Carnival 3

Carnival

Part 4

By BH
Copyright October, 2004

All TB characters are, of course copyright to Pearsons/The Bill.

However, the grey baulked at the sight of the hay manger - the rider's second attempt produced the same result and the steward signalled that the woman had been eliminated.

"I'm not quite sure what happened there," Ellie admitted, watching the grey being led away. "That logpile's an ascending spread jump - they're normally easy to clear because it's almost impossible to misjudge the take-off point… back in a second, I'm going to look around the other side."

She disappeared into the crowd and returned a few minutes later, a look of disgust on her face.

"They've only gone and put a ditch on the takeoff side!" she said indignantly. "Barmy. Absolutely barmy!"

"Is that bad, then?" Mickey asked.

"On a Novice course, yes," Ellie replied. "You're supposed to space out the difficult fences on a Novice course to prevent accidents and bottlenecks caused by relatively new cross-country riders. Ditches can be very daunting for horses, and in front of a spread jump it can cause horse and rider to misjudge when to jump - and a bad landing means a bad takeoff for that combination, which explains the number of refusals. Alex is going to have trouble with this section, I think. He and Bluey are a good team, but this part could only really be handled by an Intermediate rider - there'll probably be a number of complaints by the competitors about the difficulty level. I don't think they really did enough research before designing it."

"That's a shame - there must be a lot of people looking forward to competing in it and showing their stuff. It's a bit unfair if they can't do that because the course is not what they think it is."

Ellie nodded emphatically.

"They don't have many horse shows in central London aside from Olympia - most of the London riding clubs have to go to the surrounding counties to give their horses outings. Something like this should be a challenge - not impossibly difficult. Any event should be a day out for horse and rider to test their abilities and build confidence. On the bright side, it will be a rewarding course for those who have worked hard to improve their cross-country skills and succeed in completing the circuit."

Mickey jumped as his pocket started buzzing loudly.

"Excuse me," he said apologetically, fishing out his phone to answer it. "Hello?"

"Mickey - it's Vik, the Guv's just been called to start. He's just out of sight and going at a fast pace. I knew it! He's riding a horse called Pelham's Pride and his number is sixty-two."

"Cheers Vik - run round to the finish if you like, see how he goes!"

"I think I might, at that. See you later."

"Yup - bye!" Mickey replied, ending the call. "That was my friend at the start," he explained to Ellie, "he says that G…Alex has just started his round."

"That's good!" Ellie said enthusiastically. "He prefers going in the middle or near the end of jumping competitions rather than completely last - the ground is less churned up but it's also not completely new terrain. He'll be able to see where other competitors have ridden and where they've come to grief so he can choose which route to take around the course."

"Don't they have a set route?" Mickey asked, somewhat confused.

"Oh, they do - but there's many different ways that you can approach a jump depending on the distances and what else is in the immediate surroundings. Some approaches are quicker but more dangerous than others."

***

Cullen was in the quiet, focused place inside his mind - he had awareness of nothing but the reins in his hands, his legs against the rippling muscles of Bluey's sides, the fences and the terrain that lay in front of him. The first several fences had been fine, jumped clear - Bluey had taken to the course very well and he knew he was doing okay for time, but that tricky combination was just around the corner. He shifted in the saddle and loosened his grip on the reins, signalling to Bluey to lengthen her stride. Already the ground was being swallowed easily by her stride, and she felt so fluid beneath the saddle. He could tell she was enjoying the course and he really hoped that they would finish with a good time to add to the success of their first cross country event, in spite of the difficulty of the course. When he had walked it that morning his heart had sank upon encountering the combination and spread jump right before it. It truly was a formidable jump and he hoped that Bluey would confront it successfully. While it wouldn't be a major issue if she didn't, it would be a great bonus if they could pull it off, as well as giving them a good chance of winning the competition… and what a triumph that would be on Bluey's first outing!

They rounded the corner, following the hoofprints in the dirt. Straight away they were confronted with the red and white flags marking the jump area. Bluey's ears went back and Cullen felt his insides knotting up, but he urged her on at tremendous speed towards the spread jump because he knew that to slow down would give Bluey enough time to estimate the jumpoff line for herself instead of relying on his signals… and if he let that happen with a spread as treacherous as this, Bluey would land right on top of the jump and injure herself. He focused on the spread, judging… now! He leant back on the saddle, moved his arms forward to give Bluey the freedom to stretch out and she propelled herself into the air, clearing the jump with half a foot to spare.

