Wow.. I don't even remember the last time I updated this fanfic! Sorry for the wait! I got some writers block and it took me a couple years to get over it xP I hope you enjoy this new chapter! Hopefully there will be many more to come!
Disclaimer: I don't own Spirit or any of the characters. Only Hawk.
"I couldn't believe it! There was Little Creek, standing before me. I must say that he looked a lot different than I had imagined. Of course, I hadn't seen a human before yesterday, so my imaginings were far from accurate. Now all I had to do was lead him back to the herd and he would set them free again!"
"This is a mustang filly," Little Creek said, slowly stepping up closer to get a better look at her. "I'd know that look in her eyes anywhere."
Cloud didn't move as he approached her, but gazed up into his face. She took a deep breath and began her story. "Please, Little Creek, you have to help me! First, there were these strange logs strung across our grazing grounds, then these humans came and chased the herd away! And you're the only one who can help me get them back!"
"What are you doing?" Hawk asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "He can't understand a word you just said. You're wasting your breath."
"She's sure a talkative one," his friend laughed, tightening his grip on her rope. "What do you want me to do with her?"
"Just let her go," Little Creek replied, looking over at him. "I had my fun trying to tame a mustang before. Their spirits are meant to be free, not locked in a pen."
"I wish he'd use that excuse with me," Hawk snorted with a swish of his tail.
His friend nodded and slipped the lasso off over Cloud's head. However, she still didn't move. There has to be a way to tell him, she thought. There has to be some way to let him know I want him to follow me back.
"Go on, go!" exclaimed Little Creek, trying to shoo her away. To his surprise, the filly didn't run away, but leapt forward at him, trotting around behind him, then nudging him forward with her head. "What are you doing?" he asked, wheeling around and placing his hands on her forehead to keep her from nudging him.
"You have to come with me," she whinnied stubbornly, pushing against his hands somewhat like a billy goat might do.
Little Creek stepped to the side and let go of her head, causing her to stumble past him.
Cloud snorted and turned to face him again. She didn't realize that trying to communicate would be so hard. "Hawk, what should I do?" she asked, looking back at him. "How do I make him understand?"
"I don't know," Hawk replied, looking from her to Little Creek. "Alright, let me try." He whinnied to his owner, tossing his head and pulling on his rope.
"Oh no, I'm not letting you free again." Little Creek walked over and took a hold of his rope. "You'll take off and I'll have to track you down all over again." He stroked Hawk's nose, trying to quiet him down.
Cloud's ears twitched forward as Little Creek spoke. "That was it! It finally occurred to me what I had to do. Little Creek wouldn't follow me, but he would follow Hawk!"
Cloud suddenly lunged forward again. Little Creek instinctively leapt aside out of her way as she ran forward and snatched Hawk's rope from his hand. Hawk was practically jerked off his feet as she took off at a gallop, towing him behind her.
"Hey… hey wait!" Little Creek called after her, shocked that a wild mustang would do something so bold. "Filly, come back!"
Cloud slowed to an extended trot, glancing behind her to see the Lakota's reaction. When she saw his intent to follow, she took off again, heading back towards her homeland. Hawk, who had by now realized her motives, trailed behind her willingly.
Little Creek glanced around frantically, trying to think of a way to pursue his horse without a mount of his own. "I need to borrow your horse," he told one of his friends. Without giving him a chance to reply, Little Creek ran to a nearby teepee and mounted a grey horse with a blue circle painted around its right eye. "Come on, Keen Eye, let's go!" he exclaimed, giving him a light kick with his heels. The horse willingly responded, turning and taking off in pursuit of the two yearlings.
"Little Creek!" his friend cried, running after him. After a few strides, he stopped and watched his friend shrink smaller and smaller as he ran off with his horse. "When I said he could borrow my horse anytime, this isn't what I had in mind." He sighed and shook his head.
