@Blue
"C'mon, boy, don't do this to me," Aya pleaded.
Darkmoon tossed his head and planted his cloven hooves pointedly, refusing to budge an inch as the stable hand leaned back
hard on his lead rope. "Oh, you ox-fucker," Aya growled at him, glaring. He just blinked placidly.
"Look, I
know you don't want the bath, but you're
coated in mud," she tried to reason with the draquus rather than use brute force--despite how previous experience had indicated that wasn't likely to work any better. "What if I sneak you some venison tomorrow?"
That piqued his interest; she felt his curiosity at the word "venison", her beastspeaking gift allowing him to understand her intent even though she spoke aloud in Common.
Technically her employer, and the man who paid him to board Darkmoon, didn't allow the dragon-horse to have meat more than twice a week--despite Aya pointing out more than once that proper care for a draquus required a
well-rounded diet. But keeping meat as an incentive for training was a powerful tool, and she was under strict orders to maintain that structure.
Of course, sometimes "strict orders" were stupid, and she didn't feel too bad ignoring them.
Besides, the promised bribe seemed to have done the trick. Darkmoon perked his ears forward and took a step toward her, allowing the lead rope to slacken fractionally.
"
Thank you." She took another step back and he followed. "Good boy. C'mon, let's get you to--"
A sudden clatter rose from the feed shed, like the sound of a stack of barrels falling loose, followed by a yowl as a startled barn cat came streaking out of the shed and tore off in the direction of the main stables. Aya whipped her head toward the noise and Darkmoon hopped into a half rear, whickering lowly in startled concern.
"What in the bleeding hells was that?" Aya muttered. She gave her--not, not hers, never hers--horse a firm look and looped his lead around the brace post of the paddock fence. "You're not getting out of that bath," she warned him, "I'll be right back."
Ignoring his smug look, she turned and jogged toward the feed shed, sure that whatever she found, she was going to have to clean it up.