{"id":3741,"date":"2010-12-02T15:54:26","date_gmt":"2010-12-02T19:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/?p=3741"},"modified":"2017-06-01T12:55:38","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T16:55:38","slug":"the-chariot-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/2010\/12\/the-chariot-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"#57- The Chariot Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/horse-tamer-from-marly.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3744\" title=\"horse-tamer-from-marly\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/horse-tamer-from-marly.jpg\" alt=\"The Horse Tamer from Marly-le-Roi\" width=\"224\" height=\"202\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A lone shape approached from the shadows of the barracks. \u201cOf an evening!\u201d the dark figure called. \u201cMay I join you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course!\u201d Meagan called back. Horace usually retired early, but she would be glad of his company.<\/p>\n<p>Instead it was the Emperor\u2019s chariot driver who approached. He knelt, two eyes shining in the moonlight. \u201cAre you planning your place among the stars?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She swallowed, unable to think of anything sensible to say in English, much less Latin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have seen you here before. You like this little grove. Are you a worshipper of wood nymphs?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, I am. They are so clean.\u201d When the driver did not leave, Meagan sat up straighter. Maybe <em>some<\/em> Romans were friendly, she thought. One shouldn\u2019t judge based on a few. \u201cHave you been a driver very long?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll my life. I have driven three seasons for the Emperor. I drove Cerberus to his greatest victories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you say \u2018Sir-Bearus?\u2019 Is that one of the horses?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The driver laughed. \u201cI do not mean the demon hound that guards Hades! Of course Cerberus is a horse!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh,\u201d Meagan said politely. \u201cYou named a horse after a demon?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, the three-headed dog-beast who devours all who try to escape the Underworld.\u201d The driver spoke with admiration. \u201cOur stallion Cerberus does the same to any who try to pass him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI <em>see<\/em>,\u201d she answered, trying to sound impressed. Then she asked casually, \u201chave you seen any new black horses lately &#8230; say, a really tall <em>mare?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe keep no mares in the Emperor\u2019s stables,\u201d the driver said curtly. \u201cWe favor stallions.\u201d He lowered his voice. \u201cI wonder, how does it feel to know the time of your death?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A flash of panic went through her. \u201cWell, I do not know that yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Festival of Mars begins in six days. Are you not sad, not miserable?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suppose.\u201d Meagan felt a chill beyond the cold. \u201cAre you trying to be nice?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The young man\u2019s teeth shone in the moonlight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4>Excerpted from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/\"><em><strong>Eclipsed by Shadow<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the award-winning 1st volume of &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/\"><strong>The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong>&#8221; trilogy. <\/a> (Hrdbk pg. 138)<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Book II: The Golden Spark<\/strong><\/em> will be published soon.<\/p>\n<p>Read <a href=\"http:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/chap1.html\">the 1st Chapter<\/a> online!<\/h4>\n<p><small>Copyright \u00a9 2008 John Royce<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the driver did not leave, Meagan sat up straighter. Maybe <em>some<\/em> Romans were friendly, she thought. One shouldn\u2019t judge based on a few. \u201cHave you been a driver very long?\u201d &#8211; <em>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":[147,134],"tags":[118,219,218,70,165,208,217],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741"}],"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=3741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15088,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3741\/revisions\/15088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}