Equus

by Rhonda Parrish

  He pictured the island, its hundreds of horses and dozens of statues. Erected in honor of the selphoroi, said a voice in his head. They gifted their light to those they deemed worthy. The ready explanation for why tame selphoroi were so much paler than wild. Had it ever been true? Had the horses’ gift prompted theft, or had his people—his family—never given them a chance to bestow light in the first place?

  His aura had not returned, and for the first time it didn’t matter. He snatched the mask from his face and locked eyes with Phaios. “How many more collisions do you think this thing can survive?”

  The lightless regarded him with surprise, then thoughtfulness, then determination, and all the while he said nothing.

  It was a very proud sort of nothing.

  At last he nodded. “Enough.”

  “Enough” set every horse on the island shining like their wild kin. Rays of light darted again and again through the sky as teams tore free from chariots and horses broke from their stalls. Others remained, like Sona and Lun, over-bright spheres on the streets and in the fields. Whatever the intended purpose of the stolen light, whatever Aithra was doing about the revelation at this moment, no one could be ignorant now.

  By some miracle both the chariot and its passengers were still intact. Fulsa held the reins for no other reason than that they were there—like the wild horse he’d watched from atop the tower, the mares seemed to be soaring for the joy of it, their coats so white they were blinding, new grace shimmering in every wing-stroke. Their starstream was a gentle breath against his raw skin, pure and effortless and full, no longer burning as they strained to preserve what light they’d been left, to make up for what had been stolen. So long as they wanted to press on, he wouldn’t stop them.

  Phaios stood at his side. It had taken a fierce staring contest and several more silent indictments against Fulsa’s judgment, but at last he’d accepted that the horses’ light was safe and climbed to his feet. Now he leaned confidently against the rail, squinting into the starfire and overflowing with astonishment. After a long, breathless silence he raised a dim hand and swiped it through the silver air.

  “This is impossible.”

  Fulsa shook his head. “Not any more.” This was right.

  Up ahead, Sona tossed her head and snorted as though amused, and a moment later Lun whickered in echo.

  “And what now?” Phaios asked.

  Fulsa gestured into the black expanse, toward other islands and horses and lightless, everyone who needed Prince Fulsa, radiant or not. Needed him to speak, to act, to finally fill his own silence with more than just excuses.

  Suddenly losing himself didn’t seem so terrible, not when there was someone else he could become.

  “Now, we keep going. Share a few more secrets.” He raised his eyebrows. “Fall into another sky.”

  Phaios’ mouth quirked. Stretching out a hand, he took the reins from Fulsa and gave them an experimental flick. “With all respect, Your Highness—if that’s your plan, perhaps I ought to drive.”

  ***

  K.T. Ivanrest wanted to be a cat or horse when she grew up, but after failing to metamorphose into either, she began writing stories about them instead. Soon the horses became unicorns and the cats sprouted wings, and once the dragons arrived, there was no turning back. When not writing, K.T. can be found sewing and drinking decaf coffee. She has a PhD in Classical Studies, which will come in handy when aliens finally make contact and it turns out they speak Latin.

  K.T. would like to not dedicate her story to Santa, who never brought her a pony for Christmas.

  A Glory of Unicorns

  Jane Yolen

  A group, a troop, a morning’s glory.

  A poem, a song, a pretty story.

  A sentiment, a monument,

  A moment meant,

  And gone.

  A tapestry, a tempest, we

  Have nothing sentimental. See

  That herd of odd-shaped stallions cross

  The valley, sort of, kind of horse

  With horn.

  A dreaming, seeming, equus kin,

  A shudder where the air is thin,

  A blush of moment, pearl of day.

  The eye goes inward, and away.

  Curtain drawn.

