My head was spinning on my trek back. The humans were eating dinner by a big bonfire in the center of camp. Horses were all hitched different places, chewing on the tough forest vegetation with little conversation.
When I returned to where I was formerly hitched (Baylor was a terrible knotter) my heartbeat was pounding in my ears. The mare did something to my head that felt like I had some other thought in the back of my mind. Not a conscious presence, not a presence that racked my mind, but a lingering being. I became aware of so much more. I felt like I heard farther, saw sharper, smelled crisper. My heartbeat pounded like steady, marching hoofbeats. It was a strange sensation.
I tried to analyze what the mare had said- rather, thought- to me. Maybe the other horse was there to see me, too. If there even was another horse. I didn’t see one. Excitement built in my bones when I thought of seeing the mare again. However, it was overtaken by fear when I tried to think of a reason she’d want to see me. I could be walking into a trap.
My mane twitched. I’d go to see her anyway.
“Jax?” A horse called from two trees over. I turned and walked over to him. He was the bearded man’s chestnut walking-horse. Up close, his melancholy eyes were even more familiar. “Were you the one who was out of camp the other night?”
I twitched my ear. He must have been out with the bearded man. Awkwardly, I responded. “Yes, er, sir?”
He scoffed. “‘Sir’ is what they call my master. Please, my name is Ace.” Ace. Why was that name so familiar?
“Nice to meet you, Ace,” relieved at his good-naturedness, I began to relax and take in his appearance. Contrary to my initial belief, Ace seemed much older than I. His sunken temples and grey flecked face combined with his lowered head made him appear tired and worn-- quite the opposite of how he appeared on the first day of the job. His eyes still puzzled me. They had a look I’d seen long before.
“What do you think of this whole endeavor here?” Ace tilted his head quizzically.
I felt myself being brought back to the first hours of my life. I felt my mother’s warm nose nudging me to my feet. A strong voice boomed warmly, What do you think? to which another voice, my mother’s, no doubt, responded He’s beautiful.
I felt another woosh, and I saw a dark-haired man examining a chestnut stallion, then turning to a woman and asking, What do you think? The woman nodded. I watched, willing my flashback legs to move and follow as they led the horse away. The stallion turned his head and gave a long, sad whinny. I felt my own voice erupting in a pitiful cry of despair. The stallion turned his head and looked back with sad, big brown eyes.
“Of the foresting, I mean,” Ace’s voice whisked me back to reality. I gasped.
I remembered his eyes. His eyes were the same as my father’s eyes when he was torn away from me and my mother.
“Are you...?” I trailed off from asking him.
“Go on, now.” Ace encouraged, “Am I what?”
I shook my head. “Nevermind. You just reminded me of a horse I knew a while ago. About the foresting, though, I honestly think we’re overdoing it. Why do humans need so many trees, anyway?”
He lifted his head and perked his ears. “Finally! A horse I can confide in! Let me tell you, every other horse I’ve talked to seems like they think this is a great advancement, so I can’t tell them what I really know.”
Puzzled, I lowered my voice, “What do you know?”
Ace looked around to ensure nobody was listening to us. “My master tells me things he tells no one else. He doesn’t think I understand. Huh! Humans! But, he’s told me what he’s doing. He told the other humans that they were harvesting a harmless three square miles of forest, right? Barely enough to do any damage? Well, here’s what he told me: he’s going to recruit another group of twenty or so men after this, and take another three square miles. He’s going to keep doing that for the whole forest. The entire thing, Jasper. The whole thing. Then you know what? He’s going to sell all the land to farmers, who’ll flatten it even more.”
The first thing that came to my mind was the mare. She said earlier today that she wasn’t alone. There had to be more like her.
“Why-? Nevermind. Humans act without reason.” I cut myself off. “But what about the things that live here?”
Ace shook his head, then uttered softly:
Only those with pure hearts and open minds can see the truth where evil lays hidden, and where magic is revealed.
