The horses nickered in the pre-dawn mist. A light dew covered the ground, making the salt grass into a pleasing breakfast. The lead mare, a dun overo pinto named Azure, looked over the surrounding terrain, looking for a good way to lead the herd down the mountain. But her thinking was abruptly interrupted by a large volley of sparks swirling up from the trees along the coast below her about six miles away. She pricked her ears up and made herself more alert. The fire was kicking up again. She needed to find a way down the mountain.
The mustangs had been stuck on the plateau for a day, and because of the wildfire burning up the coast, there was no good way down. Even with the salt grass and bark from the fur trees, a herd the size of Azure’s couldn’t spend more than three days on the plateau. Azure knew that the food would run out.
She desperately wished for her human friend, Zöe, in the nearby town, several miles up the ocean’s side. Zoe had been with horses since she was a small girl and could ride in most sports, not to mention calm down jittery young horses. She knew horses very well, especially the mustangs, and would be able to come up with a way to get them down from the mountain. But for the moment, Azure had no idea how to get to Zoe. She did not want to leave the lead stallion, Soñador, in charge of the band so that she could try to traverse the mountainside, for he had a bad habit of getting distracted with challenging other stallions rather than protecting the herd. ??Her sisters, Desert Rose and Isadora, were young and had no clue how to manage a herd of mustangs. She was in the middle of terrible decision: She could leave Soñador in charge and risk him getting distracted, or she could try to give Rose and Isadora some last-minute instruction on how to manage a herd. Both choices made her shudder with the prospects of what could happen.
But if she left no one in charge, the band would panic and run down the mountain after her, which she could not have happen. She decided that it would be better to have Soñador lead the band, because he became easily jealous if other horses got to lead the band. He was even jealous of Azure at times. But he was a solid stallion and could defend the herd if needed to.
Azure left her post near the edge of the plateau and trotted over to Soñador, who was munching on what looked like a pinecone. He spat it out as she approached. “Yes, Azure?”, he said, speaking in her mind. “Soñador, can you watch the herd while I try to find a way down the mountain? I need to get to Zöe in the town.” She looked up at Soñador expectantly, who took a bite of the grass at his feet. He chewed thoughtfully, then swallowed and said, “Why should I watch the band? Have your sisters do it.” He picked up the pinecone again and chewed it several times, then spit it out again. “Disgusting. Don’t try eating those. Anyway, what would I get out of this?” “Well, we need to escape from this fire, yes?”, exclaimed Azure, becoming agitated. “So I need to go down the mountain and get help! You could help me with that by watching everyone while I’m gone, and then we might be able to escape from this fiery death trap!” Soñador sighed and looked toward the fire. “I suppose someone should do something about it....”, he said, trailing off as he looked at the forest, which now had clearly visible flames licking up out of it. “Yes. You go down the mountain while I watch everyone. If everything works, we should be down from here in approximately 36 hours.” With that, he turned toward the ledge of the plateau ?and watched the fire, then ate another bite of grass and started talking to himself about how he would manage the herd.
Azure turned to the non-cliff side of the plateau. She would have to slide down some steep plains of rock, jump over sagebrush, and make sure she didn’t go around the side of the plateau at all, because she knew that a distinct trail led straight into the path of the fire. The village up the coast was in the opposite direction. As Azure arrived at the edge of the hill, she looked back at the herd. She hadn’t even said goodbye to her foals or sisters. Too late now, she thought. It would be easier just to go to the village than linger here. At that thought, she put her front hooves on the side of the plateau and set off to find Zöe.
A few hours later, Azure was halfway down the mountain and needed water badly. She had spent the last few hours tripping over rocks, picking her way through thick underbrush, and trying to rest on 3-foot long outcrops in the plateau’s side. It was a hot day on the desert coast, with no water in sight except for the river that ran into the sea, which was on the bottom of the plateau’s valley. It would take another 2 hours to get down there at a canter. But Azure couldn’t canter because of the thick sagebrush and steep incline of her path. She would have to walk on raw ground and trot on the few abandoned, overgrown trails that existed on the side of the plateau.
