It was the village’s council meeting, which meant that every clan was to advocate for themselves. It was Artemis’ favorite day of the week, for the village praised diplomacy above all of her other contributions to the alliance. She dressed well, in cashmere and chiffon, and she combed her mane neatly but did not braid it. She waited for the clock to strike six.

  Finally it tolled. The bell rang through the village, resonating over the hills. It took but a moment for the nearby clans to start arriving. Artemis stood patiently and waited for the bustling crowd to take their seats. The cloaked dark magic horses were quick to find their usual spot in the back, which never changed. The last clan to settle was the insolent Lightning horse tribe. Artemis was bothered by their unkempt appearance. They were uncovered except for some frayed neck ropes. They always claimed it was part of their culture so that she could not chastise them for it.

  She couldn’t help but think about how inappropriate it was considered in her tribe to leave the house uncovered-let alone go to a prestigious meeting where everyone else was well dressed. Even the dark magic horses-though they always wore the same black cloaks, which was their custom-made sure to wash and press them the day before the meeting. But the Lightning horses were the Lighting horses-untamable, uncontrollable, and unwilling. She accidentally stared at their leader, Storm-a runty grey stallion wearing the same purple neck rope he’d worn since she was elected Council Horse. Maybe even before that, but she had never bothered with the clan until she was forced to, now that she was serving the community. He looked back up at her, and she tore her eyes away, embarrassed.

  “Welcome in, everyone. I’m so glad you could attend so we can express our opinions together.” She smiled brightly at the variety of faces looking up at her. “Let’s start with the Water clan. Aqua, step up and speak your mind.”

  A glistening blue gown began to rustle. The tall, elegant leader of the Water horse tribe slipped up to the podium. “Good afternoon, all. We hope we have served your water needs this week. Our team has successfully conducted four nights of rainfall this week to counter the drought. I open up the crowd for constructive criticism.”

  She looked like such a competent leader. Aqua had been the leader of the water tribe since Artemis was a foal, and she admired her excellent guidance.

  One of the crowd members stood up boldly. “Can you explain the storm on Wednesday? We asked merely for you to counter the drought, not wash out our grain fields,” he demanded.

  “We dearly apologize. This was not within our control, it appears from our personal research on the situation that the Lightning horses were responsible for the storm on Wednesday night,” Aqua replied.

  Hushed whispers began to spread through the crowd. Artemis shifted her gaze toward Storm. He hid his face.

  “Please reserve your complaints about other tribes until it is their turn to appear before you,” Artemis reminded the chattering crowd. “Thank you for your service to our community, Water horses. You are cherished by the people of the village. Next, I’d like to invite the Fauna clan to join me…”

  The next few minutes of the meeting went by uneventfully.

  “Make sure to talk to us soon, the winter is coming and we would love to help heat your homes,” Blaze of the Fire horses told the crowd.

  He stepped down from the stage and it was time for the dark magic tribe to enter. On any other night, the Lightning horses went first, but Artemis wanted to be able to leave promptly after convincing the crowd not to let their feelings about the tribe serve as an excuse to resort to anarchy. Reluctantly, she invited the mysterious group to join her at the podium.

  Nothing could be heard for the next several minutes but black hooded cloaks dragging on the marble floors. They reminded her of the silks they had hung from the ceiling, representing every tribe: green for the Fauna horses, red for the Fire horses, grey for the Wind, blue for the Water, brown for Earth, a classy black for the Dark, an absurd yellow chosen by the Lightning horses, and swan white for her own, the horses of Light.

  One of the horses stepped up to the podium. The others circled behind her. Usually only the leader of the tribe would represent the tribe, but the dark magic horses had a unique announcement to make. From under the sea of black silk in Moon’s gown came another elegant black head with shiny, dark eyes.

  “Last night, we added another member to our clan. Please welcome our new colt, Star,” she said in a deep, rich tone.

  The crowd erupted into cheers and clapping, rejoicing in the beautiful foal. The tiny colt giggled from excitement, having never been exposed to so much attention. Moon tucked him back into the cloak discreetly. The applause quieted abruptly.

  “As for our report, you know what we offer. We have offered plenty of that this week,” she said solemnly. Swiftly, she exited the stage without being excused, taking the row of the others with her.

  Artemis nervously tapped her hoof. “Finally, I’d like to invite the Lightning horses to join me.”

  The disorganized clump of horses scattered themselves across the stage, Storm stepping up to the podium. Artemis felt uncomfortable seeing such a muscular and scarred body completely uncovered by her side. She refrained from commenting and allowed them to make their statement.

  He raised his square head to the crowd. “I understand some of you were upset by the storm on Wednesday. Yes, our powers can be destructive, and we apologize for any damages caused by them. You must understand, though, that Wednesday was the sort of day where you must have a storm-“

  Artemis stopped him, knowing he was the type to ramble about cryptic things the crowd would never bother to try to decipher. “We accept your apology. What have you contributed to the village this week?”

  “We’ve been working hard exploring and drawing up a map for the surrounding areas. There’s a lush, pleasant meadow located adjacent to a lake that is a splendid spot for us to expand to. My clan and I have been camping there part time to scope out for other communities, and haven’t noticed anything dangerous. I propose that we extend our borders and make this place a natural treasure. It will provide a place for young foals to play for years to come,” Storm explained with sparkly eyes.

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  A crowd member stood to object. “Is a foal park entirely necessary? We already have a beautifully maintained garden in the village center, what more could our young need?” the horse inquired.