Cullen braced himself for the landing, moving in the saddle to minimise the jolt as Bluey's hooves connected with the ground on the other side. He instinctively gathered in the reins as she cantered towards the next jump, shortening her stride, but to his dismay he realised that he had done it too early with the combination a good four strides away. He allowed himself a small amount of jubilation that she had responded immediately, gathering her legs beneath her so that she was all set for the combination… but mentally was kicking himself for misjudging the distance in his excitement at having overcome the spread jump. She was going to stop now, he could feel her slowing down to a trot in response to his signals - and it would be a refusal, he sighed inwardly. But still, it couldn't be helped - it was his own fault… unless… he gently nudged her sides with his heels in a wordless plea, and to his joy she responded to him, extending her stride just enough to reach the right spot for takeoff. He had little time to sit himself properly before she reared up to confront the jump.

It was from little more than a standstill that she launched herself, yet from somewhere she had found the extra strength needed to propel herself forward across the jump, her belly brushing the hay in the manger and her front hooves narrowly missing the water trough. They landed awkwardly on the other side, with just a stride and a half to the stone wall, but Cullen recovered his balance and urged Bluey on - he knew there was no chance that they could pull off such a jump again, so he was determined to get the takeoff point right this time. The wall stood ominously before the pair, an immensely solid and commanding barrier - but yes, they could do it!

"Go!" Cullen cried as he gave the leg aids, willing Bluey through the air as they arced over the jump to a huge cheer from the crowd. Bluey didn't bat an eyelid as they thudded onto the ground. She really was a fantastic horse - little fazed her, even monster jumps like the one they'd just confronted… and overcome! Cullen patted her enthusiastically and sped her on towards the final two jumps.

"Yes, they're going to do it!" Mickey whooped, punching the air as Cullen and his mount disappeared around the bend. "They're going to win!"

Ellie chuckled at his excitement.

"It's easy to get caught up in it, isn't it?" she said, her eyes shining with happiness. "He's done so well - Bluey was fantastic!"

"More than fantastic - they are the bomb! Nobody's jumped that section clear till now!" Mickey cried.

"All those months of training have really paid off - shall we go to the finish? He's going to be so ecstatic, I know it!"

Mickey nodded and they left the knot of bystanders to make their way to the end of the course.

Vik was standing at the finishing line on the forest edge, watching in wonder as immense, powerfully built horses cleared the jumps preceding it to carry their riders over the finish line. He knew little about eventing, but these elegant, black-jacketed riders seemed to be totally in tune with their mount's movements, faces beneath peaks of riding caps showing intense concentration. They seemed totally oblivious to everything but the jumps ahead and the ground thundering beneath them as they traversed the dirt track. The track at this end of the course was bordered by trees and a large, rusty fence - after clearing the final jump the horse and rider broke out of the forest onto the flat turf leading towards the finish line.

One by one the riders crossed the finish, dismounting to lead their sweating horses over to the time steward to find out how well they had done. He studied them as they went past - number forty-six, forty-eight, fifty-one… the Guv would be here any minute! Every now and then the steward tapped into the public address system set up beside him to announce another elimination. There had been many, and Vik had overheard riders discussing the difficulty of the course as they walked their horses to cool them down. Fifty-seven, sixty… There was no sign of sixty-one - he glanced at the time steward, who was shaking his head as he listened to his walkie-talkie and crossed off yet another rider from the list. Another elimination.

Vik shielded the sun from his eyes with his hand and squinted ahead - there was a rider approaching down the dirt track towards the final jump, coming closer and closer… sixty-two! Vik glanced at the steward, who was consulting his stopwatch and looking surprised, then back at Cullen sat upon the beautiful dappled grey horse, speeding towards the set of barrels making up the final jump. A loud cry echoed across the ground, turning heads.

"HELP! HELP ME!"

Mickey and Ellie heard the scream pierce the air as they walked along towards the finish line.

