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“Yes, my lord, I believe it is”

“I’ is meant to be in the dark, in the quiet, and there I was in a roohter if its foundation had been sunk in the sun itself, and what’s worse, expected

Sorrel scratched himself at the forelock with an expression of boredo, the man ould replace me…”

BEFORE MY GRANDFATHER WENT OUT TO PASTURE, it was decided by those doms, as varied in their folk as a field of ten thousand blades of grass, could not be governed by entry, certainly, counting things up and doling things out, but how could they be trusted to speak and act for us, the second nation, the nation of monsters?

Obviously, they could not

Centaurs see as we do between the bed and the stable, between ht providential that our massive hearts, necessary to serve such dom And so it was that for many lifetimes, Centaurs ruled—soeldings That is the ith rulers; ere never is ofthe crown to sons and daughters was as foolish as feeding seaweed to a wolf We decided our rulers in a way ths: with a race

Thewas crisp and apple-strewn the autu line My rival was Dapple, a tall, handsoray whose chest was so broad I could not have put my arth I was a little worried—fast as I was, I was not the strongest of my herd, and my chest looked sickly next to this muscled block of breath and bone

“It is a perfect day for a race,” Dapple booht hooves “I hope you mean to make a real contest of it; I should not like to be Queen just because you had caught a sniffle” She bea smile framed by heaps of silver hair Despite our position, I liked her She s streams

The rules were these: Those who had the wish to rule would present theh did this, as Centaurs are a reticent folk who generally keep to thes of power, another reason ere deemed suitable for it—and each of them fastened to a plow Another ploould be set beside theician or soothsayer had been chosen for it would enchant the blade to draw itself The horse who could beat the undrawn plow and the co beasts would take the crown: Those who could best furrow the earth and make it flourish were those who should help its people to flourish as well

There were only two of us the autus at a reign Each ti line In the end, Centaurs prefer the pasture and play and rass But I was not reticent, nor did I scoff at power I was not the wisest horse ever to whistle through the wind, but I was hungry—in those days, I was so hungry The crown see onto the branch of a tree at the far en

d of the field It shone, and sparkled, and sighed that it wished only to rest on my head I liked it, too; it sh for me

My thoughts were interrupted as the crowd began to murmur and stamp its hooves in confusion The trial’s Wizard had co colt’s eyes in the sun, long red robes flashing and flapping in the brisk

He had no collar

He was ageless and high-nosed, clearly schooled with chairs and pencils, well clothed and well shod—but there was no collar We did not kno to look at him, how to address him, how he fit with us

He took all of our glances in his stride and set to rubbing his glea to it like a favorite dog, brushing it with his long, thick-knuckled fingers When he was finished it did not gleam, but dripped and clouded with baleful colors, ochre and oxblood and onyx He invitedposition to check his work, as if it were a particularly co to sniff as quickly as I could at the noxious fluids and declare it well done I was still a siic, besides how bad it smelled?