Ashley’s heart was pounding as she watched Frieda, tortured by visions conjured by a horse of her own creation. The sport horse mare was rearing, almost flipping over, and screaming with fright. This was never meant to happen.

  “Who are you and what are you doing?” Ashley demanded. “Are you Sultan?”

  At the mention of his name, the mare squealed and stamped her hind foot. “Of course not. I’m not red, for Epona’s sake.”

  Frieda fell to the ground behind her, limp and bruised from her convulsions. She had lost consciousness, but her eyes were still open, blank and rolling in their sockets. Dozens of Nighthawk horses had jumped from the truck to rescue their wounded soldiers. Two horses had dragged Eliza onto a backboard and were hauling her away.

  “All units withdraw!” the Fell pony commanded.

  “No!” Ashley screamed, running after Eliza.

  Her magic was depleted, and her head ached from weakness. She stumbled in the snow, and tried to drag herself closer, but someone caught her from behind.

  “Come on, Ashley! We have to get out of here,” Marshall said, pulling firmly on her mane.

  “We can’t leave Eliza behind,” she said wearily.

  Marshall looked up at the troops in front of them. They were seriously outnumbered, and Ashley’s mysterious companion had disappeared.

  “We have no choice,” he said. “Either one of us gets captured, or all of us. Greg already escaped with the others.”

  She scrambled to her feet, and Marshall helped her trot off into the woods. The truck that had come after them turned and drove away, and silent tears began to drip off of Ashley’s face.

  …

  “Who are you?”

  The slender dark bay mare across from Ashley refused to answer. Her and the others sat around a tiny fire, desperately trying to stave off the cold. Daphne was pressed up against Marshall’s side, sleeping fitfully. Ashley was starting to get annoyed with her ghost, who was sitting on the ground speechless as if she were frozen in place. Ashley stood up and laid her ears back.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Like it or not, you’re on my leash now. If you ever want to be summoned again, you’d better answer my questions,” she said.

  The mare was still quiet, blood dribbling from her nose.

  “Ashley, give it a rest,” Greg said, putting a hoof to her shoulder. “I’ve read about her. I’ll tell you what I know. She’s too scared to talk now.”

  “Too scared? She nearly tore a horse in half on my watch. I can’t do this,” Ashley said, ears still flat against her head.

  Greg sat down by the fire with her again. “Her name is Cleopatra. Or Cleo. She’s a hotblood horse, like Sultan, but she’s not quite as aggressive as he is. She was rehabilitated after the fall of the Ice Empire.”

  “So now I’m a Laci problem. Oh joy,” she said.

  “You’re not a problem,” Greg said. “Neither is Cleo. You’ve got a good handle on her now. Just give her some time, and you’ll get to know each other.”

  “She’s another thing for me to worry about. Just what I need,” Ashley complained. “I have to get Eliza back.”

  “We still need to find Orion. We’ll have a much better chance at rescuing her if we have his help,” Greg said.

  “You don’t understand. This can’t wait,” Ashley said. “They’re not Services. We have no idea what they plan to do with her.”

  Glacier lifted his head. “If I could interject,” he said, “I’ve been in their place before. They’re headed to Orion anyway. Laci’s the one they want. We should stick together for this. They want this to split us apart.”

  “Are you kidding? They came after you,” Ashley snapped. “They called your bronc daughter, and she gave us away. If Laci just killed you when she had the chance, none of this would’ve happened.”

  Glacier drew his icy blade and stepped up to Ashley. “Call my daughter that name one more time, and I will cut your heart out and hand it to you.”

  “Oh, shut up!” Miracle shouted, standing between them. “You both sound like idiots to me, and I’m not even two years old. Glacier is right. They want us to fight each other, when we should be fighting them.”

  Ashley gave Miracle a shadowy look and sat back down by the fire. Glacier put away his knife and slunk back to the other side.

  “We need to make contact with Orion and figure out where they are. Maybe we can meet them somewhere Nighthawk won’t expect,” Miracle suggested.

  “I can try to find him with my magic, but I’ll need time to rest. I summoned a demon twenty minutes ago,” Ashley said.

  Miracle unrolled a blanket. “Rest all you like. I don’t think Nighthawk is coming back for us anytime soon.”

  “Are you sure? They seemed serious,” Marshall whispered, as not to wake Daphne.

  “Whatever Cleo did to Frieda left a dent in her. She’s not bouncing back right away, and she is important to them. She is much stronger than many of the others,” Glacier said. “They won’t make another move without her.”

  Ashley sighed and laid down on a blanket in the snow. “I hope that you are right.”