Thanks everyone for the reviews! I'm going to edit it some but the entries are due tonight and the time completely flew by! I didn't realize the contest was coming up so fast so I didn't realize that I had so little time to edit. This is the final draft.
Secret Spot
Sierra rode along the beautiful ridges of her family’s Colorado ranch. Her horse, Misty, trotted calmly over the rocky patches. Sierra had been riding all over this land for as long as she could remember. It was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the vast sky stretching from one end of the earth to the other. Sierra knew that no other landscape she would ever lay eyes on could ever compare to the breathtaking beauty of her sky.
Misty snorted and Sierra glanced around. She knew that anything that troubled her mare was worth checking into, but she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. This section of trail didn’t look any different from the rest. It was a well-traveled deer trail, worn slightly wider by Misty’s hooves. Thick grass, dried brown from the baking summer sun, surrounded the trail on either side. Sierrra clucked to her mount and gave her a nudge. Misty nickered and sidestepped in answer. She pulled her horse to a stop and looked closer at the grass. Sierra had learned a long time ago that a horse’s instincts were much stronger than her own and when Misty told her that something was troubling her, it was time to listen.
With a loud growl, a mountain lion leapt out of the grass. The hungry cat launched itself at the startled girl and horse. Misty swung her hindquarters around and in one smooth movement was off to a flying start. Sierra twined her fingers through the flying horse’s mane and settled in for the ride. It wasn’t anything like their usual gallops. Misty moved with amazing speed over the treacherous ground. Sierra wasn’t concerned, if anyone could keep their footing over this ground it was Misty.
It was several minutes before Misty began to slow and Sierra soothed her with a hand on her neck as she began to lightly pull on the reins. When she slowed to a walk, Sierra sat back up and looked around. She had never been in this part of the canyon before.
They weren’t on any path anymore. Nothing was familiar. Not the trees nestled more closely together than usual, not the patch of grass Misty was now pawing up with her restless hooves, not even the rocky slope leading into a small valley just yards away.
Sierra sighed “Where are we girl?” she asked her mount, who didn’t answer. Not that Sierra expected her to.
Sierra clucked and gave Misty a squeeze with her heels. She wasn’t going to find her way home just standing here and she might as well explore this new canyon while she was at it. It was a canyon a lot like most of those she had explored before, but also different somehow. The air had an almost…magical quality to it. The trees and grass, however, felt feral. Like a place that’s been left to its own devices for centuries. Sierra had a strange feeling that she was invading some sort of secret hideaway. The trees whispered in the wind and it sounded like they were whispering to each other, as if they knew someone was here that shouldn’t be.
Misty began to prance like a young filly in spring as if she could sense the magic that drifted through this strange place like a breeze on a summer day. Sierra nudged her forward into a trot, eager to be gone from this strange place. Misty moved, but her stride was strangely rough as if she was bouncing over the ground. This worried Sierra more than anything. Misty hadn’t acted like this in years; it was as if she was a spunky 3-year old again.
Misty broke into a canter and entered the thick grove of trees. Sierra hadn’t seen many groves of trees anywhere on her parent’s ranch before and this one was definitely the largest. Misty weaved expertly through the trees as if she knew where she was going. Sierra just let her go until she halted suddenly.
They were on the edge of a small clearing. If the currents of “magic” traveling through the woods had been rivers this would’ve been the ocean. Something about it set Sierra breathless and she didn’t think it was the beauty of the place. While the clearing certainly was gorgeous, with its thick green grass, wildflowers, and speckled sunlight, beauty didn’t describe the strange feeling that Sierra had about the place. Misty pranced excitedly and pulled on the reins, eager to move into the clearing. Sierra held her back, reluctant to enter the strange place. Half of her wanted to check it out more than anything, almost like the clearing was calling her name as clear as glass. Her other, more sensible half was screaming warnings and pulling her back the way they had come, back home. But Sierra didn’t want to go home, she wanted to stay here.
Sierra didn’t know how long she sat there, fighting an internal battle. Misty seemed to know exactly what she wanted and eventually Sierra decided to oblige. Loosening the reins, Sierra allowed Misty to prance into the valley. The moment the sunlight touched her tan skin, she felt warmth spread all the way to her toes. All doubts gone, Sierra felt…calm. There was no other word for it. Misty tried to put her head down to sniff the grass, another trick she hadn’t tried to pull in years. Sierra laughed and swung off. The grass flattened under the weight of her riding boots with a soft sound not unlike a crunch.
Sierra slipped Misty’s bridle off and replaced it with a halter before loosening the girth a few holes so the mare could relax. She took the picket out of her pack and picketed Misty at the center of the meadow. Even though Misty would never roam far, Sierra always tied her, just in case.
Once that was done, Sierra allowed herself to explore the clearing a little more thoroughly. Flowers interspersed themselves with the beautiful grasses and the trees surrounded the clearing like a fence protecting it from dangers. A soft breeze blew through the trees making the leaves whisper as if the they were trying to speak to her. A bird, intent on its daily business, flew from tree to tree in search of food. Sierra sighed and collapsed backwards in the grass. It wasn’t at all prickly like she suspected, it was soft.
Hours later, as the sun began its descent and darkness crept up on the land, Sierra hauled herself to her feet. She put the bridle back on Misty and tightened the girth. Her dad would be worried if she wasn’t home by dark. Regretting her decision to forgo an overnight stay in the canyons in favor of a nice quiet trail ride, Sierra swung up and headed out of the clearing. The trees seemed to wave good-bye as she turned her back on that little grove. Misty cantered easily over the ground and soon Sierra began to notice landmarks. The big rock shaped like an arrowhead, the two trees that had slowly grown into one over the years, and finally the creek that led the way back to the ranch.
As the pasture fences and barns came into sight, Sierra wondered for the first time if she should tell her parents about the clearing. The place seemed so untouched, so secretive, and Sierra felt that it wasn’t her secret to share. It was a place that one could only be invited to, a magical place that shouldn’t be touched by unwelcome visitors. The clearing had blessed her today and she didn’t want to betray its trust. She’d return someday, someday soon, but it would be her alone unless someone else was called by its magic.
