TIMELESS 8

Chapter 1

Sam was missing Jake. It had been over three months since she had seen him. Sure, they talked just about every day on the phone or by texting, but she wanted to hold him and kiss him. That was kinda hard to do when he was five hours away at college.

Today she was meeting Jen and the two of them were going to explore Lost Canyon. Sam was riding Jake's mare Witch. Witch was being a bit cantankerous since she was cycling. A couple of times, Sam almost turned around and took the mare back to Three Ponies and switched her for her patient gelding Ace, but Sam didn't want to be late in meeting Jen.

She was almost to Lost Canyon when Witch started prancing under her. Sam wasn't sure why. With Witch sometimes you never knew. She had a mind of her own and it was up to the human on her back to try and get the black mare to see it their way. She normally behaved quite well for Jake, but every once in awhile she tried to prove she was the queen of mares with Sam. With them both being female, sometimes they had what Sam called their 'bitch sessions' until the two of them worked it out. Sam sighed hoping this wasn't the beginning of another bitch session.

Then Witch stopped completely and snorted a second before Sam heard the scream of a stallion. Sam looked around, wondering if it was the Phantom, but she didn't see him.

The stallion scream came again and Witch neighed her own challenge.

"No girlfriend," Sam told the mare. Witch challenging a stallion was bad news, even if it were the Phantom.

The scream came again and Sam turned in the saddle and saw the stallion behind them. It was an Appaloosa and Sam knew it had to be the escaped stallion of Linc Slocum. He had a couple of mares behind him and Sam knew she was in trouble. It was spring, when wild stallions added to their herds and she was riding a mare in season.

Witch whirled to face the stallion, trumpeting another challenge.

"No Witch," Sam tried to back the big Quarter Horse, but the mare wouldn't budge.

The stallion reached out with a foreleg and Sam froze. Then the stallion charged and Sam screamed. Witch turned and the stallion caught her shoulder. Sam tried clinging to the saddle horn and grabbing a handful of mane, but Jake roached his mare's mane and there wasn't much to grab.

She felt herself falling and tried to right herself. Witch was kicking at the stallion with her hind legs and Sam bounced up out of the saddle only to fall down on the saddle horn before bouncing up onto Witch's neck.

Somehow Sam stayed on the mare though she knew it wouldn't be for long. Witch kept trying to kick the stallion away. The Appy stallion was getting angrier at Witch's attempts to refuse his invitation to join his harem.

Sam was screaming, hoping the sound of her voice would scare the stallion away. She took the long reins and slapped at the stallion's face, making contact with his nose.

Then Sam felt a horrendous pain in her thigh as the stallion took a hold of her leg. She lost her seat then as she screamed in agony. The stallion shook her before dropping her onto the ground.

Sam saw the stallion's belly as he rose up into the air to crush her with his front hooves. She tried rolling out of the way, but the horse followed her determined to kill her.

Witch rushed to her aid, ramming the stallion and throwing him off balance. The stallion stumbled onto Sam's left leg, snapping the bone. Sam screamed as the pain threatened to overtake her and plunge her into darkness.

As Sam lay on the ground, another scream filled the air and she tried raising her head to look. She couldn't quite manage to do it and so she opened one eye as she lay on the cold, muddy ground.

A flash of silver joined the fray. The Phantom had rushed to save her.

"Zanzibar," Sam whispered, her lips forming the words in the mud.

The gray stallion knocked the Appy stallion off balance and he almost fell to his knees on Sam. His hoof grazed her forearm, breaking it.

Sam welcomed the blackness that rushed towards her, conscious of only the fact that Witch was standing four square over her while the stallions fought.

The blackness enveloped her and she lay still.