Spring of the Poacher's Moon Read online

  Chapter 3

  The next day was uneventful, except that Mom got out her axe and saw and spent the afternoon sharpening them. Thankfully, I wasn’t there for most of that exciting event. I’d done my homework that morning, and so the afternoon was free. I wasn’t going to waste it hanging around the cabin. Rusty, Twilight, and I decided to ride to Cartop Meadow, a wild meadow about an hour’s ride from home, with a mound that looked like a massive car near one end of it. I’m not sure why we chose Cartop – no reason, I guess, except we wanted a nice long ride together – but was I ever glad we’d chosen it once we got there.

  Twilight was the first to notice the wild horse and she knew not to spook him by neighing a greeting. Instead, she showed her excitement by tossing her head and prancing in a circle, her hooves silent on the soggy ground. When I stopped Rusty, Twilight stopped too, then stared down at the dark colt grazing near the meadow’s edge.

  I recognized the black-bay colt immediately, and no doubt Twilight did too. Dark Moon. He was a member of Twilight’s herd before she came to live with me, plus he was her half brother. Their dams always seemed to be squabbling and biting each other, but Dark Moon and Twilight had gotten along. Now, he switched his tail and shook his mane, trying to keep the surrounding cloud of mosquitoes from settling on his body. He ate the fresh spring grass greedily and I was happy to see that he wasn’t super thin anymore. Last winter had been pretty tough on the entire herd, Twilight included.

  I searched the rest of the meadow but saw no other members of the herd. Unless they were all crowded behind the mound, they weren’t here. I knew what must’ve happened. Dark Moon had probably been forced from his herd. Night Hawk, the herd sire, probably thought the three-year-old was old enough to be independent. Poor Dark Moon. His would be a lonely existence until he found a group of juvenile males to hang out with or he started a herd of his own.

  As far as starting a herd of his own, there were only two ways he could do it: beat a herd stallion in a fight and take his herd by force, or steal mares whenever and wherever possible. Sadly, I knew Dark Moon would have to be a stealer; he might be big and strong enough to best a herd stallion, but he wasn’t aggressive enough unless the other stallion was really old or sick. Even if he stole a mare or two, he’d have a tough time keeping them from other stallions unless he gained some confidence. In the horse world, it’s not always the biggest and strongest who wins, it’s the one who thinks he’s the biggest and strongest.

  Twilight started to inch through the tree trunks toward him. He was still some distance away and seemed totally preoccupied with his lunch and the mosquitoes, so she was able to get closer and closer. She stopped at the tree edge for a moment – I could feel her savouring the anticipation – then she leaped out into the meadow.

  Dark Moon shot into the air and when he hit the ground, his legs powered him forward. Twilight raced after him. He’d almost reached the trees on the other side of the meadow when he must have recognized her, because he arched into a wide turn and galloped back toward her. They met and sniffed noses, squealed, struck with their front legs, and then sprinted away, side by side. Clumps of mud soared up behind them.

  Do not worry, my Human. I will return.

  I smiled. Twilight doesn’t have any trouble remembering horse names, but then the names that horses give themselves actually mean something in their world. The word “Evy” means nothing to a horse, so she still occasionally calls me her human.

  Realizing I would be waiting a while, I dismounted and loosened Rusty’s girth. Then I leaned back against a tree to watch the two young horses play while Rusty settled in for a good snooze.

  Twilight and Dark Moon ran around the meadow three times, bucking and leaping, twisting and kicking, before they slowed. Then they played a rearing game, and finally they sidled up beside each other and gnawed on each other’s withers for a while. After about half an hour of that, they stood side to side, with their heads and rumps reversed, and swatted each other’s mosquitoes.

  Time ticked along and the horses’ minds quieted. I closed my eyes and relaxed into Dark Moon’s feelings: he was thrilled to be with Twilight again. He missed her and Ice, his main playmates when he’d been in the herd. And he loved that he had someone to swat the mosquitoes from his face again. Tapping into his emotions, I felt so safe and cosy that I must have drifted off.

  Wake!

  I woke with a start. Rusty was looking off in the distance and Twilight was grazing beside Dark Moon in the meadow below. Evening was coming on. I had to get home soon or Mom would be worried.

  Twilight didn’t look remotely ready to go. Of course, I could always just show myself to Dark Moon and frighten the young horse away, but I didn’t want to do that. The problem was solved when the wild colt raised his head, stared in the direction that Rusty was already looking, and snorted. A split second later, he spun on his heels and raced for the trees.

