Chapter two

Minutes into the Dark

The three horses made their way over hills and through rivers. Ghost, their new friend guided the way as Taiki, the older horse and Riku stayed behind him. Night was coming closer and the three horses had decideded to rest awhile on their journey.

"What is the next town called Taiki-san?" Riku asked lying down in the snow. Taiki lowered his head and looked like he was about to fall asleep.
"The next town should be Oxion village. It's a small town, but Ghost's guiding us, so you let him worry about the towns." Taiki replied a little out of breath. Ghost glared ahead in the evening. It was almost night and he knew exactly what came out at night.

"Do you think there's one of the three horses in Oxion?" Riku kept asking questions.
"I'm not sure." Taiki replied as he glanced up at Ghost.
"We should rest here until morning." Riku finally said.
"I think Taiki-san is tierd too." He went on but Ghost ingorned the gelding.

"We should keep moving." The stallion finally broke the silence.

"They shouldn't be too far from us now since they've been following close behind."

"Who has been following us?" Riku interrupted as Ghost walked on.
"Hey! Ghost!?" But the stallion said nothing. Taiki followed as Riku sighed then got up and and left too. The gelding lowered his head and thought about the trip. He never expected to go on a journey expecially to the west. The horses there were headstrong and always wanted to pick a fight, or so that was what he heard. Riku was not a mustang, but neither was Ghost. Taiki was a mustang and that was probably the reason he tryed to get to Sagatu before. Riku's leg quivered in the cold snow. The gelding hated winter. The winter around the eastern side was always cold and wet but not as cold as the one to the north. Riku shivered just thinking about the north. The horse listened to the wind and trees around him. In the corner of his eye, he noticed a small shadow quickly race by.
"What the?" Riku thought as Ghost stopped and faced him.
"What is it?" He asked as Taiki glanced back at the gelding.
"I thought I saw something, i'm sure it's nothing." Riku pretended. Taiki stuck his nose up in the cold, winter air.
"We've got company." He said as Ghost glared ahead. Riku quickly trotted up beside Taiki. The wind wished through the air fiercly as a black shadow came out of teh darkness. A large, white wolf halted infront of Ghost who was standing tall.
"Ghost-san." The white wolf said with a bow. Riku looked around and noticed two black wolves and three grey wolves suround them.

"Noss. What are you doing here?" Asked Ghost as the white wolf looked up. Riku took a glance at the creature. The wolf was fairly large with dark blue stockings on his legs. The tip of his ears were the same colour aswell as his marking around his face. His light blue eyes glanced at Riku and Taiki.

"I see you have some friends to company you on your journey." The wolf replied looking back at the stallion.

"Hai, but you still haven't answered my question." Ghost said as his eyes glared at the wolf.

"Right my friend. My pack and I wanted to see if you were alright." The wolf said with a small smirk. Riku sighed in relief because they didn't want to eat them.

"Like hell. I know you Noss. There's no way you just came here to help." Ghost snapped back. Noss chuckled a little.

"Ghost, my friend, I look out for you. You are right about me though, my pack and I heard about the Sagatu mountain from some dogs." The wolf licked his lips and Riku knew those dogs they talked to probably didn't get away alive.

"Why would you want to go to the Sagatu mountain Noss? You hate spring, and summer plus everything good in this world." Ghost told him blowing air out from his nostrales.

"That may be, but you could get use to spring right?" The wolf said back while tilting his head slitly to the right.
"The Sagatu mountain is a place for horses, not dogs."

"Wolves Ghost, wolves." The white wolf snarled back licking his lips once more. Riku shivered everytime he did that.

"Wolves yes, and I thought you were all headed up north?" Ghost wondered.
"We did go to the north. Too cold." The wolf shot back. Kaito calmed down a little.

"So you're telling me that you're looking for Sagatu too?"

"No." Silence filled the forest.

"No?" Ghost questioned as the wolf nodded.
"Yes my friend." Riku was so confused. A couple of the other wolves chuckled in the darkness.

"Well, we'd better get going." Ghost said walking past the white wolf.
"Hold on." Ghost stopped to listened as the wolf faced him.
"If you're going into Oxion city, we could take you there?" Noss wondered as Ghost thought for a second.
"It's not too far, besides, we have some unfinished buisness to tend there." Noss smirked. Ghost sighed,
"Alright, but just to Oxion."

"Perfect." Grinned the wolf.

"Alright." Ghost nodded as he turned around. Noss walked up beside him. Riku glanced at the wolves around him. He tried not to gaze into their eyes for he knew the tales horses tell about the wolves. Still, they walked on without a sound through the darkness. 'What ever happened to find a place to sleep for the night?' Riku thought to himself.

Morrning soon came and the three horses and wolves had just reached the entrance to Oxion.

"There it is my friend, Oxion or the Great Village of the East." Noss replied as he stood on a hill next to Ghost.

"You're not coming in the city with us?" Ghost asked the white wolf. Noss smirked,

"I wish I could. Humans don't want wolves or dogs loose in these parts but that's alright. We must head to Garia's wagon." Noss told him.

"Garia's wagon? Why in the hell would you want to go there?" Ghost asked bending down closer to the wolf.

"Can you keep a secret my friend?" Noss whispered. Ghost nodded a little excited about what the wolf was going to say.

"For many years my family has been under a curse. The curse of Zane or White Blood."

"White Blood?" Riku said overhearing the conversation. Noss lifted his head and faced the others as Ghost did the same.

"Yes. It is a curse that wich only a fortune teller can break. Garia's the only fortune teller I knew of in these parts, besides, I dobt she can break it." Noss put on a gridy smile.

"So, I say goodbye my friend." Noss ran forward as the other wolves followed. The white wolf stopped and glanced back at Ghost once more.

"But this isn't the end, only the beginning. An end will come eventually though, you'll see." He said before dashing off with his pack of wanted wolves. Riku sighed in relief that they were gone. Ghost watched the wolves leave then marched down the hill towards the town.
"Um, Ghost!" Riku walked up to him but the stallion didn't stop.

"So, what will we do once we find these other horses? Will we start looking for Sagatu?" Riku asked a little fast and scared to talk to Ghost. The black horse just nodded.