Storm and the Silver Bridle (12 page)

Issie nodded.

“And second,” Alfie continued, “my dad is not as bad as you think. He’s a pussycat once you get to know him. Right now it’s all ‘honour this’ and ‘tradition that’. He’d never agree to let us steal the colt — but you watch, when
we bring Storm back home, he’ll be totally on our side.”

Issie had her doubts about this, but she wasn’t going to argue. She hadn’t argued with Alfie either when he’d insisted on coming with her. After all, as he pointed out, he knew his way into Vega’s stables and she didn’t. With him on her side, Issie stood a fighting chance of getting her colt back.

The two riders slowed down to a trot as they neared the gorge, and it was easier to talk as they rode side by side. “Your dad and Tom have known each other for a long time, huh?” Issie said.

“Yeah, twenty years. They met before I was even born,” Alfie said. “Then Tom moved back to New Zealand, so I never really knew him. He and Dad used to write to each other. Dad would always be really happy when he got a letter from the other side of the world.”

“It’s kinda cool how close they are. They’ve been inseparable since we arrived,” Issie said. “I guess they have a lot to catch up on.”

Alfie nodded. “It’s great to see my dad talking about old times again. He doesn’t usually have anyone to talk to about that stuff. I think he gets lonely, you know? It’s really isolated here and, I mean, he has me of course, and his
vaqueros
, but when Francoise and I are away with El Caballo
Danza Magnifico it must be very quiet at the hacienda.”

“Where’s your mum?” Issie asked. “Why doesn’t she live with you?”

Alfie was quiet for a moment. “She died,” he said, “when I was six.”

“I’m sorry…” Issie felt dreadful. What a stupid thing to say! She hadn’t realised.

“It’s OK,” Alfie said, “honest. It was a long time ago. I hardly remember her now. My dad brought me up by himself. And Francoise too, I suppose. Not like she’s my stepmum or anything like that, but she joined El Caballo not long after that and she’s always kept an eye on me, you know?”

Issie nodded. “My dad didn’t die or anything, but he left when I was nine. I don’t really see him. It’s just me and Mum.”

“You’ve got Tom,” Alfie offered. “He seems to look out for you.”

Issie felt a sting of guilt when Alfie said this. “Tom would be really upset if he knew what we were doing.”

“In that case,” Alfie said, kicking Marius on, “he had better not find out and we had better not get caught.”

They had reached the gorge now and Alfie took the lead on Marius. “Follow me, I know the way,” he called back over his shoulder. Issie stuck close behind him until they reached the end of the gorge and they pulled up side by side once more and halted their horses. This was the same spot Issie had halted with Francoise when she had first set eyes on Vega’s hacienda. This time, though, they’d be riding across the wide plains that lay in front of them, and sneaking into Vega’s own stables to take back her colt.

On the horizon, Vega’s hacienda looked like an ancient Spanish prison. The walls that surrounded the estate were two metres high and made of crumbling bricks and plaster the colour of dried blood. The top of the wall had pointy turrets, like a Moorish castle, and over the top of the turrets Issie could make out the rooftops of Vega’s hacienda.

“Vega’s stables are at the back of the hacienda,” Alfie said. He pointed at the orange grove to the right ahead of them. “We can tie the horses up there and then vault the wall into the garden. Once we find your colt, we’ll have to take him back out of the main gates — it’s the only way.”

Issie nodded at this.

“Ready?” Alfie asked.

“Uh-huh,” she replied.

“Then let’s go!” And with that Alfie clucked his horse on and Issie followed, galloping across the green fields towards the hacienda.

As they got nearer to Vega’s house, Issie could have sworn she felt Angel tense up underneath her, slowing his stride a little. She didn’t urge him on. Instead, she spoke gently to the stallion, reassuring him with the softness of her voice. She had seen the way Angel had reacted when they met the mustachioed man that morning at the
feria
in the village square. Angel had been terrified of Vega and Issie sensed the same fear in her horse now. This hacienda, Vega’s stables, had once been Angel’s home — and it was not a home the stallion was keen to return to.