  “When I was a foal, we were able to play and run outside of these borders. But with the wars, these areas have been walled off. That’s no reason to dismiss the needs of our foals. I want my children to be able to race each other and practice their magic freely without fear of being attacked or destroying tribal property, as I did. The garden is a blessing, but it would be best to have this territory,” Storm countered.

  “If you and your tribe were out there, why didn’t you alert the rest of us of the ambush that happened on Thursday?” Blaze boomed from the back of the room.

  He looked back at his companions nervously. “Well, that was the night of the storm. We were too busy creating it to be at camp.”

  “But the storm was unnecessary,” someone said.

  Horses started talking to each other in annoyance and the crowd’s hushed whispers quickly ballooned into an angry mob. Random objects and insults started flying from the crowd.

  “Your tribe has no place in our community!”

  “Get off the stage!”

  “Order!” Artemis screamed, but the mob refused to calm down.

  “Enough!” a voice thundered, slicing through the noise.

  The crowd looked back, silent. Moon was standing in the back with her hood off. Her exposed face was indescribably beautiful-elegant eyelashes, expertly sculpted face, and a shimmering diamond suspended by a chain from her poll.

  She lifted her hoof toward the young stallions at the podium. “If your sorry tribe that calls themselves explorers can’t even predict an ambush, I’ll make it.”

  Her magic swept up all of the shadows in the room and cast them up toward the horses on the stage. The Lightning horses reared and bucked in confused terror, struck with the first of many visions. The dark magic horses promptly left the council and slammed the door.

  Rune flew back into reality. The visions were coming to the point where they felt more real than life itself. They wove their way into his dreams, spoke to him constantly, and never left him alone. He panted heavily, and looked around at the campsite. Luckily, he hadn’t disturbed any of the other sleeping horses.

  Who was this Moon he had just had a vision of? She must be extremely powerful if she was capable of striking an entire bloodline with a curse. Why would the visions reveal this to him now?

  Orion sat up on the far side of the fire and shook his mane out. He stood up gracefully and walked over to Rune.

  “How’s the curse?” Orion whispered.

  Rune stared off into the dark woods. “It’s confusing. I’ll have to ask Thunder about it later. He should know what it means.”

  “Just thought I’d keep an eye out. We’re coming up on the most risky part of the journey, the Glass Wall,” Orion said.

  Rune recognized the name at once. Most of the cities of the East were gated communities with long expanses of woods between them, with the exception of Pritchett’s Pass. It was a wide belt of cities laid side by side that formed what wild horses called the Glass Wall. There was no way to go through the miles of wire-topped fencing without being spotted by the hypervigilant Services patrol. Only the most experienced and cutthroat rebels ever attempted “scaling the wall”-racing through the streets with Services officers on their tails.

  “How are you planning on scaling it?” Rune questioned.

  “I’ve only ever done it once, when I was much younger. And I did it alone-that made it easier. Our only workaround is the Fluke Mountain trail, and that’d take weeks,” Orion explained.

  Rune shook his head. “We don’t have weeks. Laci’s bound to get herself into trouble before then.”

  Orion looked over at Ariel, who had even managed to keep up her good looks while sleeping. “Maybe we don’t have to run. What if there was a way to blend in?”

  “We’re not blending in looking like this, Orion. Don’t you remember? We’re wanted,” Rune said.

  Orion looked at Rune with a devious smile. “Then we’ll have to look like someone completely different.”

  Rune’s ears perked with realization. “You mean Ariel disguising us? We won’t make it through the border without papers. What if I have a vision? Won’t it draw too much attention?”

  “I know it sounds risky, but it’s the only way. Even if we’re discovered, it could buy us time so we only have to sprint through part of the city. We’ll jump the fence, make our way across the town efficiently, and head straight for Pierceton,” Orion explained.

  “Alright. I can see it working. Is it bad that I’m excited? I’ve never gone scaling before,” Rune said, flicking his tail.

  Orion laughed. “It’ll be a rush, for sure. But you should try to get some rest, or you won’t be ready.”

  …

  Ariel was shaken awake while the sun was still rising. She pinned her ears back and groaned.

  “What do you want?” she whined.

  Rune’s cheery face was looming above her. She looked at him with disdain.

  “It’s about time you got up. We’ve got a big day ahead of us. We’re scaling the Glass Wall,” he said.

  Ariel gasped and sat up immediately. “We are absolutely not scaling the Glass Wall on my watch. That’s suicide.”

  Orion looked at Rune with a smug grin that made Ariel want to smack him. “Well, it would be suicide, if we were going the traditional route. You’re going to help us.”

  “Help you how? By digging your graves ahead of time?” Ariel said, exasperated.

  “Orion and I were thinking some disguises might do the trick. If you did it, we’d look so unassuming, no one would bat an eye,” Rune explained.

  Ariel rolled her eyes. Why did it seem that the entire mission had become her responsibility? First she had to parade around her ghost for Orion, now she had to be the costume department? It was the shoddiest plan she’d ever heard.

  “There’s no way this is going to work,” she pouted.

  Rhapsody snorted. “Look at it as a way to show off a little. Maybe this is your chance to get Orion to take you seriously.”

  She stood up and looked Rune up and down, scanning him for a new persona that would fit. A bay Morgan would easily fly under the radar. She circled around him slowly, building and sculpting until no one would recognize him as Rune. She painted short socks on his hind legs and leveled off his sloping croup from a Mustang’s to a Morgan harness horse.

  Orion watched in shock as Rune transformed. “Well done, Ariel. I’d never know he’s a Mustang.”