Chapter Six
Puck
Today I walk out and saddle Dove with a lump in my stomach. I can't tell if it's fear or nervousness or maybe the tiniest bit of excitement. Sean Kendrick offered me a capall uisce if I want it and he told me to meet him out on the cliffs this morning to look the water horse over. Finn begged me not to go. Ever since that horrible morning with the piebald mare, he doesn't want me near the capaill uisce. But I promised him I would come home in one piece. And I will.
Dove is frisky this morning as I ride her out to the cliffs. The breeze is brisk and cold, but not freezing, and the sun is shining. For Thisby, this is a pretty nice day. When I get to the cliffs, I don't see Sean or his stallion anywhere. I start down the trail to the beach, thinking maybe he's down on the sand, but when I reach the bottom, I don't see anyone. This isn't the main beach where the other riders are training so it's empty this morning. I turn Dove back up the trail and head for the top. When I crest the cliffs, I scan the area for Sean again. I still don't see any sign of him. But I do see Bay Fisher astride a long-legged, gray capall uisce. A second, slimmer bay mare is picketed beside her. I know Bay is pretty friendly with Sean helping him at the Malvern Yards and hanging out with him in town. Did Sean back down and send Bay to meet me instead? For reasons I can't explain, I feel let down.
Bay hasn't noticed me yet. She leans forward in her saddle with her forearms resting on the pommel, looking out to sea and watching the seabirds wheel and call over the beach. Her sandy hair tugs free of her braid and blows across her face in the sea breeze. As I ride closer I notice a saddle, some bits of tack, and a jacket piled on the ground a little ways away. The jacket is Sean Kendrick's, there's no mistaking that. Even though I've only seen him a few times, I've yet to see him without that dirt and blood-stained coat. Some little part of me jumps in excitement that he's around after all. The rest of me frowns and urges Dove towards Bay. Why should I care whether Sean is here or not? At least he kept his word and sent the horse for me to investigate.
Bay doesn't turn her head until I'm almost right in front of her and when she looks at me it's with surprise, like she didn't expect me to turn up.
"Puck Connolly," she says by way of greeting. She doesn't sound friendly, but at least she doesn't sound antagonistic either.
Suddenly I get a discouraging thought. "Are you here to tell me I shouldn't ride in the races too?" I ask suspiciously, a sour tone creeping into my voice. I can't help it. Everyone, even Peg Gratton and Dory Maud, has been telling me to pull out while I can and get out of the races.
Bay pulls a face and shakes her head. "As long as you aren't here to tell me I can't ride."
Her answer catches me off guard. I'd nearly forgotten Bay was racing too. "No," I say honestly. "You can race all you want."
"Good," Bay smiles, then explains, "Sean thought you weren't coming, so he took Corr for a run. He should be back shortly."
I feel slightly offended that Sean gave up on me so quickly. But then again, if I were him, I would give up on me too. In fact, I don't even think I would even give me a chance. So if Sean has taken Corr for a run, I really can't blame him.
"Is that your capall?" I start a conversation for something to do while we wait. Even though I've known Bay since we were kids and have run into her in town often enough, I realize that we don't really know each other.
Bay grins. "This is Tempest," she says proudly, patting the stallion on the neck. Now that she mentions it, that's name I remember seeing written in chalk by hers in the butcher shop.
"Is he a Malvern horse?" I ask, knowing that Corr, much as Sean rides him, really belongs to Benjamin Malvern. Since Bay has connections with Sean maybe that's where she got her capall uisce too.
Bay bristles and narrows her eyes. "Tempest is my horse. I caught him myself. He's never belonged to Malvern and he never will," she says vehemently. I didn't mean to touch such a raw nerve with her and now I don't know what to say. Thankfully, we both hear hoofbeats at that moment, and look across the cliffs to see Sean galloping toward us, crouched low over Corr's neck. He rides the horse as if he is a part of him and I remember the warning that the old man told me in the butcher's shop. But even so I can't stop staring. Bay notices my gaze and gives me a funny expression. I can't quite figure it. Jealousy, maybe? Sean draws Corr into a sudden stop in front of us. He's breathing hard as if he's the one who's been running this whole time and there's a fire-bright light of exhilaration and hunger in his eyes.
"Kate Connolly," he greets me like Bay. Unlike Bay, he uses my real name. I'm not surprised though. It fits his strangely stiff, formal manner. Even so, I don't invite him to call me Puck. Not yet.
