“What’s wrong?” Mystic skidded to a stop and Uncle Rick vaulted to the ground, yanking his medical kit out of his saddlebag.
“Bad leg. Deep wound on his side—” Aunt Debby stopped talking suddenly and looked at Emily. “Go back to the top of the hill and wait for us. I don’t want you to see this.”
But Emily didn’t move. She was too shocked by the sight of the injured horse. He was so thin she could see all his bones, and his head hung low with exhaustion. She slid off Mystic and hobbled to the injured animal, hugging his face to her belly and patting him.
He let out a huge sigh that made him shudder, then pressed his head into her. Sapphire lowered his head, and she kissed his nose, so relieved to see him.
Emily wrapped her arms around both the injured horse and Sapphire and looked at the adults, who were ignoring her again, clustered around the injured horse’s back left side, all of them looking really, really serious. “Is he okay?”
Emily’s dad finally looked at her, and his face was grim. “He’s hurt badly, Em, and no one took care of him.”
“Well, why not? Who was supposed to take care of him?”
Aunt Debby turned her head and gave Emily a thoughtful look. “Now that is a very good question.” Her eyes narrowed. “I intend to find that out.”
Emily’s dad glanced at Aunt Debby. “I’ll head back to the barn and pick up the trailer. He’ll never make it back there on his own.”
Aunt Debby nodded as Uncle Rick bent over, inspecting the wound. “Hurry.”
Emily’s dad gestured at Emily. “Ride Mystic. I’ll take Sapphire.”
“Sapphire? But—” Emily paused as her dad gave her a leg up onto Mystic, then she watched her dad swing onto Sapphire’s back and grab the tattered reins to turn him back into the woods. The stirrup banged against her ankle and she flinched, so she quickly flipped the stirrups over Mystic’s withers, crossing them so they’d stay out of the way while she rode. There was no way she’d be able to ride with her feet in the stirrups. That kind of pressure on her ankle would be unbearable.
Her dad frowned. “You okay to ride?”
“I don’t want her seeing this,” Aunt Debby repeated. “Take her with you.”
Emily instinctively glanced over her shoulder at the injured horse, whose head was hanging so low his chin was almost on the ground. He was holding his right back leg completely off the ground, and his front feet were splayed for balance. He looked like he was going to topple over right there.
“Come on,” her dad said, gently turning Mystic’s head so she followed him. “We need to get a van for him.”
Emily felt her heart tighten for the horse as she let her dad lead her back up the hill she and Uncle Rick had just ridden down. “He doesn’t look very good.”
Her dad looked back at her. “No, he doesn’t. Are you sure you’re okay to ride?”
“Yeah.” Emily finally tore her gaze off the horse and nudged Mystic into a canter beside Sapphire, too upset to be jealous that her dad got to ride him. She winced each time her ankle banged against Mystic’s side, but refused to tell her dad to stop. Not with that horse looking so unhappy. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me he’s going to be fine?”
“I wish I could, sweets. I wish I could. But I don’t think he is.”
Emily had to fight back tears for most of the ride back to the house.
It was barely dawn the next morning when Emily sat on Moondance beside her dad, who was riding Spartacus, the huge dark bay horse he’d ridden yesterday when he’d chased after Sapphire.
Uncle Rick had put a walking cast on her ankle, which helped a lot. Her ankle was protected, and she could ride without unbearable pain, as long as she didn’t use stirrups. Emily had thought you didn’t cast for sprains, but apparently if they were bad enough, you did. She could put a little weight on her ankle, but she still limped and it throbbed whenever she stepped on it, but Uncle Rick had assured her it would heal up quickly.
Emily and her dad were at the spot where the injured horse had been found, and they were going to follow his tracks to find out where he came from. They’d decided to call the horse Trooper, because he’d somehow managed to drag himself along on three legs, like a super trooper.
Uncle Rick and Aunt Debby were staying at the barn, unable to leave him alone, and Alison was managing the barn for them.
Apparently, Emily’s dad was the best tracker in the family—who knew? So he was in charge of finding where Trooper had come from, and he’d brought Emily with him.
