Green Desert - Chapter 5.1.1 - Fírí

The ride was taking forever. The horse was getting tired, I could tell. I should water it before I did anything else, when I got where it was taking me.

Eventually, over the scattered brush, I spotted the top of a stucco house that looked a lot like that of the Kılímos’. Was this their horse? It must’ve followed us. Did we leave the gate open? Soon I saw that the gate was closed. It was the Kılímos’ house. Same menagerie.

I slowed the horse to a trot, then a walk. “Good horsey, good horsey.”

It stopped near the gate and I slid off its back––careful to land on my right foot. A pig and a couple dogs came to the gate, watching me. A smaller pig joined them, snorting and whimpering.

I unlatched the gate, pointing my finger at the animals within. “Stay.” A dog walked forward. “Stay!”

The horse crowded me from behind, breathing hot on my neck. I could almost taste its slobber.

I shooed the dogs with my bandaged foot and stepped aside for the horse to squeeze through. It walked directly to a trough and started drinking.

The house door opened. Vata stared at me, glanced back inside and said something I couldn’t hear. She stepped outside, closing the door behind her and leaving her slippers on the stoop. She pointed toward the horse stalls but said nothing. Who was inside? The cops? They must be looking for me and Zhíno. But maybe if I told them about the Kılímos, they’d let me go. If I told the cops about the kidnapping, the drugging, the animal sacrifice, and the raping, they might just let me go.