Disclaimer: Not mine, not making any money. I'm just playing.
Shadow Puppets
Chapter 14
Botha was waiting with what looked like half the village when the team left the lodge in the morning. He met them with a broad smile and the reins to a large, shaggy, gray horse in his hand. "A gift for the people that brought my baby home."
Tank, Lester and Morelli exchanged looks.
"Oh no, there's no need," Morelli started.
"Of course there is. Take the horse."
"But we were happy to–"
The genial smile faded and a dark expression flitted across Botha's face. "Don't insult me. Take her."
Morelli gingerly took the reins that Botha thrust at him and looked up at the horse with trepidation where it towered above him. "Aaah… thank you. Come on… horsie?"
The horse obliged and started walking beside him, and they made their way slowly to the gate. The crowd of villagers parted in front of them as they walked.
As they approached the gate, Lester spotted Morwen in the crowd. She met his gaze and moved her eyes away, refusing to acknowledge him. When she saw Edna, though, her eyes widened. She and Edna stared at each other, both turning to maintain eye contact as the group moved out and back into the forest.
* * *
Botha sighed with satisfaction as the group of strangers walked out of the gate. "I can't believe I finally managed to get rid of that horse."
"Do you think we should have warned them it's unrideable?" asked the skinny man standing behind him.
"It had a saddle on it, didn't it? What more do you expect from a free horse? Now get those gates closed and barred before they realize it's useless and bring it back. And dig Morwen out from whatever rock she's found to hide under. Targa's here on business this afternoon and I want him to see her."
He slung his arm around his servant's shoulder as they walked back into the lodge. "Life is good. I'm rid of that waste of grazing, Targa's wife looks like the back of a cart compared to mine and I got the first look at the strangers. Just find me a husband for Snow and it will be just about perfect."
* * *
The team stopped to review their unexpected companion once they found a clearing out of sight of the village.
"Can someone please take this off me?" Morelli asked plaintively. "I don't know anything about horses."
"That means you know more than me," said Tank. "It ain't nothing to do with me."
"I ain't goin' nowhere near it. Jesus, will you look at the teeth on that thing?" Lula backed away from the horse as it snatched a mouthful of leaves from a nearby tree.
Lester stepped forward. "I'll take it."
"Can you ride?" Morelli asked.
"Of course I can. I've seen every movie that John Wayne ever made. Move over."
Morelli handed over the reins.
Lester took a hold of the saddle and put one foot in the stirrup. The horse threw her head up in the air and swung her rump away from him. He hopped three times on his other foot before losing his balance and crashing to the ground.
"Shit." Lester tried to ignore the laughter of the others. The horse strolled away and started cropping the leaves from the top of a nearby bush while the reins dangled to the ground.
Lester got up, dusted himself off and moved toward the horse again.
She swung her head toward him and peeled her lips back to display a mouthful of large, yellow teeth.
The others sniggered.
"I don't think it likes you," Tank observed, deadpan.
"Fine." Lester held his hands up and backed away. The horse shook her neck once and returned her attention to the bush.
"I'll try." Edna stepped forward with a gleam in her eye.
"No," Tank said firmly. "No broken hips on my watch. We're stuck here with no medical care." He glared at Edna until she retreated.
"Look, why don't we just chase it out of here," Morelli suggested. "It'll go home on its own, or else somebody gets lucky and finds himself a horse. Either way it's not our problem."
"Works for me."
Morelli looped and knotted the dangling reins around the horse's neck so that they couldn't get caught up and stepped away. "Time to go home, horse. Shoo!"
She stood there and watched him, chewing her impromptu snack.
He waved his arms in the air. "Go! Go away!"
The horse just continued to stand there.
He turned back to Tank. "Let's just move on and leave it here."
Tank nodded, and they started walking. Lester, Lula and Edna fell in behind and they marched away, leaving the horse alone in the clearing.
* * *
"You know, I feel kind of bad just leaving it there," Morelli said as they followed a broad path under an avenue of trees. "What if that wolf comes back?"
"Never mind about the damn horse," Tank growled. "Lester, what are we looking for?"
"We're headed north, looking for a village behind a thorn hedge. Sound familiar?"
"Too damn familiar."
