Wild and Free #1: Freedom

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: CLANDRI

Sable and Marista continue to follow the neigh that Marista heard. As they run, they come out of the forest and into a large, grassy clearing. They both stop.

Marista scans her eyes across the wide-open meadow. Straight ahead of them, something catches her eye. She sees a small foal turn around quickly, and run off deeper into the forest.

"There he is!" She tells Sable. She begins to run again, in Zedly's direction.

Sable chases after her, though he is completely worn out from all this running. He begins to slow down, but Marista speeds up. She, like Zedly, was born in the wild. But she is also a lot older than he is, and can run even faster than the foal can. She begins to catch up with him.

But Sable begins to lose Marista. His legs are worn out. He collapses on the ground as he watches the mare disappear into the forest.

Marista begins to gain on Zedly. She hasn't realized that she has lost Sable, because right now all she can focus on is catching this colt!

Zedly continues to run faster, trying to find a way to lose Marista. He twists and turns through the forest, but the mare stays right on his tail.

Finally, she gains so much speed that she passes Zedly up, spins around, and stops directly in front of him. Unable to do anything else, Zedly comes to an abrupt halt. He tries to turn around and run back the other way, but Marista thinks quicker. She rushes around the foal, and blocks him again.

Zedly tries to go around her. First he tries to go left, but Marista follows. Then he tries to go right, but Marista still stands in his way. He sighs, defeated, and stares down at the ground as Marista begins to speak.

"Zedly, I just want to talk," she tells him. Her voice is firm, but soft. "If you're not mean, then I won't be."

Zedly continues to stare at the ground as the mare speaks.

"Why do you not want to be adopted by Copious?" She asks, her voice almost a whisper.

Zedly looks up at her. "I don't want another mom," he replies, almost to the point of tears. "No one could ever replace my mother!"

"She's not asking to replace your mother," Marista says to the foal. "She is just asking to be there for you, to protect you, to help you when you need it."

"Can't you and Sable do that?" Zedly asks.

"We still can sometimes," Marista replies. "But we won't always be able to be there for you when you need it. Sable has an entire herd to look after."

Zedly sighs again. "It's just such a huge change," he says. "It was hard enough to deal with my mother's death, but then having to adjust to getting a new mother? I don't know if I could handle it!" The foal sniffs back a tear, and then adds, "I also don't know if I could handle having two new big brothers, especially after what they did to me the other day."

"Don't worry," Marista replies. "I'm sure that if you decided to let Copious adopt you, Sable will make sure that Zanzeph and Tellis don't do anything like that to you again."

Suddenly, the mare pauses to look around.

"Hey, where is Sable, anyway?" Zedly asks her, also glancing around.

"I don't know," Marista replies. "He was right behind me a second ago."

Sable continues to lie down where he collapsed. He knows that his weak legs cannot catch up to Marista, so he is not even going to try.