Snowfire Read online

  His herd reassembled behind him and ran west, away from ‘Iolani Ranch, toward the rain forest.

  Hot and wet, her sorrel body steaming from nerves and exertion, Hoku returned to Darby.

  “You’re okay,” she croaked to her horse.

  They stood together, unified by relief, love, and the adrenaline surging through their veins.

  As Hoku’s breathing slowed, so did Darby’s, and she began to wonder about Black Lava. He and his herd had been driven up the mountain by the Wildlife Conservancy so they wouldn’t drink the contaminated water of Crimson Vale.

  What if Black Lava had decided he knew best, and he’d followed the scents of sea spray and red lehua flowers, so abundant in Crimson Vale, toward home?

  When he was rested, would Black Lava return for ‘Iolani mares to replenish his herd?

  The ranch came first, Cade had reminded her today. And whether that meant not harassing cows with her inexperience, not regretting the sale of beloved horses, or not protecting a wild stallion who’d had his “last chance” several times over, Darby knew she had to tell Jonah what had happened.

  “Gotta go, girl,” Darby told Hoku.

  She gave the filly’s shoulder a loud pat and took off. She ran across the pasture, climbed over the fence instead of taking extra time to open and close the gate, and then raced for the trail up to Sun House.

  Darby had almost reached the top of the path when a pueo swooped out of the sky, dropping so low she heard feathers rustle. She’d seen Hawaiian owls during daylight plenty of times, but never like this.

  Light reflected off the inside of pale, fanning wings as the owl looked down at her. It hovered so close she saw the widow’s peak of feathers above lemon-drop eyes in a round face. And then it was dropping, talons extended.

  Darby ducked and crossed her arms over her head.

  What had gotten into him? Owls were supposed to be her family’s ‘aumakua, but this was no shielding ancestor. This was one insane bird.

  Finally the tumult of wings stopped, and when Darby opened her eyes just a crack to look around, the owl was gone.

  She resumed her run.

  Almost there, she thought, placing her boots as carefully and quickly as she could. Almost home.

  All the while, Hoku’s whinny echoed behind her, but there’d be time to make it up to her filly later.

  Panting and breathless, Darby didn’t see anyone around when she reached the level ground of the ranch yard. She turned toward Sun House, hurried inside, and plopped down on the bench by the front door to yank off her riding boots.

  She smelled curry simmering in the kitchen, but heard none of the cooking sounds she expected this close to dinnertime.

  Lining her own scuffed boots up with the others gave Darby a few seconds to think, but her mind was spinning. As she crossed the dim living room and headed for the lanai, she still wasn’t sure what she should say.

  Two men and one woman stood talking out there.

  Her grandfather, Jonah Kealoha, with his thick black mustache and pressed blue shirt tucked into khaki pants, paced beside the table on the lanai. He stayed silent, but something about the contained energy of his steps made Darby sure he was full of opinions. As she watched, Jonah stopped and crossed his arms, listening to Kit and Aunty Cathy, who were both seated at the table.

  Darby’s steps slowed when she saw Kit. The ranch foreman usually kept to himself.

  “What’s wrong?” Jonah saw her before the others, but they turned at her grandfather’s tone of voice.

  “We got the cattle to Upper Sugar Mills,” Darby started.

  “Yeah. Cade reported in. What else?” Jonah asked.

  “Snowfire and Black Lava were both—”

  “—here?” Jonah finished.

  Darby nodded as her grandfather smacked one fist into the cup of his other hand.

  “Snowfire was just chasing Black Lava, though,” Darby said. “Like, getting him off his territory, I think.”

  Aunty Cathy leaned her elbow on the table, then her cheek against her hand. From beneath her bangs her eyes narrowed, as they did when she was making calculations.

  “We’re a long way from Sky Mountain,” Aunty Cathy observed.

  “I know, but I don’t know why else…” Darby shook her head, then interrupted herself. “There are mares missing from Black Lava’s herd, but he’s probably just headed for home. I thought I should tell you he was here, though…” Darby’s words trailed off as she struggled for breath.

  “Did he go for the mares?” Jonah asked.

