Chapter Eleven

Oh
The flame trees will blind the weary driver
And there's nothing else could set fire to this town
There's no change
There's no pace
Everything within it's place
Just makes it harder to believe she won't be around

Embry couldn't believe that he hadn't found Leah or the herd yet. He'd ridden at ridiculous speeds across the slippery landscape for over an hour and he still couldn't find any trace of them. The herd must have wandered further inland than when they'd been spotted the day before, they could be anywhere; Leah may not have even found them yet.

He urged his horse up the last few paces of a small ridge and tried to get a better view of the terrain, it was almost impossible for the rain that drove down in buckets. He was getting a little desperate now. He felt somewhat responsible for Leah being out here on her own. He should have followed her first thing this morning, regardless of what Justin thought.

He was about to move on when he heard in the far distance a shrill chorus of neighing. He strained his ears for it again, and once he had heard it, he turned his horse in that direction.

A large booming roll of thunder seemed to explode directly above them, and Leah tried desperately to keep the herd together. From behind there was a large crackling noise, followed by a rumble. Scared for the first time since she had stopped her life as a Wolf she felt truly terrified. She turned to look in the direction from which they'd come, and her eyes grew wide in fear.

"Heeeyah!!!" she screamed, driving the horses and urging them into a wild gallop. She whipped her reins across Jake's neck, desperate for him to move as fast as he possibly could.

Coming up behind them was a flood of water, tearing down trees and obliterating anything in its path and it was moving fast.

From the walls of the valley Embry saw it all.

For a few seconds he stared on with horror. Watching as Leah was caught up in a wild mob of horses galloping for their lives and away from the muddy and debris littered wall of water that had collapsed from the dam at the other end of the valley.

Snapping back to reality, Embry threw his body weight forward and urged his horse down the side of the gully. The steep incline made it difficult to stay in the saddle and he leaned as far back onto his horses' rump as he could as the horse went thundering downwards.

He held his breath as his horse hastily soared over a fallen tree and landed carefully on the other side.

He reached the bottom in minutes, and quickly turned towards the oncoming horses. He scanned the mob for Leah while trying to keep his mount in control who was now wanting to run with the others of his kind.

"Leah!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, searching through the heavy rain.

Seconds passed, and soon he was caught up in the mob of horses who were terrified. His horse was rolling its eyes and chomping at the bit, he wanted out of the valley as the other horses were coursing past.

"LEAH!!!" Embry called again.

In the flashes of white, bay, black, brown and cream that flew past him, he still couldn't find Leah. Then he saw Jake galloping madly past.

Leah was no longer in the saddle.