Just as she ended her lament of no water and started walking again, the sound of hoofbeats came into earshot below her. They got louder and louder until she could see another band of mustangs coming towards her at a fast canter. Then she saw the stallion leading the band: Raven. Raven was a fierce black fighter with an intense personality. When he spoke, he was ?always yelling in a loud, strict voice. Azure cringed and remembered the day when Raven had wanted her to be in his band. She had refused and run away up Mt. Sunfire, the tallest mountain on the island. Since then, Azure had wanted nothing to do with Raven.
Raven cantered up the trail and skidded to a stop in front of Azure. “Azure!”, he yelled. “Is there anyone else stranded up here?”. Azure stared defiantly up at him. “What do you want from me, Raven? I’m not out to join your band. And I am not stranded, either—I’m traveling down this mountain to the village so we can get help getting down this plateau. What are you doing up here? It’s going to become a death trap once the fire burns up the side!”
Raven snorted and turned to his band, which was made up entirely of fierce young stallions who were quite violent by normal standards. The mares were all at the back, trying to keep their foals out of the yearlings. He turned back to Azure and said again, “Is there anyone else stranded on these rock walls? That’s originally why we ventured up here. After that we were going to join Mesteño and Kajak on the way to the oasis.” “Other than the rest of my band, there is no one up here! That’s why I set out for Zöe in the first place. Hopefully she can help us get the foals down.” Raven studied her for a moment. “Fine. Good thing you are looking for help. We need to get a move on, seeing as that fire is burning fast.”, he said curtly. With that, he turned to his band, reared once, and led them back down the mountain. As they cantered away, Azure took a deep breath and went back to her perilous descent down the plateau. She hoped that the second half of the journey would be better than the first.
It was four hours later that Azure got to the river at the bottom of the plateau’s valley. She drank the water fast, taking it in as though she hadn’t had water for years. It had a trace of salt in ??it, giving it a slight burst of tang. It was just the right thing after a day of hiking down rock slopes and confronting your least favorite stallions. Azure looked around. She could see all the way to the coast, and inland a ways. A large cloud of dust gave away where Raven was running away with Mesteño’s and Kajak’s bands. Behind and to her left, around the corner of the plateau was the fire. It was creeping forward, going with the costal wind, which blew towards the ocean. She had limited time, and if the fire burned to the coast, she and Zöe would have to come around to the plateau from the other side, probably in a boat. But they would worry about that when they got to it. Now that she was down from the plateau’s steep slopes, she could canter and gallop as fast as she pleased, making the journey much faster. She sighed in relief. Maybe she could actually get there in time to save her family now.
Azure turned towards the coast and galloped off to the village. It would take only an hour or so at this rate, but she would still need some more water, seeing as the afternoon sun was still beating down where there weren’t trees (which was basically no were except in the forest, which was burning up) , so she followed the river. It would take her into the village’s crop fields, and then she only had to cross the over the bridge and find Zöe. She galloped and galloped, until she came over a small rise into a lush green field. She stopped at the edge to catch her breath and shake off all the dust that her coat had accumulated on the way. Then, walking along the edge of the field, she looked for a small path. It was made of hard packed dirt spattered with drops of water from the irrigation aqueducts. The straight path led a direct way through the alfalfa plants to the village’s main avenue. Azure started through the field, but had to resist eating anything. It was all things that horses like to eat, like corn, alfalfa, sugar cane, barley, and oats. She lifted her ?head up and closed her eyes to try and rid her brain of the scent of food, but it was overwhelming. She sped up to a trot and tried to get out of the field as fast as she could.
Suddenly a voice to her left cried, “Azure! How are you here?! I haven’t seen you for... who knows how long!!”. Azure’s eyes snapped open and she saw Zöe standing in the next row of corn, several stalks of dead corn in one hand, a rake and watering can in the other. She was wearing her old purple jeans, a bright tie-dyed t-shirt that was obviously supposed to be advertising Starburst candies, and a look of amazement on her courageous face. She smiled and came up to Azure. “Hello, old friend. How’re things?” Azure nickered to Zöe and struggled to make a mental connection with her. It was harder to do with humans than other horses.
