ahead I could only see the red flames and the sooty smoke. The sound was blurred and the actions were slow. Every minute detail was there, every scent in the air and knot in the wood. Inside the inferno was Maralyn, screaming her heart out.

I couldn't let it happen again.

I jumped over the fallen beams and into the burning camp. I began sprinting to my stall, hoping that Jade had stayed put. I found her in the hut, which was now being consumed by the rampaging fire. She was on her side, crushed by a beam and struggling to breathe as she slipped in and out of conciousness. I put aside all my fear and concerns and whispered to her, "I love you, Jade."

She staggered to her feet and we rushed out of the stabled for one last time. She was in pain in trot but we were running out of time, so she forced herself into a canter. I could have made a break for it, but I stayed with her for support. I doubted she even knew it was me, or if it was all really happening. As the fence began to sway, threatening to crush us, we made one final leap over the logs and to safety, just as the wooden walls collapsed inwards where we had been seconds ago. We were greeted with a band of relieved horses and men. I felt something that I hadn't in a long time - welcome. These were the horses that hated me, and now they were over the moon that we were alive. Without warning, Jade fell to the floor and slept through the bitter night.

I was woken by her in the early morning and we said little to each other. We both knew that I was sorry and that it was a new beginning for us. I explained how I wanted to detatch myself from her so that if I lost her in battle then he wouldn't hurt so much, like I had last time. I said that I had been a coward and disappointed her. It was how I felt, like I had failed her, but she said that I could never disappoint her. We understood each other from then onwards.

When the men woke we set off in a group to find a train track and get help. We cantered together through green lands and eventually came to the remains of the village we had attacked when the stallion knocked into me. Jade was appalled and started asking me questions about the whole thing, which I was uncomfortable with but answered anyway. I told her that our camp did it, because their people want the land and would get rid of anything in the way, even the Natives. She asked me if I agreed with it.

How could I possibly answer that? If I agreed with it she would never look at me again, but if I disagreed then I would be betraying my masters, whether or not they could understand me. Not only that, but this was the only thing I had ever known - I had no other way to compare it to. But a part of me knew it was wrong, so I fell silent in shame.

The men spent the afternoon constructing a bridge. We crossed it and travelled up the slope on the other side of the river to the track. There was no train in sight, so the colonel sent three soldiers in each direction to flag one down if one went by. We fell asleep there, and were only woken the next morning with the spotting of rain. Jade saw a cloud on the horizon and I recognised it as steam from a train. It stopped nearby and after a few words half the group was boarded onto it and sent to the town of Gunnison.

When we arrived a boy led us off the train and into a barn on the edge of town. The horses were housed two to a stall and me and Jade were together. Over the four days following it more horses arrived and training in an arena jsut outside the barn involved more and more swordwork, so I guessed that a big battle was due.

We were lying down in our stall and I told Jade that the men planned to set off at sunrise. She asked me if I would teach her how to understand humans and I agreed. After a while she asked if I thought we were going to die. I replied with my usual motto of if we did, we did. I had been in the army for eight years now and I was still fighting strong. I told her that the trick was to stay one step ahead and outwit death forever. I planned to die as an old, old stallion.

We talked about me going with her back home, but I denied the offer. There was no way for me to survive the winter or face up to predators or cowboys. She fell asleep, upset but understanding. In the morining we set off, the colonel on Jade at the front line and me behind with the lad on my back. We cantered all day and rested in a small wood, where we grazed together and Jade told me the story of her father, Spirit, and the story matched the one of the golden stallion from a few years ago. We were both shocked by this. Jade seemed uneasy but she said nothing to me, so I kept my nose out of it.

The next morining we continued to search for the village. When the men found it, we all waited behind a hill for the orders to attack. When they came, the entire division charged with such thunder that the ground itself shook. But the enemy was prepared and weapons were drawn. In the confusion I lost sight of Jade and ran straight into a Native. A second soldier shot at him, but I spooked and moved into the bullet's path. Pain shot through me like never before. i knew this was the end. The boy fell from my back and I collapsed on the ground. I whispered to myself that it was meant to happen, so it happened.

