused on where she was heading. She knew that if she stayed calm and didn’t panic, that Crystal would feel it and keep her head. If she was a ball of nerves, then her horse would sense it and freak out, which would be super dangerous for her and Sarah.

  ‘Sarah!’ she yelled out, hoping Sarah would hear her. ‘Hold on to me tight around the tummy.’ Poppy couldn’t help her friend other than tell her what to do. She was holding her reins with one hand and Missy’s lead rope with the other.

  ‘I’m scared!’ Sarah screamed back.

  ‘You’ll be okay!’ Poppy gritted her teeth. Sarah might be scared, but so long as she held on she’d be fine. And a whole lot safer than riding on her own.

  Crystal shied when a blast of wind sent a branch cracking down from a tree nearby, but Poppy stayed firmly seated in the saddle. Just like glue, she muttered to herself. That’s what Aunt Sophie had always said to her, and she was pleased that she’d had to ride without reins and stirrups so often. It had stopped her from relying on anything other than her own legs and bottom for balance.

  She quickly looked back and saw that Katie and Milly were both fine, although she bet Joe was fighting for his head, used to being in front. He loved being the leader and he didn’t like it unless he had at least his nose in front of the other ponies.

  They kept cantering together, Missy going fast to keep up with Crystal, and as the ground flew beneath them the horses began to settle. The poor things would be exhausted by the time they got back, thought Poppy. The air felt cold now but Poppy was hot from riding, her face felt flushed and her lungs burned from breathing so hard. She wanted to check her watch to see how long they’d been going – it seemed like they had been riding for ages – but staying in control of both horses was challenging enough. The whole ride had passed by in a blur.

  They were nearing the trees when a bolt of lightning suddenly lit up the sky, the blast of brightness finished off with a loud boom of thunder. Crystal shied at the same time as Missy pulled hard on the rope, rearing beside them. Oh man. They were in big trouble now. Poppy had no idea if Aunt Sophie would already be close or if she’d been ringing and they hadn’t heard. She pulled back to slow Crystal down, refusing to let go of the little grey when they were finally close to home. She couldn’t bear it if she lost Missy now.

  Katie suddenly appeared on Cody, riding close to Missy and boxing her in so she couldn’t dart sideways. She could still bolt forward, but having the other horses beside her seemed to help calm her down.

  ‘Thanks!’ Poppy yelled out. She didn’t know if Katie had heard her or not because another bolt of lightning scared the life out of her, the thunder going on and on.

  If the thunder comes straight after with no delay, it means the lightning is close. She remembered Uncle Mark telling her that and it was something that had stuck in her brain. A shiver ran down her spine and she pushed Crystal back into a fast canter, knowing her friends would be able to keep up no matter how fast she was going.

  The sky was swirling now but Poppy did her best to ignore it. More lightning made Crystal throw her head up and rear, her scared whinny sounding more like a scream.

  ‘Poppy!’ Sarah yelled in her ear, and held Poppy so tight she could hardly breathe, tipping to the side and almost dragging them both off sideways.

  Poppy struggled to stay in the saddle as Sarah yanked herself back up. ‘Keep holding on! We’re nearly there!’ she cried. Poppy knew it was safer to slow down now rather than spook the horses more, even if did mean being stuck out in the storm for longer. They couldn’t risk falling off or the horses getting away on them.

  She slowed Crystal down, talking to her in a soothing voice, trying to make her feel safe. ‘Whoa, girl, we’re fine. It’s just some silly wild weather.’

  They rode alongside the edge of the forest, careful to stay away from the trees in case any large branches fell. The lurching, creaking sounds of the blue gums were scaring the horses, but Poppy knew this was the quickest way, and it was the only way back that meant they didn’t have to dismount and open gates or jump fences. There was no way she could do that with Sarah riding double.

  ‘Poppy!’ Milly screamed. ‘Fire!’

  Poppy spun around in her saddle fast, forgetting Sarah was holding onto her, and had to grab for Crystal’s mane to stop from falling off. Sarah turned too, and gasped. Poppy felt her arms tighten around her stomach again so hard that she thought she was going to be sick. Behind them, a tree had been struck by the lightning and she could see the beginning of flames and black smoke curling into the air. The red burst of fire was terrifying as it spread across the trunk.

  We’re in big trouble now.

