2

            Remington was barreling toward me at full speed but this is what I’d been born to do and I’d been trained by the best. I turned Wild Fire so that when he flew past her he wouldn’t knock her off balance. Once Remington had blown past us, I gave Wild Fire her head and tugged the lasso from across my back. Remington was fast, very fast, and though Wild Fire had the advantage of youth on her side I worried that it wouldn’t be enough to catch him.

            We ran for well over an hour and had covered at least three or four miles. This was normal though, especially for a horse that has reason not to trust humans or their lassos. I’d tried several times to rope him but each time he narrowly avoided my lasso. It wasn’t until about 7 am that I was finally able to get a rope around him. He fought me every step of the way back to the creek bed but I wasn’t about to let him go, not when I finally had my phantom horse. By the time I finally got him back to the creek bed, Zazi was already waiting there with Lady and Smoke.

“I see you got lucky with those two!” I called to him.

“And you got your phantom horse, I see,” he called back.

I rode up beside him before I replied.

“Yes, and he gave me one hell of a run and one hell of a fight coming back here.”

“So, what are we going to do with them?”

“Well, we’re going to take them back to my place and after the showcase we’ll return and work with them.”

“That soon?”

“I want Remington ready to ride as soon as possible.”

“Why?”

“Do you know how long I’ve been chasing this horse?”

Zazi shook his head.

“4 years. I’ve been chasing him for 4 long years.”

Before I could say anything else, the bells started tolling, calling us to the town square for the day’s festivities.

“Shit!” I cursed. “It’s 8 already!”

“We should be back at your ranch by now.”

“I know, but getting him took more time than I originally bargained for!” I snapped wheeling Wild Fire around and spurring her into a gallop.

Zazi wasn’t far behind me.

Thankfully, we made it back to the barn by only eight thirty and luckily I was smart enough to drive the truck and trailer up to the barn last night. I tossed my lasso to Zazi.

“Take them to the round corral on the other side of the barn. I’ll take care of the horses.”

I snatched Night Wings’ reins from him and took both horses into the barn. I stripped them of their tack and hosed them down before turning them out into one of the larger pastures on the ranch. When I was returning from the pasture, I saw Peli and Theo coming toward the barn. I waved them forward.

“Get a move on!” I shouted to them. “We’ve got to get the horses loaded into the trailer!”

I went to the trailer and opened the door.

“Come on you two! Move it! We’re already late as it is!” Zazi’s voice startled me, but I recovered fast enough to take the lead ropes he handed me and lead the first two horses into the trailer. Peli wasn’t far behind him with the next two. Theo came next and Zazi brought the last two out. Once the horses were loaded, I shut the door and made my way to the driver’s side of the truck. Peli came with me.

“I thought you might need these,” she said brandishing the keys to the truck.

“Yeah, keys would be helpful,” I laughed taking the keys from her and climbing into the truck.

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The drive to the city was mercifully short, but getting to our spot was not. By the time we got to our spot and unloaded the horses, it was almost time for our showcase. After filling out all the necessary paperwork, an event official told us it was time for the showcase. So, we each grabbed two horses and led them out in front of the stage in the center of town. The large crowd of people made all eight horses antsy, but we kept them as still as we could. That was until there was a commotion in the crowd. This disturbance caused one of my horses to rear. I was able to regain control of him, but once one horse rears the others won’t be far behind.

“Hold them tight!” I ordered Zazi and the twins. “This disturbance has put them on edge.”

            As soon as the words left my mouth, a man ran up with a paper flapping in his hand. The paper ended up in one of Zazi’s horses’ faces, causing her to rear. Zazi was strong but the mustang he held was stronger than him by far and scared. The clip on the filly’s lead rope snapped and she was free.

“You idiot!” I screamed. “Don’t you know these are mustangs? You could have gotten yourself killed! Zazi, go after her! Don’t let her get away!”

Zazi swung aboard his other horse in one swift motion and urged her into an all-out gallop.

“Get that man away from the horses!” I shouted at the event officials.

The event officials just stood there.

