Disclaimer: The Black belongs to somebody else, somebody who's a better writer than I am…
A/N: Rusty and the Rubix Horse – Actually, this story's not done yet…there's some more…and yeah, I'm planning a sequel, but it's not going to be about Spirit bringing Moon home…coming soon after this one…hope you'll like it…
Sorry about the typos; thanks for the info about the stallion and the mare and being put in stud; I was clueless about that before…
Whew!! (again…) Really, really sorry I haven't been updating that often, but final exams are all over now (YEE HAAHHH!!!!!)…Summer vacation's starting, so I can write all I want…update all I want too…That is, if the Internet Connection will let me…and considering that the last few nights it's been preventing me from connecting to the Net…=s… oh well…
Short chapter everybody. I can say the next ones will be longer, but this one's short…
Chapter 20
"Ok. Here's the deal."
We were trotting along the bottom of one of the big canyons.
Rock walls rose up all around us. White rock walls.
"What deal?" Moon narrowly missed sinking her hoof into a crevice that turned out to be hock deep.
I butted her with my nose. "Watch where you're going. We're near my old home, but not near enough. It's still almost seven days' journey by walking, almost cut in half by galloping. There's an arch we have to pass through first–the Spanning Bridge–it's the biggest, widest bridge around–it's famous for that. You can't miss it. After that, it's just a day or so and we reach the meadow."
Her eyes widened. "Don't tell me–"
"No." I said quickly. "We're not going to cross over it. We're going to go under it. It's an archway from one side of he canyon to the other. Big and wide–wide enough for two horses to cross. But that's during summertime."
"In winter, nobody uses it, because it's slippery–can't count how many horses have fallen to their deaths from it. Their skeletons are still lying around the canyon floor–that's why that canyon is called Dead Horse Canyon. Anyway, in winter, when it's undisturbed, the snow piles up. When it gets too heavy, the snow falls, making something like a little avalanche. Don't worry, it won't kill. But that's the second thing it's famous for–the falling snow. Now after the snow falls, that particular canyon is blocked–no one can get through on either side, the side we are on now, and the side from the meadow–until all the snow melts, which is late spring."
"So you want to wait for the humans till we're near it, chance crossing it when the snow falls, and leave them on the other side while we get away."
I nodded.
"Brilliant plan, but what if we get there too early or too late?"
"If we get there too early, the humans will follows us through. And we definitely don't want that. If we get there too late, well, we're trapped with the snow wall before us and the humans behind us. And there's no other way out of that spot for days around, unless we can somehow slip through, go west until we're out of the canyons entirely, then try going back East by a different way. But you won't want to travel that time of the year; the rivers are all swollen with the melting snow; they'll be worse than the one we crossed.
"Of course," I added, " We could always try climbing the canyon walls. There's a particularly low place not far from Dead Horse Canyon and the Spanning Bridge where we can get to the top easily. Then, it's open mesa from there on. Flat land with some trees."
I'd never actually climbed to the very top of the canyons, but my mother had, and she'd told me.
"How long do you think it'll be before the snow falls, with this weather?"
I glanced at the sky. Pale blue with fluffy clouds. Sunlight…not much." I don't know."
Moon shuddered. "I just hope we make it before they do."
It started snowing again later that day, and I was getting worried that the snow might fall early on before we even got to it when Moon stopped and pointed with her nose.
"What was that?"
A dark shape was slinking along the cliffs, it's body low to the ground.
I dismissed it. "Probably a cougar." A light load of snow slid from my mane as I shook it off.
She moved closer.
"Don't worry. Cougars wouldn't dare attack two grown horses. Not until they're starving. Which I really doubt they are," I added hastily as her eyes widened in alarm. "Because if they are, we wouldn't have been in their stomachs long before now."
"They're downwind. We can't be sure what they are."
"How do you know it's a they? And anyway, if it is a cougar, then we'll just run."