"Quick! It's over there!" Mickey cried, his copper dedication to duty kicking in as he swung forward faster on his crutches, following the high rusty fence bordering the course in the direction of the shriek.

Ellie felt the rumbling beneath her feet and reacted on blind instinct.

"NO!" she shouted, diving forward to seize Mickey by the shoulders, yanking him backwards.

They fell against the fence, Mickey crying out in pain as his ankle bent, the tattooing reaching a deafening crescendo. There was a moment of brief silence and then the fence juddered, a dark shadow appearing over the two as they looked up, petrified, at the dark underbelly of the horse soaring over them. They felt the wind whip over their heads as her hooves missed them by inches, impacting the ground with a thud and raising whirlwinds of dust that obscured everything. The tattoo of hooves on ground receded and the dust started to clear. As Mickey and Ellie slowly picked themselves up off the ground, the startled voice of the steward announced in scrambled tones from the loudspeaker,

"Number sixty-two, elimination."

The steward bemusedly crossed off number sixty-two from the list, muttering to himself,

"Totally barmy - he gets all the way to the end and then he jumps a 6-foot fence to deviate from the course… bonkers…"

However, there was nobody there to hear him, for Vik had gone.

Vik was sprinting across the hay-strewn grass - he'd reacted on blind instinct, running towards the cry, and had seen the woman fall to the ground after the man had struck her. Of course, the man had been somewhat startled by the sight of 400 kilograms of horse soaring over the fence to thunder towards him - he was running towards the horse-trailer parking area, but Vik could see Cullen was gaining on the man. Vik changed his direction, running towards the woman to make sure she was alright. Cullen would sort the man out - when in charge of a 15h muscular horse with iron-shod hooves he made a formidable foe.

Cullen was furious. He was NOT going to let a stupid mugger get away with beating up an innocent show-goer, especially after sacrificing his cross-country in the course of duty. He passed the fallen woman, noticing Vik Singh running towards her in his peripheral vision. Knowing Vik would sort her out, he continued his pursuit of the stocky man, who was making towards the rows of trailers where Bluey would almost certainly be unable to pass. This infuriated him and he kneaded Bluey's neck to make her go faster - she extended her stride but she was tiring after the strenuous jumping course, and it looked like they were going to lose him in the maze of single, double and triple trailers that were parked on the grass.

Mickey and Ellie watched the chase unfold, dumbfounded.

"What on earth's possessing him?!" Ellie exclaimed, shaking her head.

"The Guv's always taken his police code very seriously…" Mickey speculated. "Look, something's startled the thief, he's running away from the trailers!"

To Cullen's surprise, the mugger's escape route was blocked by the appearance of another horse and rider - a dark chestnut horse that he didn't recognise. The man made an abrupt left turn, running down the line of trailers while pursued by this new rider. Cullen turned Bluey to follow and the two riders cantered parallel across the grass after the man. The chestnut was much fresher than Bluey and was able to overtake the mugger, forcing him to change direction to go back the way he came. This was Cullen's chance - Bluey found the energy to make a fast turn in response to Cullen's leg aids and drew abreast with the man. Cullen dropped the reins and his hands shot down to grab the man's shirt collar, guiding Bluey by his legs alone. To the thief's surprise he found his legs leaving the ground, suspended by the horse's momentum. The other rider drew alongside to lend a hand, and the thief was hung between the two horses - well and truly caught with the woman's handbag in his hands.

"Oh, nicely caught, Guv!" Mickey cried, cheering his DI with one of his crutches. "C'mon, let's go see if they need help," he said to Ellie, starting to swing his way across the field.

Ellie groaned despairingly and followed him. Alex was completely incomprehensible to her at times.

"Stop," said the other rider.

Cullen gave the aid to Bluey and both horses slowed to a trot, then to a halt.

"Okay, okay," the thief said loudly, "I'm not gonna kick up a fight if it means having my ribs squashed by these four-legged sods."

"Shut up, you're under arrest!" both riders said at the same time.

They looked up at each other, finally able to recognise each others faces under the riding helmet.

"Cass?!" Cullen asked in amazement.

"Sir!" Cass cried. "Erm… what are you…?"

