Rain Forest Rose (9 page)

She sighed and smiled, and once more, in her dreams, she rode Hoku.

“M
y eyes hurt.”

The three words brought Darby awake, even though it was so early. Silvery mist hid everything outside her shelter.

“Can you see?” Darby croaked, then cleared her throat.

“It's just from crying,” Megan said, giving Darby's shoulder a shove. “I'm not used to it. My head hurts, too. I'm going to go home and apologize to my mom and hope she fusses over me and gives me aspirin before she forces me to go to school.”

“You could just be suffering from a chocolate overdose.”

Megan moaned. “Don't tell me that's all we had for dinner last night.”

“Okay,” Darby agreed.

They both laughed until Megan sucked in a breath. “Thanks for mentioning that stuff last night. About Tango's scars.”

“No big deal,” Darby said.

A knee slammed against Darby's back as Megan maneuvered her long legs from her niche in the shelter.

“I'll move,” Darby said.

“Don't.”

“Ow!” Darby said, using her elbows to pull herself out of the way.

“Sorry,” Megan said. “It's too early. Go back to sleep.”

“I'm not going to let you go alone,” Darby protested.

“It's not like I don't know my way to Tutu's cottage,” Megan said. “But you—Well, not to be mean, but in this mist, you'd have a hard time finding your way back. I'd rather not worry about you.”

Darby had a vision of herself wandering in circles, bumping into trees, and conceded that Megan was right.

“Okay, but take something to eat,” Darby said, pushing an apple and some jerky into Megan's hands before she was ready to leave.

“About Cade—I don't know what to say about
how mean I was.” Megan swallowed so hard, Darby heard her. “Have you ever lost someone you love?”

Darby felt almost guilty for shaking her head “no.”

“You're lucky,” Megan said. “Just hope it doesn't happen until you're old enough to handle it. I'm not.”

“You're not doing such a bad job,” Darby said.

“Yeah, I only traumatized a kid who was already in bad shape.”

“I think Cade's tougher than that.”

“I hope so,” Megan said, tucking her shirt into her jeans. Then she looked up. “Hey, you know, I heard Kit and Kimo talking about you. You know what Kimo said?”

“I'm afraid to hear it,” Darby said, because as much as she liked Kimo, her strongest memory was him telling her
mo bettah you ask
when she'd messed up instead of asking for help with the horses.

“No, it's good. They were talking about you coming out here on your own and Kimo said, ‘That Darby, she's one smart, can-do
keiki
.'” Megan broke off to touch her lips, gently. “I could do Kimo's voice better if it weren't so early. Anyway, Kit nodded about ten times and then, you know, in that slow buckaroo way he does? He said, ‘Yup, the can-do kid. That 'bout sums it up.'”

Darby managed a self-conscious mutter. “They didn't say that.”

“Like I'd make it up,” Megan said, snagging the
handle of the empty lemonade jug.

Megan had taken a few steps, and Darby had settled back down in her sleeping bag when Megan said, “Darby, are you sure?”

Darby raised up on one elbow. “Sure?”

“That the horse is Tango, I mean. Does she have a little whirly thing”—Megan touched her forehead—“here?”

“Yeah, she did,” Darby said, smiling. “And you'd better come back soon, because even though you'd probably have a lot easier time catching her than I would, I'll probably try it alone.”

“You will?”

“I can't help it.” Darby shrugged. “I just know I will.”

Invisible in the fog, a bird made a clacking noise from a branch overhead.

“I'll be back tomorrow,” Megan said finally, and as she hiked off into the foggy forest, Darby raised her fist in victory.

 

After Megan had gone, Darby found that her intense desire to ride Hoku had faded. Cade and Megan had already provided way too much excitement. Emotional stuff always tired Darby out more than physical exertion, and what she really wanted was to sit and read.

She'd brought along a book from Jonah's library. It was about Hawaiian wildlife, and she'd taken it
into Hoku's corral to read while she kept the filly company.

It wasn't easy to find a dry spot where she could sit and read comfortably. Yesterday's rain had turned the low spots into puddles or bogs.

Hoku had found the dip under her corral gate and decided it was pretty amusing to dig and splash and turn her fiery coat mud brown. The filly had made the big puddle so deep, Darby knew she should fill it with dirt before they left at the end of the week.

At last, Darby found the perfect patch of sunlight—not too hot, just cozy—on the highest point inside Hoku's corral, directly across from the gate where she'd been sitting yesterday.