Finally, after 3 minutes of awkward silence, Azure was able to get through. “Zöe, I came down to ask you a question. Our band is stuck on the plateau up there and our foals can’t walk down and if we don’t find a way to get them down soon they’ll be stuck there when the fire burns up it and could we possibly leave this field because it’s addling me with the scent of food, as I’ve been walking down the plateau and been confronted by Raven and had not enough water or food all day.” After saying all of that, Azure breathed out heavily and looked at Zöe for her response.
Zoe, needless to say, was enthralled by Azure’s ability to talk with people through their minds, and had to marvel silently at it for a moment before processing what Azure had said. When she thought about this new situation, what came to mind was to gather the village people, hike up the plateau and carry the foals down themselves. But that would take too much time; after all, the fire did not wait for anything. They could call in a helicopter from the nearby island to fetch the foals in slings. But that could give them trauma and stress, which was not an option. ?Zöe wanted to treat every descendant of Azure’s with utmost respect, because Azure had taught her about the ways of horses, and how to work with them in the right way.
When she reached the end of her thinking, she said, “I think I have an idea. But let’s get out of this field first. Would you mind if I ride you?” Azure stood still for Zöe as she got on. They galloped out of the food field and into a small packed dirt plaza ringed with stones, off of which was a road that led into the town. Azure came to a stop. Zöe slid off Azure’s back and hit the hard packed dirt ground with a thud. “Hmm. You know, this is kind of dusty. Should we go to the stables? Then you can get something to eat, too.” Azure agreed heartily and followed Zoe under the sign that said Port de Pierre, which meant Port of Rock. Azure assumed that the name came from the fact that boats coming into the harbor bay sailed through a short rock tunnel before emerging inland to a shallow bay with 3 marinas and a dry dock.
Into the town they ventured, which looked like a scene from an old wild west movie. A boardwalk lined each side of the muddy dirt street, built against the shops on either side. The stores included regular clothes like what you would find in a mall, work clothes for people that liked the rustic look, general stores, all assortment of food and drug stores, from Smith’s to everything else, although luckily there was no Costco. One tack dealer had hung saddle rugs from the remada outside his shop so that it looked like a colorful forest of huge, woven placemats. Azure made note of a nice foam padded bareback saddle blanket in shimmering gold and black trim that she would get for Zöe after the whole fire fiasco was over. It looked like the store owners lived above their stores. Other people lived in the small, adobe, 2-story apartments that overlooked the street. Lines of laundry hung across the street from roof to roof. ?
?Horses were tethered to the railings in front of stores as their owners completed transactions inside. A 20-mule team stood in a alleyway next to the bank. The large stagecoach they were pulling read, “U.S. Bank Remote Sector 4”. Of course this was a remote section of land, an island out in the middle of the ocean. The stables and storage building were in the middle of town, in a large barn that housed at least 20 stalls, most of which were full. Zöe led Azure to a wash stall outside the doors to the barn, which was under a nice canopy of dried grass and reeds. Zoe lifted some hay down from a rack and put it in a small bin for Azure. As Azure hungrily gobbled up the hay, Zoe went inside to tell the stable owner they were borrowing a wash stall for about half an hour. When she came back out, she sat on the railing of the stall next to Azure and said, “Well, now that we’re here, I’ll get right to the point and the plan. We have this old inflatable slide thing from a carnival that was hosted 10 or so years ago. It’s sound; there’s no holes or any issues like that. We could sail one of the yachts out to the far side of the plateau and put the slide at the top of the plateau and put the end in the boat. It’s got a big mat at the bottom, so it would be safe for the foals and the others. They would slide down it onto the boat. And we could also put some rugs and mats on the rest of the deck, just to make sure no one slips and goes over the edge. Then you could come back here and stay with us or wherever you were planning to go until the fire’s over. But if we wanted to do it, we would have to decide on it in the next hour or so because it takes two and a half hours to get to the far side, and it’s burning pretty fast...does that sound to you like something that might work?” “Absolutely.”, replied Azure between a bite of hay and a drink of water. “I knew you would have some idea. So, do we need to get started on this right away?” “Yes. We have to gather a bunch of people to sail the ?boat, get the slide on the boat, get some extra pasture for you, and get ready for about 30 extra horses in general. Let’s go!”
