CHAPTER 2

A Challenge Well Accepted

The smoke of a fire rose slowly into the darkened sky, as the sun peered out from the horizon onto the land.  In a small clearing, out in the middle of what seemed to be absolutely no where, a small camp was set up.  The two horses, one being Cheval, were tied to a log lying neatly in the grass.  Arien looked up and saw Frank lying peacefully still, sleeping quietly face down under his blanket.  She turned over, nothing covering her from the cold air and shivered.

She had been told to sleep on the ground by the log to make sure that the horses don't manage to flee.  However, Arien planned to escape that morning, so she slowly got to her feet, brushed off the dirt and crept toward Cheval.  He neighed softly as she approached him, bent down and untied his reigns.

"How dare he ride you" She whispered to Cheval, "That man has no right to lay a hand on you."

She held the reigns and tried to lead him away slowly so that her mounting the horse would not make a noise whatsoever.  Frank's horse neighed loudly instead, making Arien jump and turn around.

"Shuddup! You stupid horse! Do you want to get us both in trouble?"

At that moment the horse neighed again, louder than it did before and stamped its hooves.

Arien glared at it angrily and turned to walk away.  Frank twitched and rolled onto his back.

"Shuddup!" He snapped, opening his eyes slowly to the light.

The horse ceased making a racket as Frank sat up slowly.  He looked over and saw Arien creeping away and clutching tightly to Cheval's reigns.   He rubbed his forehead and pulled the blanket off himself.  He heaved himself to his feet and stood there watching her, waiting to see if she would take off, but she still continued to creep away.

He cleared his throat and picked up a spoon that was lying in the dirt.  Tossing it through the air, it flew across and hit her in the back of the head.  In a quick response she flinched and jumped around angrily.

"Who was it!!? Come out and…" She barked when she finally spotted Frank glaring at her strangely.

"Where ya goin?" He demanded.

Arien smiled and waved her hand.

"Home.  You can't keep me here forever you know.  That's kidnapping."

"You're right, I can't."

They stared at each other for a while before Frank pointed to the spoon on the ground.  Arien glared at it, then at him.  Angrily, she leant over, picked it up and tossed it back at him. It landed in the dirt in front of him.

"Goodbye Mr. Hopkins…" She told him, as she turned to jump into Cheval's saddle.

"WAIT! What about my Mustang!?"

Arien stopped and turned to face him.

"What about it?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to catch him?"

Arien smiled and flicked the reign in her hand.

"Perhaps." She replied, staring at the reign, "But my career is over.  Thanks to YOU, I didn't manage to capture that filly by sundown.   That poor little boy won't ever be able to see his horse… and I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE MY MONEY!"

Frank came on over and snatched Cheval's reigns from her hands.

"Either you take the challenge, or you don't."

Arien snatched them back.

"I do not!"

Frank scratched his chin and sighed.

"Fine, but I still have to take you in."

Arien stepped backwards, pulling Cheval with her.  She looked around herself and leapt up into Cheval's saddle.  Frank glared up at her.  She sat and waited.

"Well?? Are you going you take me??"

Frank poked his finger at her, turned around and walked back to the campsite.

Arien sat and thought about what he had said, as Frank packed up his things rather easily and mounted his horse.  He rode over and stood there staring at her.

"Come on.  It's too early but…" He leaned over and grabbed Cheval's reign from her hands to lead him.  She tried to take them back once again, but tried not to fight with him.

"… You planned to escape all along didn't you??" He ended.

She glared at him and snorted a laugh.

"Well but of course."

Frank nodded and stared out over the horizon.  There were a few minutes of silence, and he let go of her reigns.

"Listen, I'll make a deal with you.   I'll let you off right here right now.  Only catch is you come along with me to find Hidalgo."

There was another silence.

"So it's either stay here with you…. or.... stay here with you??"

Frank nodded.  He turned around and pulled something out of this jacket.

It was a small brown tattered book.  He held it out in front of him to show Arien.

Arien gasped and reached out for the book, but he plucked it away from her reach.

"Give me that back! That stuff is personal!"

Frank read the front cover.

"Diary of Arien Tane – Do not read or I will have your head…?"

