their tools when they were done.
Rosa made a note of who took pity on his fellows and gave them the tools, and who did not. 'I'd like to add a point for whoever shares his egg-things,' she said quietly to Lily, who nodded. 'Not penalize for not sharing, but reward for generosity.'
'That's a good idea,' the Godmother replied, and designated a Brownie to keep track of just that. Prince Desmond, interestingly enough, had neither tools, nor trouble. Rosa wondered if he had another magic spell to keep the eggs from breaking. If so, it was so minor she couldn't see it from this distance. Well, that was not against the rules, and it was a good idea...though it also made it impossible to say whether he would have shared or not.
Then up rode Siegfried and Leopold, who dismounted and took down those bundles of greenery from behind their saddles, and immediately it became clear what the bushes on the backs of their horses were. Fodder.
'Interesting,' Lily said quietly. 'I would have expected them to try hay, which sheep will only eat in the winter. But those are bean plants, which sheep love.'
'Do you suppose that Siegfried went and listened to sheep to find out what they like?' Rosa wondered aloud.
'I would not be in the least surprised.' Lily leaned forward and watched them keenly. Leopold and Siegfried, instead of going to the milling, frightened flock, went to the sheepfold and asked for six sheep that were not in a panic to be released. And as the gate was opened, they stood side by side and thrust the bundles of fodder in the sheep's surprised faces. Then, still side by side, they backed away. The sheep were hungry, the men were not acting like predators and the bean blossoms must have smelled delicious. They managed to lead all six sheep, step by careful step, across the space between the sheepfolds and into the pens. While not as fast as the shepherds and their dogs, it was efficient, and clever.
Then they went and dealt with their eggs, just as efficiently, using a spoon and some sort of scoop. When they were done, they generously gave the tools over to two of the other Princes without even being asked.
'Very kind,' Lily murmured.
Then just as calmly as they had arrived, the two men got on their horses and galloped off. A slow gallop, meant to eat distance without tiring the horse. Rosa felt like applauding.
But the distraction of new riders turning up and trying even more ploys on the hapless sheep was too much, and she turned her attention back to the trial. Several of the men finally decided to be herd dogs themselves, banding together to chivvy all their sheep at the pens at once. Which was fine, and a good idea, but the pens weren't made for more than three sheep each, and the wooly idiots all tried to crowd into one, met the fence, panicked and began leaping over each other's backs to get out again.
It became very clear that eventually what was going to happen was that, short of more magic, or someone who actually knew what to do about the sheep, the Princes were going to keep paying the shepherds to take care of the problem for them, and there were going to be enough discarded implements to get the eggs moved into their lines. Rosa glanced over at Lily, who nodded. They used the mirror to get back to the one set up at the starting line, which was now the finish line.
There were already some of the first arrivals there, with the clerks that Lily had left in charge. These were not the ones who had arrived at the sheepfolds first; their mouse-horses were not exhausted and they were mostly clean of egg. Prince Desmond was among them, standing a little apart from the others, his expression pleasant but unreadable, as he waited for his own horse to be brought to him.
'When this is over, those shepherds back there are going to be able to hire more shepherds to do their work for them,' Leopold said to Siegfried, as they rode toward the finish line. 'In fact, their dogs are going to be able to hire dogs!'
'And a flock of their own to mind.' Siegfried chuckled. He was in a very good mood. He and Leopold had gotten through the first trial in good order, and now that they were on their way back to the finish line, he was extremely pleased with where they were. The mouse-horses seemed pleased, too; they loped along at an easy pace, just about a slow gallop, only a little warm and not at all winded. In fact, he and Leopold were passing the occasional rider whose mouse-horse was refusing to get above a trot, horses whose necks and flanks were spotted with dried flecks of foaming sweat. 'I think they may be the ones who made out the best out of all of us.'
'You're probably right. Still, I have to say, this was not so bad when we used our heads. And your business with the fodder worked a treat.' Leopold grinned at the Northerner, who grinned back.
'We could have moved twice the number of eggs with your spoon trick.' Siegfried had no trouble returning the compliment. 'All things considered, we should do very well in these trials if they are all going to require us to use our heads. You and I are rather good at that.'
The horses made a snorting, snickering sound.
Leopold laughed. 'Face it, we are geniuses.' Then he sobered. 'This gave me a good chance to measure our real opponents, actually. I think I've pinpointed five of them that could give us some serious trouble, and I don't mean mere honest rivals...' He shook his head. 'I don't much like them. They are clever, no doubt of it. They all thought to hire shepherds. But they went at this as if we were all on a battlefield, and I'm not entirely certain they didn't do some bashing in the pack on the race-leg out. Grigor is as cold-blooded as a snake, and Karl looked like he was ready to kill three of the sheep and chuck the carcasses in the pen.'
'The rules didn't say the sheep had to be alive....' Siegfried replied, and shook his head. A chill passed over him, as if the sun had gone behind a cloud for a moment. 'I get the feeling that if that one had thought of it, there'd have been mutton before you could say 'knife,' and never mind the shepherd. I expect to see some more trouble out of Karl. And we should watch our backs carefully anytime he is near.'
Leopold rode on in silence for a moment; they were far enough from any other riders that the only sounds were the pounding of their own mounts hooves on the sod, and their rhythmic blowing as they galloped. 'Themas and Peder might kill each other. Did you see the way they glared at each other? Fairly made my blood run cold.'
'And Stenoth looked like he'd kill the lot of us if someone offered him enough to do it.' Siegfried patted his horse's neck, more to comfort himself than anything. Karl might murder you in a conflict, but Siegfried had the impression that Stenoth would be willing to do so in the dark, when you were least expecting it, if he thought he'd profit from it. 'That mademy blood run cold.'
'Desmond seems like a good chap. Look, there's the line — ' Leopold waved ahead of them, where a faint line of color against the green of the commons had resolved into a line of tiny figures. 'Desmond seems much better
