I Was Defending My Foal Surrounded by Wolves When a Huge Shadow Appeared on the Hill and Their Leader Stepped Back

At the moment when the leader of the wolves leaped at my foal, the ground shook as if a heart hidden beneath it had felt a beat.

My name is Luna, and once I was the fastest mare on the northern plains of Chihuahua. But now my legs were trembling, foam was coming from my mouth, and Canelo, standing behind me, was shaking with his whole body.

Canelo was my only foal. He had a small white spot on his forehead, resembling a cloud, and around his neck hung a piece of an old copper bell tied with agave fiber. With every step it rang quietly. That day, this sound was the only thing reminding me that we were still alive.

“Mother, is there no water left?” his voice sounded like a whisper.

I turned my head toward him and touched him with my nostrils.

“A little more, Canelo. Don’t stop.”

But both of us knew that I was lying. For four days we had eaten almost nothing. The grass had turned into yellow dust, and the streams had remained only rows of stones. Our herd was looking for water, but yesterday evening, when the wind threw dust into our faces, everyone disappeared.

Only four wolves remained.

I first saw them on a distant slope. They were gray spots standing motionless at sunset and watching us.

“Luna, come on,” the old mare Mara called to me when we were still together. “Don’t fall behind.”

I was waiting for Canelo.

“He is small,” I said.

The wolves were watching us even then. As if they knew that time was on their side.

On the morning of the fourth day, Canelo reached a small puddle lost among the stones. He fell on his belly and drank the water greedily. I stood beside him at first, then managed only a few sips before I heard a crackle behind my back.

A wolf was standing fifty paces away.

“Back away,” I told him, digging the ground with my front hoof.

The wolf lowered its head slightly, but did not run away. Its eyes were fixed on the piece of bell hanging from Canelo’s neck. It seemed to be waiting for its sound to stop.

We walked all day. The sun pressed down on us. Canelo fell several times, and I pushed him with my nose and forced him to follow me.

“Get up, my son.”

“My legs no longer obey me.”

“Then walk in my shadow.”

He stood up, took three steps, and fell to his knees.

Then all four wolves appeared.

One came from the front, the second stood on the left, the third crept up on the right, while the largest stopped behind us, on a low hill. I immediately understood that he was the leader. An old scratch was visible on his ear, and his eyes were too calm.

Canelo pressed himself against my body.

“Mother, don’t leave me.”

“I won’t leave you.”

The first wolf moved toward me. I struck with my hoof and made it step back. The second immediately came from the side. I turned and swung my leg with all my strength. My hoof brushed its fur, but I did not hit it.

The third went toward Canelo.

“You will not touch him!” I roared.

I leaped forward with all my strength and placed the foal behind me. My breath stopped. My legs burned like fire.

The leader lowered his head.

The wolves spread out.

This time they came together.

I closed my eyes and prepared for the final blow, but just then the earth shouted at me from beneath.

Boom.

The wolves stopped.

The second blow lifted dust into the air. A huge cloud rose behind the hill, and in its middle a gigantic black silhouette appeared. Its shoulders were so broad that they covered the sun. Its head was lowered, and it was coming straight toward us.

Canelo pressed against me even harder.

The leader took one step back.

And for the first time I thought that perhaps this unknown giant did not want to fight for us. Perhaps he himself was a new danger.

The enormous creature was coming down from the hill, its hooves striking the earth with a rumble, while Canelo’s little piece of bell trembled with fear. When the giant had only a few steps left to reach us, he raised his head and roared in such a voice that the whole plain returned an echo…

His roar remained in the air for a long time. For the first time, the wolves lost their confidence.

The giant turned out to be an enormous black stallion. An old scar crossed his neck, and he had a wound on his right ear. He passed between me and the wolves and shook the ground so strongly that the piece of bell on Canelo rang loudly.

The leader bared his teeth.

“Step back,” I whispered to the stallion, although I knew he could not understand my words. “There are many of them.”

The stallion turned his head toward me.

I saw something familiar in his eyes.

Then he stared at the leader and struck his front hoof. The wolves stepped back at the same time, but did not run away. They seemed to be waiting for the giant merely to frighten us.

Canelo came out from behind me.

“Mother, who is this?”

I had no answer. But the stallion lowered his head, and his nostrils touched Canelo’s forehead.

The piece of copper bell rang once, twice.

The giant suddenly froze. Then he raised his head and looked toward the hills, as if expecting some answer from there.

The snort of a horse sounded from far away.

Then a second one.

The wolves moved forward again, but this time several hoofbeats thundered beyond the hill. The giant blocked our path and motioned with his head toward a narrow rocky passage at the side.

“Luna, should we follow him?” Canelo asked.

I looked at the stallion. I was no longer as afraid as I had been a minute before.

“Let’s follow.”

I took the first step, but the leader cut off our path. The giant then jerked his head toward him, and the wolf jumped back.

We slipped between the rocks. There, under the dust, strange round tracks could be seen on the ground. They were fresh.

And beside them were the tracks of our old herd too…

We squeezed between the rocks and soon realized that the tracks did not end there. They descended into a narrow gorge where sunlight barely reached. The giant went ahead, while behind us the wolves’ hoarse breathing could be heard.

At the end of the gorge he suddenly stopped. He raised his head and snorted three times.

In answer, an entire herd of horses appeared.

Mara came out first. Behind her stood our lost mares and foals. They had gathered around a spring flowing from a small underground stream hidden beneath the rock.

“You are alive!” I cried.

Mara wrapped her neck around mine.

“We also thought we had lost you. This is Tario. He brought us to the gorge.”

I looked at the giant.

Tario stood calmly. His black mane moved in the wind.

“Why didn’t I recognize him?” I asked.

Mara lowered her eyes.

“Because he is Canelo’s father.”

The world seemed to stop.

Canelo slowly came out from behind me. Tario lowered his head toward him. The foal first stepped back, then the piece of copper bell rang. At this sound Tario closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Canelo’s forehead.

I remembered the rainy night when Canelo was born. I remembered the distant roar that sounded from the rocks then. Tario disappeared from our herd that same night, when people stretched wires and drove the animals in different directions.

“Where have you been all this time?” I whispered.

Tario turned his head toward the entrance of the gorge.

Four wolves stood there.

“They were following us,” Mara said. “Tario watched us for days, but he could not return until he had brought everyone here. You and Canelo were drawing them to the other side.”

“So he deliberately left us?”

“No,” Mara answered. “He knew the wolves were following you. He knew that if he brought their attention here, the whole herd would be endangered.”

Tario took a step forward. The wolves became confused. The leader tried to enter the gorge, but this time he was no longer alone. Behind him stood every adult horse in the herd.

Together we struck our hooves against the ground.

The wolves stepped back.

I looked at Canelo. For the first time he stood beside his father, no longer trembling, and his little bell gave off a pure, bright sound.

But just then another sound came from outside the gorge.

An iron chain.

Then a human voice.

“They must be here. The tracks come straight to the spring.”

Tario raised his head. The calm disappeared from his eyes.

Two men appeared above the gorge. One held a rope, and the other a wire loop. First they saw the wolves, then our herd, and finally Tario.

“This enormous horse will bring us a lot of money alive,” one of them said.

I stood in front of Canelo.

But Tario looked into the depths of the gorge, as if he already knew that an enemy worse than the wolves awaited us this time…