* * *
They had stopped for a break in another clearing when Tank noticed Lula examining her ankle. "Lu, you got a problem?"
"Got scratched by some kind of plant back there. Hurts."
"Show me."
She pulled her jeans leg up to show a livid weal along the side of her ankle.
"Damn. Lester, get the kit."
Lester pulled a first aid kit out of one of the packs and opened it.
"Save it," Edna said absently. "Use those instead." She nodded toward a clump of plants with feathery leaves.
"What are they?" Lula asked cautiously.
"Oh, I don't know their name, but they'll help if we boil them into a paste."
Lula picked one of the leaves and wrinkled her nose at the acrid scent. "I think I'll pass. What's in the box instead?"
"Antiseptic," Lester answered.
"I'll take it." She took the proffered tube and slathered it on to the injury.
"Go easy with it. We haven't got much."
"Hey, back off. I'm wounded." She pulled her jeans back down over her ankle and stood up. "Guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
"Stop." Tank raised a hand for quiet and put the other to his gun.
They all froze except for Edna, who carried on rooting around in one of the packs. Morelli, Lester and Lula put their hands to their guns as well and they waited.
The sounds of birds singing in the canopy filtered into the stillness. They almost, but not quite, hid a series of muffled thuds in the distance. The sounds were coming from the same direction that they had come from.
A stray breeze ruffled the leaves of the high branches as they waited in silence for whatever was approaching to arrive.
The thuds grew louder and louder. A flash of white appeared between the trees, and a familiar shaggy shape appeared.
They breathed out and lowered their weapons as the gray horse trotted up to Morelli and stopped. She started cropping the short grass by his feet.
"I don't fucking believe it," Tank cursed. "It followed us."
"Looks like we're stuck with her," Edna said.
"Great," he growled. "Fucking great. I've already got a woman and a senior along on this mission, and now I've got a god-damned horse as well. Jesus."
Lula shot him a silent look that spoke of an argument saved for another time before putting her gun away.
Lester eyed the horse speculatively. "If we're stuck with it, could it at least carry the packs?"
"She," Edna corrected.
He shrugged. "She."
"Morelli, you try," Tank directed.
"Did I mention that I know nothing about horses?"
"But it went straight to you. I don't plan to lose any of our gear on the back of a horse, so you just got the job."
"Great," Morelli muttered. He unslung his pack from his shoulders and cautiously approached the horse. "Hey horse. Remember me?"
She whickered happily.
"Good, that's good." He inched the pack forward, waiting for her to object. She didn't, and he was able to lay the pack over the saddle. "I think we might be okay."
He took the pack back off the saddle and handed it to Tank. Tank lashed all the packs together with a length of cord and handed them back to him. He arranged them to hang evenly on either side of the saddle. " I think we're good," he said.
"Good. You just made yourself a new friend. Keep a hold of that thing in case it decides to change its mind and run away with all our stuff."
Morelli looked at Edna, a question in his eyes. "Is this another one of those freaky offer things? And does it count if I don't ride?"
She shrugged.
He shook his head and started walking. His new friend walked happily alongside him.
* * *
They stopped for the night by a small river. As Tank and Lester pitched the tents and Lula filled the water bottles, Morelli regarded the horse with consternation. More specifically, he regarded the saddle and bridle that she wore. "I guess all this stuff has to come off at night. Anybody know how?"
Nobody answered him.
"Oh, come on, guys, somebody must know something."
"Looks like any other bunch of leather straps to me," Lula observed. "You'll be fine. I'm sure a broad-minded man like you done seen a bunch of leather before."
He heard several snorts behind his back, but when he spun around Lester and Edna were wearing poker faces.
"Fine," he muttered. "I see how it is."
He stepped closer to the horse and reached up to examine the network of leather straps that she wore, starting with the saddle. Sweat had turned the white of her coat to a darker gray around her neck and belly, and a powerful scent of horse and leather enveloped him.
He found buckles hidden under the flaps of the saddle that secured the strap under her belly. "We'll try these first, I guess." He unbuckled them carefully then tugged at the saddle. The whole thing slid off her back easily, leaving a dark, rippled sweat mark in her coat that matched the shape of the saddle. "So far, so good."
