Daughter of Destiny (9 page)

Slowing unwinding from his crouching position, Jake went back to the overstuffed chair next to hers and sat down. “Why are you surprised, Kai? I'm not.”

She shook her head. “Because…well, because I just never thought I had the skills to do this sort of thing. I never had training….”

“But you've got the genes, as you said. You have the memory in your DNA. Why couldn't it happen?”

Giving him a pained look, Kai whispered, “I thought that when my mother died, everything else had died, too, Jake. My heritage, my past.”

Pain stabbed his heart. For the first time, Kai's voice, usually strong and confident, had softened. He heard her anguish. The past wasn't buried with Kai's mother at all, he realized in that moment. No, it was alive and twisting and turning in Kai like old grief that had never been given voice.

Without thinking, Jake reached out and settled his hand briefly on Kai's slumped shoulder. Her skin was warm be
neath the soft cotton shirt. How he wanted to embrace her! Their past was eating at him like a hungry wolf. Jake saw that in this unguarded moment, Kai needed to be held. He could do that for her, but his heart cautioned him to go slow, so he lifted his hand away. He had seen Kai's eyes go wide and then narrow as he'd touched her. Jake wasn't sure if she was offended or not.

“Genes don't care,” he told her, trying to make light about the subject, to lift her spirits. “You have your parents' abilities. Both of them were medicine people.
Something
had to pass on to you, whether you had the training to bring it out or not.”

Shaking her head, Kai muttered, “I'm the last person to honestly believe this about myself. When I left the res, I left everything behind, including the beliefs I was raised with.” She flexed her hands and frowned. “And here I am, the prodigal daughter, coming back to the clan to supposedly find the crystal mask for our people.” Her skin still riffled pleasantly from his unexpected touch. Without thinking, Kai rubbed her shoulder. The truth be known, she wanted more contact with Jake, but it scared the hell out of her. That meant she'd have to trust someone outside herself once again, and she just couldn't do it.

“I'd say we're off to a good start. The Aboriginal village is real. And Smythe said it took two days by camel to get to it. That's where we should go, I think. Maybe Ooranye is there, waiting for you. She's calling you to her home to talk to you about the sacred mask.” Jake saw the disbelief in Kai's turquoise eyes even as her mouth softened. “You're getting enough outside double checks on
this, Kai, to know that your dreams are giving you the right direction. You can't fight the evidence much longer, can you?”

Giving him a mirthful look, Kai muttered, “I've been fighting and rebelling since I was born. Why should I be any different now?”

“Because the game has changed, that's why,” Jake told her in a low, serious tone. “This is no longer about you. It's about our nation, and the implications for our people if we don't bring peace and harmony back by bringing home the totem. Isn't
that
worth letting go of some of your rebellion?”

“Yes…yes, it is. I still can't believe I'm the right one for this mission, though. I'm such a flawed person….”

Chuckling, Jake said, “Not in my eyes. You're a brave woman warrior who can take on the world if she needs to. I'm just glad I got a front row seat to watch it happening.”

“You're so full of it, Carter.” Her heart swung open as he gave her a boyish grin, his gold eyes sparkling with warmth. It was impossible to stay gruff beneath Jake's sincere charm and sunny smile.

“Maybe.” He laughed softly. “Let's talk about camels, shall we?”

“Do we have to?”

“They're a fantastic animal to ride.”

“How would you know?” Kai demanded, picking up one of the brochures and handing it to him.

“I was stationed in Saudi Arabia on a special ops assignment two years ago. I made friends with a local sheik who breeds racing camels. I got to ride them a lot, as well as watch them race. You know, over there, camel racing is like
Thoroughbred racing in the States. A lot of money passes hands, and let me tell you, those racing camels are extraordinary animals. Talk about moving fast. Whew!”

“Give me a horse anytime,” Kai said dryly. “But you were right—look at this brochure. There's a camel ranch about two miles from here. And check this out…” As she handed the brochure to Jake, their fingers touched momentarily. Kai reluctantly pulled her hand away. She wanted to touch Jake. Her skin prickled pleasantly and her heart beat hard in her breast as she sat back. If Jake had felt their brief touch, he didn't show it as he rapidly scanned the colorful brochure.

