Green Desert - Chapter 4.1.1 - Bhanar

The desert contained a veritable maze of trails. We wandered this way and that, sometimes turning the direction I wanted but usually choosing the path the horse liked. The scrub brush and boulders stretched to the horizon in all directions. I could no longer see the house. Didn’t even know which direction it was.

For a while, I’d gotten the horse to step it up a notch to a faster, smoother gait––not a gallop––but eventually he slowed back down and I urged him to skip the bouncy stage and just walk. So we walked. Back and forth, this way and that, around in circles no doubt. I wiped sweat from my forehead and sighed. Getting lost was starting to be a habit of mine.

The horse said something and I looked forward. The policewoman! Séara. She strode purposefully down the trail at us, black uniform still buttoned up and sleeves still cuffed at the wrist. She carried a gun in each hand.

I tugged gently on the horse’s main and he stopped. “Hello.”

“You’re going the wrong way.”

I shrugged. “I believe you.”

She stopped in front of us. “You can’t ride a horse.”

“Why not?” Was it against the law here?

She tilted her head and squinted at me, her face scrunching up in a way that made me smile. “Because . . . you never learned?” She waved one of the guns. “Never mind.” She walked forward, shifted both guns awkwardly to one hand, and pulled a dirty tshirt from behind her.