and was announced as the winner. The ring parted to let the two horses leave and Spuro enter. James called for one of the youngsters to fight him, and a bay mustang appeared inside the ring.

Spuro had only been trained the basics. Dodging was better than defending. When attacking, keep your legs infront of you to stop them getting to your main body. Use your height and weght and never ever turn your back on them.

The bay darted towards him and Spuro leapt aside. The horse had another go and he repeatedly dodged from his way. Spuro decided to charge at him, and the horse pressed to the ground, trying to pull away. Spuro pinned him with one hoof and glared at the other horse in the eye, causing him to neigh loudly in defeat. Spuro moved away from him and was taken by James to meet the rest of the class.

"You did well," James said on their way along the valley, "some would say you had an easy opponent, but the way you dodged him was very effective. Now, while I'm training you you will do everything I say, so trust is important. I will never do anything to kill you. Yes, you may get hurt, but you will stay alive so long as I have anything to do with it, understood?"

"Yes," he replied, nodding.

"Oh, and you'll call me Sir."

Spuro sighed with frustration. "Yes, Sir."

They kept walking for a bit. Spuro was constantly surprised about how big the territory was. They were miles from the gully now, and the basin had a diameter of about a kilometer. It just went to show that they could only upkeep that amount of land if they had many, many horses. James had mentioned something about workers before, and Spuro wondered if they were more like slaves.

James stopped once they reached a piece of meadow surrounded by a fence of fir trees. The grass was long and there was sandy arena in one corner, and a pool of water in another. It seemed that there was plenty of shade, food and water in the field, even though it was small.

"This is where you will sleep, recreate and learn," James said to him, leading him to five young stallions - a bit older than Spuro - that were gathered by the pool. "The only times when you can leave here is when you are given an errand or free time, and you are to only go to the Centre unless aurthorised to go elsewhere. Now meet your class mates, all of them are competing to become part of the attack squad, and only one in six a year make it."

Five unfamiliar horses stared at Spuro. He looked at them one by one as James introduced them to him. The first was a spotted appaloosa, Harris. He looked swift and cunning, but not very strong. His legs and neck were long, but he was quite skiny.

Denver, a red dun who was about the same age as him. The dun seemed to wear a softer expression than the rest, and Spuro felt that he already had someone to talk to. There was also a red roan, Jupiter, and James explained that Denver and Jupiter were brothers. Jupiter was well named; he was nearly as big as James, and the largest of the five.

The fourth was a dappled quarter horse skilled in scouting and stealth, named Leon. He was known for his intelligence and quick thinking, but he wasn't very condfident when fighting.

Finally, there was Ghost, a champagne dun, who was titled as James' star pupil. He excelled in fighting, was as fast as a river and could track a traitor in minutes. Ghost glared at Spuro with his amber eyes, trying to intimidate the newcomer. He made it very clear through body language alone that he was in charge of the group, and no one was to cross him.

Spuro snorted and rolled his eyes at him.

"You'll start your training tomorrow, but for now, settle in and get to know your group," James said, turning away. "If you need me I'll be at the Centre."

Once James had left, Ghost jumped at Spuro and started to circle him. "Let's get something straight here," he snarled, "I'm in charge, I'm the best and you're going to do as I say."

"Oh yeah, why should I? Just because you might bully others doesn't mean I'll bend to it aswell. Now leave off!" Spuro replied. Ghost glared at him again, then trotted off on his own to find some shade.

Denver grinned at the new stallion. "Nice one!" he said, "We've been trying to get him to back off for ages!"

"Yeah," Jupiter joined in, "he's so determined it's untrue! Look at him! He thinks he owns the world!"

Harris and Leon welcomed him to the group and Spuro started asking questions that he was afraid of bringing up before. The others told him that the Band had been set up years ago when the leader's father kicked him out of the herd as a youngster, after he had been promised to one day take his place.

"I know how he feels," Spuro commented. The others didn't ask, but continued. He had gathered up other rougue stallions and fought them until he was on top, then created the system so that he could stay there. The plan was to build up the Band's fighting skill until they were strong enough to take down any herd they wanted, then split the mares between them depending on the stallion's rank and any who didn't earn a mare would stay in the Band and train nearby the leader's herd until they could attack another herd and have another crack at starting their own.

"But the twisted thing is," Denver told him quietly, "the system is also used to get rid of the competition. Wandering stallions are taken in, trained, and if they aren't broken by the promise of their own mares or the military techniques they're sent to be killed."

"By the test?" Spuro asked. They nodded.

"It's sick," Jupiter said, "having that monster live alongside us. When I was growing up countless herd emmbers were slaughtered by those things, and here they're used as pest control."

"You are tested when you are first reported to Shorty," Leon explained - and Spuro realised that it was that mad old horse that had decided to throw the cougar at him - "if you live, you're good enough to stay, and they train you for the area you're most suited for. If you surrender in the fights then you're tested again, to see if you're weak or if you just had a tough enemy. It's so hard to stay alive here that you eventually forget about making your way to the top and winning your mares."

"Even if you survive, even if you become a captain, you'll lose yourself. The only way to die as the same horse you were born as is to be killed in the test or an early battle," Harris said, looking away. "In a year there will only be one of us, and we'll probably be set to fight each other."

"And so far Ghost is the one who's going to still be around," Denver said, "that's why I'm escaping."

Harris sighed. "Not this again, Den, it's rediculous! Traitors are considered fodder for Van, you'll never make it past the Centre without being noticed. There's miles and miles of flat, open ground that will expose you like a grey in a black horse herd."

"Harris, I have no chance at surviving the test again, look at me! It's better to take the chance and run than wait until my number is called," he reasoned.

"And I may be strong and tall," Jupiter said, "but I can put my skills to a better cause than killing my own kind."

Spuro realised how desperate these horses were. This place was evil and twisted, picking out the best of the best and leaving the rest to rot. These four had opened up to him, he couldn't abandon them. For the first time in his life Spuro actually felt some responsability for someone else. "Look," he said, "I never wanted to come here, so I can sympathise with you wanting to leave. But it's not going to be that easy. Denver and Jupiter, if you really want to leave, I'll help you, but the more who want to escape the harder it's going to be. If you two are the only ones that desperate to leave then you might just be able to manage it. Me? I'll stay here, I need to learn how to defend myself from horses like Ghost. But until we're facing each other in the arena, we're all friends, right?"

"Right," they all agreed.

James woke Spuro up earlier than the others in the morning. "We need to talk about your routine," he said, and took the youngster to the pool. He led him into the water, Spuro still yawning, and splashed him with huge waves of water.

"Yah!" Spuro yelled, "That's freezing, what are trying to do, kill me?"

"You're filthy, you need a wash," James said.

"No I don't," he argued, "I'm fine. So what if I've got some mud on my coat, it doesn't matter!"

"Fine," grinned the stallion, "do it your way. You'll wash and groom yourself properly once you've learnt the reasons behind it. Now listen up. The group is woken at the rise of the sun and train all day, which means that in winter you have longer to rest but less time to yourself, and in summer you have to work longer but not as hard since you wont be able to rest as much. Everything balances out here.

"You will get breaks to graze throughout the day but they wont be long, so spend less time gabbing and more time refilling your energy. You can drink whenever you want, but if you're using it as an excuse to not work you will be banned from the pool for three days. You should take your own time to socialise with the other members of the Band, either in your field or in the Centre. However, if you go