Snowfire Read Free

Black Lava off his territory?” Darby asked, and Cade flashed her a look that clearly instructed her to be quiet.
    But it could be—she’d seen Snowfire, the wild white stallion whose herd ranged on Sky Mountain. In the midst of a volcanic eruption, he’d still looked mighty. Muscular and wise, with a long, curly mane, he ruled over Sky Mountain and would not welcome an invading stallion in his territory.
    A fight between those two stallions—Snowfire, powerful and smart, against Black Lava’s strength and youth—would be like a collision of thunderclouds, complete with bolts of lightning, Darby thought.
    When Hula Girl blasted a warning neigh northward, across the pastures, Darby knew whichever horse had lost that battle might have been driven onto ‘Iolani Ranch lands whether he wanted to be there or not.

Chapter Two
    C ade might have seen the steer first if he hadn’t taken Hula Girl on ahead, making her back up in a straight line, then perform a side pass, forcing her to think of where she was putting her feet, instead of the disturbing scent on the wind.
    But it was Baxter who sighted the steer, and jolted Darby from her daydream of wild stallions.
    Unlike the red Hereford cattle they’d been herding, this steer’s coat was a mix of brown, yellow, and black. But the most distinctive thing about him was a crumpled horn.
    The broken ends of the horn stuck up, ragged and discolored with dried blood.
    That injury has to hurt, Darby guessed. Thewandering steer was in no mood to be herded. He might have sensed Baxter’s inexperience, too, because he struck his cloven hoof at the grass, then lowered his head.
    Would he charge? That broken horn hinted he’d done it before.
    She wasn’t a matador and he wasn’t a fighting bull, but Darby was learning that range cattle were not the same animals she’d seen in storybooks and on milk cartons. Some—like this one—could be downright fierce.
    Baxter snorted and strained against the reins, trying to lower his own head.
    â€œA face-off is not a great idea, Bax,” Darby whispered.
    A horse and a steer wouldn’t really charge each other, would they? She tried not to think of a Spanish bullring, of sharp horns heaving gaily decorated horses off the ground.
    Darby shortened her reins even more, sat hard into her saddle, and made Baxter back away. “He’s just showing off,” she told the blue roan. “We’re not going to fight about it.”
    Cade’s high-pitched whistle blasted into the air, summoning Jack and Jill.
    Darby had forgotten all about the cow-wise Australian shepherds, but Cade hadn’t.
    â€œCome by,” he told the dogs, and they raced clockwise around the steer, bringing him toward Cade untilthe paniolo signaled them to move the animal to the Upper Sugar Mill pasture.
    â€œWait,” Cade said to Darby, as he sent Hula Girl between the two dogs, right on the steer’s heels.
    They moved at a lope, right up the hill and through the dense green grasses, about ten times as fast as she and Cade had moved the first bunch.
    Darby’s heart quit pounding and she laughed with relief. She felt a little embarrassed at the speed with which Cade could do the task without her, but she tried to concentrate on memorizing the many risks that could pop up if you worked with living, thinking creatures. Like cows.
    When Cade returned, Hula Girl was prancing and blowing importantly through her nostrils. Obviously the mare wasn’t worried anymore.
    â€œDo you think it was that steer—?” Darby asked, and maybe because he let her get only half of it out, Cade didn’t exactly answer her question.
    â€œShe’s okay now,” he said, nodding down at his horse, and he was right. Whatever danger Hula Girl had sensed had passed.
    As they rode down the mountainside Darby stayed focused on Baxter’s every movement. She watched his ears, the angle of his