Chapter One Excerpt: Nightmare
Shaiala crouched on a moonlit ledge beneath a sky dizzy with stars. The unruly mountain wind stirred her hair, which was long and black and heavy with lumps of purple mud. Below, lurked the shadowy folds of the canyons that had swallowed her friends. She was shouting a warning. She shouted until her throat was as sore as her bleeding feet. But the wind stole her words and whirled them away.

What frightened her was the endless file of Two Hoofs running silently along the trail below. The men wore dusty black robes and had crimson-and-black striped scarves wrapped tightly around their faces so that only their eyes showed. At their hips, curved blades glittered in the moonlight. The small blue centaurs, their human torsos clad in mare’s-tail tunics, their ears drooping around pale human faces, and their horse bodies patchy with the last of their fluffy foal coats, hadn’t seen the danger. So far from the herd, separated from one another by the steep-walled canyons and exhausted after a night of cracking rocks, they were pathetically vulnerable.

A group of Two Hoofs drove a lilac filly, so pale she was almost white, down the canyon toward its narrow end. The filly stumbled along, her coat streaked with sweat, not even trying to kick her way to freedom. In one delicate hand, she clutched a small green stone still glowing from the heart of the rock.

“Use it!” Shaiala shouted. “Use it, Kamara Silvermane! Fight!”

But the Two Hoofs pinned the filly against the cliff. One of them prized the herdstone out of her hand and tossed it away. Kamara Silvermane reared up. But before she could strike, a Two Hoof blade slashed at her legs. The filly screamed and dropped back to earth, blue centaur blood dripping from one fetlock. The blade at her throat kept her quiet as the Two Hoofs fixed rope hobbles to her forelegs. Then they drove her through a crack in the canyon wall, out of sight.

Shaiala’s heart twisted for her friend, but the nightmare wasn’t over yet. The Two Hoofs had spotted Kamara Silvermane first because her coat shone fatally in the moonlight, but they soon flushed out the other foals. First the lighter blues, then the purples, and finally the blacks. All were driven into corners, where their herdstones were taken away and hobbles applied. Few put up much of a fight, though a tall, dark colt called Rafiz Longshadow scored a kick that shattered a Two Hoof skull before they got the hobbles on him.

By the time she’d scrambled down to the canyon floor, all her friends had been driven through the crevice. She ran through after them. The sight beyond brought her to a halt. Nearly a hundred exhausted and frightened centaur foals shivered in the natural trap formed by the inner canyon, hobbled and taunted by Two Hoofs. Yet more Two Hoofs were tying the centaurs’ small wrists behind them and linking their necks with loops of rope. Most of the foals looked too shocked even to realize what was happening to them. Kamara Silverman and Rafiz Longshadow had been separated and were trying to move closer together. The Two Hoofs prodded them apart.

“No!” Shaiala screamed, seeing fresh blood on the filly’s coat. “Not hurt they! They my friends!”

The men swung round, crimson-and-black scarves billowing loose about their necks. The alarm on their faces turned to amusement when they saw she was alone.

Even in her dream, Shaiala’s entire body ached. It seemed as if she’d been shouting and running all night. All she wanted to do was crawl into a corner and sleep. But she launched herself into the air and let fly with one foot at the nearest Two Hoof. It was a kick she’d learned from the centaurs, called a Snake because it would kill an attacking grass serpent before the creature had a chance to bite. Her heel caught the Two Hoof on the back of the thigh. She heard a satisfying crack. Before he’d started screaming, Shailala had landed and whirled to face the next.

Three more came at her, the laughter dying on their lips as they realized she’d broken their friend’s leg. A sideways Dragonfly kick took care of another. Sobbing with a mixture of fury and fear, she spun on her heel and cracked an exposed knee with a well-aimed Hare, then whirled again and snapped someone’s arm with a second Snake. Unintelligible Two Hoof yells echoed in the canyon. The cliffs soared, high and black on all sides. A blade went spinning under her and away, like a slice of the moon.

Everyone seemed to be shouting at once, including the centaurs.

“No Shaiala Two Hoof!” Kamara Silvermane screamed. “Run!”

“Go fetch someone who can kick properly!” shouted Rafiz Longshadow. “Get stallion. Get mares.”

“Sneaky Two Hoof spy!” a stocky colt called Marell Storm Temper spat through his cloud of purple mane. “You lead Two Hoofs here. You tell Two Hoofs about herdstones. You betray herd!”

Before Shaiala could protest, more men ran at her. One threw a rope. It tangled in her ankles, fouling her hasty Snake. The ground rushed up and she choked on dust. Their rough hands were on her, tugging her hair, pulling her away from her friends and slamming her against the canyon wall.

A Two Hoof face, his ugly copper-colored skin glistening with sweat, pushed close to hers and snapped out a question. Shaiala shook her head helplessly. After the centaurs’ language, his words were harsh and made no sense. Another Two Hoof pointed to her feet and repeated the question. She shook her head again. Her mouth was far too dry to ask him to say it in Herd. The first man gave a disgusted snort and raised his blade above her head. Terror poured into Shaiala’s legs, stealing the last of her strength. She couldn’t move.

But the blade did not fall. After a moment, she became aware of a faceless Two Hoof silhouette watching from the shadows. The silhouette floated closer, plumes of glowing color fluttering around its head, making her dizzy. Its black face blotted out the canyon, the captive foals, the stars, the raised blade, everything. Through two glittering holes in the night, eyes stared at her, colder than death.

Black lightning flashed.

Shaiala screamed.

The pain that signaled the end of the nightmare exploded in her head.