Rome – Page 2 – THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy

#53- The Master of Horse

The stallion renewed his fight and pandemonium filled the aisle. Restraining chains were linked. In the end the black stallion was safely conducted outside, leaving the dazed grooms staggering as if on a battlefield. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

“Mea-gan.”

The gentle call came again, and she recognized the soldier Horace standing in the guard line. His helmet’s shadow obscured his scarred face. Glancing to make sure the supervisor was not looking, she gave him a quick wave.

The first worker was called. The supervisor pulled a pin from one of the doors and swung it around on enormous hinges. A narrow closet of a stall appeared, presenting a black stallion’s muscular hind end. The chosen worker looked dumbfounded as he was handed a woven basket and scoop. Stall cleaning, Meagan thought resignedly. Some things never change.

The stallion shifted in the narrow confines of his stall as the shaking worker knelt beside the open door and began to delicately scrape the closest clods. Exasperated, the supervisor raised his voice and gave the horse’s rump an ill-considered slap.

The enraged stallion bunched his hindquarters and launched a kicking barrage. Chain broke from the masonry and the horse rushed backwards like a dam giving way. Meagan flattened against the wall as men came from both directions. The stallion lunged at a nearby groom—alien behavior for a horse—and wheeled to attack another. Men scrambled to escape the deadly hooves.

Grooms ran and tossed ropes until the raging horse was trussed like a fly in a web. The scene had almost quieted when a piercing whine filled the stable aisle. Workers and guards came to attention as a pale, puny man in an oversized toga entered, flanked by armed men. The Master of Horse had arrived.

The man pointed and shouted and called out instructions until the scene was more confused than before. The stallion renewed his fight and pandemonium filled the aisle. Restraining chains were linked. In the end the black stallion was safely conducted outside, leaving the dazed grooms staggering as if on a battlefield.

The horse was clearly a product of harsh treatment, Meagan thought. An emblem of Rome’s brutality. She watched the Master of Horse angrily confront the supervisor, who pointed first to the abject servant who crouched, cowering, and then to Meagan who remained standing. The Master of Horse took measured steps to stand in front of her, coming only to her chin but managing to look down on her. She did recognize the Latin words for “pain” and “punishment,” since they were repeated several times.

Excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow, the award-winning 1st volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse” trilogy. (Hrdbk pg. 125)

Book II: The Golden Spark will be published soon.

Read the 1st Chapter online!

#52- The Slave Quarters

Meagan hugged her knees tighter, feeling ridiculous to find herself rehearsing the finer points of riding a flying horse. No, she could not be where she seemed to be, shivering on a cot in the ancient city of Rome. This experience was clearly the result of reading too much history and getting a bump on the head. Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

MEAGAN LAY CURLED on an uncomfortable cot. She had been numb since her arrival; the cold was not intense but it was seeping and damp. Her extremely unprivate quarters consisted of a row of filthy beds crowded into a low room.

The cracked cement walls were coated with dirt and scratched graffiti. Meagan’s cot was only a foot above the floor, but it was a crucial distance. She felt about the floor of her living space as she would the underside of a rotten forest log.

For clothing she had been given a wool tunic with holes for her head and arms, and a tie-cord around the middle: only people of distinction wore togas, and she was clearly not one of those. She waited for the meager candlelight to be put out before crying softly, missing home.

Meagan hugged her knees, listening to the rattling sleep of the other slaves. She struggled to understand what was happening. The flights had seemed a normal ride over the top of a jump … then Meagan hugged her knees tighter, feeling ridiculous to find herself rehearsing the finer points of riding a flying horse. No, she could not be where she seemed to be, shivering on a cot in the ancient city of Rome. This experience was clearly the result of reading too much history and getting a bump on the head. She needed to forget the tomb and the arena—if she could.

