Disclaimer: I do not own anything TP related!!!

A/N---*thinks*- hmmm. . .do ya'll deserve the next chapter??? -thinks some more- Well.I got six reviews.so OK.here's the next one. . .enjoy!

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At first, it was so bright Leya couldn't see what was happening. However, once her eyes adjusted, the full shock of what she was seeing hit her. She glanced at Raphael. He too was staring in disbelief. Leya's golden eyes turned back to horrible scene. The village was on fire, completely on fire. Every now and then she could catch a glimpse of the remains of a blackened house or wagon. From the looks of it, the fire had only been going for a few hours.

As she stared at the flames, her thoughts turned to people she had known. Ethan and the horses, her brothers (for they had never been unkind to her, only indifferent. They didn't deserve to die), the lady down the street with her two sweet children, the other teenagers Raphael lived with. It shocked her that she might actually care about some of these people and her village. It was the place she had lived all her life. She shook her head, disgusted that she actually cared. The movement dislodged the salty tears that had fallen onto her cheeks. She stared at the liquid in shock. When had she started crying?

Another thought hit her. What if. . .what if some of those people were still alive? Trapped and needed help? She made the decision in a split second and kicked Shamir into a gallop. Without hesitation he ran toward a spot where the fire wasn't so high. In one swift movement, he sprang over the flames. Leya didn't once stop to think about how crazy she was asking her horse to gallop into the middle of a wildfire. Down the main street they ran, turning down road after road, searching for anyone who might have escaped. They found no one. It wasn't long before the heat and the smoke started getting to Leya. She gripped Sham's mane in her fingers and shook her head again, trying to clear it so she could think. Instead, she started to see black at the corners of her eyes. 'O wonderful,' she thought right before she passed out.



Shamir halted at the top of the hill and looked down, his sensitive nostrils quivering as he took in the scent of smoke. Slowly, he took in the sight of the village on fire. He was not nearly as shocked as his mistress. To him, this was just another something that happens in life. . .to him fires were just part of nature, nothing special. He knew as well as any horse that you either fight or flee. A fire was simply something that couldn't be fought, so, he prepared himself to run at a moments notice, figuring that his mistress must at least know that you don't just stand in front of a fire.

After a moment, he sensed something strange and knew that she was about to do something crazy. When she kicked him into a run, he easily extended his stride, seeing that they were heading toward the fire. In his eyes this was certainly a strange thing to do, but he trusted Leya. Heading toward a spot where he saw the flames were slightly lower, he steeled himself for the jump, and just at the critical moment, took off, flying through the air. He felt the heat of the flames on his belly, but ignored it and focused on landing safely on the other side.

He landed at a run and accepted the instructions his mistress gave him, galloping a few strides down the main road before turning down a smaller one. Up and down various roads he ran, snorting at the scent of smoke that filled his nostrils and trying to keep his head low so he didn't have to breathe in so much. After about fifteen minutes of searching, she stopped him. Sham could sense her sitting deeper and harder in the saddle till he was supporting her dead weight on his back and she stopped giving him directions. He turned his majestic head this way and that, thinking to himself.

It was a well-known fact of nature that humans are stupid creatures. Humans have no common sense or natural instincts. To a horse, they are just about a brain dead as a fly, only bigger. Horses only obey them because they felt sympathy for them and figure that they can lend these strange, almost hairless creatures some of their intelligence. Sham had picked Leya because he considered her somewhat smarter than most of them. Apparently, he had been wrong.

If a horse could laugh, he would have. No creature in its right mind would run into the heart of a fire. It occurred to him that not only was his mistress crazy, but he was too. He was quite amused by this thought and decided it was time to bail her out of this situation she had gotten them into.

He rose his velveteen muzzle to sky and released a high-pitched whistle, cupped auditives swiveling forward on his dark poll as he listened intently for Bonfire's reply. Bonfire answered Sham with a short, sharp whistle of his own. Sham turned in the direction the sound had come from and picked up a careful gallop, making sure to keep his mistress balanced.

Ahead of him was the wall of fire he had to jump in order to get out of the flames. He prepared himself, muscles bunching under his sleek pelt of ebony, when out of the corner of his dark eye he saw something that shocked him slightly. The flames to his right had formed the shape of a horse with a mane and tail of fire. It was the horse god of fire, simply known as Wildfire. Sham considered stopping to pay his respects, but the god shook his large head as though he could read Sham's thoughts.

Swiftly, Sham sprang out of the fire, a dark shape against the brightness of the flames, and trotted over to where Raphael and Bonfire were. Raphael had run over and taken Leya off Sham's back, which he was grateful for, as she was quite heavy. After a moment's thought, he decided to tell his friend about Wildfire later. Instead, he turned to Bonfire with a simple, 'Humans are so stupid.'

Bonfire was clearly amused and answered, 'So are you.'

Sham lashed out at the other horse playfully with a powerful hind leg. Bonfire jumped back, squealing in annoyed protest. Sham just snorted arrogantly and trotted over to the greenest patch of grass, figuring he deserved it after being so kind to his mistress. Since she was not awake to reward him, he would just have to reward himself.



When Leya had taken off at a run, Raphael had yelled after her, but, apparently, neither Leya nor Sham heard him. He began to run over his options rapidly in his head of which there were two. He could either go after her or he could wait and hope she came back out. He made his choice in a split second and asked Bonfire for a gallop. The chestnut horse picked up a gallop, but it was more reluctant then Sham's. Seconds before Bonfire jumped, the flames flared higher, and Bonfire came to a rapid stop.

