growled Jake, pulling up next to the duo. "If I had my way, that horse would get a flogging! She'd be-"

"But I sent her into a gallop!" the boy pleaded, not wanting to hear the drastic measures the ranch owner would take. She had just saved his life, now he could begin to return the favour. "I kicked her on to follow the noise! But then there was this cougar, she threw me off, and-"

"She threw you off?" Jake thundered. "Threw you off? Why of all the cunning little demons of this world, you wouldn't throw a man that would harm you, eh? Had to wait till the feeble, soft one got on. She's going to be sold, Sonny, and by the end of this fortnight!"

"No!"

"Don't question me! I am in charge, not you, not these horses, not anybody but me, do you understand?"

The boy was taken off my back and was sat in front of the kind man on his horse instead. Yank-hand led me on a rope tied to my bridle. I knew the boy could do nothing about things now, and none of this was his fault. And no matter how hard I was tugged, how harshly scorned, I did not regret the action I took, even to this day.

We arrived in the afternoon, my head low in submission, my mind torn into segments. I wanted to go home, I wanted to stay, I wanted to move on, I wanted to be left alone, with family, just with the boy and Tammy. Tammy! How could I forget?

To confirm my darkest dread, I saw the father leaning against the stable door of Tammy's stall. He looked as if he was fighting, and loosing, a battle to fight off tears. In his hands, he was holding a gun, not looking at it, but constantly reminding himself of the late events.

After a long conversation between the skinny one and the leader outside the tack room, I was unsaddled, and put back in my stable. On my way in, I risked a quick peek into Tammy's stall.

I count that as being one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

There, on the floor, not moving, not breathing, was the body of a bay mare, grey at the edges, and with brown eyes that were now duller than ever, void of life. There was a tiny hole in her head, which red stained the edges. I could smell blood. I squealed so loudly the skinny one leading me flinched before attempting to calm me. I was beyond being calmed. A flood of emotions threatened to drown me.

Anger, love, regret, pain, revenge, ease, hatred, loss, loneliness, shock, horror, fear, pity, sympathy, everything, but mainly those. And more than anything else, just one question, just one little word even:

Why?

I wouldn't talk to anyone in the pasture any more. On my final night, I stood, isolated from the group in a distant corner, eyes closed, listening on the wind. If I concentrated hard enough, closed my eyes tight enough, I could swear I could almost hear Tammy.

I heard the falling of hooves and looked up at the chestnut stallion towering above me. He wanted to talk to me, and went right ahead without being interrupted that I wanted to be alone.

He knew Tammy very well, he loved her as a mate. Of course, she had had foals by other horses, that was the human way, but each four-legged resident of the ranch knew that they were each other's soul mates. They were hardly ever apart when they were young. She would mother the children and he would teach them the skills they needed for domesticated life (smiled slightly, remembering my own father once more). They had seen many horses come and go over the years, many wild mustangs like myself, wanting nothing but freedom, but none, he said, none had ever been so close to her as I had been.

I listened intently as he continued to speak to me, revealing everything I wanted to ask Tammy but were too shy to consider it, everything about her childhood and memories. Each and every one of their foals together. Their last one, a colt, had been sold to the army, and he assumed that that was where I was headed too.

He turned to go, wishing me the best of luck, and telling me that after what I did for Harry, Tammy would have been so very proud.

Harry?

On the last night of my life at the ranch, I finally knew that boy's name. Harry. His thick, untidy black hair and his green eyes, not unlike my own, and above all his caring nature to all horses. Learn a lesson and live like him, not just loving animals like me, but every creature, every human, every plant and even things like rocks and water. Care for it, nurture it. Give it life, and above all, respect.

At the break of dawn a rope halter was slipped around my head and I was taken out of the meadow for the last time. As I stood in the yard, tethered to a post while the men tacked up their horses, sadly not any that I was familiar with, I saw a tiny figure in one of the upstairs windows of the house. I knew how it was, and gave a happy little neigh to show I was alright. Then I looked away, wanting our departure to be quick, and hoped that he wouldn't come down to say goodbye to me. Luckily, my wish was granted.

