Prologue
My name is Elsie Kian of Yorn.
First, you should know that my family is common. We have been farming for generations on my father’s side, and my mother left the nearby village of Till to join him when they married. My father is good with horses, and he developed a reputation for successfully breeding, raising and taming even the wildest ones. His talent brought in the money that kept us alive during the Dark Times of no rain and high taxes.
Second, I have always adored horses. I am the oldest child of five, with younger brothers, who taught me swordplay and archery, and a baby sister, who taught me patience. But of all the things I learned growing up, I learned best the ways of hard work and horses.
Which leads to the third thing you should know: I have a gift of languages. Growing up, I would speak the words and sounds in my head to the horses. Whether words of comfort or laughter, instruction or love, they understood me in a way even more profound than my father’s touch and word. I recognized meaning in each of their brays and snorts. For years I thought I was just good with animals. Later, I found I could understand all the tongues of men.
This gift is the reason why everything turned out the way it did in our kingdom of Yorn.
