Snowfire by Terri Farley

opened and closed. Her lips moved. Her head lifted and her nostrils quivered as she smelled the water.
    â€œShe knows buckets now. She’s not afraid. And there’s no reason to stay silent. She’s being stubborn.” Cricket whispered, but Medusa pinned her ears at the human voice.
    I don’t know how Kit’s going to gentle her, Darby thought. From the first, Hoku liked the sound of my storytelling. And then she remembered something Jonah had said.
    â€œWhat did you mean before when you said, ‘Remember that’?” Darby asked her grandfather.
    â€œDid you catch the way she rolled her eyes so you could almost see the rims?” he asked.
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œI’ve never seen a mare act that way. Not even your tomboy.”
    Kit nodded in agreement as Jonah went on. “Warring stallions will do that. It’s threatenin’ body language. The strongest. When a stallion rolls his eyes like that, he’s promising a fight to the death.”
    â€œShe sees us as attackers, not rescuers.” Kit said it matter-of-factly to the others, but the corners of his mouth drooped, as if he’d just realized how long it would take to show the mare that he was on her side.
    Medusa fought her thirst as long as she could, then lowered her head to the bucket and drank deeply. An hour later, she allowed herself to be half-dragged, half-chased down to Hoku’s corral.
    â€œLeave the ropes on,” Jonah said. “She’s still gotta be doctored, and I don’t see those plants knocking her out.”
    They had closed the mare in, with all the humans outside, when Kimo rode Biscuit in from the fold at the end of the road.
    Medusa snorted, tossed her forelock away from her eyes, and stumbled closer to the fence.
    Sizing up the situation, Kimo ordered the dogs to stay, then rode a bit closer and ground-tied the buckskin horse near the corral.
    Biscuit’s ears twitched in all directions, and he returned Medusa’s snort. He dragged his reins a few feet and extended his nose toward the fence before glancing at Aunty Cathy.
    â€œYou’re fine, boy,” Aunty Cathy said, and Darby remembered the horse had belonged to her husband, Ben. “Just keep Medusa company.”
    Biscuit lipped a weed that had grown up near the corral since Hoku’s absence, and Medusa snapped at him. Even though she was clumsy from the effect of the herbs, she let him know she was still a lead mare.
    â€œNot a real promisin’ start,” Kit said warily. “I’m inclined to set her free.”
    Darby was surprised, but it took her only a second to realize that Black Lava and his band couldn’t have gone far. Medusa could rejoin her herd!
    â€œThis is something you can’t do halfway,” Cricket said. She sounded highly professional, as if she were addressing any other wild horse adopter. “We brought her in injured, stitched her up, and now she’s opened the wounds and has to heal all over again. In the wild…”
    Cricket stopped. Maybe she was tired, but Darby thought Cricket didn’t want to harass Kit by pointing out that Medusa’s injuries would, at best, handicap her.
    At worst, she could bleed to death or get an infection.
    â€œShe’s not going to be the lead mare again like shewas,” Darby said, and the idea brought a lump to her throat.
    â€œThat’d be hard for her,” Kit said.
    Aunty Cathy turned from exchanging a look with Jonah and said, “Let’s keep her here for a couple weeks.”
    A couple weeks! Darby thought, in despair, of Hoku. But she saw Jonah’s slight nod.
    Jonah had no use for any animal that didn’t earn its keep. He didn’t have lots of loose cash around to pay for Medusa’s feed, either. But he valued Kit and trusted him to make the right decision, so he was letting the steeldust stay. He was even ready to risk injury to himself to treat hers.
    â€œAfter