Jake took care to keep his expression neutral. He could feel Kai studying him for a reaction to their accidental contact. How was he going to keep a lid on his need for her? Gently putting those heated thoughts to one side, he said, “Hey, this is great! Look, this guy rents out his camels to tourists.” He looked up. “Let's go find out if he'll rent us two to ride to Kalduke.”

“Just what I wanted to do—ride a damn camel,” Kai griped as she stood up, but she was grinning. Truth be told, she liked challenges, because at heart she was a fierce competitor.

Laughing softly, Jake tucked the brochure in a vest pocket. “Hey, they're beautiful animals! Smart. Savvy. You know they have the intelligence of an eight-year-old child? And they're very affectionate if they like you. The ones I knew were very, very curious, as well as patient, self-possessed, hardworking and endlessly fascinating. There is never a boring day with a camel.”

“And then there's that charming tendency to spit….”

Jake grinned wickedly. “Well, yes, they can regurgitate their slimy green cud and heave it all over you if they're pissed off at you. Sometimes they'll do it when they're afraid, too.”

“Great. Covered in green slime. Just what I've always wanted.” Chuckling, she added, “I've heard they often bawl in protest.”

“Camels are very astute, Kai. If they've had too much weight put on them to carry, they'll balk and object by bellowing loudly, for sure.”

“And they're arrogant.”

Jake pulled his hat from his back pocket and settled it on his head. The lobby was filling up with guests heading to the restaurant for breakfast. “It's true, they are very self-possessed and know they're the king of all the four-leggeds.”

A grin edged her lips. “I think the word you're searching for is
haughty
.”

Chuckling, Jake walked with her. “They clearly believe they are the Great Spirit's favorite animal. But to side with them, I have to say you won't find an animal kinder, more interesting or more beautiful.”

She gave him a dirty look. “Did they tell you this or is that your opinion of them?”

“Well, let's go find out, shall we?”

“Camels,” Kai muttered, striding down the highly polished, white marble floor toward the door to the parking lot. “Who would ever have
thought
I'd be riding a camel?”

Jake kept pace with her, careful not to get too close. “They weigh, on average, two thousand to twenty-five
hundred pounds. The ones they have here are one-humpers, like those I rode over in Saudi Arabia.”

Wrinkling her nose, Kai pushed open the glass door and continued down the red-tile sidewalk bordered with flowers. “Why can't I ride a horse to that village?” The heat was already building. It felt like someone had opened a blast furnace door and she was standing right in front of it. Like yesterday, the sky was a pale blue and cloudless.

“Because there's probably no water along the way. No oasis,” Jake told her, getting serious. They walked around the redbrick building to the large parking lot. “Camels can take on a load of water and walk for days or weeks without a refill. A horse can't. I asked Smythe about any oases between Uluru and Kalduke and he said there was none. There is a well at the village, though—a natural spring where water bubbles up year-round.”

“Why can't we
drive
there?”

“You see the consistency of this red sand?” Jake asked, opening the door of the Toyota. “It's too fine a grit. The car would sink to its axles the minute we drove into it. We'd get nowhere.”

“And walking is out of the question,” Kai muttered, sliding into the car.

“That's an understatement.” Jake started the car and drove slowly out of the parking lot. “Camels are our only way to the village.”

“Why couldn't we rent one of those choppers I saw back at the airport?”

“Because this village doesn't allow any aircraft to land there. Smythe said a number of Aboriginal people want
nothing to do with any modern conveniences or white culture. We'd get put in the slammer by the Aussie police if we tried that stunt. So we're not flying there.”

“Well, I can't blame them for not wanting planes or choppers around,” Kai said. “It sounds like they're basically isolating themselves so they can get back to the way of life they had before white men arrived.”

“Exactly,” Jake told her. He turned down the main highway. “This camel rental place is five miles from Uluru. It's called the Mulga Camel Station. Did you know that mulga is the name for the king brown snake, which is found all around here? It's highly aggressive and always ready to strike.”

“Snakes don't bother me. It's the two-leggeds that get my attention, pronto.”

“No argument there. Hey, I wonder why the guy who owns that station calls it ‘mulga'?”

“Maybe he had a bad meeting with one of those king browns?”

“Dunno, but I'm going to ask him.”

