“Look, they’re grazing right here,” Bo whispered.

Kirsten suddenly became more aware that she and Bo were still holding hands.

“Wild horses are incredibly hard to tame,” he continued in a hushed tone. “I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that most of these horses have never even seen a human.”

“Really?” Kirsten asked. She didn’t realize how wild horses could be. “What would they do if we stood up and tried to pet them?” she asked.

Bo looked at her as if she was crazy, “People have died trying to do that.” Kirsten raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “How could a horse kill someone, they don’t have claws or sharp teeth?”

“They can rear back and knock you down with their two front legs,” he replied. “Once you’re down, they can trample you to death. One kick to the head and you’re a goner.”

“Wow, I had no idea they could do that,” she said, surprised at the potential ferocity of the wild creatures.

As if to exemplify what Bo had told her, she watched two horses grazing nearby bite one another on the shoulders and rear up on their hind legs. They kicked wildly at each other with their front hoofs. When they landed a blow, each thud boomed against their muscular bodies. Kirsten understood then how a wild horse could easily kill a human.

“I was going to suggest we try to pet them, but now I don’t want to,” Kirsten said.

“Come on, we should get back to the beach,” Bo said letting go of her hand. “It’s getting dark and I don’t want them to come looking for us.”

They snuck slowly out of the small sinkhole and crawled through the grass. Once they were far enough away to avoid startling the horses, they stood up and walked to the top of the hill overlooking the beach. The clan leaders remained in the same place, talking at length.

Kirsten turned back to watch the horses grazing below and asked, “Why don’t you want to go home, back to your family?”

Bo pursed his lips, “It’s kind of complicated. They’re not really our family.”

“How so?” she asked.

“They’re our foster parents. Our real parents were taken when we were young.”

“Taken?” she asked.

“Killed,” Bo said frowning. “I was only a toddler, but Max told me we lived in a great big castle, somewhere in Southland. Our parents worked there or something. One day, toward the end of The War of the Magicians, our castle was attacked. Max never told me how we escaped without them, but all I know is that we were taken in by Tony and his wife. They took us to Brookside and brought us up.”

“Don’t you find it odd?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“That you and Max, Anders, Maija and now Thomas and I all find ourselves in the same sort of situation, our parents tragically taken or claimed by a war that started decades ago.”

“It is odd, but it’s the way it is. All we can do is continue on, making sure this world is a better place than it was before.”

“I like that outlook,” Kirsten said starting down to the beach.

Back behind the boulders, the Rolloan leaders continued to debate heavily about who should succeed Jorgen as the new their chief. From what Bo and Kirsten could tell, it sounded like the decision had been narrowed down to two candidates, Britt and Red. Most of the leaders sat in the sand as Kirsten and Bo joined in with the rest of Britt’s crew.

“Where have you two been?” Thomas whispered to Kirsten when they sat down.

“We went for a walk.”

“Oh, that’s what they call it nowadays.” Thomas teased.

“Thomas,” she said hitting him in the arm. “I’m not that kind of girl.”

Thomas giggled, “I know, I was just giving you a hard time.”

“We were looking for wild horses,” she said defensively.

“Really?” he asked truly surprised.

“We saw some,” she nodded.

Bo leaned over Kirsten’s lap and whispered to Thomas, “They stampeded right by us, just a couple of feet away.”

Thomas’ eyes bulged. “They did?”

Kirsten nodded, “It was terrifying.”

“Wow, they can be pretty dangerous, you know,” Thomas whispered to Kirsten.

She raised an eyebrow and asked, “Since when do you know about wild horses?”

“Father always told stories about the wild horses of the Bareback Plains and the rough and tumble natured people of Aquina. Don’t you remember?”

Kirsten scoffed, “What? I never heard him talk about that.”

“Well you were pretty young, I guess, but so was I and I remember,” Thomas said.

“Tsk, tsk, Kirsten,” Bo whispered waving a finger at her.

She exhaled a short harrumph and Max turned and put a finger to his lips, shushing them.

The three of them went silent and listened to the debate for another half hour before the Rollo leaders eventually came to a final vote. It was unanimous, all of the leaders voted for Red to succeed his father. Britt rose and walked across the circle of men, coming to stand directly in front of Red. Kirsten held her breath, wondering if Britt was going to challenge him, but instead, she extended her arm. Red didn’t bother to rise but took her hand and shook it firmly.

“Your father would be proud,” she said boldly. “Congratulations.” Britt turned back and waved her hands ordering her crew to get back to the ship. As they walked away, they could hear the cheers of the men as the clan leaders chanted Red’s name. Once Britt’s crew got the boats back into the water and began rowing back out to the ship, Red’s voice could be heard barking orders.

“Back to the ships!” he ordered them.

Aboard the ships, Britt ordered them to wait until the rest of the clan leaders and their new chief set out into the open ocean. Kirsten rowed alongside Max who remained silent along with the others. Their somber mood could be felt as a collective group. When they’d rowed out to open water, Max made his way to where Britt stood, steering the ship, a job she usually delegated to another member of the crew. “Taking control of the ship, I see,” he said lightly.

She gave him a cold look and said, “At least I can control this.”

“It seemed as though the clan leaders weren’t quite ready for a woman to be their leader,” Max said, trying to get her to speak her mind about the ceremony.

“I was so close to convincing them that change was a good thing. They just weren’t quite ready for that kind of forward-thinking,” Britt said, wishing things had gone differently.

“Red is stubborn and a fool,” Max said. “I never really did like him much. He’s good when a battle breaks out, but as a leader of a group, I’m not convinced he’ll do a good job.”