rule my son?"

She said it kindly.

"A stranger," said Ral, "She took my muzzle off and shared her food with me."

"I am not angry," said Ral's mother, "I knew it would happen one day. You would have ripped the muzzle off with your bare hands, when you were strong enough . . . but what's been done cannot be reversed. You must join your own kind now."

"What do you mean?" asked Ral.

"They are here," said his mother gazing at something far away, "They have always been here. They have waited a long time for you to join them."

"Who have?" said Ral, but then he looked around him and saw clusters of horse-people, standing far away, watching him intently.

"My own kind?" said Ral, "But you never told me..."

"How could I?" said his mother, "I would have lost you before you had outgrown your childhood..."

Ral lifted himself shakily to his feet. He stood, trembling, on his new legs. His balance was off and he staggered sideways, but the instinct to run on four legs was strong. He pawed the ground and tested the strength in his back legs.

"I will never forget you!" he said.

Ral and his mother kissed and embraced.

"Why do you not eat herbs too?" asked Ral suddenly, "Then you could be with us?"

"I am not one of your kind'," said his mother, "I am fully human. Your mother gave you to me before she died. She made me promise to keep you human... she didn't want you to join the people of the mist... but now you have no choice."

"Good-bye, said Ral, "I will come back and see you!"

"I know."

Ral turned and walked away. The other horse-people gathered around him and walked at his side. Slowly, gradually, they passed from this world into their own.