Moonstone Promise (24 page)

‘Take the colt, Jess!' Luke yelled after her.

But she kept running, straight across the river flats, barefoot with her wet hair slapping down her back.

28

WHEN LUKE REACHED
the others, Marnie was lying down outside the paddock. Lawson was at her head and John Duggin was at her tail end. Jess was pacing frantically nearby while Shara tried to calm her down.

‘You kids, take your horses up to the stables,' said Lawson. He pointed at Luke and waved him over.

Luke dismounted and handed his reins to Tom. He walked quietly over and crouched down near the mare. She groaned and lifted her head up off the ground, her legs going stiff and her whole body shuddering.

‘How long's she been down?'

‘About forty minutes,' said Lawson with a frown. ‘It's backwards.'

Luke looked to the mare's back end. John was up to his elbow in horse. Sweat rolled down his face. ‘I can find its tail,' he grunted. ‘If I could just get both its hind legs . . .' He grimaced and pushed deeper.

Lawson pulled his keys from his pocket and tossed them to Luke. ‘You know where I keep my gun,' he said in a low voice. ‘Grab it and put it in the back of my ute when the girls aren't looking and drive it down here. Tell the others to stay up at the stables. The fewer people here the better.'

‘What for?' asked Luke.

There was a long, high-pitched whinny from the creek and Luke whipped his head around. A flash of brilliant white appeared between the trees and then disappeared. Chelpie.

‘For that thing. I've had it with her,' said Lawson. ‘Now, go.'

Luke began running up the hill towards Lawson's small blue house. He could hear a horse thrashing about in the creek.

At the stables, he took Grace aside. ‘Chelpie's out again,' he said. ‘Lawson just asked me to get his gun. Can you go grab it from the house, put it in the ute and take it down to him. I'm going to go and see if I can catch her before he shoots her.'

Grace looked horrified.

‘See if you can stall for time,' said Luke.

Grace nodded and walked smartly towards the house.

Luke grabbed a halter, locked the pups in a stable and headed for the river.

Chelpie was going nuts. She smashed between the trees, screaming and whinnying. Even from a distance, Luke could see that her ribs stuck out terribly. Her rump sagged like an old tent and her belly was huge.

He ran after her. ‘Chelpie! Here, girl.'

The white mare spun and rushed at him, her teeth bared. Luke jumped behind a tree. ‘Hey, what's got into you?'

Then Chelpie cantered off again and he saw. Her tail and hind legs were covered in blood.

‘You've had a foal! Where is it?'

He could hear Chelpie ahead, screaming frantically, and he scrambled after her along the creek towards the Pettilows' place. After following her for several minutes, he came out onto the river flats near the Pettilow property.

Katrina came into view, walking across the flats with a halter in her hand. ‘Chelpie! Come here!' She bolted for the safety of the fenceline when Chelpie galloped at her.

‘She's just crazy!' Luke heard her complain angrily. ‘I can't catch her!'

On the hillside, under the trees, a man worked with a shovel. ‘Just get the stupid animal back in here before she causes any more trouble,' he said, without breaking from his digging . . . or
burying
? Luke spotted a gun leaning against a nearby tree.

Chelpie cantered along the fenceline, whinnying. Katrina jumped back away from her.

Luke walked calmly towards them across the field. Chelpie spotted him and trotted straight at him with her ears flat back.

Luke stood passively and let Chelpie come to him. She stopped in front of him and put her nose in his lap. ‘Chelpie,' he said gently. ‘What happened?'

The little mare nickered softly, then gave a long, sad whinny. He put the rope around her neck and then slid the halter over her ears. ‘Easy, girl.'

Katrina marched over to him. ‘I'll take her,' she said, holding her hand out for the rope.

‘What happened?' asked Luke.

‘Nothing. It's none of your business.' Katrina yanked at Chelpie's rope.

Luke kept hold of it. ‘Did she lose a foal or something?'

‘No.' Katrina pulled harder.

Luke refused to let go. ‘Come on, Katrina, she's got blood all over her. What's your dad burying over there?'

‘This horse has exceptional breeding and has had a very successful show career. We hand-raised her since she was a two-day-old foal. You don't think I'm going to just let her have a foal to some mongrel-bred stockhorse, do you?'

‘What mongrel-bred stockhorse?'

Katrina scoffed and pulled at the rope. ‘You work it out.'

Luke let the rope go and Katrina led Chelpie back to the paddock. The mare pulled at the halter but Katrina held her firmly. He thought of Marnie on the other side of the creek, foaling, on the same day.

Muscles got Chelpie too. That night, in Longwood!

Then he thought of the brumbies, circling the dead red mare.

‘Poor Chelpie,' he said quietly. ‘They didn't even let you say goodbye.' Then Katrina's words rung in his ears.
We hand-raised her since she was a two-day-old foal.
So Chelpie had been a potty foal. ‘They didn't even let you know your own mother?'

