he demanded.

"Sorry!" I blurted out before dissolving into giggles. I always found it difficult to be serious with the irreverent Sinjar around.

"Tisana," he warned. "You're going to be locked up as a lunatic if you don't watch it. Mount up."

I would, of course, set fire to anyone who ever tried to lock me up, but, unfortunately, I had to let that one pass, saying merely, "I'll try to remember that."

It occurred to me belatedly that it might have been a mistake to bring Sinjar along on this trip because he would undoubtedly keep me laughing the whole way- especially if he started hitting on Morgana, who was ignoring him, as usual.

"You know, if I didn't know better," Sinjar remarked, "I'd say he was a gelding after all the carousing the two of you did back then and never managed to get you in child."

"That's 'with child'," I corrected him. "You're only 'in foal' if you're a mare." Of course, I simply had to ask this next question. "Seen his balls, have you?"

"Oh, yeah," Sinjar replied. "See them all the time- big, hairy human balls. Not as big as mine, of course, but he's got 'em, all right."

"His dick's not as big as yours, either," I said as I climbed aboard Morgana.

"True." No brag, just fact. "What about the cat?"

*99 *22*.

100.

Cheryl Brooks "Nice big dick," I replied. "Just tasting the fluids from it gives me orgasms."

"Whoa!"

We started off then, with Gerald on my shoulder and Max at Morgana's heels. What Rafe might have thought about the menagerie I was accumulating, he didn't say, and I chose not to bring it to his attention since he already seemed to consider me to be a bit touched in the upper works. I ignored him and kept up my conversation with Sinjar.

"You know, Morgana says she's never had an orgasm. Do mares generally climax?"

"Well, all the ones I've covered have," he said- again, no brag, just fact. "Of course," he added reflectively, "I suppose they might have faked it. Couldn't say for sure."

"So, it's normal for a mare to have one?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Hear that, Morgana?" I said, giving her a nudge on the withers. "Told you Sinjar could help you out!"

Morgana's reply was the most disgusted snort I believe I've ever heard from a horse in my life.

"Lost cause there, Sinjar," Calla said. "She really doesn't like studs-or geldings, either, for that matter. I mean, she won't even talk to me!"

"Now, guys," I said soothingly, "you know very well that the fact that it's wintertime has a lot to do with her attitude. Wait until she comes into heat this spring and I'm sure she'll change her mind."

While this might have been true, Morgana didn't seem to appreciate being talked about and gave a little buck. I decided I'd better take the hint and shut up.

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warrior 101.

"Okay, guys," I said with a sigh. "Let's talk about something else. She's getting miffed."

We'd gone a fair distance in apparent silence before Rafe said-rather nastily, I thought, "I know there aren't any flames around here to see in, Tisana, but do you have any idea where we're going?"

I didn't, of course, since I was only following the directions Gerald had given us and hadn't seen any other squirrels. Fortunately, Leo had a reply ready.

"We are following the scent," he said simply. "We do not need flames to see if the scent is strong."

Rafe glanced up at the sky. "It's getting dark," he went on. "Can you follow the trail at night?"

I thought this was a pretty stupid question, myself.

I mean, you only had to look at Leo's eyes to know he could see quite as well in the dark as any other cat-and this was aside from the fact that he was following a scent-but perhaps Rafe wasn't thinking very clearly. I could understand why, of course, but still...

I doubted that I could have responded to that without at least being a little bit sarcastic, but Leo had been a slave for a long time, and there was no malice in his voice when he replied with a simple affirmative. Obviously, he wasn't going to waste either the time or the energy to get angry or defend himself unnecessarily. Of course, he didn't know Rafe very well, and was possibly being cautious since it wouldn't do to start off on the wrong foot with a new owner. This new master/slave relationship would be a strange one, and though it was interesting to watch, the implications still troubled me. It wasn't as though they were recent acquaintances, nor was it like starting a new job. Leo belonged to Rafe-in body, if not *101 *23*.

