Sam breathed in the crisp autumn air as she rode over the bridge leading to River Bend Ranch. Her concentration was momentarily broken as her horse Ace gave a buck and tried to break into a lope.

"Guess I'm not the only one enjoying the autumn weather huh boy?"

Ace responded by shaking his head to try to dislodge her grip on the reins. She tightened her grip and made him walk until she crossed the bridge. Once they were across she gave him his head and he broke into a lope. Her stetson flew off of her head and she tilted her head back revelling in the feel of the breeze blowing through her hair. She felt another tug on the reins as Ace tried to break into a gallop. She leaned forward, loosened the reins and whispered in his ear, "Let's go". Ace burst from the rocking horse three-beat lope to an explosive four beat gallop. They galloped across the Playa until they reached War Drum Flats. Sensing Ace beginning to tire, Sam pulled gently on the reins asking him to slow down. Ace slowed to an easy lope then directly to a flat footed walk.

Sam scanned the terrain before her looking for a glimpse of a mane or a flash of legs that would tell her the mustangs were nearby. She noticed a large number of hoofprints that looked like they were recently made.

"It looks like I just missed them" Ace just snorted and flicked an ear back in her direction as he slowly caught his breath. Seeing a strange hoofmark Sam decided to get down to investigate. There was plenty of grass and water so she figured Ace should stay groundtied while she wandered around. She swung her leg over his back and was about to swing down when Ace suddenly shied to one side. Loosing her grip on the saddle, Sam felt herself falling. She landed with a thump on her backside on the desert floor. Ace retreated a few steps then stood with his head up and his ears pointed in the direction of a pile of bush that was up against a rock face. Sam got up slowly and tried to creep her way over to Ace before he decided to try to run away. She was just about to close her hand over the reins dangling from his chin when he suddenly snorted and wheeled away. He burst into a gallop and took off towards River Bend Ranch.

"Ace!" Sam yelled to him hoping he would stop, but she watched him getting smaller and smaller until he finally faded from sight.

"I don't believe this." Sam said aloud. It should have been a perfect day, but of course her mischief maker of a horse decided he would much rather spend his day back at River Bend. It seemed like just when she was starting to think she was getting better at riding, something like this would happen to remind her of the 2 years she spent in San Francisco.

She felt a drop of sweat trickle down her back reminding her that she was stranded in the middle of the desert. How far did she have to walk back to get to River Bend? 4, maybe 5 miles? Deciding she wasn't quite ready to start walking yet, she decided to check out those strange prints she had noticed. It took her a while to find them, but she finally spotted them off to the side of one of the mustang tracks. Upon closer inspection she realized they were cattle tracks.

Some tracker she would be, she thought. She can't even tell a cow print from horseback. She was glad her best friend Jake wasn't hear to laugh at her. Besides being bossy and annoying he was one of the best trackers around. He would likely roll his eyes and declare her a lost cause if he was here right now. Putting that thought out of her head, she took a closer look at the track. It was bigger than the standard track she had seen from River Bends cattle and she noticed that their was only one.

"That's strange" she muttered as she tried to figure out why a cow would be by itself. Cattle were like horses, safety depended on being together. A cow separated from its herd was in serious danger. I bet its a bull, she thought. It made sense, a bull would be bigger than an average cow and if it didn't have a herd of it's own, it would be by itself. Once she came to that conclusion she quickly looked up to make sure there was nothing around. Most of the cattle in this area were scared of humans, but bulls could be dangerous. It wasn't too long ago that she watched while her best friend Jen was gored by a big bull. She tried to ignore the prickle of unease that ran down her spine.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of a vehicle approaching. It didn't take her long to realize it was River Bends old truck, and only a little bit longer to see that it was the person she least wanted to talk to driving.

The truck parked at the edge of the lake and Jake got out and leaned against the hood of the truck.

"Got tired of riding?"

Sam fumed as she watched him try to hide a smile.

"Maybe I did! Maybe I decided it was just such a gorgeous day that I would walk for a change."

Jakes smile just got bigger as Sam tried to resist the impulse to pick up a rock and throw it at him. What was it about him that brought out the kid in her?

