The Priestess and the Thief Kindred Tales 30 - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,15

They went through the Silk District first, which was strung with lines, each displaying rich, colorful fabrics flapping in the breeze.

Looney was inclined to shy at these until Elli jumped down for a moment and talked to her. Once she had made the zorel understand there was no real danger from the flapping fabrics, they were able to proceed.

“You really do have a way with beasts,” Tully said, shaking her head. “Is that why you want to see the Tenebrian Crown Prince?”

“Something like that,” Elli said evasively. “But zorels aren’t that hard to deal with, you know. They’re actually quite intelligent. Some of them have the understanding of a five year or six-year-old child—I’ve even heard of some trainers teaching their zorels to read or count.”

Tully snorted.

“Readin’ and countin’ is all well and good but I’d just as soon Looney kept her mind on pullin’ the cart.”

“She will,” Elli assured her. “She’s a good girl—she likes to work hard, you know—as long as she’s not in pain or frightened of something. You just have to let her know everything is all right and then she’ll do her very best for you every time.”

Tully just gave her a sidelong glance and Elli realized she’d said too much. People always started looking at her like that when she told them how their zorels were thinking or feeling. They thought she was odd for knowing—or thought she was only pretending to know or, worse of all, thought that she was crazy. But understanding zorels came so naturally to Elli it was hard to remember she ought not to speak about it to other people.

“What’s that interesting smell?” she asked, to change the subject.

“Spice District up ahead,” Tully said shortly.

Elli saw that the flapping fabrics had given way to stalls with wide baskets of many-colored spices. The air was thick with their scents—sharp and sweet and bitter and tangy and aromatic and peppery all at once. Looney sneezed and snorted but kept pulling steadily as the road climbed upward.

After the Spice District, they passed by the Leatherworks District and then the Metalworks, where every shop seemed to have pots and pans hanging outside, banging and clanging noisily against each other. Elli watched anxiously as Looney laid her tall, tufted ears back at the noise, but the doe kept pulling steadily, so there was no need to get out and reassure her again.

The people in the streets seemed to be mostly humanoids from Elli’s home world of Torl Prime. Though every once in a while, she would catch sight of a Tenebrian, their tall, thin bodies swathed in lace and velvet, just as Tully had described them. Some were carried in jeweled chairs, borne on the broad shoulders of burly servants but most of them were mounted on zorels of extremely fine breeding. Their fore and hind quarters matched seamlessly and their feathery manes and the long tufts of their tails were done up in elaborate ribbons and bows as fancy as their owners’ clothing.

The Tenebrians carried themselves with an air of aloof grace. In addition to their great height and slenderness, they also had pale blue skin—which in their women was milky white, giving them an almost albino appearance. Their complexions and manners set them aside from the ruddy-skinned humanoids from Torl Prime. It was clear they were aristocrats, out for a ride among the peasantry with whom they had no wish to mingle.

Elli watched them with anxiety, wondering how in the world she was going to get any of them to notice her—let alone get one to let her into the palace so she could beg for a bit of their Healing Lattice. Well, she supposed the Goddess would have to make a way if she really wanted her to fulfill this quest she had set herself.

At last they came to the Greengrocers District where Tully was to sell her thunder melons. As they rounded the corner and climbed yet another hill, there was an opening in the shops and the tall, golden walls of the palace came into view at last.

“Ohhh…” Elli breathed, looking up at its tall spires and gleaming battlements. “It glitters just like gold!” she exclaimed.

“That’s only ‘cause it’s built of sparkle stone,” Tully said sourly. “Damn Tenebrians brought it with them from their home world. Goddess only knows how much it cost to transport all that lot but they done it all right.”

She spat over the side of the wagon, as though to express her opinion of the