after they became their own little herd, Sandstone came back again. 

“Irish!”

Aleta and Irish had been dozing in the shade when Sandstone’s voice echoed to them. Irish grinned and trotted out into the open. A few feet down in the bottom of the canyon was the sleek, shiny brown stallion, fiery eyes searching the rock for Irish.

“Whachya up ta now?”

“I want a rematch!” Sandstone yelled back furiously. Aleta, recognizing Sandstones voice, came up alongside Irish to see what the trouble was about. Sandstone’s eyes leapt to the buckskin pinto mare and took up a new light.

“How about I fight you for her!”

Aleta snorted. Irish wouldn’t put her on the line like that.

“Ya can have ‘er” Irish snorted. Altea glared at Irish. “But how ‘bout we fight over it just ta make things interestin’? I beat yer daddy and ya plenty a’ times and I’ll do it again”

Without waiting another moment, Irish charged down the rocky trail, gaining speed with each stride until he was barreling towards the thinner horse. Aleta thought he’d stop but Irish hit the other horse head-on. 

Sandstone was taken off-guard as well. The brown mustang stumbled back, attempting to gain his footing only to have Irish drive his front hooves right into his enemy, sending him crashing to the ground. As quick as it started, the fight was done. Sandstone stayed puffing on the ground and Irish stood over him intimidatingly, waiting for the dust to settle. Aleta waited tensely. It didn’t look like Irish was going to do anything else, but he’d kept surprising her since they’d met. She didn’t like Sandstone but she didn’t want him dead.

“Seems ta get easier n’ easier” Irish grinned proudly. Sandstone stayed laying on his side, eyes burning into Irish.

“Just get it over with” he growled. 

Irish grinned more. “I don’ kill unless I got a good reason too” he chuckled darkly, trotting away. “Stupidity isn’t good enough ta waste ya” he added lightly over his shoulder. 

Aleta breathed a sigh of relief and Irish trotted past her. Aleta followed after, laughing nervously. “For a second there I actually thought you were gonna... you know”

“How’d ya manage ta survive out here so long?” Irish exclaimed. “It’s like ya never saw somethin’ kill somethin’ else before”

“Well my dad did a good job of protecting the herd. So no... not really. And he never killed anyone he fought with either. He was better then that”

“Oh that dudn’t make me ‘bad’ does it?” Irish said sarcastically over his shoulder. “Cus’ I don’t want ta be on yer bad side”

Aleta made a face behind his back.

“And I don’t have a herd ta protect neither”

     As the days got colder, Aleta felt as if she almost knew the canyon as well as Irish. And still, Flick hadn’t returned.

“What does that mean?” Aleta asked.

“I dunno” Irish answered quietly. For the first time in his life, he couldn’t predict what was going to happen. But he had gotten used to Aleta’s questions and even Aleta herself. He’d never admit it to her but he even liked her a bit. Aleta on the other hand, was already past just liking Irish. But she’d never tell him that either. He’d probably kick her out of the canyon if he knew, but Aleta seemed to be doing a good job of hiding it.

Irish led them to the edge of the canyon that over looked the prairie and the ranch. Small wisps of smoke from each of the little houses on the ranch rose up, but otherwise, there was barely any movement. Just horses lazily swishing their tails in their corrals.

Irish snorted angrily and stomped a foot. 

“They’re not doin’ anything!”

Aleta frowned sympathetically. She didn’t feel like being bait anyway, but she felt bad for Irish.

Irish whirled around and took off, bucking out his anger and Aleta grudgingly followed. She prayed that he didn’t run into anyone else, especially Sandstone. He’d be dead if Irish decided to redirect all his anger at the other stallion. Aleta stayed a short distance behind Irish but gave him room to throw his feet around, not really paying attention until she noticed that Irish stood still, frozen in place. Aleta hesitated, not sure if Irish would start kicking, but the red stallion stood alert, nostrils flared. 

“Wha-?”

“Shhh”

Aleta tried sniffing the air but nothing stood out. After all, she had smelled different, strange scents in the canyon every day since she’d arrived. It was hard to pick out an unusual one.