The silence was eerie. Somehow, we didn't run, but made our way through the canyon floor, weaving around packed snow, keeping an eye out. Here and there, small gnarled dry bushes poked their way bravely through all the snow.
It had been the fourth rising of the sun after we crossed the river. And I was getting apprehensive. There had been no sign of humans.
Yet.
They were at it again. I was getting tired of this hide-and-seek game they were playing with us, popping up unexpectedly when we were most off-guard.
A pebble clattered down a smooth cliff face.
Moon stopped behind me. I stopped too.
"That wasn't a cougar," I whispered.
Cougars would never do that, would never be careless enough to send something down when they're stalking their prey.
Then, something clinked. It sounded familiar.
It sounded like–
"Yahh!!"
A huge brown horse burst from an overhead ledge right above us and landed heavily on the gorge. Moon swerved left, I swerved right.
It's rider twirled a lasso and let out a ringing yell.
"RUN!"
We fled through a curtain of falling snow and rock as other riders burst from their hiding places and went after us.
We ran for our lives now, manes and tails streaming, not caring where we put our feet. But this was rough terrain. And even I was used to running on a smooth flat surface.
And that made us lose speed. Fortunately, we were Thoroughbreds, and the other horses were not.
A rider had moved up beside me. I glared at him through narrow eyes. He twirled his lasso high as I shot forward.
The rope hit my rump and bounced off. "Faster!" I whinnied, desperation rising.
Moon was running straight out. I pulled in beside her and we ran, matching strides. The sound of our own hooves and the yells of the men echoed through the canyon, bouncing back, making it sound like there were a hundred horses running instead of just less than ten.
"Don't–do–that." Each word came out every time my hooves hit the ground.
"What?" Her voice was shaking.
"Swerve–harder–to–lasso–"
She nodded.
The rider had pulled beside me again. I timed my strides to his lasso twirls and his horse's strides.
One, two, three, wham!
I rammed the brown horse's shoulder with all my strength.
He stumbled, and his rider, caught off balance, went flying up over our heads with an "AHHH!"
He landed somewhere beyond.
We ran on.
And as we were chased, I could feel the waves of fear begin to wash over me from head to toe. This was a straight canyon. Not that it ran in a straight line, but that it was a single one–no forks, not that I know of, not branching paths or anything.
It could lead to a dead end.
And we would get tired eventually. My eyes raked the cliff walls desperately, looking for breaks, dips, trails that led upward.
"Look!" Moon's voice was trembling. We turned a corner and found ourselves facing a fork.
Left, the canyon led on. Right, the canyon led on. Ahead was a sliver of rock, standing tall.
What fork. I never remembered a fork in this place.
"Which way?" Moon panted.
"Umm…uhh…" My mind raced. What was this place? Everything boiled down to the realization that I didn't know where we were.
"Uhh…"
"Decide now!"
I spotted a dip in the right-hand side. A dip meant a shorter distance to the flat tops, which right now, were our only chance of getting away.
"Right! Go right!"
We turned as one, legs and hooves churning up snow and rocks and snow dust flying behind us as we swept by the rock wall.
"I hope this ends where we want it to," I breathed, not thinking.
"What!?! You don't know where we are!?!"
Argghhh! But what could I say now?
Nothing. Besides, my whole attention was fixed to not tripping over anything. Here, the canyon was wider. More, bigger rocks, more brave trees, yet more rocks and pebbles that gave way beneath our pounding hooves.
We swept down the canyon at a slow gallop, my eyes still searching frantically, the humans now a bit behind us.
Left, none, right, none, left, none, right–there! Barely visible, a tiny trail wound it's way from the canyon floor to the top.
Without pausing to think where it would lead us, I bolted for it, Moon hot on my heels, the riders slowing beneath us, confused, while we made headway, scrambling up the trail, loose rocks clattering from our hooves, raining snow on the humans and tame horses below.
