Crush - KarEena

Chapter 22

The bobcat fell dead from the tree.

It missed falling on Karishma only by a couple of feet. Its hard landing sent up puffs of dust. There was a bloody hole in the centre of its chest. Inside Karishma, her heart was thundering.

She swallowed with difficulty, "Nice shot"

Haseena came and knelt beside the carcass, "He was so pretty," except for the lethal incisors, the animal did indeed look like an overgrown house cat with a beautiful pelt. Haseena stroked the soft tuft of white fur at the base of its ear, "I hated to shoot him, but he looked about to pounce. For months he's been killing lambs and pets. This morning, he got into my stable"

"I didn't know he'd prey on something as large as a horse"

"He wouldn't. He was probably looking for something small, like mice, or a rabbit. But he spooked the horses and got as scared as they were, wound up scratching one. I heard the ruckus and reached the barn in time to see him scamper out. For the past hour, I've been tracking him"

"And he tracked me"

For the first time, she looked across at Karishma, "You were easy prey"

"The walking wounded"

"The nearly dead. What the hell are you doing here, Karishma?"

"Sleeping. Or was," Karishma nodded toward the rifle propped on Haseena's knee, "Do you ever miss?"

"Never. Are you going to answer me?"

"What am I doing here? It's a long story. But the punch line is that my car ran out of fuel. I hope you're not afoot"

Haseena stood up and gave a shrill whistle. Karishma was impressed. Karishma seldomly came across a woman who could whistle worth a damn. But that wasn't the extent of Haseena's talents. A few seconds later, a mare trotted toward the grove.

"Wow, just like in the movies," Karishma said. The horse stopped a cautious distance away from the dead bobcat and stamped nervously, "I'm not sure I can get on her without a saddle"

"You're not getting on her at all. I am," Haseena turned and started walking away toward the horse.

"You're going to abandon me here? With this animal carcass?"

"I didn't invite you"

Poetry in motion. That's what it was to see her sink her fingers into the mare's thick mane and pull herself up far enough to throw her right leg over. She accomplished this in one fluid motion, without dropping the twenty-two. She nudged the horse with her heels and the mare danced a dainty circle, head and tail held high.

"You're coming back for me, right?" Karishma thought she saw Haseena smile, but the sun wasn't fully up yet, so she might have imagined it. With a movement of Haseena's knees that was almost undetectable, she nudged the mare into a gallop.

So sure, was she that Haseena would come back for her that she was asleep before horse and rider disappeared over the horizon.

She didn't know how long she slept. It could have been fifteen minutes or fifteen hours. When she opened her eyes, Haseena was beside her again. Haseena was wrapping the bobcat in a thick, quilted furniture pad. When she noticed Karishma watching her, she said, "I'm not going to leave him for them to pick apart"

Karishma looked up through the branches of the tree. Vultures were circling overhead, "They might be waiting for me to die"

"They might be"