one tried to creep to his rope and I fake-panicked. I reared and screamed and leapt away. They all jumped up and tried to tack their horses. Soon I was slowly galloping through the forest. Boy, captive horses sure are slow! I could run faster with 3 legs. I led them to the canyon, to a dead end. I screamed with fake fear and rage and bucked and reared. They threw ropes around my neck and I was trapped. I pretended to slip on the slick rock and flailed my legs in the air. One of the horses looked at me apologetically. I pretended to be angry and glared at him and screamed for good measure. And then something unbelievable happened. Esperanza appeared at the top of the ridge and frowned at me. I nickered angrily to her. "Get out of here Esperanza! I'll be right back, I just need to get him!" She sighed, shook her head and trotted to the direction of the herd. The cowboy horses looked at me confused and I snorted at them, angry that my plan was ruined. Hopefully these horses were on my side. We were quite a distance from the fort and we had to stop for rest. The cowboys found a new clearing and tied us to a log. After the humans left the horse next to me spoke. He was a dappled whitish grey with a deep voice. "Are you the Desert Rose?" He asked excitedly. "My name is Rose." I answered suspiciously. How did they know me? "The Arabian?" He added. "Yes." I replied. "Why?" They all crowded around me and the leader of the bunch spoke again. "You're the only escapee! A legend!" He exclaimed excitedly. "Are you going to set us free again? All the foals are grown up, we won't get caught again!" He asked pleadingly. "What?! I'm the only one? I thought others got into the desert!" I exclaimed shocked. The leader got very quiet and looked at the ground. "They did..." He said quietly, " but they didn't survive." I looked at him tenderly. I knew someone close to him had escaped to the desert, to death. "Well, like you said, nobody will get us this time."  I said encouragingly. Everyone smiled. He looked into my eyes and said, "That was Esperanza on the ridge? Spirits mother?" He asked. "Yes. Do you know her?" I asked curiously. "Almost everyone at the cavalry does... We all came from the wild, but not Spirits herd, though." He said sadly. I changed the subject. "Do you know LightningRod?" I asked the leader. "Who?" He said. "Steely gray, about 16 hands, dark hooves?" I asked again. "Oh, that guy. We haven't met him yet. After we all got dragged back to the fort he put up quite a fight. Murphy quit because of him. He's been tied to the post ever since. The colonel's daughter sneaks water to him at night." I sighed, sorry for LightningRod.

           Me and the horses chatted all night about this and that. When I heard the cowboys waking up I said, "For my plan to work, I need to pretend to hate you. And you need to treat me like any other random mustang you capture, okay?" They looked at me curiously but nodded. I became very rambunctious as they dragged me into the fort. I reared and was yanked down by... who you ask? Sir. After seeing him I settled down a bit out of fear but still glared and snapped. I looked towards the corral and saw my dear LightningRod. I neighed excitedly to him. He tiredly raised his dirty head at looked at me. His ears pricked and he whinnied excitedly. I whinnied to him, "I have a plan, be awake!" He looked confused but nodded. Sir spoke with the cowboys, thanked then and led me to a stall. It was new, without straw or paint. Soon after I came I heard a heard a familiar voice. Joe?!?! I pricked my ears and leaned my head out the door. It was Joe! He was talking to Sir! Joe looked at me confused. Sir asked him something and Joe nodded. It seemed that Joe was the new groom, after Murphy quit. He came in with a bale of straw. He was completely ignoring me! I nudged his back, I nickered, I ever jumped around. It was as if his face was made of stone, he showed no emotion at all. When he tried to leave I stood in front of the door and stamped my hoof. "You sure are a determined little mare." He said. He rubbed my forelock and pushed himself out the door. 