Everyone seemed too freaked out about Trooper to remember that Emily had broken the rules yesterday when she’d stolen Sapphire, but she had no doubt that she’d be in trouble soon enough.
But she believed Uncle Rick that no one was mad about Sapphire escaping before the funeral, so she felt much better about that. It was one thing to get in trouble for knowingly breaking the rules, but it felt much worse to get in trouble for doing something she hadn’t meant to do.
This morning she’d managed to slip unnoticed into Sapphire’s stall while everyone was looking in on Trooper, who Aunt Debby still wouldn’t let her see. Sapphire had been happy to see her, and she’d checked him carefully for injuries and had been horrified to see swelling around his left front ankle.
She’d told her dad, who had told her to wrap it for support, and leave it for when Uncle Rick had time to deal with him.
Her stomach hadn’t stopped hurting since.
“There.” Her dad pointed. “See the broken bushes? He came through there.”
Emily frowned and bent down to inspect the blackberry bush. Some of the branches were definitely broken. “How do you know that’s not from Sapphire?”
“I’m guessing, because it wouldn’t have made sense for Sapphire to be coming from that direction. Let’s go.”
Her dad leading the way, they slowly made their way through the woods and fields, following hoofprints, broken branches, and half-eaten vegetation.
The sun was high in the late morning when her dad reined in Spartacus. “There we go.”
She followed his gaze and gasped as she saw what he was looking at. It was a huge stable, with lots of stalls that opened out into a tiny ring with broken fences, rusted cars, and a big pile of garbage. The horses were up to their ankles in mud, their coats caked, and all of them were so thin she could see their hip bones sticking out. The stench of manure and dirty stalls stung her nostrils. She covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, no. Those poor horses! No wonder Trooper ran away!”
Her dad muttered a word she’d never heard him use before, then he clucked Spartacus into a gallop, riding straight for the barn.
Emily recovered herself and galloped after him.
“Hey! Who’s in charge here?” Her dad slammed Spartacus to a stop just outside the front door to the falling-down barn, leaped off him, and charged inside.
Emily caught up and grabbed Spartacus’s reins as he started to wander off. She could hear her dad shouting and doors slamming inside. Clenching the reins of both horses, she tugged them into a broken paddock, yanked off their tack and let them go, using the reins of one of the bridles to hold the gate shut, wincing at the rank odor drifting from inside the barn. There was a loud crash from inside, making Emily jump. “Dad? Everything okay?”
He shouted another word she’d never heard him use, and she sprinted for the barn, her heart racing in terror. “Dad!” She made it only three steps before she caught her cast and fell, pain screaming through her leg. Gritting her teeth against the throbbing in her ankle, she pulled herself to her feet and limped toward the barn as fast as she could. “Dad!”
13
When Emily got inside, her dad was yelling into a pay phone, sweat trickling down his forehead. “At least thirty horses! Call the cops, call 911 and get over here with the van and the trailer. We have to get them out!” He slammed down the phone and whirled toward Emily, his face red and the veins in his neck bulging. “Aunt Debby’s on her way with the van. We’re ta
king these horses out.”
Her mouth dropped open. “We’re stealing them?”
“Hey! What are you doing on my property?”
Emily spun around to see a tall, lanky man with long hair in a ratty ponytail slouch around the corner. He was wearing torn overalls and a cowboy hat and was sucking on a red Popsicle.
Her dad’s eyes narrowed, and he seemed to swell to twice his regular size. “Is this your barn?” His voice was deep and rumbling with an intensity Emily had never heard him use. “Are these your horses?”
The man nodded. “What’s it to you?”
Her dad shouted, and charged at the man.
“Dad!” Emily screamed as her dad tackled the man, shoving him through an open stall door that was flooded with gross, black water. The man went flying and landed with a huge sploosh as muddy water exploded up into the air and sloshed against the walls of the stall. Her dad slammed the door shut, shoved the bolt home, then grabbed a lead shank and tied it shut.
“Hey!” The man let out an outraged roar, and there was the sound of splashing as he fell, then he was at the stall door, his hands grabbing the bars. Black water was streaming down his face, and he looked like he had a chunk of manure wedged between the top of his ear and his head. “You can’t lock me up!” He shook the door then slipped and went down with a yelp and another splash.
