A stormy night #3
Shona’s tension grew as she watched more and more concern spread over Kendrick’s face the longer he listened to her uncle.
“I see. I’ll be there in ten,” he said and ended the call.
“What is it?” she asked as he rushed to get dressed.
“Some of the horses in the open pasture panicked during the storm. They broke through the fence and ran off,” he filled her in.
“But that’s a solid wooden fence,” Shona cried out, slapping her hand over her mouth in shock.
“Exactly. That’s why he assumes some of them may be seriously injured. I have to get over there right away.”
“I’m coming,” she decided on the spur of the moment, jumped out of bed and quickly slipped into her underwear and jeans.
“Can I borrow a shirt? I don’t think my top ...
” She didn’t need to say more, because he was already vanishing into his walk-in wardrobe from which he returned with a long-sleeved shirt.
It was far too big for her, but warm and dry.
Glad she had been wearing trainers and not heels, Shona slipped into her shoes and was ready to go.
Shona could feel that Kendrick was tense, but he maintained his calm disposition. “Shall we take the dogs along?” she asked as they reached the living area and slipped into their jackets.
“No, they’ll be better off staying here.
We don’t want them to panic or upset the horses further,” he said, and a glance into the living room told her that Orla and Higgins had no desire to venture out into the rainy night.
The wolfhounds were lying relaxed on the sofa and simply lifted their heads for a moment before going back to sleep.
Kendrick didn’t know if it was a good idea to take Shona along, but what could he do?
Rupert had sounded extremely stressed, and that in itself was highly unusual, so Kendrick didn’t want to waste time arguing.
Besides, any extra pair of eyes and hands could well come in handy as they were trying to catch and care for the frightened and possibly injured runaways.
From the car, he gave the animal hospital a heads-up.
His twin sister Kyleen was on emergency duty, and he explained about the storm and the likelihood of major surgery in the next few hours.
She assured him that the team would be on alert and ready to come up to Kirkby if needed.
“Are the horses in the stables okay though?” Shona asked when he had ended the call.
“They’re all fine,” he reassured her, assuming that Rupert would have mentioned it if that weren’t the case.
Beyond that, he could only hope for the best. He had seen plenty of horses that had seriously injured themselves when they panicked, even in their own boxes.
For a flight animal, a box could feel like a prison cell under certain circumstances.
He didn’t even want to imagine what could have happened if Azzedine had panicked.
They arrived at the same time as Marlin and Alex, whom Rupert had also alerted; Kristy and Hailey were already there.
Rupert looked composed as he briefed everybody on the situation: “Eight animals are in the open stable and Alice is there to keep an eye on them. Seven are gone. The fence looks bloody terrible. I reckon one or more must have tried to break through the fence and eventually succeeded, though I have no idea how. There’s quite a bit of blood so ... ” His voice faltered.
“We’ll find them,” Kendrick assured him, and Marlin nodded, his face grim and determined.
“What about Gandalf?” Alex asked, worried about his son’s pony.
“He’s in the stable and looks fine,” Rupert replied, and Alex let out a sigh.
“Okay, let’s fan out,” Marlin suggested. “Always in groups of two.”
Rupert nodded. “Have you all got your phones on you? And torches?”
“Are we going too, or should we wait here until they come back with any injured horses?” Shona asked Kendrick.
“Let’s go to the open stable first and have a look around,” he decided.
Rupert nodded his approval. “I’ve also rung Heather and George. They’ll be here any minute with their dogs. So yous two can stay at the open stable for now.”
“Are the other horses okay?” Kendrick enquired, pointing his chin at the large stables.
“I did a quick check, and they all looked well enough,” Rupert confirmed. “Marlin, Alex – do you want to take the forest? Kristy and Hailey, you can walk down to the lake.”
“Should we ride?” Alex suggested. “We could cover more ground and be faster, and maybe it’ll calm the runaways down to see horses and not only humans?”
“It’s too dark,” Rupert decided. “I dinnae want to risk more injuries. Especially with the last of the thunder and lightning. You never know, even the strongest horses might panic. No, we’ll have to do it on foot.”
They all set off in their assigned directions. Rupert went with Shona and Kendrick to the open stable.
“Have you talked to the owners yet?” Kendrick asked. Most of the open stable horses belonged to locals. “Maybe they’d respond better to their owners?”
