Spirit, Riding Free: Lucky and Her Adventurous and Mysterious Cousin Sasha

Chapter Six

Sasha had walked onto the porch to find Lucky, Pru, and Abigail sitting on the front porch. She was planning to ride into the forest with Lucky, Pru, Abigail, Maricela, Turo, and probably Julian.
"Hey you three," said Sasha with a smile. "Do you want to go riding with me?"
"Sorry, Dad wanted to talk to me at town hall." Lucky said as she stood up and stepped off at porch to greet Spirit, who was waiting patiently on the front law with Chica Linda, Boomerang, and Destiny.
"Uh oh, what happened this time?" said Sasha with a teasing grin.
"Nothing this time." Lucky mounted Spirit, and giving Sasha a playful glare as Sasha stood next to Destiny.
"This time?" Sasha looked at her adoptive sister with an amused, questionable look. Lucky rolled her eyes and gave Sasha a look, who gave her an innocent smile.
"I have to muck out the stalls," said Pru as she mounted Chica Linda.
"And I'm stuck babysitting Snips." Abigail mounted Boomerang with an annoyed look, making Sasha and the two girls chuckled.
"Good luck with that Amiga," said Sasha with a teasing smile.
Sasha mounted Destiny, and she clucked her tongue to make Destiny gallop towards the forest.
As she rode Destiny, Sasha felt powerful, unstoppable, absolutely in control - a perfect combination of horse and human.
She enjoyed feeling the wind blowing in her hair and the wind roaring into her ears. She laughed as they both chased a hawk deep into the forest. Sasha smiled and lifted her face. Sasha never thought she'll feel this wild and free feeling again. It was a great feeling, to ride along, the wind on her skin.
Sasha pulled Destiny's reins and Destiny slowed had slowed down to an easy trot. Sasha saw a faint outline of a trail that's probably made from the wild horses of the forest. She had a confused frown as she looked down at the tracks. She looked around, realizing that she was at Punta Libre, a preserved area where wild horses roamed.
She was amazed by the beauty of the forest as she made Destiny slowed down to a walk. Sasha refilled her cartin and she allowed Destiny to drink from sky-blue streams and crossed fields dotted with colorful flowers and friendly wild animals. Sasha saw a red vixen with four brown fox cubs going into the dense forest.
In a few minutes, Sasha and Destiny emerged from the dense forest into the open plains. Lush long grass, teeming with life. Huge, puffy clouds floated across the blue afternoon sky, skinny trees rose from the ground, and a small blue creek bubbled steadily nearby.
Movement had caught the corner of her eye. She made Destiny stepped slowly out of the shadows of the trees.
A herd of wild horses!
Dozens of them were grazing and playing, they're all relaxed and happy. They varied in color — some were solid black or brown, a few were black with white faces, a couple of them were gray or buckskin pintos, others were chocolate/chestnut brown or red/brown with white spots or blazes. They were all really beautiful when they are peacefully grazing and playing. But Sasha soon noticed three beautiful horses, that seemed to be new to the herd and the new protectors of the herd. Two of the horses were adults, watching from the center of the herd. The third one was a playful filly playing with a gray pinto colt and a brown pinto colt.
One was a huge and muscular buckskin stallion with pinto markings and white streaks in his dark brown mane and tail. The second one was a slender chestnut brown mare with hazel eyes, pinto markings, and a flaxen mane and tail. The filly has a deeper tan — almost dark golden — coat with a white face, muzzle, legs, and underbelly, a flaxen mane and tail, and bright brown eyes.
Sasha thought that the buckskin stallion seemed to be related to Spirit perhaps, but that's when Destiny started to walk slowly and carefully towards the wild herd of horses. Sasha dismounted Destiny, but kept her left hand on Destiny's right flank as they walked towards the herd.
The herd looked up from their grazing, while chewing on their grassy meals, and the foals stopped to turn to look at them. The huge stallion stepped out of the herd looking back and forth between Destiny and Sasha with twitching ears, wary dark brown eyes, and blowing slightly. His grassy breath ruffled Sasha's hair slightly. The stallion let out deep neigh and Destiny let out her calm and determined neigh to the stallion.
