H is for Horses

His for horses

Now how, you wonder, did such an ordinary word get into a fantasy world. First, let me say I like horses and have even ridden them a few times. In most fantasy worlds, horses and sailing ships are two of the most common means of transportation, besides flying on dragon back, of course. But the main reason these horses are included is that they are not true horses. They may look like nothing more than big horses, but they are magical creatures of intelligence, unusual speed and stamina, loyalty and character.

The Seidheirn of the Dragshi Chronicles possess a special kind of magic. Their intelligence and character made them fun to write. In Forever Bound, Wiral liked to kick down the gate to his stall when his rider, the dragon lord Lasair was not available and the grooms didn't open the door fast enough. Ohlmar provided solace and companionship to Talann in the dark years when everyone waited for a dragon soul twin to awaken and Talann to join the ranks of the dragshi, but no song was heard. The stallions often have the unusual markings of black and white striped manes and were battle trained. Their loyalty and skill was recorded in the song, the "Battle Hymn of the Seidhern."

Lanterns hanging from stall posts illuminated a nightmarish scene. Mares and their foals cowered at the back of their stalls. Horses and seidheirn stampeded up and down the aisles in panicked confusion. The flying manes and tails of both blurred in indistinguishable color. Branin found it difficult to tell which were the true horses and which were the seidheirn. One spot of order appeared in the chaos. Marsainn and his offspring lined the aisle, white-striped manes rippling over their gleaming midnight coats while the seidheirn formed a living bulwark between the mares and the bedlam.

The rest of the excerpt is found in the post, Year of the Horse.

In the worlds of the Windmaster Novels, the equines are called falaire. They live in a vale near the Isle of Mages. Taerneach is not only the head stallion of the falaire herd in the vale, but he also chose Lord Dal, the archmage, as his rider--and his friend. A snippit of one of their meetings after Dal's extended time away is at Watcher Revealed.

The last breed of magical equines to be mentioned are the seisag. Like the other horses written about, they have magical speed and stamina beyond that of a true horse, but even an earth magic doesn't make them immune to trouble. Eirean and his heard of seisag needed the assistance of the apprentice mage, Maerva, to survive a blizzard. More of that post is told in the post The Weather Strikes and Weather Fought.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Here's an excerpt I love of a turn's end encounter between two magical beings: sprites and seisag.

The thunder of hooves shattered the silence of the meadow. In a flash of white, Rascal galloped out into the center of the sprites. Kai moved like a dark shadow at the stallion’s side. Instead of a solid glowing sphere, the sprites broke apart into four balls that each mirrored the full moon. Clusters of the golden creatures settled on Rascal and Kai, limning them with a ghostly radiance. The remainder formed ethereal versions of the horse and seisag. Real and sprite-created horses cavorted around the meadow to an ancient tune that floated through the night.

Whether a falaire, seidheirn, or seisag, I want to go for a ride in the mountains. Care to join me? Click on the covers for buy links for each of the books mentioned.

Tomorrow’s post "I" is for Imprisoned in Stone. If you're following other blogs in the challenge, here's the master list of the other participants.

~ till next time, Helen