Is it any wonder?
Issie thought. After all, the stallion still bore the marks of the
serreta
that Vega had forced on him, and the scars ran deep, beyond the marks on his face, all the way to the hidden recesses of Angel’s mighty heart.

“It’s OK,” Issie reassured him, giving Angel a stroke along his proud, arched neck. “We’re not staying there for long, I promise. We just need to find Storm and get straight out again.”

They had reached the cover of the orange grove now, and the trees kept them hidden as they neared the high wall that ran around the hacienda. Alfie leapt down off
Marius’s back and put a finger to his lips to signal that they needed to be quiet now. Then he led Marius towards an orange tree and tethered the horse by his reins. Issie did the same, whispering softly to Angel as she knotted the leather to the bough of the orange tree next to Marius.

“I’ll be back soon,” she told the stallion.

“Here!” Alfie hissed at her. “Give me a leg up on to the wall and then I’ll pull you up.”

Issie legged him up as if she was helping him on to a horse and then Alfie balanced on top of the wall, checking that the coast was clear before giving her his hand so she could climb up too. Issie perched there for a moment, hidden between the turrets, looking down at the gardens in the courtyard below. It was a grand Moorish garden filled with mosaic-tiled fountains, overgrown lantana and rows of tall palm trees. A maze created from neatly clipped conifers ran all the way from the house to the buildings at the rear of the hacienda, which Issie figured must be the stables.

“Follow me!” Alfie whispered. He jumped like a cat into the lantana bushes and Issie promptly followed him. The maze hedging kept them hidden from sight as they crept on, making their way towards the crumbling brick archways that led to the stables.

Issie had been right. It was siesta time and the whole
hacienda was cloaked in silence. There was no sound here except the gentle trickling of the garden fountains and the dry chirrup of the cicadas. She followed Alfie down the stairs and across the cobbles, through the archways that marked the entrance to the stable block.

Inside, the loose boxes ran in rows up either side of the long corridor. There must have been at least thirty loose boxes stretching ahead of them, and the doors to the boxes were solid wood, all shut tight and bolted. “He must be in one of these stalls,” Alfie said. He began to unbolt the door to the first stall. “Let’s start looking. I’ll take the left side, you take the right.”

“No,” Issie said. “I know a faster way.”

It was risky, whistling for her colt, but they didn’t have time to search every stall. And so she pursed her lips together and blew.

Two short, sharp notes rang out in the stillness. Issie waited but no reply came. She took another breath, ready to try once more, but before she could whistle a second time, a shrill nicker returned her call.

“Storm!” she called out. There was another nicker and Issie focused, trying to follow the sound of the colt’s cry. It was coming from the end of the stable block!

At the far end of the stables, Issie could see the light
flooding into the darkness through an archway that she decided must lead outside.

“He’s down there!” She broke into a run and began heading towards the light with Alfie close behind her. Ahead of her, she could see that a wooden five-bar gate ran right across the width of the archway, blocking it off. Behind this gate was a small lawn enclosure, bordered by high stone walls. It was a sort of secret garden, with beds of mint and pomegranate trees and gnarled, ancient bougainvillea vines climbing the walls. It was also a prison as far as Issie was concerned because here, with his head craning over the wooden gate to meet her, was her colt. It was Storm!

As he saw the girl with the long dark hair running towards him the colt let out another nicker, more urgent this time, demanding her attention.

It’s me, I’m right here!
he seemed to be saying. He gave more soft little nickers of excitement, pacing back and forth behind the gate.

Issie, meanwhile, was running so hard she thought her heart would burst. She sprinted down the corridor to the gates, and when she finally reached the colt she was gasping to hold back her tears and to catch her breath.

