Sophia Holmes and His Last Vow (Sherlock's Daughter Fanfic)

Chapter Sixteen - Silver Blaze Part VI

"So have you seen the Doctor again recently?" Beth asks as we hike over the moors. 

I look up from studying the ground for tracks and turn to her. "Not personally. He helped dad fake his death and close down Moriarty's network, but I haven't seen him since Baskerville."

"I still can't believe I met him - and Amy and Rory of course." She sighs. "I haven't told anybody about it. Nobody would believe me."

I smile. "I know the feeling. I spent a year amongst witches and wizards."

Beth whips around. "What? Seriously."

"Yeah," I chuckle. "We were hunting down Horcruxes - pieces of this dark wizard's soul - so we could kill him. It was a pretty rough year. Came down to Teignmouth at one point and considered calling, but we were being tracked."

"Wow," she breathes, shaking her head. "I had no idea. I suppose I might have guessed there would be magic in a world with superheroes. You helped catch Loki, didn't you?"

I bite my lip, thinking back to our time on Svartalfheim and Loki dying in front of me. "Yeah," is all I can manage, and I give her a weak smile. She decides to leave it. 

"So, suppose that Silver Blaze did break away, where would he have gone? If he'd run loose on the moor he'd have surely been seen by now. Perhaps the traveller theory's correct."

"No," I say, shaking my head. "Horses are sociable creatures, he wouldn't have stayed on his own - he would have headed back to his stable. But he didn't."

"Could he have gone to Mapleton?"

"Possibly." I narrow my eyes, then spin around, looking towards the other stable in the distance. "The ground around here is hard and dry, but it would have been wet in the hollow over there on Monday night. If Silver Blaze did head to Mapleton, he must have crossed it."

We change direction and make towards Mapleton, walking slowly so as to make sure we don't miss any tracks. The trickling of a stream catches my attention, and I walk towards it. This is the first sign of water between here and King's Pyland - if Silver Blaze had bolted, he would have been thirsty. I follow the stream down, checking its bank for hoofprints, then stop. 

"Beth, over here!" As she hurries over, I bend down to study the mark in the mud. "Aluminium by the looks of it. Expensive for a horseshoe, and too big for a Dartmoor Pony. Silver Blaze was here, you were right." Beth grins. "See, this is what places you above Hopkins: your imagination. It's the one thing she lacks. Come on!"

We continue on, every few hundred meters finding another print and following its direction until Beth spots a couple of prints close together, along with some boot prints.

"So somebody must have caught Silver Blaze," Beth says, crouching down to examine the prints. "It looks like they turned. Was it Mr Simpson?"

"No," I reply, standing back up after examining the boot print. "It's another walking boot - Brasher, going by the tread."

"So not Mr Straker either?"

I shake my head and turn, following the direction of the footprint. "Look, it turns towards Mapleton. I wouldn't be surprised if Brown or one of the stableboys found Silver Blaze and took him back there."

"But I thought DI Hopkins said they searched Mapleton," Beth says, confused.

"She did. But there's plenty of ways to hide a horse if you want to, especially if your horse is the second favourite to win the Wessex Cup."