"So I'm guessing you don't need my help." Jake said as he slowly leaned away from the hood of the truck.

"No Jake, I don't need your help. I am perfectly fine standing out here in the middle of nowhere!" Yep, she thought, theres definitely something about him that brought out the sarcastic side in her anyway.

"Okay" With that one word Jake turned, got back into the truck, turned around and started driving away. Sam watched, mouth hanging open until she realized that he really was leaving her here.

"Wait! Jake!" She screeched, hating the way she sounded like she was begging. When the truck was almost out of sight, the brake lights came on and the truck stopped. Jake got out and turned to look at her. Even from this distance Sam could only make out his outline, but she pictured his mischievous smile and sparkling eyes as he waited for her to catch up.

"Jacob Ely, when I catch you I am going to kill you!" Sam yelled. Jake shrugged, and turned to get back into the truck to drive away again.

"No, wait! I didn't mean it!" Sam yelled again. She felt like her head was going to explode, she was so angry. Jake had reduced her to begging for a ride back. Oh she might not say anything now, but after he had driven her home, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. Even from here, she could hear his laugh as he stopped and waited for her.

"Jake I really hate you right now"

His only answer was another laugh.

"C'mon brat, I don't have all day"

She was plotting all kinds of ways to get revenge when a commotion on the hillside made her look behind. Then, she almost forgot to breathe.

A mass of colour slowly took the form of heads and bodies as a herd of mustangs came rushing down the hillside. They ran towards the water but were stopped up short as a silver stallion ran in front of them. With snapping teeth and flashing hooves, he held them back until he had drank his fill. After that he moved away from the water and watched as the herd mare drove the band into the water. Mares and foals greedily stuck their noses into the cool water. Sam couldn't help the sigh that escaped from her lips as she watched the horses jostling and pawing. At the sound, the Phantom looked over at her. Lifting his head as high as it would go he curved his neck so that his chin almost bumped his chest. He came prancing over to her like one of the Lipizzaner's she had once seen while in San Francisco. He stopped a few feet in front of her and playfully pawed the ground.

Sam closed the distance between them and reached up to touch the top of his neck.

"Zanzibar" she whispered and she ran her fingers over his sleek skin. The phantom took another step closer and rested his head on her shoulder. It was almost as if he were giving her a hug. Sam scarcely dared to move for fear of breaking the contact. Ace had done this many times, but never this majestic stallion. He took a step back and looked as surprised as she at what he had just done. Sam was just reaching up to touch him again when he suddenly stiffened and twirled to look behind him. Sam followed his gaze, but she couldn't see anything.

All of a sudden, he launched his body into a gallop. He was just ordering his herd to move when a huge bull came out of the bushes by the lake. The bull ran full tilt towards the herd. Teeth snapping, both the Phantom and the herd mare drove the horses back up the hillside. The Phantom was in the back driving the herd up the hill as the bull closed in. He focused on the stallion and narrowly missed him as the Phantom bounded up the hill. Sam couldn't help the noise she made as she watched the close contact.

At her sound, the bull twisted around to look at her. Oh no, Sam thought as she watched the bull sizing her up. All of a sudden he pawed the ground then charged towards her.

Sam tried to dodge left, then right, but the bull kept following her movement. She heard a shout behind her, but she knew she was too far away from the truck for Jake to be able to help. Even though she knew that, panic took over and she turned and ran as fast as she could away from the bull and towards Jake. She saw Jake jump into the truck and whip it around towards her. She looked behind and saw that the bull was following and coming up fast. A flash of silver made Sam look towards the hillside. The Phantom came down in a flat out gallop, ears back and teeth bared. His herd was already safe, so he had no need to go after the bull.

In an instant she realized he was coming for her. He was trying to protect her. But he couldn't do anything, the bull was too close. She knew he was going to hit her and she couldn't get away. A split second before he rammed into her the Phantom veered into his path. The bull didn't even try to slow down and the two animals collided 2 feet in front of Sam. She saw both the Phantom and the bull start to fall. She had enough time to whisperer "No!" before hot horseflesh slammed into her. She felt hair and dirt fill her mouth and then the world went black.