Destiny and Stardust

“Yeah.”

“What exactly is a ‘Flying Angel’?”

Aidan grinned. “It’s hard to explain. It’s probably easier if you let me show you.”

Aidan tied Blaze up outside the round pen and then he rode Diablo into the arena, leading Paris beside him. The wood-lined walls of the round pen were about two metres high and above them, circling the arena, were two rows of wooden bench seats. Issie climbed the stairs and sat down in a front row seat, watching silently as Aidan worked the horses in. He trotted back and forth in the middle of the arena on Diablo, keeping an eye on Paris, who was also wearing a saddle and bridle as she cantered riderless around the arena.

“Do you see how she’s cantering in a circle like that?” Aidan called out to Issie. “She’s been trained to do that. It makes it easier to do the trick if she’s got a steady stride.” As he said this he clucked Diablo forward and the black and white Quarter Horse began to canter behind the palomino.

Issie watched as Aidan cantered Diablo right up next to Paris so that he was riding neck and neck with the palomino mare. The two horses fell into step together, matching each other stride for stride.

Aidan smiled up at her. “Here we go!” he called out. And with that, he let go of Diablo’s reins and sat bolt upright in the saddle with his arms spread out to either side for balance. Aidan rode one more lap around the round pen with his arms out. Issie could see him counting the beat in his head, figuring out his moment. Issie noticed that he was edging Diablo closer to Paris now, so that the piebald gelding was almost touching the palomino. Suddenly Aidan slipped his feet out of the stirrups and pivoted in the saddle, turning his body to face the wall. He cast one last look up at Issie, gave her a wave and then leapt.

Issie couldn’t believe it! There was a split-second when Aidan was in midair that she imagined the worst. He was going to fall and get trampled beneath Paris and Diablo’s hooves. Then she saw Aidan grasp Paris’ saddle with both hands and deftly swing his leg over the mare’s back. Before she knew it, Aidan was in the saddle on Paris with the reins, which had been knotted around the palomino’s neck, in his hands. By the time he rode around the arena to where Issie was seated he had a grin on his face and was waving to her as he went by.

Issie stood up, clapping wildly. “That was amazing!” she called out to him.

Aidan pulled Paris up in the centre of the arena and saluted to Issie, while Paris dropped to one knee underneath her rider, bowing theatrically.

“That,” Aidan said, “is a Flying Angel.”

He dismounted from Paris and walked over to Diablo, who was standing waiting for him. Then he led both horses up to the side of the arena and looked up at Issie. “Come on then – it’s your turn. Why don’t you bring Blaze into the arena and have a go?”

“But I don’t know how…” Issie began.

“The only way to learn is to do it,” Aidan said. “It’s all about timing. You need to get Blaze into a rhythm next to Paris, then move them close, drop your stirrups and jump.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Issie said. She could feel the butterflies in her tummy going berserk now.

“Yeah, well, it is simple once you’ve done it a few times. But the first time I made the jump was pretty hairy,” Aidan admitted. “Are you ready to give it a go?”

Issie untied Blaze from the hitching post and led the mare in through the sliding wooden doors on to the sawdust floor of the round pen. As she put her foot in the stirrup, Blaze danced nervously.

“Easy, girl, it’s OK,” Issie cooed.

“I’m going up there to watch,” Aidan said, gesturing to the stands above the arena. “Paris knows what to do – she’ll just keep cantering around the arena. All you need to do is ride Blaze up next to her and make the jump.” Issie nodded silently and as Aidan rode out on Diablo she turned Blaze around to face the palomino.

“Gee-up, Paris!” she called, waving her arms to get the mare moving on to the perimeter of the arena. Paris instantly reacted just as Aidan had said she would, high-stepping into a graceful canter, staying close to the wooden walls of the round pen.

As soon as Paris had cantered twice around the ring and settled into a steady stride, Issie clucked Blaze on and rode the liver chestnut mare out to join her. At first Blaze flinched a little as she edged closer to the palomino. Then she seemed to understand what Issie wanted her to do and fell into a brisk canter next to Paris, running neck and neck alongside the pretty palomino.

“Steady, girl, that’s it…” Issie said. She knotted Blaze’s reins now, and then, very carefully, she let go. She was riding now without any hands, her arms floating up and up, helping her to balance so that eventually she was sitting straight up in the saddle with her arms spread out like angel wings.

“Now, turn your body to face Paris and drop your stirrups!” Aidan shouted at her from the side of the arena.

