Worry l Soos l Stallion 56

Soos' chest heaved as he watched the cougar turn and scrambled away, its body looking uncomfortable and broken. Pride swelled in the stallion as it ran in the opposite direction that Mable had gone. He'd won; he had really beaten the terrible cat, and he felt great. Well as great as he could. Soos could already feel his body sore from the rush of adrenaline that had swept over him. He flinched a little when one of his muscles in his back leg twinged, cramping from his sudden stop in movement. He can feel the sweat dripping down his coat and absently he wonders how he had managed winning that one.  

His ear flicked when he hears something shift behind him, and Soos spun around ready to fight in case the cat had miraculously healed and had returned to try and get its revenge on the stallion. But to his utter shock Soos was face to face with a pair of two leggeds. He froze, ears pinning to his head; he had never seen one of these beings so close before and he was wary or them. Mother had always warned to stay as far as possible due to their strange instruments they carried. Even these two held tightly to their shiny sticks as they gaped at Soos; but he didn’t fear them, they showed no display of threat or animosity toward him.

Soos snorted and stamped his hoot at them, making the two orange clad humans take a step back and he shook his head. Bah, they were nothing to fret over.  Her rolled his eyes and walked toward them, following the trail. As long as they didn’t move or make a jump at him he would ignore the two leggeds. He just had to find Mable now. Hopefully this still was the correct path and she had made it to the meadow to hide but he wasn’t about to hold his breath.

Suddenly a shrill whinny echoed through the air and Soos’ ears perked forward in surprise. The humans looked about, holding the strange sticks tighter and stepping back to glance over their shoulders. Fear rushed through the sooty stallion and he shouted out, “Mable!” He neighed as loud as he could, hoping she would answer back so he could go to her and protect the filly. He waited a breath and then two, his heart hammering in his chest. “Soos!” Relief flooded through the chestnut and he bounced forward, breaking into a gallop and running down the trail. He bumped into one of the two leggeds as he went; knocking the human to the ground, but he didn’t care.

He raced around a bend, nearly skirting into a tree. He managed to catch himself at the last second and steadied himself and bolted up a steady incline, his eyes searching wildly for his filly. She had sounded so desperate just seconds ago and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do if he couldn’t find her. He whinnied loudly, calling for her more and more. Soon he reached a meadow, her meadow and he halted, rearing slightly and letting his hooves crash to the ground. Mable was nowhere to be seen and he neighed for her, calling her name and telling her it was safe to come out.

There was a long silence and his heart dropped, worry overtaking him. Had there been another predator waiting for the filly? Had she run farther off? Was she gone? He sighed and lowered his head, it was his fault for not sensing the cat sooner, Anger ripped through him and his tail swished with agitation at the cat. Now because of the cougar, the little weanling he had made so many promised too was missing, not to mention that the two leggeds had seen him. That might turn around and bite him. He sighed and turned away looking back to the trail. He thought about heading out on his own and abandoning the place. Just then there was a rustle from the brush and Soos spun around, ready to take whatever was there now.

“Soos?” A soft voice asked and the stallion relaxed, a smiled spreading across his face and he walked forward. “Mable.”