Out on the track, Aditi was having trouble with the bay horse. A while ago, when she’d taken him out of the enclosure, he’d looked compliant enough. Or at least better than the grey mare before him, who clearly had an imbalanced gait and didn’t like firm handling. This bay had done much better until something went awry.

He was buckling under her as if scared of something. She herself was feeling uneasy. Something pricked her senses, something sharp and dark. She couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

She stroked the horse’s mane to put him at ease, and loosened the reins to give him some freedom to move. He calmed for a while and they did one round of the track without any further disturbance. Reaching back to the starting point, she got down and fed him an apple. He looked content and trotted back into the enclosure happily.

Or did he look relieved? She couldn’t tell.

The heat needled her intensely and she took her helmet off to grab a water bottle. The unease in her heart was growing, she didn’t know what it was that bothered her so. It wasn’t the heat, she’d been out on hotter days than this. It wasn’t the new horse, she’d handled worse than it. It was something else. Her heart just knew it.

She gulped some water and splashed the rest on her face when out of the corner of her eyes she noticed a movement. Something moved in the shadows, in the dark thicket that bordered the track on one side. Aditi turned and went closer. Was someone watching her? She peered over the bushes, shading her eyes with her palm to ward off the harsh sun. she could see nothing. The dense dark was, as usual, forbidding.

Aditi shook her head. It was ridiculous, no sane man would venture into that dark place full of thorny brambles and insects.

“When were these horses brought here?” she asked as Balbir brought forward the gelding, all saddled and ready for her.

“This morning,” he answered, handing her the reins.

“Has anyone else been near them except you?”

He looked puzzled. “No. It’s just me. We brought them here in the trailer and I’ve been with them ever since.”

Aditi bit her lip and moved on to the gelding, studying it for a while. It looked content enough, neither spooked nor in pain. It also looked better than the mare and the bay, maybe this one was the best of Grandpa Raisingh’s lot.

Approaching it cautiously, she mounted it and set on an easy trot. It was alright for a while until it wasn’t. Something went wrong, she knew it instantly.

The horse shuddered under her and whinnied piteously. She tried to dig in her thighs, trying to keep balance, but it proved impossible. In an instant, it stood on its hind legs and she fell backward, her legs coming off the stirrups in one jerk. The groom was startled and shot forward to help while her grandfather watched from the distance in horror.

A panicked scream left her lips as she fell backward. The horse leaped ahead making the groom jump aside to get out of the beast’s path. This would be the end of her, a fall like this usually broke the rider’s spine. Scrunching her eyes in desperation, she remembered her parents’ faces and waited to hit the ground. But the impact never came.

Instead, when she opened her eyes she found herself in a stranger’s arms.

*****

Aditi felt a buzz. As if a thousand bees were humming in her ears. The sound was so disconcerting she scrunched her eyes shut to fend it off. When she opened her eyes there were more sounds. This time there were not just bees, but people. Alarmed voices, and shouts for help, from jockeys, trainers, and ground keepers. In a moment she was surrounded by a crowd but she had eyes only for the stranger.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

He carried her with ease as if she was a twig and not a grown woman. His face was stiff, eyes dark and hard, along with his muscled body. She waited for him to look her way, but he seemed intent on his task. Finding the nearest bench in the shade he lowered her into it and stepped back. The gap left by him was instantly filled by someone.

Irritated, Aditi peered, craning her neck through the gaps in the crowd to see where he was. But there was no sign of him. He was gone just as quickly as he appeared.

*****

“I’m fine, Dadaji,” Aditi tried to placate a frazzled Balwant as he looked at her wildly. She was back at her home and was now sitting in her bed surrounded by her anxious-looking family. Her uncle and aunt stood on either side of her bed shooting her disapproving looks. A glass of warm milk stood on a bedside table while an irate Kanta Chachi stood in a corner.

Aditi sighed. The only normal people around were her cousins who didn’t look worried in the slightest.

“It’s okay Di,” Mohit mocked as he sat jauntily swinging his legs on a side table. “Everyone falls one day. Today it was your turn.”

