Amanda wasn’t sure what time her father got home that night. She’d been out with him enough times before that she would guess it was probably just before 2 am. He never took her out the night before a muster though. One of them had to be clear headed enough to get up the next day.

Amanda let him sleep as long as she dared, getting the horses ready and then coming back in to cook some breakfast. She wasn’t as great a cook as her mother but she figured as long as the food was edible it didn’t need to taste amazing, it just needed to provide energy for a day’s ride and roping. It wasn’t hard to boil an egg and stick some toast in the toaster anyway.

“Breakfast,” she said as she waved the plate in front of her father’s nose.

He’d fallen asleep on the couch, as he often did if he got back too late and didn’t want to wake her mother.

He groaned and opened his eyes. “What time is it?”

“6 am, we need to get moving if you want to be at the ravines before the sun gets too high.”

Jake Byrns nodded, pulled himself up right, and seemed awake and sharp-eyed almost in an instant. It was something that Amanda had always marvelled at. No matter how much her father drunk or how late to bed he went he always seemed to be able to pull himself together in a matter minutes.

Lizzie had often said that Amanda was the same but she knew she wasn’t even close to competing with her father on this.

“Where’s the coffee?”

“On the bench.”

“Horses packed?”

Amanda nodded.

“Alright, I’ll see you out there in a sec.”

Amanda nodded and made for the door.

“You eaten?” he called after her just as she was about to disappear.

“Yup,” she called back.

He gave a satisfied nod and grumble, rubbing his brown stubble as he did.

Moments later as Amanda was climbing into the saddle, her father emerged from the house. The man had a knack for wolfing down breakfast and being out the door in a matter of seconds if he had to. It was another thing Amanda felt she couldn’t compete on. Although she knew this was also another thing her sister would say that she took after him in, and this time Amanda knew she was right. Amanda might not be as speedy as her father at getting ready but compared to Lizzie she was a champion. Lizzie would always be mucking around, putting her makeup on, or doing her hair, or some other silly thing.

“You know I actually came out on top last night,” Her father said, referring to his poker games, as he pulled himself up into his own saddle. “Came home with a pocket full of cash.” He practically sang that last line. “I put it in the jar in the kitchen, remind me to tell your mother if I forget.”

Amanda gave a laugh. “She’ll probably find it herself.”

Jake Byrns frowned and then nodded. “Mmm.”

“You sure you didn’t want to save it for next time, she won’t notice you’ve lost so much then.”

Her father shook his head “That would be lying. Anyway you gotta enjoy the winnings when you get them.”

Amanda didn’t reply but she wondered if it wouldn’t have been better if her father didn’t involve family money in his ‘investments’. Her mother stressed about it she knew. And her father might see it as being dishonest but Amanda figured lying about the wins meant you could also make the losses smaller. Less up and down might stress her mother out less.

“She likes to keep her eye on me. Know what I’m up to,” her father added. And Amanda wondered once again if he didn’t have some second mind-reading power that she didn’t know about.

“You can join me next time, then it won’t be a loss,” he added. “End of mustering season we can have some fun, clean out the townies and the seadogs.”

Amanda smiled softly. Poker was the one thing she could beat her father at, no questions asked. Ever since she was three and he’d taught her how to play, he’d never been able to beat her over a night, and neither could most of the guys at the tavern games. There were a few times when she was younger and he’d taken her along to watch some of his games. Later on, when she was a little older but still a young teenager, she’d snuck in and started playing there without her father. He’d soon found out and then he’d invited her to play with them. Her mother had disapproved but her father had made the point that she was probably safer playing with him there than not and on that point her mother had agreed. She’d also decreased her objections once she’d realised that the losses tended to be smaller when Amanda was playing.

They rode in silence for awhile. It had been dark when they left but the sun was slowly rising over their left shoulder. Amanda looked out towards it briefly and the day was clear enough that across the sandy dusty land she could just make out the sparkle of the sea. She turned her head more to the north-west and inland, to the large mesas and small peaks in the distance where they were headed. They’d start with the nearest then move further north or maybe more inland depending on if they found any signs of herds.

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She squinted as she saw a small dark dot in the sky out above the furtherest peak. She didn’t realise but as she stared at it she started to drive her horse in that direction.

Jake Byrns noticed and he also noticed what it was that she was staring at in the distance.

“You keep your eye on the ponies Amanda.”

“There might be ponies over there,” Amanda replied.

“Ponies and poachers,” her father added.

“Ponies, poachers, and pegasi” she replied with a sideways grin.

Her father frowned but his eyes sparkled. “Maybe we’ll head to the devil’s rock. We can work our way back down.”

Amanda grinned. It wasn’t where the black pegasus she’d seen flying was but the devil’s rock was close enough to it that if they did decide to go after it they could veer off in that direction. They didn’t have any fish or enough food for days out here but still. She longed for a glimpse of what she knew was flying out there in the sky past the devil’s rock.

It took them two hours to arrive at the foot of the devil’s rock. It was aptly named, with a flat bit in the middle and two large horn-shaped peaks on either side. The rock itself was a dark obsidian colour. As they entered the shade of the rock Amanda felt the temperature drop. She shivered.

Jake Byrns, who missed nothing, asked, “Cold?”

