{"id":5957,"date":"2011-08-11T15:34:30","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T19:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/?p=5957"},"modified":"2017-06-01T13:00:38","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T17:00:38","slug":"77-nothing-more-useless-than-a-knight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/2011\/08\/77-nothing-more-useless-than-a-knight\/","title":{"rendered":"#77- \u201cNothing more useless than a knight\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
On the run in the Middle Ages…<\/h5>\n

No day can be good that begins in a tree,<\/em> Meagan thought irritably, I need to remember that.<\/em> The sun gave no indication of breaking through the overcast skies, and the night\u2019s drizzle seemed a prelude to more rain.<\/p>\n

Hungry, sore and sunburned, Meagan was annoyed by Henryk\u2019s new habit of continual singing. She reached up to the wide bough on which \"Huntingshe had balanced through the night and retrieved Targa\u2019s bridle. She struggled to tie her gown up so that she could ride. Her ankle-length garment seemed designed to inhibit motion, and she wished again she had not let the Abbey take away her comfortable Mongolian trousers …<\/p>\n

Henryk slipped down from the tree and stretched luxuriously. His new horse lifted his enormous head, nudging the young knight and pushing him off his feet. Henryk gritted his teeth as the horse used him for a scratching post. \u201cChouchou, no,\u201d he said mildly, pushing the horse\u2019s head away and accepting its immediate return.<\/p>\n

\u201cChouchou? Is that what you named him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTak,<\/em> Chouchou! You enjoy?\u201d Henryk murmured something in his horse\u2019s huge, floppy ear. Chouchou\u2014the name meant \u201cteacher\u2019s pet\u201d in French, Meagan was to learn\u2014delicately sniffed in Targa\u2019s direction. The pony flattened her ears and snapped. \u201cVisqueux!\u201d<\/em> Henryk sniffed, and gently soothed his mammoth horse\u2019s supposedly-hurt feelings.<\/p>\n

Meagan rode out into the muddy field, leaving Henryk to follow. The German horsetrader had promised the nearby road led to a castle, and she was determined to find it in the rain if necessary. She turned back and saw Henryk hopping up and down beside Chouchou.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, yes,<\/em> she remembered crossly. Henryk could not mount his elephant without a leg up. Meagan turned back, deciding there was nothing more useless than a knight. Fairytales could talk about shining knights riding up on white steeds, but she was beginning to think their fabled rescues could do without the knight if one had the horse. If knights were not the only people with swords, she was sure no one would pay them the least attention.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Copyright \u00a9 2008 John Royce<\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

« \u201cSee all Excerpts<\/strong><\/a>\u201d || The Highwaymen<\/a> »<\/div>\n
\nThe above excerpt is from \u201cSee all Excerpts<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d the medieval-era section of Eclipsed by Shadow<\/em><\/strong>, and is set in 1240AD. (p. 231 Hbk)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong> trilogy is an adventure through history … each section is about a different time period.<\/div>\n

Eclipsed by Shadow<\/strong><\/em> (Book #1 of the trilogy) won national awards<\/a> including the Eric Hoffer Award<\/em> for best Young Adult Fiction, and the Mom’s Choice Award<\/em> for best family-friendly Young Adult Fantasy.<\/p>\n

\n

__________<\/p>\n

Quick Links:<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00bb See All Excerpts<\/strong><\/a> from The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong> trilogy.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Read the 1st Chapter online<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Check out Book #2 of the trilogy: The Golden Spark<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb See the Media Kit<\/strong><\/a> for more information about the trilogy.<\/p>\n

\"\" Check out the trilogy’s page on Facebook!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Meagan turned back, deciding there was nothing more useless than a knight. Fairytales could talk about shining knights riding up on white steeds, but she was beginning to think their fabled rescues could do without the knight if one had the horse. If knights were not the only people with swords, she was sure no one would pay them the least attention.’ —excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow<\/b> (Book #1 of ‘The Legend of the Great Horse<\/em>’ trilogy (p. 231)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[118,284,242,70,165,227,243],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957"}],"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=5957"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15141,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5957\/revisions\/15141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}