Wild

Chapter Eight

The rain stopped at about noon and the horses decided to graze the tall grass before continuing. Samurai managed to find the trail again and led them along behind him.

The bright sun warmed the horses backs, easing their worries. A calm sense settled over the herd as they went though the path with ease. Once in a while they would lope or jog when the terrain allowed. Despite the new sense of peace, they remained alert.

A voice up ahead and a dog's bark were heard by Moon's delicate ears. He notified Moxie who spotted a fork in the trail. She took the lead and jogged lightly to the right. With the others in tow she resisted the urge to sneeze when a leave brushed her nose for fear of making the dog aware of them.

Moon stopped and sniffed, but no longer heard anything but their own noise. He called for them to stop with a hushed whinny. When they ignored him he angrily stomped his foot and gave a louder whinny. They halted and turned back towards him.

"There's not a sign, anymore" he sighed with a switch of his tail. He squealed angrily when Phoenix nipped his shoulder. She curled her lip into a horse laugh as she trotted up ahead.

Sam went in to a gallop and flew over a birch log. The moss squished under his feet as he came to long gravel driveway. He stopped dead as a red Prius drove past. He barely breathed as it parked and a blond lady swung out with a cellphone in hand. She strode over to the door of a small cottage like house with red he had not noticed before.

Breathing heavily, he turned towards the others and gestured for them to follow him with his head. Resigning himself to a forward walk, he hoped to escape the eyes of any walkers or neighbors.

That night unable to find a suitable shelter or field they decided to keep walking until they found one that satisfied each of them. Finally later that night they found a tall black willow tree.

Royal immediately began to rip bark off and chewed leisurely on it. Samurai thought that would be an interesting forage and hesitantly took a small piece. He chewed thoughtfully before spitting it on the ground with a disgusted snort.

Royal snorted "It's not THAT bad!" Giving a shake of his head he laid down on the moist earth and smothered mud onto his once sleek coat. The others thought it would be a good idea to relieve some of their itches.

Not long after all the horses settled for a rest. Each horse slept standing except for Phoenix who lay by the edge of the outer branches of the tree.

* * * * *

They awoke to a black cloud hanging over the sky. A ominous feeling had traveled with it and the horses felt it. Samurai felt tense and hot wired. Royal was the only one who had yet to notice the others' unease, and being his normal self he was unceasingly goofy and nonchalant.

Lightning cracked across the murky sky as the horses turned to survey the clouds progress. It was moving fairly fast and the wind had begun to pick up. They decided to take cover under the trees, seeing no other reasonable shelter.

Not long after it began to rain and the wind picked up. The horses strayed from trees that were swaying too much. They clustered together as Phoenix had learned to do when she lived on 100 acres with 12 other horses.

Their sense safety was broken as a loud crack filled the air around them. They bolted away as the tree's limbs and body began to fall. Moon was struck by a falling branch and left with a bloody gash about an inch wide.

He cried out in pain but didn't slow down as the whole tree fell behind him. They didn't slow until they felt as though they'd left it far behind them. When they stopped Moon realized that Royal was missing he whinnied back into the forest.

He began to panic, where was he?, what if he'd been hurt and couldn't move?, what if he was...DEAD!! The others were eating to fill their now empty stomachs, even though it still was pouring. He wandered off into the forest slowly looking for his friend. To engulfed in their own needs no one else noticed him missing.

He called into the forest one more time, before turning back. He wanted to save his friend, but maybe he's back there waiting for me, he thought hopefully. With an angry sigh he turned back towards the small grassy area with trees hanging over for shelter.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he ran right into a tree, but...there was no tree there. He didn't even notice the movement behind him, or the softness of what he bumped into. "Royal!!" he called mournfully one last time.

He was shocked to see Royal walking up behind him. "Jeeeeezzzz, don't need to scream in my ears! I stopped because I figured if I took my time at least I wouldn't be half dead by the time we get home" He said nonchalantly, using an sarcastic voice for the first part.

"Where the heck were you!?" Moon said angrily. He had been worried and upset, just because a lazy old gelding had decided to take his time.

"I was with...Oh, never mind. Let's just get going. The sooner we leave the sooner we get home" He said thinking better of what he had planned on saying. He was beginning to loose his wild independence and had been missing his owner.