Eclipsed by Shadow – Page 11 – THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy

#66- Only a Verb, or at best a Noun

MEAGAN FELT HERSELF floating. I must be moving again, she half-dreamed. To somewhere else, another time … maybe I am home. Home! … A fly landed on her nose. It was a horrible disappointment to open her eyes and see people sitting on their mats beside lines of tied horses. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

MEAGAN FELT HERSELF floating. I must be moving again, she half-dreamed. To somewhere else, another time … maybe I am home. Home!

A fly landed on her nose. It was a horrible disappointment to open her eyes and see people sitting on their mats beside lines of tied horses. She and the vast company had ridden the entire day and well into the night. Meagan tried to sit up, but pain shot through every muscle. She was sure she felt a twitch in her eyelids.

She sleepily watched two men arguing. Apparently there was a question of ownership of a certain pony, since both men gripped the animal’s reins and neither would let go. Each took turns yanking the bridle to illustrate his point until the pony soundly bit one of them. Meagan sat up at the man’s cry. The pony looked suddenly familiar.

Painfully she stood and marched up to the men. “Pardon me, but I think there is some mistake. This is my pony, Targa.”

A booming voice made Meagan jump. The bow-legged wake-up man was coming. For once she was happy to see him, for he knew the truth. She expected to be handed the reins; instead, the man led Meagan away by the sleeve to an ancient, decrepit pack pony. “Targ ha!” the man shouted. She had been unceremoniously reassigned to another horse. Disappointingly “Targa” was not even the pony’s name, but only a verb, or at best a noun.

Meagan felt reprimanded for imagining that she, a mere woman, could have claim over property desired by a man. She bent to greet her new horse, though “new” was a description hard to apply to the aged beast. “Are you the Great Horse?” she asked doubtfully. The animal bore her greeting with the interest he would have shown a bundle of sticks.

Excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow, the award-winning first volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse” trilogy. (Hrdbk pg. 185)

Book II: The Golden Spark is available! Book III announcements coming soon…

Read the 1st Chapter online!

#65- Welcome to the Horde

When Meagan opened her eyes, her first thought was she had been beaten. Heavily. A horn sounded at close proximity and pain blossomed throughout her body in an amazing bouquet. Maybe I was run over by a chariot after all, she thought, wincing. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

In which Meagan wakes up, still unsure of her whereabouts…

When Meagan opened her eyes, her first thought was she had been beaten. Heavily. A horn sounded at close proximity and pain blossomed throughout her body in an amazing bouquet. Maybe I was run over by a chariot after all, she thought, wincing.

Others were sitting up and stretching. All around her, lines of horses were being groomed and tacked. Meagan groaned to think of getting on a horse. The mere effort to sit up made her gasp. A bow-legged man was walking through the camp knocking pallets of late sleepers. “No, thank you,” Meagan told him. “No riding today.”

She flinched as the man kicked her pallet. He pointed to the line of horses. “Targ ha!”

“Yes, good morning,” she said politely. “I am really quite sore.”

“Targ ha!”

“Thank you for understanding.” Clenching her teeth, Meagan kept herself well wrapped as she stood.

“Aieeee!” The man grasped Meagan’s thin tunic and dropped it in disgust. He stamped away and returned to thrust a packet of clothes into her arms. She was sent to dress behind a curtain of skins. Worn boots sailed over the top.

The standard set of garments was loose trousers and a coat with a flaring skirt and long sleeves. The coat’s front fabric was crossed and tied. Meagan studied the crude tailoring. Her abiding hope was that she was traveling forward and not to someplace older than Rome, but she still could find no reassurance.

She stepped timidly from behind the skins. There was no need to be self-conscious, for no one was looking. The camp was a bustling hive of activity: she was only to conform and not ask questions, and her anonymity was assured.

Surveying the field of small horses, Meagan was unsure which mount was hers. She limped after the bow-legged man. “Excuse me, which—”

“Targ ha!” The man shouted, and exploded into a string of words that were not enlightening in the least.

“Yes, I see. Targa. Thank you, you have been very helpful.” She rubbed her arm. The offered animal certainly looked like the pony she had ridden yesterday. Of course, so did fifty or eighty thousand others…

Excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow, the award-winning first volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse” trilogy. (Hrdbk pg. 183)

Book II: The Golden Spark was just published, Book III announcements coming soon…

Read the 1st Chapter online!

#64- Sea of Equines

Riding on, Meagan could see the approaching black cloud was actually an enormous congregation of horses and riders spreading across the horizon, waves of bobbing movement stretching beyond sight. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

A tall, dark thoroughbred would be easy to pick out, but of course was nowhere to be seen…

Riding on, Meagan could see the approaching black cloud was actually an enormous congregation of horses and riders spreading across the horizon, waves of bobbing movement stretching beyond sight. In all directions a herd of free horses nipped the beaten earth. Dust rose in a column that clouded the sun to a dull orange ball.

The air thickened with dust and scent as they rode closer. A tremendous sound of insects’ buzzing met them at the edge of the moving population. Meagan drew her tunic over her face until only the barest slit enabled her to see, and brushed away flies that boldly crawled in to find her eyes and mouth. Horse tails flicked in concert around her.

All of the sea of equines were pony-sized, with shaggy coats and brushy manes. Meagan shielded her eyes to look over the endless congregation of weathered people riding in loose jackets and pants.

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The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy is an adventure through history … each section is about a different time period.

The above excerpt is the 4th section of Eclipsed by Shadow, in which Meagan finds herself in medieval Europe. (p. 179 Hbk)

Eclipsed by Shadow (Book #1 of the trilogy) won national awards including the Eric Hoffer Award for best Young Adult Fiction, and the Mom’s Choice Award for best family-friendly Young Adult Fantasy.

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Read the 1st Chapter online.
Check out Book #2 of the trilogy: The Golden Spark.
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#63- Meagan’s complaint…

Meagan’s pony suddenly raised her head and whinnied into the wind, and hundreds of answers echoed across the empty grassland. The trumpeting of horses filled the open plain as if the land ahead were welcoming them. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

Somewhere in Outer Mongolia…

The sky is as empty as the landscape, she thought irritably. If these people were riding through the middle of nowhere, they rode through it with purpose. There was no stopping for items as trivial as food or water. Meagan’s saddle possessed a single skin canteen of water, which she had ineptly doused over her face and clothes while attempting a drink.

Meagan had a complaint, or rather a series of them. There seemed to be no rules to this legend, and it was very disorienting to keep changing places and time periods, to say nothing of being snatched away at the last possible moment—was it to be a deathmatch every time? This is the worst possible legend, Meagan told herself, sulking. It was more like a curse. Of course, I could have listened to Mrs. Bridgestone, added an unwelcome thought. She pushed it away…

When the other riders spoke, of course it was a language she could not understand. Also, Meagan was out of practice and the pony’s backbone was growing more distinct with each passing mile. She could not guess how the group of horsemen knew their way. The land was nothing except rolling grass in all directions. A line of dark clouds hugged the hazy horizon ahead, offering the hope of cool rain. Uncharacteristically, she thought dismounting would be the best relief.

Strangely, though, on closer inspection it seemed the bottom of the clouds hung below the horizon. Meagan’s pony suddenly raised her head and whinnied into the wind, and hundreds of answers echoed across the empty grassland. The trumpeting of horses filled the open plain as if the land ahead were welcoming them…