Kai stared at the beautiful smooth sandstone rock, which she'd read contained feldspar and quartz. Uluru rose silently and majestically out of the crimson desert floor, an overwhelming red giant dwarfing everything around it. The red rock stood alone. True, there was the cluster of round egg-shaped stones thirty some miles to the west, Kata Tjuta. The Aboriginal people claimed those rounded rocks were actual eggs laid by the Rainbow Snake during the Dreamtime. Kai liked that story better than “many heads” theory. “Okay, looks like this little adventure is going to get humorous. I can just see myself on a camel.”

“Let's hope your camel likes you.”

Snorting, Kai muttered defiantly, “If it doesn't, we'll have a little talk. No one's vomiting green crud on me.”

Jake smiled. He had a feeling camels weren't the only new thing Kai would have to learn to deal with on this journey.

“G'
day, mates. I'm Coober Johnson, owner of Mulga Camel Station.”

Kai approached the short, lean man, who was wearing an Aussie canvas hat with the brim rolled up on one side. He was in his forties, his skin dark brown and wrinkled from many hours out in the brutal sun. He wore a short-sleeved khaki shirt and shorts, long socks of the same color that came to his knees, and a pair of dusty, well-worn boots.

“Hello. I'm Kai Davis. This is my husband, Jake.”

“Nice to meet you, Missus Davis.” He released her hand and offered it to Jake as he walked up. “And you're the mister. G'day to you, mate.”

Jake nodded and gave a slight smile. “G'day, Mr. Johnson.”

“Ah, call me Coober. Everyone else does, mate.”

Releasing his strong, lean hand, Jake looked around at the camels, kept in five-foot-high pipe rail corrals. He was almost close enough to the nearest ones to reach out and touch them. There were several aluminum Quonset hut
buildings that held fodder for the thirty or so camels, Jake noted. All the animals were the single-hump variety, as he'd read, and the five camels in the nearest corral were crowding toward them, full of curiosity about the new visitors.

“You've come out for a ride on my mates, here?” Coober asked with a quick grin. He threw a thumb over his shoulder, his back to the corral. The camels all extended their long, yellow necks toward Coober, nuzzling him affectionately and nibbling on his hat with their thick, floppy lips.

Kai stood respectfully out of range and gazed up at the huge, leggy animals, while Jake let himself be nuzzled by a tall gelding.
Some kiss,
she thought, eyeing the streak of slobber on his right shoulder. Disgusted by the animals, she eyed them with distrust. They were huge! Like a body on four thin stilts. Their feet were gargantuan, rounded and cleft, and she'd hate to be stepped on by one.

“Well,” Jake murmured, reaching up to run his hand along the camel's rounded ears and gently scratch them, “we're looking to rent two camels to take to an Aboriginal village about two day's ride from here. Maybe you've heard of it? Kalduke?”

Coober eyed him, rubbing his stubbled jaw. “Mate, I don't generally hire out my boys to tourists to go gallivantin' off into the Red Center alone. I offer one-, two-or three-hour rides, where each camel's nose peg is hooked to the saddle in front of 'em, and I'm leadin' the line. There's not a Buckley's chance of renting them for that kind of hike.”

Jake nodded. That was an Aussie idiom for no chance at all, he knew, but he held aces up his sleeve, and Coober
might change his mind. “I understand, but I've had quite a bit of experience with racing camels in Saudi Arabia two years ago. Maybe you know Sheik Abdul Mohammed? He's one of the top breeders, raising and selling the best racing camels in the Middle East.”

Coober's green eyes widened. “I'll be gob smacked, mate. Of course I know of 'im!” His voice rose in excitement. “Why, I have four of his offspring right here! Two geldings and two broodmares.”

Grinning, Jake said, “I'd like to see them. Are they back there?” He pointed to another group of barns and corrals partially hidden behind a high brush hedge.

“They are, mate.”

Jake felt Coober testing him, probably trying to figure out if Jake was being honest. It was one thing to be a name dropper, quite another to be proficient enough around camels that Coober might rent two of his animals for them to take to Kalduke.

“If I show you that I know how to ride a camel and take care of it, would you reconsider renting us two of them?”

Again, Coober rubbed his spiky jaw. “I dunno, mate.”

“We're willing to give you a thousand U.S. dollars a day to rent your animals. I promise we'll take good care of them.”