"I thought you weren't going to show," he says in his quiet, smooth voice. It's like the sea when he talks—so deceptively calm up front, but there's a storm inside just waiting to be let loose.
His blatant statement draws me up short.
"Do you want the horse or not?" he asks when I remain silent.
"I-I'll look at it," I stutter. My heart is suddenly fluttering in my throat like a captive butterfly against glass. I clench my hands on Dove's reins to make them steady.
Sean swings off of Corr and lands solidly. He glances at Bay and she nods, nudging Tempest closer to Corr until she can reach out and rub the red stallion's neck. It makes me realize that even though Sean is so familiar with Corr, he still can't trust him entirely. It makes me wonder if my decision to check out this capall uisce is a good one.
I slide somewhat clumsily off of Dove and drop her reins. I know she won't move unless she's spooked, but I'm counting on Sean to see that she isn't. Sean grabs the bay mare's bridle and pulls her over to a nearby rock. I notice that he keeps his palm solidly pressed to her cheek and I can see the edge of an iron bar beneath his hand. The mare tosses her head and whinnies sharply. At least, that's what she would've done if she had been any normal horse. Instead, her call sounds closer to a scream. Her eyes are wide and her ears tilted back. She prances in place as Sean holds her. Suddenly I realize that both he and Bay are watching me, waiting on me to mount the animal. All of a sudden, I'm reminded vividly of the piebald. I take one more glance at the bay's teeth—sharp and canine in appearance—and know that I would never want to ride her. Especially if I want to keep my promise to Finn.
Instead, I'm taken with an idea. A crazy idea, but one that will prove to me once and for all that I've made a good decision in Dove, or that I am way over my head and far out of my league. "Let's race," I say without any introduction. Still, Sean grasps my meaning and raises his eyebrows skeptically.
"You know the capail are much faster than your pony," he replies.
"Horse," I correct him out of habit.
"Taller and stronger too," Sean adds as if I never spoke a word.
"Just humor me then. You on that mare and me on Dove," I explain. "To the far end of the cliff."
Sean gives Bay a look like he knows something I don't but then he nods at me and mounts the bay mare. She dances agitatedly beneath him and he whispers to her. She calms fractionally, but her ears remain laid back and her nostrils are flared, taking in the stiff sea breeze that blows across the cliffs. I remount Dove and turn her toward the outer edge of the cliff. Sean brings the mare up beside me. "The capaill uisce run on blood, Kate Connolly," he says. "You'd do well to remember that."
I'm not sure what Sean means by that. Is it to scare me? Or is it a warning? The expression on his face is one of cold concentration but that same light of excitement still dances in his eyes. Only now it looks foreboding.
Bay rides up beside us, Corr pacing beside her gray. She points out a rock several hundred feet away. "To the rock and back," she says. Sean and I nod in agreement. Sean because I've never heard him say more than a sentence at a time, and me because my mouth is dry with nervousness. Bay counts us off and we take off. Dove starts out even with the mare, but it's quickly apparent that the capall uisce is outpacing her by a long shot. By the time I'm halfway to the rock, Sean is three-quarters of the way there and eating ground fast. I know Dove is giving me her best, but it is nowhere equal to the bay and I think Sean could coax more out of her if he tried. I start to despair of ever having a chance in the Scorpio Races and I wonder if I shouldn't just go back to the butcher's shop and erase my name from the board.
But then something entirely unexpected happens. I'm urging all the speed I can out of Dove when Sean's mare suddenly veers toward the edge of the cliff and the sea that lies below. Sean pulls her back on course, but she fights him and continues toward the edge, screaming wildly. I can see the tension that creeps into Sean's earlier relaxed posture. He's getting closer to the cliff edge and if he doesn't win the fight soon, the mare will carry them both over. I have to admire Sean's courage. If it were me, I would've panicked and been either over the cliff or thrown off the horse long before now. He rides the mare within a few feet of the edge, when it is apparent that she won't turn back, before throwing himself from her back. He rolls a few times to absorb his fall then lurches to his feet. His left side is covered in grass and dirt now, but otherwise he looks none the worse for wear. I ride up to him and trot Dove around him in a circle.
"Faster, stronger, taller, and more foolish," I say to him.
He gives me a look that borders on what I hope is a smile. "If you can keep your pony running straight, you just might have a chance, Kate Connolly."
"Horse," I say as Bay rides up to us. "And call me Puck."