Forgotten Suns by Judith Tarr Read Free Book Online Page B

that one day she wandered down past the barn,
looking for something in the staff cabins and not paying attention to anything
else, and walked right through the antelope pen.
    She found herself face to horns with the male. It wasn’t a
threat exactly. His stepdaughter was playing with her shadow in the corner, and
Khalida had come between her and the rest of the herd.
    Khalida stopped. The baby, encouraged by her mother’s
calling, skittered past. The male backed away, bowed to Khalida, and left her
standing there with her mouth open.
    Aisha found that out later. The first she knew of it was a
bellow like a drill sergeant’s, loud enough to lift the schoolbot off its
moorings and set it bouncing against the ceiling.
    Aisha had never heard Aunt Khalida in full cry before. It
brought Aisha and Jamal out of the classroom and Vikram out of the cabins, but
she wasn’t calling them.
    Rama took his time answering. He had a polishing cloth over
his shoulder and a bridle in his hand.
    Once she had him in front of her, Khalida went back to her
normal volume. “I’m sure you can explain this,” she said, jabbing her chin
toward the herd.
    “They’re lovely, aren’t they?” he said. “The mares are all
in foal. By spring we’ll have a proper herd.”
    “What do we want a herd of antelope for?”
    Aisha could feel the thunder rumbling in that. She could see
Rama wasn’t going to do anything to calm it down, too. She butted in with as
much wide-eyed innocence as she could. “It’s an experiment, Aunt. Remember that
paper you and Mother wanted to write about alien riding animals? We’re going to
prove your thesis.”
    “The children are,” Rama said smoothly. “I’ll be the
illustration. I’ve adapted a saddle for the stallion, and rigged a bridle.
Would you like to see?”
    “You can’t call them mares and stallions,” Khalida said
through clenched teeth. “They’re not horses.”
    “No,” he said, “but they were bred for riding. I’ve been
teaching the stallion his basics. See.”
    He held out his hand. The male snorted at Khalida and danced
on tiptoe around her, and slid familiarly and comfortably in under Rama’s arm.
    He was smaller than the average male of his kind, about as
tall as Jinni, but he was sturdy and well made like Rama, and he was laughing
at Aunt Khalida. Aisha could feel it. It tugged at her lips and made her want
to laugh, too.
    Khalida’s eyebrows had gone up. “Basics are turning a wild
animal into a lapdog?”
    “Basics are obedience and discipline and”—Rama raised his
arm and sent the stallion out in a circle around them all, tossing his head and
flagging his tasseled tail—“the skills essential to a ridden animal. Correct
gaits and paces. Balance. Ability to carry a rider with ease and grace.”
    “First a thief,” Khalida said. “Now a riding master. What
will you turn into next? A starpilot?”
    “That’s your skill,” he said. “When I’m done with this
gentleman, he’ll consent to let you ride him. Then you can write your paper
from experience as well as knowledge.”
    “Experience is no authority,” Khalida nastily. She stalked
away. Her back was stiff; it got stiffer the more Rama laughed at her.
    Still, Aisha thought, most of that was temper. She actually
was fascinated. Give her a day or two to get over it and she’d be out there
with Rama, trying her hand with one of the mares.
    Rama had bet on it. He had a second saddle started, and the
bridle in his hand wasn’t a horse bridle. It was made for the wider-set ears
and smaller muzzle of an antelope, without the extra buckle on the side that he
needed to get the headstall over the stallion’s horns. Mares had none, which
made bridling them much simpler.
    “You’re evil,” Aisha said approvingly. He grinned at her. He
was as pleased with himself as a male ever was when things were going his way.

8
    Khalida was losing her grip. Walking through a paddock she
had assumed was empty, not even seeing the