brace herself for it.

"If he does another thing wrong by the end of the week, he's being kicked out with the rest of them," he said, careful not to let prying ears catch his words.

"If," Jade repeated, "There's always a hope."

Durango laughed a little and shook his head. "There's no hope, Jade. Do you really think he's going to change over night? He needs the lesson of his life to understand why we use teamwork. A week isn't enough to teach him, but he could pull the final straw tomorrow. We've just got to spend time with him before he leaves."

Things went well for the six days of the week. True, he had his little arguements and played the odd trick, but nothing serious. Spuro spent time with his friends before they were kicked out, and he promised that once he was in charge he'd let them all back into the herd again. But on the last day, on the morning before the round up, he changed his fate forever.

He took some of the foals into the forest for some innocent games, chasing them and telling them stories. For hours they laughed and frolicked until he realised that one of the fillies was missing. He shushed the others and listened. On the windhe could hear a shrill neigh.

"Stay here!" he told the group, then darted through the woods towards the sound. As he broke through some bushes he saw the filly with her leg stuck under a root. She was lying on the ground, trying to twist her way out of it, but just making the injury worse.

"Stop moving, I'll get help," he told her, then raced back towards the herd.

He arrived back in the meadows and shouted for his father. "She's trapped her leg under a root and hurt her leg, I didn't realise she was missing until a few minutes ago!" he explaiend as he ran with the stallion.

"And where are the others?" he asked.

"I left them by the stream in the woods."

"Spuro, you idiot!" he shouted, quickening his pace. "Never leave foals alone for even a minute, anythign could happen! You go back to the group and I'll help the injured one."

So Spuro sprinted full tilt back to where he had left the group of foals. As he reached the first few trees he heard a screech of pain echo from where the filly was trapped. As Durango arrived on the scene he knew he was too late, and the cougar from the week before bounded through the trees to follow the scent of the group of foals. Spuro arrived just in time when the big cat leapt from the shadows.

"Stay behind me," he whispered. The cougar yowled at him, he snorted and stood his ground. He just had to hold it off until his dad arrived. A few agonising minutes later the sorrel barred the way to the youngsters and stood in the cat's way. He kicked at it and chased the beast as far as he could while Spuro led the little ones back to the herd.

One of the mares, Stardust, asked where her girl was. Spuro opened his mouth to say something, but no words would come. Everyone had heard the neigh, and everyone was looking at him. He was supposed to have taken care of them, and now one was gone forever.

The mothers hurried their children away from him before he cold cause any more danger to their families, and Durango made it back to the group of horses. Spirit made his way to the front. Durango knew what this meant for his son.

"Spuro, I gave you another chance," the leader began. "And you've blown it. You are a danger to all of us, and you are now going to leave with the rest of the colts. You're four years old, and you say you are grown up. You can fight, you can run, so use it well. Because none of us will defend you any longer."

"I will," Durango said allowed. "I'm ashamed of who he is and all he's done, but he's still my son and the rightful leader of this herd. He needs to learn a great lesson, but shutting him out isn't going to teach him anything except hatred and coldness."

Spirit rounded on him. "Stay out of this, Durango. I let you into my herd, I let you become my daughter's mate, and in thanks? I have you arguing with me all the way. We don't agree on anything, and just as your son will never lead my herd, nor will you. I'm assigning one of the colts who should be leaving to stay and take my place one day."

"You can't do that-" Durango shouted.

"I'll do as I like!" Spirit shouted back.

"Please don't fight, please," Jade said to herself. "Esperanza if you're there, talk sense into your son, for all our sakes." The old mare would never have allowed fighting in the Cimarron herd, but now she wasn't there, things could get heated.

"I've put up with your so called leadership all my life," Durango snarled. "Every horse looks up to you, admires you, but they don't have to do your every bidding like me. You've ruined me and you're ruining my son, so I challenge you!"

Spirit said nothing for a moment, until he replied with, "Alright. But I've got to clear out the competition first." He lunged at Spuro, who ran as fast as he could away from the herd. He kept sprinting through the fields that stretched away from the mountain range, not quite believing that he had been kicked out of his own home. All that boasting that he could stay protecting, all that sureheadedness and cocky talk had spun round and hit him back. Now he was trying to get away as fast as he could from the place he once called home.

After minutes of endless running he stopped to clear his head. The sun was beginning to set and the evening was promising to be crisp and relaxing. So what if he had been kicked out, he didn't have to do as anyone said any more. He was truely free, and it felt wonderful. Over time he could forget about the fear and pain, and from then on for the rest of his life he would rule his own life. The night was nearly upon him, and he knew that it was the beginning of the rest of his life.

Spuro travelled slowly along the valley for days. he was in no rush, he had the rest of his life ahead of him, and no one was there to speed him up. He never cleaned himself, he ate as much as he wanted and slept for as long as he chose. He never bothered checking for signs of predators or other horses, but knew that he would probably bump into one of his former herd members who ahd also been kicked out. He doubted it that anyone would attempt to climb back over the mountains - it was suicide to do it alone!

The summer's heat was beginning to dry the rivers and streams, so one morning when Spuro found a bone dry gully he wasn't surprised. He figured that if he followed it along it would eventually lead him to a water source, so he clambered down the unstable slope and began walking along the bottom of the ditch. He found himself constantly thirsty, bu there were many shrubs about to eat. He carried on through the second night, unaware that he was being watched.

The large stallion watched the stranger's journey along the gully. The youngster had no idea that he and the other sentry were watching his every move, and it didn't seem like he cared either. He deducted the young stallion's story. He was barely an adult, so he had been kicked out of his herd. He was disrespectful and reckless, so that added to his abandoning. The flaxen guard studied the chestnut and wondered what he would be useful for.

"Do you think he's trouble, James?" Nickle whispered to him.

The giant looked at the boy agin. "Nah, look at him, he's too young! Cocky little mite though, if you ask me. He couldn't care less if he knew we were following him."

"He must have the makings of a herdy, surely?" Nickle wondered aloud.

"You never can tell with youngseters," James replied, walking along the ridge, eager to follow the colt closely. "Come on! Let's report him to Shorty, he'll tell us what the boss would want." He started trotting towards some woodland.

"I hope the poor lad looks up soon," Nickle said to his friend, "before we test him, or it could be nasty."

The duo halted at the entrance of the clearing just as the voice from within it said, "Enter." They obeyed and described the stranger to the visionary. The old horse listened with interest and tried to build up a picture within his mind. It was the only picture he would be able to build, since his sight had long ago been lost due to his age. His dark grey caot had faded to the palest of shades and his coat seemed to be roaned, giving him a silver shine in the starlight.

"Test him," he decided, "then bring him to me if he passes. I can make up my mind properly only then. He seems like a wandering soul, this one will need careful examination."

The two horses left to find what they needed, then returned to the gully to place their trap.

Spuro heard a growl and looked up. The cougar was already bounding towards him. He was sick to the teeth of those things. Because of them he had been driven out of his own home. When the moment was right he gave the cat an almighty kick in the chest and sent it sprawling on the ground. It must have hurt, since the cougar gave up the battle and ran off.

"That must have been one hell of a kick," James muttered to himself. He knew that Van was usually a strong fighter, since the cat was always attacking trespassers for a meal, but he hadn't seen him give up that quickly in years. "Come on, let's grab him while we can," he said to Nickle, and they made their way down the slope.

Spuro saw the flaxen chestnut and