He moved on to the bridle and located the buckle points in the complicated array of leather straps. He unbuckled two of them, at her cheek and jaw respectively, and tugged at the bridle.
She lifted her head up and back and the bridle slid forward over her ears and off.
He turned his back on her and showed the bridle in his hands to the rest of the team. "Worked it out!"
"Watch out!" Tank shouted as something heavy shoved against his back and forced him to take a step forward. "She's…."
The impact turned into a rough scraping up and down Morelli's back.
"… got an itch," Tank finished as Lester started laughing.
Morelli turned around slowly. His new friend took the opportunity to scrape her head up and down against his front as well, coating him with a layer of short white hairs and the powerful but not unpleasant smell of horse sweat.
"Look out!" Edna hooted as the horse used his fly button to address a particularly itchy spot. "She's going for the package."
Lula put her hand on her hip and raised her eyebrows. "Reckon you need a box there, Roy Rogers. Trigger's gettin' ideas."
Lester grinned. "Damn, man, I thought I was good, but it looks like you're irresistible to women of all species."
Tank just shook his head silently.
Morelli glared at his laughing companions while the horse scrubbed her ear carefully against his fly.
"Are you quite finished?" he asked her when she finally stopped.
She nickered once and stepped away towards the shore of the river, where she took a long drink before lowering herself to her knees with a loud groan. Hooves the size of dinner plates waved in the air as she rolled in the sandy soil, promising injury to anyone that got too close while she scrubbed the sweat from her coat with river sand. When she was thoroughly coated in dust and sand she pulled herself up again, shook her neck and started eating grass.
"I guess so." He walked over to the tents and joined the others. "What's for dinner?"
Lula sniffed pointedly. "Damn, you smell like that thing now."
"I kind of like it."
"That ain't no way for a city boy to be smellin'. You need to get in that river, and fast."
"Ain't none of us smelling too sweet right now. After we eat, we all need to hit the river," Tank said.
Edna's face lit up. "All of us? Skinny dipping? I'm game."
Lester's face scrunched up with horror, and Morelli bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself laughing.
Tank's lips twitched briefly too. "The ladies go first."
Lula glared at him. "Just so you know, I ain't happy about bathing in no river."
"It's all we've got."
"Yeah, right. You tellin' me the fish get out to take a crap?"
He shrugged. "Only way we got to get clean right now."
"All right, but I ain't happy."
* * *
Tank concentrated on building up the fire and did his best to ignore the shrieks of dismay coming from the other side of the bushes by the river. It sounded like the water was cold.
Lester sat on the ground next to him and started feeding twigs into the flames as well. "You okay, man?"
"Yeah."
"What's Lula's problem?"
"What do you mean?"
"She stares at you all the time like she's got something to say. And she's quiet most of the time unless she's mad. That doesn't sound like the woman you used to talk about. You two having a fight?"
"Butt out, Santos. It's not your problem."
"You know you can see her through the bushes from here, right?"
"I know."
Lester peered through the bushes and recoiled from something in his view. "Jesus. That old lady's got no shame at all."
Tank ignored him.
"We've been on the road for a while now, right?" Lester murmured, still looking through the bushes.
"And?"
"You taken a real good look at your woman lately?"
"I look at her all the time."
"Don't think you do. Otherwise you'd be thinking of a way to get that old lady out of the way and get wet right now."
"Fuck off, Santos, and stop staring at my woman."
"You want her to stay your woman, you need to fix whatever got broken. Now I'm gonna get some more wood and try to forget I ever saw Steph's grandma naked while you take a proper look through that bush."
"Whatever it takes to shut you up, asshole."
Lester got up and walked out into the forest in search of wood, leaving Tank alone again.
Tank cursed and threw a handful of pine needles on the fire. They flared and spat in a crackling fury that matched his mood. He knew what the enforced cut-off from civilization was doing to his girlfriend, and what the hard walking and trail rations were starting to. He'd watched her walk get looser and more fluid without the ridiculous shoes. Without the straighteners and the salon treatments her hair was softening into loose curls that framed her un-painted face and her skin was acquiring a soft bloom from the clean air and the exercise. She looked better than she ever had, and he still couldn't bring himself to hurt her.