The trail widened. Broadened. Formed a wide platform big enough for more than a dozen horses, with space to move freely about. But it didn't stop there. The trail led on, zigzagged upwards. Straight up. And branching from it were other trails. A maze of trails. The rock wall rose up even higher over our heads. Leagues and leagues high. But this was considered low when compared to that other rock wall, the one we would be on now if we had taken the left hand fork. Here and there, rocky outcrops jutted out towards space, some wide enough for two horses, others foal-size.
I paused, panting, eyes flying.
Where do we go?
"Hi YaH!!" A rider and his horse tried to jump onto the platform. The horse was scrabbling with its hooves, and falling. We rushed over to the edge just in time to see the horse sliding, slipping down the incline.
They backed up against the canyon wall. The rider kicked his horse forward and it shot across the canyon floor and up the wall.
The human wanted to do this the quick way. He didn't want to use the trails.
We were supposed to be running for our lives already, fleeing by the trails to the open mesa beyond.
But we were just standing there, eyes locked on the horse as it struggled up, slide down, again. And again. And again.
It didn't have the momentum to do it.
The rider turned his horse aside and motioned to one of the others, who rode a taller horse with longer legs.
We watched as this horse backed up and ran.
We were sure this one would fail too, like the other one. But just in case, we backed away.
For a moment, the edge shielded them from view. We waited tensely.
"AHH HAHH!!!"
Moon let out a shrill neigh of terror. The horse and rider looked black against the sky as they soared over and landed squarely on the platform. The horse reared.
That unfroze us.
"That one!" I didn't care which trail to take. I didn't care which way to go.
I just wanted to get away from the humans.
I raced up the nearest trail.
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know; just follow me!"
"What–"
"Trust me! Just follow!"
This trail had spiky bushes growing along it's side.
And now, those bushes tore at my face, snagged in my mane and long coat, looking particularly like huge, long-fingernail-ed human hands grabbing hold of us and dragging us back.
I glanced back once. There were now two riders and horses behind Moon and me.
I didn't want to get caught. Faster!
I didn't want to go back to captivity. FASTER!!
We ran blindly. They won't catch us. They wouldn't…
Once again, like on the track, everything became blurs of color. Once again, the wind roared in my ears.
FASTER!!!!
Somewhere behind me, a horse screamed. Whether in rage or pain, I do not know.
Maybe one of them was falling! Maybe one of those horses and riders had slipped and was falling below.
That gave me new energy, and with it new speed.
The last obstacle to the top: a particularly thick roll of rock that defied footage. It jutted out defiantly, daring me to set foot on it.
I put down my head and shot towards the thick roll. My hindquarters pushed against solid rock and I soared.
"Yes!"
I landed lightly on the mesa, on my toes, just as I had been taught and turned, waiting…expecting.
"You can do it!"
Hoofbeats. Moon must be coming now. She was fast. She was strong.
If I could jump, she could too.
I closed my eyes, imagining me and her running away on the mesa, laughing, leaving the humans far behind. I imagined going home…
But she had been right behind me.
So what was taking her so long?
"You can do it! I did!"
My voice didn't echo around here. The wind swirled and carried it away over the vast mesa. Instead, it sounded small…lost…
Then, human voices. And the hoofbeats stopped coming closer.
And instead, started getting fainter, as if the horse was going away…
Away?! Did that mean they just gave up, because they thought it was too hard?
Somewhere below, the horse who had screamed, screamed again. The sound echoed around and around the canyon, until it sounded like a hundred other horses were screaming.
It didn't sound like a scream of fright. It sounded like a scream of rage.
Anger. Frustration. Hopelessness.
Maybe one of those horses tried to jump up and couldn't.
They weren't coming closer. I crept to the edge, blood pounding.
My nose went just over the tip.
And I stopped breathing.
They were on the platform. All of them.
Moon was kicking and bucking.
And there was a rope around her neck.
A/N: Please R (you just did:) & R(hope this one will become past tense!)!!