Page 11 of Rifted Hearts
One by one, the guests stepped up onto a platform and mounted a waiting horse. Some of the regulars had particular animals they had bonded with on earlier trips, and others had been selected based on the guest’s height, weight, and riding experience. Remi was almost as tall as Kaveh but with a much slimmer build. He had put down that he had little riding experience, and he did look uncertain as Jeanette encouraged him to take a seat on Pogo, awell-mannered Appaloosa who was a good choice for novices.
Pogo was not, as it turned out, a good choice for Remi Gatti.
As Jeanette was encouraging the streamer to swing his leg over to get into the saddle, Pogo turned his head and snapped at Remi, raising up and bucking at the same time.
Given his awkward position and the suddenness of Pogo’s attack, Kaveh was surprised at how deftly Remi twisted away from the horse and managed to get both feet back on the platform, putting distance between himself and the animal.
Jeannette wrestled with Pogo’s reins, and stammered apologies in Remi’s direction.
Kaveh nudged his horse into a quick trot and rode over to give her a hand. Even Ranger snorted at the blogger, and Kaveh had to reach out with his mind, sending calming mental images to both animals.
“I don’t know what’s got into him.” Jeannette was clearly embarrassed and baffled by the horse’s behavior.
Remi, for his part, didn’t seem startled or unsettled at all. There was a hard set to his mouth for a moment, a fleeting expression of annoyance, and then he was all smiles, dismissing the need for apologies and joking that the horse must not have liked his cologne. He turned his blue eyes in Kaveh’s direction.
“Thank you for riding over to rescue me.” Remi had an olive complexion a little darker than Kaveh’s, with a spotless white cowboy hat set over his jet-black hair and enough stubble on his cheeks to look fashionable. He was, in fact, wearing cologne for a two-hour trail ride, a scent of sage mixed with rosewood, along with a faint whiff of fresh grass.
Kaveh’s sense of smell wasn’t as enhanced as his vision,but he could use it to tell that someone or something was wrong, and he might have been able to do that with Remi if not for the damn perfume.
“Jeannette, move Pogo away for a minute and I’ll have Remi ride Ranger.” Both animals had taken a strong dislike to the man, but Ranger’s bond with Kaveh was strong, and as long as he rode alongside him, the bay gelding should behave. “Sorry about that, Remi. You can stay close to me until the animals settle down.”
Kaveh swung down off Ranger and helped the man mount his horse. It could have been his imagination, but Remi seemed to become more awkward and unsure than was warranted, grasping on to Kaveh’s arm with his slim fingers before he settled into the saddle.
“Well.” Remi stretched out his long legs on either side of the horse as Kaveh adjusted the stirrups for him. “This is certainly a big horse.”
“We have some Percherons who are even larger.” Kaveh placed his hand on the horse’s neck, calming Ranger down again. The horses’ reactions to Remi were certainly unusual. Maybe keeping a close eye on him was a good idea.
“The bigger the better.” Remi tilted his head toward Kaveh, as if he expected a particular response and was surprised not to get it.
“The larger breeds like the Shire and the Percheron were bred as draft animals.” Kaveh was no extrovert, but he didn’t have trouble making light conversation about animals with strangers. He had no idea why Remi was staring back at him with an eyebrow raised. Kaveh mounted Pogo, sending both horses relaxing thoughts as he urged the Appaloosa to stay close to Ranger and the vid streamer. “You may not be familiar with those names, but I’m sure you’ve heard of Clydesdales, another drafthorse. They’re strong, easily managed, and have great stamina.”
“Oh, yes.” Remi gave a little start as Ranger started to walk out of the corral but then settled into the saddle, following the line of mounted guests out to the trail. “Big, easily managed, and plenty of stamina. That’s exactly what I’m looking for—in a horse.”
It finally clicked that Remi was flirting with him.
It wasn’t uncommon for him to miss these type of signals, but he always felt embarrassed when he did. He wasn’t quite sure why Remi was interested, especially when the man seemed to have no shortage of admirers. Perhaps he flirted with everyone he met.
As he often did in these situations, Kaveh lapsed into silence, not certain how to respond.
Remi picked up the thread of conversation after another flicker of annoyance came and went across his face. “How close will we get to the rift? I thought the army had restrictions on civilians going into the interzone.”
“When the military pulled out and abandoned their base, they stopped caring about people wandering close to the rift.” Kaveh had been a child during the Sundering. That had taken everything from Kaveh—his parents, his birth clan, and any knowledge of his people, the Azdaha drakones.
Remi must be too young to remember that time, and of course humans saw the event differently. Media reports back then had screamed about monsters slavering for human flesh and described the rifts as the beginning of yet another apocalypse. The US military had wasted billions of dollars and the lives of many soldiers trying to wage war against the Riftworld, as had other countries. It hadn’t worked. Human technology didn’t function even at adistance from the rift when the storms blew in, and the powers Riftworld people possessed attenuated when they strayed too far from the barrier. That had led at first to a standoff and finally to grudging acceptance on both sides.
Now, twenty-five years later, the Monster Apocalypse was only one in a series of crises from the extreme weather of global warming to endless rounds of pandemics and the inevitable political unrest, and the rifts themselves were tourist attractions.
“The abandoned military base is past the hills.” Kaveh pointed to the elevations in the distance. They were out amongst the saguaros now, the tall cacti interspersed with other plants evolved to thrive in the desert. It was a beautiful landscape, wild and unique, and Kaveh never tired of riding through it. “The rift expanded to include it after the army left.”
He made it sound like a natural, unexplainable event. In truth, Kaveh’s drakone clan had adjusted the border. Few knew that his people had learned how to manipulate the rifts, and that was a good thing. It was a dangerous secret.
“Is that where the dragons live?” Remi kept glancing from one side to the other as his horse brought him uncomfortably close to various cacti and their pointed needles. Kaveh sent another image to Ranger, this time of a nice crunchy apple if the horse got Remi through this ride without injury.
The question raised Kaveh’s hackles, even if it wasn’t unexpected. It was predictable Remi would ask about Kaveh’s people, given that humans were obsessed with anyone or anything large and dangerous, and the drakones were among the most powerful species caught up in the Sundering. They weren’t as big a threat to humans as lessflashy but more hostile species such as the ratkind, but such distinctions didn’t mean much to the public.
“They’re farther out, beyond another—barrier.” Kaveh found that he didn’t want to share even the most basic information with the blogger. It wasn’t rational. Remi had come out here to write a travel post about Moon Star Ranch and the Saguaro Rift, and everyone knew the drakones were here. “The base has been resettled with wild Riftworld species. There’s also a mixed settlement of humans and Riftworld people nearby that everyone calls the monstertown.”
“I’ve been to the Witch City monstertown,” Remi offered. “It’s off the coast of Massachusetts, so the rift is in the bay. You’d be surprised to find out how many humans want to hook up with a water monster. Can’t understand it myself, but I’m not going to kink shame anyone.”
