The actual shows for most of the animals bored them; they couldn’t see what made one goose or sheep better than another, and truth to tell, neither could Abi. But the human contests and the horse and dog shows, now, that was a very different matter.

Especially since Lady Dia was showing some of her mastiffs, including the ones she’d bred out of the ones Perry had brought back from his adventure for her.

Familiar with riding horses, they marveled at the strength of the huge beasts bred to pull enormous drays and tug plows through tough turf and clay-heavy soil. Beautiful gaited horses with shining coats of every color thrilled them, and made them both declare that they wanted one—Kee wanted a palomino, and Tory a black destrier with feathered feet.

But it was the dog shows that held them spellbound.

“I never knew there were so many kinds of dogs!” Tory exclaimed, after sitting through the competitions of the lurchers, the bloodhounds, the greyhounds, the spaniels, and the hunting hounds. But Abi didn’t get a chance to say anything more, because it was time for the mastiffs and to cheer Lady Dia on.

She won, handily, and joined them in the viewing stands after collecting her prize medal and sending her dog back up to her kennel with one of her servants. “Have you enjoyed the shows so far?” she asked the boys with a twinkle in her eye.

That unleashed a flood of words as they poured out their enthusiasm. With a smile and good graces, she let them babble for as long as they liked, and when they finally ran out of words, she said, “Well, next you are going to see something truly remarkable. Sheepdogs!”

“Dogs that are like sheep?” Kee wondered aloud as he settled onto the hard wooden seat of the stands, perfectly prepared to sit through anything if Lady Dia said it was something special.

“No, dear, the dogs that take care of sheep,” Dia replied. “They are extremely clever, and so clever I don’t think I am clever enough to train them. Look, here come the sheep now.”

Sure enough five nervous sheep were herded into the arena, where they milled about uncertainly, while the first competitor and his dog eyed them from the sidelines. The dog was a shaggy little black and white thing that didn’t look to Abi as if it could herd a duck, much less five sheep that were each four times its size.

But the judge blew a whistle to start, the shepherd made a motion with his arm, and the dog was off like a falcon.

For the next quarter candlemark they all watched in amazement as that dog made those sheep do everything but stand on their heads. Abi had never seen anything like it, and Tory and Kee were laughing and applauding the entire time.