Rivers End

Love Comes Calling

Temple woke to the morning sun on his face, warm and comforting, and as was his custom, let his senses sharpen before he actually moved. When he got up, Rin knew where the stallion was, knew the dew was already off the ground, and that rain was coming. That last bit was a sixth sense, an instinctive feeling that had never been wrong, and that didn't bother him at all, Rin Temple loved the rain. Rolling to his feet he pulled on his boots and settled his hat on his head. The roan looked around curiously as he set about making coffee, tentatively reaching out his nose toward Temple. He chuckled.

"You spoil too easy for a wild-born horse amigo, get used to grass, you can live on it, I can't."

The stallion soon realized he was not getting more gruel and snorted a little, flipping his tail, but readily enough went back to cropping grass. Rin ate the last of his bacon, made thick flap jacks from the last of his ground corn, adding bits of dried fruit to them as they cooked, and made a half pot of coffee.

He lingered over his third cup, watching the area around him come to life with the already rising sun. The sky was blue, but overcast, a thin layer of clouds hanging about, seeming to want to cling to the earth. The mountain peaks above and behind him were turning from blue to green, the shadows disappearing for another day. Birds were in the trees around him, and occasionally Rin caught the flicker of tree squirrels as they went about their routine.

He packed up his camp and reached for the saddle blanket, the roan watching him from the corner of one wild blue eye. Rin flipped the blanket over the stallion's back then got the saddle, putting it in place. The roan tossed his head from mere formality, but had no heart in it. Temple chuckled softly, cinching the leather gently into place, keeping it secure but comfortable. He slipped the bit into the stallion's mouth then adjusted the bridle, gently smoothing the black forelock that hung across the white blaze.

"I'm not riding amigo, today I walk with you, but one of us has to carry that saddle, and it's not going to be me, not unless I have to." He told the roan.

He broke camp and left it behind, walking with an easy mile eating stride that matched the roans, and together the pair made some fifteen miles before stopping late that afternoon. They were following the faint trail he'd seen before, Rin not having given up his thought of tracking the cattle to where they disappeared.

He and the stallion were less than half a day from where he'd seen the sixty-head several days ago, and a notion occurred to him that they would be gone when he got there. Letting the roan rest and watering him a little, Rin chewed thoughtfully on a strip of jerky as he pondered the situation.

Why steal Gates' cattle? If it were rustlers, Reynolds would have the most to gain, but he was intent on forcing the old man's hand anyway in a day or two, then he'd have the land and the cattle. Jude Reynolds would marry into the family, or Shelby Gates would hang a horse thief, he had no need to steal the cattle. There was always the chance of unrelated rustlers, but Temple didn't believe it. The timing was too coincidental. Rin reached into his vest pocket as he thought, pulling out his two little bits of clues, frowning as he studied them. What could it mean? The echo of voices broke into his pondering.

"The boss said to push 'em past Crater Lake off of RE range, and hold 'em there." It was a cold voice, harsh and grating.

"Reynolds would be awful mad if he found out what we was doin'!" this was a younger man, and slightly anxious.

Rin could hear the sound of cattle moving now, clear in the still mountain air, and the first man spoke again.

"He ain't goin' to find out if you keep your trap shut! This is a good safe job, an' the pay is better than thirty a month!"