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Cheryl Brooks in soul-and I found that idea disturbing. No doubt the horses would have had some pithy comments to make if I'd consulted their own thoughts on the subject, but I held off doing so because, as I said before, it was disturbing.

We rode on in silence for a time, but then Gerald began chattering away at something I couldn't see in the rapidly growing darkness.

"Find out anything?" I asked when he was quiet again.

"No, they say they didn't see anyone pass this way,"

he chirped. "Think the big cat knows what he's doing?"

"I have no idea," I said truthfully, "but I certainly hope so! I mean, if he leads us on a wild-goose chase, Rafe will probably beat him to death."

"Looks like someone already tried that-several times, in fact," Gerald commented. "He must be pretty hard to kill."

"Maybe," I conceded, "but I'd still like to see to it that no one ever abused him again. Looking at the scars on him, it's nothing short of amazing that he's managed to survive this long. I wonder what he does to make people so angry with him?"

"Well, I can tell you this much," Gerald said roundly.

"If what you said about him a while ago is true, I certainly wouldn't let him near one of my women!"

I took his meaning instantly. "You think jealous men did that to him? Really?" I'd had similar thoughts, myself, of course, but for real? I didn't think so.

"Do you want any other man now that you've been with him?" Gerald asked. "Could anyone else ever measure up? If you were to ask me, which you didn't, I'd say it's a wonder no one's ever castrated him."

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warrior 103.

He'd even had scars there, I'd noticed. As I've mentioned before, what I didn't know about Leo would fill volumes.

"He's old, too," Gerald went on. "He may not look it, and it may not be in actual years, but there's something about him...I can feel it. His soul seems ancient. Like an otterell's."

Unlike many other wild creatures on Utopia, otterells were one of the few indigenous species for which there seemed to be no Earth equivalent, and for which early settlers had had to come up with an original name.

They were strange beings, somewhat reminiscent of owls-especially in their reputation for wisdom, which was due, in part, to their remarkable longevity-but in appearance they were more reptilian, having scales instead of feathers. Their eyes, however, were very much like an owl's: large and deeply set in an almost flat, oval face, giving you the feeling that they could see past any sham and knew the deepest secrets of your soul. I had spoken with one once, and while he did look like an old sage, I reached the conclusion that he was either wise in the extreme, or he was completely crazy, like a reclusive holy man driven insane from the sheer lack of human contact. He spoke in parables and riddles, and, while I might have understood his words, his meaning was obscure. In the end, I decided that I simply wasn't enough of a philosopher to figure him out and left it at that.

But Gerald was at least partly right, for I had also noted that Leo seemed older than he appeared. I found it interesting that Gerald could sense it without having spent much time with him. Animals will often surprise *103 *23*.

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Well, they surprised me often enough, anyway. I really couldn't vouch for anyone else, since the only other person I knew of who could talk to animals was my grandmother, and she'd been dead for many years, so I had no idea how directly she had been able to communicate with them.

"Must be awful to have been a slave for so long,"

I thought, "though I've got to admit that I, for one, am very glad no one has ever castrated him." Then it occurred to me that there were at least two castrated males in our company. "Gee, I hope Goran and Calla aren't listening in on this conversation! Well, my half of it, anyway! That might be a sore subject for them."

"Water under the bridge," Goran, who obviously was listening, put in. "It happened so long ago, I hardly remember."

"Ever resent it?" I inquired curiously. His casual dismissal of what most men considered to be an integral part of themselves and something to be protected at all costs surprised me. I think I would have been sorely tempted to kill anyone responsible for yanking out my ovaries, so I wouldn't have blamed any gelding I knew for not doing his level best to kick the nuts off of any human male he happened to meet, just on general principles.

"Not really," Goran said. "I mean, I see a mare and I know that she's attractive, but that's about it. Some geldings are different that way, but really, I just don't give a shit."

"There you go, Morgana!" Sinjar said heartily.

