The Treacherous Journey West

Saving Him

We traveled through to plains, heading further west. Before we left I had formulated a plan so that Jacob could ride a horse too. We had two horses, Midknight and King. Both of them are black horses. King is a boy, and Midknight is a girl. The most noticeable difference between them is a streak of purple in Midknight's hair, created by dye from raspberries. Normally Midknight leads and King follows. I was riding Midknight while Jacob rode King. Although King is the boy he's rather shy, so Midknight has taken to being his protector.

It was going to rain soon so we kept a look out for a place to stop. A flash of movement to my left makes me turn my head towards the wagon. "No," I shouted. King rears and starts heading to the right. Turning Midknight around, I yell at Papa to stop. Jacqueline jumps out and grabs hold of her dog Ben. She has yet to train him. "Jacob," Mother cried desperately. I looked to see that he was already turning into a speck of dust.

"I'll go after him," Papa said.

"No," I said, "I will."

"Get off the horse Janet," he said in a stern voice.

"No Papa, stay here and take care of your wife and daughter. I will find him and bring him back, this I swear." Without a second glance I sped off, not caring if he didn't want me to. I was going to save my brother if it was the last thing I ever did. Nothing was going to persuade me to do otherwise.

I finally caught up to them after ten minutes of riding. King is now walking in circles obviously still spooked. Jacob was frozen in fear, holding on tight to the reins. I slide off of Midknight and hurried to calm him. I began to whisper soothing words into his ear. My brother and I have a kind of connection with them. Jacob came out of whatever trance he was in when it began to rain.

"Jacob, I'm going to lead us back; but we have some land to cover." He nodded and grabbed the reins more loosely. I then walk over to Midknight with King following behind me. I take the reins from Jacob and he grabs on to Kings mane. I climb on Midknight and urge her forward. After walking for five minutes or so, lightning struck. Typically, King would get scared; but not in this situation. Only one of the horses we own are afraid of lightning, Midknight. "Janet," Jacob shouted when he heard Midknight's sounds of panic. I dropped Kings reins and tried to calm her. My attempts were in vain. Midknight reared so high the I slid off and landed on my stomach.

An immense amount of pain took over my body, centered at my back. I looked up and realized that Midknight brought her hooves down on my back. I groaned in pain. Jacob looked to confused and scared, he had no clue what was happening. When Midknight saw me lying on the ground, she forgot about the lightning all together. She wined and brushed her nose against my face.

I slowly allowed the darkness to take over, but at the last second I opened my eyes again. I had to get Jacob back to our parents. I laid there upset, but my sadness soon turned into anger. I was infallible, I had to keep my promise. I slowly stood; every movement made my body protest ruthlessly. I leaned against Kings neck and take a deep breath. "Jacob, I need you to listen out for Ben. He should bark when you are near."

"Wait, why do I need to? Can't you see the fire when we are close enough?"

"You have to do it on your own Jacob. I made a promise, and I must keep it."

"No, I'm not leaving you," he shouts in panic.

"Sorry Jacob, but to me, you come first." I told him.

I then slapped King's rear end and shout at him to go. After verifying that she was going to head in the right direction of course. She sped off into the distance. As I turned around to look at Midknight, my body shuts down. When I hit the ground, a single spike of pain stabbed my back before I plunge into darkness.