Wild

Chapter Six

Eventually the horses began on their way again. They had to swim across a large stream, which they found very refreshing and helped Phoenix's gash. "How will we ever get back to Maine? We're in Vermont!" Moon cried shaking his head sadly.

"We'll be fine" Sam reassured even though he wasn't sure himself. His halter had fallen off in the water, so he turned to look for it, unsure of whether to leave it or somehow retrieve. He decided to move on, what would he do with it anyway?

They soon came to a small yard with a log cabin. Clothes hung upon the line to dry. They planned on traveling through quickly and easily, but Royal was infuriated by the clothes for some reason and charged at them ripping them off the line. A white sheet covered his head as he turned and raced back for another blow.

Moxie snorted "Royal! Control yourself!" She stood at the edge of the trail and did her best to calm his wildness.

"Don't worry! I'll get it!!" he cried loudly. Hoof prints now covered the once clean laundry as Royal kicked a unruly pillow triumphantly "Ha ha! I bet you thought you could get past me, you evil demon!"

Just as Moxie was herding Royal away a women staying for the summer decided to bring in the laundry and looked out across the lawn to see a blackish brown animal crossing "Herald! A MOOSE, CALL THE ANIMAL CONTROL!"

"A moose, are you sure?" He cried, knowing that his wife had a tendency to spot a black cat and see a panther or a think an crow was a hawk.

"YES! A moose!" she screeched as she dialed in the number. "Hello?! Hello?!... I know, I'm sorry to bother you, but... Yes, I know it's your coffee break... WELL THERES A MOOSE ON MY LAWN!... Yes, A MOOSE! M-O-O-S-E!...Thank you!" She crossed her arms as she noticed that there were more than one moose judging by the number of 'moose tracks.'

Moxie rushed across after Royal, hearing the frantic cries of the women. "Now look what you've done! We're gonna be in big trouble if we get caught! Run!!" She scolded him angrily.

Phoenix turned, surprised by Moxie's anxious exclamation. "What happened?!" She said wondering what Royal had done to receive such anger from Moxie, who was normally pretty calm to a degree.

"I'll tell you later! We should run before we get caught!"She replied as she took a leap over a fallen log with Phoenix, Moon, Royal and Samurai in tow. They galloped through the forest like a herd of elephants.

Phoenix slowed to a canter, then a trot and a walk. They all breathed deeply and stopped. Royal shook himself thoroughly and stretched lazily, "That was fun and all, but why were we running?"

His absurd question startled Moxie and she struggled to find a way to word her answer. Failing to control herself enough to give a calm response she began to explain to Phoenix what had happened "He started ripping up laundry at a cottage and then proceeded to attack every bit of it like it was I don't know... something awful! I had to chase him away so he'd stop and boy, was that lady mad!"

They continued on their way, happily laughing as they thought of Royal tearing down bedspreads. Samurai smelled another horse behind once, but the scent was gone as quickly as it had come and the others assumed it is imagination, but some tracks behind them told otherwise. As the day went on they began to fret over the dark clouds in the sky.