  Darby hesitated. She placed a hand on her chest, but Jonah wasn’t fooled. He didn’t believe she was trying to catch her breath. He knew she was stalling, trying to decide how much she should say about the stallion’s actions.

  “Speak up,” Jonah snapped.

  The next time, Black Lava might be fresh and finished with battling Snowfire. The next time, Hoku might not scare him off. The next time, he might goad the broodmares into a stampede through the wooden fence and drive them to his hidden realm in Crimson Vale.

  “He came over the fence and chased Tango,” Darby admitted.

  “The broodmares faced him down?” Kit asked.

  Darby nodded.

  “And Hoku?” Aunty Cathy asked.

  All over again, Darby saw her filly’s flashing teeth and sorrel satin ears flattened into her mane.

  “She stood up to him,” Darby said.

  “But you’re all right?” Aunty Cathy bolted to her feet and reached out to touch Darby’s disheveled ponytail.

  “I’m fine,” Darby said. “And Hoku is, too.”

  “Tomboy mare, that one.” Jonah winked, then reconsidered. “Someday a stallion’s not gonna back down. Then she’ll get herself hurt.”

  Darby swallowed hard and nodded. It was one of the thoughts that had driven her away from Hoku and up to the house. Still, she hated having Jonah, an expert, confirm her fear.

  She pretended to fuss with her ponytail, smoothing the strands Hoku had nuzzled loose. But Darby didn’t care about her hair. She felt sick as she thought of a powerful stallion turning his fury on Hoku.

  Aunty Cathy noticed Darby’s fidgeting.

  “Mares don’t always get the worst of it,” she said. “Most lead range stallions have scars from where they’ve been kicked by mares.”

  “Black Lava had a lot of injuries,” Darby recalled, picturing the stallion. “He had some bleeding cuts and a gash on his neck, plus the old scars on his chest.”

  “Been fightin’ Snowfire,” Kit said.

  When Aunty Cathy and Jonah nodded, Darby made the suggestion that had been brewing in her mind.

  “That’s why—besides the fact that we don’t want him around here—I was thinking we should help Black Lava and his herd get back to Crimson Vale.”

  “Wild stallion like him should be able to find his way home, even if”—Jonah held his hand up when Darby began to interrupt—“the tsunami and earthquake have changed things. And I’ll tell you, Darby Leilani, the black horse is better off steering clear of me. If I go looking for him again, it’s the last time.”

  Darby was scared for Black Lava until Jonah rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. That took the venom out of his threat.

  “So, how did Baxter do with the cattle?” Aunty Cathy asked. “We were talking about the rodeo when you came in.”

  “Really well,” Darby said. “He’s got the instincts to go after cows, but both of us need some work.”

  “We just got the list of events,” Kit said, tapping a piece of paper. “And Kimo thinks Baxter’ll do best in the ranch ones.”

  “Like sorting and doctoring cattle, and the trailer-loading race,” Aunty Cathy said. “And since Kimo’s ridden him the most and says those events are the most like what Baxter’s already been doing—”

  “I wish Kimo wasn’t too old to ride him,” Darby said. Kimo was only in his twenties, but the keiki rodeo allowed no contestants over eighteen.

  “
He and Jonah have volunteered to help as pickup riders,” Kit said, smiling.

  Darby would bet his grin reflected the good times he’d had rodeoing, because bull and bronc riders were often helped off their bucking mounts, or out of the arena by pickup riders.

  “Conch, Baxter, Hula Girl, and Lady Wong,” Jonah said, ticking the names off on his fingers as he said them.

  “What about them?” Darby asked.

  “They’ll show the best and bring in the best prices.”

  “Lady Wong?” Darby didn’t want to sell any of the horses, but this was the first time she’d heard her grandfather mention selling the gray Thoroughbred.

  “Showin’ the quality of our broodmares,” Jonah said.

  “But she’s not for sale,” Kit put in.

  I wish Baxter weren’t, Darby thought.

  “Don’t you think that people who see Kimo on Cash will want to come ride the cremellos?” Aunty Cathy added, and Darby nodded her agreement.

  Cash was a trim, mannerly horse, one of the cremellos Jonah had accepted from his sister, Darby’s aunt Babe, who owned Sugar Sands Cove Resort. Babe Borden had given her brother the cremellos with the understanding that he’d allow her guests to come ride them on ‘Iolani Ranch.

