Clearly there was more to the shy little priestess than met the eye.
As he and the rider watched, the priestess continued to search the zorel’s broad back until she seemed to find what she was looking for. With a low, “Ah-ha!” she plucked something off of its midsection, just where the close-set scales of the front met the feathery hair of the hind end, and flicked it away.
“There now,” she said, going back to the zorel’s head. “It’s gone and you’re all right. I know it hurt but I got rid of it and it won’t bite you anymore.”
The huge beast put its head down and nosed her gratefully and the girl wrapped her arms around the massive head and gave the beast a hug. She didn’t seem at all frightened of its fangs or the dilated nostrils which were still puffing hot steam. She simply stroked the creature affectionately and murmured words of kindness into its great, tufted ears until it was fairly purring with contentment.
“I say!” The Tenebrian rider who had been angry at first, was now staring at the little priestess in apparent astonishment. “That beast has been the most recalcitrant, intractable, stubborn creature I’ve ever known! It took my trainer months to break him to the saddle and even now he snaps and hisses when I mount him—but she’s got him eating out of her hand in seconds!”
He went forward to the little priestess, who was still stroking the zorel’s long, soft whiskers and patting its nose. This time Roke let him go, though he kept right behind him, making certain to stay within reaching distance in case the Tenebrian threatened Ellilah again.
But the rider didn’t seem inclined to violence.
“How did you do that?” he asked the little priestess. “How did you quiet him so quickly?”
“By not beating him to start with,” she snapped at him, looking up with flashing green eyes. “Did you even stop to wonder why he was bucking before you started in with your crop?”
“I…” The Tenebrian looked shocked at being spoken to in such a frank manner by such a little slip of a female, but he finally answered. “I thought he was just being headstrong,” he admitted. “He is a most stubborn and disobedient beast, you know, Miss.”
“He was in pain,” Ellilah said, frowning. “He had a burrowing gnaw-worm right under his saddle! They’re obvious enough if you look for them—you should have seen it before you put his tack on.”
“I didn’t put it on myself!” The Tenebrian sounded offended, as though she’d accused him of doing manual labor unbefitting someone of his station.
“Well who did, then?” Ellilah demanded.
“My groom, of course,” the Tenebrian said loftily.
“Then you ought to fire him and do it yourself,” the little priestess lectured. “If you own an animal, you ought to take care of it personally. Otherwise, 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.”