A Glittering Gallop (5 page)

“Hey!” Tracy shouted, as the boy on the bigger pony rode so close to her that Ginger laid his ears back and shied to one side.

The older boy ignored her. “You kids! Get out of my way!” he shouted at Todd and Zoe, as his pony thundered toward them.

Todd and Zoe had stopped their ponies. Todd just managed to pull Patch to one side of the track. Zoe tried to move aside, too, but Fudge snorted and pulled at her bit in alarm.

The older boy pulled on the reins and only just managed to avoid jostling Fudge. “Why didn’t you move, you stupid kid?” he shouted.

As Zoe looked up into his mean eyes and set face, her temper rose. “You could have slowed down. You had plenty of time!” she shouted back.

“You little…” The boy’s face darkened. He flapped his arms at Fudge. “Go on! Ya-ah!”

Fudge rolled her eyes in fright. She leaped forward, crashing through the tall ferns that lined the track.

Flame yowled fearfully. He dug in his claws and hung on to the saddle.

Zoe pulled at the reins, but Fudge was terrified by the bracken stems lashing against her legs and belly. Suddenly a low thorny hedge appeared in front of her. Zoe’s heart rose into her mouth. Fudge didn’t slow down. She was going to crash into it!

Sparks ignited in Flame’s calico fur, and his whiskers crackled with electricity. A tingling sensation prickled down Zoe’s back.

Flame raised a tiny paw and a snowstorm of glitter whirled around Zoe and Fudge.

Three strides, two strides, one stride…

Zoe flinched and then gasped as Fudge soared high into the air on a curving bridge of silvery glitter. The pony cleared the hedge easily and landed safely on the bridleway on the other side. Fudge came to a stumbling halt and stood there, trembling.

“Thanks, Flame! You were amazing!” Zoe said shakily, giving him a hug before stroking Fudge’s neck to
calm the old pony down.

“You are welcome,” Flame purred. Sparks still twinkled in his fluffy fur as he leaped down onto the track like a tiny comet.

Zoe smiled at him, even more determined now to look after this incredible magic kitten and keep him safe.

“Zoe! Are you all right?” shouted Tracy, interrupting her thoughts as she rode toward her. Todd was just behind his twin.

Zoe quickly glanced at Flame, but the sparks had all faded from his fur.

“We saw Fudge bolt and cut across to head you off!” Todd called.

“I’m fine, and Fudge’s okay, too,” Zoe said. “She…um, jumped the hedge.”
Todd and Tracy looked at each other in amazement. “Old Fudge jumped that hedge?”

Zoe nodded.
With a bit of help from Flame!
she thought gratefully. “That horrible boy deliberately startled her. It’s lucky Fudge wasn’t badly hurt.”

“That was Jake Fawsley. He’s a real pain,” Tracy said.

“Does he live around here?” Zoe asked.

Todd nodded. “His dad’s Master of the Hounds for the local race. He’s a really nice man, but Jake’s full of himself and thinks he can do just what he likes!”

Zoe remembered the glimpse of the older boy’s mean face. “How about we continue with our ride? I don’t see why that rotten bully should spoil it for us!”

“Definitely!” Zoe and Todd agreed.

Zoe bent down and lifted Flame carefully up onto Fudge’s back and then remounted. Flame purred contentedly in Zoe’s lap as she and the twins rode along the bridleways and eventually emerged back out onto the fields.

When they got back Todd, Tracy, and Zoe untacked the ponies and turned them out into their paddock. Then Zoe and Flame went back to her nana’s for lunch.

“Did you have a good time with the twins?” Joy Swann asked her granddaughter.

“Yes, we went riding in the Firs. I
think Flame really enjoyed it, too,” Zoe said.

She didn’t mention Jake Fawsley or Fudge bolting, as she had a sneaking feeling that if she did she might not be allowed to go riding again.

“Can I open a can of tuna for Flame, Nana?” Zoe asked.
He deserves a special treat after the way he saved Fudge and me
, she thought.

