Later that night Ishvi found himself seated next to Wynforr, and, after putting away an extraordinary amount of food, resupplying his body from this, his second transformation, remarked, “I don’t get it. I still don’t understand. Why did he have us turn into Horsemen?”
Several of the others grinned. They had asked the exact same thing on their return. It was practically the first thing they had wanted to do − after bathing, changing, and settling into their room. And Wynforr was the worst person (in one sense) to ask.
“Well, you have been studying the Horseman culture for several weeks, and you have been a Horseman, and you know something of the plan; what possible reasons are there?” Wynforr asked.
Ishvi sighed. He should have known better than to ask an Ellyll teacher a direct question. He had never been good at Elven puzzles. But, remembering that his Wife (his Wife!) was sitting at his side, he decided not to just give up but to attempt to work it through: “Well, let us reason together.
Horsemen are different from Farmers in what respects? (This was the standard Elven form for answering a puzzle.) Firstly, they live on horseback. Secondly, they have no land, thirdly they have many Wives.”
“None of these would seem to have any bearing − unless the plan calls for us to have many Wives, perhaps to populate the new land more quickly?” Ishvi said, Mehetabel glaring at him and squeezing his knee under the table
“A remote possibility, I suppose,” replied Wynforr, “but I don’t believe that is a reason. What other differences are there? And what about the very experience of changing might be relevant?”
This was more to go on. There was at least one reason having to do with the Horsemen, and one having to do with changing. “Well, each of the races is known for its strength. We do not normally dwell on the Horsemen’s strength, but it is the strength of their oath taking.”
Noticing the grins of the lads around him, Ishvi thought of a response.
“Ah, perhaps that is a reason. The oath of the women, and our oath to the plan, would both be strengthened by being taken as a Horseman, in a way that would not be true if we took it as Farmers.”
Seeing by the looks of those around him that he had hit upon a proper response, he bristled slightly, “How is it that our oath could be questioned?” he started to say. But then he remembered the peculiar circumstances of the oath; that one of each of the couples was the offspring or close relative of a traitor, he calmed down.
What other reason could there be? The other reason had to do with the process of changing itself. This was harder. What had happened during the changing? How had they changed? Well, first of all they had had to spend long hours on language learning. Language learning − Kelii! The Horseman language! Then Ishvi remembered his own struggle.
“Perhaps another reason was that Farmers are particularly prejudiced against Horsemen. By forcing us to spend a lot of time learning Kelii, and focusing on the Horseman culture, and then sending us out on horseback, we were forced to confront our feelings on that issue, and turn our hearts to accepting all of the races − beginning with the one we most despise.”
He saw that he had succeeded. Wynforr replied, “Excellent. There are, perhaps, a couple more reasons that are less obvious. The first is that, indeed, we will need to be populating the mainland. And it is a unique feature of Horsemen,” he said, glancing at the women at the table, “that, while for most of the other races, the female of the species delivers her first child a year or more after their marriage, it is almost invariable among Aviovamen that their first young one arrives nine months after they come together for the first time.”
Ishvi felt his wife’s hand grip his knee again, and heard her breath come faster. Wynforr, however, was continuing. “In addition, we consider that it might be necessary, for the proper functioning of the plan, that people change from Farmer to Horseman, or even another race. By practicing now, you will find future changes easier. Seth and his Wife often go for a ride in the evening, and they change into Horsemen almost immediately.”
Two days later the last of the couples were back, and the last of the oaths were taken. Seth gathered everyone together in the great hall; twenty-five Farmer Husbands, twenty-five Farmer Wives, two Elves, and the Svømte.
The various Horsemen teachers, including Bodipot and his Wives, had gratefully ridden off last night, money in hand, to seek more Wives. Ishvi and Met stood with the other Hostages as Seth addressed them: “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have now completed several important first steps in our journey. I am now prepared to lay out the next steps.
“First of all, we are going to need recruits. You will form the core and the leadership of the group we will be taking on the first Schip. We will be taking Ellyll, Dwarves, and you all, plus whoever we can recruit.
“The Schip can take two hundred and fifty people. The crew is one hundred. Of Ellyll and Dwarves, families all, we already have seventy-five lined up. That leaves seventy-five places for us to fill. Together we here are fifty-five.
We will ask you to try to find several other couples, or even families to come with us. We will need quality people, perhaps those that are underutilized… third sons of good families, or Plowlads who are particularly gifted.”
“The first few we can take with us on our Schip. Other Schippen will follow. The Schip after ours will carry Horsemen, plus some of our recruits.
After that, we will see.”
“So you all are released to return to your homes. I would advise you, when possible, to visit the lasses’ families first. On the seventh of Domar I will expect you all to be assembled together at the capital. This leaves you two months to visit your family, your in-laws, and get us recruits.”
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
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Island People
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.