Wild and Free #1: Freedom

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: A MISSING HORSE

"So, what's first?" Sable asks Marista as they approach the rest of the herd.

"First, you must count the herd to make sure no one is missing," Marista replies. She then lowers her head sadly.

"I remember doing this with my father all the time when I was a foal," she says, and then she looks up at Sable. "I know you probably don't understand my feelings, since my father was so terrible to you."

"No, I do understand," Sable replies, hating to see Marista sad again, but glad that she is still not blaming him for the accident. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love." He thinks of his mother, and when she was taken away from him when he was a foal, and a deep sadness briefly overwhelms him.

There is a short pause, then Marista says, "Well, shall we get started?"

Sable was so wrapped up in his memories, that for a moment he forgot what he was doing. "Oh, yeah..." He replies. "So, how do I do this?"

"There are thirty-two horses in this herd, including you, Relment, and myself. So just walk through the middle of the herd and begin counting. They'll know what you're doing, so it should be pretty easy."

Sable obeys, and begins to walk through the herd.

"Remember, if there are thirty-two horses, including you, then your total should come to thirty-one right now." Marista adds.

Sable begins to count, and to his surprise, every horse he counts moves away, making it easy for him to tell which members of his herd he has counted already, and which ones he hasn't.

Finally, he comes to the end of the herd. "Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty..." he says to himself.

"Wait, what?" Marista asks him.

"I-I only counted thirty," he replies nervously.

"Are you sure you counted right?" Marista asks, as a worried expression crossing her face.

"Yeah... I think," Sable tells her.

Marista now whips through the herd herself, counting a lot faster than Sable is able to... or faster than he will be able to count in a million years!

"You're right," Marista tells the leader after counting at what appeared to be the speed of light. "There are only thirty horses here!"

"Wha-what does that mean?" Sable asks, not exactly sure if he wants to know the answer.

"It means that someone is missing!" Marista shouts anxiously.

"Oh," Sable says quietly, for Marista's shout has taken him by surprise.

Marista now begins to panic. "Who could be missing? Why would anyone be missing?"

"What do we do?" Sable asks in as calm of a tone as possible, trying to calm Marista down.

"I don't know!" Marista replies. "No one ever dared to run off when Daddy was here, and nothing ever happened to them that would have made them unable to show up for the daily counting, so I have no idea how handle this!"

Sable pauses to think for a moment.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Relment says as he comes running up behind Sable and Marista. "I heard shouting."

"Someone is missing," Marista continues to shout. "and I don't have a clue how to figure out who it is!"

Relment thinks for a moment, and then says, "Well, I have an idea."

Marista and Sable both look at the gray horse, a little anxious to hear what he has to say.

"I remember when I was just a foal, and our leader Kelay reported that a horse was missing."

Sable smiles at the mention of Kelay, his mother. Relment wasn't very old when Kelay was taken away by that man in the red cowboy hat, but Relment sure remembers a lot about her!

"When a horse was missing," Relment continues, "Kelay would do a role call to see who it was that was gone. She had the names of everyone in this herd memorized."

"That's a great idea!" Marista replies. Then she looks at Sable. "I have all the names of everyone in this herd memorized, so I'll help you out. All you have to do is announce what we're doing to the rest of the herd."

Sable climbs to the top of the same hill he awoke upon. On Marista's signal, he lets out a loud neigh, just a little bit different than the one he uses for a wakeup call. The rest of the herd understands, and they gather close together.

Marista again whips through the herd, sounding off names to herself: "Copious, Tellis, Trone..."

After a few names, Marista realizes who is gone and gasps. "Zedly is the one missing!"

"Who?" Sable asks. He has only been the leader of this herd for two days, which isn't much time to get to know the herd well, so he has no idea who Zedly is.

"Zedly is an orphaned colt," Relment explains to Sable. "His mother died, for some unknown reason, about three days before you showed up."

"We have to find him!" Marista shouts, getting excited and worried again. "No horse has ever gone missing, since I've been alive!"

"And it's really bad when the horse that's missing is a foal," Relment adds.

"So, now what do we do?" Sable asks curiously.

Marista thinks, but then replies, "I... I don't know!" She now begins to panic again.

Sable hates to see Marista so upset. "Hey, don't worry," he says reassuringly to the anxious mare. "Maybe someone else in the herd has seen Zedly somewhere."

"I think I did," the three horses hear a voice behind them say.

They turn their heads around to see a burgundy-colored stallion coming towards them.

"You did?" Marista perks up a little bit. "Where did you see him, Zanzeph?"

"I saw him running through the forest last night, but I thought that he'd come back," Zanzeph replies.

Marista and Relment both gasp. "Zedly is in the forest?" Relment asks. "But there are bears, and no telling what else in there!"

Sable's heart skips a beat at the mention of a bear. He remembers watching Marista's father fight with one, but to think of a poor, helpless little foal face to face with one... it is too horrible to even think about. When Sable lived with the Timmonses, where he was safe behind a fence, he never even had to worry about this sort of thing.

"What should we do?" Marista asks, a sad expression on her face.

"There is only one thing that I can think of to do," Sable replies. "We have to go and find Zedly!"

Everyone stares at Sable.

"We?" Zanzeph squeaks. "You mean, we have to come too?"

Now Sable stares at Zanzeph. "Well, um... I guess I could go by m-myself," he stammers, though he hopes that he won't have to.

"You should go by yourself," Marista says to Sable.

Sable looks at Marista with surprise, though he tries not to show it.

"I mean, you wouldn't want to put any of the other members of the herd in danger," she adds.

"Oh... Okay," Sable replies. He figures that Marista knows what she is talking about, so he heads into the forest alone, though he has no idea where he is going or what he is doing.