Wild and Free #1: Freedom

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: GOING BACK

"Is everything okay?" Sable asks as Zanzeph approaches.

"No!" Zanzeph shouts. "Marista and Relment are..." He stops. But Sable immediately knows what he is going to say.

"They're still in the fire, aren't they?" He asks quietly. He knows what Zanzeph's reply will be, but he hopes that it is not true.

"Yes," Zanzeph says. "Marista breathed in too much smoke and fainted. Relment was able to stay with her, but when you showed up the herd became so excited that they flooded towards you, and I was unable to get back to Marista, or get to you to tell you to go back."

Sable's heart skips a beat. To think of poor, helpless Marista, covered in black soot, a raging fire surrounding her. Relment at her side, but unable to do anything for her. He can hardly stand it! He knows that he still has to be as brave as he can right now. It could mean two horses' lives.

"I have to go back," he tells Zanzeph.

"Go back? But it's too dangerous!" Zanzeph replies. "That fire could burn you to a crisp!"

"I have to go, though," Sable says. "There are two horses in there who need me!"

"There's an entire herd out here that needs you!" Zanzeph shouts.

"Just go in that direction," Sable says, gesturing towards the place where he last left Zedly. "There is a cave that you can all go into. It's perfectly safe."

Without another word the leader turns around, and rushes back towards the fire, leaving Zanzeph standing there with the rest of the herd.

Zanzeph shakes his head. "This new leader is very strange, Tellis," he tells a horse standing next to him, who is about the same color as him. "Jerrist would have cared more for the safety of the twenty-nine horses out here, than the two in there, even if one of those two had been his own daughter."

"Well, he did tell us a safe place to go," Tellis replies. "He knows that we can handle ourselves until he gets back."

"I guess that's true," Zanzeph says. "But there is still something different about him. It's as if everything here is completely new to him."

Sable runs through the fire and thick, dark smoke again. Though this time it's a lot tougher, for the flames are growing hotter and spreading faster.

"Marista!" He shouts between coughs and gasps, choking on the fumes. "Relment! Where are you?!"

Suddenly, he sees a large burning tree that is beginning to fall in his path. It is the tallest, thickest tree he has ever seen. It comes down quickly, and hits the ground with a loud, crackling Bang! and nearly crushes him. A branch from it scrapes across the left side of his face. He grunts in pain, but he backs up, runs full force at the burning tree, jumps high over it, and keeps running.

Finally, he sees Relment through the thick smoke. He approaches, and sees that Marista is lying on the ground, still unconscious.

"Sable!" Relment says upon seeing the young leader. He is excited to see Sable, but he is anxious and worried about Marista. "What are you doing here?"

"I came back for you guys," Sable replies. "I couldn't leave you two out here!"

"More like you couldn't leave Marista out here?" Relment says to Sable with a joking smile.

"No, you too!" Sable says. "I mean, you were the first one here to except me for who I am!" Sable has to chuckle a little bit. Here they are, in the middle of a raging forest fire, Marista unconscious at their hooves, and Relment still finds the time to joke around. It always puts Sable in a better mood, no matter what, to hear Relment's teasing tone.

Somewhere in the distance, the two horses hear another tree fall.

"Another one down!" Relment cries, getting more nervous by the second.

"Come on, we have to get Marista out of here!" Sable says.

"Help me carry her," Relment says. "I tried to, but I couldn't do it on my own."

The two horses try a couple of different ways to carry Marista, but the easiest thing that they come up with is to drag her out. Sable hates to do it, but it's the only way right now.

Finally, they come to the same tree that fell in Sable's path on the way in.

"Great," Relment says. "How are we supposed to get Marista over this tree?"

Sable thinks for a moment. "I don't know," he replies. "I think the only way is if she were to wake up and jump over it herself, like I did."

"The chances of that happening are about one in a billion," Relment says.

But to their surprise, as if she heard them, the two horses hear Marista groan. They look down at her to see that she is waking up!

"Wow, now that's a weird coincidence," Relment says.

"Marista!" Sable shouts excitedly, but Marista is still in a daze.

"Come on Marista, get up!" Relment coaches. "You need to jump over this tree in order to get out of here!"

Relment and Sable aren't sure if Marista even understands them right now, though, for she looks as if she is about to faint again.

"Maybe if you jump over the tree, it will show her what to do," Relment suggests.

Sable agrees, and then he again backs up to get a running start. He rushes at the tree, and sails over the top of it.

Marista watches him, and understands. She backs up for a running start, though she still looks like she is in another world. But she charges at the tree, jumps straight over it, and lands perfectly on the other side right next to Sable.

Sable's jaw drops as he watches this. As dazed and weak as Marista is right now, and she can still do something like that? He cannot believe it. Marista never ceases to amaze him.

It looks like that one jump was all that Marista could handle right now, though. She collapses at Sable's hooves, unconscious again.

Relment now gets ready. He backs up, and then runs full force at the tree. He leaps, and then soars over the tree.

"Help me with Marista," Sable says to Relment once he lands on the other side of the tree. "And hurry, the flames are getting bigger. If we stay in here much longer, we might not be able to get out!"

The two continue to go through the blazing forest, dragging Marista along, the smoke gagging and choking them. Finally they see the opening out of the fire, and they pick up the pace.

Suddenly, Relment spots another burning tree that is falling, similar to the one that they just jumped over. Only this one is bigger... a lot bigger. "Sable, look out!" He hollers.

Sable sees it too, and gasps. It would be impossible to jump over this one! The only way out of this is to race against the falling tree.