Issie looked up at him and gave him a quick nod. She did as he said, slipping her feet out of the stirrups so that she was now riding with the irons dangling at her feet. She turned her torso to face the wall and looked at the rise and fall of the palomino’s empty saddle. She had to jump into that saddle. All she needed to do was reach out her hands and make that leap from Blaze’s back on to Paris. Issie took a deep breath and counted down – ah-one, ah-two, ah—

She froze. She couldn’t do this! It was crazy. She looked down and saw the horses’ hooves churning beneath her on the sawdust floor of the arena. What if she fell? She would get trampled beneath Paris’ hooves for sure!

“Come on, Issie! What are you waiting for?” Aidan called out. Issie felt her skin turning clammy, her tummy was churning with butterflies.

“Calm down,” she told herself. “You can do this!”

She put her hands back out again and focused on getting back into position. Then she edged Blaze closer to Paris once more and waited until the two mares were matching each other stride for stride. Ah-one, ah-two, ah… noooo!

Issie pulled Blaze up to a halt. She could feel her heart beating like crazy, her palms were wet with sweat and she was trembling.

“Issie, Issie are you OK?” Aidan ran into the arena, his face grave with concern. “What happened? Why didn’t you jump?”

Issie shook her head. “I don’t know, Aidan. I thought I’d be able to do it but then I looked down and…”

“It’s OK. Honest.” Aidan smiled at her. “It’s a pretty advanced stunt. It was probably too soon to ask you to try something like this. Don’t worry about it. Really. We can try again some other time.”

Aidan reached out to take Blaze’s reins as Issie dismounted, but she was still holding them and instead of grasping the reins he found himself holding Issie’s hand instead. There was a moment when Aidan and Issie were locked together, holding hands. Then the pair of them jumped back from each other and stood there looking embarrassed.

“Sorry, I mean, I didn’t mean to…” Aidan stammered.

“No! I mean, that’s fine…” Issie replied, looking at her feet. “I umm… I’d better put Blaze away now.” She hurriedly led the chestnut mare out of the arena and back to the stable block, leaving Aidan standing there with Diablo and Paris.

“Ohmygod, could that have been any more embarrassing?” Issie murmured to Blaze, burying her head deep into her pony’s mane as they stood together in Blaze’s stall. Not only had she chickened out on doing the Flying Angel stunt, she had held hands with Aidan! This was just the worst!

Untacking Blaze quickly, Issie slipped out the back door of the stable, hoping she stood less chance of running into Aidan again if she went out that way. Then she ran across the lawn, up on to the porch and in through the back door of the manor.

As she walked towards the kitchen she thought for a moment that Aidan had somehow got back there before her. She could hear a man’s voice in the kitchen talking with Aunt Hester. When she got nearer, though, she realised the voice didn’t belong to Aidan.

“Isadora! Is that you? Come and meet Cameron,” Aunt Hester said. “Cameron is the head ranger for the Blackthorn Hills Conservation Trust.” Her Aunt smiled at the sandy-haired man in the khaki jacket sitting next to her at the table. “Cameron, I’d like you to meet Isadora, my favourite niece. She’s the one who first sighted the Grimalkin up on Blackthorn Ridge yesterday.”

“Is that so?” The ranger looked at Issie.

“Well, kind of…” Issie said. “Something was there and it chased me and my horse, but it was hidden by the trees so I never actually saw it. I just heard it.”

The ranger cocked a suspicious eyebrow at this.

“But I did see it last night!” Issie added hastily. “It was right there on top of the cattle pens just before we found Meadow. It was balancing on the top of the wooden railings, running along them like a cat.”

“Could it have been a cat?” Hester wondered.

“Ohmygod no! Not a normal cat. It was enormous. I mean, really huge,” Issie said. “Bigger than Nanook even.”

“Did you see what sort of an animal it was?” Cameron asked.

“Umm, not really. There was a full moon but it was still very dark. It was black, I think, and it had a long thick tail, but I couldn’t really see much more than that. It disappeared pretty fast and then Aidan found Meadow and…” Issie’s voice trailed off as she remembered the awful events of the night before and the gruesome discovery of poor Meadow.

“Could have been a stray dog,” the ranger assessed. “We’ve had a couple of reports of stock loss lately. Once a dog gets the taste for blood, they’re trouble.”

“It wasn’t a dog,” Issie said firmly.

The ranger looked at her again. “Well, whatever it was, we’ll find it. I’m going to take a couple of men up to the ridge today and we’ll try and track it.”