You'll never catch me alive!

Chapter 22 ~ I wont be caught again.

While trotting through the thick forest I started thinking about Doc. There's no doubt it was him I saw by the lake. At first I thought he was looking for me and that's why I ran away. But the more I thought about it the more I realised that he might have escaped, too. All the signs were there. The broken fence and him being there in the forest, all alone in the middle of the night. But then I realised that there was something strange about just that. The broken fence. I remembered Toppy telling me that he was an eventer, which I had learnt was a horse jumping natural jumps at a high pace. Shouldn't he have been able to jump that fence like nothing? But my mind started wandering away and soon I found myself thinking of Toppy. She was a really nice horse and I was going to miss her. Was this really a good idea?
But as soon as I started thinking about turning around, a loud voice called from right behind me.
"See that mare? She's the one that Sir Livingstone lost! We can catch her for him and earn plenty of..."
I didn't even stay to hear the end of the sentence. I ran. I picked up a fast gallop and ran even faster when I heard the hoof beats behind. They were riding. The memories of me being caught alive quickly flashed by and I accelerated. I wasn't going to be caught this time. I neighed loudly.
"You'll never catch me alive!!"
And then I ran even faster.

In the middle of the day I stopped at a small river to have something to drink and eat. There was small fish swimming in the river and the current seemed pretty strong, but I took a step forward, lowered my head and drank. I had to. I admit that I was a bit scared that I would trip and fall into the strong current of the river, but everything went just fine and a few minutes later I was walking through the forest again. I started thinking about a plan. When I first came to this place I rode in a horse transport and I couldn't see which way we went. This would make it hard for me to find the desert, or that town. Jackson. I snorted and decided to run away from my problems. I picked up a canter and let the wind blow my worries away. Instead, I started thinking about Lotus. The old mare was my only friend when I first came to the herd, before I found other friends in my own age. Lotus took care of me and taught me how to survive in the wilderness, how to run fast as the wind and how to stand still like a statue. I remembered everything she taught me.

The small black foal looked at the buckskin mare with big, black eyes.
"What do you mean?" the foal asked curiously.
"If you smell everything before you eat or drink it, you'll not die from poisoned grass or water." the old mare explained with a calm and gentle voice full of love.
"Like this?" the foal happily jumped away to a small cactus and smelled it. One of the tiny thorns stabbed the foal in her nuzzle and she squeaked out of fright and jumped away from the plant. The old mare chuckled lightly before helping the foal cleaning up the small wound.

Everyone in the herd loved Lotus. I smiled at the memory with the cactus. I was just a curious foal wanting to learn about the world. The leader of the herd was a nice stallion called Triton. He made me his third-in-charge as soon as he took over after his father, Trottimus. Winter was the second-in-charge. In my herd, everyone had a place. Everyone knew what to do in every special moment. Everyone in the herd expected me and Triton to end up together. Somehow. I wondered if we would become something serious when I came back. Then I started thinking about Doc. There was something about it, something mysterious. Something that kept me attracted to him somehow. Then there was Love. He was so sweet and kind. He showed me his special spot and made me feel special in a way I'd never felt before. Triton, he was also very gentle, yet stern and a very good leader. I had always felt something for him, but I never knew if it was the herd's expectations that made me feel that way or if I really felt something. Just then, I realised that there was actually three very special stallions in my life. The sun slowly disappeared behind the trees and I decided to sleep under a huge tree with lots of low branches, that hung down to the ground. It formed a great shelter that almost looked like a small house with a roof and walls. It would hide me from any people passing by. I closed my eyes and fell asleep almost immediately. As the darkness surrounded me I actually felt somewhat safe.
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Okay so most of you seem to be #KeepWalkin
I wonder if you like it when I give you two or more hashtags to vote between, which will somehow make you decide what will happen!
In this chapter, you can choose between #TeamDoc #TeamLove or maybe even #TeamTriton ?

Hugs,

Z