After lunch, Zoe did a couple boring chores for her nana, and then spent a few hours in the garden with Flame. She dragged a twig around for him to chase for a while, and then he stretched out beside her while she read a magazine.

It was just starting to get dark when the twins arrived with some food for Bracken. Zoe and Flame went down to
the orchard with them and helped scatter the food within sight of the old summer house. Zoe felt a flicker of excitement as she prepared for her first evening fox-watching with the twins.

They all made themselves comfortable and then sat looking out into the gathering dusk.

“How do you like fox-watching so far?” Zoe whispered after a few minutes to Flame as he curled up beside her on the warm floorboards.

“I like it very much,” he mewed softly.

Todd and Tracy sprawled on their stomachs side by side, peering at the orchard through the open doorway. “I wonder if Bracken will bring her cubs tonight,” Todd said.

“Oh, I hope so,” Zoe said eagerly.

After about half an hour, when Bracken still hadn’t arrived, Todd sat up and pushed back his floppy, dark hair. “Tracy and I had a great idea earlier,” he told Zoe. “We have something to ask you.”

“You do?” Zoe said, intrigued.

“Yes. We’re riding in a competition at the town fair next weekend. We
wondered if you’d like to be in it with us,” Todd said.

“You could ride Fudge,” Tracy added. “That jump yesterday was really impressive! I don’t know how you got her to do it. She’s such a sweet, lazy old thing.”

“I’m not sure I could do it again,” Zoe said, biting back a smile. She wished she could tell them how Flame had saved them by getting Fudge over the hedge himself, but a promise was a promise. “I’d love to ride in the competition!”

“Great!” chorused the twins.

Zoe laughed.

“If you come over tomorrow,” said Todd, “you can help us put up a jumping course in the field. We can practice
together every day until the show.”

Zoe grinned. “Awesome! Did you hear that, Flame?”

Flame gave an eager little mew.

Tracy chuckled. “He just answered you!”

“Shhh! I just saw something over by the greenhouse,” Todd whispered.

Zoe watched closely as a slim red shape emerged from a bush near the greenhouse and began weaving toward them through the shadowy trees. “It’s Bracken!”

Her eyes widened. She had never been so close to a real, live fox. Bracken was smaller than she remembered, with a delicate muzzle and a black tip to her tail. She had slender limbs and moved more like a cat than a dog.

Bracken went straight to the food spread out on the grass and began eating hungrily.

“Still no sign of any cubs,” Tracy whispered disappointedly.

“At least we can keep watch,” Todd whispered back. “When she does bring them, we’ll be waiting.”

By the time Bracken had finished eating, the moon had risen, making the
grass look silver and casting the trees into pools of deeper shadow. The fox slipped away as silently as she had arrived.

Tracy and Todd stood up and stretched. Zoe and Flame walked down to the garden gate with them.

“See you tomorrow,” the twins called as they went out into the lane.

“You bet,” Zoe said, waving. She was looking forward to putting up the jumps and riding Fudge again. “Come on, Flame. Let’s go in and tell Nana that we’ve seen Bracken.”

Bright and early the next day, Zoe and Flame walked up Bants Lane to the Old Barn. Todd and Tracy were already in the field, setting up jumps.

Zoe helped with the jumps. She couldn’t believe how well her vacation was turning out—not only was she able to do some riding after all, but she had Flame with her, too: her own magic kitten!

At last, after mucking out and grooming, the ponies were saddled up. Flame climbed up a fence post and settled down to watch.

Todd and Tracy were experienced jumpers. Their ponies, Patch and Ginger, even seemed to enjoy going over the low jumps. Zoe felt her stomach clench with nerves when it was her turn. She hadn’t done much jumping, and Flame couldn’t use his magic to help her with the twins watching.

She pointed Fudge toward the first
jump. What if Fudge was nervous after her fright in the Firs yesterday? Fudge eyed the jump. She started to slow down.