The next morning her roommates failed to show the courtesy of ceasing to exist. Instead they resumed talking as if sleep had been a polite interruption, and after a few disoriented moments Meagan sat up groggily. She tried to pick out Latin words she knew from the confused conversation, but the talk was too fast to follow.

Conversations halted upon the arrival of a man wearing a dingy toga. He was apparently a supervisor, and from his tone Meagan inferred a toughening of policies. She stood barefoot on the cold, gritty floor—this fact was not addressed, nor was breakfast. Her conviction that she was only dreaming was again challenged as her group formed a line and followed the supervisor into the damp morning: she could see puffs of breath as they tromped across the chilly courtyard and past iron-grilled gates into the stables.

Excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow, the award-winning 1st volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse” trilogy. (Hrdbk pg. 124)

Book II: The Golden Spark will be published soon.

Read the 1st Chapter online!

#51- The Emperor’s Chariot

Caesar stood as riders in green tunics rode forth between columns of marching men. The first chariot to appear was pulled by four black horses, their manes woven in matching emerald ribbon. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

19 centuries ago …

“How are the omens, my Master of Horse?”

A puny man near the front of the platform jumped as if prodded. He stood quickly, his oversized garments in disarray. “Very good, Caesar, very good. The horses are ready and the omens are with us, favored son of gods. Victory should be ours.”

The platform’s audience clapped dutifully. The man called Caesar shifted in his seat. “So you always say, Master of Horse. So it never is.”

Trumpet blasts sounded across the stadium. On the oval sand track below, men in red tunics marched forward pounding drums and cymbals. Chariots entered, appointed in red and drawn by surging teams of four horses. The drivers turned and saluted the platform as they passed. Anxious as she was, Meagan was stirred by the pageantry flowing across the track.

Cheering rose for a new entering color. Caesar stood as riders in green tunics rode forth between columns of marching men. The first chariot to appear was pulled by four black horses, their manes woven in matching emerald ribbon.

A gasp went up from the spectators as one of the horses rose in his traces. The animal was satin black with the thick crest of a stallion. The horse struck his partner and the team swerved out of line as kicks hammered the chariot. Dull thuds echoed across the field. Men flooded the track and stretched ropes before the fighting horses.

From the raised center of the platform, stone-faced Caesar watched.

As those on the track worked to subdue the fighting horses, the man called the Master of Horse groaned piteously and covered his face. Caesar gave the shriveled man a long, chilly stare, then abruptly stood and made his way across the deck, followed by his guards.

“Emperor Trajan…” the olive-skinned man beside Meagan called respectfully. “We have the slaves you pardoned. Will you assign them?”

Meagan felt a hand at her back as she was pushed forward…

Excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow, the award-winning 1st volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse” trilogy. (Hrdbk pg. 121)

Book II: The Golden Spark will be published soon.

Read the 1st Chapter online!

#50- Captive

FOR A LONG time Meagan remained in the position the soldiers had left her, stunned and afraid to move. She huddled alone in a cold, gritty underground cell, buried in catacombs beneath the amphitheater. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

FOR A LONG time Meagan remained in the position the soldiers had left her, stunned and afraid to move. She huddled alone in a cold, gritty underground cell, buried in catacombs beneath the amphitheater. Her shoulder ached from her fall, and her forearm was raw from a soldier’s hard grip. Her nightgown was torn and filthy.

Muffled cheering surged at intervals, coming from all sides of her prison. Meagan hugged her knees and rocked when the sounds came, reliving the images in her mind. I’ve seen the worst that people can do, she thought numbly. People can do anything. She rocked as another roar rose to surround her. Things could never be normal again.

In time the cheering ended. Long hours passed in silence. Scurrying cellmates skittered around her, tiny shadows in the gloom of flickering torchlight. This isn’t real, Meagan still told herself, making it a mantra. Promise will come back for me. She will come back…

The scraping of a latch startled her. “Salve!” a voice greeted her gruffly. Two men entered, their armor gleaming dully in the torchlight.