Out of nowhere Jade appeared and whispered to me, "I love you." That was when I realised that I was a warhorse, and I would fight like I had been taught to. I rose from the ground and staggered away with her, far out from the village where I fell unconcious.

When I woke it was dark, but strangely it was daylight. I saw the hides that made up the tent around me, the sunlight making it's way through them. Jade wasn't there, but I could smell her in the air. She wouldn't have abandoned me. I nibbled at some grass and longed for some water. I was stiff and aching but I had pulled through the night, which meant I had a good chance.

Later on Jade appeared with a Native girl who gave me some water out of one of their containers. I didn't know whether to trust her at first, I had always been taught to hate these people. But Jade reassured me and I allowed them to handle me. The people were calmer and kinder and allowed me to do as I pleased. Soon I was able to stand and walk.

We stayed in the village for a few weeks in the autumn. When we were fully healed (Jade had suffered back sores from sleeping with a saddle on) Little Creek, a Native boy, took us into an enclosure and painted us with patterns. it was fun to see each other covered in dye, and we were curious to the ways of these humans. One of my markings symbolised speed, which we got a little awkward about since we both knew my leg might never be the same again. But I told her that once I was fully healed, it would be my honor to return home with her.

 A few weeks later Little Creek woke us in the early morning and took us to the forest river. He washed off our patterns and told us that we were free. It was as if the boy knew that we wanted to go, which I regretted. They had been so kind to us, even if we had attacked them, and we repaid them by wanting to leave.

But Jade knew this was not an offer, but an order. So she turned and cantered away, me following behind. As we quickened our pace my leg began to loosen up, and soon we were on high land where the first snowflakes of winter were beginning to fall.

Unfortunately my leg didn't last. We made slow progress and the snow began to fall heavily each night. We continued travelling in one direction for days, until an eagle settled nearby. Jade knew it as the one form her homeland straight away and it recognised her too. I hid behind Jade. I had never been so close to a wild animal before. It was a massive bird, it's claws got so close to her face when it played with her mane, but she didn't fear it. Eventually I got used to it's talons ans pointed beak, and the eagle showed us the way home.

Along the way the weather worsened and Jade taught me how to find food in such conditions and I taught her about understanding humans. Not that she would ever need it again, but she was still intreged by it and I wanted to pay her back for the survival lessons. Blizzards occured every night while we were sleeping in a shelter so in the morning we had to endure huge banks of snow and by midday we were soaked through and exhausted. I had never spent winter outside before, but I knew it was the first of many so like it or not I just had to get on with it.

We grew less hungry over a week and the snow began to fall less often and it melted quicker. It was a blessing on the flat plains but when we got to mountain sides again it was hell. We slipped a few times and were very aware of avalanches. But, typical of life, we were prepared for avalanches because it was the conditions for it, but the last thing we expected was another blizzard - the worst one of the season.

The snow thickened and we couldn't see straight ahead without hurting our eyes, so we stumbled blindly about on the hillside. Soon I had lost Jade and stayed still for the storm to die down. After about an hour the eagle reappeared as did the landscape, but there wasn't another horse in sight. Luckily, the eagle had spotted her and I plunged through the snow to where he was hovering. I saw Jade break through the top layer of snow and lie, exhausted and sopping wet, on the blanket of white.

We travelled to a small copse where we fell into a heavy sleep. In the morning, the snow had compacted and was easier to walk on. Jade sniffed and took a walk around the woods then told me that we were under the tree that she slept under when she was first separated from the herd. We set off straight away, the eagle guiding us until we reached the river which we followed. The snow was hardly there and we cantered for the first time in days and sped towards my new home.

At this point I was nervous. I knew what her father was capable of and I also knew