  Darby sighed, glad Aunty Cathy hadn’t meant Cash was for sale. Of course she hadn’t. She was the one who’d come up with the idea to make a little extra money doing dude rides with the cremellos.

  “It will be good advertising for both ‘Iolani Ranch and the resort,” Aunty Cathy said.

  By the way she said it, Darby could tell she wanted a little backup.

  “It will,” Darby agreed, and Aunty Cathy smiled at the same time Jonah groaned.

  He hated words like advertising and public relations. He wasn’t too fond of budget, either, and he left that for the ranch manager, Aunty Cathy, to worry about.

  “No complaining,” Aunty Cathy said. “You’re the one who came up with the idea to ride Kanaka Luna.”

  And it was a good idea, Darby thought. When they saw Luna, people would want to breed their mares to him or buy his offspring. The stallion was the undisputed king of ‘Iolani Ranch—beautiful, athletic, and good-tempered (most of the time). Showing him off made good business sense. She didn’t see any reason to mention how upset he’d been by Black Lava.

  The phone rang, and Aunty Cathy headed for the kitchen to answer it, rubbing Darby’s back with brisk affection as she passed.

  Darby’s mind darted between thoughts of the rodeo and Black Lava. What if the stallion’s wounds got infected? What if he’d lost too much blood?

  Jonah was staring off the lanai, so Darby took the chance to ask Kit a quiet question. “Don’t you think we should check on Black Lava?”

  Kit took his time answering, but that was no surprise. Darby had decided cowboys the world over were the same about slow, careful talking, at least the ones she’d met.

  “Seems like the Nature Conservancy wants the herd away from that Crimson Vale water.”

  “But you’re a wild horse expert,” Darby insisted.

  “Not like them,” Kit said. “I finished high school, is all.”

  “You grew up with wild horses,” Darby said.

  Jonah’s jaw was set hard. His mouth barely opened when he said, “He told you he’s no expert. You grew up in a house with running water. You call yourself a plumber?”

  Darby looked down at the wood boards of the lanai and shook her head.

  Jonah had been this sarcastic and mean when she’d first moved to Moku Lio Hihiu, hadn’t he? Why had she forgotten how to take it? More important, what had made him relapse?

  “Could I get Cade to go with me to check on them?” Darby asked Jonah.

  Jonah leaned back against the rail of the lanai, studying Darby.

  “He puko‘a ku noka moana,” he said.

  If there was anything more frustrating than being mocked in a language you didn’t speak, Darby didn’t know what it was. But Jonah usually couldn’t resist telling the story behind his sayings, so she waited patiently.

  “A large rock standing in the sea,” Jonah explained, but his translation made it no clearer.

  “I’m just looking for a solution to this problem,” she said.

  “The only problem,” Jonah said, “is that black horse keeps showin’ up where he’s not wanted.”

  “I’ll be okay if Cade comes with me.” Darby pretended she hadn’t heard her grandfather.

  “Cade’s busy packin’ Honi off to Dee’s place. Isn’t that what you want? So Miss Crazy Horse can come back up here?”

  “Yes,” Darby said, then studied the floorboards again.

  Jonah’s bad moods were contagious. She must not be the only one who thought so, because Kit was edging off the lanai, toward the door.

  “I could ride after them by myself.” Darby was only trying to give Kit some cover, but it didn’t work.

  “No, you couldn’t,” Jonah told her.

  “On Navigator,” Darby added.

  Just then Aunty Cathy returned, and Jonah gestured toward Darby.

  “Riding out into the middle of a wild herd all by herself tonight. How’s that sound?”

  “That’s not what I said.” Darby spoke quietly. “I can’t go tonight. Besides studying, I…well, since Honi’s well and going back to live with Dee, I can bring Hoku up to her own corral.”

  “About that,” Aunty Cathy said. Her smile was apologetic as she gestured toward the kitchen phone. “Our caller was Cricket.”

  Kit stopped moving toward the front door. He looked a little confused. Since Cricket was his girlfriend, he probably wondered why she hadn’t phoned the foreman’s house, or at least asked for him.