The stallion snorted and stepped towards Sasha. She let the stallion sniffed her hair, outstretched arm, and face. Sasha laughed as his muzzle gently tickled Sasha's face. The stallion stepped back and let out an amused snort. His eyes sparkled with amused laughter at the sound of Sasha's laughter.
Sasha looked at the stallion and lowered her hand from Destiny's flank. The stallion stood absolutely still as Sasha showed her fist to the head stallion. The stallion sniffed her fist and Sasha had revealed a couple of red apple slices in her fist. The stallion took two of the apple slices and then the chestnut brown mare stepped over with tender steps and gently took the rest of the apple slices from her hand. Sasha realized that the mare has a really round belly. She must be pregnant, figured Sasha.
"Congratulations Rain Flower." The chestnut brown mare looked at Sasha curiously and nuzzled Sasha's head in a gentle manner. Sasha giggled as the mare allowed her to pet her muzzle, she soon pulled back and went back towards her herd.
"I'll name you Eagle Flight," Sasha said to the wild stallion. "You like that?"
The stallion/Eagle Flight nodded as the filly ran forward with eager whinnies and looked up at Sasha. Sasha smiled and petted the restless filly. She tossed the filly a piece of carrot. The filly jumped up and started chewing on the carrot.
"I'll call you Rain Bird." The filly let out neigh. Rain Bird it is!
Sasha enjoyed the peace and quiet here, but was unsure how things are back at Miradero.
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The church bell had rung at town hall, making the PALs, their friends, and their horses all looked up at the sound like the ringing bell. The closest locals in the town all looked towards town hall and stopped doing their business in the town as the sheriff had rode in a two horse-wagon into the center of the town hall with his riding deputies by his sides.
Everyone was muttering and whispering, trying to figure out what was going on. Lucky had became worried about her older cousin, Sasha had headed out early before the town meeting.
"Lucky, where's Sasha?" asked Bianca softly, who stood next to the PALs with Julian, Dad, Kate, and Aunt Cora.
"She headed out early with Destiny today," Lucky whispered. "She and Destiny both headed towards Punta Libre."
"Attention everyone, it had seemed that Harlan Grayson had disappeared." announced the Sheriff. "He needs to be found by noon to reclaim his stables and his land. His stables and land would be claimed by his closest family member if he doesn't return soon."
The Sheriff and his deputies rode away, leaving the townspeople to whispered about this sudden news.
"Would that be a bad thing?" Pru whispered to Lucky, who simply shrugged.
"Do we have to search for him?" whispered Tero as he petted Junipero's muzzle.
"We don't have to if we don't wanna to," Lucky whispered as she placed a protective hand on Spirit's shoulder.
"But you know how Sasha is," whispered Julian to Lucky. "She's pretty honorable and noble. She'll probably run into him and see if she could help him."
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When Sasha and Destiny done playing with the herd of wild horses, they both rode off back towards Taylor's Canyon or Trail. But Sasha and Destiny decided to trot alongside the canyon, though they kept a fair distance away from the dangerous riding trek. Lucky had warned Sasha that Taylor's Trail is a dangerous ride and is off-limits for young riders. But Sasha decided to call it Taylor's Canyon, because it was more of a canyon than a simple riding trail.
Sasha looked at the canyon with a wary expression, Destiny kept flattened her ears slightly and kept making short turns away from the canyon. But they soon heard pained neighing from the canyon below, making Sasha stop Destiny.
"Did you hear something girl?" Sasha asked Destiny.
Destiny snorted and shook her head, but her perked up and looked towards the canyon when they heard another pained neigh. Destiny snorted again, more anxious this time, and nodded to Sasha.
"Aww man, it's coming from the canyon." complained Sasha, gesturing towards the risky canyon.
