Betty intently, silently watched.
Shaker, on Showboat, followed. The scent was stronger now.
Comet, bright red, crossed the open field, glancing at Betty. He moved to the easternmost edge, jumped on the hog's back jump and from there to the fence line. Balancing himself, he carefully walked northward for one hundred yards, jumped off the fence line on the far side, and slipped into the woods.
Tempting though it was to follow the fox and have her own personal hunt, Betty patiently waited for the lead hounds to appear. Three minutes later, they broke from the apple orchard. Four minutes later, the bulk of the pack pressed behind Cora, Dragon, and Dasher. Betty could now see Shaker cantering through the snowy lane between apple rows. As the lead hounds drew even with her, she turned Outlaw and kept with them about ten o'clock off of Cora's twelve o'clock. The field, slushy in parts, demanded a tight seat.
Hounds, much lighter than a twelve-hundred-pound horse, easily negotiated the terrain. They climbed over the hog's back, then stopped.
“Hold hard,” Sister commanded.
The field reined in behind her, a few bumps here and there, a few curses muttered under someone's breath.
“I can't find him. All I have is the scent on the hog's
back,”
Ruthie, excellent nose, barked.
“Keep calm, Ruthie. Foxes don't disappear into thin air
much as they want us to think they do,”
Diana reassured her.
The field fanned out to get a better look, Clay and Izzy togetherâunusual because Izzy usually rode in the back with her gal pals. Sam Lorillard kept well to the rear and couldn't see a thing. Gray, too, couldn't see anything in the middle of the people, but he thought it unwise to go too far out in the field for a look in case the hounds turned. Those people craning their necks could be standing right on scent, ruining it for hounds if enough of them tore up the snow and the earth underneath.
Hounds milled about for two or three minutes.
Ardent suggested they move along the fence line in both directions with a splinter group going ahead from the hog's back in case the fox had managed to make a big leap of it.
“Have to be really big,”
Delia mumbled.
“Who is to say he didn't hitch a ride. Target once rode
on Clytemnestra's back,”
Cora said.
“That's one story,
anyway. None of us ever saw it, but he sure did lose us last
season back in the apple orchard and we had him, had him
fair and square.”
“We'd see tracks. We'd smell the vehicle.”
Dragon had no time for speculation as he moved right along the fence line.
Tinsel, moving left along the fence line, eager, got a snootful of fox scent.
“He's here!”
Dragon, turning left in midair, raced to the young hound.
“It's Comet, all right.”
Hounds opened, their voices a chorus of excitement.
Sister waited for Shaker to clear the hog's back, then she took it as the field followed.
The scent lineâa magic trail of pungent delightâcurled just above the snow. The temperature, forty-two degrees now, allowed it to lift off, releasing the musky aroma.
The hounds passed through the woods as Sister found the old deer trail. Moving at speed, the dips and rises in the earth barely registered in Sister's brain. Her only thought was to keep hounds in sight and not crowd Shaker, blowing as he rode, encouraging his pack.
A ravine cut crossways. The fox cleverly dipped down, using the rocks to foil his scent. He didn't go all the way down into this steep cleft in the earth. Hounds overran the line, yelped with frustration, and then began the patient process of returning to where they first lost the scent to look again.
Darby surprised everyone by examining the first bunch of rocks, some large and smooth covering twelve square feet, little crevices packed with blue ice. He picked up the line, charging up out of the ravine. He was so intent on his task, he forgot to tell the others.
Ardent watched him, ran over to the rocks, checked it out, then he, too, picked up the line.
“Here we are, buddies. Here we are.”
He called up to Darby,
“Wait for the
pack, Darby. Can't go off on your own like that, even
when you're right. Steady there, fellow.”
Darby slowed as Ardent caught up to him. Within seconds Dragon, Dasher, and the lead hounds drew alongside.
“Good work,”
Cora praised him.
“Smart to wait.”
Darby, grateful to Ardent for saving him a tongue-lashing from Cora, put his nose down, lifted his head, and let out a song of happiness.
