{"id":3659,"date":"2010-11-13T16:34:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-13T20:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/?p=3659"},"modified":"2017-06-01T12:54:39","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T16:54:39","slug":"54-the-emperors-stables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/2010\/11\/54-the-emperors-stables\/","title":{"rendered":"#54- The Emperor’s Stables"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Charioteer<\/a>In the year 100 A.D.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Emperor\u2019s chariots belonged to the Green corporation, and it was impossible to forget. Green banners flapped against squat mortar buildings and green ribbons adorned iron-grilled gates. Guards and supervisors wore leek-colored tunics and the horses worked in green-dyed wrappings and pads.<\/p>\n

Inside the Emperor\u2019s compound, stern horsemanship was executed with clockwork precision. Daylight hours were filled with the rumbling of chariots and shouts of men. First feeding was sharply at dawn and repeated at regular intervals throughout the day. Fresh water was supplied continuously and the stalls cleaned in rotation.<\/p>\n

Horses helped Meagan through the dark days. The familiar rhythms of their care was an anchor to the world she had always known. Stall cleaning was her duty: slaves of better rank carried out feeding and grooming. The horses\u2019 mangers were stuffed with fragrant hay and grains, but every morning a stained cart was wheeled down the rows, from which meat and eggs were distributed to mix with the feed. Romans believed feeding sparrow\u2019s eggs, ground feathers and birds\u2019 blood logically made a horse run faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, they do not,\u201d Meagan had protested in broken Latin. \u201cHorses are \u2026 are\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHorses are what?\u201d asked a sneering voice behind her. She turned to see the baleful gaze of the Master of Horse. A waft of pungent perfume seeped from his toga. \u201cPlease, tell us. Horses are \u2026 what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI-I don\u2019t know,\u201d Meagan said, flustered. She wanted to say \u201cvegetarian\u201d but could not think of the Latin word.<\/p>\n

The man blinked up at her and wrinkled his nose. \u201cBetter not to offer opinions in the Emperor\u2019s stable, I think. Others might find out we use idiots here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meagan observed the other workers\u2019 downcast eyes and remained silent. Later, she would learn the Master of Horse was called Posthumous, a name commonly given to a son born after his father\u2019s death. Others\u2019 descriptions of his character added colorful phrases to her vocabulary.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the award-winning 1st volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong>” trilogy. <\/a> (Hrdbk pg. 128)<\/p>\n

Book II: The Golden Spark<\/strong><\/em> will be published soon.<\/p>\n

Read the 1st Chapter<\/a> online!<\/h4>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2008 John Royce<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Horses helped Meagan through the dark days. The familiar rhythms of their care was an anchor to the world she had always known.” – Eclipsed by Shadow<\/em> (excerpt)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[147],"tags":[118,219,85,70,165,210,207,208],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3659"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15080,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions\/15080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}