I Am the Great Horse
By Katherine Roberts

Excerpt:

Instead of bucking off Alexander when we returned to the riding ground, I arched my neck to accept the bit.  Then I made myself huge so everyone stared at us.

The king’s horsemaster scowled at me as if I were doing this deliberately to show him up, which I was.  He tried to snatch my reins as we passed.  I gave him flat ears and carried Alexander to safety.  The queen clapped her hands in delight, smiling at her son as she called him clever and brave and all sorts of other things guaranteed to make his head swell.

The one-eyed king’s fearful expression melted into one of pride.  He gave me a wary look, then helpful the prince down from my back and embraced him with tears in his eyes.  “Alexander, you scared us!” he exclaimed.  “If you’re going to carry on like this, you’d better find yourself a larger kingdom, because Macedonia won’t be big enough for you.”

Alexander, his cheeks still flushed from our gallop, gave him that upward tilt of his chin and grinned boldly.  “How about leaving Persia for me, Father?  You’ve conquered just about everywhere else, and as you’ve just seen, my new horse Bucephalas likes to run east.”

This set them all off laughing again.  As they returned to the palace, the prince’s friends crowded around to hear his account of how he’d “tamed” me.  Some of them wanted to know if he as serious about Persia.  The queen followed, still praising her son’s bravery and skill.

But the one-eyed king remained on the riding ground, frowning after Alexander.

When The others were out of earshot, he took the horsemaster’s arm and said, “I don’t want to see my son riding that horse again.  Put his in a back stable away form the others, and if he doesn’t calm down in a few weeks find a Scythian who can do the deed.  Before I leave on my next campaign, I’m going to make arrangements for Prince Alexander to go away to finish his schooling.  He’ll soon forget the horse, don’t worry.  In the meantime, find him another more suited to his size and experience, and train it well so I don’t have to be looking out for him when the time comes for him to join me on the battlefield.”

The king’s horsemaster smiled his dark smile and ordered his grooms to take me to the stables.  I didn’t make trouble, because I’d had a good gallop and was looking forward to my barley.  But as we passed the crowd of onlookers at the edge of the ground, I caught a smell that reminded me of the time before the ghosts came, and saw a girl-filly clutching what looked like a mule’s hoof.  She was glaring at the one-eyed king with as much hatred as a colt that had just been driven out of the herd.

This was rather strange.  But the horsemaster’s grooms did not see her, because human eyes can’t see all around like horses’ eyes can, so I lowered my head and walked on.

Whatever the Scythian thing is, it can’t be as bad as a spiked bit.