Spirit woke when the sun hit his eyes. It had been a week since they came to the camp. He looked next to him to see Rain fast asleep. He saw his parents a couple feet away. He looked for
Buck who wasn't next to Rain anymore. Fear ran through his body. He had an injured leg and was vulnerable to any predator. Spirit jumped to his feet without waking the others. He didn't want them to worry.
He trotted around the village, following his scent. Finally he found him. He was playing with Little River. Spirit sighed with relief and watched as the two danced around playfully. Buck nickered and kicked playfully. He could put wait on his leg now but it still had a ways to go. Spirit smiled. At least he got to enjoy the time at the camp, he thought. He walked back over to Rain and laid next to her. He tried to get more sleep. He thought about his herd, he missed them all and wouldn't be able to see them for at least another week. He closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.
An hour past and Spirit woke to find Buck standing in front of him.
"Dad, finally your awake!"
"Whats the excitement about?" Spirit chuckled. Buck seemed so happy, he thought he might have been fully healed or something like that.
"Come on get up, grandpas in the race!"
"What? What race?"
"The other horses and their humans are having a race and grandpa is letting one of them ride him! So come on get up its about to start."
Spirit was confused. He looked next to him to find that everyone was gone. Why would dad let a human on his back again? Many questions ran through his head. He got up and walked with his son. Gosh he's getting big. He's nearly as tall as me. Spirit thought as he looked at his son. They came upon the others and sure enough Strider was saddled up and at the start line with the other horses, and with a human on his back. Spirit ran to him.
"Dad, what are you doing? I thought you would never let a human ride you again?"
"I know, but I sure do love to race and how can you turn the opportunity down?"
Spirit jumped when he felt a cloth thrown on his back. He looked back and saw Little Creek putting a blanket on him. Spirit showed his teeth but then closed his lips. He thought about what Strider had said. It would be fun to race, he hadn't had a good gallop in about a week. He noticed Little Creek was carrying the leather that the army men had used, the leather that had made his mouth sore when they pulled on it. At first Spirit refused to let him slide the metal past his jaws, but then he opened and willingly allowed Little Creek to slide the metal carefully to the back of his mouth.
"Alright Mustang lets see how you race."
Spirit nickered in reply. Little Creek climbed up on his back and he gently pulled on the leather, signaling to where he wanted to go. Spirit obeyed him, happy that he wasn't pulling on the metal like the colonel did. He walked next to his father. Strider smiled at him and gave a "I told you so" kind of look. One of the men was talking loudly to them. Explaining the areas of the forest they needed to go. Finally he walked out of the horses way. Spirit pawed the ground. Strider pawed back accepting his son's challenge. The same human who explained the course shot an arrow and Little Creek leaned forward and encouraged him to go.
Spirit leaped into a gallop. He ran beside his father. Spirit pulled ahead and Little Creek pulled the leather to the left. Spirit followed the way the metal was pulling. He breathed hard, happy to be galloping in the forest. He almost forgot about the race until he felt a gentle pull on the left of his mouth. He saw his father was beside him once again. They reached the edge of the woods and they could see the cheering crowd as they ran towards it. Little Creek pushed on his neck and Spirit went faster. He heard hoofbeats on the other side of him. He looked back and saw Buck with Little River on his back. Spirit became furious. They past the finish line without him even knowing. Little Creek pulled back on the leather and he halted immediately. Spirit trotted to Buck.
"What do you think you are doing? Do you realize your leg is still injured? Your lucky you didn't break it!" Spirit shouted and then noticed Little River was still on his back. " Another thing, why is there a human on your back?"
"Dad I'm fine! My leg doesn't even hurt anymore and why do you care if I have a human on my back? You have one too!"
"It's different!"
"Oh yeah, how?"
"It doesn't matter, you are my son and I forbid you to ever let them on your back again!"
"You cant do that!"
Before Spirit could argue he was surrounded by the humans. Little Creek hopped off and was congratulated for winning. He patted Spirit's neck. Strider congratulated him also. Rain and Esperanza trotted over and touched his muzzle. When they all settled down Little Creek took of the blanket and the leather. He looked around for Buck. He didn't see him. He went to Rain. He had remembered that Buck had said it didn't hurt. He thought that now would be a good time to finally go home.
"Hey, well since Buck is feeling better I think we should be headed home."
"Yah I guess your right. Spirit just don't be angry with him, he only wanted to have fun. He's been going through a lot lately. Remember how you felt when you were taken from your herd?"
"Yah, where is he anyway? I should talk to him. He seemed pretty scared after I yelled at him."
"He went down to the river to get a drink."
Spirit ran to the river and found Buck. Spirit was confused. Buck did nothing more but stare at the water. Spirit walked quietly to him.
"Hey, watcha you doing?"
"Dad! Geese you scared me!"
"Sorry, and also I'm sorry for what happened earlier. But to cheer you up, I came to tell you that we're leaving in the morning! If we trot we should make it there in about three days."
"What!" He looked sad and Spirit could tell that he wasn't telling him something.
"Whats the matter?"
Buck hesitated for a moment. He finally spoke up. "Dad, I'm sorry but I... I'm not going home. I like it here and I want to stay."
Hope you all like it! Please review even if you thing it sucks. Just please be nice.
