Page 18 of Tusks & Saddles
“Just give me a second!” she barked through Betty’s mane.Think faster, motherfucker, or else you’re going to break down and cry and what the fuck good does crying do?Crying never made her feel better, it just gave her a headache. One that was already threatening to take her now, thanks to her earlier waterworks. After another sharpinhale, she sat up straight on her saddle and spoke. “Boone, take Betty. I’ll fly ahead, try and find Kaffa.”
“Then you’ll just be out in the sky and what happens if you lose us?” Boone crossed his arms.
“She can’t have gotten that far.” She shifted to get off Betty only to be shoved forcefully back into place. “Boone, wha—”
“Kaffa’s got my stuff on her saddle still. I’ll cast a locate spell on my stuff. If she didn’t head back home, we lead the herd toward her, then redirect once we’ve got her.”
“And if she is headed home?” she spat.
“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.” Boone rubbed Betty’s neck. “Apologies, girl, I promise to sit as light as I can.”
And that’s when Boone tossed himself up and onto her saddle, shoving Will’s stomach into the horn.
Chapter Ten
Boone
Boone wrapped an arm around Will’s stomach, ignoring the tension in it as he settled onto the saddle. Betty tossed her head about, upset about the added weight but not enough to buck him off.Or worse, I've seen that horse genuinely upset before.The Paladin didn’t have time to worry about if the horse would hold a grudge against him, they needed to move. Not only were the cattle moving, but they needed to as well. One dead sand slither would attract other non-friendlies their way and he’d selfishly wasted too much time healing his cuts and trying not to kiss Willamina silly.
Boone hoisted a hand over Will’s head, whispering words that floated from him in golden, flaming script. His spell swirled around in his palm, forming into a glinting sphere. With a pop, like a simple soap bubble, a compass fell into his hand. Boone leaned over Will, showing her the compass. She was already kicking at Betty’s sides gingerly, encouraging her to walk toward the cattle. Roger came up alongside them, snooping on the compass.
Thankfully, it pointed in the same direction the cattle were headed, toward the stronghold.
“Strange,” Boone murmured. He wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, or nothing, but...it was weird that Kaffa,in her fear, wouldn’t head to Roger and the herd nor back home where she was kept most. There was a chance the horse got turned around, but Kaffa did this route often. Much like Gracie, her usual rider, the horse did this route four times a year, every year for the last Sun Bringer knows how long. Maybe she thought it would be safer out of the sands?
Boone didn’t have any answers; none that were good anyway. So long as that horse kept his saddle on, and as she didn’t have thumbs that was a high possibility she would, they’d find her.
The ride through the sands was rough. Between catching up to the herd that decided to get a decent head start, to doing his damnedest to forget about Will’s ass rocking against him as they rode, to the bullying heat, it wasatrocious.He’d slogged through many a terrible dungeon, the swamp once or twice, and even a dragon’s lair. None of those compared to the torture of feeling the woman of his dreams rubbing against him and not a damn thing he could do about it. There was definitely sand in his pants and between his fingers, there was blood caked on most of him, and he was pretty sure his tusks were singed a little. Nothing quite as sexy as swamp ass, which currently plagued him.
However, the relief of a river was in sight. He felt the shift from trotting on sand to soft soil, and there was an almost instantaneous shift in the morale of the party as the first tree popped up before them. The cows slowed down. Betty’s pace slowed even further as the cows crowded around the river. A mile or two west was the man-made ramp. Something Last Chance Ranch built long ago, shaving down the natural river edge then filling it in with stone, to allow the cows to slowly and safely wade across to the other side. It had a gate that, when unlocked, allowed the wooden boards to work as a small damn. Thus choking the water to an ankle-deep stream for the hour the cows walked across. Then they would return the boards, no harm, no foul.
For the night, they would stay on this side of the river to rest, wash, and drink up...tomorrow they would cross.
“Any sight of her?” Roger slunk up beside them, hopping off his horse.
“None,” Boone sighed, glancing down at the compass. It still pointed in the direction they were going, which meant she was either resting in the valley, or somehow ahead of them to the point they couldn’t see her. Either way, there wasn’t anything but loose gatherings of trees and shin high grass for miles around the river.
“KAFFA!” Will screamed, cupping her mouth with her hands, but it did nothing. Boone was silent as he slid as gracefully off Betty as he could. Will called out again and every time she did, the sound was more broken.
“Gracie’s gonna be heartbroken if we can’t find that horse,” Roger muttered under his breath to Boone who only glared at the Minotaur.
“Hush.”
“What?”
But the damage was done, Will’s cracked voice echoed off the water, the sky, even the moons creeping up in the late evening sky. “Kaffa!”
Boone shot Roger a disapproving look that persuaded the Minotaur to usher the cattle up closer to the river. He stood with his hands holding the reins, Betty standing still as her rider called out one last time for the missing horse. It didn’t escape him that Will was tense. Her shoulders were nearly at her ears and her face was pinched.
“Will, come on.”
“She’s out here! She’s gotta be.”
“We’ll find her, but first you need some fresh water, come on.” He led the horse slowly downstream, to give her some space. The cattle were too interested in lapping up water and munching fresh grass to go anywhere. Roger was over there too, Killer headfirst in the river with the cows.
Boone would pray to the Sun Bringer when they went to bed for some guidance and maybe a helping hand. While his goddess was usually a neutral party in the affairs of mortals, she had a soft spot for animals in need. He’d press his luck when Will was nestled safely in his arms. First he undid Betty’s harness and let the horse happily gulp down fresh water. After they’d gotten a bath in and a hot meal, they could figure it out.
Will was surprisingly compliant when he whispered, “Come on, baby, down we go.”