She haltered Hoku and snapped on her lead rope, threw out some hay for the horse to munch, then settled with the book and read.

Suddenly, they both heard snuffling.

Darby jammed the postcard she was using as a bookmark into the book. She set the book aside, dropped the lead rope, climbed the fence, and clinging to the top rail, scanned the clearing, trying to see where the sound was coming from.

She was just in time to see a black pig lurch up from the stream bed, drooling.

His four tusks were the bone yellow of a smoker's teeth. Two tusks on top and two on the bottom, all curved out, then pointing up, except one, which looked like it had broken off in a fight.

Jonah had been right. This was no fairy-tale pig.

Bristles on his shoulders looked bushy as a lion's mane. His backbone's crest of coarse hair had blondish points. His hairless tail wasn't curly, and the way his pointed ears stuck straight up would have made him look alert, except that he was weaving and stumbling as he came toward the corral.

He must be sick, Darby thought, because wildlife came out at dawn or dusk, and this wasn't either one. He wasn't swift and agile like a wild creature should be, either. He staggered.

The pig made a sound that was more bawl than oink, and Darby felt glad that she and Hoku were safe inside the corral.

She glanced at her horse. Frozen with curiosity on the far side of the pen, the filly stared, then she made a strange circular swing of her head and bared her teeth.

Just stay where you are,
Darby thought. It was her job, not Hoku's, to scare off the pig.

“Get out of here!” Darby yelled, but the boar only increased his pace until he was running.

He slammed into the fence. Darby almost lost her grip as the impact telegraphed through the fence rails.

“Shoo! Go away!” She bellowed loudly enough that the animal should be terrified, but he only threw his head to one side, masking himself in his own slobber.

Darby dropped back inside the corral and
scooped up some small rocks. The first one she threw hit the fence. Another arced over the top rail, but the pig ignored it. Then, grunting and shoving his face along the ground in just the way she'd imagined pigs would root, his nose splattered into Hoku's favorite puddle.

When Darby saw the black snout reach under the fence, she used both hands to throw the rest of the rocks. They rained down on the fence and dirt, but one must have hit the pig's eye, because he blinked rapidly and was still.

For a few seconds, Darby thought she'd driven him off, but she was wrong.

The boar angled his entire head under the fence, then squealed at the tight squeeze he'd gotten himself into.

The ear-piercing sound made her feel sorry for the animal.

What now? Would he remain pinned there, or would the mud give way enough that he could jam the rest of his body through? Would he come after her and Hoku?

Be sensible,
Darby told herself. The pig was huge. He wouldn't make it through the space between the fence rail and the ground. Even if the fence broke and he made it in, she could climb out.

Wrong,
she thought. She would not leave Hoku. What did a range-reared mustang know about a rain-forest pig?

Even though the boar would have to be crazy to charge an animal so much bigger, he was sick. She didn't have to be a vet to see that. And if he was sick with rabies, his brain was inflamed. He wouldn't know he was doing something dangerous.

The whole fence rocked as the boar shoved against it.

Hoku lowered her head. Her ears flicked in all directions. She was angry at this intruder, but she didn't know what to do about him.

“It's okay, girl,” Darby lied to her horse. Then she tried to make a plan.

If the boar got through, he'd run away from the gate. Then she'd dash over, grab Hoku's lead, and—would she have time to unbolt the gate and slip through before the boar swung his bulk around and barreled after them?

It would take about a minute, but the boar was having a hard time handling his own body. She and Hoku might make it. Might.

Hoku reared, striking at the fence. Then she circled toward Darby, rolling her eyes before she made a feint at jumping.

The filly had the right idea. If the pig came in here, she'd jump out. But the corral had been built with such escape in mind. The fence was tall. If Hoku got hung up on the top rail…

Darby shuddered. Then she climbed the fence.

“You stay there,” she ordered the filly.

Darby began crab-walking on the second highest rail. She stopped when she got close enough to have a really good view of the pig. He'd redirected his shoving to the first section of fence to the right of the gate.

That meant…Darby ignored the squealing and huffing just below her and tried to focus. If she opened the bolt on the gate, but didn't swing it wide, she'd save time. She and Hoku could be a few more seconds ahead of those tusks.

She slid open the bolt, and for a second, Darby was sure the boar hadn't even noticed. But he had. His narrow head lay against the ground and one eye tracked her movement. The fence swayed from his efforts, but Darby stayed balanced until one of his tusks snagged on the wood.