She frowned at him and nodded.

"It'll happen to you if you don't hand it here this instant!!"
Frank laughed slightly and opened it to flick through.

"I read it last night.  It must've fallen out of your saddle-bag. Interesting stuff."

"What do you mean by that?" Arien asked.

He stopped abruptly on a single page with drawn pictures and writing.

"Says here you've managed to capture and whisper two hundred and twelve mustangs in your time.  You started from age nineteen."

Arien shrugged and snatched for the book.

"What about it??"

"That's pretty darn impressive."

Arien flashed a sort of smiled but then stopped immediately.

Frank flipped a few pages back to the beginning of the book and smiled.  He read the page for a second and then showed it to Arien.  He cleared his throat and pointed to the page.

"What about this??"
Arien gasped and covered her mouth with one hand.  Her cheeks turned red and she looked away.

"Not that!" She cried, sounding very embarrassed.

The page was indeed covered in writing, but it all read, repeatedly things like 'I Love Frank Hopkins' and 'Frank Is Sexy and Brave'.

Arien rubbed her face and tried to look back at him.  He was staring at her and smiling.

"That's some brave writing right there."
"I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU WOULD READ IT!!... I mean… back then I thought it would be impossible to meet a person as talented and bold as you.  It was beyond thought."

"Back then?" Frank replied, looking down at the page date, "1879!! But that was about fourteen years ago!"

Arien nodded slowly. 

"You know I started off young."

"But I won the Sea of Fire three years ago.  No one knew who I was until then.  How did you know me?"

He handed back the book slowly and she took it from him, now shoving it into her jacket pocket.

"I attended one of those Wild West Shows you were in one day, by myself.  I loved the way you and Hidalgo worked.  It was like you showed me what my life would and should be."

Frank sighed and rubbed his forehead, before looking at her decently.

"Those weren't exactly the best years of my life." He grumbled.

"I still came and watched you everyday until that time came when I left my family and set out on my own wild adventure."

There was silence as they continued riding.  It was a tense silence and Arien leant forward and stroked Cheval's mane.  Frank watched her and thought to himself.

"You did that because of me?" He finally said, speaking up.

Arien nodded and smiled.  She looked around herself and back at Frank.

"But look where I am now?"

"It's not much better than I was when I was young.  But I must say that I've never known a woman to want to join such a rowdy life let alone run away from her family."

Arien grinned at him.

"Well, it just goes to show how much I really adored you, doesn't it"

Frank nodded and smiled back at her. 

They rode on for a minute or two, and Arien stopped in her path.

"Remember that time you and Hidalgo rode out from the side, straight into your act and nothing went to plan.  You ended up on the ground and had a face full of dirt."

Frank laughed and shook his head.

"I dunno.  There were a lot of times that happened, and that's only one you're speakin' of."

"You don't remember?"

Frank shook his head again and Arien fell quiet.

"All I know is that Hidalgo would always drag me back off the staging area."

Arien laughed and Frank followed.  Frank rode on, leaving Arien behind.  When he realised, he stopped and turned back.

"Come on, gotta get goin'"

Arien smiled over to him and stroked Cheval's mane again.  She pointed at Frank and shook her finger.

"You know what? I'll take up that challenge!"

Frank sighed with relief.  Arien galloped past him and Frank turned and followed.

"SO YOU'RE COMIN' WITH ME TO FIND HIDALGO!?" He yelled after her.

"NO!! I'M ESCAPING!!"

Frank's eyes widened and he whipped his horse harder.

"I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN MISS TANE!!"

Arien skidded to a halt and Frank did the same.

"But I thought you were going to look for your Mustang."

Frank eyed her strangely.

"I am, but I couldn't let you escape."

"I wasn't escaping."

"But I thought YOU said you were escaping."

Arien rode closer and punched him in the arm.

"I only said that so that I could find Hidalgo first!!"

Frank smiled and watched as Arien galloped off ahead of him.  He kicked his horse in the sides and took off after her.  In the distance ahead of him, Arien threw her arm up in the air.

"LOOK OUT MUSTANG!! YOUR FREEDOM DAYS ARE OVER!!"

Frank whipped his horse and galloped after her.