  ***

  Jane Yolen, often called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America” (Newsweek) is the author of well over 350 books, including OWL MOON, THE DEVIL’S ARITHMETIC, and HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT. Her books and stories have won an assortment of awards—two Nebulas, a World Fantasy Award, a Caldecott, the Golden Kite Award, three Mythopoeic awards, two Christopher Medals, a nomination for the National Book Award, and the Jewish Book Award, among many others. She has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She is also the winner (for body of work) of the World Fantasy Association Lifetime Achievement Award, Science Fiction Poetry Association Grand Master Award, Catholic Library’s Regina Medal, Kerlan Medal from the University of Minnesota, the du Grummond Medal from the University of Southern Missisippi, the Smith College Alumnae Medal, and New England Public Radio Arts and Humanities Award. Six colleges and universities have given her honorary doctorates. Her website is: www.janeyolen.com

  Review this Book

  Don’t forget to leave a review of this book online at Goodreads, Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, or wherever you buy books or discuss them online.

  And turn the page for information about other books in this anthology series, as well as Discussion Questions to spark your conversation about Equus.

  About the Anthologist

  Rhonda Parrish is driven by a desire to do All The Things. She founded and ran Niteblade Magazine, is an Assistant Editor at World Weaver Press and is the editor of several anthologies including, most recently, Equus and D is for Dinosaur.

  In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been in publications such as Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast and Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (2012 & 2015) and the paranormal non-fiction title, Haunted Hospitals (co-written with Mark Leslie).

  Her website, updated weekly, is at www.RhondaParrish.com

  More Magical Menageries Anthologies

  Fae

  Volume One

  Meet Robin Goodfellow as you’ve never seen him before, watch damsels in distress rescue themselves, get swept away with the selkies and enjoy tales of hobs, green men, pixies and phookas. One thing is for certain, these are not your grandmother’s fairy tales.

  Fairies have been both mischievous and malignant creatures throughout history. They’ve dwelt in forests, collected teeth or crafted shoes. Fae is full of stories that honor that rich history while exploring new and interesting takes on the fair folk from castles to computer technologies and modern midwifing, the Old World to Indianapolis.

  With an introduction by Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, and all new stories from Sidney Blaylock Jr., Amanda Block, Kari Castor, Beth Cato, Liz Colter, Rhonda Eikamp, Lor Graham, Alexis A. Hunter, L.S. Johnson, Jon Arthur Kitson, Adria Laycraft, Lauren Liebowitz, Christine Morgan, Shannon Phillips, Sara Puls, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Kristina Wojtaszek.

  Corvidae

  Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries, Volume Two

  Associated with life and death, disease and luck, corvids have long captured mankind’s attention, showing up in mythology as the companions or manifestations of deities, and starring in stories from Aesop to Poe and beyond.

  In Corvidae birds are born of blood and pain, trickster ravens live up to their names, magpies take human form, blue jays battle evil forces, and choughs become prisoners of war. These stories will take you to the Great War, research facilities, frozen mountaintops, steam-powered worlds, remote forest homes, and deep into fairy tales. One thing is for certain, after reading this anthology, you’ll never look the same way at the corvid outside your window.

  Featuring works by Jane Yolen, Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, M.L.D. Curelas, Tim Deal, Megan Engelhardt, Megan Fenn
ell, Adria Laycraft, Kat Otis, Michael S. Pack, Sara Puls, Michael M. Rader, Mark Rapacz, Angela Slatter, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Leslie Van Zwol.

  Scarecrow

  Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries, Volume Three

  Hay-men, mommets, tattie bogles, kakashi, tao-tao—whether formed of straw or other materials, the tradition of scarecrows is pervasive in farming cultures around the world. The scarecrow serves as decoy, proxy, and effigy—human but not human. We create them in our image and ask them to protect our crops and by extension our very survival, but we refrain from giving them the things a creation might crave—souls, brains, free-will, love. In Scarecrow, fifteen authors of speculative fiction explore what such creatures might do to gain the things they need or, more dangerously, think they want.