Eyes lighting up at the promise of good money, Coober grinned. “Well, mate, now you're talking. But listen, these camels are my friends, and I can't just let you walk out of here on your word alone. I won't rent to roughies.”

“I understand,” Jake told him solemnly. Aussie slang was a world of its own, and Jake knew “roughie” meant a rough or wild, irresponsible person.

Several camels had gathered around Coober, and one was nibbling playfully at his hat, another tugging at the damp red-and-white kerchief around his neck. Camels were like curious children, and Jake was thrilled to see such intelligence in their dark brown eyes—eyes framed with the longest, thickest black eyelashes in the animal kingdom.

“Tell you what, mate,” Coober said, “how about I take you and your missus back there and watch you groom, saddle and then ride them? Once you've got them properly saddled and all, we'll take a short ride so I can see how you handle them.”

Kai opened her mouth to protest. No way was she climbing up on a camel! Not without adequate preparation and instruction first!

Jake gave Kai a glance, his voice apologetic. “My wife is just getting over a nasty migraine from our sixteen-hour flight, so she's not up to riding today, mate. We were planning on starting this trip tomorrow, when the doctor gives her the go-ahead. Would it be okay if you watch me go through the motions? Decide whether or not you want to rent us two of your camels, based on my performance?”

Kai snapped her mouth shut. Jake was fast on his feet, she'd give him that. She sent Coober what she hoped was an appeasing smile.

“Oh…sorry, missus. My wife, Darla, always gets them head-bangers, too. Nasty roughies, they are. Lay her up a day or two. So you have my condolences.”

“Yes…well, er, I'm not feeling up to riding much of anything today, Mr. Johnson. But my husband is an ace at handling camels, so I think you'll be convinced that we'll take very good care of your friends here.”

Nodding, Coober smiled a little. “I understand, missus, I really do. Well, come on, mate, let me show you my four racing camels. They're in the back…and they're beautiful. Did you know I've won nearly every race here in the Outback with my two geldings? They're as fit as a mallee bull. They come straight from that sheik's bloodstock.”

Jake gave Kai a meaningful look and reached out to grasp her hand. She complied somewhat reluctantly and fell into step beside him as they headed off between the rectangular corrals, trudging through the loose red sand. Holding Jake's hand after so many years brought back poignant memories to Kai. His grip was strong, firm, and yet he monitored the amount of pressure he exerted so he didn't hurt her. Heart hammering, Kai swallowed. She didn't know what to do. She was drawn to Jake, and a huge part of her wanted to reignite her friendship with him…and more. But that scared the hell out of her. She'd had a terrible, wrenching relationship a year ago, and was still healing from it. Yet her heart was starting to yearn for Jake.

He slowed the pace until Coober was a good twenty steps ahead of them. “I didn't think you wanted to show Coober how awkward you'd be on a camel,” Jake told her in a whisper. He liked having Kai's hand in his. For so long, after both of them had left the res, he'd pined away for her. And later, as a man, he could never fully forget her. Feeling as if he were in a dream, he squeezed Kai's fingers gently. For a moment her eyes went soft with longing, making his heart race with joy. Trying to keep his emotions at bay, he gave her a boyish smile.

Kai grinned and shyly squeezed his strong fingers in re
turn. Something was happening. It was almost magical. And scary. “Good thinkin', camel cowboy. I'll just watch what you do and try to pick it up real fast, so by tomorrow morning I can convince Coober I've ridden them half my life.”

Jake caught her glinting gaze. Taking advantage of their cover as a married couple, he squeezed her hand tenderly once more. For him, it was a powerful moment, one that made his heart open and sing like the sun rising at dawn.

Kai wanted to hold Jake's hand forever. From time to time, Coober would turn to make sure they were following. Maybe this cover of being married wasn't so bad, after all. Jake smiled merrily at Coober and walked with a plucky stride that made her think he really did enjoy holding her hand. Did he? Or was it an act? Kai couldn't be sure, but she knew it was genuine from her end.

“Here they are, mates. My pride and joy!” Coober halted at a pipe fence and gestured proudly to the animals. Inside were four white camels with single humps. Two of them, the females, were on one side of a barrier, the two geldings on the other.

Jake reluctantly released Kai's hand, moved up to the fence and rested his arms on the top rail. “Both of your girls are pregnant,” he observed, seeing the swollen bellies of the camels in the left side of the enclosure.