Raphael cursed softly, annoyed at both himself and his horse. He glanced up and turned Bonfire so they were trotting along the perimeter of the fire. He looked long and hard to try and catch a glimpse of Leya. After a quarter of an hour, he started to wonder if she had even survived. His heart was sinking as he halted Bonfire and searched the flames. He saw nothing.

Just then, a shrill whistle pierced the air. Bonfire's ears pricked forward as he listened. After a moment, he tossed his head in the air and answered with a whistle of his own. Raphael stared down at his horse. Was he talking to Sham? Maybe Bonfire was smarter then he gave him credit for. He waited for five more torturous minutes before a black shape appeared in the flickering flames of the fire.

Raphael watched in wonder as the dark Shamir burst out of the flames, silken tresses fluttering in the soft breeze that he created when he sprang up into flight. He landed and trotted forward, obviously quite pleased with himself. Raphael had dismounted in a second and was over at the limp form of Leya.

"Stupid, stupid!" he whispered to himself as he laid Leya down on the ground and checked her over. From what he could tell, she was OK; she'd just passed out from too breathing in too much smoke.

He glanced up and watched as Sham resumed his usual antics, kicking at Bonfire and then trotting off to graze. Raphael watched his stride with a critical eye, making sure that nothing was wrong with Sham either. If Leya woke up and found something wrong with Shamir, Raphael knew that she would blame him for it and yell at him for not taking care of her horse. Ha! Like he was going to take care of the horse before he made sure she was fine. 'Yup, she's crazy.' he concluded.



Bonfire had stared at the fire in silent wonder when he had first laid eyes on it. He'd never seen the true wild spirit of the fire unleashed; he'd only seen it captured in the little things humans called 'fireplaces'. The true power of the fire awed the young horse, and as he stared at it, he was delighted that this was the place his name had been derived from. It was fantastic, this awesome and incredible wild beast that ran before his eyes.

The sound of hoofbeats snapped him out of his reverie and he half turned his head just in time to see Shamir jump through the flames and into the burning village. Raphael called out and Bonfire considered giving a whinny of his own to the pair, but decided they probably wouldn't hear him. He sensed Raphael tense up and stood silently. It wasn't long before he was asked to gallop. He did so, but somewhat reluctantly.

True, the flames awed him, but part of awe is fear. He pushed this aside and decided it would be best if he listened to what his master asked of him. Right as he reached the flames and prepared to jump, the fire flared up higher than he could safely jump. He snorted softly, watching as the wall of flames grew taller by the second.

He answered his master's requests and trotted along the perimeter of the fire, straining his own eyes for a glimpse of the dark shape he knew as Sham. After about fifteen minutes, his master brought him to a halt. Bonfire stopped willingly, wondering what it was that the god of fire had in store for his friend. The shrill whistle that pierced his thoughts startled him and he jerked his head up and listened. In a split second he had answered, whistling to show the direction Sham should go.

After about five minutes, Sham's dark shape sprang over the flames and into view. Raphael practically jumped off Bonfire's back to get Leya. Sham turned to Bonfire with a simple, 'Humans are so stupid.'

Bonfire was quite amused. He studied the slightly younger horse carefully, then decided not to tell him about Wildfire right now. 'So are you.' He answered.

Sham lashed out at him playfully and he skittered to the side before settling down himself to eat some of the grass, watching Leya and wondering if she was all right. Apparently Raphael and Sham thought she was, so Bonfire relaxed and enjoyed the grass. . .

A/N-Yes! That was my favorite chapter to write. I love writing from the horses' point of view. . .don't ask me why! In the next chapter you'll get to learn more about the blond haired, blue eyed girl from the stable. No, Larzdinn, I haven't written it yet, I just know what it's gonna be about. . .so it won't be up till later tonight or tomorrow.

dragonqueen-No problem, glad you're liking it! yeah, the time thing is a little weird. . .when I first got here I was sooooo jet lagged. O, and yes. . .I HAVE to live in Europe. I'm being forced to against my own free will! It's neat over here. . .yeah, but you have to have a friend to actually have fun, and since school hasn't started, I don't have any friends over here yet (though I did meet this really cute boy on a tour. . .)

Chibi-Chingo-if that's what ya wanna call cliché.

Howler-Girl-13-Glad you like it!

Galadriel Greenleaf-LOLOL yup, defidently an over active imagination. . .LOL

Larzdinn-I know. . .I enjoy torturing you peoples (. I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far! Hmm.not much to say is there? I was just watching a TV show where there were these two girls singing really off key. . .I changed the channel. Opps. . .-looks down- caught! Yes I did watch some TV before I uploaded this. . .only like. . .-counts in head- five shows or so. . plez don't kill me!From the reviews you've posted so far, seeing you actually serious would really scare me! That just doesn't happen. . .I mean, Larzdinn. . .actually serious???! Kinda freaky thought there huh? Keep readin' & reviewin' and I'll keep writin'!

JadeDragon2000--( I love torturing people! Glad you like it! There's the next chapter. . .hope you enjoyed!

OK, that's everyone right? Well, I g2g. . .we're gonna go walk down the main street for dinner. . .I'll talk to ya'll in the next chapter. . .I hope that we get the chance to