When Luke got back to the river flats, Marnie was standing with her hind legs stretched awkwardly behind her. John was still at her back end.

Jess was watching, two hands over her mouth.

‘John thinks he's got its hind feet,' Shara told Luke. ‘When the mare stood up, it slipped back in a bit and made it easier to turn.'

‘I got them!' said John, his arm still inside the mare. ‘I got them.' He drew out two tiny hooves, twisted together, then grabbed one in each hand, bent his knees and pulled them down towards the mare's hocks. Two legs began to slide out.

‘Oh my God . . .' Jess gasped.

‘He's got it now.' Shara smiled. ‘It's coming, Jessy!'

Jess squeaked something unintelligible and began to hop up and down.

The mare dropped to the ground and began pushing again.

‘We gotta get it out quick, Lawson,' said John. ‘I need a hand.'

Lawson looked at Jess. ‘Stop blubbering and go give him a hand.'

Jess hurriedly smeared the tears away. She crept to the back of the mare, sniffing and swallowing, and took a leg. The hocks came out first, emerging downwards with the mare's contractions until the foal's hindquarters appeared.

The mare stopped and rested, puffing, her eyes only half-open. Sweat soaked her flanks and her neck.

‘Come on, sweet thing,' said Lawson, rubbing the mare's forehead. ‘You can do this.'

‘It's a chestnut. It's a filly,' Jess blubbered. ‘Sharsy, it's a girl. I can see its little thingy!'

‘It's not out yet, Jess,' said John. ‘Half a horse is not much good to you. Right, now we pull straight out in line with the mare's spine, okay?'

Jess nodded. It took a few more contractions before the shoulders were out and then the neck and head slipped out into a pool of water and mucus. The foal lay half-covered in a white, plasticky film, one foot still inside the mare.

‘Come away now,' said John, taking Jess's arm and drawing her away.

The mare and the foal both lay there, breathing and resting.

Jess grabbed Luke's arm and squeezed it. ‘I can't believe she's finally here! It's been forever!' Then she looked at his arm and saw the blood and goop she'd just smeared all over it. ‘Oh, sorry.'

‘No biggy. I've had worse.' He grabbed her shirt and wiped his arm on it.

‘Oi!'

After a few more minutes, Marnie turned and gently sniffed her baby. The foal blinked and sniffed her back, their noses touching for a second. The mare began licking her foal, cleaning away the mucus that covered her.

‘Isn't she beautiful?' said Jess. ‘Her name's Opal. I named her months ago.'

But Luke didn't hear her. He was staring in disbelief at the three silver marks, perfect diamonds, that cascaded down the foal's shoulder like falling stars. ‘Jess, didn't your horse Diamond have marks like that on her hindquarters?'

He turned to Jess, whose mouth had dropped open. She was staring disbelievingly at the glistening wet foal. ‘What?' she asked in a distracted voice.

‘I said, didn't Diamond have marks like that?'

‘Yes,' whispered Jess, without taking her eyes off the foal. It put one long shaky leg out in front of it, revealing more of its shoulder.

‘It was the
lights
,' she whispered in awe. ‘The min min lights, the ghosts, in Marnie's belly, three lights, three white stars . . .'

‘Whoa, that's freaky.'

Jess grabbed Luke's hand and squeezed it. ‘It's Diamond's spirit! The min min lights, remember?'

You've got dream there, you and this Jess girl.

Luke couldn't get Tyson's voice out of his head. He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

There was a shrill whinny from the river and everyone turned. A flash of white darted through the trees. Chelpie came cantering up over the river flats with a rope dangling between her front legs.

Jess groaned. ‘Not
her
again.'

Marnie jumped to her feet and Lawson had just enough time to grab her halter before she charged at Chelpie. Opal lay on the ground and called a tiny whinny to her mother.

‘Did you get that gun, Luke? asked Lawson.

‘Get out of here, you evil thing,' screamed Jess. ‘You've already killed one of my horses. You're not getting this one!'

‘She's not evil,' said Luke, running out towards the mare. ‘She's just lost a foal.' He took Chelpie's halter and tried to calm her by running his hand up and down her neck. She nickered anxiously. ‘She thinks Opal's her foal.'

‘Get her out of here, she's upsetting the mare,' Lawson snapped.

Luke turned Chelpie and tried to lead her away. She reared up and struck at him, and as she did, Luke saw milk running down either side of her hind legs. ‘You poor thing,' he said, holding her firmly.

Then an idea came to him. ‘Come on, Chelpie,' he said, turning her about. ‘There's someone back at Harry's place you might like to meet.'

That night, Luke slid through his bedroom window and slipped across the courtyard. Filth whimpered. Fang yapped and growled. He unclipped them from their night chains and then snuck in through the back door to the stables with them padding softly behind him. He heard Legsy snoring. Biyanga shook his head over the half door, ruffling his mane.

Outside, the brumbies nickered softly to each other. Luke walked out into the night and leaned on the rails of the yard to check on them.