Dragonfly
Chapter One: A Challenger
Samantha Forster sat on top of her mustang pony, Ace. She looked around at the beautiful Calico Mountains she and Ace were riding into. Sam was hoping to see the Phantom, an almost white dappled grey stallion who kept his herd near here. The Phantom had once been hers. She had raised him from colthood until that fateful day when her friend, Jake Ely, had insisted she ride him through a gate. Blackie, as he had been known back then, was only two and green broke. He threw Sam and as he fled one of his hooves had made contact with her head. Sam had had to go live with her Aunt Sue in San Francisco. But now she was back and Blackie had come back to her.
Suddenly Ace lifted his head. A snort came huffing out as Sam's eyes searched the horizon. "Is it him boy?" she asked Ace in a whisper. Ace too looked around, wondering.
Then a stallion's piercing scream rang down from the mountains. Another familiar call answered it. The Phantom. Another stallion was challenging the Phantom!
Sam felt sorry for the challenger in a way. She had never seen the great silver stallion defeated, but then she remembered it was her horse he was challenging.
Suddenly, a red roan paint stallion burst from the tree cover of the lower mountain slopes.
He was small and muscular, his long mane and tail shimmering in the light. He turned his head back to the mountains and Sam could see the distinct head of an Arabian. Just like the Phantom! He was truly beautiful as he paced back and forth in a gait like a Paso Fino, his muscled neck arched, his dainty ears cupped forward and his light swift legs flashing.
The Phantom's herd, led by a bright colored blue roan mare, appeared and galloped across War Drum Flats. The Phantom himself came soon after. His glossy body was lean and fit, his dappled color shining brightly in the sun. But the roan stallion was not intimidated. He glided over to the grey stallion and touched noses with the great horse.
They both squealed and turned racing across the flats after the herd.
Sam noticed an odd shape on the side of the roan stallion's neck. As she looked through the small binoculars she kept in her saddlebags, Sam could make out the distinct shape of a dragonfly. Dragonfly she thought as she watched the roan stallion flit across the plains effortlessly. Perfect. Then Dragonfly did something Sam never expected. He pulled ahead of the Phantom! She blinked rapidly then looked again. Yes, the roan stallion was pulling away from the silver stallion with ease and grace. The Phantom's screams and snorts of frustration and rage rang through the hills.
Dragonfly reached the band that had stopped a good mile away, and cut six mares and foals from the herd. The blue roan lead mare, a chestnut mare, her black colt and dark bay yearling filly, a bay two year old and a sorrel two or three year old.
As Dragonfly drove his prizes away, the Phantom trotted up clearly worn out, and rounded up the rest of his herd. A small speedy looking bay had already taken over the position of lead mare, it was obvious from the scars on her legs, back and neck that she and the blue mare were rivals for the job. As Dragonfly's herd galloped away a plaintive foal's cry filled the air. A small grey foal darted out from the herd after Dragonfly.
The stallion stopped his small band and they waited for the small grey foal. From the way the blue roan was nuzzling it Sam knew that the foal was hers and still very young.
Dragonfly then sent the little family up the hills at a brisk trot and out of sight.