As we exited under the arch that I had entered for the first time many weeks ago, I felt a surge of sadness wash over me. I knew, deep inside, that this was a chapter in my life that was now over, and that I shouldn't look back on it with pity. We headed to what I thought was north. Before, when I was in the small piece of woodland alone, I tried going this way. Instead, I had ended up east, and got myself tangled in a situation that I was still fighting to get out of.

The temperature was reasonably mild that day, and as we set out I felt the first few spots of rain in days. Our breath became visible in the air and we shivered in the cold. The downpour worsened, making it almost impossible to see further than a few meters ahead. I noticed how every few minutes the water seemed to be a little bit higher up my ankles. The dust turned to mud around us, and washed away into the rivers. Eventually, we called off the trek for now and sheltered under a tree on a hill. There, I fell into a deep, uneasy sleep.

Horses ran through soft grass that reached up to stroke their bellies, and the herd twisted and turned trough it, like schools of fish, their colours shining from the moonlight. Dapple greys, chestnuts, bays, buckskins, palominos, swekbalds, piebalds, they all galloped in unison, trampling the grass to stamp down the grasping fingers. One by one, they all dropped away from the group and stood still. High above, an eagle watched, viewing the pattern that had appeared. It was almost a mirror image to that majestic bird: a bald eagle, wings spread wide, as if trying to touch something beyond reality. As the wind picked up, and the grass blew gently, it appeared to be flying.

I shot awake. That dream, it was one I had had before. As a foal, exhausted and satisfied from a day of fun. Only this time it came with a meaning. When I was younger and held no wisdom to my name, I could not figure out what it was trying to tell me. Now, in my current state, I found it as easy as standing to decode it. Freedom. That thing that I longed for. All those years ago, it had not been just a dream, it had been a warning, hold onto you freedom. Big help now, though, but then I remembered the chase, and how I had tried my very hardest to escape. It had not been my fault. And now, away from human civilization, I had my chance to go home whilst the men were sleeping. I looked over to the horses. All were asleep but one. He seemed to be able to read my mind, yet he did not stop me.

I took a step forward, setting eyes on the drab landscape. The night, dark teal with clouds, with the rain lashing down vengefully from above, it beckoned me. The wild. Something inside of me weighed up the possibilities. I could feel the rope I was tethered to a branch with stress slightly, but nothing I couldn't pull to a snap. Out there, I could wash away all of the pain and fear from the last few weeks, and let myself run home, south-westerly, and be safe from further harm.

And I still didn't move. What was holding me there? I could go, be free! But I could also... be tame. Protected. Fed. Under the oak it was dry and warm, or at least more than it was out there. I ran, the snap would wake the men, and they would give chase. I might be able to get out of sight through the rain with a head start while they saddled and mounted. But, alone, I might fall into a trampling river and drown. I might be attacked by a predator, as they could sneak up on me in the storm. I pulled on the halter again, the rope around my face tensing on my skin, reminding me of my restraints. After this, I thought, I will never be truly free, I will have been tamed. There was not much more harm that staying with the humans could do to my soul, and as lightening struck out against the navy sky, I deducted that the best place to be, was exactly where I was. The horse, satisfied, lowered its head again to sleep.

The next day the rain had become a faint drizzle around us as we continued. The horse from the night said nothing to the others, and I was grateful for that. I didn't want to leave the thinking that I was selfish and uncaring. The lad around us gradually turned into desert, the rain stopped, and the sun came out. By midday it was unbearably hot, and I almost wished for the storm to come again. But we were in the drought lands now, and there was no huge hope that it would cease to be so.

Luckily, I am an adaptable animal, we have to be to survive. I got used to the rays of heat on my back as did the other horses, yet it seemed that the men were finding it hard to cope out o their natural surroundings. Maybe they would have more energy, if they hadn't been communicating so much. Thy babbled for hours about things I couldn't understand. The stumpy one, he almost excited. Probably