I was roughly awoken by the metal box coming to a shaking stop. Snorting, I looked out of the slats in the box, trying to figure out where we were.
This place looks quite similar to the one we just left behind– lots of bars and pens full of horses. The difference is, there’s a big structure painted green that humanos are leading horses in and out of. I smell dried grass, cold water, and something sweet in the wind.
The horses here do not smell of fear as the other horses at the Skyless Place did. These horses are relaxed, calm even. They lift their head as we pass, but they do not call out to us.
“Where are we?” I asked no one in particular.
The buckskin mare, whom I still hadn’t learned the name of, looked through the slats. “I don’t know. But it doesn’t smell too awful.”
She had a point there. Not that I was planning on liking this place. I was going to run as soon as I got the chance.
The door opened, and once again we all rushed to get out. I wasn’t surprised that it was another pen, but at least this one had sky. There was a shaded box at one end, and piles of dry grass. There was another molten moonlight container of water. I went to that first. The journey had made me thirsty.
Some shuffling outside of the pen sent me skittering back to the safety of the center of the pen. I looked back to see what it was.
It was the sky-eyed man, moving toward the gate to watch us. I found myself staring back, watching that soft, calculating gaze.
So he was the one who brought us here. Why? And why not the whole herd?
He’s talking again, in the language of humanos that I have become far too familiar with. There is one word I understand– filly.
Is he talking about me? And why?
Our pen stood next to one with some of the calmer horses. They wandered closer to the fence, nickering customary mustang greetings. I trotted over to a palomino mare, a gray mare, and a black horse with white spots who smells like a stallion, but not quite. He is most definitely male, but there is something off about it
“Buenos dias! Is the grass and water high?” A palomino mare asks me.
I pinned my ears, annoyed with the friendly tone in her voice. Although it is nice to hear such a familiar old adage from a stranger. “As this prison seems to be full of sand, I cannot account for the grass.” I sniffed.
She nickered, as if amused. “Ah, you are fresh off the range. Bienvenida! My gama name was Pluma, but the humanos call me Lulu.”
My eyes widened. “The humanos gave you a name? And you accepted it?”
The gray mare swished her tail. “Ah, sangre nueva. New blood. Always so distrusting.” She nickered. “You will see, filly. The humanos are not all the herds made them out to be.”
“You are loco.” I snapped. “The humanos have hunted our kind for years.”
“But not every humano is the same. They are different than the wolves and bears that way. Not all of them smell of predator– some are just as much friends.” The gray mare nodded. “You will see soon enough.”
I stamped my feet. “I don’t want to see. I want to go home.”
“There is no more home.” The black horse sighed. “You are marcado, filly. Marked. The humanos put a white line on you that tells them you were once free. Once the marcar is on you, there is no going back to the range.
I remembered once being pricked with something, then dozing and having something very cold put on my neck. There has been a fringe of white in the corner of my vision since. I noticed that every horse had a white line on their neck.
With that marcar, the humanos made sure I would never be able to escape.
I stepped closer to the fence. “So… why am I here?” I asked.
“You are part of the program now.” Pluma said. “Just as I and Comet and Baxter are.”
My ears twitch back again at the obviously humano-given names. “What is this… program?” I asked. I don’t know what a program is, but it sounds bad.
“It is hard to explain.” Comet– I make a mental note to ask her about her range name later– pauses to think and scratch at a flybite on her knee. “We do not have the same things that the humanos do… hmm…”
“The program is for humanos who have done bad things.” Baxter said, shoving into the conversation. “The bad humanos work with us, and it helps them to not be bad.”
I stared at him, trying to see if he was joking. “You let bad humanos touch you?” I squealed.
He blinked. “They do not hurt us. Robert wouldn’t allow that.”
“Who is Robert?” I asked. The name is strange and foreign, and it takes me a bit to pronounce it in our language. It’s two ear flicks forward, a soft huff, and tilting the head forward. Motions used for friends. Why would a humano be a friend?
“Robert is over there.” Comet flicks an ear toward the Sky-Eyed man still watching us. “He runs this entire thing. He is very nice, and he knows how to understand our language.”
“Imposible.” I snorted. “The humanos do not have ears or tails like we do. How can they communicate?”
“He cannot speak it himself. He just knows how to understand it. You will see when you work with him– I can already tell you are going to be his favorite.” Baxter nodded wisely.
“Well I don’t want to be his favorite.” I kicked at a fly on my hock. “I want to go home.”
“But you can’t go home.” Pluma said firmly. “And you will only make trouble for youself by being stubborn and difficult. If you cooperate, things will be much nicer. So stop looking for problems and accept this as your new home.”
Accept this? That is the greatest piece of rubbish I’ve ever heard. I will not accept it. There is a way to get out, and marcar or not, I am escaping.
I stomped away back toward the other horses I came with. Pluma is wrong, I know she is.
Night fell, and I spent my time admiring the stars, remembering how much I missed seeing them in the Skyless place. It brought me a small comfort to think that Sombre was staring up at the same moon.
I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and focused on the scents. The slightest whiff of home – hot sand, sagebrush, and sweet river water– floats by me before the cruel wind twists it away.
It’s there. Sombre is close. Perhaps he’ll find me and he can–
No. I shook my mane. Sombre would not endanger the herd, even for me. I need to save myself.
The only question is, how can I escape the humanos when the fence is so high and I am marked as theirs for life?