  Within these pages, ancient enemies join together to destroy a mad mommet, a scarecrow who is a crow protects solar fields and stores long-lost family secrets, a woman falls in love with a scarecrow, and another becomes one. Encounter scarecrows made of straw, imagination, memory, and robotics while being spirited to Oz, mythological Japan, other planets, and a neighbor’s back garden. After experiencing this book, you’ll never look at a hay-man the same.

  Featuring all new work by Jane Yolen, Andrew Bud Adams, Laura Blackwood, Amanda Block, Scott Burtness, Amanda C. Davis, Megan Fennell, Kim Goldberg, Katherine Marzinsky, Craig Pay, Sara Puls, Holly Schofield, Virginia Carraway Stark, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Kristina Wojtaszek.

  Sirens

  Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries, Volume Four

  Sirens are beautiful, dangerous, and musical, whether they come from the sea or the sky. Greek sirens were described as part-bird, part-woman, and Roman sirens more like mermaids, but both had a voice that could captivate and destroy the strongest man. The pages of this book contain the stories of the Sirens of old, but also allow for modern re-imaginings, plucking the sirens out of their natural elements and placing them at a high school football game, or in wartime London, or even into outer space.

  Featuring stories by Kelly Sandoval, Amanda Kespohl, L.S. Johnson, Pat Flewwelling, Gabriel F. Cuellar, Randall G. Arnold, Michael Leonberger, V. F. LeSann, Tamsin Showbrook, Simon Kewin, Cat McDonald, Sandra Wickham, K.T. Ivanrest, Adam L. Bealby, Eliza Chan, and Tabitha Lord, these siren songs will both exemplify and defy your expectations.

  Rhonda Parrish will be accepting submissions for a brand new fairy tale-inspired anthology series, Punked Up Fairy Tales, starting in 2018. More information can be found at WorldWeaverPress.com or www.RhondaParrish.com.

  Discussion Questions

  Stars, Wings, and Knitting Things

  1.In “Stars, Wings, and Knitting Things” Annie says that slippers are pretentious while her husband asserts that they are not pretentious but are, in fact, useful. What do you think? Are slippers pretentious? Are some slippers more or less pretentious than others?

  2.Annie and Marcus are two very different types of people who want very different things from life. Which one of them can you relate to the most strongly? How do you suppose they met and became a couple in the first place? Was their relationship doomed from the start or do you think it could have worked out somehow?

  3.Would you rather attend a Marcus-people party or an Annie-people party? Why? Is there some middle ground that could be found between the two types of party? What would that look like?

  4.In the middle of a party, Annie accidentally lets her inside voice become her outside voice. Has this ever happened to you? How did the people around you respond? Did you cover it up better than Annie did?

  5.Annie’s favourite constellation is Pegasus, for reasons that become apparent pretty quickly in the story. Do you have a favourite constellation? What is it and why does it speak to you?

  6.When Annie punctures her pillow with the knitting needles that were a gift from her husband the description is “Little bits of white fluff welled up from beneath the black satin pillowcase and bled through.” Later in that scene, she goes out into the backyard to look at the stars and the story says, “The stars shone down, through the velvet cover of night. Wayward beams forced their ways through the pinholes in the night sky.” Obviously these two descriptions play off one another—can you think of any other similar juxtapositions in this story?

  Eel and Bloom

  1.If you were given the choice, would you choose to ride a normal, warmblooded horse, or a limerunner? Why? Would your decision change based on where you were riding it?

  2.Have you ever smelled a corpse flower? Would you, if you were given the chance?

  3.There’s a whole host of supporting characters in “Eel and Bloom”. Which ones intrigued you most? Who would you like to read more about?

  4.Bea doesn’t speak at all—at what point in the story did you realise that was going to be the case? Did it surprise you? How do you think her lack of verbal communication impacted how the author chose to tell this story?

  5.Have you ever been to, or watched a horse race? How did it compare to the limerunner race in this story? What other kinds of no-holds-barred competitions did this story remind you of?