"Part one of my mission was complete. I had found Little Creek and was successfully getting him to follow me. I was sure I was home free now. As soon as I brought him to my herd, I knew he would set them free and then everything would be alright again. I only hoped my family would be okay until then. I could only imagine what was happening to them while they were being held captive by those humans."
"Cloud, I'm getting tired," Hawk complained with a sigh, starting to slow down. He glanced back at his human, who was still hot on their trail, slowly gaining on them as they galloped across the plain. "Can't we stop for a minute? I'm sure Little Creek will get us something to eat. He's not that far behind."
"No, we can't stop yet." Cloud gave his rope a couple tugs to get his pace back up with hers. "He'll just catch us and take us back. I need to keep him following us." She looked back over her shoulder. He was definitely getting closer. If they could only stay ahead of him until nightfall, then they would be ok. It wasn't safe to travel at night, and she figured the human knew that too.
Eventually Cloud also began to tire and her speed steadily dropped until she had slowed to a jog. She looked up at the sky, which was streaked with oranges and pinks as the sun sunk lower toward the horizon. It was close enough to nightfall, they should be alright. She dropped Hawk's rope to the ground and he readily stopped in his tracks.
"I don't think I can take another step!" He flopped onto the ground and began rolling his tired body in the soft grass. He had never run so much in his life! When he was done, he climbed to his feet and shook the dirt off of his spotted coat. "Where are we anyway?" he asked, looking around at the unfamiliar scenery. He thought he would like finally being out on his own, but he had no idea where he was and it was a bit unnerving. He was actually relieved when Little Creek rode up beside them and slowed Keen Eye to a halt.
"We're almost to my home," Cloud answered Hawk, watching the Lakota carefully as he dismounted. Even though she was exhausted, she readied herself to run if he showed any sign of trying to catch them.
However, Little Creek did no such thing. He had long since figured out that the little mustang yearling was getting him to follow her by using his own horse as bait. These horses never ceased to amaze him. "I suppose it looks like we'll all be camping here for the night." He gave her a gentle smile, then turned and walked off in search of some wood for a fire.
The yearlings watched him walk away, their ears pricked forward and their heads tracking his movement. Suddenly Hawk began to walk off after him.
"Wait a second," Cloud objected, jumping forward and grabbing a hold of his rope again. "You have to stay with me."
"I can follow him if I want. You're not the boss of me," Hawk pinned his ears at her and gave his tail a swish. "I won't let him catch me. I just want to see where he's going." He gave the rope around his neck a yank, jerking it from Cloud's mouth.
The filly snorted and pinned her ears back as well. "Fine. But you better not get caught." She rolled her eyes and began to graze, signaling that he was free to leave her. She watched him leave out of the corner of her eye until he had disappeared behind some brush in search of his human. She turned her attention to Keen Eye to see if he would follow Little Creek as well. However, he remained where he was and lowered his head to graze with her.
A few minutes later, Little Creek returned with an armful of wood and Hawk trailing behind him at a safe distance. He set the wood down and turned to pet his horse, only to have him leap away with a playful whinny. "Well, at least you're following me now," Little Creek thought out loud as he sat down to start a fire.
Cloud lifted her head as the human worked, her body stiffening as the smell of smoke entered her nostrils. Fire was typically a bad thing. Why was he making it on purpose? He didn't even seem worried about it. Cloud began to pace as she fought her instinct to run from the menacing smoke.
Hawk raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing? He's just making a fire."
"Aren't fires dangerous?" The filly jumped as the log sparked and finally caught fire. "Shouldn't we run? Running sounds like a good idea." She began to slowly back away from the campfire.
"You don't have to worry. It's not going to hurt you," Keen Eye nickered comfortingly to her. "Our humans never let the fire get out of control."
Cloud continued to eye the fire wearily, but when Little Creek kept it from spreading like Keen Eye said he would, she began to calm down. In fact, she grew to appreciate its warmth as the sun set and there was a chill in the air. She lay down beside it, opposite of Little Creek, watching him carefully until her eyelids grew heavy and she fell asleep.
