Forever Wild (english)

Chapter 4

*Simone's POV*

It's been a couple of hours since the horses came, and I am currently brushing Sanchez.

Those poor souls are really drugged down. They have been keeping to the same corner the entire time, barely moving an ear now and then as I have moved around them.

I finish brushing Chez and puts on his bridle. At least I try to put it on. He is being really funny today and pretends to be a giraffe.

Most of the time he is an angel but when he changes his mood it's like being with the devil. One time we were trotting peacefully in the arena, warming up for a lesson. And the f*cker shot forwards and literally crashed in the wall. Like he was possessed.

And another time we were walking in the woods completely relaxed in out own little worlds. But he suddenly got all stiff and weird, before going back to himself. Only for a couple of minutes later to bolt away in full gallop. I was only lucky to be able to sit that through.

"Come on you big donkey" I whine impatiently. "If you don't want the bridle on you are getting stall arrest, and won't see the light for a week" I challenges with a pointed look.

I don't mean it, but that's not something he needs to know. I will never punish my horse just because he is a stubborn, little shit sometimes. He is allowed to have bad days, even as annoying it is to be around him then.

He looks at me for a while before slowly lowering his head. I quickly put the bridle on and pats him on the neck.

"That wasn't so difficult, now was it?" I laugh at him.

I lead him out into the sun and jump on to his back. I love riding bareback, and if I had a calm, collected horse we would be completely without tack. But he has a lot of energy, as he is in top shape after the competition season.

I am not going to risk my own life on something that stupid.

I don't believe I would die, but I will never know.

He has an active walk as we move through the forest. The birds are chirping, and in the distance, I hear a cuckoo. There's a light breeze, gently playing with my hair as we get to an open area.

It smells of warm forest, and pine.

I steer him to a smaller path, and just as e get on it he stops abruptly. His ears are pointing straight forward, his head held high, and the whole horse is stiff as a stick.

I look around and listen carefully. I can't see anything but all the birds have stopped singing.

Suddenly I hear the sound of a branch breaking, and see some birds quickly flying away.

"It's probably just a deer" I whisper to my horse patting his neck to reassure him. He doesn't pay any attention to me, only looking straight forwards.

The wind carries voices. Men's voices. Followed by more branches breaking.

"I'm pretty sure they were here" one of the voices says.

"They clearly aren't here now" another man says back. "But we'll keep looking, they can't have gone that far"

Of course it has to be the men looking for the wild horses. Why can't they just let them be alone.

I quickly urge Chez forwards and follow them into the woods. They are so caught up in searching forwards that they don't even notice I follow them with a horse.

Idiots.

"Look! There she is!" one of them whisper-yells to the others and point a little bit to the right. As if the horses wouldn't hear that.

They share some more word before splitting up to try and circle around the horse.

"Stay here boy" I tell Chez as I jump of and attach him to a tree.

I crouch down and silently sneaks forward. I have to get a good scouting spot for this interaction. And as they called the horse she, I assume this is the main horse they are after because of what that old man told me.

The mare hasn't spotted any of us yet. She's just standing there looking at the distance.

She has a beautiful mahogany bay body with full black legs. The only white on her body is a little star in the face.

Her mane is long, but extremely knotted, it almost looks like she has dreads. The tail is super long as well but is not as bad as the mane.

Her head turns towards where I am hidden and I am even more amazed. Her eyes holds so much knowledge and bravery, and I am almost certain that she knows I am here as she looks straight at me.

It's like she's staring into my soul. And that terrifies me.

We seem to be in a kind of trance, either are able to look away from the other.

It's a really magical moment, and I really wish I had taken the camera with me today. She would been such a nice model.

A branch breaks, and the mare looks away quickly. She's on high alert now, head held high and ears flickering in every direction.

The men must be close.

I can see some of the men on the other side now that I'm no longer looking at the mare. They are getting closer every second, but the horse stands completely still.

Like she knew exactly what to do and just waited for the men to walk straight into her trap. Even if it looks like they are the one about to capture her, the look in her eyes told me the opposite.

It's like she wanted the men to come here.

She wanted them to see her.

And she wanted them to fail.

And that's exactly what's about to happen.

She slowly turns around in a circle, looking at every single one of the men before she faces me again.

There's the eye contact again, and now her eyes are playful. She has the men right where she planned, and the corners of my mouth slightly lifts upwards.

I give her a short nod before turning around, letting go of the breath I apparently have held the entire time. She has got this in the bag, and I know she'll get away.

"Hey there boy. Time to go home now" I tell Chez while detaching him from the tree. I quickly jump on to his back again, and we trot back where we came from.

"Are you completely incompetent?! You were ONE throw away before capturing her, and you can't even manage to do that?!" one of the men shouts, his voice booming through the forest.

1 – 0 to the mare.

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Thank you if you are reading this story! You matter <3

Wordcount : 1139