‘Too bad, she misses out on cute baby horses,’ I said.
Noooo, Simone wailed in my head. Cute babies! I love cute babies!
Ling and Toi shared a grin.
‘How about I take this one, the demon spawn,’ I said. ‘Simone can take the next one, the progeny of one of the Tiger’s stallions or something, a pure animal horse that she can ride here in the Heavens. I’ll have to take mine down to the Earthly and ride it there; I can’t really do much as a snake.’
‘That’s what we were hoping for, ma’am,’ Miss Ling said. ‘We would gladly give each of you such a steed in return for your endorsement that the myth is untrue.’
I hissed with amusement. ‘I won’t let you give them to me, I’ll pay you fair recompense for them. It is not right for the ruler to take gifts from the subjects.’
They bowed their heads, obviously delighted at the turn events were taking.
‘I think the prestige you’ll gain from me and Simone both riding this mare’s progeny will override any prejudice people have about the demon thing,’ I said. ‘I’ll arrange for the Tiger to make his most prized stallions available to you —’
‘He already did, ma’am,’ Ling said, cutting me off, then bobbed her head. ‘I apologise for interrupting.’
‘Is he in on this too?’ I said.
‘He may have had something to do with this, yes,’ Toi said.
‘I am going to tear his whiskers off,’ I said. ‘Trying to put one over on me. Who does he think he is?’
I love you too, baby, the White Tiger said into my ear. I told these two morons that you’d see through their little plot, but they thought you’d be as stupid as his dad — Qing Long — and they’d have to go through all this roundabout bullshit to get where they wanted to be. Stupid assholes, both of them, typical dragons. But it’s a good cause: this mare of hers is a freak of nature, exceptional animal, and his stallion is one of the finest demon horses anywhere. Anything to make people get over this ‘contaminated by demon’ bullshit! Oh, and if you like, I’d be delighted to train the little bastard for you when he’s old enough to be backed.
Miss Ling’s estate sat on the hills to the south of the capital of the Northern Heavens, with large post-and-rail paddocks and a central equestrian complex. She provided riding, racing and war horses for the Celestial community, and had recently diversified into competition horses as well. Her longstanding rivalry with the White Tiger was well-known throughout the Celestial and there were sometimes bets placed on which of the two would win a particular equestrian event.
The foaling yards were close to the main house for easy monitoring. We entered the stable block and Miss Ling guided us to the mare in question; she was located in one of the stalls, its floor lined with sawdust bedding. The foal was with her, gambolling around the stall. Its legs looked impossibly long and it seemed unable to control all four at once; each splayed out in a different direction and the foal glared at them, as if ordering them to behave. The mare watched with bemused tolerance and obvious affection.
The mare was an eventing horse, a thoroughbred that excelled at both dressage and show jumping. Miss Ling had won a couple of Earthly competitions riding her, and there had been much speculation in the Celestial about the price the foal would command when Miss Ling had the mare serviced with frozen semen from one of the world’s top eventing stallions.
‘The stallion that provided the semen was black, with no dilution gene, and everybody knows it,’ Miss Ling said. ‘This mare is bay, and also has no dilution gene, so a palomino or buckskin from the cross is impossible.’
‘My demon stallion is palomino, however,’ Mr Toi said. ‘There was a reasonable chance that he would throw a dilute foal, which would be a loud signal to everybody that my horse was the father. We succeeded: the foal is palomino, red dilute, and a fine little horse. Everybody in the Celestial is aware of the parentage, and they’ll have to get over their prejudice about demon foals if they want to take advantage of this mare’s progeny in future.’
‘It was worth the risk,’ Miss Ling said. ‘We planned to gift this half-demon foal to you; then give a natural-horse foal from one of the Tiger’s stallions to Princess Simone. After that, future progeny will be …’ She searched for the word.
‘A free-for-all,’ I said. ‘Everybody will want one.’
‘We’re hoping that some may even want full brothers to this one as well, since you or the Princess will be riding it,’ Mr Toi said.
‘How dark’s the dad?’ I said. The foal had a cream body with a lighter cream mane and tail; it would take a while for his adult colour to show.
‘The stallion is a very brilliant gold with a completely white mane and tail,’ Mr Toi said. ‘This little fellow will probably be just as rich a colour.’ He leaned on the stable door to watch the foal. ‘My demon stallion is one of the finest mounts on the Celestial — smart, reliable and loyal. If this foal shows any of his traits he will be exceptional.’
‘Sometimes such a mating can produce a fully natural animal,’ Miss Ling said. ‘But we’ve had the foal tested and he has demon essence flowing through his blood.’
‘What are the general implications?’ I said. ‘Will I need to take any special care if I have him as a saddle horse?’
Ling and Toi both shook their heads.
‘My stallion is highly intelligent, to the point of being self-aware,’ Toi said. ‘And this foal seems to have the intelligence of an extremely smart animal. I don’t think you’ll need to give him special attention, and he won’t ever talk —’
‘You stay away from my mummy!’ the foal yelled, sounding like a small boy. He was standing in front of his mother, gangly legs spread wide for support, his tiny carpet-like tail twitching with aggression and his teeth bared.
‘Well, how about that,’ Toi said with amusement.
‘I’m not going to hurt your mummy,’ I said to the foal. ‘I like horses.’
The foal lowered his bulbous forehead, still glaring at me. ‘You look like something that would eat horses.’
I lowered my head as well. ‘Well, I don’t. Usually I take the same form as these two people here, and I look after horses.’
The foal looked back at his mother, who was apparently accustomed to all sorts of Celestial creatures viewing her and was unperturbed by my presence. He glanced from Ling to Toi, unsure.
‘Your mummy isn’t worried about me,’ I said.
‘Mummy’s not real smart,’ the foal said. He backed up slightly so he was closer to her. ‘She don’t talk.’
‘This foal just became worth ten jin of jade all by himself,’ Toi said, still amused. ‘He’s smart and courageous and isn’t afraid to speak his mind.’
‘I can’t take him as a saddle horse now,’ I said. ‘He’s much too valuable as breeding stock.’
Ling and Toi both shook their heads.
‘No, no,’ Toi said. ‘Half-demon horses aren’t useful as breeding stock, they’re always sterile. We can geld him for you and you can use him as a riding horse, no problem at all.’
‘I don’t feel good about doing that to a sentient creature,’ I said, watching the foal.
He overcame his fear and approached me cautiously and with curiosity, although his tiny tail still flapped with agitation. ‘Are you talking about me?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘We think you are very beautiful and all of us want to own you when you