"I'll explain in a minute," Cullen replied as Vik came up to them, accompanied by the woman who had been knocked down.

The woman faced the two horses and immediately caught sight of her handbag clasped in the mugger's hands.

"Give me that, you git!" she snarled. "How dare you be so rude!"

Vik ducked beneath the head of Cullen's steed to retrieve the bag, grinning at the mugger's worried facial expression. Mrs Cowley-Robinson was a rather large woman with the muscles to go with it, and the thief was most probably glad to be suspended between the two horses where she couldn't get to him. Vik presented the handbag to her and was squashed in a rather bear-like hug.

"Thankyou so much!" Mrs Cowley-Robinson cried, hugging her handbag to her chest. "This has a lot of money in it and I would've been in so much trouble if I'd lost it!"

"Hey, I just came in at the end," Vik said sheepishly. "Those two did all the hard work!"

He gestured towards the two riders. She turned to them, her face one of profuse gratitude.

"That was an amazing display of riding by the pair of you - and all for my handbag! Thankyou for your help," she smiled at both of them, "if you don't mind accompanying me over to the collecting ring by the cross country I can arrange for you all to have a drink and some food, at no charge of course…"

Mickey and Ellie approached them.

"Alex, I'm going to murder you!" Ellie yelled as soon as she was in earshot. "You nearly jumped on my head, you hay-brained idiot!"

Cullen jumped, looking behind him.

"Argh," he moaned.

Mrs Cowley-Robinson chuckled.

"Is that your wife, dear?" she enquired.

"No, it's my sister - that's much worse than any wife," he replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Ellie stalked up to him and launched a diatribe about how he should look where he was going just in case he might be squashing his beloved sister flat into the mud, and did he think he was totally mad, putting a green horse through that kind of experience…

Cullen bore the verbal whipping with resignation, muttering his sorries and promising never to do that sort of thing to Bluey again. Cass giggled, Mrs Cowley-Robinson hid her smile and Mickey was nearly falling off his crutches with mirth. Mickey knew Ellie didn't mean it - she'd just had a nasty shock and was making very sure that something like that didn't happen again. Finally the tongue-lashing stopped, and Ellie punched her brother on the arm with a friendly grin.

"Okay, little brother, I forgive you - just don't do that to me a second time because I don't think my heart would be able to stand it!"

Cullen smiled and nodded very definitely. Bluey started chewing on Ellie's jacket looking for Polos. Vik had been on his mobile phone in the meantime. He looked up at Cullen.

"Guv, I just phoned the nick, they're sending someone down to sort out your bounty," he said.

"Hey, mine too, sarge!"

Vik looked up at the other rider, who he hadn't been paying much attention to, and suddenly recognised her.

"Cass! What the…"

"Yeah yeah, sarge, I'll explain once we've got rid of mugger guy here," she said, grinning impishly at Vik's astonishment. "Well, I know I'd love a cool drink so I'd love to accept your offer," she added to Mrs Cowley-Robinson.

Cullen nodded his agreement, sighing inside. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be near the prizegiving ceremony that would be going on in the collecting ring. He'd been that close… and what a triumph it would have been…

"Then a drink and some food it shall be!" Mrs Cowley-Robinson cried. "I wish there was some greater way I could thank you, but sadly the money in my bag isn't mine to give anymore."

Tony Stamp puffed up to them.

"'Ello, Vik - where's this mugger of yours?" he asked, somewhat out of breath from his run.

Vik pointed. A thought suddenly hit Cullen. Then his rather sad thought became reality.

Tony Stamp walked in front of the horses, looked up at the riders and opened his mouth to make a comment. Suddenly his face became one of quizzical recognition and his mouth stayed open in amazement.

"Erm… spare time hobby, sir?" he enquired. "Didn't know you went in for this sort of thing…"

Cullen groaned. It would be all over the nick by tomorrow.

"That was the general idea," he said mournfully, "but never mind."

Tony grinned at Cass.

"I know about you 'cause Sam told me on the phone about the parade, but the DI came as a bit of a surprise!" he chuckled. "Nice catch by the way, both of you," he added, reaching out to grab the thief.

