Leslie and the Lion
A short story companion to The Green Meadow Series
By Jennifer Walker
Copyright 2012 Jennifer Walker
All Rights reserved.
Editors: Jennifer Walker/Michelle L. Devon
Cover: Farah Evers
The story herein is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously and are the sole concept and product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental. The author and publisher respect trademarks mentioned in this book by introducing such registered titles in italics or with capitalization.
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Leslie and the Lion
Leslie pulled her hair into a ponytail while she ran down the stairs. She had promised Holly and Alex she would meet them at the barn, and she had overslept.
"Leslie!" her father called, his voice floating up the stairs from somewhere below. "Get a move on. I need to get to an appointment after I drop you off."
"Coming, Dad!" she yelled just as she got to the bottom of the stairs. At the same moment, her father, Dan Clark, came around the corner, and she ran right into him. She started to fall, but he quickly wrapped his arms around her to hold her up.
He laughed and set her on her feet. "Well, now! I didn't mean that you should throw yourself down the stairs. Safety first, remember?"
She laughed, trying to catch her breath. "Sorry, Dad. I'm ready now."
Dan led the way out to the car, and they were soon on their way to Green Meadow, the riding stable where Leslie worked part time and took lessons from Helen Green, one of the area's best Arabian horse trainers.
"So what are the big plans today?" Dan asked while he drove.
"We're practicing for the horse show next week," she replied. "Alex was really nervous last time so we thought this might help."
"Sounds like a good idea. And if I pick you up at five o'clock, will that be all right?"
"That's perfect. We'll just hang out at the barn and clean tack and stuff after we're done."
They pulled into the driveway at Green Meadow a few minutes later, and Leslie's heart soared like it always did when she saw the emerald green pastures dotted with grazing horses. The parking lot was empty when they pulled in, and Dan pulled up close to the barn door and stopped the car. "I'll just let you out and go so I can get to my appointment. Have a good time and be safe, OK?"
Leslie rolled her eyes. "I always am, Dad."
Despite her words, she couldn't help but smile and her father's concern. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and jumped out of the car and ran toward the barn. At the sound of the car horn, she stopped and turned around to see her father looking at her expectantly. It only took her a few seconds to figure out that she'd forgotten to close the car door in her haste. She ran over and slammed it closed with a sheepish grin, and Dan drove away.
When she finally stepped through the big barn door, she saw that Holly and Alex were already getting their horses ready to ride.
"It's about time you got here," Alex said, grinning.
"Yeah, slow poke," Holly added. "We're almost ready."
Leslie rolled her eyes. "Sorry, guys. I'll go get Lucky."
She walked quickly down the barn aisle until she reached her horse's stall. She opened the door, slipped his halter over his nose, and then led him back to the crossties where her friends waited. Lucky seemed to sense her urgency, because he walked quickly beside her, his head up and eyes bright.
She patted him on the neck. "Gee, boy. I guess you need to get out for some exercise, huh? You must need to stretch your legs after your day off yesterday."
By the time she had him tied up and had started grooming him, she realized no one besides her and her two friends was around. That was unusual for a Tuesday afternoon, even during the summer.
"Where is everyone?" she asked.
Alex shrugged. "Helen and Julie must have gone off somewhere. No one was around when we got here."
"I think I heard Helen say something about going to look at a horse for sale," Holly said. "Maybe that's where they are."
Alex and Holly had their horses all ready to go, so they helped Leslie tack up Lucky and soon all three of them were ready to ride. They put on their helmets and led their horses outside and took turns using the mounting block to get on their horses.
Leslie looked up at the cloudless sky and closed her eyes to enjoy the warm sun on her skin. She took a deep breath of the clean country air and sighed. "It's such a beautiful day. Do we really want to ride in the arena? Why don't we go for a trail ride instead?"
Alex, who was riding in front of her, abruptly turned down the path that would take them to the trails. Leslie giggled and turned Lucky to follow, and Holly did the same.
"Well, gee, let me twist your arm!" Leslie joked.
Alex turned to grin at her over his shoulder.
Within a few minutes, they were in the woods. The sound of the horses' hooves was muted by the bed of pine needles, and the birds sang in the trees. As much as Leslie loved riding in the arena and training horses or practicing for horse shows, being out on the trail was always a welcome break. The three friends rode along in silence. Leslie let herself relax and listen to the birds singing in the trees while she looked around at the scenery she'd seen so many times but that always had little changes. That bush that was so full the week before seemed to have been trampled by some kind of animal. The mossy rock had four big cuts in the moss as though someone had come along with a knife and sliced it.