        That night I jumped over my stall door and crept to the post.LightningRod smiled and nuzzled me. I knew that rope would be hard to break but I had a plan. "LightningRod, stretch the rope as far as you can." He stretched the rope as far as it goes and waited. I reared up and slammed the sharp edges of my front hooves into the rope. Half the rope had broken off. "Good job Rose!" LightningRod exclaimed. I ignored the throbbing pain in my left ankle and reared up again. And this time, both the rope and my ankle, snapped with a sickening crack. I stumbled as I lowered to the ground and LightningRod held my left side up. We limped slowly over to the stall of the leader horse. I put my head over the door and whispered, "Pssssst! Pssssstt! Wake up!" He raised his head groggily and became alert as he recognized me. I looked sadly at him and told him the change of plans. "My ankle snapped..." The happy expression on his face fell as I told him. "I can't set you free tonight, but I promise to come back the second my ankle is healed!" He nodded somberly when I finished and whispered "Good luck." Me and LightningRod slowly made our way to the back door. Wow, they really need to close this thing if they want to keep us in here. We hobbled out into the crisp autumn air and made our way to a thin stand of trees. LightningRod suddenly halted. "We need to keep moving LightningRod!" I angrily whispered."Not with that leg!" He exclaimed. I looked down at my ankle. It was pink and starting to swell. "Well, if we stay here they'll find us!" I replied. "Maybe a little farther on there's a cave" I added. LightningRod sighed and we crept along again. We came to a tall rock structure and found a small cave opening just as the sun tinted the sky pink. "Does it look big enough?" I asked. "I don't know... Can you stand for a minute?" He asked. I nodded. He stepped away and knelt down. "Whoa! It's huge in there!" He exclaimed. "Let's go then!" I told him impatiently. "Can you wiggle through?" He asked doubtfully. "Of course I can! Move!" He sighed again and got up. I slowly knelt down onto the grainy sand. I wriggled painfully into the cavern. I crawled to the side of the entrance and called to LightningRod "Come in!" . He quickly wriggled in beside me and got up in the spacious cavern. "Bury it with sand." I told him. It took a while but LightningRod piled up the grainy sand, blocking the exit. "Good! They won't find us now! The whole stable could fit in here, it's huge!" I exclaimed happily. LightningRod laid down around me. Soon after we lay down there, we heard the thundering of running horses.the cave floor shook slightly. I shut my eyes tightly until the sound and feel of the cowboy horses was gone."Yes!" I shouted happily. "We're freeeeeeeee!" My ankle had stopped throbbing and I climbed to my feet. Big mistake. I would have collapsed if LightningRod hadn't leapt up and held me up. I blushed and thanked him. My ankle throbbed worse than before. "That was stupid." I grumbled moodily. "You were just a little too happy." Smiled LightningRod. I rolled my eyes at him. "Should we leave?" I asked him. "I think we should wait to hear them go back." He replied thoughtfully. "We should rest so we can go straight back to the Cimmaron." He added after a minute. I looked sadly at him. "I promised those horses I would help them and I won't break that promise. Besides, my ankle could never heal in the wild. We should go to Liana." I declared. "But Liana is all the way in New Orleans! How do you know we can even trust her?!" He argued. I shook my mane, annoyed. "She lives a mile away LightningRod. After the foals-" "what?!" He cut me off. "Oh my goodness, I forgot! Where is it!?"  He said panicky. "It's OK I left them with Esperanza! As I was saying, after they were born, Liana helped me." I calmly explained to him. "They...?" He said in awe. "Yes! I had twins!"  I said excitedly. He smiled and nuzzled me. "Now, back to the problem.  We are going to Liana or I'm staying here." I declared. "Fine." He said, rolling his eyes. A few minutes later the same floor-shaking rumble of the horses passed again. I stood beside the door  as LightningRod dug us out. Soon the moonlight shone through the gaping hole. I slowly lowered to the sandy food and crawled through the hole into the crisp night air. LightningRod quickly wriggled out after me. I got to my feet slowly and painfully and he held me up as I limped on three feet next to him. When the moon reached the middle of the sky we reached Liana's miniature ranch. This time a few mares dozed with little foals at their feet. I told LightningRod how to get to the stall. I pushed the door. It was unlocked! I lay down near LightningRod. He stood at the door, guarding me. I fell into a dreamless, fretful sleep.

         The next day, I woke from a jolting pain in my injured ankle. I shot up and screamed and yanked my ankle away from a form that lept away. LightningRod snorted angrily above me. As my eyes adjusted to the morning light, I recognised the figure. Liana! I softly nickered and lowered my