  The next crack of lightning was deafening, and it was followed swiftly by a ferocious rumble of thunder. It was all so close. Too close. Poppy bit the inside of her mouth to stop from crying out. What were they supposed to do?

  ‘We need to get out of here,’ she yelled, fighting to be heard over the roar of the weather. The rain hadn’t come to much yet, but she knew that when it started it would absolutely pour down. Would this be enough to stop the fire? Even though riding through a storm wasn’t ideal, it was better than fire. Please let it rain soon, she prayed.

  ‘Let’s go!’ Katie yelled back, her eyes wide. Even Cody, who was usually the calmest of the ponies, was jumping around, his body quivering, the whites of his eyes making him look like a wild horse.

  Poppy knew they had to move, but her eyes were glued to the tree. Flames were already licking up the tree, swallowing it, rapidly engulfing the leaves and branches. It was close enough to the bush and other trees that Poppy knew it would spread fast once the branches started to crack and fall to the ground. The grass around was so dry and then . . . She gulped, biting back tears. Would it race all the way to Starlight Stables?

  Ohmigod. Where was Aunt Sophie?

  ‘We need to call Sophie. Now!’ she cried, riding closer to Katie so they were in a huddle. Milly joined them, one hand on Joe’s neck as she muttered soothing words to him. ‘She needs to know how close the fire is to Starlight!’

  ‘What about the koala we saw the other day? And her baby! That was near here,’ Sarah said desperately, her mouth close to Poppy’s ear. ‘Will they die?’

  Poppy shuddered. Sarah was right. And koalas were so slow, that’s why so many of them were killed in bushfires. ‘There’s nothing we can do,’ she said, knowing they couldn’t risk getting any closer to the fire. They weren’t far from home now, but they needed to warn Aunt Sophie.

  Katie was yelling into the phone, and when Poppy went to gather up her reins tighter, ready to get going again, Sarah’s scream made her jump.

  ‘It’s the koala!’ Sarah yelled. ‘She’s right there!’

  Poppy’s heart leapt when she realised what Sarah was pointing at. Near the edge of the bush, running and stumbling, was a koala.

  ‘We can’t just leave her,’ Milly said, a defiant look on her face that Poppy knew spelled trouble.
r />   ‘Please, Poppy. We have to!’ Sarah begged.

  ‘No, we can’t,’ Poppy said, looking up at the sky, listening to another rumble and then glancing over her shoulder to make sure the fire hadn’t spread.

  To her horror she saw that the fire had raced across a small piece of grass to another tree. It was well behind them but too close for comfort. She knew how fast a bushfire could move. Faster than a car . . . much faster than a horse galloping. Her stomach was flip-flopping again. She didn’t want the koala to get hurt, but . . .

  ‘There could be other animals in there,’ Milly said.

  ‘We can’t help them. There’s nothing we can do,’ Poppy said firmly. She didn’t want to leave the koala to die in the flames. But it was also up to her to get them to safety.

  Katie hung up the phone. ‘Sophie is coming. I told her where we are, and she said the fire brigade is on their way as well as a helicopter with monsoon buckets.’

  More thunder cracked and Joe reared and let out a shrill whinny. Poppy almost lost her grip on Missy again when she tried to pull away.

  ‘Whoa!’ Poppy said, both hands on the reins now as she tried to steady Crystal. The mare was stamping her feet and Poppy knew they only had minutes to react before the fire spread like crazy. The horses were spooking worse than ever and she needed to come up with a plan.

  ‘I’m not leaving without that koala,’ Milly yelled, and Poppy knew she was being serious. When Milly decided something, she never backed down.

  ‘Katie, hold Missy,’ Poppy said, digging her heels into Crystal’s side to move closer to Cody. She passed the rope over, waited till she could see that Katie had a firm grip. Katie looked at her, eyes wide and frightened. But she nodded gamely. ‘If she gets away she should run home, but try to keep hold.’

  ‘Let’s go get that koala!’ Poppy said to Milly, determined. She was only going for it because it was so near to them, and the fire was still a way off behind them, but they had to act fast. She pressed her legs to Crystal and they rocketed towards the koala. She was worried her pony would resist riding towards the fire, but she did exactly what was asked of her. And within seconds Poppy was pulling Crystal up, stopping a few metres from the koala.