"That's odd," she said, breaking the silence and pointing. "Look at that rock. I wonder what happened to it."
She guided her horse as close to the rock as she could get, and Alex and Holly followed. They all stared at it for a moment.
"That is weird," Alex said. "Why would somebody do that to a rock in our woods?"
"Hard to say," Holly said. "Other people come in here all the time. Maybe they were sharpening their knife or something."
Alex turned his horse and led the way back onto the trail, and Leslie and Holly followed. There was something odd about the four cuts in the moss that bothered her, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was.
A few minutes later, Alex pulled his horse to a stop.
"Look at that tree," he said, pointing to a large pine right next to the trail. Its bark was sliced in the same way the moss on the rock had been.
"This is getting really weird," Leslie said. Her heart clenched with worry. "Why is someone doing this? What are they even doing in here? This is supposed to be private property."
"I wonder if we should go back to Green Meadow and call the police," Holly said. "This is creeping me out."
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Alex said. "Probably just some high school kids had a party out here last weekend or something. Come on. Let's keep going."
They continued along the trail, but suddenly the woods didn't seem as inviting. Leslie's nerves were on edge. Every snap of a twig or call of a bird caused her to jump a little. Beneath her, Lucky seemed to sense her nervousness. He arched his neck, snorted, and pranced along the trail. Leslie had to keep a tight rein on him to keep him under control. Ahead of her, Alex struggled with Fred, the school horse he rode, to keep him at a walk. When she looked over her shoulder, she could see that Holly was having the same problem with her horse, Sundance.
A few minutes later, they reached the place where the trail passed close to a stream. They always stopped to let the horses have a drink, and Alex steered Fred over to the water as usual. However, he stopped short before he
got there. Lucky was going so fast that Leslie couldn't stop him in time, and he ran right into Fred. Fred squealed and gave a little buck, and Lucky threw his head up and jumped to the side, narrowly missing Sundance. Leslie swayed in the saddle from the unexpected movement, so she grabbed onto a hunk of mane to stay on.
"What the heck did you stop so fast for?" she asked after she regained her balance.
"Sorry, Leslie, but look at the mud on the bank of the stream. Don't go too close or you'll step on it."
Leslie leaned forward to try to see what Alex pointed at, and Holly rode up next to her to look, too. None of the horses would stand still, and Leslie had to work hard to keep Lucky from moving around too much so she could see what Alex pointed at. She was just about to ask what he was talking about when she saw it: some kind of animal print outlined in the mud. There was a shape that resembled the letter M with rounded edges, and there were four small ovals evenly spaced in a curved line above it.
"What is it?" she asked. "It looks like some kind of big animal but I can't tell what. A bear?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alex shake his head. "It's some kind of big cat. I did a report on mountain lions in science class last year, and I think that's what their paws look like."
"I heard my dad saying there have been some mountain lion sightings in this area recently," Holly said, and her voice sounded oddly thin and high-pitched to Leslie's ears. "He said the scientists think it has to do with all the new construction. They have nowhere to go, so they're showing up around people more often than they used to."
Leslie's heart was in her throat, and she was vaguely aware of the reins cutting into her hands, but she couldn't loosen her grip. "Guys, I think we should—"
The sound of snapping twigs and a fierce growl kept her from finishing the sentence. A tawny face with amber eyes and tufted pointy ears appeared in the brush on the other side of the stream: a mountain lion.
All of the air left Leslie's lungs. She sat, frozen, unable to find the muscle power to move or speak or even to think. Suddenly, Lucky did the thinking for her by whirling around and running down the trail. Instinctively, she buried her hands in his mane and managed to hang on. She risked a quick glance over her shoulder and saw that Alex and Holly were right behind her on their horses, but she couldn't see if the mountain lion was still there or not. She faced forward again and concentrated on staying on her horse's back as he ran. She felt weak from fear, and her heart pounded painfully in her chest.
Lucky's long mane whipped in her face, and between that and the wind from their speed, her eyes watered so much she couldn't see where they were going. She struggled to catch her breath. She thought she could hear shouting over the pounding of hooves and snapping of tree branches, but she couldn't make out the words. She was vaguely aware they were going uphill and Lucky was starting to struggle a little, but she didn't dare slow him down in case the mountain lion was still behind them.
After what seemed like forever, Lucky slowed. Leslie wasn't sure how much longer she could hold on, and she fervently hoped they had escaped their pursuer. Holding on tight to her horse's mane, she stole another look over her shoulder. She could see that her friend's faces were laced with the same fear she felt, and their mounts' necks were covered in lather. She felt