A/N Thank you for being so patient while I worked things out with this chapter. My internet has been giving me fits of rage lately, so I'm sorry forthe delay in updating. I had to use my phone to post this as well as the lastchapters of my other horseland fic. That said please enjo

Chapter 10 Worries

A month passed with no answer to Sarah's letter, and considering that it was, by now all over the news, it was apparent that Abdulla's fear of war had come true. All air travel in and out of the country was grounded, and there was talk that suggested that the president was considering sending in troops to aid the country end the war. "This isn't good, I hope that they're alright," said Baily as everyone discussed the most recent news.

She and the others were starting to worry. As one month ended and another began, everyone soon had other things on their mind, as they were training for an upcoming competition against Stanhope Academy. On the day of the competition Sarah was brushing Scarlet down before letting her out into the pasture for the day. Since Scarlet was now four months along in her pregnancy, she didn't want to put any strain on her by making her jump over fences. She still rode her, but not as hard as she normally would have, not wishing any discomfort for her horse. Her parents rented her a lovely black thoroughbred mare so that she could still compete with her friends.

Scarlet whinnied and tossed her head while the other horses were loaded into the trailer to go to the competition. For the entire month she had listened to the conversations of the teens and was now very worried about Sultan and Ashya. She lowered her head to the grass and started to graze daydreaming about Sultan and the joy that he would have if he was able to see their foal born.

~(_)~ Arabia~(_)~

A month after the Horseland team had left for their home in America, Abdulla spent all of his spare time in the stables taking care of Sultan and reading the letters that he had received from his friends over and over. They were both lonely for the company of the new friends that they had made, so the day that the first letter was delivered to his bedroom brought a smile to his face. They had all sent pictures of the lush green farm where the horses lived, and the teens rode, along with individual pictures of each rider with their horse. As he sat in Sultan's stall looking at the pictures his hand rested upon the last picture of Sarah Whitney and her mare Scarlet, and he sighed earing a loving nudge from Sultan.

"You miss them too don't you boy," he said as he reached up a hand to stroke Sultan's soft nose? Sovereign neighed and tossed his head in answer, which made Abdulla laugh. His laughter was cut short by the sound of Amira's low threatening growl, as she positioned herself between her young master and the door of the stall.

He got to his feet and shushed the dog, as he carefully peaked out into the stable yard where his father was speaking in angry tones to none other than his traitorous brother, who was unfortunately his uncle. The arguing men's voices got louder, and more profane in their language, every word of which Abdulla understood. He heard the familiar sounds of swards being drawn, and rifles being prepared for shooting, then gasped in shock as he was knocked to the ground by Amira, whom had, stood quietly as long as she could before leaping over the boy's head and out into the stable yard to attack his uncle with a ferocity that nobody thought that she even possessed.

Then it happened, before anyone could call off the dog, a gun shot rang out, and there was one last yelp of pain from the loyal dog as she fell dead to the ground at the angry man's feet. Abdulla wanted to scream out for the loss of his dog, but was stopped by, Sultan who had rushed forward and blocked his master from leaving the safety of the stall. Abdulla berried his face into Sultan's mane and cried silent tears over the loss.

The next thing that he heard was the sounds of men and horses running out of the stable yard with guns blasting and curses flying in anger. Sultan poked his head out of the stall and waited until all was clear and quiet before he moved and allowed his young master to leave the stall, then he followed slowly behind the sad boy as he went to were the dog laid and gently picked her up with tears streaming down his face.

"We should burry her next to her favorite flower bush, don't you think," sniffed Abdulla as he wiped his tears and looked up at Sultan who was sniffing the lifeless dog sadly? Sultan walked over to the sweet smelling flower bush that Amira used to lay under and started to paw at the soft sand in an attempt to help. Abdulla carefully placed Amira down and ran to get a shovel to dig a proper hole. "Thanks boy, I'll finish it," he said as he gently patted Sultan's neck and started digging where Sultan, had begun. Once the hole was deep enough he tenderly placed Amira into the hole, said a soft prayer in Arabic as he covered the hole and placed several large rocks over it to prevent any stray creatures form digging it up. "It looks like you are my only friend here, Sultan," he whispered as he lead his horse back into his stall and secured the latch before trudging sadly up to his room to be alone.

A week later the war had intensified to a point where he was awakened in the middle of the night by his mother, and the servants who had turned on the light and was throwing his clothes into a duffle bags with reckless abandon. "Mother, what's going on," he asked sitting up in bed rubbing his eyes sleepily?

"There's no time for explanations right now son. I need you to get up and get ready to ride out of here right now, she ordered in a fearful tone.

"Mother," he started to protest.

"NOW, Abdulla, it's not open for debate. Your father has ordered this for our safety," she snapped as she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his bed and threw his clothes at him. It was then that he noticed the fear in her eyes, and he started to rip off his pajamas without further argument and dressed quickly grabbing his sward as he was pulled from the room.

"Is everyone evacuating," he whispered as he helped his mother onto Asia's saddle?

"No, There's no time, and since your father was forced to shut down all air travel we've got to ride hard to the safest board under cover of night and get somewhere safe," said his mother as she watched the orange glow of fire off in the distance. Just as they were about to leave his father came riding up and leapt from his exhausted horse and sprang to the back of a fresh horse.

"We've got to go south, as my brother has cut off our access to the port and everything to the north and east," he explained as the guards surrounded the family and escorted them out of the palace and into the desert. They rode hard until they reached the southern boundaries of their country, then the Sultan kissed his wife and hugged his son tightly. "May you stay safe, my beloved," he said as he turned to leave them with the most loyal of his guards.

"Father, aren't you coming with us," asked Abdulla as he turned his horse to meet his father's eyes?

"No, son, my place is here, protecting out people from my brother's tearony. I've made arrangements for you and your mother, to get you both out of the country. Your mother is with child and I'm not going to risk the chance of your uncle getting his hands on either of you. I'll come for you both when it's safe to return home, now don't argue with me on this and protect your mother," said his father as he spurred his horse and rode away with the rest of the guards at a hard run.

~(_)~Back at Horseland~(_)~

Scarlet looked up from her peaceful grazing when she heard the sound of the farm truck and trailer pulling into the driveway. "That's odd, they shouldn't be returning this early," said Shep as he stood by the fence watching the truck roll up the drive.

"You don't think that one of the kids got hurt, do you," asked Scarlet as she leaned against the gate and watched the trailer with pricked ears?

"I hope not," said Shep as he watched the truck getting closer.

As the trailer drew nearer Scarlet heard a familiar set of neighs coming from the trailer. "It can't be," she said following the trailer as it passed trying to peer into the windows.

"It can't be who," asked Angora?

"I'm dreaming, it just can't be who I think it is," neighed Scarlet as she came to a sliding halt at the corner of the pasture closest to the barn.

"Who is it, what's going on," asked Shep, Teeny, and Angora growing impatient?

A/N thanks for reading Chapter 11 Not so Peaceful Sanctuary will be next.