“Get this man out of here, damn it!” I was livid now. “If you don’t get that man out of here you WILL have a six horse stampede! These horses may be tame but they are still wild at heart! Do you want someone to die here today? Do you?”

No one answered. Figures.

“Bishop O’Mally if these horses get loose the deaths will further stain your bloody hands. Do you want that Pontius Pilate?” I yelled to the shaded pavilion suspended above the stage.

“Kitty!” Peli screamed.

I turned towards her voice. Both of her horses were getting more and more uncontrollable. I swung aboard one of my stallions and loped to Peli. I leaped off and grabbed the lead ropes from my sister while simultaneously shoving my lead ropes into her hands.

“Get them out of here!” I shouted to her and Theo.

The screaming pair was difficult for even me to handle. I made sure Peli and Theo got the other horses away but panic was setting into the crowd, which made it impossible for them to get back to the truck and trailer. I watched helplessly as their horses reared time and again along with my own horses. The man with the paper came up to me with a leering grin plastered onto his face.

“Don’t you dare come near me or I swear I will kick you in the face,” I growled.

“Feisty one aren’t we?” he asked reaching for me.

My arm came down with such force on his forearm that it broke both his radius and his ulna. My foot then caught him square in the face, dislocating his jaw.

“I warned you,” I told him as I backed toward the stage.

I scanned the crowd, hoping not to see Peli and Theo still caught in the crowd. When I didn’t see them I breathed a sigh of relief. They had finally made it out of the crowd.

“Zazi!” I screamed suddenly spotting him at the edge of the crowd.

Suddenly, I felt my feet leave the ground and I felt like I was on the rack. Both of the horses I was trying in vain to control had reared at the same time, leaving me dangling between them like a sack of potatoes. I used the last of my strength to hoist myself up the lead ropes as far as I could, and then let gravity use my weight as a stone. The drop forced the horses to drop to all fours again, but it also dislocated both my shoulders. The pain was excruciating and my hands were starting to go numb.

“Kitty!” I heard Zazi scream.

I didn’t hear anything after that and my vision started going black. I could barely feel the lead ropes sliding through my hands as I fell between the two uncontrollable horses

3

            I woke in the truck an hour later. My shoulders ached and my hands burned. Not to mention, I had a killer headache. I sat up and when my head stopped spinning climbed out of the truck. I made my way back to the town square. Zazi was on stage about to get whipped for the panic the horses had caused

“Wait!” I called.

All eyes turned to me.

“This is not his fault,” I said slowly making my way to the stage. “Where is the man who started this whole thing? The paper in his hand startled all the horses and had he not come along everything would have been under control. So, if you must blame someone, blame him.”

“Unfortunately, he is being treated for a broken arm and a dislocated jaw,” the Bishop said.

“I know that!” I snapped. “I told him not to come near me.”

“Arrest her,” the Bishop demanded.

“Bishop O’Mally?” the mayor asked.

“What?” the Bishop snapped.

“We can’t arrest her,” the mayor said tentatively. “She told him not to come near her and he obviously did. She was within her rights to hit him.”

The Bishop sighed, and then returned to his pavilion. Zazi came to stand beside me.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked donning his shirt.

“I can’t move my right arm, Zazi. How do you think I feel?” I replied dryly.

“I can relocate that shoulder for you, if you want,” he said.

“Just do it,” I replied bracing myself for the pain.

“Bite down on this,” Zazi said placing a piece of hardtack between my lips. “One, two, three!”

With a pop and a muffled cry of pain, my shoulder moved back into place. Just then, a person handed the mayor a piece of paper. It was the same piece of paper that had spooked the horses earlier. Then, the mayor called my name.

4

I knew the slip of paper in the mayor’s hands could only be one of two things, an arrest warrant or a Death warrant.

“Katalina Torrés!” the mayor shouted again.

Zazi pushed me toward the stage. I climbed the steps reluctantly. The mayor handed me the slip of paper. Printed across the top of the page in big, bold, black letters were only two words. The two words no one wanted to see. The ones that struck fear in my heart and let it settle deep in the marrow of my bones. Death Warrant. Those were the only two words I needed to see.