Defeating the Wind

Chapter 7

A sharp ping! rattled against the side of the grass, very near Faith's foot, as she hopped out of the way, almost bumping into Cobalt in the process, forgetting her whole blindness, and having to be watchful of her surroundings.

Scrambling up, the young boy tackled his boss, tearing the gun away form his hands, and shoving him backwards.

Hopping swiftly back onto Faith's back, the cowboy herded the two horses away from the scene, both galloping as fast as they could down the hill, and back into their homeland. Being under famaliar grass let the horses gallop faster, as their manes whipped back against the wind, saying goodbye to the old barn, that had tortured them for only a day, but only being a day was enough for these range born horses.

 The neared the hill that separated the Valley of Wild Horses, from the rest of the world, and the two horses picked up their feet higher underneath them, trying to get away form that cruel barn, and back to their home as fast as they could.

A familar neigh broke Faith's concentration, and she whipped her head around to detect where the sound had come from. Her ears swiveled, till she finally figured out who had made the sound.

Galloping down the hill as fast as he could with three hooves, was Faith's father, Hawk. The wild lead stallion looked almost as graceful with three hooves as he had with four, as he galloped, right on Cobalt and Faith's heels.

Bucking backwards in joy, Faith galloped faster toward the hill, neighing to her herd, telling them that she had come back, and brought the lead stallion with her.

But at the last second, the cowboy on Faith's back pulled the gorup of horses in the other direction, up a separate hill, in the opposite direction from the valley, and from the cruel barn that two of them had been trapped at for two days.

Confused, Faith tried to turn her head around, but the cowboy urged her on. The cowboy knew that Cobalt and Hawk wouldn't leave her side, espically if they had just found her.

The three now tired horses made their way up the other large hill, and onto the other side of the peak, before sliding to a stop to take in their surroundings.

A large red barn laid onto of the hill, followed by acres and acres of rolling pasture fences, where fat looking saddle horses grazed peacefullyunder the shade of the trees that dotted the pastures.

Another young boys voice cut through the wind, as Faith could hear someone jogging toward them on two feet. Another human. Great.

"Patrick, my man! Who have you broguht today?" A voice said, as the feet slowed, and stopped next to the boy and Faith.

The boy, apperently named Patrick, slid off Faith's back, keeping a tight hold on her mane, as he turned to face his comrad.

"Well, this is a blind filly, and her traveling partner, and the three hoofed one, is the filly's father." Patrick reported, standing up straighter as he named off his new findings.

"A blind filly, you say?"" The other boy repeated, and Faith snorted to respond to his question.

"She's very smart, she brought me the whole way here, and I only had to turn her away from that big valley over there." Patrick insisted, pointing down the hill, where the valley could be seen clearly form up high.

"Well if you say so. Did you finally quit that stupid job over at Buck's place?" The boy questioned, stroking his chin.

"Yeah, considering I about killed the guy because he was abusing Fai-I mean, the Filly, and then he almost killed me." Patrick grinned sheepishly, almost giving away the name he had made up for the blue eyed, sweet natured, filly.

"Well, that's a good reason I suppose. Why don't we bring these three in, and then I can call the vet from the main house to come work on the older stallions foot." The boy said, motioning everyone forward.

"This is for your own good." Patrick told the three horses, as he slipped three ropes over all their heads, and urged all of them forward, as he followed his friend down the trail toward the barn.

Faith swung her head around to stare at Cobalt with a wide-eyed expression. Last time they went in a barn, a dark one at that, it didn't go that well.

But Faith trusted the gentle handed cowboy, who had saved her and Cobalt, and somehow had saved her father. Trust was something you had to earn with Faith, and this cowboy had done it easily.

The three horses trudged along behind Patrick, as he turned them, and led them into the barn aisle, which was lit up with brillant white lights.

Various horses stuck their heads out to greet the horses, and this time, thew three wild ones actually greeted back, not being as depressed as they had before. Now they knew that Faith's father was alive, and would be able to atleast roam the range, without having to die.

Patrick led them back to the back, and but them in three comfortable large stalls. The other blonde headed boy fed them some mash and grain, and filled up their hay nets. Cool clear water was dumped into their buckets, and the three hungry horses began munching away at the food, happy to have something in their stomachs.

 "Any of them broke?"

Faith's ears swiveled to the front of the barn, where Patrick, and his friend where leaning against the front of the barn aisle, talking.

"No their range rats!" Patricks voice cut through Faith's hard like a dagger.

So they where just range rats to him. Just a way to bring in some more horses so they could ride on their backs, and then lock them up, and completely forget about it.

Faith backed to the back of the stall, and glared out into the lighted aisle, which she couldnt see except for the shining of the light, and the blur of the stall across from her, which appeared to have something moving inside of it.

Cobalt had just finished eating, and was sleeping, his black head pushed against the front of the stall door, snoring lightly, his nostrils quivering with each intake, and out breath.

Hawk was surveying the barn, his bad leg lifted in the air, sniffing around the unfamilar barn, that reeked of humans, and other things that range horses weren't used too.

"What do you plan to do with them?" The boy asked, making Faith perk up again to listen to the rest of the conversation.

"Dude, I'm gonna try and see if they would be any good at riding or anything, and if not let them all loose back to their homeland. Its the only thing I can do." Patrick replied, as if his answer was an obvious one.

"Ehh, range rats won't make good riding, espically not one without a hoof. He should be put as a pasture pet." The other boy said, his words sharp, as he stared at his friend with a hard, cold glare.

"I didn't mean that one, but I could try and nurse him back to health, and then maybe he would be opf some use. Shoot, the horse can still gallop as fast as the next saddle horse." Patrick said, as he started to move away from his friend, and toward his little group of horses that he had come to love, although he had only known them for about three days.

"Well, just remember, I'll be watching your progress." The boy said evily, before laughing harshly, and disappearing out the door, and up into the main house of the little ranch on the top of the hill.

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Kind of a short chapter. But, still it fills in some stuff, and Faith's dad isn't dead! :D

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