A Glittering Gallop (6 page)

Zoe clicked her tongue. “Come on, girl!” she said firmly, pressing her on.

Fudge tossed her head. She sped up again and suddenly they flew over the jump.

“Hurrah!” yelled the twins. “Well done, Zoe!”

Zoe beamed at them. After that, Fudge seemed to get her confidence. She went over all the jumps perfectly. As she trotted back past the fence where Flame was crouched watching, Fudge twitched her ears and gave a friendly neigh.

Flame sat upright and meowed loudly.

“Look at that. They’re saying hello to each other!” Todd said, laughing.

Zoe smiled to herself. The kitten and pony had become good friends. She suspected that Fudge somehow knew that Flame had saved her from getting hurt when she had bolted up at the Firs.

Over the next few days, Zoe and Flame spent a lot of time at the Trapmans’ house. With all the practice, Zoe gained confidence, and Fudge was now responding to her really well. She couldn’t wait to be in the competition.

One evening, Todd, Tracy, Zoe, and Flame were all on fox-watch in Nana’s summer house as usual. They had seen Bracken incredibly close almost every evening, but still hadn’t spotted any sign of her cubs.

Zoe watched Bracken appear from behind the bush near the greenhouse. She noticed that the vixen seemed very wary. Instead of eating the food right away, she sniffed it and then lifted her head and looked around.

“She’s acting a bit strange,” Zoe whispered.

“Zoe’s right. Why isn’t Bracken eating the food?” Tracy said.

Bracken lifted her delicate muzzle and sniffed the air. She gave a low cry.

Todd frowned and pushed his glasses on to the bridge of his nose. “That’s strange. She seems to be calling to someone. You know what I think…?”

“Yes!” Tracy and Zoe leaned forward eagerly, with shining eyes.

Two small red shapes came out of the bush. The cubs were about half the size of their mother, with thick bushy tails. They crept forward hesitantly and trotted through the orchard. When they reached the food, they began eating, watched over by Bracken.

“Oh, aren’t they gorgeous!” Zoe whispered in awe.

She and Flame, and the twins, watched as the cubs finished eating and then played a game of tag. Bracken stood by as they rolled around play-growling. Even when she led the way out of the garden the cubs ran along after her, trying to bite her tail.

Todd, Tracy, and Zoe fell over laughing. “The little rascals!”

Later, after telling her nana all about the wonderful cubs, Zoe went up to her room. She opened the window and leaned out on to the moonlit garden.

“Clever Bracken! Two healthy cubs,” she said, yawning. “I wonder if her den is on the garden. Maybe we could all ride over and have a look sometime. What do you think, Flame?” she asked sleepily.

There was no answer.

Zoe turned back into the room to where Flame’s tiny form was curled up on her bed. His whiskers twitched and his tiny paws flexed as he slept. Was he dreaming of his own world and the Lion Throne, which he would one day claim?

She felt a surge of affection for him. She hoped it would be a very long time before he had to leave.

Zoe narrowly avoided the cockerel’s sharp beak as she tipped out the last of the corn. Stepping outside the chicken run, she shut the door tightly.

“That Cocky’s a nightmare,” she said to Flame. “It’s a good thing that you stayed outside the run.”

Flame gave Cocky a wary glance
before following Zoe to the feed shed. The cockerel was almost twice his current size.

“Okay. Chores finished. I’ll just go and tell Nana that we’re going over to see the twins.” A gust of cool wind ruffled Zoe’s short hair as she closed the door of the shed, and zipped up her jacket.

“I like riding with you, Zoe,” Flame purred.

Zoe picked him up and gave him a cuddle. “You like old Fudge, don’t you? She’s fond of you, too.”

When Zoe and Flame got to the Old Barn, Todd and Tracy already had the ponies saddled up. “We thought we’d go out for a ride instead of practicing jumping this morning,” Tracy said.

“Fine by me,” Zoe said, lifting Flame up on to Fudge, before mounting. “Can we go past the gardens? I was thinking we might see Bracken.”

“Good idea,” Todd said.

They rode down the drive and carefully crossed Bants Lane. After passing a row of houses, they turned onto a track that led along the side of the gardens.

Flame was snuggled inside Zoe’s jacket, with just his head poking out. As she rode, Zoe glanced toward a tangled hedge of hawthorn. There was a flash of red as a fox darted into the bottom of the hedge.

Zoe stiffened. “Look! Over there!”

Todd and Tracy had seen Bracken, too.

“You were right about her den. It must be somewhere near that hedgerow,” Todd said. “We’d better not go any closer, or we might scare the cubs.”

They continued riding along the track, which opened out onto some fields. After about an hour, they turned back and retraced their steps.

As they came back toward the gardens, Zoe was riding alongside Tracy. She heard the barking of hounds.

“That’s Mr. Fawsley exercising the pack. I bet Jake’s with him,” Tracy said. She didn’t look very pleased at the idea of seeing the unpleasant boy again.

Zoe didn’t want to meet him again, either. She still felt angry at the way Jake had deliberately startled Fudge.

The barking was getting louder. Zoe felt a flicker of alarm. The hounds were coming this way! “What about Bracken and her cubs?” she cried.

“If they get the scent of a fox, he’ll never be able to call them off,” Todd said.

“We have to ask Mr. Fawsley to take the hounds somewhere else!” Zoe said urgently, pressing Fudge into a trot.

Plunging forward, she sped down the track. As she rounded a bend, she came upon the pack of milling hounds cutting across a field toward her. She pulled on Fudge’s reins and the pony slowed to a halt.

“There’s a fox and her cubs in the gardens. Can you turn the hounds around, please, Mr. Fawsley?” she called breathlessly to a tall dark man in a tweed jacket.

Mr. Fawsley was surrounded by the pack of big, handsome hounds, all wearing wide doggy grins and wagging
their tails. There was a boy with him. Zoe recognized him. It was Jake.

Mr. Fawsley looked up at Zoe and gave a friendly smile. “Hello, there! What’s that about a fox?”

“Leave it to me, Dad. I met this kid the other day,” Jake said curtly, striding up to Zoe.

“Yes, at Hackleton Firs, when you nearly ran me over!” Zoe flashed at him. “Fudge bolted because of you. We could both have been badly hurt!”

“Is this true, Jake?” his father asked sternly.

Jake swallowed. “’Course not. What do you take me for?”

Zoe gaped at Jake, shocked by the blatant lie, but there wasn’t time to argue. “Please can you turn back the hounds, Mr. Fawsley? Bracken, a fox we know, has a den with cubs in the gardens.”

“Oh, sure. Thanks for…”

Before his father could finish speaking, Jake roughly grabbed Fudge’s bridle. “Tough! We’ve got a right to cut through the gardens if we feel like it!” he sneered at Zoe.

“Jake! There’s no need for that!” said Mr. Fawsley.

Jake ignored his father and tugged at Fudge’s bridle. The pony laid her ears back and took a step backward.

Zoe heard an indignant meow from inside her jacket, as sparks lit up in Flame’s fur and his whiskers glowed with power. Zoe felt the familiar tingling down her spine.
Now you’ve done it, Jake Fawsley
, she thought.