Wild and Free #1: Freedom

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: ZANZEPH AND TELLIS

The sun once again begins to rise on a new day. It is the same sun that has been rising since the beginning of time; it will never change. Yet, as long as this same sun has been rising over this same planet, it always rises on a new day. No day will ever be repeated. Days change, as well as people change.

And, as well as people change, so do animals.

Sable knows this. As he stands on a nearby hill, watching the sun rise, he can feel how much he has changed, just in the few days he has been in the wild. He may still show, in some ways, that he was raised by humans. But it doesn't come out enough for the rest of the herd to notice.

Sable prepares to wake up the sleeping herd at the bottom of the hill. Little does he know, though, that one horse is already awake, and watching his every move.

Zanzeph watches as Sable rears up on his hind legs and lets out the loudest neigh that he can. "He doesn't neigh nearly as loud as Jerrist did," Zanzeph says, partly to himself and partly to Tellis, who is still half asleep next to him.

Tellis yawns. "It sounded plenty loud enough to me."

Zanzeph rolls his eyes. "Don't you get it, Tellis? There is something really different about our new leader. I mean, it's as if he has no idea how to be a wild horse!"

"I think that he's doing pretty good," Tellis replies. "You saw how he rescued the herd from that fire yesterday."

"Yeah," Zanzeph says. "But after that he went back into the fire for two horses who were unable to keep up, leaving the other twenty-nine alone in the forest! Jerrist would have never done something like that."

"Well, maybe you should give the new guy a chance," Tellis replies. "He may just have a different way of doing things."

Zanzeph glares at Tellis, and leans in close to him. "As my little brother, you may not understand this. But when something completely changes like this, I need to know what is going on!" Zanzeph's voice rises in frustration.

"Okay, okay," Tellis says, backing away from Zanzeph. "You don't have to shout. I just woke up, and you're already getting mad at me!"

Zanzeph rolls his eyes again, and then continues to observe Sable.

Sable looks down from atop the hill, and sees Zanzeph staring at him. Once Zanzeph realizes that the leader is making eye contact, he quickly looks away and pretends that he was never staring at Sable.

This causes Sable to have a weird feeling come up in him. He only met Zanzeph yesterday, but he always feels strange around him, as if this horse doesn't like him.

Maybe he'll get over it, he thinks hopefully. I thought that Zedly didn't like me, but it was just because he had something that he needed to get off his chest. Maybe something is bothering Zanzeph.

"Good morning, Sable!" He hears a voice behind him say, interrupting his thoughts. He turns around to see Marista coming up the hill.

"Oh, good morning," Sable replies with a small smile.

"Are you ready to count again?" Marista asks.

"Count? Again?" Sable says.

"Yeah," Marista replies. "As the leader, you have to count your herd every day, to make sure that they are all here."

Sable sighs. "Okay," he says. He then, once again, begins to count the herd. Everyone appears to be here. Even Zedly is here this morning.

As he nears the end, he comes across Tellis and Zanzeph. Tellis smiles at Sable, and then runs off once he has been counted. But Zanzeph only glares at the leader. He doesn't move away once he is counted, and he doesn't say a word. He just continues to stare.

Sable is a little taken aback by this. He decides to leave Zanzeph alone, and continue counting.

"Twenty-nine... thirty... thirty-one..." Sable finally comes to the end, relieved that everyone is here. He goes back through the herd, and finds Relment.

"They're all here?" Relment asks.

"Yeah, all of them," Sable replies with a sigh of relief. "But what's wrong with Zanzeph? I don't think he likes me very much."

"Don't worry about him," Relment tells Sable. "He has an attitude sometimes. Especially towards his brother."

"You mean the other burgundy horse that is always with him?" Sable asks.

"Yeah, that's Tellis," Relment replies. "He is actually pretty nice, considering that he constantly hangs out with his big brother."

Sable looks over at Zanzeph again, who has gone back to staring at him. And again, the burgundy horse turns away quickly once he and Sable make eye contact.

Suddenly, Sable hears a voice behind him say, "Excuse me, new leader?"

Relment and Sable both turn around. Standing in front of them is a beautiful, light brown mare. She has a small white spot on her forehead that is shaped like a diamond. She also has one white "sock" above her front, right hoof.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you in private," she asks Sable, and then she glances at Relment.

Relment gets the idea. "I'll go ahead and leave," he says. "Catch you later, Sable!" At that, he runs off.

The mare now looks back at Sable. "My name is Copious," she says, "and I would like to adopt Zedly."