They say bad news rides a fast horse.
"I thought I'd find you out here!" Uncle Kael bellowed, and Kaelyn's eyes widened even more as a grin spread across his face. "Surprised?"
No one said anything about it riding a dead one, and the black destrier Kaelyn's uncle rode toward her had died two years ago.
Her uncle crossed the pasture as if he knew exactly where she was even though the copse of cedar shielded her from the road. She continued to watch him steadily approaching while her mind ticked down a list of things she had eaten that might cause hallucinations. Surely it had to be a horse that only looked like Cherline, but it traveled in that same rare and easy gait her uncle loved.
The ewe beside her flicked her ears nervously and followed Kaelyn's gaze towards the nearing hallucination, then anxiously nudged Kaelyn's leg, reminding her of the lamb tangled in the witchberry vines at her feet. Kaelyn knelt back down and finished cutting him loose. The lamb started nursing immediately; seeking comfort in his mother's painfully distended udder, but the ewe remained fixated on the approaching rider.
Uncle Kael reined his horse to a stop in front of her and stepped down. The ewe backed up, stamped in apprehension and then bleated, leapt and bounded away with her youngster.
"I thought I'd find you out here!" Uncle Kael bellowed, and Kaelyn's eyes widened even more as a grin spread across his face. "Surprised?"
"Th-- That looks just like--"
"Yes!" Uncle Kael slapped his hand against the horse's rump and Cherline turned and nuzzled against him. "Essentially, it is! My cloning experiment worked! It's as if she never died!"
"Oh my God," Kaelyn exclaimed. "Can you clone anything?" Kaelyn thought about her Irish Setter, gray about the muzzle and unable to stand. "Will you clone Kallie?"
Uncle Kael's grin faded, and he looked at his niece with a serious face. "I don't know about that, Kaelyn. You better ask your mothers."
Opening: Julie Weathers.....Continuation: Anonymous
5 comments:
Unchosen continuations:
Kaelyn held her breath until her uncle and his snorting black horse left. Why had her parents sent her to live in Sleepy Hollow?
—Khazar-khum
If you think this is impressive," he said with a grin, "you should come home with me and see what I've done with Grandma."
—Anon.
Yeah, it was definitely something she ate. They say indigestion rides a fast ewe...
—Anon.
Not clear how being shielded from the road matters if the uncle isn't in the road, but is crossing a pasture.
That the horse has a gait like that of a horse that died two years ago doesn't strike me as cause for Kaelyn to believe she's hallucinating. More likely she would think her uncle finally found another horse with that gait he likes.
Ha, too funny. Good job to EE and minions.
Comments, noted, EE. I will make appropriate changes.
Thank you.
Julie
If the uncle is also dead (as I think the query said), then I think you should mention that right off, especially if you're already mentioning the horse was dead.
Author, if the horse is gaited, say so. Is it a fox trotter? Does it do a running walk? Racks?
Typically people ride gaited horses when there's bad to no roads, since the ride will be easy. You won't jolt your teeth out, either.
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