If she hadn't seen it happen, she wouldn't have grabbed on to the fence with all her might. As it was, she swayed on the gate as it swung open and slammed closed.

But the pig didn't realize he had a way in.

Darby made her way back to Hoku, gave the filly a quick smooch as she passed her, then stopped at the rail-top spot where Hoku had come to her, begging to be ridden, yesterday.

For an instant, she considered trying it, but then she gave up. This wasn't the right time to try to ride Hoku. Another horse, rider, and boar could end up tangled on the rain-forest floor.

Darby climbed down off the fence and tightened her ponytail.

The rain forest was silent, as if the birds were watching the boar's noisy performance and her quiet one.

Hoku gave a worried nicker, then came to her.

Grabbing Hoku's lead rope, Darby glanced toward the pig. He'd rocked one of his shoulders underneath the fence. She wasn't sure, but she thought that was the widest part of his body.

Darby filled her left hand with rocks, and wrapped the tangerine-and-white lead rope around her right.

She clucked at Hoku, but the filly's neck and flanks were dark with sweat.

“It's me, girl,” Darby cooed to the filly. “Don't look at him. Just me.”

She hated standing here, waiting for the boar to make the first move, but there was no other choice.

As soon as she saw where he was going, she'd distract him by throwing rocks and pray she could cling to Hoku's lead rope long enough to get her through the gate. After that, if the filly ran, she'd have to let go.

They both looked around at the pig's pained squeal. With a gigantic effort, he'd thrust his second shoulder under the fence.

Darby heard his back hooves paddling in the mud, but her eyes focused on her filly's sweating back.

She leaned away from the fence and threaded her fingers through Hoku's golden mane.

“Girl?” she said, but the filly didn't seem to hear.

Hoku's eyes rolled white and blind with fear as she looked back over her shoulder.

The pig was inside the corral.

B
etween one heartbeat and the next Darby realized the boar had struggled to his feet. He was headed straight for them.

“This way,” she told Hoku, then gently moved the lead rope.

The mustang spun away and hit the end of the rope with such force, Darby lost her balance. She only kept herself from falling by grabbing a handful of Hoku's mane.

Disoriented by all the commotion, the black boar swayed, lifting his snout into the air. He trotted toward them and Hoku stared with stricken fascination.

The rocks. Darby tried throwing one past the
boar to see what he would do.

Nothing. No, wait, his reaction was delayed, but he grunted and turned toward the spot where the rock had landed.

As plans went, Darby thought, hers wasn't much. She'd try to lure him closer with the rocks, and then, when she couldn't hold Hoku anymore—and that moment was coming soon—they'd dart for the gate. Once it was locked behind them with the boar inside, maybe she could lead Hoku to Tutu's cottage, and then home to ‘Iolani Ranch, to get Jonah to come confront the pig.

Part of her plan worked. The pig lunged toward them and fell onto his bristly right shoulder. Darby had time to throw only one rock and see that the pig stared at the noise it made, before Hoku bolted.

Nearly running already, the filly veered around the pig, and all at once Darby knew she had to move faster. If she didn't, Hoku would jump over the gate, and Darby would be slammed into it.

She heard the pig breathing loudly behind her, but Darby didn't look back to see which direction it was headed.

It didn't matter. She had to get the gate open. It was unlatched, it should only take a second, but Hoku reared in frustration.

Darby clung to the rope with both hands, afraid to let go. But she had to. They were too close to the fence. Hoku thought she could jump, but it would be
more like climbing. She'd be hurt in the attempt.

Darby opened her hands. She let the rope drop, and jerked the gate open. She didn't let her attention wander long enough to see where the pig was, just held the gate wide enough for Hoku to shoulder through.

She wanted to grab the rope close to Hoku's halter, but the filly was moving so fast, Darby was lucky to catch the last few inches of the rope as it trailed behind her horse.

Momentum and Darby's unplanned-for weight caused the filly to scrabble with all four hooves to keep from crashing into Darby's shelter.

Tall ferns whipped Darby's legs as Hoku spun to the right.

“Whoa,” Darby yelled, but her feet were barely touching the ground. She couldn't get into a stance where she could brace and stop the filly.

“Whoa!” Darby yelled again, but Hoku only moved faster.

She had to let go or be dragged to death. Hoku jumped a rock, dodged a tree, and Darby somehow stayed with her.

Vines lashed Darby's face. A cacophony of red birds exploded like a fountain before them. Hoku zigzagged around an old tree trunk and then slowed for a few steps.

