“Mistress, a strange mal is at the entrance.”
Casperdan looked idly down at the dog.
“Who’s its master?”
“He comes alone,” the dog replied wonderingly.
“Well, tell him my father and mother are not at home and to come back tomorrow.”
“Mistress”—the dog flattened his ears and lowered his head apologetically—”he says he comes to see you.”
The girl laughed, and silver flute notes skittered off the polished stone floor.
“To see me? Stranger and stranger. And really alone?” She swung perfect legs off the balustrade. “What kind of mal is this?”
“A horse, mistress.”
The flawless brow wrinkled. “Horse? Well, let’s see this strange mal that travels alone.”
They walked toward the foyer, past cages of force filled with rainbow-colored tropical birds.
“Tell me, Patch . .. what is a ‘horse’?”
“A large four-legged vegetarian.” The dog’s brow twisted with the pain of remembering. Patch was extremely bright for a dog. .”There are none on Calder. I do not think there are any in the entire system.”
“Off-planet, too?” Her curiosity was definitely piqued, now. “Why come to see me?”
“I do not know, mistress.”
“And without even a human over h—”
Voice and feet stopped together.
The mal standing in the foyer was not as large as some. La Moure’s elephants were much bigger. But it was extraordinary in other ways. Particularly the head. Why … it was exquisite! Truly breathtaking. Not an anthropomorphic beauty, but something uniquely its own.
Patch slipped away quietly.
The horse was black as the Pit, with tiny exceptions. The right front forelock was silver, as was the diamond on its forehead. And there was a single streak