Cass and Cullen released their tight grip on the man's shirt collar as Tony handcuffed him and recited the caution. Tony took down the details of the incident from Mrs Cowley-Robinson, who explained that she had some official jobs to do first but promised to come down to the station to give a full statement once she had finished at the Carnival.

See you later!" Tony called as he dragged the mugger towards the road where a Panda car was waiting.

However, as soon as he was out of earshot he immediately got on the radio to his colleagues with the gossip. By then the entire Carnival division of Sun Hill officers knew that Cullen was "a horsy type", and they would get mileage out of that for weeks!

Cass waved him off, following Vik, Mickey and Mrs Cowley-Robinson towards the collecting ring. Ellie left to fetch her daughters but promised to be back shortly. Cullen fell into step alongside Cass and the two swapped stories of why they were here, as well as general horsy talk. Cullen recounted his tale of the cross-country course. Cass winced.

"I didn't really do jumping, I was more in the dressage line, but that course sounds really nasty. You jumped it clear?" she asked wondrously.

Cullen nodded, then slumped dejectedly in the saddle as Bluey got closer to the collecting ring. He could see three horses in the collecting ring - first to third place and waiting to receive their prizes, no doubt.

"What's up, sir?" Cass asked. "They should have a clear round rosette for you even if your time didn't get you into the rankings - that's pretty fantastic for a first outing!"

"I didn't finish," Cullen mumbled.

Cass looked confused.

"But you jumped clear… you can't get eliminated if you did that!" she started to cry, but lowered her voice when Mrs Cowley-Robinson looked over her shoulder.

"I deviated."

"Oh…" Cass said quietly, her brain working to make the connections. "You went off the course to chase the handbag-snatcher, didn't you?"

Cullen gave a sad little smile and nodded his head.

"Had anybody jumped clear before you?" Cass asked.

"No… I was third-last to go."

"So you would've gotten a ranking at the very least… or even won?"

Cullen shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. I do my duty, whether I'm clocked on or not."

"But it would have been nice?"

Cullen paused, then sighed.

"Yeah, it would have been nice."

Cass patted his shoulder.

"There'll be others. You might have missed out, but you know what you did, you know what Bluey can do - who needs a rosette when you've proved it to yourself? I mean, there's that fence running around the wood - if you were still on the course then you would've had to jump that to get out, yeah?"

"Yeah…" Cullen said, frowning.

"And how high do you think that fence is, sir?" Cass said shrewdly, grinning at him. "Five foot? Six foot?"

Cullen looked back at the fence as they reached the collecting ring. Suddenly his face broke into a huge, happy beam.

"Six feet high… I jumped a six foot fence without even thinking about it! Bloody hell…" he muttered to himself.

Cass winked at him.

"Six foot, you say?" she chuckled.

"SIX FOOT!" Cullen whooped and gave Bluey a friendly slap on the neck. "You, my girl, are going to go all the way to OIympia!" he cried.

They reached the collecting ring but the press of people there to watch the prize-giving prevented them from getting too close. In the end they decided a better view was to be had while mounted, so they stood a few feet back from the backs of the watchers. Mrs Cowley-Robinson had gone inside the steward's tent. Vik stood outside waiting for her to bring out the food and drink. He heard her discussing the cross-country with the steward and a few minutes later the steward left the tent and headed towards the collecting ring. Mrs Cowley-Robinson came out shortly after with three paper plates full of biscuits and three plastic cups of squash on a wooden tray.

"Help yourselves!" she trilled merrily, handing the tray to Vik. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your names during all the ruckus that was happening earlier - what are they?"

Cass and Cullen introduced themselves and their mounts.

"I can't thank you enough, Cass and Alex," Mrs Cowley-Robinson said. "You've done a wonderful thing for me and I'm only sorry that I have to rush off. I've got to go and present all the cross-country rosettes and whatnot now but you're more than welcome to watch!"

Cullen nearly fell off his horse.

"Y-you're the judge?!" he spluttered.

"Why yes, of course!" Mrs Cowley-Robinson said, smiling at him. "That was all the prize money in my handbag that you saved - I owe you a great debt!"

"It's okay…" Cullen said weakly as she tipped her straw hat to him and walked off.