Hounds ran back through the woods, back under the fence line while the field searched for the closest jump, then back through the large snowy field, back to the base of Hangman's Ridge, where the fox disappeared. No scent. No anything. No tracks.
“This makes me crazy!”
Tinsel wailed.
“He's around,”
Trident said with conviction.
Hounds milled about, confused. Diana noticed a thin trickle coming off the side of Hangman's Ridge, a trickle spilling over black jagged rocks. Underneath that was a mass of elongated blue ice that looked like icicles had melted a little, then refroze, creating this imposing mass. The fox had gotten under the trickle, following it down, water washing scent away.
By the time she picked up his trail Diana knew Comet had put a half-mile ahead of her. But still, scent is scent. She opened. Hounds moved around the base of the ridge, moving southward and then turning west into the long floodplain that Soldier's Road bisected.
The field became strung out, thanks to the footing, which had tired some horses more than their riders realized. They'd been pushing through the snow for an hour and a half now. Even Jennifer couldn't keep them all together; Bobby Franklin soon overlapped the rear of the First Flight, which was their problem not his.
Sister raised her crop over her head then let it fall. Cloud Nine, quite fit and with a marvelous ground-eating stride, opened up, passing stragglers, passing through the middle of the field, finally coming up behind the knot of hard riders behind Sister. He passed Izzy, who was falling behind. Came alongside Marty and Crawford, both doing quite well. Cloud Nine stretched out, and Sam figured, why fight with the horse? He was moving out, loving it, and at least there were no bottlenecks. He hoped he could rate the big thoroughbred if he needed to. They had been working on that.
But Picasso had other ideas, flattening his ears as he heard Cloud Nine come up. Clay moved out of the way and up, hearing the hooves behind him. Ronnie, better mounted and really a better rider, asked more of his horse and got it, moving up until he was next to Edward.
Walter fell back a little, figuring Rocketman didn't need to get into a race. Then, too, this was his first season with this horse, and he wanted to know him better.
As Cloud Nine came alongside X and Picasso, the paint let out an ugly cow kick. Kicking is bad enough, but a cow kickâwhich is to the sideâis nasty. The hooves, packed snow dislodging in a squished clump, shone dully in the cloudy light. Picasso just missed his target.
“Idiot!” X, his face dark, looked at Sam. “You're a groom. Stay to the rear!”
“You don't fool me, you fat pig. I know you and Clay will cream the insurance money. Cream it like you creamed Mitch and Anthony,” Sam spat back, his voice loud.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Sister turned, hearing the commotion. “Hark!”
This had no effect on the two as Sam bumped Picasso, like a ride off in polo, before the massive paint could kick out again. Then Sam moved ahead of Xavier, but not before X caught him around the neck with his thong, choking him, yanking him clean off his horse.
Clay, the strain too much, lost it when he heard Sam's brazen challenge to X. He didn't stop to separate the two. He blew past Tedi and Edward, came alongside Sister, reached down with his left hand, and grabbed Lafayette's reins.
“Hey!”
Lafayette hollered.
Sister, cool, dropped the reins. “I'm sorry it was you, but I thought you'd take the bait.”
Clay twisted in the saddle to hit her across the chest with his right hand, but he had to swing across his own chest. He couldn't get a square blow. Sister squeezed Lafayette to go faster. He was a faster horse than Clay's, but Lafayette, head turned toward Clay, couldn't lengthen his stride.
“Steady, steady,” Sister spoke to her beloved horse.
Dropping her stirrup irons, she swung both legs back, then up for momentum, reached forward with her hands, using Lafayette's neck for balance. She half stood, both feet now in the middle of her saddle. Then she leapt over behind Clay.
Clay dropped Lafayette's reins, but the beautiful gray kept running alongside, calling to hounds,
“Cora! Diana!
Delia, Nellie, hounds, stop, stop! Sister needs you.”
Nellie, at the back, heard him.
“Hold up, hold up!”
She bellowed for all she was worth.
The hounds slowed. Cora turned to see Sister, behind Clay, one arm around his neck, the other straining forward for the reins, which she couldn't reach.
Savagely, Clay elbowed her. Her legs were so strong she didn't weaken her grip on his horse even though she had no stirrups.