  6.Bea’s mother was willing to gamble her away in a bet, but she broke her pattern to come to the racetrack and learn the results first hand. What do you think drove her there? Did her showing up at the track change how you felt about her?

  7.At the end of the story, Bea compares the way her mother used her to how she used Tim. Do you think that’s a fair comparison?

  8.The ending of this story leaves us with several unanswered questions, but Bea says she finds the only answer she needs when Tim opened his eyes once more. Do you feel the same?

  A Complete Mare

  1.In “A Complete Mare” Vez claims that family is overrated. Do you agree with her? How do you think your opinion might change if you were to discover that you were descended from a god?

  2.If you were descended from a deity, which one would you want it to be? What kind of powers would you hope to acquire from your godly ancestry?

  3.When Vez grows four heads she struggles to figure out how to work with them. What do you think the biggest obstacle to learning how to use the superpower you picked out in the previous question would be? How would you overcome it?

  4.In the end, Odin offers Vez and her sister a safe place to say but she refuses, choosing instead to stay at the devastated Hall. Do you think she made the right decision? What would you have done in her place?

  Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat-Ray

  1.“Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat-Ray” begins with the line, “No one had been alarmed when the first Martian vessels had landed, pocking the ground like open sores.” How do you think the world would react if Martian vessels were to land here today?

  2.Emma and Beezus make a great team—they understand and complement each other and can anticipate what the other is going to do before they do it. Have you ever felt that kind of connection with another creature? Was it human or a different kind of animal?

  3.Henry Fletcher is a Moreauvian—the result of cross-species experimentation by the fictional, but famous, Dr. Moreau. If you were going to be crossed with an animal, which kind of animal would you choose? What animal-like traits would you want to be gifted with? Which would you least want to gain?

  Rue the Day

  1.“Rue the Day” includes several different unicorns, each of which is distinct in appearance as well as personality. If you were to ride a unicorn, what would you want it to look like? What temperament do you think would suit you best?

  2.Rue is supposed to be a guard for Galyne, but turns out to be an enemy spy. At what point in the story did you begin to suspect he was up to no good?

  3.Galyne’s unicorn, Nova, was injured by a spear long before this story takes place. She is left alive and able to fight but with an “ugly knot of scar tissue”. Given what happens to Galyne, do you think this is foreshadowing, or does Nova’s injury serve another purpose in the story?

&nb
sp; 4.In “Rue the Day,” unicorns only consent to work with virgins and so the main character, Galyne, is frequently called upon to defend or explain trainers’ decisions to remain virgins in order to work with unicorns. How do you feel about the questions Rue asks and the responses Galyne gives? Would you choose to remain a virgin in order to work with war unicorns?

  5.“You are what you do. You are not what is done to you.” This is the core idea behind “Rue the Day”. Do you agree with this sentiment? Is it always true?

  Riders in the Sky

  1.The name of the horse in this story is Peregrine, like the bird of prey. Why do you suppose the authors chose to name him that? Does it suit him?

  2.Setting and atmosphere are given a great deal of attention in “Riders in the Sky”. Which sensory details stuck with you most vividly? What senses did you feel were focused on the most?

  3.The Rider named herself Hennessy after the label on a bottle. How does her choice of name impact how you feel about her? Would you feel differently if she’d called herself Brandy, for example? How so? If you were going to call yourself something off a bottle of alcohol what would it be? Why?

  4.Father Monaghan is far from a stereotypical priest—what about him surprised you the most?

  5.Peregrine’s vanity is used for comedic effect in this story, but the primary antagonist’s name is Vayne. Do you think this was intentional on the part of the authors? What purpose does that serve? Is it effective?

  Above the Silver Sky

  1.Neshka is drawn to the magical horses in much the same way that young girls are often drawn to horses (though perhaps even more so because her mother disappeared on the back of one). Were you drawn to horses when you were younger? Are you still?