The Priestess and the Thief Kindred Tales 30 - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,68
him. “Then offer a reward if they do as you ask. Zorels are highly intelligent beasts. They can learn direction like ‘go left’ and ‘go right’. Or you can point and say, ‘go to that post,’ or ‘stop here.’ You need barely touch the reins at all with a well-trained zorel who knows what you want and is willing to work with you. Watch…”
She was using the Duke’s mount, Wind Chaser, as an example because he really was an extremely pliant zorel when he wasn’t being bitten by bore worms. Grabbing his long, feathered mane, she swung herself up onto his broad back and took the reins lightly in one hand.
“Windy, dear,” she said, stroking his strong neck caressingly. “Do you see the water trough over there?” As she spoke, she pointed to the trough, which stood just outside the stables.
Wind Chaser looked in the direction she was pointing and snorted once—a definite affirmative.
“I want you to go to the trough and stop,” Elli told him. “And there’s a nice fresh krisper for you if you do it nicely.”
Wind Chaser snorted eagerly and trotted quickly to the trough, stopping just in front of it. He bent his head for a sip from the trough and then turned his long, flexible neck back towards Elli for the promised reward.
“Good boy!” she exclaimed, giving him the krisper she had in her pocket. “Aren’t you just the best good boy?” She stroked him lovingly as he chewed and Wind Chaser fairly purred under her caresses.
“That’s most impressive, Miss,” Yanus, the head groom said, frowning. “But it’s clear to see you’ve got a gift with zorels—how can the rest of us make them do what we want when we don’t have the same gift as yourself?”
“You don’t have to have a gift to get along with zorels,” Elli told him. “None of my brothers or my father have the same, er, connection with them that I do, but they train zorels every day.”
“Yes, but I’m bettin’ as that they was raised with the creatures,” another groom protested. “Beggin’ your pardon, Miss, but none of us had anything to do with them before the Crown Prince decided he wanted to move the castle to Pok and took us all with him—may he live forever,” he added quickly.
“You don’t have to be raised with zorels to work with them,” Elli said firmly. “You just need to be a kind and patient person. Yanus, come here. I want you to take my place on Windy’s back and ask him to return to his stall.”
“Well…I don’t know if he’ll listen to me as he does to you, Miss,” the head groom said doubtfully. “But I’ll try.”
He walked over as Elli was swinging down from the large gray zorel’s broad back. As she was handing the reins to the head groom, she couldn’t help noticing that he had some strange purple blotches on the backs of his hands and forearms. The color stood out against the pale blue of his regular skin tone and the flesh there almost looked melted and disfigured.
“Oh, Yanus—what happened to your hands?” Elli exclaimed, filled with concern.
The head groom flushed, his pale blue face going nearly purple with embarrassment.
“If you please, Miss, it’s nothing—just an incident with the water trough, that’s all.”
“But the water trough is filled with water—not acid!” Elli exclaimed. “What in the world happened?”
“He got splashed, Miss,” another groom explained. “Our skin don’t react well to the water here, is all. That’s why we’re all of us so careful of the trough and try to keep out of the way when the sky spits on us.”
“You mean when it rains?” Elli asked.
“Yes, Miss.” Yanus nodded. “Please don’t worry,” he added, clearly seeing the concern on Elli’s face. “It doesn’t hurt anymore and it ‘ent like I’m one of the nobles and have to be careful of my complexion.” He laughed roughly. “A groom don’t have to be pretty, you know. It ‘ent like the Crown Prince is going to choose me as his Bride for the Night anytime soon.”
This brought a collective roar of laughter from the other Tenebrian grooms which seemed to ease the tension. But it made Elli realize exactly why they hated normal water and could only use the milky blue stuff that had been treated with chemicals from their home planet.
Regular water was disfiguring to them. No wonder all the nobles, who were so vain of their complexions, ran if it started to rain!