“Yes, they are,” Coober said. “Bred to the best bull in the Outback, Sheik Wind. You heard of 'im?” Coober rested his hands on the fence a few feet from where Jake stood.

“Sure have. That bull came directly from Sheik Mohammed's core stock. Do you own him?”

Coober grinned proudly. “Yes, I do. My missus thought
I was fair dinkum about putting out the money to buy him when he was a yearling. I told her he had the goods. And most of my business is using him as a breeding bull for other racing stock here in the Outback. There's quite a race circuit in the Red Center. Not much else to do out here, and racing camels is big.”

Jake eyed the two white geldings. Racing camels were more trim, athletic and slender than normal camel stock. “These must be from your bull, too? They look like him.” Jake knew that Coober would want him to be savvy about anatomy and breeding as well as care and handling. He now thanked his stars that he'd spent that stretch of time working with the sheik and his boys. It was going to pay off handsomely.

“Hooley dooley!” Coober said, growing excited again. “It's just incredible that an American bloke would know so much!”

“So who do I get to work with here?” Jake asked, gesturing to the two racing geldings.

“Well, mate, I'm gonna let you work with Freddy here. The gelding closest to you that's eyeing you in a friendly fashion.”

“You've trained them yourself?”

“That's right, mate. With love. I don't believe in beating a camel into submission. There's galahs—foolish people—at other camel stations out here who do, but I don't do it.”

“The sheik taught me that love and firmness are the only way to train a camel,” Jake told him seriously. Camels were too damn intelligent to take a whip to. They could
strike not only with their front feet, but with their rear ones as well, and they could kill or badly injure an unsuspecting man with a sideways strike, too. If a camel didn't like you, it would lie in wait to nail you with one of its deadly kicks. Jake had seen one handler, a kid of ten, go flying six feet into the air. The boy had smacked a racing camel in the nose as punishment one day, and came away with a broken leg. No, camels were not animals to push around. Sharing peaceful coexistence based upon trust, respect and appreciation, was the best way to raise and train them.

Kai watched from outside the corral as the two men slipped between the pipe rails. She admired Jake's confidence as he walked right up to the proud, arrogant looking camel. Freddy lifted his furry neck high and then tilted his head to one side to gaze down upon him. Kai had to admit that the camel's huge, sparkling eyes were beautiful. She admired the animal's grace. When Jake stretched up his hand, Freddy opened his huge, cavernous mouth, revealing large yellowed teeth. Then, with his long, thin pink tongue, he licked Jake's palm.

“Beauty! You do know your camels, mate,” Coober noted in a pleased voice. “All camels like the salt on the palm of your hand. Camel handlers know that, too. Come on, let me take you into the barn. They'll follow us like children.”

Kai decided to head to the barn as well to watch what Jake did. Coober might have them saddle the camels tomorrow, and she had to know how to do it. Stepping into the shade of the building, near the gaping doorway, she felt the hot, dry breeze sweep past her, cooling her slightly.
Coober had brought out brushes, a hoof pick of some sort and an odd-looking saddle. Kai wondered how one could saddle a single-humped camel, but now she saw the ingenuous device.

The saddle had a hole in the middle that fit over the camel's hump. It was thickly padded, of course, so that the animal's back wouldn't be rubbed raw by the metal frame, which was covered in thick, soft red leather. The saddle had two seats, one in front of the hump and one behind. The contraption reminded Kai of a pair of English saddles, with stirrups, and girths wrapped beneath the belly of the camel. This was going to be interesting! She hooked one booted foot up on the fence rail and watched, fascinated.

Jake was a pro at grooming a camel, she realized as she watched him pick up each of the animal's huge feet and rest it against his hard, curved thigh. Then he used the hoof pick to clean between the clefts of the velvety, thick footpads. Freddy had taken an instant liking to Jake and stood very patiently while he cleaned and brushed him. The gelding had a permanent nose peg made out of wood that rested in one flared nostril. There was a light rope attached to it. That was how a camel was steered, Kai realized. A horse had a place in its mouth where a bit could rest, but a camel chewed a cud, which would make a bit uncomfortable. So a simple nose peg was the “bit” that guided this twenty-five hundred pound animal.