The CID officers shanghaied for the parade float finally managed to escape the ecstatic Reg Hollis, who was carrying around his glass "Best Carnival Float" award as if it were a tiny baby to be cooed over. They had had a good time, loathe as they were to admit it, but now their thoughts had turned to sampling the many delights the Carnival had to offer.

"Hot dogs!" Duncan Lennox roared triumphantly, eyeing the stand in the corner.

Debbie McAllister rolled her eyes. Scots and their food could never be separated for long. She was about to make a witty remark that would no doubt earn her a thwack from the burly Duncan, when she was distracted by the appearance of Des Taviner, his eyes alight with jubilation.

"Sarge, you've got to hear this!" he said with a grin.

The others turned to listen.

"Tony Stamp was on the radio just now," Des said, winking at her. "Your DI is down by the horse show dressed in tweedy coat, jodhpurs and riding hat, on the back of a horse!"

He laughed at the CID officers gaping at him in astonishment.

"Toldja it was too good not to share!" Des chuckled.

Debbie was the most gobsmacked of them all - it all fell into place now!

"Oh my God," she said slowly, then she started hurrying down the sideshow aisle. "Come on, we've got to see this!" she yelled behind her at the others, who followed, looking rather bemused.

Des chuckled, his part of the gossip-mongering done, and returned to his patch.

Vik and Mickey were falling about laughing at the expression on their guv's face as he watched Mrs Cowley-Robinson depart. Cass was grinning too.

"Didn't you know who she was?!" Cass asked incredulously.

"No, I bloody didn't!" Cullen said sourly, having gotten over his initial shock. "I'm a country boy, I don't know London horse communities. She might well have said something if my cross-country number hadn't fallen off somewhere between the course and here," he added, looking down at his now unadorned waist.

He reached down for a biscuit off Vik's tray.

"Guv!" Mickey protested. "Even I know who she is - she's the wife of the Chief Superintendent of the Met mounted police division!"

"What?!" Cullen choked around his biscuit

Everyone burst into fits of laughter again.

Cullen sighed.

"I really need to get out of that box of an office more often. Still, on the bright side it means there won't be any nasty comeback for the Uniform officers covering the Carnival - there would have been a bit of an uproar if the Chief Super's wife had been successfully mugged and there'd been nobody there to stop it!"

Vik nodded, wincing at the thought of the Superintendent's reaction if something like that were to happen.

"It's not really our fault though," Cass pointed out. "There's just not enough of us and the other nicks refused to lend a hand because it 'wasn't their patch', the gits."

They were interrupted by the loudspeaker announcing the start of the prize-giving ceremony. Mrs Cowley-Robinson was standing in the middle of the collecting ring, brightly-coloured fluttering rosettes in her hands. A large trophy was being held by an assistant standing next to her. The steward had a microphone through which he was announcing the winners over the loudspeaker, starting with third prize.

"That's interesting," Ellie commented, appearing beside them with her two daughters. "All the riders in the rankings had penalties for exceeding the time limit or for refusals."

They all applauded as each prize winner walked forward to receive their rosette. Much as Cullen tried to make light of it, he still felt gloomy that he wasn't in the collecting ring there with them. The dirty title of elimination conferred upon him meant that it was all out of reach - there was not even a clear round rosette for him to commemorate Bluey's fantastic effort with. He watched the first prize winner receive her cup to a loud cheer from the watchers. Still, he thought, at least he had bought a mugger to justice - and Bluey had jumped a six foot fence without a qualm. Six foot! He smiled to himself. Bluey was truly a fantastic horse and he promised himself that next time they would do it even better.

The CID officers, led by Debbie, joined the crowd at the opposite side of the collecting ring. With the maze of people in front of them they couldn't spot their DI anywhere.

"Maybe he's somewhere in all the trailers?" Kate Spears suggested, pointing beyond the ring to the rows of horse-trailers parked in the showgrounds.

"Nah, he'll be around here, I bet - maybe he's got off his horse and is watching in the crowd," Debbie said, scanning the faces of the watchers.

"Ladies and gentleman, I'd like to say something to you all today…"

Cullen looked up. Mrs Cowley-Robinson had the microphone and the winning horses were standing there with their rosettes, the first prize winner holding her trophy with pride. The watchers stood attentive.

