The Fire Horse

Chapter 6 - Jacqueline

     I followed My down into the outdoor arena. The entrance was blocked by a small barricade with a sign that said "ARENA CLOSED!!!" We had a little fun and jumped the barricade instead of moving it. Shadow cleared the barricade at least a foot higher then he needed to. My led us over to the left side of the arena and said "This is what I found" I looked down and saw a hoof print. But it wasn't just a hoof print. This one was burned into the ground. I got off of Shadow and leaned down to look at it. It was definitely burned there. Even if you moved the dirt around it didn't shift at all. Shadow leaned down and took a look. "There was magic involved with this" he said simply as he lifted his head. I stood up and looked at My. "So you think..." I said quietly trailing off knowing she would get what I was saying. You never knew when somebody was listening and we didn't want others knowing about the fire horse. "Yeah" she replied "what do you think Nina?" Nina got off of Thunder and the pair looked at it like I just did with Shadow. "Yes" Thunder said "it's the only way this could be here, the magic in this is far to strong to have been left by Sabine's horse" "Yeah" Nina agreed "plus after Sabine kidnaping Justin Moorland the baroness would never let her into this ring". Suddenly Shadow spoke. "We are being watched" he said glancing back towards the barn. Everyone turned to look and we saw a horse bolt off into the Everwind fields, somebody riding on it bareback. "Go" I told Shadow simply and we took off after the rider, leaping over the side of the arena and down the cliff after it with no problem. We raced back around the barn out into the fields leaving the others far behind us. Shadow was faster then a normal horse and we raced in front of the rider blocking her path. I was surprised to see who it was. It wasn't any of our enemies. It was Kate. She looked terrified that I had caught her and moments later the others came running up behind us. "What, Kate!?" My said in confusion as she came to a stop. Nina who was right beside her was silent as Thunder glanced around the fields for danger. "Why were you watching us!?" I shouted at Kate. She sounded nervous but she replied. "Ok, it was my horse who left that hoof print! And I heard My on the phone saying something about it and I just wanted to know why Fox was suddenly so important!" I could tell by her face she had just told us everything. Shadow, who was very good at detecting lies, said "I believe you" Kate looked confused then said "Wait - your horse talks too!?" "Yeah" I replied laughing, not surprised Fox could talk. It made sense since it was clear now he was the Fire Horse. Shadow looked Fox in the eye and said "Fox, you are more powerful then you realize" "What?" Fox replied confused. "You are the Fire Horse" Shadow calmly said. "What? But I'm just a dressage horse!" Thunder suddenly perked up "Guys I think we should-" he started only to be cut off by Fox who was now freaking out. "T-there's no way! I don't even know how to fight or use magic! How can I-" his rant was cut off by Thunder neighing loudly as dark beams were shot at us. The peace we'd had since we got back from Valedale just couldn't last. I prepared to fight back but then I realized we were outnumbered. Ace was there but so were the Dark Riders! Clearly he'd been talking to Dark Core. But the most troubling thing was that somebody was riding him. It looked like- "Sabine!" My gasped as we turned to run. Outnumbered with Ace as a foe we decided to not take the chance. Besides we had to get Kate out of here. Nina was lagging behind because her and Thunder were trying to protect the rest of us since Thunder still could warp into Pandoria if things got bad. Nina still couldn't without his help though which worried me. Then a dark laser from Ace knocked Nina off her horse. It seemed to happen in slow motion and before Thunder could do anything Ace and Sabine suddenly vanished taking Nina with them. The other riders scattered and ran off. I had Shadow stop and looked back at the spot where Nina had disappeared. Thunder ran over to us with actual tears in his eyes. I didn't know horses could cry but Thunder looked very upset. I understood. I didn't know what I would do if that happened to Shadow. Shadow nuzzled Thunder and reassured him "We'll find her, and you'll sense if anything happens to her, remember?" Thunder was silent. I just stared into the spot where Nina had disappeared. But I knew it wouldn't help. I accepted the truth - I had no idea where my friend was.