With that, they cleaned up the hay bin and set off down the street. First, Zoe had said, they would get her family and next go to her horse-loving friends. Those were two easy places to get help. After that, they would go to the tack maker, Bertram, who loved working with the mustangs, and the feed store owners, who thought the mustangs a valuable aspect of the island. Azure waited patiently outside Zoe’s apartment as she woke up her lazy older brothers and pulled her parents (who made animated movies) away from their computers. She went into the next apartment, too, and came out with a small crowd of horse-loving friends. With all 4 extra family members and 9 friends in tow, Azure and Zöe made their way through the afternoon shoppers to the tack shop they had passed on the way to the stables.
“Bertram!”, yelled Zoe loudly. “We need your help to save some mustangs! They’re trapped on the top of the plateau!” Bertram stuck his head out of the second story window and took a welding helmet off. “Good grief, does it have to be right now? I’m in the middle of making a silver-inlaid saddle for that ridiculous Western horse show. Can it wait?” Zoe sighed and said, “I know how you feel, but I had to interrupt picking the dead corn when Azure got here. It’s urgent, because the fire’s... great, it’s at the river already! We have to move now, or the mustangs won’t be able to get down!” “All right. I’ll be right down; and I’ll bring some supplies...” Bertram disappeared through the window again.
Zoe apologized to Azure for having to waste so much time talking. Azure said it was fine, at least they were doing something and went back to surveying her surroundings (mustang instinct). A second later Bertram came out of the shop’s doors with a backpack, a pickax, a large ?coil of rope, his own horse, Salt, (who was the brother of another horse in the town, Pepper) and a spotted mule, who was wearing a pack saddle with even more supplies on it. “Normally”, Zoe said, pointing at the mule, “I would say that’s too much stuff, but because we’re in a hurry, let’s just go. I want all of you to go down to marina 2 and get the Tradewind ready to sail. Put a bunch of rugs on the deck, and put all the sails except the one in the very back under the deck. While you’re doing that, Azure and I will go get some more people. Any questions? Okay, go!”
Bertram took the lead and led everyone away towards the marina, while Zöe went into the feed store and brought out the owners, a group of nice women who had done dressage and show jumping when they were younger. “Can you 3 possibly go to the fairgrounds, and in the storage room there’s a big inflatable slide. Could you get it and the big air pump and then come down to the marina? We’re going to use it to get the horses off the plateau.” said Zöe. They agreed and hurried off to the fairgrounds.
Zoe climbed back up on Azure’s back and rode off to the marina. When they got there, Bertram had effectively gotten everything done that Zoe had asked. The sails were gone, except for the back one, and a dozen large oriental rugs had been spread over the deck. Bertram and Zoe’s dad were filling the boat’s tank with gas, while Zöe’s friends adjusted the radar poles. One of them had raised a Port de Pierre flag on the mast. Zoe trotted Azure up to the Tradewind’s dock and slid off. “Is everything ready to go?”, she shouted up to the main deck. “Yep! We have food for us and the horses, and there’s some makeshift stalls set up below decks, because it looks like it might rain.” said one of Zoe’s brothers. Sure enough, a soft wind was blowing out to sea, and some gray clouds threatened a storm on the horizon. “Ok, now we’re just waiting for the slide and generator. Let’s all get into position so that we can take right off when we get the slide.”
Zoe turned to Azure and said, “I’m assuming that you will need to be on the deck for the actual procedure. Do you want to be in a stall or in the cabin with Bertram and I on the way there?” Azure thought about this and decided that it would be better if she was visible to her family to show that the whole thing had been her idea. She opted to stay in the cabin and make sure everything went correctly. They waited in silence for the slide, and Azure hoped that if the ocean storm wouldn’t interfere with their plans. But sailing around the plateau was the only option now, because the fire was burning up the river, unable to cross, but would be at the coast soon. After it was done, there would be tons of burnt land all over this side of the island. Finally the slide arrived. The 3 women came up the dock with the slide and promptly dragged it up the gangplank. “Ok, thanks for getting that, now we need to get going! Bertram, let’s go!” said Zöe.