  “She wanted to talk to me and have me talk to Jonah, but since you’re all here, I’ll tell you together.

  “Cricket has to make room for more sick horses at the Hapuna Animal Rescue barn. Since Medusa is ‘maintaining her good health’”—Aunty Cathy made quotation marks in the air, so they’d know she was repeating exactly what Cricket had said—“Cricket wants to get Medusa away from the other, possibly sick, horses. If she’s exposed to something she has no immunities against, because she’s wild, it could hit her pretty hard.”

  Medusa was the first steeldust Darby had ever seen. Dove gray all over, she was flecked with black and white and named for her long, curly black mane and tail.

  She’d been Black Lava’s lead mare until the tsunami. Fear and injuries from sharp rocks had separated her from her herd, and for the last couple of weeks she’d been in quarantine at the rescue barn.

  “Makes sense,” Kit said.

  Darby heard his hesitation, even though he’d filled out the paperwork to adopt the wild mare.

  “So,” Aunty Cathy said to Jonah and Kit, “Cricket wants to know if we can take her here. Now.”

  Kit’s application to adopt Medusa must have been approved. Instead of celebrating, though, he looked tense.

  It was so quiet Darby heard Hoku neighing from the broodmare pasture.

  Darby suddenly knew why it was so quiet, and why Kit had just glanced at her.

  Cricket wants to know if we can take her here. Now.

  The only corral strong enough to hold a wild horse was Hoku’s. If Medusa moved in, it meant Hoku had to stay in the pasture down below. Her training would be put off even longer.

  Hoku’s lonely whinny came again, and when Darby looked at Kit, his expression had changed.

  “Well?” Aunty Cathy asked.

  “Course, it’s up to the boss,” Kit told her.

  Darby’s heart plummeted. Kit would go along with whatever Jonah decreed, but her grandfather would probably vote to keep his foreman happy. And anyone on the island could see that Kit was working hard not to show his excitement.

  Chapter Four

  Jonah didn’t turn around. He leaned his forearms on the rail of the lanai and stared at the rolling ranch lands.

  “Black Lava could be gone for good,” Jonah
mused. “And he might not notice us bringin’ his lead mare in here, even if he stays around.”

  A wild turkey called from somewhere. Jonah patted the rail with both hands, then turned to look at Darby.

  “You decide,” he said.

  “Why me?”

  “Who better? It’s your horse gettin’ wilder by the day.”

  “But it’s your ranch,” Darby pointed out.

  “What’s the difference between one pupule mare and another?” Jonah asked, but he kept talking and gesturing at the grounds below. “Goat over here. Pig over there. Dude horses carrying tourists who’ll cut trails into every acre of grass. Pretty soon I won’t even recognize this place!”

  Darby, Kit, and Aunty Cathy stood frozen at Jonah’s outburst.

  “Excuse me,” he said, brushing past Darby as he turned to leave the lanai.

  “I’m sorry,” Darby called after him.

  Her grandfather didn’t answer, and when she turned back to Aunty Cathy and Kit, she saw they both looked somber, but not surprised. Had the swooping pueo been a warning of bad things to come? Medusa moving into Hoku’s corral. Jonah’s temper. And what else? Wasn’t misfortune supposed to come in sets of three?

  And then it hit her. He might not mean he wouldn’t recognize the ranch because it was changing. He could be talking about his eyesight.

  Jonah had confessed to Darby and her mother that he had a condition that had slowly been robbing him of his vision.

  “Did he mean…?” Darby caught her breath. Though she was pretty sure Aunty Cathy knew about Jonah’s eyes, what about Kit?

  She didn’t have to ask.

  “Yeah, I know. Have since he hired me,” Kit told her. “Cade doesn’t know.” Kit’s tone was both cautioning and harsh, but there was something touching in it, too.

  “I won’t tell,” Darby promised. And then something made her look at Aunty Cathy.

  Head bent, she was buttoning the open collar of her sleeveless shirt as high as it would go. Then she put her hands on her hips and regarded Darby.

  “Jonah doesn’t want Cade’s decision on whether to stay here or go home to be influenced by pity,” Aunty Cathy said. “But I think this”—she gestured to the lanai as if the scene were still taking place—“was more about the concessions we’re making to the economy.”