When she awoke the next morning, she found that there was a little pile of apples stacked beside her. She stared at them for a moment, wondering how they had appeared there. She looked around and realized that Hawk and Keen Eye each had a pile too and were already awake and eating. Cloud quickly got to her feet, suddenly realizing how hungry she was, and tentatively sniffed at the apples. They seemed safe enough, and she was too hungry to care. She bit into the first one, then gave a satisfied nickered as she tried another. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hawk approach and she pinned her ears at him. "These are my apples. You already had yours."
"But I'm still hungry," he complained. "I just want one more."
"Don't you – Hey!" she squealed as Hawk quickly snatched one and leaped away. She snapped at him and chased him away from her remaining apples.
He let out a squeal of surprise at how quickly she chased after him, but then pranced around proudly when she retreated back to finish her breakfast, being sure to keep his distance now that he got what he wanted.
Little Creek chuckled at two yearlings as he approached Keen Eye. "I suppose you're going to take off again, filly," he said, mounting the grey horse.
Cloud finished her last apple and looked up at him. It took him long enough to figure it out. She realized she probably didn't need Hawk now that he finally knew what she wanted, but she thought she'd hold onto him just in case. By now he had stopped prancing around, so she grabbed a hold of his rope and took off again.
Little Creek gave his mount a quick kick and they were trailing behind the yearlings.
They didn't travel for too long before they finally came across the barbed wire fence. Cloud heart began to pound as she slowed to a stop. She was so close to home, so close to her family. "My herd is just past this," she nickered to Hawk.
"How are we supposed to get through?" he asked her, sniffing at one of the barbs. He jerked back as it poked his tender nose.
"Jump it, of course," the filly replied. "That's how I did it before." Although, she had to admit it looked a lot taller now that she didn't have a bunch of ranchers chasing her.
In the meantime, Little Creek had dismounted to get a better look for himself. "I'm guessing what you want is on the other side," he said. As he looked up and down the length of the fence, he shook his head. "They've taken over your home, haven't they?"
Cloud gave a small nod. "And took my family," she added softly.
Little Creek looked back at the fence. The wire would be impossible to cut with his knife. If only he had his hand ax. Then he might be able to hack it down.
Cloud turned and trotted off a little ways, still leading Hawk behind her.
"Now what are you doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Jumping it, like I said," she replied matter-of-factly.
"No, no. I can't jump that! It's too - " He was suddenly jerked forward as Cloud took off. He didn't have time to resist. All he could do is tuck his legs close to his body and jump as high as he possibly could. To his surprise, they both cleared the fence without a scratch and safely landed on the other side. "…high," he finally finished his sentence, his eyes wide with disbelief at what he had just done. "You are the craziest horse I have ever met!" he added with a snort.
The mustang rolled her eyes. "You made it, didn't you?" She looked back at Little Creek, who had remounted Keen Eye. After making sure they both jumped the fence safely, she took off again.
They ran past the meadow and the hill her father would always stand on to keep watch over the herd. They ran past the river where the bison would gather to drink. They kept running until Cloud saw a strange structure in the distance. She slowed to a walk and cautiously approached, hiding behind a rock out-cropping so she could get a better look. She had never seen anything like it. There were more of those strange fences, only these ones were completely made of wood and enclosed a small area filled with horses. Other horses were tied up with ropes at tie-rails. There were a few strange structures in the distance similar to the teepees she had seen at the Lakota village, only these were large and boxier.
Cloud thought she recognized some of the horses in the enclosure. She let out a tentative whinny, seeing if one of them would respond. A very familiar whinny sounded in reply, causing Cloud's heart to skip a beat.
Little Creek also stiffened when he heard the distant horse's response, for he too recognized it. "It can't be…" he whispered quietly. "Is it?" He strained to see the horse as it made its way to the edge of the corral. It was. "Rain..."