The yacht’s motor started up, and they slowly backed out of the marina and sailed towards the rock tunnel. Zöe started getting everyone spreading out the slide on the deck. It was a huge hunk of red and yellow vinyl reinforced with tent poles. Zoe plugged the generator into the outlet on the side of the deck, and the slide began, very slowly, to expand. They passed under the rock tunnel, shrouded in darkness for a few moments before they were swept out of the harbor and out to open ocean. Bertram steered the yacht over the bay currents and kept near the shore. As fast as they were going, they would still need about 2 hours to get into the right position. Azure settled in on the padded deck in front of the cabin. A salty breeze was blowing through the yacht’s open-air decks as they skimmed along the sea. Zoe was overseeing the ??inflation of the slide, which needed extra support to stay on the deck. They were building some scaffolding out of old planks to hold it up when they got there.
Azure took several deep breaths of the nice, salty air. It was refreshing to a horse. She was already looking forward to seeing her foals (she had twins) and family. She also needed to thank Soñador for being so kind as to watch the band. She hoped that no one had questioned his leadership while she had been gone. If so, she thought, they would be hearing from her.
The plateau had been visible since they had come out of the tunnel, but now it was clear, much to Azure’s alarm, that the fire had reached it’s base. The strip of burnt land went all the way up to the coast, and now it was creeping up the plateau’s side. Azure stood up in alarm and ran back into the cabin. “Bertram, can you go any faster? The fire’s getting up the side!” Bertram took heed of her request and switched the speed lever to high. “I’ll try to get us there even faster than this, but there’s some tricky winds and currents I’ll need to navigate.” he said. Azure nodded and left the cabin. Zöe was sitting in one of the deck chairs that had been left on deck, reading a book. Azure put her head over Zöe’s shoulder. Zöe smiled up at her and continued to read the book, something commemorating Seabiscuit. Azure read along with her for a few minutes, just to pass the time. Then she said, “Zoe, do you know if there are any rocks off the cliff side of the plateau? I don’t want to run aground, but we also have to make sure that the slide doesn’t slip off the top of the plateau. Zoe closed the book and replied, “I’ve researched that, you know. There aren’t really any rocky shores anywhere around the island, which makes us vulnerable to attack, although no one really has wanted to claim some little desert island yet. But that plateau’s been eroding off into the sea for the several centuries this island has existed, so we might have to watch for falling rocks. But even if we do get hit, there’s insurance on all the boats.” Azure ?nodded and walked over to the mini pool on the deck. “Zoe,” she said apprehensively, “is this water drinkable?” Zoe looked over. She raised her eyebrows and said, “It’s a pool, Azure. What do you think?” Azure blushed underneath her fur and mumbled something about chlorinating swimming pools was silly; and that saltwater was just as good at cleaning. By now they were almost to the outer part of the plateau, the outcrop cliff that stuck out a ways into the ocean. The slide was now a huge red-and-yellow structure secured from the wind by old boards bolted into the deck. All of this was good, but the problem was that the storm was kicking up. The full ocean wind was buffeting the yacht now, and making a severe headwind. The motor was working full blast. Small whitecaps tinged the ocean, while a large, rock-hard surf pounded the shore. Bertram expertly steered the yacht over the sea’s wake and up to the side of the plateau. Zöe got up from her chair and walked over to the opposite side of the deck. She took Bertram’s coil of rope and pickax off the mule, and called out to everyone, “I’m going to climb up the cliff and position the top of the slide where it should be. Bertram, put down the anchor! We need to stay where we are. And remember at the end, I’ll be the last one to slide down. DO NOT PULL THE SLIDE OFF until I come down. If either one of you (she pointed at her brothers) dumps me in the ocean... Yeah. Don’t. Anyway, here I go. When I throw a pinecone down, get ready for the horses to come. I’ll make sure no one delays.” With that, she threw the hook end of the rope up to the plateau. It caught and held, so off she went, using the pickax to hold on to tiny crevices in the cliff. Azure noticed that one curious horse had poked his head over the side of the plateau to see what the hook was. An instant later, Azure recognized it as Soñador. “Soñador! We’ve come to help get you down. See if you can get everyone organized into a line and you can get down faster!” Soñador yelled back down