Bella looked down at the grazing herd of horses below her. The sun cast its warm rays onto her back, and the wind blew freely around the prairie in Wyoming. Life just couldn't get any better than this. The lush green grass swayed slightly in the breeze, making the two little colts bounce around in excitement. The young filly nipped at them when they bumped into her, then decided to join them at their play. Bella giggled. Seeing the three youngsters play almost always made her laugh.

15-year-old Bella Swan has lived a hard life. Since her parent's death when she was 11, she had been on her own, living among the herd of wild horses. Well, not really. The neighbors had offered to take her in as their daughter, but Bella's wild spirit could never be tamed, and they all thought her better in the prairies.

But she had a bad reputation. She was known as the "Horse knapper" because she often would steal horses from peoples' pastures and take them for a ride. She was a natural horseperson. "What a waste" some of the residents would say, "Such a fine talent wasted".

But truth be told, it wasn't. All her time was spent on following the same herd. She had rescued them from slaughter when she was 13, and though the horses never let her touch them, she felt as though they shared a bond. She had named every one of them.

The horses consisted of: (see my profile for Pics of them)

Jewel- Stallion of the herd (Bella's favorite), a bay horse with Arabian bloodlines it seems, beautiful, and always alert, with flowing mane and tail.

Ginger- the feisty lead mare, a tough little chestnut with strong fighting skills.

Mexico- Large mare (Pregnant) a buckskin/dun, very caring, Bella's favorite mare.

Dancer- little appaloosa mare, VERY fast, Bella feels as though she relates with this horse, has a little colt.

Colt#1- Dancer's colt, spitting image of her, Bella hasn't named him yet.

Diamond- gray mare, very easygoing, a great mother too, has a little colt.

Colt#2- Diamond's colt, coal black, so far Bella has named him Ebony.

Prissie- The young 1-year-old filly, her mother died so the herd took her in, black and white patches all over her.

Bella herself was a beautiful young girl, though you could hardly tell under the wild mass of brown hair, and mud smeared face. She had a natural complexion with brown chocolate eyes. She was skinny, she found her own food in the woods, and so she was never really starving.

She was currently on a 10-foot tall cliff and was intently watching the wild horses prance around below her. She knew that the stallion Jewel knew that she was there. The colts soon settled down and began to nurse their mothers. Bella's dream was always to ride Jewel, but so far she had only touched him once, a long time ago.

She decided that the horses wouldn't go anywhere, so she went into the woods to get something to eat. She settled on some wild berries, and after she drank and bathed in the stream. She had barely any clothes, or belongings for that matter. Just some stuff she had saved from the fire that took her parents, and brother, just over 4 years ago…

But she wouldn't let that ruin her perfect day. After she had done her business, she returned to her cliff. Fortunately, the horses were still in the same spot as when she left. They moved constantly, and it was her responsibility to follow them, no mater what. Sometimes she would return and they would be missing, but she'd always tracked them down.

They didn't move to be mean, because as far as she was concerned, she was part of the herd. A few times they even nickered at her when they saw her. They knew her, and that was fine with her.

The evening bore on, and Bella choose a safe spot for the night, away from where predators, such as mountain lions, lurked. She lay down her only wool blanket, and checked on the herd one last time before she lie down to sleep.

But she wished she had never fallen asleep, therefore the nightmares soon found her again.

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A/N- Okay, so how was it? I promise the next chapter will be longer, I just kinda wanted a introduction thing. Is it worth continuing? Review!

~Angel~