Emily couldn’t help but stand and gawk as her dad double-checked his knot, then turned to face her, his mouth grim. “Okay, Em. Let’s go round up these horses and start to bring them out front for Aunt Debby.”
She stared at the stall as the man scrambled to his feet again and started shaking the door and shouting. “You’re going to leave him there?”
Her dad glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah. Why? You think I should toss some manure in there with him?”
Emily giggled. “Probably.” A horrible odor began to drift in her direction, and she pulled her shirt up over her nose. “Is that coming from the stall? What is it?”
“It’s him. He stinks.” Her dad grabbed a few lead shanks. “Grab whatever you can find. Halters, lead shanks. Anything. I’m going to start retrieving the horses. You find what you can and bring it to me.” And then he took off at a run to the back of the barn.
Trying to ignore the owner still yelling at her dad, Emily hobbled over to a nearby trunk. She yanked it open, saw two little eyes staring at her, and screamed. She leaped back as a tiny little mouse skittered away, disappearing into a hole in the wall. She winced and bit her lip as she tried to catch her breath both from the scare and the throbbing in her ankle. “Dad?” Her voice was embarrassingly shaky. “Why don’t I wait outside?”
“Here.” Her dad was suddenly behind her. “Take this horse out front.” He thrust a lead shank in her hand, grabbed three that were sitting in the trunk, and took off.
Emily stared at the horse he’d handed her, her heart tightening when she realized she could see all his ribs through his ragged brown-and-white coat. He looked like a white horse that someone had throw brown paint on, or she suspected that’s what he’d look like once he got a bath. “Oh, sweetie.” She hugged him, then gently tugged the lead shank, leading him slowly across the barn floor, trying not to step in the piles of manure and mud.
The horse lifted his head to look at the shouting owner as they passed him. The man grabbed the bars and yelled at the horse. The horse suddenly pinned his ears and charged at the door, jerking the lead shank out of Emily’s hands. The horse bared his huge teeth, and the man screamed and leaped back from the door as the horse slammed his teeth down, grazing the tips of his fingers. “He bit me!”
“You deserve it!” Emily grinned as she gathered up the lead shank. “Good boy. Just for that, you can have all the hay you want when we get you home.” The horse faked for the door again, and the man jumped away, then he yelped, and there was a splash as he fell into the muddy water again.
Emily patted the horse’s neck as she led him outside, clunking awkwardly along in her cast. “I think I’m going to name you Jaws because you’re so brilliant with your teeth.” They stepped out into the bright sun, and Jaws stopped, blinking against the bright light, as if he’d never been outside before. “Oh, you poor baby.”
He dropped his head and pressed it against her hip, as if to hide from the bright sun, and she scratched behind his ears, wincing at the thick layer of dirt on his coat. It ground under her fingernails, gritty and hard. “I’m so giving you a bath when we get home—”
A siren wailed suddenly, and Jaws jerked his head up and began to dance. Emily tried to calm him as a police car whizzed down the driveway, bouncing over the ruts, the blue lights flashing and the siren wailing so loud she flinched. Right behind the police car was the Running Horse Ridge van.
The police car stopped, the van screeched to a halt, and Aunt Debby was out of the truck and sprinting toward Emily before the cops had even gotten their doors open. “Oh, Emily! This poor horse! Are there more?”
“Yeah, in back. My dad’s—”
But Aunt Debby was already racing past her, and she let out a loud screech once she got into the barn. And then she was shouting, and Emily could hear her slamming something against wood. Emily grinned at Jaws. “I think she found the owner.”
The cops jumped out and hurried past her, shouting at Aunt Debby to calm down.
Uncle Rick came tearing up the driveway behind Aunt Debby, driving a pickup with a two-horse trailer. He jumped out and ran up to Emily. He barely nodded to her before he started running his hands over Jaws’s legs and checking him out.
“His name’s Jaws,” she told him.
Uncle Rick muttered something under his breath then stood up. “I think he’s good to go. Load him up.”
