The next morning, Sable wakes up to Relment nudging him with his muzzle. "Come on Sable, wake up!" The gray horse shouts.
"Wha-what?" Sable stammers sleepily, his eyelids still feeling heavy.
"Jerrist is moving the herd," Relment replies.
"Why?" Sable asks, shaking out his black mane and trying to wake up.
"Because someone spotted some bears not far away."
Now Sable is completely awake. He hears Jerrist let out a piercing neigh, and he spins around to see the leader at the front of the herd. Jerrist begins to run, and the rest of the herd follows right behind him, including Relment.
Sable heads after Relment, trying his best to keep up, but he can't seem to run fast enough. Once again his legs begin to feel tired and weak, and he is unable to keep up with the herd. Little by little, he eventually finds himself at the very rear.
Breathing heavily, he decides to give up. He stops running, already exhausted, and watches as the herd races away over the lush, green land. He looks around him, making sure that no bears are anywhere in sight. When he sees that he is safe, he collapses on the ground.
As he lies there resting, he suddenly hears something in the forest nearby, as if something is walking through the bushes and about to emerge right in front of him. Whatever it is, it sounds pretty big! The first thing that enters his mind is a bear. He jumps up, staring into the forest in the direction of the noise, preparing to run again, when he sees a white horse's head come out of the forest. He heaves a sigh of relief when he recognizes the horse as Marista.
The white mare steps out of the forest, and stops in her tracks when she sees Sable. She glances around, confused. "Hey, where's the herd?" She asks.
"Oh, well, they s-sort of... um, left." Sable stammers, nervous to be talking with Marista again.
"What do you mean?" Marista asks.
Trying to get a handle on his nerves, Sable attempts to reply more clearly. "Someone saw a bear, I think, and your father said he wanted to m-move the herd."
Marista's eyes widen "A bear?!" she shouts. "We have to get out of here!" She begins to run, but then stops short when a realization hits her. "Wait a minute... Why are you here, anyway, instead of with the rest of the herd?" She asks, turning to face Sable again.
"I-I sort of, uh..." Sable tries to think of a way to reply to Marista. If he tells her that he couldn't catch up, she might put together that it's because he is not really a wild horse, indicating that he was raised by humans. "I-I guess I just don't have v-very strong legs, so I couldn't keep up with the h-herd," he tells her.
The mare just stares at Sable, unsure how to reply.
"I-I'm a loner," Sable adds, remembering Relment's words in their first conversation. "I don't do a lot of r-running."
"Oh," Marista says. There is a moment of silence, then she asks, "So if you're a loner, then how come you want to get home so badly? I mean, it's not like you have a herd to get back to or anything."
"Well," Sable replies, trying to think of another reply that won't give his secret away. "I just... f-found a place that I really like, and I w-want to get back to it." He realizes it isn't the best reply, but it will have to do for now.
"Oh," Marista says again. "Because, I was going to say that you're welcome to live here, with our herd, if you wanted to. I'm sure my dad would grow to like you eventually."
Sable smiles at the mare's sweet offer, and then follows her as she begins to run.
"We need to get out of here," Marista says. "The bears might be closer now!"
As the two horses run, Sable asks Marista, "S-so, what were you doing away from the h-herd?"
"Oh, I was just looking for some breakfast," Marista replies quickly without even looking at Sable.
But Sable can tell by the look on the mare's face that she wasn't just looking for breakfast. Her face has an expression on it that he recognizes, for he has had the exact same expression recently. It is an expression as if someone is trying to hide something, like a secret. He thinks that, by the looks of it, she must also have a secret, and he hopes that, maybe someday, he will find out what it is.
Marista now tries to change the subject. "Look, there's the herd!" She shouts.
Sable looks ahead, and sure enough he sees the herd gathered close together not far ahead of them.
YOU ARE READING
Wild and Free #1: Freedom
General FictionSable is a young horse who was raised by humans. Claire, the little girl who takes care of him, is his entire world. He can't imagine a life without her by his side! But after a terrifying storm, Sable finds himself lost. After trying and trying to...