“I know, I know,” Issie said, choking with emotion as
she put her arms around the colt’s neck and hugged him tight, “I missed you too. I was so worried! But don’t worry, I’m here now and I’m going to…”

Their reunion was cut short. There was the sound of footsteps on the cobbles behind her. Issie turned round, expecting to see Alfie. What she didn’t expect to see was that behind Alfie were three
vaqueros
, all running down the stable corridor heading towards them.

“We’ve got company!” Alfie said as he reached her side.

“Thanks for the warning,” Issie said darkly. “Now how do we get Storm out of here?”

“No time for that now.” Alfie shook his head. “We need to get out.” He looked around frantically.

“There!” he said, pointing to the bougainvillea vine that was climbing up the wall of Storm’s enclosure. “That’s our way out. We can climb up that vine and out over the wall.” He vaulted over the gate and ran past Storm. He gave the vines a tug. “They’re strong enough to hold us, I think. Come on!” he said, already climbing up and getting a foothold on the top of the wall.

Issie hesitated. She didn’t want to leave Storm’s side so soon after finding him. But she had no choice. If these men caught her here, like this… Issie might have been brave, but she wasn’t foolish. She had no desire to find out
for herself what a man like Vega was capable of if he caught her trying to steal back her colt.

She followed Alfie over the gate and ran for the vines, shimmying up so that she could get a handhold on the top of the wall itself and pull herself over. She was relieved to see that the wall led back to the orange grove outside the estate where they had tethered the horses. Alfie was already mounted on Marius and waiting for her. She hit the ground running, sprinting towards Angel, who was fretting and pacing nervously, looking like he wanted to get away even more desperately than Issie did.

“Come on!” Alfie said impatiently. “They’ll be getting their horses now, they’ll come after us for sure.”

Over the wall behind her, Issie could hear the shouts of the men. The
vaqueros
, had disappeared and Issie guessed that they must have gone back to the stables to get their horses.

“C’mon, Angel,” she said, struggling to unknot the leather reins from the orange tree. “We’ve gotta go.”

Marius and Alfie had already galloped off and were almost clear of the orange grove, and Angel was keen to follow them. The stallion’s keen ears could already hear the sound that Issie now heard. The thunder of hoofbeats in the air as the
vaqueros
, mounted up and rode out of the
hacienda gates, circling back through the orange grove, riding hard to hunt them down.

Issie mounted up and turned Angel round. Ahead of her, they had about thirty metres to ride through the orange grove before they hit the open pasture that would lead them back to the gorge and El Caballo. They needed to get clear of these
vaqueros
, quickly if they were going to make it home to safety. She gathered up her reins and was about to kick Angel, but instead, she let out a scream. There was something holding her back!

She looked down in horror to see a face leering up at her. It was a
vaquero
and he had his fat hands wrapped tight around her ankle.

Issie screamed again and pulled hard, but the
vaquero
had grasped her boot with both hands and was hanging on tight. He yelled out to the other horsemen in Spanish to let them know that he had her, and then he looked up at Issie’s terrified face.

“Let go of me!” she shrieked.

“What were you doing? Trying to take
Señor Vegas
colt, eh?” the man replied.

“He’s not Vega’s colt!” Issie said through gritted teeth. “He’s mine!” Her anger gave her a new surge of energy and she wrenched her foot once more, pulling so hard that
the boot came clean off in the man’s meaty paws.

Issie took her chance, and before the
vaquero
could make another grab at her, Angel had lunged forward and broken into a gallop, leaving Vega’s man standing there holding nothing more than an empty boot.

Issie slipped her sock foot back into the stirrup and rose up out of the saddle as Angel galloped on. They were almost clear of the orange trees and ahead of them was the grassy pasture that led to the entrance of the gorge that would take her back to El Caballo. Ahead of her, Alfie and Marius had almost a two-hundred-metre lead on them. The boy and the stallion weren’t slowing down to wait for them either, they were galloping flat out.