Fire Maiden by Terri Farley Page A

front legs tucked beneath her.
    With Hoku content, Darby collected the loaf of pumpkin bread Aunty Cathy had made for Tutu from the kitchen, then rode Judge back through the pastures toward her great-grandmother’s cottage.Instead of being worn out by the ride, Judge took pleasure in exploring the Hawaii he’d only seen through fences.
    Sunlight slanted through the rain-forest canopy, looking like golden strings on a huge Hawaiian harp. The trees were alive with birdsong, the gliding of leaves on leaves, and the burbling of an unseen stream.
    Judge was equally mesmerized by the woods. His fuzzy ears pointed in different directions with each step. With wide nostrils, he sucked in unknown scents and savored them.
    â€œYou’ve never been past that fence, have you, boy?” Darby asked, petting Judge’s coarse black mane. “Anything could happen here.”
    â€œHe’s a long way from Nevada.” Tutu’s voice floated to Darby, but she couldn’t see her great-grandmother yet.
    Judge didn’t shy. He must have sensed the old woman and her horse on their way.
    â€œAloha!” Tutu called.
    Once more, Darby thought her great-grandmother’s voice belonged to a jolly lady of larger proportions, instead of an old woman who was as slender as a girl.
    â€œAloha,” Darby called back.
    Bare of saddle and bridle, Prettypaint entered the clearing. The blue-gray mare was old, but lovely. Her head nodded to the left side of the path, then theright, greeting throngs of invisible admirers. Silken feathers drifted above hooves placed with exquisite care, as if she bore a treasure on her back.
    Tutu rode in a billowing pink skirt. Her white hair streamed over her right shoulder. An owl rode on her left.
    â€œYes, Prettypaint, this is Judge. He came across the ocean with Hoku.” Tutu addressed the mare as if she were human, and Darby longed for her mother to see how Tutu had pampered the horse she’d left behind.
    Darby wanted to rush up and stroke the dusky nose the horse extended her way. She didn’t, partly because Jonah’s warnings were ringing in her mind, but mostly because she took her cue from Judge. The gelding hung back, head lowered in respect.
    â€œWe were coming to see you,” Darby said.
    â€œThis way?” Tutu asked. “Keep going along this trail and you’ll end up at the old sugar plantation.”
    â€œReally?” Darby asked.
    â€œReally,” Tutu insisted. “I wouldn’t encourage you to explore the plantation. At least, not alone.”
    Darby twisted in her saddle. The red-dirt path behind her looked so familiar, but just as she’d told Judge, anything could happen in this forest.
    She looked back as Tutu lifted the hand that had held a lock of pearl-colored mane. She gave a light clap. Hearing it, Prettypaint curled one foreleg up, slid the other foreleg ahead of her, and bowed, so thatTutu could slip off her back.
    â€œShe’s so graceful,” Darby said, then remembered what she’d carried from the ranch kitchen. “I brought you some pumpkin bread.”
    She leaned down to hand Tutu the aluminum-foil-wrapped loaf before dismounting, then told her great-grandmother that Aunty Cathy had made it and explained what she knew of her concussion.
    â€œI’m glad she saw a doctor,” Tutu said, “but she’ll be fine. That girl wouldn’t have lasted this long at ‘Iolani Ranch if she didn’t have a hard head.”
    Darby laughed, and when Tutu suggested they share some pumpkin bread while they talked, she sat next to her great-grandmother on a log.
    Preoccupied with keeping hold of Judge’s reins, she’d forgotten all about the owl.
    Drawing up on the tips of his claws as if he were about to take flight, the owl swept both wings toward Darby.
    â€œOther side?” Tutu suggested apologetically. She patted a place for Darby to sit on her right, then tsked her tongue.