This excerpt is from Eclipsed by Shadow, Book #1 of The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy, an adventure through history―on horseback.
The scene is set in modern-day California, when Meagan hears the legend for the first time…
waving his right hand as he spoke “is to keep…”
Here the sentence ended as suddenly as it began,
as the Knight fell heavily on top of his head
exactly in the path where Alice was walking.
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The Four Winds swirled into a shape of beauty that moved to thunder … the Angel took form and became the first Horse.Since that time, the Angel has lived an unbroken line of lives, inspiring and teaching, even as the Angel’s children have carried Mankind to mastery of the earth. Upon each death the Angel takes another form and again a Great Horse is born.Meagan listened raptly. “I like that story, Mrs. Bridgestone!”
The woman refolded the letter and set it upon the tray. “I am happy to hear that, dear.” She pointed to a portrait of a magnificent horse, head bowed, carrying a haughty rider in white. “That painting shows the stallion Bucephalus, one of the eminent Great Horses of history. When he was first presented to King Philip of Macedonia, no rider could mount him. The king’s own son was a boy about your age, and he called out—”
“I’m almost thirteen,” Meagan interrupted.
“Really, dear? Splendid.” Mrs. Bridgestone smiled at Jennifer. “They grow so quickly, don’t they? It seems my grandniece went from diapers to driving in the space of an afternoon. Well, to continue, when the King’s son saw the wonderful stallion being led away to be banished, he cried out, ‘What an excellent horse they have lost for lack of skill!’ Naturally the king was annoyed with his son’s manners. To teach a lesson the King had the horse brought back for his son to try what the others had failed.
“The boy had noticed the young horse was shying from his riders’ shadows, so he turned the stallion into the sun and mounted easily. He rode Bucephalus for thirty years, and conquered more armies than any man before or since. Do you know that boy?”
Meagan shook her head.
“He was Alexander the Great, dear. The stallion Bucephalus carried his master from Egypt to India, and no one else ever rode him. Not once.”
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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Links:
» See All Excerpts from The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy.
» Read the 1st Chapter online.
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