“Good thought.” Rupert nodded. “Let me make sure which horses are missing first, then I’ll rouse people from their beds.”
“I can do that,” Shona offered, and Rupert seemed to realise for the first time that his youngest niece was also present.
“Thank you, Shon, I appreciate it. But let’s see what the situation holds first.”
They had arrived at the pasture and Kendrick was shocked when he saw the state of the fence.
It looked like a herd of elephants had crashed into it, and he had a hard time picturing just how panicked the horses must have been.
He shone his torch along the ground and the broken wooden beams and saw the blood. A lot of blood.
“Did you call the animal hospital?” Rupert asked as he caught his concerned gaze.
“Aye, they’re on call whenever we need them.” Kendrick took a few deep breaths. Catastrophising was not helpful right now; he had to take things at face value. One step at a time, and he would somehow manage to handle it all.
“Everything quiet here,” Alice greeted them, her voice shaky, as they met her at the open stable. Clustered around the hayracks, the eight horses and ponies looked reasonably calm.
Kendrick noticed that Shona was scrutinising the group along with Rupert.
“Spikey’s missing,” she exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.
“Spikey?” asked Kendrick.
“The old Shetland pony on which most the Fraser and Stewart children learnt to ride,” Alice explained sadly and took Shona in her arms.
“Okay, so Spikey is gone, and six others,” Rupert summarised. “Let’s phone the owners.”
“I’ll do it from my mobile so your line is open,” said Shona and asked for the numbers.
Meanwhile, Kendrick entered the stable and took a closer look at the remaining eight.
One horse had a deep scratch to its flank but seemed to be doing okay.
Given the time of day, he couldn’t tell whether any of them were lame or had bruises, but that could wait until the morning.
For now, they looked relaxed and were eating hay, which was a good sign.
Still, Kendrick felt restless and couldn’t escape a sense of foreboding that made it difficult for him to stay put.
While Shona and Rupert were making the calls, he returned to the fence and shone his torch on the ground.
So much blood! He knew that adrenaline could give extraordinary strength to any mammal when the situation required it, and injured, terrified horses could run for miles before their circulation failed and they collapsed.
But he had an inkling that this wasn’t what had happened here.
Whoever had lost so much blood was still close by.
Most of the hoofprints led in a straight line away from the pasture, but the bloody trail made an abrupt right turn towards a hollow of young conifers and berry bushes. In the darkness, he could hardly see beyond his own outstretched arm and only made painfully slow progress.
Behind him, he heard the clatter of hoofs and voices. Turning around, he could make out Hailey and Kristy walking towards the open stable with four horses. He turned to intercept them. “All good?”
“Aye, these were just grazing at Loch Leary,” Hailey said, shaking her head.
“Are they alright?” he asked.
“As far as I can tell, yes.”
“Then take them to the stable and come back here with Shona, your da and my doctor’s bag. I think I’ve got a lead.” He shone his torchlight on the ground and showed the two women the blood.
“Oh no,” Hailey muttered, and Kristy sucked in her breath. But they got their bearings and quickly led the four horses to the stable.
Kendrick wondered if he should go ahead but decided that waiting a few minutes for the others would most likely not make a difference, especially since he couldn’t do anything without his equipment anyway. And what he would be able to do ... No, let’s not think about it. One step at a time.
It didn’t take long before Hailey, Kristy, Shona and Rupert were by his side, and they wordlessly set off in the direction of the hollow. As they approached, they recognised the silhouette of a large horse.
“It’s Minnie Mouse,” Rupert said softly and approached the agitated mare. “It’s alright, beautiful,” he comforted her and patted her neck.
Kendrick approached cautiously. The fact that she was standing was a good sign.
Shining his torch along her body, he could not see any open wounds.
But the mighty Clydesdale’s chest was obviously swollen.
“Looks like she ran full force into the fence,” he muttered, and Rupert nodded. “But she wasn’t the one who broke it.”
“Spikey!” Hailey suddenly cried out. “Oh no, it’s Spikey!”
Kendrick hurried in the direction the scream had come from.
Hailey, Kristy and Shona were on their knees, surrounding a small brown pony that lay motionless on its side.
Kendrick could make out a deep, gaping chest wound.
One of the pony’s front legs must be broken in several places as it stuck out at an unnatural angle.