She remembered Anna telling of a horse like this who knew how to do tricks and seemed to love her greatly. This couldn't be the same horse, could it? Anna had named her horse Threcher, she remembered.
"Threcher?" Rachel asked. The horse nodded.
Threcher nudged her with his nose. She didn't move, so he nudged her again. Finally, Rachel reached out and patted his nose, but she didn't get up; she wasn't sure she could. What the horse did next surprised her. He moved away and began to turn around and around, which made her giggle. Threcher came back and nudged her again. She patted his nose a second time and what the horse did then amazed her.
Threcher inched around until their bodies were parallel, knelt down on all four legs and rolled slightly toward her until his mane was within her reach. Rachel grabbed a handful and slowly pulled herself to her knees. She painfully put one foot on the ground and lifted her other leg over. Then she shoved with her foot until she was solidly on the horse's back and held on with both hands as the horse got to his feet.
Rachel leaned forward, wrapped her arms around the horse's neck as far as they would go and hugged him. "Thank you."
Threcher nodded. As soon as she took hold of his mane again, the horse began to walk. She had no idea where the stallion was taking her, but anywhere would help. Hopefully, he would take her to someone who could warn the MacGreagors.
It was less than an hour before Rachel said stop and the horse obeyed. Her head was throbbing, she felt half-witted and she couldn't take the constant movement of the horse another moment. She slid down, curled up into a ball on the soft grass, and went to sleep.