Free Eochaidh - Legend of the Horsemen (Book One) by Terri Reid Page B

remember. Back during the time of King
Arthur, after things had gone terribly wrong and Arthur was broken and in
despair; a young knight came to him.   The
knight had discovered that Morganna had found a spell that would allow her to
travel in time. He begged Arthur to help stop her, for a spell like that was
too dangerous in the hands of one like Morganna.”
    “What was Morganna like?” Jepson asked.
    Meaghan turned to him and smiled. “Oh, I’d say Morganna was
like Lady Strathmore’s evil twin.”
    Jepson smiled, despite his pain. “You paint a perfect
picture.”
    Meaghan laughed. “Actually, ever since I was a child, I
pictured Lady Strathmore playing the part of Morganna. Not very charitable of
me.”
    “Or perhaps it was intuitive of you,” he suggested, lifting
an eyebrow in her direction.
    Nodding, she smiled. “That’s much better than uncharitable.”
    She led her horse around a large rock in the middle of the
path and then met up with Jepson again. “As I said, the young knight went to
Arthur, but he was too despondent to help and sent him to ask Merlin for help.
Merlin tested the young knight and found him worthy, but because of Morganna’s
power, could not offer him much protection. All he could do was offer a spell
that protected him and the knights who rode with him from death.”
    “So, Morganna could not kill this brave knight,” he said.
“Then the knight must have won the day?”
    “So, it would seem,” Meaghan replied. “They slipped into the
castle and found the spell. But when they were ready to leave, they were caught
by Morganna.”
    “But she could not kill them,” Jepson inserts.
    “Exactly,” Meaghan said. “But Morganna was not stupid.   So, she cast a spell that aged them
prematurely. For every day as a man, they aged a year.”
    “So in two months’ time—” Jepson began.
    “They would be dead,” Meaghan concluded. “And that’s what
they thought when they went back to Merlin to tell him they had failed.   But he was just as clever as Morganna, if not
more so.”
    “Did he break the spell?”
    Meaghan shook her head. “No, he didn’t have the power to
break her spell,” she explained. “But, he was clever with words and their
meanings. Her spell stated that for every day they were men, they would age a
year.   So Merlin turned them into horses.
Immortal horses. They can live forever as horses, turning to men only when the
signs are aligned for them to be able to break the spell.”
    “And who can help them break the spell?” he asked.
    Sighing, Meaghan shook her head. “And therein lies the
problem,” she said. “According to legend, they seek those ‘pure of heart’ and
the name Herdin, our family name, means ‘pure of heart.’   So, the family legend is that the horses seek
a member of our family to break the spell and set everything to right.”
    “Family legend?” Jepson asked.
    “Of course it’s a legend,” she replied. “I mean, it’s been
over one thousand years since King Arthur ruled. Don’t you think in all that
time someone would have been able to break the spell?   Isn’t it ridiculous to assume that a herd of
large, black horses are running around the forests in Ireland without anyone
else seeing them?   Truly, Jepson, horses
are rather hard to hide.”
    Jepson started to speak when they heard the pounding of
hooves from the road. Moving back into the heavier brush, they waited, silently
watching.   The coach and four thundered
up the road, careening to the side as it rounded a curve toward the town;
Meaghan gasped softly when she saw the insignia on the side. “Strathmore,” she
whispered.
    Jepson nodded.
    They waited a few more moments to be sure the carriage
continued down the road, and then Jepson turned to Meaghan. “I don’t think we
have the luxury to take our time,” he said. “I had heard that Lady Strathmore
was a sponsor of Murphy, and she will not be happy when she reaches his
office.”
    Meaghan