Chapter 19
Something is there, hidden in the dark of night, though I can’t see it, can’t smell it. But I can sense the twitching of its muscles as it prepares to attack. I can feel its desire to sink its teeth into me. It’s there as sure as I am breathing.
I long to run – but I can’t. I force myself to step forward into the black, the dark tree trunks the palest thing around – and behind one of them, the wolf. My heart is like a grouse beating its wings, faster and faster. My body shakes like ripples in water.
I woke from the nightmare with a huge effort, and then everything became infinitely more terrifying because the feeling didn’t stop. This was no nightmare. I was already awake. Though my eyes were staring at the inside of my bedroom window, I could see tree trunks still, superimposed over the dark of the room. I was sensing a mustang being stalked by the wolf.
I forced the fear to the back of my mind – so difficult because I was half asleep – then swiftly dressed. Mom was invisible in the darkness, so I was sure she couldn’t see me. She’d think I was just restless in my sleep, if she heard me at all.
Step forward. Be strong. Be brave. Step forward.
I had to get out there, right now. But what about Mom and the promise I’d made her that I’d wake her before heading out at night again?
But things were different from when I’d made that promise. Spring was here. I wouldn’t freeze to death in the cold and snow, though a wolf might attack me. That was the same. I brutally shoved the thought down. I’d be safe if Loonie was with me. No need to wake Mom and her thousands of questions.
I crept to the front door and put on a warm jacket and boots, then opened the door and slipped outside. Loonie whined from her bed on the porch.
“Come on, girl. Let’s go.”
We ran across the meadow in the direction I could still hear the mustang’s thoughts. Twilight’s thoughts. But it couldn’t be Twilight. That made no sense at all. She’d been longing to escape me for months. And now she was coming back? Alone? I needed to recheck my sensors.
I entered the trees and called Loonie to my side. The last thing I wanted was her rushing forward without me to back her up. I felt a warm tongue lick my fingers and smiled as I felt my way through the trees. “Good, girl. Now stay with me. Ow.” A stick from a tree poked me in the neck. That was going to leave a hard-to-explain mark. Great.
We continued forward as quickly as I could, which wasn’t very fast at all, on and on through the darkness. And then Loonie wasn’t there. I’m not sure what tipped me off as it was too dark to see, but she just felt gone. Then barking came from ahead. The mustang’s relief washed over me.
“Loonie!”
I rushed forward.
A roaring growl rumbled in front of me and I stopped short. “Loonie! Loonie!”
There was a scuffling sound, and then I heard Loonie running toward me. I knelt and patted her all over, felt for injuries, felt for blood, felt for broken bones or ripped tendons – but she seemed fine. The wolf must have left without a fight. A good sign. It and its puppies must no longer be desperate and starving. I bowed my head over my brave, old dog. “Oh, Loonie, I’m so glad you’re okay,” I murmured, pulling her into a hug.
Then something touched my back, a tentative touch, lasting mere moments. I knew instantly who it was.
I hadn’t been mistaken.
Twilight.
I could hardly breathe as I turned around. A dark form stood there. Yearling sized. Twilight shaped.
Hello, human. She thought the words hesitantly, experimenting with language.
Evy. I am Evy.
She snorted. Funny.
I couldn’t smother my laugh and Twilight stepped back at the sound. Silence stretched between us.
Why are you here? I finally asked.
At first she didn’t reply and I imagined her staring off into the darkness as she thought of the answer. You spoke truth. You gave freedom.
I waited for more, but there wasn’t any. Twilight wasn’t a big talker.
So why did you come back?
You spoke truth. She sounded impatient with the stupid human. But I didn’t get it. My keeping my word in setting her free made her change her mind?
Then I started to understand – I’m slow, I know. Because I’d set her free, Twilight realized that everything else I’d said was true too. She knew I was sorry for hurting her. She knew I was only trying to help her.
She knew I was telling the truth when I said I loved her. And now she saw me, and everything that had happened to her, differently.
Back to stay? I thought again, hoping against hope.
No. Another long pause. Maybe.
My throat swelled with emotion. “Welcome home,” I managed to stutter. Happy you came back. I reached out to see if she was close enough to touch and my fingers slid across her warm neck. I scratched her under her mane. Welcome home, I repeated. Twilight hesitated, then moved closer.
When the three of us started back to the barn, I felt I was walking in a dream. To have her want to stay with us, well, I just didn’t know what to think. In a way, it made no sense and was completely unbelievable. And yet, in another way, it made all the sense in the world. Love was what mattered. And while Twilight no doubt didn’t love me, she was intrigued by my love for her – and she trusted me enough to come back to investigate it further.
Stepping out from under the trees, the night became brighter. The barn loomed closer and closer and I waited for Twilight to change her mind. She didn’t falter. Rusty welcomed her with a neigh and the sound woke Cocoa. I heard the scrape of her hooves on the floor as I lit the lantern in the barn, then she nickered over her door to Twilight. After Twilight gave her own greeting in return, I opened her stall door and she walked inside like royalty.
Oats, please. So maybe I added the please here to make her sound more polite, but I was glad to fetch them for my extremely independent and strange new horse. Well, not my new horse, as in ownership. No one owned Twilight but herself. She’d made that abundantly clear. So maybe it’s more accurate to say, my new friend.
And as I hustled off to do her Highness’s bidding and bring her a big helping of oats, I felt a warm glow. Living with Twilight was going to be a challenge for sure – but with her beside Rusty and me, there would be one other “for sure” too: completely amazing future adventures.
Maybe she’d even help me figure out Mom’s big secret. I could hardly wait to get started!
Spring of the Poacher's Moon
Evy is out with her horses, Rusty and Twilight, when she comes across a dead moose. Things only get worse when she discovers a very young, now orphaned calf standing over his mother’s body.
She is determined to save the calf, but before she can, Twilight, her mustang filly, disappears. Evy sets out to rescue her, only to stumble upon even worse danger: illegal hunters who will do anything to keep their poaching a secret.
Will Evy be one of their victims?
Also Available by Angela Dorsey
Abandoned
The Time Thief
Horse Guardian Series
Dark Fire
Desert Song
Condor Mountain
Swift Current
Gold Fever
Slave Child
Rattlesnake Rock
Sobekkare’s Revenge
Mystic Tide
Silver Dream
Fighting Chance
Wolf Chasm
Freedom Series
Freedom
Echo
Whisper
Whinnies on the Wind Series
Winter of the Crystal Dances
Spring of the Poacher's Moon
Summer of Wild Hearts
Autumn in Snake Canyon
Winter of Sinking Waters
Spring of Secrets
Summer of Desperate Races
Autumn of Angels
Winter of the Whinnies Brigade
Sun Catcher Series
(
co-written with Marina Miller)
Sun Catcher
Sun Chaser
Sun Seeker
About Angela Dorsey
Angela Dorsey is a writer who once lived near the Chilcotin area in British Columbia, Canada, which is where the fictional Rusty, Twilight, Evy, and her mother live. There, wild horses roam the meadows and forests still. Many live their entire lives in the wild, and some are caught and trained as ranch horses. Angela’s first horse was a “cayuse” that lived wild until he was three years old, and then was caught and trained by her grandfather.
Ben, as she called him, was a buckskin like Twilight, and he taught her how to ride by literally bucking her off every day until she could stick on his back. They became true companions who had many adventures together roaming the wilderness along the Bella Coola river, following creeks, meandering through forests, avoiding bears, and exploring forgotten homesteads. That is where Angela’s Whinnies on the Wind series was born.
Happy Reading!
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