"A guy who isn't hot after your pretty little tail! Hey, *104 *23*.

warrior 105.

maybe you'll talk to him, seeing as how you won't ever talk to me."

If Morgana had anything to say in reply to this, I must've missed it. In the conversational lull that followed, I realized that I'd much rather have been talking to Leo, which made me wish very much that Rafe had stayed home.

"Wish I could talk to Leo the way I can with you guys," I lamented. "I could be having a terribly erotic conversation right now."

"It's just as well," Sinjar said morosely. "We'd have to listen in and then I, for one, would get all hot and bothered and Little Miss Frigid there would still ignore me-or kick me in the teeth if I tried anything."

"You could try Leo's line on her," I suggested.

Sinjar's ears pricked up at this, even turning his head to eye me with significant interest. "Oh, yeah? Might be worth a try. What is it?"

"'I will give you joy unlike any you have ever known', " I quoted. "It's true, too."

"You know, it's impolite to talk to another species while I'm around," Gerald complained. "I can't under- stand the horses at all. I'm only getting half of this."

"Well, I'm afraid you'll just have to get over it!" I shot back at him. "Because I refuse to translate!"

Unfortunately, I said that last bit aloud, and while Leo might have guessed that I was addressing the squirrel that was perched on my shoulder, Rafe didn't.

"Have you gone completely mad living in that house all alone?" Rafe demanded. "First you laugh at nothing, and now you're talking either to yourself or to some imaginary person."

*105 *23*.

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Cheryl Brooks "All witches are insane," I replied. "Didn't you know? We'd have to be to do what we do."

Rafe's response to that was a growl of sorts. Leo remained silent, and while I would have given anything to be able to read his thoughts, it was probably best that he couldn't read mine since I was carrying his child! I wasn't ready to divulge that secret yet.

According to my mother, humans were pretty hard to read, anyway. She thought it was because people had too many thoughts going on at one time and had never been able to carry on telepathic conversations the way I could with the animals. Animals are more straightforward in their thinking, and, being somewhat telepathic themselves, they can communicate in ways humans could normally only guess at. Unfortunately, the fact that they can't do it across species is readily apparent, even to the most casual observer. I hoped the local animals wouldn't hit on the idea of using me as an interpreter to settle disputes, because then I'd be in the middle of even more fights than I was now. Of course, if they pissed me off too much, I could always end the conflict by killing and eating them.

"You should be a vegetarian," Gerald commented, obviously having read that thought. "We'd be more trusting."

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it was impolite to eavesdrop?"

"I never claimed to be polite," Gerald countered.

"I'm a squirrel, remember?"

I'd never been around so many chatty, nosy animals before in my life! "You guys are starting to get on my nerves," I said, growling about as much as Rafe had.

"Why don't all of you be quiet?"

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"I haven't said a word for miles," Rafe said defensively. "You're the only one who's said anything."

"Forgive me, O exalted one!" I grumbled. Probably shouldn't have said that, since pissing Rafe off might be a bad idea with respect to Leo. Then I decided, what the hell, and finally asked the question which had been nagging at me since we began this quest.

"So, Rafe. If we do manage to find your kids, how will you repay us?"

Rafe didn't reply for a moment-for once in his life, perhaps choosing his words carefully. "He is my slave, so I owe him nothing," he said at last. "You are simply helping out an old friend." He put an ironic emphasis on that last word, making me wonder why he didn't say "lover." It could have been that he didn't want Leo to know we'd been lovers once, but the reason for that escaped me.

I could have pointed out that chasing his boys through a snowy forest went above and beyond the call of duty, even for an old "friend," but knowing that Rafe could be downright bullheaded when it suited him, any argument I might have made was probably futile, anyway.

"Well, so much for getting Leo in payment for services rendered," I thought irritably . "Crap!"

Gerald chuckled. "Want me to bite him?"

"Nah, don't bother," I replied. "It'd just piss him off even more, and he's annoying enough as it is. Any ideas as to what I ever saw in him?"