The Life Of A Horse

Chapter 18

I try to stand up but I fail. I know I can't just lay there in defeat but my leg hurts so bad. I try again, pushing as hard as I can. I groan and am able to get up. I want to gallop away as fast as I can but that would never work. I walk away a few steps with a bad limp when I hear a groan. I freeze and look back. Magic! I can't leave him here.

I walk back to him and nudge him softly. "Magic." He mumbles something that I can't understand. "What?" I whisper. He turns his head and he sees me. He smiles in pain and says, "Leave me, Dakota, I can't make it." "No. You are coming with me." He doesn't answer. I nudge him, "Get up." "Dakota, I can't," "Yes you can," I say firmly. He sighs and attempts to stand. He gets a little up and I put my head under him slightly to help.

He screams in pain but it is quiet thankfully. "Shhhh," I say. When I get him to stand he stands there in complete pain. I have been able to ignore my injury thankfully and I get him to take a step. He almost falls down and I know that at this pace we will barely be able to be in the woods by morning...

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By morning we have actually made good progress compared to what I thought. We are about 10 minutes in the woods. The herd comes out of a thick spot of the forest. I sigh and Magic and I stop. It feels good to have a break. The herd greets us and they help Magic into the thick part so he can lay down. I stand there for a minute, relaxed and fall down from exhaustion. Princess comes running over."Dakota? Are you ok?" I nod and drift off to sleep. I can sense her pushing me where Magic is.

When I wake up I feel more alive with energy but my leg is throbbing. I don't even try to stand knowing there is no use. I look over to see Magic sleeping soundly. Princess comes over to me, "Dakota, we need to move. I've been spying on the people and they will come into these woods soon." I nod and get up.

I follow Princess (with a bad limp) to the place she takes me. We look through a bush to see Max and the guy. They are angry. "They couldn't have gotten far with a badly hurt leg and a really bad injury," Max says. "They are probably in those woods over there," the guy says pointing to the woods to the left. "They were closest to those." Max nods and they bring some stuff with them and walk over to the woods.

"We better go," I whisper as quietly as I can to Princess. She nods and we walk quietly through the woods to the herd. We quickly explain what's happening and we all get Magic up in only two tries. He stands on his own and walks after the herd with a really bad limp. There are two stallions helping him. The fact that I got him to these woods alone is a miracle.

We have been walking through the thick part of the woods when I hear it. I have to strain my wars to hear it, but it is there. The voices of Max and the other guy. I inhale sharply and then whisper to the herd in warning. They stare at me and go completely quiet. They hear it and I understand what Max is saying now, "...Thought we didn't see them looking through the bushes," they laugh quietly.

They saw Princess and I. We stare at eachother. The stallions lay Magic hidden in bushes and then the whole herd takes off. Except me because I can't exactly gallop. Princess has fallen behind with me. I gesture to her to go. She looks at me and nods sadly. Then she closes her eyes. When she opens them she is Ashley and she quickly climbs a tall tree.

I understand. I quickly do the changing process and climb up with her. It is hard to climb with a badly injured leg but I manage. If they look up when they are walking they will see us. Please don't look up, I chant over and over in my mind. It is weird being a person again and I realize that I like being a horse better.

I am about to talk to Ashley when I see below us, our biggest enemy. If I make any noise we will be caught. I cover my mouth with my hand. Max says, "I know they were here a second ago. I heard them-" he pauses. And that's when he does it. He looks up. "There they are!" He shouts in surprise. He positions his rope to throw it over my head.

He throws it and I try to dodge it but do to my little area to move it goes around my head. If he pulls me down I will fall pretty far and it will hurt. I hold on to the tree as tight as I can. He pulls as hard as he can but Ashley grabs my legs and holds on tight. He pulls and I fall and Ashley is forced to let go or else she will fall too. "I'm sorry, Sasha. I failed." She climbs up as high as she can in the tree and looks down at me with a look so sad I want to cry.

I have a rope around my neck like I am a horse. I would turn into a horse but it wouldn't do any good. I am standing and Max looks at me. I glare at him. "Turn," he says firmly. I turn to face the right knowing he meant a different turn. "Nice try. You know what I mean." His face is so funny that I want to laugh.

He stares at me for a second and then punches me, hard. "Turn!" He says. I keep my hand on my face. "Never!" He glares at me and then turns to the guy. "She will turn." I decide to annoy him. I squeeze my eyes shut and picture Dakota. I neigh and they look at me.

He shoves food into my mouth. I don't swallow knowing it is the food that makes me stay a horse. Instead I squeeze my eyes shut and picture Sasha before I swallow. After I turn Sasha I swallow. I smile inside knowing I can't be a horse no matter what they do. Max stares at me taking in what I just did. He cusses so much I start to think he won't stop.

When he is done he turns to me and punches me hard again in the same spot on my face. He picks me up and I kick him and try to get away. I know he is not in 7th grade like me. He is actually a sophomore in highschool. He carries me to the car ignoring everything I do to try to get away.

He throws me in the back seat of the truck and ties my hands together and then my feet together. He grabs the towels he always uses for me as a horse and then does the same thing he always does. The last thing I saw was his angry face so that is the image stuck in my mind. The guy was following the whole time I guess because I hear him get into the truck too.

"We still didn't get the stallion or the white mare." Magic. They didn't get him. I am so grateful for that. "When will she be able to be the mare?" The guy asks. "5 days," Max answers. So I have five days before they try to torture me to get me to be Dakota again.

They continue talking about other stuff that I tune out until I hear them say, "That boss guy at the stables almost caught us with his horses." "Yeah I know." Max says. Then they continue driving on in silence leaving me thinking. He almost found us. Then all of this wouldn't have happened. I hope he is still looking for us. But if he is I hope he doesn't find me like this.