Amanda shook her head “No,” she lied, knowing that it was just the relative temperature and she’d soon get used to it.

She glanced back out at the sky, where she’d earlier seen what she assumed had been a black pegasus, but there was no sign of it.

“We’ll ride up to the top. We’ll get a good view of the inland from up there,” her father told her.

Amanda pulled her horse around to follow him.

Narrow gullies wound their way upward. They were steep but not all were so steep that the horses couldn’t get up them, although in some parts Jake and Amanda dismounted to give the horses an easier time of it. The rocks were large and many were loose but both horses and riders were sure-footed.

It took them another two hours to get to the top. To the east the sea glistened. To the west a mix of mesas, peaks, and gullies. Sharp drops and sheer cliffs, but nothing quite as high as where they were now. The mix of peaks and the flat tops of mesas were initially separated by only a hundred or so metres and then drifted further apart as the altitude dropped and eventually gave way to a mix of dry grassland, dirt and sand. Out there the distance between the buttes, mesas, and peaks were more in range of kilometres. In the far distance and south they could see the beginnings of a more greenery. To the north the land was barren and predominately flat, interrupted only occasionally by a mesa or butte.

Jake Byrns was looking for signs of horses inland, anything that indicated where a herd had wandered. They often sheltered within the shadow of mesas and sharper peaks, finding growths of grass and small springs where they could. But Amanda turned her eyes skyward, looking once more for the black shape.

“We’ll head south,” her father said as he sussed out a path through the ravines. One that would take them inland before weaving it’s way back to the desert and nearer home.

Amanda gave him a look.

Initially he had his back to her but when he finally turned to check if she was following he understood immediately. “We don’t have the time. Others will be out as well and undoubtedly, they’ll have seen what we saw.”

“I packed the strapping harness.”

“You can’t catch a pegasus in one day, Amanda, not properly.”

“How do you know if no one’s ever tried it?” Amanda argued but she softly led her horse in behind his to follow his lead.

“Perhaps you could do it, but you wouldn’t be the first to fail if you couldn’t,” he replied after glancing back to see if she was following. He didn’t stop his horse or turn around though and Amanda dropped the conversation as they headed south. Her eyes did glance once though, to the strapping harness that she’d packed in one of her saddle bags.

Jake Byrns did mange to find evidence of some herds as they wove their way further south. Amanda looked but she saw no more signs of the black pegasus in the sky. Perhaps when they came back next week they’d be able to find it again, if it hadn’t already been captured.

It was getting late in the afternoon when they stopped for one of their short breaks. Jake Byrns had evidently gotten over whatever hangover he’d had from the night before and was sipping on a cold beer he’d brought with him.

Amanda slipped off to find a rock to pee behind.

She had just finished zipping up the fly on her jeans when she heard footsteps behind her. She held her breath and turned still finding herself surprised that exactly what she had hoped for had happened. In front of her stood the black pegasus. It must have followed them from earlier. There was no way it would have come this far south on it’s own. They were known for being curious creatures. It was a trait that often led to their downfall. ‘Why do you lot always sneak up when I’ve got my pants down?’ she thought.

The pegasus took a step closer and she noted that this one was a stallion. Even though she had been younger when she’d last been this close Amanda felt like this one was bigger than the last.

And despite knowing that she had no reason to have expected it to have shown up right here she still cursed herself for not having the harness with her in her hands.

She took a step toward the beast.

It took a step back.

Okay. She nodded at it and crouched down, making herself smaller.

The creature responded by taking two steps closer.

Amanda waited more. The stallion took it’s time. One step, then another.

Amanda tried inching closer to it again and lost a bunch of progress as it backed up even further with a snort. Frustration boiled inside her but she reminded herself about what her father had said all those years ago. Unfortunately she also remembered what he’d said earlier about not being able to catch a pegasus in a day. Memories of how long the first one had taken floated around in her head. She forced her self to sit still but the pegasus seemed to sense her impatience. They played their game for several minutes.

Once more she tried getting closer. But this time it was too much. The pegasus whinnied, reared, flapped its wings creating a large gust that swept Amanda’s hair back and made her almost glad she wasn’t closer. In a single glorious moment it took to the air and spun away leaving Amanda clenching her fists and cursing herself inwardly.

“I did say it takes more than a day to catch a pegasus. I did almost think you had it for a second there though.” Her father’s voice called from a rock nearby. How had she not noticed him sitting there? She needed to learn how to sneak like that.

She turned to look at him and grumbled. “Almost isn’t good enough though is it?”

He shrugged. “It’s good enough to try again.”

She looked up at him surprised. She smiled but then her smile dropped and she added, “Assuming no one else gets him first.”

He nodded. “We’ll have to start early, that one will be worth it I think. Never seen one get so close to anyone so soon. There’s something they like about you. That’s the second one that’s done that.”

“We’ll come back out here tomorrow then?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

Amanda rode home that day with a huge grin spread across her face.

Jake Byrns showed up at dinner that night and even though he spent the whole meal talking about the plan for tomorrow Liana Byrns was obviously just happy he was there. Lizzie Byrns sulked the whole meal although no one except Amanda noticed and she was sure it was just due to the lack of attention that Lizzie was getting as their father went on and on about the miraculous black pegasus.