Demon 2
by Summer
(PMB South Africa)
The day started out like any other. The older horses grazed quietly or stood in the shade of the trees, swishing away the summer flies with their tails. I wondered around the field, sometimes stopping to playfully nip another youngster or munch on a tuft of grass.
The men came at about noon. Before they even came into sight, the horses began pacing around restlessly and flaring their nostrils in the air. As soon as I saw them, I stopped what I was doing and eyed them suspiciously. Then they came in, carrying their whips and ropes. The wilder horses began galloping away to the end of the field and the other horses followed. I trotted over to my mothers side. Although I'd already been weaned, my mother was still a source of comfort and protection to me.
At first we couldn't make out who the men where trying to catch, but when we scattered, I found that they were heading straight for me and my mother! We ran hard but soon we where cornered and the men began throwing ropes over my mom's neck. She screamed.
My mom was a massive bay Breton who had grown up in a relatively nice home. Then she had been sold to do agricultural work which she did until she injured her leg. With a badly broken leg, she became quite useless and was sold. No one was interested in her, that was apart from the horse dealer who bought her. He could easily make out that he'd get a lot for her if he sold her to a slaughterhouse. When she came to live here on his property, she had been pregnant with an older sister of mine. Our owner thought it would be more worth it if he waited for the foal to be born before he sent my mom for slaughter. He was quite right. The foal turned out to be such a big one that the horse-butcher had offered R15000 for her when she grew up! So our owner decided to keep my mom and let her give birth to as much money as possible. That is how she ended up living at our present home for a good ten years. She had to see each of her foals dragged away once they where old enough which had made her wild and she had learned to detest humans more than ever.
That was why she bucked and reared, kicking out at the men who held her captive. They shouted at her and whipped her to keep her silent. But she still struggled desperately. The men yanked her tail down to stop her from kicking and swore at her. I watched them beat her so hard that she reared, whinnying in pain, her eyes white with terror. I could watch no more. Without stopping to think, I lunged forward, kicking and biting at wretched creatures that dared terrorize my mother.I heard shout of surprise as my hooves struck one of the men. I felt whips raining down on me. I heard them yell at me. But I didn't stop. I ran at them, knocking them to the ground and trampling on them. I heard some more shouts then a loud bang.
To be continued.