“Okay,” Darby gasped. Forcing her eyes to see past wind-whipped tears, Darby realized they were at
the edge of the
kipuka
. Sharp lava rock lay just ahead.

A blast of salt wind struck them and Hoku gave a shrill neigh. But she didn't bolt. Hooves tapping, she crossed the lava carefully, dragging in deep draughts of salt air as if it were water.

“We can do it, baby. Just be careful. Good girl.”

Darby wanted to stop,
had
to stop if she planned to breathe anytime soon, but this was not the place to insist.

Once they reached the rock-studded dirt on the other side, she'd make a grab for Hoku's halter and focus all her strength and mana and anything else she could think of on the task of leading her into that grove of trees, just ahead.

She tried. Darby's shoulders, elbows, and wrists ached from pulling, but the filly wouldn't stop. Darby forgot all about being a horse charmer. She just tried to be heavy.

The trees were wider apart in this grove, but it was dark. And growing darker, even though it was the middle of the day. Where was Hoku taking her? She couldn't let the filly get a second wind or she'd lose her in a place she didn't even recognize.

Suddenly, they burst out of the trees into the sunlight. Green hills unrolled before them.

Darby groaned as Hoku released a piercing neigh. The sorrel filly had longed for open country like the sagebrush roamed by her sire and all the other wild horses that had come before her.

Eden, Darby thought, or something close to it. But surely this was where she'd lose her horse. Hoku would shake off the human weight at the end of her lead rope and glide into an endless gallop.

Darby didn't realize she was dragging in painful breaths, one after the other, trying to catch up, until a second set of hooves pounded up behind them, and she gasped.

Tango! With joyous snorts, the two horses bumped shoulders. Darby gasped and gripped Hoku's rope still tighter with the raw palms of her hands. They were at the edge of a steep sidehill and she didn't want Hoku to plunge down it, leading Tango in a game of chase.

But the two horses stopped, striking out in a mock fight. Darby ducked away from Tango's black hooves, and that was when it happened.

The horses veered apart, then came back together. Darby finally tripped, fell, lost her grip on the rope, and rolled.

When she came to a stop, she was able to raise her head enough to see Hoku and Tango leap a narrow gully. A spray of brown birds rose before them and they loped with sideways steps, trying to watch a wild turkey.

They were beautiful, and they were so gone.

Darby made herself stand up. Dizzy from her run with Hoku, she struggled for balance.

Where was she? The salt wind meant she was
closer to the ocean, right? They could be near Crimson Vale—and the wild stallion Black Lava.

What if he'd wandered inland in search of mares again and took Hoku?

Far off, the two horses crested a shoulder of emerald-green grass. The last she saw of Hoku and Tango, the horses were running as a pair.

She might have watched a little longer, but just then her knees buckled from the hammering they'd taken. Darby lost her balance and slipped on the slick grass of the sidehill.

Trying to stop, she grabbed at vines, flowers, and dirt, everything that passed beneath her. Then she let go and let herself roll.

Once, her elbows and knees collided with a clutter of lichen-covered rocks at the edge of a cliff. The collision slowed her, but she didn't stop.

She tumbled on, until she hit bottom with a splat.

Darby lay facedown in mud, thought quickly enough to turn her head and not breathe it in, then closed her eyes and assessed her body.

Her head hurt. When she opened her eyes, she felt so dizzy she feared she might throw up, so she closed them.

Why was her pulse pounding in her ears instead of her wrists? She didn't know, but she was encouraged that flexing her fingers didn't make her yelp in pain. Neither did stirring her legs or shrugging her shoulders.

So far, so good, but the fact remained that she was lying in mud. It oozed against her shins, knees, thighs, and it might be welling up the legs of her shorts.

Darby swallowed hard and tried opening her eyes again.

She lay at the bottom of a hill, looking up.

She wanted to stand, but orbs of blue, orange, and violet lights danced before her eyes, keeping her light-headed.

Darby raised her chin out of the mud and looked ahead. Even with her eyelashes barely raised, she could tell she was sighting up another hill.

Which one had she rolled down? Why hadn't she just gone limp and given in to rolling instead of trying to stop herself at that cluster of—

Hoku! There, just past the green rocks she'd pushed away from, back up the hill, stood Hoku!

The filly blinked down at her, tail swishing with curiosity. When Hoku tossed her head, her sun-shot mane looked like a halo.

“You didn't leave me.”