“Load him up?” One of the cops came outside. “You can’t just take him.”
Uncle Rick set his hands on his hips and glowered, looking completely tough and intimidating. “Look at this horse. Look at him!”
The cop looked and he paled.
“Now tell me I can’t take him,” Uncle Rick growled. “I dare you.”
“I gotta call my chief.” The cop ran over to his car and dove into the front seat as another siren began to scream in the distance.
Emily grinned at Uncle Rick. “That was great.”
He shot her a brief smile. “I get mad when people mess with horses. You know how to drop the ramp and load him up?”
“I do.”
He nodded, glancing at the barn, where Aunt Debby’s voice rang out as she shouted something at the police officer who was still in there. “If Jaws gives you any trouble, stop and wait for us. But if you can get him loaded, great.”
“No problem—”
But Uncle Rick was already running into the barn.
Emily waved at the cop as she led Jaws by the cruiser. He glanced at her but didn’t try to stop her. Who would, with the way Uncle Rick had glared at him?
Jaws stood patiently as she loosened the ramp and lowered it, but before she’d gotten him into the trailer, two more police cars showed up. The cops ran right past her into the barn, leaving the lights flashing. Jaws started to prance again, and she had to walk him in a circle to calm him before trying to load him.
By the time she finally got him loaded, her dad came out with two more horses, Aunt Debby behind him leading three more. All the horses were so skinny she could see their bones, and three of them had nasty-looking wounds on their backs. “Emily!” Aunt Debby said. “Drop the ramp on the big van. We’re loading up these guys.” There was a cop right behind her, and he was frowning.
“Debby, I don’t like you taking these horses like this. The owner’s throwing a fit.”
Emily’s dad and Aunt Debby both whirled around to glare at the cop. “For heaven’s sake, Jesse,” Aunt Debby snapped. “Write up the seizure form that the county’s taking the horses due to neglect, write me down as guardian, and stop getting in my way.”
“I’ll pay any fees for paperwork,” Emily’s dad a
dded. “Just get it done.”
“Do it.” Another cop showed up behind Jesse, and she had an air of authority. “The owner just tried to knock out an officer with a water bucket, so we’re arresting him and taking his horses.”
Aunt Debby flashed the cop a grin. “Thanks, Linda.”
Linda shrugged. “I don’t like people who mistreat animals, and I really don’t like people who try to drown my officers in nasty water. I’ll make sure you get temporary custody.” She walked to the van, grabbed the ramp, and hauled it out. “And I’ll help you take them away.”
“Great.” Aunt Debby handed a lead shank to Emily. “We’re saving this horse until the end. She’s too upset by all the noise. I need you to take her on a nice walk away from the noise and let her calm down. I’ll call when we’re ready. It’ll be at least an hour, maybe more.”
“Sure thing.” Emily grabbed the lead shank and looked at the horse, gasping when she realized the horse was hugely pregnant, her sides so distended she looked like she’d swallowed two elephants and a hippo for lunch. She was a light brown, but the exact color was hard to tell because the mud was so thick on her coat. Her legs were coated with shiny, wet mud, as if she’d been standing in it up to her ankles, and her ribs were sticking out. Her head was up, the whites of her eyes showing, and her nostrils were flaring. “Oh, you poor thing.”
Another van turned into the driveway, and Aunt Debby waved. “It’s Judi and Mark. They’re going to help us transport.”
The mare snorted as the van approached, her eyes rolling back in her head. Emily quickly turned the horse’s head to the right and led her away from the barn. The mare kept dancing, her breath coming short and fast as she staggered to keep her balance. “Okay, sweetie, you need to calm down.” Emily patted her neck, wincing at how thin it was. “I’m sure you feel awful right now and everything, so I’m going to call you Precious, because that’s what you are, even if your owner didn’t treat you right.”
Precious snorted and jerked her head as one of the horses clattered up the ramp into the van. Emily started to worry that the mare’s skinny legs wouldn’t survive if Precious kept jumping around, so she started to sing to her. Precious swung her head around to look at Emily, then her ribs expanded with a huge sigh and her head dropped down in total exhaustion.
Sapphire: New Horizons Page 7