The Priestess and the Thief Kindred Tales 30 - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,18
how can you know if something’s wrong?”
“I have never heard of any such thing.” The Tenebrian rider scowled like a scolded schoolboy.
“Well, now you have,” Ellilah said shortly. “This is a good, sweet boy you have here.” She stroked the zorel’s long muzzle again and it snorted gently and rubbed its cheek eagerly against her small hand. “You ought to be ashamed, letting someone else take care of him and just assuming he wanted to be bad instead of looking to see what was bothering him.”
“I say…” the Tenebrian said, and then seemed to run out of words. He shook his head and finally found his tongue. “Girl, do you know who I am? I am the Duke of the Closewild Lands. No one has dared to chastise me as you do since I left the nursery and my governess behind at the age of ten cycles!”
“I’m just telling you the truth—if you own an animal, you have to take care of it,” the little priestess said stubbornly.
“And just who do you think you are to lecture me like this?” the Duke demanded.
“I’m just—” Ellilah began.
“She’s the Zorel Entrancer,” Roke said, stepping out from behind the Tenebrian to get into the conversation.
Up until then, he had been standing back watching, just out of the girl’s immediate line of sight. Also, she’d been giving all her attention to the zorel—who had clearly fallen in love with her—and the indignant Tenebrian Duke. Now she seemed to see and recognize Roke for the first time, for her green eyes went wide and her cheeks flushed.
“You!” she exclaimed faintly.
“Yes, my lady.” Roke nodded at her and turned back to the Tenebrian. “This is Lady Ellilah—she is known far and wide as the premiere zorel trainer in the galaxy, which is why they call her ‘The Zorel Entrancer.’ If she tells you that you are treating your beast incorrectly, then you had better change your ways, Sir, because Lady Ellilah is never wrong when it comes to zorels.”
Of course, he spun the whole story off the top of his head. He had always been good at telling tales—too good, his Sire had always said. But he could see that it was working—the Tenebrian rider, who had been so indignant just a moment ago, was looking at the little priestess with new respect.
Ellilah, for her part, was still staring at Roke with an open mouth and wide eyes.
“So does she travel all around, training zorels?” The Tenebrian Duke asked Roke.
“It’s more accurate to say she trains people who own zorels how to train and handle them,” Roke replied.
Because as far as he could see, that was exactly what the little priestess had been doing—lecturing the tall Tenebrian on the proper care of his mount.
“It is a gift given to her by the Kindred Goddess,” he continued, spinning the story out to its logical conclusion. “And you should feel gratified, Sir, to have encountered her. She just saved your own beast from a pernicious bore-worm.”
“A burrowing gnaw-worm,” Roke repeated firmly. “If it had been allowed to continue what it was doing, it might have done great harm to what is obviously an expensive animal.”
“Yes, by the Gods—damnably expensive!” the Duke exclaimed, his pale blue skin flushing a darker shade as he spoke. “And I’ve been thinking of returning him to the breeder. It’s a waste of money, having an animal so stubborn and mean, for all he looks so fine in a saddle.”
“You don’t have to do that!” Ellilah exclaimed, still stroking the zorel’s nose. “I can teach you how to gentle him. He’ll be as sweet and quiet as a lambkin when I’m done with him.”
“Well…” The Duke looked at her thoughtfully. “I suppose I could procure you an invitation to the palace. There is a Formal Introduction period tonight and I am close personal friends with the Crown Prince,” he added importantly.
“That won’t be necessary,” Roke said quickly. He had heard of the strange customs of the Tenebrians and he didn’t want the little priestess anywhere near them.
But Ellilah looked up at him with fire in her green eyes.
“Yes, it will be necessary for me to get an invitation,” she said clearly. “How else can I get into the Tenebrian Court and help the Duke, here, learn to train his zorel?”
Roke frowned back at her. What was she playing at? Why in the world would she want to get into the Tenebrian Court? But clearly the little priestess had her