"These riders today have overcome a very difficult course to get the reward that they richly deserve. To do such a thing requires courage, perseverance and a gritty resolve that it is difficult to find in abundance in the world around us. They have worked hard to earn their place in this ring, competing against over sixty other competitors."

There was applause and cheering, then Mrs Cowley-Robinson continued.

"However, those who did not make it into this ring are by no means any less courageous than those who are here. They have worked hard to train their horses, and though they may have just missed out, their absence in the winners ring on one day may well bring them closer to their presence in the next. Indeed, there is one rider in particular who is absent from this ring, who should be here - for he is the only competitor to have jumped clear throughout the course with no time faults. Sadly his efforts were countered by his elimination just before the final jump. However, the means of his elimination were certainly spectacular, for he jumped a six foot fence in the name of deviating from the course!"

There was a shocked gasp from the crowd. Cullen felt himself going bright red and all his companions were looking at him.

"The reason for this rider's peculiar behaviour was very noble and would not fall short of the chivalric code used by horseback riders in the old army days - I was being mugged at the time and he responded to my call for assistance by sacrificing his potential win in that manner. Not only did he head this mugger off, but with the assistance of a second rider, he did succeed in capturing him and retrieving my handbag which the thief had carried off. In doing so, the two of them saved all the prize money that has been awarded to the cross-country winners today, and so I feel that the courage and excellent horsemanship displayed by these riders should too be rewarded, in spite of elimination. Would those around me agree?"

The answer was a thunderous cheer from the audience, who drummed the fence-rails and clapped loudly. The riders in the ring also joined in.

"Then would Alex Cullen and Cass Rickman please step into the ring?" Mrs Cowley-Robinson boomed over the loudspeakers.

Debbie nearly fell down on the spot - what the hell?! The others whooped.

"Go, Guv an' Cass!" Duncan bellowed. "That's the wife o' the bloody Chief Super in the mounted division they've rescued!" he said to the others. "One in the eye f'r Superintendent Chandler!"

Vik, Mickey, Ellie and her daughters cheered Cass and Cullen on as they rode around the audience to the ring's entrance. They entered to even louder applause and cheering, coming to a halt in next to the other riders. Mrs Cowley-Robinson winked at them both, producing a yellow Clear Round rosette which she clipped to Bluey's bridle, and a white participation rosette which she put on Oswin Forestdale's. Cullen knew he had a totally idiotic grin on his face but he really didn't care. Cass was very chuffed with hers - she'd never had a jumping rosette before, and this was one that Molly wasn't going to nab for her bulletin board!

The first prize winner shifted her horse so she could lean over to Cullen.

"This trophy should've been yours, Mr. Cullen," she said ruefully. "I had a refusal and I got it - courses shouldn't be like that for novices, and if you jumped clear then you deserve it."

Cullen shook his head.

"You've worked hard for it - I was eliminated fair and square, and just being here in the ring is enough for me."

The rider smiled.

"At least join us in the victory lap," she said. "You're winners as much as we are!"

The second and third prize winners nodded their agreement.

Mrs Cowley-Robinson chuckled, reaching for the microphone. "These riders here in the ring today have done some amazing things with their horses," she said triumphantly. "Give them your loudest on the victory lap!"

There was deafening applause and cheering as the riders did the victory trot around the collecting ring, their mounts proudly displaying their rosettes and the first prize winner guiding her horse one-handed, holding the shining trophy up for all to see. As Cullen looked around him, seeing all the people smiling at the victories hard-won and fought well, with Bluey holding her head high and displaying her yellow rosette, he felt himself borne upon jubilation. Here, in the grimy, grey and crime-ridden suburbs of London, there was a little pocket of society who believed in the miraculous relationship between human- and animal-kind and the things they could achieve working together. He and Bluey were a fantastic team, and in the harmony between man and horse as they rounded the ring, he felt that he really was one of those miracle-workers. The sky was the limit!

The End

A gigantuous thank you to Avon for giving me all the editing suggestions for this story, and to the members of the old TBFF forum who gave me a lot of cross-country information. Also a big thankyou to jo_macq, who encouraged me with feedback and plaintive "When will I get to read the next chapter?"s to get my bum in gear and finish this once and for all!