Born Free

Chapter 25

SkyFire's POV

" Hurry up, Rocky. Come on, Summit!" I urge the twins to follow me. They gallop after me, but since I'm older, I'm also faster. I gallop up the hill and stop at the top, looking across our large pasture. I spot my mother and Rose grazing beside each other, Ashka watching her twins carefully.

" You have to learn to slow down, Sky." Summit complains. I snort, head butting him.

" No, you two need to learn how to use those long legs of yours." Rocky gives me a quick glare as Summit starts trotting down the hill. Summit stops, looking back at us, and let's out a loud whinny. Rocky bursts forwards after his brother, those two are practically inseparable!

I graze on the hill, the smooth noise of the leaves on the trees nearby calming me. But my moment of tranquility is cut short by the quiet thumps that travel across the ground. I switch my glance to the horse that is approaching me, only to find Rose.

" Hey, Sky." She nickers as she walks up to my shoulder.

" Rose. I haven't talked to you in a while." She sighs.

" Yeah, I just felt that I needed to spend some time with the other mares. I also have some good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?" I look over at her, the evening sun making her eyes a beautiful caramel colour, with a couple golden flecks.

" How about the good?" She flicks her tail, the strands grazing my hip. She looks longingly back at the group of mares.

" We're leaving. Tomorrow when the humans leave to go to Jasper's show, you know, the show where they jump all those fences? Well, Jasper and I have crossed paths a couple times, and he has taught me a thing or two on perfecting a jump!" Her big eyes sparkle with delight. But the thought of Jasper brings me into a state of hate. He's been trying to take Rose away from me since she was 6 months old, and I was just a little older than her. He was almost two by then, but that was around 3 months ago. He's got this white and black spotted coat and the biggest horse ego ever. He's charming, obnoxious and the worst of all, another stallion. I'd be fine if he was a gelding, but I had some competition when Rose was old enough to foal. I knew that the humans wouldn't breed her at an early age, but I didn't trust the fences that kept him fenced in. Whenever he would walk by my pasture, he would always kick out at me, or lunge at me. Rose, of course, never saw. Another part that lifts my mood though, is that we leave when Jasper is at his show. He won't be able to leave with us, that prissy show horse. Rose looks back at me, catching my attention.

" And the bad news... We have to go through the forest. You know, the one supposedly filled with mountain lions and wolves?" I slowly nod, imagining two glowing yellow eyes hiding in the darkness. I shake the image out of my head and glance at Rose again, noting the glossy flick of fear in her eyes.

" It will be alright, I'll be at your side the whole trip. I'll protect you, Rose." And she does something I didn't expect. She leans forward and nuzzles my neck gently.

" Thank you, Sky." I nuzzle her back and we stand like that for what seems like hours. But it was probably only a couple seconds, cut short by her pulling away.

" The stable boy will be here though, Nick," She says his name in distaste.

" The one Aurora always talks about." She was right, my mother always said how nice he was and how he always had a gentle hand. Although, I'm not completely sure why Rose doesn't seem to like him.

" Why don't you like him?" I ask lightly, trying to catch her attention.

" He-his kind... They couldn't save my mother. And because of them... She's dead." She stomps her hood roughly, snorting afterwards. I step towards her once and she spins around, loping down the hill, past the mares and down near the creek. She stops, and flicks her head up twice, rears up with her legs lashing out at the air. She disappears into the tree grove, darkness enclosing her red coat. I look down at the mares, seeing that they are all watching me. I sigh and trot back down the hill, stopping at my mother's side.

" What was that all about, Sky?" I ignore her question and trot away into the darkness on the other side of the pasture.

------------- Aurora's POV

I wake up, startled, by the sound of hooves echoing down the barn aisle. I slowly turn around and watch Jasper get led past my stall. Wait, Jasper?! If he's leaving... then we leave soon. I nicker to him, a quick goodbye. He just lifts his head higher and add some more bounce to his pace.

" Typical, domesticated stallion." I mutter. He stops and squeals, backing up and kicking at my stall door. The human shouts once, tugging on Jasper's lead rope harshly. He struts his way past Ashka's stall and loads up into a trailer. I turn around and nicker to Sky.

" Sky, wake up. It's almost time." His head bobs up and as if he knew, Nick walks up to my stall. Halter in hand, he opens the door and puts my halter on, leading me out the barn. He puts me in the pasture, and makes his way back to the barn.

He finally takes Ashka's halter off and we all lope over into the small forrest in our pasture.

" Is everyone here?" I ask, looking around.

" No... no!" Sky raises his voice alarmingly. All the horses around us turn to him and wait for an answer.

" It's Rose... She isn't in the pasture."