Destiny let out a soft whinny and started walking slowly to the edge of the canyon. Sasha cringed when she saw how far down the canyon, it's mostly a reminder of falling down from such a height. She tightened her grip on the reins as she looked down at the canyon. She blinked in surprise when she saw a tall dark-haired man in his early twenties with cowboy clothes. The man was with a collapsed black stallion that has a saddle and a bridle. They were both seemed to be stuck on a ledge together. The man had taken off the saddle and seemed to be more than a little concern about his stallion.
"Hey!" Sasha called to them. The man looked up and saw Sasha on Destiny's back. "Who are you and what are you doing down there?"
"The name is Harlan Grayson, kid." said the man, his voice was hoarse, harsh, and wary. "The ledge had collapsed underneath me and Xerxes. But Xerxes had gotten hurt during the fall, I can't ride him out of here."
"I can make a smoke signal to see if it attracts the sheriff and his deputies," Sasha said.
The man seemed a little startled at Sasha's offer to help, "What's your name kid?"
"The name's Sasha Alma Kemp," said Sasha. She, Grayson, and the horses all became alerted at a yowl from a nearby bobcat.
"Be careful Sasha, the reason we came here is to get away from a hunting bobcat." Grayson said seriously, looking around warily.
Sasha dismounted Destiny and placed a hand on her flank, "Stay close to me as I make a smoke signal and you keep an eye out for that bobcat."
Destiny nickered and nuzzled Sasha's cheek, letting Sasha hug Destiny's face before they had gotten to work. Sasha had carefully stood up on Destiny's back to reach the closest bare tree and pulled out a few branches from the tree. Once she had enough branches, Sasha put the branches in a position that's similar to a campfire position.
She found a sharp gray stone and a piece of pale gray flint. Sasha scrapped the stone against the flint above of the wood, few fiery sparks had went on the wood and a bit of fire had erupted from the sticks. She dropped the stone and flint into a puddle.
Sasha and Destiny both watched as the smoke had rose into the air. Sasha went back to the ledge and looked down at Grayson, who was trying to keep Xerxes in the shade.
"Anything yet?" asked Grayson after he saw her again.
Sasha shook her head, but she became still when she saw an outline of a sleek and slightly muscular figure with brownish-golden fur and black tips on the upper trail of Taylor's Canyon. A patch of light had lit up the animal's pelt from its craggy, shadowy hiding place. It was the bobcat! Her breath was caught in her throat and she can almost feel her heart thumped against her chest. Sasha slowly stepped back from the ledge, not wanting to scare the wildcat into attacking.
"Nothing yet, but be careful." Sasha warned softly to him. "The bobcat is a fair distance from you and your horse."
Grayson followed her gaze and he had almost jumped in front of his horse when he first saw the bobcat just on the upper trail. Sasha soon heard a wagon coming with stomping and snorting of horses pulling a wagon. She turned around, and saw the Sheriff in the wagon and two of his deputies were on each horse. One of the deputies had dumped a bucket of water onto the fire and the lint.
"Thank goodness you're here," said Sasha to them as she remounted Destiny. "Grayson is down there with his injured horse. But be careful, there is a hunting bobcat there."
"Don't worry child, we got it from here on out." Sheriff said to her.
Sasha nodded and hastily pulled Destiny out of the ledge of the canyon. She and Destiny were both on lookout as the authorities carefully helped Grayson and Xerxes out of the canyon below. The deputies and Grayson both helped a limping Xerxes into the wagon before the black stallion collapsed into the wagon.
Grayson looked at Sasha and Destiny, who both stepped an inch away from him and the others. Sasha felt her eyes flashed a silent warning to him about invading her and Destiny's personal space.
"Thanks for your help Sasha," said Grayson as he tipped his tan cowboy hat at her.
Sasha nodded, looking a little nervous and twitchy, as she looked around the forest, keeping an eye out for the bobcat. Destiny, twitched an ear at her, but looking calm as ever. Destiny's calmness had calmed Sasha's fears.
"We better get going before the bobcat comes back," The sheriff said, before he looked at Sasha. "You better ride ahead just to be safe."
Sasha glanced at the Grayson and Xerxes with a flash of concern in her eyes before she gave a silent nod and allowed Destiny to walk alongside one of the deputy and his reddish brown stallion as they headed back to Miradero.