Aditi scowled. “It wasn’t my fault. Something was wrong with those horses.”

“Of course, Di,” he said with a straight face. “It’s always the horse’s fault. Never the rider’s.”

Aditi made a face. Years ago when Mohit was learning to ride, they’d had the same exchange. He kept falling from his pony and she mocked him mercilessly. Today he was just returning it with interest.

Scrunching her nose scornfully she turned her head away. Her eyes landed on her sister, who sat daintily on the corner of the bed looking pristinely elegant. A slight frown of disapproval was all Aditi could spy on that otherwise sublime face of hers. She sighed. Nehal was the best-behaved of the lot. She kept to her studies and her yoga. Her friends were minimal and she didn’t venture anywhere near horses. Aditi had to admit she was an ideal young woman if there ever was. A stark contrast to her own wild ways, she thought morosely.

“How did it happen?” Balwant asked tersely, looking at Aditi's left leg that was propped up on a soft cushion.

“I don’t know. Maybe it was the new track...or an unfamiliar rider.” Aditi tried to soothe though her words sounded strange even to her own ears. None of those reasons justified the gelding going rough on her.

Balwant humphed. “You are staying in bed until that leg gets better. And don’t even think of riding or...” He wasn’t able to finish his sentence. A most dazzling smile bewitched him and he was left speechless.

Aditi gave her grandpa a brilliant smile, her best, one she reserved only for special occasions. It was the smile of her father; mischievous, appealing, full of sparkle.

“Please Dadaji...” she whinnied like the horse she’d ridden that morning. “I need to go to Badari tomorrow. I have to take medicines for Ratan Chacha. He must be struggling.”

“But...”

“Please, Dadaji! I promise I’ll be back in a day.” She gave him her most pleading look, a look that would have melted the most heartless person. Her Dadaji didn’t stand a chance, he was a softie.

“Let her go Babuji,” Her uncle Ravi chipped in to support her. “You are worrying unnecessarily. Aditi looks fit as a fiddle. It would have been bad if she’d taken the fall, but luckily for us, she escaped unscathed.”

Aditi gave him a grateful look and turned back to her grandpa. “Please Dadaji. I must go. And I’m going with Aron. There’s no chance of any danger.”

Her grandpa gave a defeated sigh. There was nothing he could deny her, not when she pleaded like this. “Promise me you’d be careful,” he said tiredly. “If that man wasn’t there to save you today, you would have...” His throat was constricted with emotion.

“Who was he anyway? Did you ask?” Her uncle asked curiously.

Who was he? Aditi wondered. He was not a local, she’d never seen him around before. He wasn’t even a usual racegoer, she knew it the moment she saw him. He was...different.

“I don’t know Chacha,” she replied in a low voice. “He was gone in a flash. I didn’t get a chance to ask anything.”

Her heart was filled with a strange agitation. She wished he’d waited. She hadn’t come across anyone who wanted to leave in a rush once they met her. Usually, they stayed longer, making small chats, trying to get friendly. This man seemed the opposite.

Balwant shook his head. “It’s okay. I’ll make some inquiries tomorrow. It won’t be hard to find who he is. We must thank him properly.” Patting her head he got up to leave. The others followed him out except for Kanta Chachi.

Chachi came closer and sat next to her. Her eyes were weary and it looked like she’d already shed some tears.

“Don’t worry Chachi. I’m alright. I didn’t fall, everyone’s worried for nothing.”

Kanta shook her head. “God bless that stranger, beta. If it was not for him, I can’t think where we would be right now.”

That stranger. His thought kept buzzing in her head for the rest of the day and well into the night when she finally closed her eyes. His dark eyes, his brooding silence, his restless energy hummed around her like angry bees around their prey.

Closing her eyes she inhaled the night air thick with the scent of her mother’s flowers. It did the trick, she felt calmer. Yet somewhere in her mind remained an unease. A niggling discontent that she couldn’t quite place.

***** *****