Heart and Soul

Chapter 7

The next morning Mom came home from the hospital. Her arm was in a sling and she walked with a slight limp but other than that she seemed fine. The first thing she did was go right over the fence and call us. Paloma went cantering up and Vikingo followed at an easy trot. I, however, hung back; worried Mom wouldn't forgive me.

"Whiskey!" She called in a gentle voice. "Come here girl, I have to thank you."

I flicked an ear, then walked up slowly. As soon as I reached her she reached out and traced my star with her good arm, just like Blair used to.

"Thank you, Whiskey. Lord knows where I'd be if you'd tried to get up."

Then she limped into the house. Annie was very busy for the next week or two, and so our midnight rides were born. With very little time to ride me during daylight hours Annie developed a habit of coming out late at night and putting on my bridle, then riding me bareback.

One night she was riding me through a field used for foxhunting when I spooked at a coyote running in front of me. One snapped at my fetlocks and yet another dove for my hocks. A pack had us surrounded. Their ribs and hips stuck out painfully and one was missing an eye, the wound surrounding it swollen and infected. I reared up and Annie stuck on but I could feel the tension in her legs. I took off at a gallop, my head and neck stretched forward and my tail loose and streaming behind me. I trampled a coyote or two but not before one had torn the flesh in a deep wound on my cannon bone.

Adrenaline had me galloping through the pain and heading for that coop as Annie held on for dear life. She gave me the reins and I could hear her sobs as starving coyotes snapped at my tail. As I got closer to the coop I judged the distance and the size but, as I had never jumped before, my calculations were crude. Instead I simply jumped as high as I could. I cleared the jump with room to spare and heard Annie gasp.

"Whiskey! That was a three foot coop!"

I paid no mind to her words as the coyotes were slipping trough the surrounding fence. I followed an overgrown trail down a hill, shortening my strides as the path grew steeper. Too late I heard Annie's yell. Too late I felt her tug on the reins. I saw a gaping hole in the ground, and I gathered myself up, planted my hind feet, and launched myself over.

However, I misjudged the distance and my front hooves scrambled to find purchase on the ravine's edge as my hindquarters fell into darkness. My scream mingled with Annie's as we fell, later I would learn, seven feet into the ground.

I landed hard on my back and Annie came down a few feet away. I heard her breathing, desperate and shallow, to match my own heavy breathing. Over the blood pounding in my ears and my heart thundered in my heaving chest I almost didn't hear the quiet cries.

I climbed to my feet, carefully watching over Annie and listening warily to the whimpers. With a groan Annie raised her head, looking around. There wasn't much to see, what little light came from the thin sliver of moon hanging in the sky was weak and barely provided anything to see by, but I could hear and smell. And because of that, I could tell we weren't the only living things in the ravine.

When Annie finally sat up I pushed her gently with my muzzle. Come on! I urged. Get up! We have to go! I snorted desperately, pointing into the gloom with my muzzle. There's something here! I nickered quietly. But of course, she didn't understand. Humans never do.

Annie suddenly sat up straighter. I heard it too, the whimpers again. She got up onto her hands and knees, then stood up, leaning on me for support. I grabbed the back of her shirt.

Don't go! I whinnied, pulling her against my chest.

"You're fine, girl." She soothed, "I'll be right back."

No! I whinnied, my voice bouncing off the walls. Once again she failed to understand.

"We'll get out of here girl."

The whimper came again and Annie started towards it. I followed her, spooking at shadows or the sound of rocks kicked loose by me or Annie. I snorted with every breath and the bite on my cannon bone was really starting to hurt.

Suddenly something tangled around my legs and bit into my skin. I screamed in surprise and reared up, bringing the thing with me.

Annie turned around and her eyes got wide. "Barbed wire!" She whispered. "Why? We could have fallen into any other ravine, but we had to get the one where people dump barbed wire!"

I came back down and shook my head, snorting as the barbed wire wrapped tighter around my legs and pulled against the bite. Annie reached for my legs but I pinned my ears and reared up again. It hurt so bad, I didn't want anyone touching it.

When I came back down Annie held my nose band and looked me in the eye. "Whiskey, I need you to trust me. I can make the pain go away, but you need to trust me."

She let go and I lowered my head, the pain lancing through my legs was just too much to put up a fight. Annie reached down gently and untangled the wire. When she stood up her own hands were stained red with blood, both mine and hers.

She tossed the wire aside, then kissed my nose. "Good girl."

The whimper came again, this time weak and quiet. Annie's face screwed up and she looked very concerned.

"Come on Whiskey, we need to find it." I followed her, pretty lame and extremely worried. Annie looked in every crack and crevice we passed, calling in a high voice.

I heard a high pitched bark and Annie froze, then turned towards the sound.

"Here pup, pup, pup." She called. "Here pup!"

I backed behind Annie, making myself as small as possible and trying to vanish behind her. When Annie looked in an especially small crack by the ravine floor I saw her eyes go wide.

"Oh my God." She whispered.