Born Wild {Completed}

Thunder Mountain Herd

Chapter 17

We keep walking and walking up the trail. The snow hasn't fallen yet, but it gets really cold. Our breath dances in front of us and our hooves make a clopping sound against the cold ground. It has been three days since we left the meadow and it just gets colder and colder. We know one thing for sure, winter is on its way.
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We finally reach the top of the snow capped mountain and look at the view. It's amazing, we have traveled above the clouds and the sun is shining. We are too high to spot a open field but as we travel down, we can spot a few,

" Okay, there is horses in that one, that one is free but it is no where close to the creek. The one beside the horses is open but still is close to their herd. The one across the forest seems perfect and free. What do you think?" He asks Yogi and I.

"The one across the forest." He says, I nod my head and we make our way down the narrow, steep, zig-zagging path.

We get there and it has a flowing creek, is shaded by trees, has a few patches of grass showing and is a bit close to the other herd. Wildfire and Yogi get the place set up and I walk over to the herd. I can see distant horses and I whinny to the herd. A few of them pop their heads up and a horse comes loping over. It is a stallion, a chestnut stallion. He stops in front of me and walks in a circle around me, almost checking me out.

" Well, Hello my dear. My name is Kai, leader of the Thunder Mountain Herd. What brings you down the mountain?" He asks.

" My name is Willow, my stallion and I have found a foal on the other side of the mountain and we are trying to find his herd. Also, we needed a place to go, or else we could've been caught in a snow slide." He looks anxious.

" Where did you find this foal? What colour is it?" He desperately asks.

" It's a colt, I saved him from drowning in a river and he is a chestnut paint." He turns and neighs to the herd and a black paint mate gallops over.

" What is it, Kai?" He points to me with his muzzle.

" Star, I think Willow found our foal."

"Really?!" She anxiously asks.

" Yeah, I could take him to you if you'd like?" I offer, she takes it up immediately and we lope over to our place.

" Wildfire?! I need you to meet someone." I whinny. He comes trotting out of the forest and introduces himself.

" Hi, I'm Wildfire. I heard you were looking for a foal? We named him Yogi because he didn't remember his name. I'd you don't mind." They both nod and anxiously wait as I call him.

" Yogi! Come here!" I whinny. He comes trotting out and doesn't notice Kai or Star.

"What is i-" He doesn't finish his sentence because he looks up at the two horses and nickers to them. Star nuzzles him and talks.

" Oh, my dear. We thought we lost you! Why did you run off?" He looks up at his dam and explains.

" Well, I was going to get a drink of water but some coyotes chased me away and up the mountain. I fell into a river and I would've drowned if Willow hadn't saved me. They kept me warm and cozy when I was almost dead because the water was so cold." He nuzzles me and looks up at his sire. Yogi nuzzles his sire and asks if he can go see his friends. They let him gallop back to the herd, Star and Kai stay and want to talk.

" Thank you so much! How can we repay you? Would you like to join our herd?" Star nickers.

" Trust us, we used to stay in that grove and it was terrible. The snow kept falling off of the branches and almost killed a foal." He nuzzles me. Wildfire stomps a warning.

" Oh, well, thank you so much. We would love to. It's just us anyway." I say before Wildfire could say anything. We lope over to the herd and get to know everyone. There is a palomino mare with a palomino foal, her name is Sunny and her foals name is Dare. There is a dapple grey mare with black twins, her name is Dapple and her foals names are Sundance and Dawn, there is a younger stallion, he is a bay roan and his name is Artex. There is a pregnant black snowflake appaloosa named Silver and a big, grullo stallion named Kaspar. now, Kaspar was one of a kind. he has a long black and white streaked mane, same with his tail, he seems to not really belong originally to this herd because nobody else is close to his coat. When Wildfire was talking to Silver and Sunny I walked over to Kaspar and started a conversation.

" Hey, my name is Willow. I saw you and noticed you are the only grullo horse here." he nickers to me and speaks with a strong, deep voice.

" Yes, I am the only grullo horse here. Because Kai rescued me in a snow storm five years ago. Almost all of my herd died due to hypothermia or starvation. Everyone except for my dam, my sister and my sire. We all were a strong generation of horses, almost immune to all colds or sickness'. Then another winter came and my sire died. After that, my sister Bella got captured by two leggeds. So it was just my dam and I alone in the winter. When spring arrived, my mother, Grane, found a herd but the stallion didn't want me so he took my mother and she left her little son alone to fend for himself. I was only two and didn't know how to survive by myself." I got a strange feeling when he said 'Bella' so I ask about his family.

" So what was your family names? What did they look like?" I ask, trying not to pry.

" My sire was named Mingo and my dam named Grane. It means 'grey color'. My dam was a grullo and my sire was a dapple grey, my sister took after my sires grey coat and I took on my dams grullo coat. Why? Do you know Bella?" he pushes.

" I think so, I too was captured by humans and I saw her. She is such a nice mare." he sighs in relief and nuzzles me unexpectedly.

" Thank you." he stays nuzzled.

" For what?" I ask. He looks at me with relief in his eyes and voice.

" For letting me know that my sister was and is alive." We pull apart and I walk over to graze, he follows. After I ate my fill, I walk over to the cool river. He tries to follow but a mare I havent seen before pins her ears and he trots away, she walks over to me. She is a palomino overo paint and she has blue eyes,

" Hello. I'm Asha, you are?" she says, looking down because of her height.

" Willow, I havent seen you here before. Are you apart of this herd?" I ask.

" I usually say in my part of the forest. Yes, I am apart of this herd. Kai used to be my mate, but then Star needed a herd and he immediately fell for her and accepted her." she dips her muzzle into the almost frozen river and I drink.

" I'm so sorry, I-I didn't know. Is there anything I can do?" I ask.

" No, no. Its fine. You never met me, ok?" she orders.

" Why? I did meet you. Why do yo-" she cuts me off.

" NO, you didn't! You cant tell Kai. Forget about me." and with that, she gallops off into the forest.
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I walk back to the herd, Star trots up to me,

" Hey! I was wondering.... hey, what's up?" she asks, nudging me.

" N-Nothing. I'm just tired." I walk away. Wildfire is still talking to Silver and Sunny so I try to join the conversation.

" Well, my coat has spots. and I got them from my mother." Silver announces.

" My coat is more shiny." Sunny whinnies.

" Both your coats are stunning. Listen, you're an appaloosa, and you're a palomino. Appaloosa's are supposed to have beautiful spots. Most of the time.  And palomino's are a great golden color. Now stop fighting over each others coats." Wildfire exclaims. they both nuzzle each other in apology and walk away.

It starts to turn dark and Wildfire and I bed down close to the herd. I dream of galloping through fields and meadows, I dream of finding the herd again.

Authors Note:
Hey! Thank You all for reading and voting! It means soooo much!
-Acacia
{Edited}