The Feline Wizard by Christopher Stasheff

bucket. The warm, appetizing aroma drifted upward into Balkis' nostrils, making her mouth water even though she wasn't particularly hungry. She remembered the brownies' caution, though, and stayed hidden. However, cats and curiosity havea long relationship, so she did burrow down, hunt out a knothole, and peek.
    She caught her breath.
    Golden hair, regular features, large blue eyes, broad mouth and broader shoulders—it was a young man in his early twenties, easily the most handsome Balkis had ever seen, and a strange warmth began to spread within her. A cow lowed impatiently, and the young man turned to say, “Yes, I know, I know—as soon as you see Sunshine being milked, you become aware of your own need. Patience, sweet cow—I shall tend to you soon.”
    Balkis found herself wishing that he would tend to her instead, and beneath her fur felt her face grow warm. He was so gentle, so cheerful! How could this be the rough, coarse boy against whom the wee folk had warned her?
    “He is the best of them.”
    Balkis looked up, startled to hear a voice resonating so closely with her thoughts. It was Lichi who knelt by her.
    “He is the youngest,” the brownie explained. “The others are quick to put him in his place at every opportunity, and none too gently, either. Nonetheless, he manages to stay cheerful in spite of all temptation to anger and bitterness. They call him…”
    The sound of the name was quite foreign, but Balkis recognized it as a version of “Anthony.” She crouched by the knothole, staring down in fascination as the young man went from one cow to another.
    “Mark well the spots where the milk spills,” Lichi advised, “though I fear most of it will have soaked into the earth before you come.”
    The milk was the farthest thing from Balkis' thoughts at the moment, though she had to admit that it smelled heavenly.
    Anthony was just finishing the last cow when the barn door crashed open and a voice called, “What, sluggard! Are you not done yet? Cease babying those cattle and turn them out to pasture!”
    “Yank their teats harder and faster and be done with
itV
another harsh voice snapped. “Come on, little fool, turn them out!”
    Two young men stepped into sight, muscular under their heavy tunics, heavy-jawed and dark-browed. One had red hair, the other brown.
    “Gently, brothers, gently.” Anthony's voice took on an ingratiating tone with the ease of long practice. “I am almost done with her, take the other three, if you wish.”
    Balkis glared at the intruders with indignation. Why should Anthony toady to these swaggerers? Surely not merely because he was the youngest!
    “If we wish!” A fourth brother shouldered his way between the other two, just as big, even heavier, dark-haired. “Be sure that we wish it! Be done with that cow
now
”
    “You cannot hurry the milk, Baradur ” Anthony's voice stilt had the conciliatory note, but not the slightest trace of fear.
    Baradur's face darkened with anger. “I can hurry it! One side, brat!” He shoved Anthony off the milking stool far harder than he needed and sat down to finish the milking himself. The cow let out a bellow of surprise and pain, but the milk hissed faster. Anthony picked himself up with a look of resignation, and the next brother gave him a shove as he passed. “Work, lazybones! Loose these other three and take them out!” He didn't wait for Anthony to comply with his order but started untying Blossom himself.
    “As you say, Kemal,” Anthony sighed. He turned to untie Sunshine, but the third brother elbowed him out of the way. “Can you not loosen a rope, fumblefingers? Go muck out the stalls, as befits you!”
    Indignation turned to anger, and Balkis found herself thinking,
Stand up for yourself! Tell him to mind his tongue!
    For a moment she thought she must have spoken aloud, for Anthony flushed as he turned away to take up a shovel— only he took up two and tossed the second to the redhead. “Shovel yourself,