Pets

Of the two leopards that would not

There was a thief in Alora named Kuli, and he stole a belt from Arendia, and fled with it through a waterfall and down into the dark, to a cave that had no other door. And Arendia followed; and before her went Deagol, her leopard, who had the scent of him.

And she bade her leopard charge. But out of the shadows sprang a second leopard, dark as the cave, and bore Deagol to the ground; for the thief also had raised a beast from the egg, and its name was Zytal.

Then Kuli cried: Finish her! And the two leopards rose, and stood nose to nose, and neither moved. And again he cried it, and louder. But the leopards had looked upon one another; and the commands of thieves, and of the owners of belts, were become to them as a small noise, far off.