(the beginning and end of the story is from Kaya's point of view. the middle is from the young colt)




12 year old Kaya sat staring out the window. She looked at the clock. Five more minutes until school ends and I can see my beautiful horses, she thought. After what seemed like forever the school bell rang, and Kaya was the first to get out. Her only friends were the horses that she has. The people at her school thought that she was strange and ignored her. But that was okay. It didn’t bother her, that much. They just got two new horses, a mare and her colt. The mares’ name was Owena, which means feisty, and the colts name was Amon, the hidden. Actually he was a very bad colt. He bit, he kicked, he tried to jump the fence. He was a lot of work! My dad doesn’t want me near him because he’s dangerous, but I do anyway.

At home, I help feed them, ride them, and help exercise them. Our ranch has 12 horses. We normally buy, train, then sell them or breed them then sell. But since our stallion is going to retire soon, we’ll need the colt. So we’ll keep him. I spotted my dad, working on the barn again, and my mom trying to sell Ash. I went to the fence to see the horses then went up to my room and did my homework. It looked like rain, so I shouldn’t ride today. By the time I was done my homework, it was dark. I went to the barn and visited my friends. They had just ate, so they were hyper, but they seemed spooked tonight. I heard the neighing of the mare and went to go see her. I noticed my dad looking at me, so I went by them. He forbid me from going to see them after the colt broke his hand. Its not like it was the colts fault, my dad just got in the way. My dad called me for dinner, and with one last look at the two, I went inside.





A huge noise crashed in the distance, then we were soaked in falling water, called rain. I crept closer to my mother. The noise got louder and louder. Then a huge flash crashed from the sky and flame lit the field. My mother neighed in terror. I reared. It was getting hotter and hotter. It was fire, and it was the thing that changed my life forever. People ran out of the house. My mother yelled at them but they couldn’t hear us from the roar of the fire. It was not on the field and over toward the barn. I couldn’t breathe. The young girl yelled and they ran toward us. My mother and I ran from it, and hit the fence. The people broke the fence and we ran away into the night, from the flame, and everything we knew. We ran faster and faster, the flame leaving behind us. But then in front of us, the flame was again. It got darker and darker, smoke filled the air. I got separated from my mother and I couldn’t find her. I ran. When it was but a little clearer out, I went back to find her. The fire stopped and all that was left was a dark, barren land. There lay my mother. People were around her. She was covered in ashes, and she was dead. They had tears in her eyes. One by one they realized my presence and looked up. They started walking toward me. I turned and sped into the distance.

I ran and ran. I was in unfamiliar land, without an older horse, and I couldn’t smell any water, anywhere. I stopped and looked around me, I ran right out of the fields and grass, I was in the desert. I was tired so I found a spot to lay down and go to sleep. I roamed the land for the longest time. Then in the distance I heard the neighing of a horse. A little horse. I neighed back. Then I saw a little filly running toward me. Her name was Ariana, most pure. She came closer and neighed again, she wanted me to follow her. I did. She ran off with me close by.

When we arrived the horses came up to me, and sniffed me. It was a nice size herd. Not to large but not to small. Then the leader, a huge black stallion, came up to me. He looked at me and he too sniffed me. A mare came up to me. I soon became her adopted son. I played with the other foals, lived, and prospered for many months. This day, however, a new younger stallion came and challenged our leader. Our leader was weak the other wasn’t. The two fought. Our leader lost.

I hated that new stallion, and he hated me. You see, I was growing fast and I was huge. I was a threat to become leader. He would threaten me for no reason and he was mean to the mares. My friend, Ariana, was now a grown mare and she was beautiful. He wanted her, but I stood in the way and because of that he ran us hard. We ran through rivers. Farther and farther away. My adopted mother died because of hunger. That made me furious. The he went for Ariana again. I had enough, and I challenged him. We were the same in size but he had more experience. I had more willpower. It was evenly matched. With a rear and scream, we ran at each other and fought.

He kicked and bit, I did the same. I got hurt but in the end, though he was stronger, wiser and more experienced, I won. He left in defeat. All the horses rejoiced that I was the leader and the first thing I did was lead them back to our old home. But we were leaving on the brick of winter, so it wasn’t going to be easy. A few weeks later, we had to cross the river. A cold and icy river. An older mare needed help, but before I could turn to help her she fell and banged her head. She didn’t get back up. We were sad, but we had to move on. The ice we soon had to cross on was thin. No matter how hard, we had to go home. We had to go to the place where food is plenty. We had to go back to the grassy fields near the desert.

It took us many days, but after a few weeks, we succeeded. We returned to the place where we could prosper. Not that we were safe and gaining health, I could choose a mate. I, of course, chose Ariana. She was someone who could help me lead and be there if I’m not. More then a year has passed and a foal was born. My foal. The good thing was that he had a new friend. It was a filly that had joined the herd with it’s mother during the fall. They got separated from their herd, and spotted us. They asked to join and we let them. The larger the herd, the more protection there was, I found out. I thought, when I was a colt, that it was bad to have a large herd. I was wrong.

I loved my foal. He was a colt, like me before, and one day, a leader. He’s strong and big. Fast and curious. And that one day, he spotted people and went up to them. I yelled at him to get away. But as he raced away, they pulled out something. Something shiny. They fired at him, but I got in the way. And I told my herd to escape. Then blackness came over me, and I knew no more.




Nothing has been the same since the day of the fire. Our barn burnt, our fields ravaged and all the horses we had to sell. All except the mare and colt. The poor mare, we found her dead close to the farm. We buried her there. The colt, however, got away from us. I wonder if it lived. Anyway, after these years, we’re still tying to get our lives back together. As much as I was against it, my father, brother, and some others went to find some wild horses. To train, sell, blah blah blah. They tried to catch a foal, but the head stallion got in the way and all the other horses, my dad says, ran away. I’m glad they did. When they first brought the stallion home, I didn’t recognize him. Then I saw the familiar markings and I knew that it was Amon. He lived, and prospered! He had a herd of his own and a family. We argued what to do with him. But that night, it was an easy choice. We spotted a mare and foal neighing to him. It was his family. They were wild horses that came to get him. We let him loose, and with a kick and buck, he ran off with them. I will miss him, but I know that he’ll live and rule. I looked to the sky. It was a bright red, like the sky was on fire. Just like the first time we met.