  Twilight looked after him, and when he paused at the forest’s edge, she neighed. He stared at her for a long moment, wondering why she wasn’t running from whatever he’d sensed, then he dove into the forest and was instantly lost to shadows.

  Twilight neighed again, and when there was no answer, she meandered toward us, stopping now and then to grab a mouthful of spring grass. I quickly tightened Rusty’s girth and mounted, and the two of us strolled down the hill to meet her. I was curious about what Rusty and Dark Moon had noticed.

  Have fun? I asked Twilight as Rusty and I entered the meadow.

  Fun!

  “Hello!” A man’s shout came from the trees.

  Twilight startled into a short run, skidded to a halt at Rusty’s side, and crowded against him, her eyes large. I leaned down to slip her halter on her head, then turned Rusty to face the man and horse emerging from the forest across the meadow.

  I gasped – I couldn’t help myself. The horse was so amazing, so breathtaking, that I couldn’t look away. Strong, proud, red as flame. A lump lodged in my throat. Both brave and beautiful horses do that to me, make me want to cry. I reached out with my thoughts. I had to speak to him…

  “Hello,” the man called again and my thoughts snapped back like a rubber band. Ouch! I forced my gaze from the magnificent chestnut, whose muscles rippled like water beneath crimson silk, and instantly I recognized the man. Charlie, the guy who thought I looked like trouble. Great. Of all the people to come across, I had to find the only one in the entire universe who was already suspicious of me.

  “Hi,” I said, reluctantly.

  He asked his horse to lope the last few yards and Twilight shrank behind Rusty as the big chestnut came near.

  The gelding slid to an effortless, supple stop. “What are you doing out here?” Charlie asked.

  Irritation loosened the magic his horse held over me. Like what I was doing was Charlie’s business. “I live out here,” I said in a snooty voice.

  He almost seemed amused. “No. You live an hour’s ride away, with your mother.”

  I barely kept my mouth from dropping open in shock. How did he know us? I certainly didn’t know him, and I was sure Mom didn’t either.

  “So, again, what are you doing out here?”

  “Who are you?” I said in such a way that he’d know I was really asking who on earth do you think you are, asking me questions that you have no right to ask?

  “I’m Charlie Black, the new Wild Horse Ranger. My job is to watch over the mustangs. I make sure they’re not being harmed.” His eyes sought Twilight, still hiding behind Rusty. “And I make sure they’re not stolen from the wild… like that filly. I recognize her and I remember her herd.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. “Twilight wants to be with me.” I tightened my reins and Rusty stepped back, eager to leave the tense situation. “She chose to live with us.”

  Charlie just shook his head. “That filly should be in the wild, with her kind. You can’t just take horses from the herds on a whim.”

  “I… I have to go.” I spun Rus
ty away from him and we trotted toward the trees with Twilight crowding Rusty’s heels.

  “The filly should be returned,” he called from behind us. “You have no right to keep her! I’ll come get her when I’ve located her herd!”

  Instead of answering, I asked Rusty to gallop. We raced across the rest of the meadow, slowing only when we entered the forest. At the top of the rise where Rusty and I had watched Twilight and Dark Moon play, I stopped just long enough to unclip Twilight’s lead rope. We could go a lot faster without the two horses tied together.

  We loped and galloped the rest of the way home and made it there in record time. But even in the barn, cooling down Rusty and Twilight, and then feeding and grooming all three horses, I couldn’t shake a horrible feeling of dread. Charlie saw us yesterday at the store and immediately recognized Twilight as being one of the exclusive Nemaiah Valley mustangs. He knew she was a wild horse, and as the Wild Horse Ranger his job was to protect the wild horses. If he had been telling me the truth about who he was, then he had to help her, or do what he thought was helping her.

  But maybe he’d give up if I kept her in the barn for a few days, though Twilight would hate being locked up. Maybe he wasn’t a persistent fellow.

  Right. He’d ridden all the way out there looking for her the day after he saw her in town. It was probably a safe assumption that he was the bulldog type.

  I could think of no way to convince him I hadn’t stolen Twilight away from her family. He’d never believe why she was with me, even if I told him, which I certainly was not going to do. No one knew I could talk to horses and I definitely didn’t want Charlie Black to be the first. But if I didn’t do something, he’d come back.

  I couldn’t do nothing. But what could I do?