“Get moving” Irish muttered suddenly, darting away with his head low. Aleta followed quickly behind him, heart racing. 

“What is it?” Aleta whispered urgently. 

“A cougar” Irish shot back. 

“I didn’t smell anything”

“It’s downwind. Which means it’s either old ‘r experienced. Which also means I’d probably survive but ya definitely wouldn’t”

Aleta raised a brow, half impressed but half surprised that Irish cared about her. Irish seemed to pick up on the same thing just as the words came out of his mouth.

“And that would be a waste of the time I spent training my bait”

Irish’s ears swiveled around and the only time he lifted his head was the check up the walls of the canyon to see if there was anything above them. Aleta stuck her head up in the air, nervously checking all around her.

Irish noticed and growled, “If ya keep yer head up like that, it’s gonna-”

Something hit Aleta’s side, knocking the breath right out of her as she hit the ground. As quick as she could, she scrambled to her feet, still trying to catch her breath. Then she went rigid with fear. The furry, tawny thing in front of her had to be a cougar. It’s piercing yellow eyes seemed to almost pin her hooves to the ground. 

For a fleeting second, Aleta’s eyes darted to Irish.

“Don’t even look at me” Irish uttered, making Aleta’s heart race. Was he really going to make her deal with this on her own?! “Cus’ the second that ya do, you’ll be dead before ya know it” he added in a softer tone.

The cougar growled but didn’t make a move, as if it was surprised that Aleta hadn’t tried to run away. It completely ignored Irish but seemed to toy with Aleta, having fun as it sensed Aleta’s fear.

“Listen ta me carefully” Irish started. “When I get this thing’s attention, ya roll right onta yer back, tuck yer head between yer front legs an’ kick all four legs. Got it?”

“Wha-?” 

“Do ya trust me?”

Aleta hesitated, afraid to look away from the cougar.

“Well jus’ pretend that ya trust me, okay? Now ready?”

Aleta nodded unsurely, heart racing even faster. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Irish lunge and the cougar’s yellow eyes whipped away from Aleta. 

Aleta closed her eyes tightly and dropped to the ground, doing as Irish had said. She heard the cougar yowl, hissing and spitting and after a while, the sounds of hooves and the cougar’s noises drifting away. 

Aleta opened an eye and stopped thrashing her feet. The cougar was gone but so was Irish. Slowly, the pinto mare rose to her feet, looking around. They were both gone.

     Aleta spent the rest of the day searching around for Irish. She was covered in the cougar’s scent and it felt like she had been kicked in the ribs by another horse, making it impossible to travel far or catch Irish’s scent. The only traces of the smell she did find of Irish was mixed with the cougar’s smell. So when Aleta ran out of energy and hope, she trudged back to Irish’s hiding place. 

Without Irish in it, the little box canyon seemed lonely and cold. And very, very quiet. Aleta sighed to herself, silently hoping that Irish was tough enough to get out of whatever she had gotten him into. But there was no way the cougar or anyone else could find her... so Aleta drifted off into a light sleep.

     As soon as her eyes had closed, they were open again. The canyon was draped in an eerie blue light from the moon and everything was dark, so it had obviously been longer then that...

Aleta perked her ears. Something woke her up from sleeping. She looked above her, just in case the cougar had magically found the hideaway and was about to jump down from somewhere. But steady hoofbeats from a walking horse started to echo into the hideaway and Aleta held her breath. 

“Well that was one tough cat” Irish chirped as he entered, soaking wet. “He won’t be comin’ back fer a while!”

Aleta jumped forward and nuzzled Irish, unable to stop herself. Then realizing how awkward that was, she stepped back.

“Sorry” she mumbled, clearing her throat. “I, uh... didn’t think you were coming back”

Irish seemed a bit caught off-guard but he didn’t look angry. He just shook off, spraying Aleta with water. 

“Well I’m goin’ fer a run” Irish announced. “I’m freezing an’ standing around isn’t doin’ me any good. Wanna join?”

Aleta looked up and nodded. She wasn’t tired

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