Tedi and Edward, on fast horses, moved close to the battling pair. The field watched in horror as their master clung to Clay and the horse.
She jerked Clay hard around the neck; his hands came up, and his horse skidded, hind end going out behind him, sliding along the snow. The two humans rolled off, fighting.
At six feet tall and 150 pounds of lean muscle, Sister was a formidable opponent. But Clay was six two, middle-aged, and 200 pounds. He was getting the better of her, but she refused to let him go. He reached into his pocket with his right hand, brought out a trapper jackknife, and flicked it open. He rammed his knee in her back and then brought the knife to her throat with his right hand, clasping her with his left arm.
Before he could cut into the jugular, Dragon, the strongest hound, hit him sideways. Eighty pounds of fury knocked Clay off Sister. The knife slid across her throat, blood spurting over her white stock tie, sprinkling the snow as she sank down on one knee, hand to her throat.
“Kill him!”
Cora screamed. The entire pack swarmed Clay, tearing through his breeches, biting clean through his expensive Dehner boots, gouging his hands as he instinctively covered his own throat.
Shaker blew them back. They refused to obey. He galloped up, dismounted as Betty and Sybil came in. He saw blood on the snow and wanted to kill Clay himself.
“Leave him.
Leave him!
” The pack obeyed with outraged reluctance.
Clay, although badly torn, lurched for his mount, who had scrambled to his feet and was standing still. As Clay vaulted for his horse, Gray, riding faster than he had ever ridden in his life, caught up to Clay, leaned over, and knocked him down.
Walter jumped off Rocketman before his horse even stopped, tearing through the snow to Sister, blood seeping through her fingers as she clutched her throat.
Betty and Sybil took their cues from Shaker, who was standing stock-still. Walter was a doctor. If he needed them, he'd ask. Meanwhile, the pack, snarling as they watched Clay stumble toward his horse again, needed to be held in check.
Gray turned. As he did, Edward rode up. The two men got off their horses and grabbed Clay. Without a word Edward put his crop across Clay's throat, tying his hands with the long thong so that if he moved he'd choke himself.
Dalton Hill and Isabelle could be seen in the distance, riding for all they were worth to reach the trailers.
Ben Sidell didn't bother chasing them. He plucked out his cell phone, giving his officers the particulars.
Sam and Xavier stopped beating the crap out of each other. They crawled up on their horses and rode up to the debacle.
Ben arrived.
“Surface cut, thank God,” Walter said to Ben as he tenderly untied Sister's stock tie, rewrapping it around her neck as a bandage.
“Jesus Christ, Sister, you a rodeo queen or something!” Ben cursed out of admiration and relief.
She nodded, and Walter put his arms around her. She couldn't speak.
Tedi, also on foot now, having handed her reins to Ronnie, came over to see if her dearest friend needed help. She stopped a moment, the picture of Walter embracing Sister filling her with emotion. Tears spilled over her cheeks.
To herself she thought, A son has come home. To Sister she said, “Janie, Janie, let me help you home.”
“I can ride back,” Sister croaked. Her throat hurt from the cut and from the fight. She half whispered to X and Sam, “Thanks boys, well done.”
“My God, you're a hardhead.” Tedi threw back her head, laughing as the tension leached out of her, laughing because they were still alive.
“Good hounds,” Shaker's voice trembled with emotion.
“We want to go to Mom,”
Diana implored Shaker.
The pack inched toward Sister. Shaker, knowing them as he did, walked on Showboat to his master.
“I can still kill him!”
Dragon sang out.
Cora came up to Sister, looking up at the woman.
“You
okay?”
That did it. Tears flooded, and Sister knelt down as her hounds gathered around her, kissing her, rubbing up against her. Lafayette bowed his head as he, too, nudged her.
“The best friends, my best friends,” Sister cried, hugging and petting each hound.
By now everyone in the field was crying, even Xavier and Sam. Xavier looked at Clay. A lifetime friendship smashed, but another saved. He sobbed. He had at that moment realized how much he loved Sister, as did Ronnie.