to her, “You’re just in time! The fire’s burning across the top ?right now!” And he disappeared back over the ledge. Meanwhile, Zöe had reached the top and was climbing onto the top of the plateau. She, too, disappeared over the edge of the cliff. Bertram maneuvered the yacht a little closer so that the slide would reach the top. Zöe’s friends were all pushing the slide over the edge of the cliff and making sure that the tethering grapples were lodging on the edge. Above them, finally, the clouds had broken. Sunlight streamed through and bathed the sea in light. A ray of hope shot though Azure. She trotted over to make sure all her family knew where to go after they slid down. Zöe appeared again and shouted, “Are we all ready?” Everyone gave a thumbs-up. Zöe turned and looked at Azure. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. Seconds after, a pinecone came hurtling down from the cliff. Everyone heard a scraping noise, several angry exclamations, and a disgruntled looking colt flew out of the slide onto the deck. “Good heavens”, said Weathermont, “Why a carnival slide? Well, at least it worked. It was getting to be quite an inferno up there.” “Ok, well, if you want to catch some fresh air, go down those stairs on the right, but if you want some nice hay and a stall, you can go down the ramp over by the rail.” “Fresh air, please”, said Weathermont, “and maybe some sweet clover also.” Azure laughed and turned back to the slide. It was good to be back with family. More scraping sounds, and this time it was Desert Rose and Isadora. Azure looked on as they both complained about having gone down both at the same time. Then they both smiled at Azure, clearly transmitting the message that it had been purposeful in the first place.
By now the storm clouds had dissolved completely. Down the slide everyone came, some liking it better than others. (“Azure, no more of these antics!” wheezed the old mustang Arroyo, shaking the dust off his coat. “It’s getting to my bones!” and “Can we set this thing up again when we get somewhere safe, Azure?! It was a brilliant idea! And it’s really fun! We could have ?a horse carnival! said the excited 2-year old Spike, whose real name was Prickly Pear.) Azure was very happy to see her foals, Rojo and Tamalé, twins that were only a few months old. She gave them each a mouthful of fresh grass and told them to wait for her on the sea-level deck on the back of the yacht. The very last horse to come down was Soñador. He looked like he had just had the most fun he’d ever had in his entire life, including watching his herd, escaping from a fire, and sliding down a carnival slide into a luxury yacht all in one day. Azure came up to him and said, “Soñador, thanks for watching the herd for me. Without it, we wouldn’t be escaping the fire. Sonador smiled. “That was one of the most fun days I’ve had in the whole year. I forgot how good it felt to manage a herd. Even though everyone was just eating the whole time...” “Well, let’s go tell everyone how thankful we are to be together again and that we escaped the fire thanks to you and me and Zöe. “And after that...wait for it...we’ll have a nice party and we can swim and eat.” Soñador looked at her in surprise. “Well, then it’s officially the best day of my life. Sounds good to me!” They turned to the rail and called, “Well, here we are again. Is everyone all right?”, asked Azure. A wave of hoof clicking (horse equivalent of clapping) and whinnying flowed up to them from the lower decks. “Because we’re all here...well, we’ve decided to have a sort of a celebratory party.” Everyone cheered again. “When do we start?!”, yelled someone excitedly. “Right away, of course! Food is in the kitchen, the slide will be up here if you want to swim, there’s rafts tethered to the water level bay... Let’s go!” Everyone scattered and went every which way. Spike, the silly horse, jumped two deck levels into the ocean and began splashing everyone with sea water. Azure laughed and trotted down the stairs to join the party. Zöe had come down the slide a second before. She put the it on the edge of the yacht as an express route to the water. Then she joined Azure on the lower kitchen deck, where all the parent mustangs were enjoying the food while their colts and fillies swam and played. “Zoe, thanks for helping me save the family. I owe you something.” said Azure, so sincerely that Zöe looked at Azure like she was overdoing it on the emotion. But she softened and replied, “I’m grateful for it too, Azure. The mustangs mean a lot to this island and it’s important that they always have a home here. And that they are kept out of danger... if there’s ever a fire again, you could come the town and stay there. Or I suppose you could go to the oasis if you really wanted to.” Azure nodded and watched the foals playing in the water. She was glad to be done with running from a fire, and to be with family again.