![\"nightmare-300x190\"](\"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/nightmare-300x190.jpg\")
The sound of rapping at the door barely interrupted the thunderous downpour.\u00a0 After the proprietor peered through the iron peephole and made out the huddled form, he let the stranger in.\u00a0 A drenched Glenillyn from the Northlands passed the threshold, introduced himself, and asked for shelter at the house of Traer in the Southlands.\u00a0 He was carrying a bridle round his neck and spurs dangled from his belt.<\/p>\n
After a frugal supper filled with rich conversation, Glenillyn inquired as to what service he could render to repay Traer\u2019s hospitality.\u00a0 The dark host sat silent for some time, then he said to his guest, \u201cI ask nothing of you save you bring me the prized mare held by my neighbor to the west.\u00a0 He guards her with such precision that for months all my attempted ambushes have been in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glenillyn said, \u201cYou in the South are certainly slow and cowardly by our standards.\u00a0 We would have made an attempt to get her and even have died rather than hang about for moons.\u00a0 Tell me where she is and wait here over the next night and see how I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Traer, \u201cWe know all about the boasting of your people.\u00a0 Cadwallon, the son of Uther, has the mare at Gelligaer.\u00a0 She feeds by day in the midst of soldiers.\u00a0 At night she slumbers on a fine brachan[1]<\/a> in the far corner of his house, with the whole household between her and the only door and four of his best men between her and the fireplace.\u00a0 In addition to repaying my hospitality, you shall get ten cows for the mare and five for the brachan.\u201d\u00a0 Traer strolled up unconcernedly to the face of Glenillyn, as no thief in the Southlands is arrested but is instead killed on the spot, so if the traveler were seen again it would mean success and he would have his prize.\u00a0 Glenillyn nodded, took his rest, and in the morning set forth to retrieve the mare.<\/p>\n The night was dark and starless as Glenillyn approached Gelligaer.\u00a0 With his knife he made a hole beside the door and let himself in.\u00a0 He stole up to the mare and loosed her.\u00a0 Then, with the lashing skills of the seamen of the north, he tied the fringes of the carpet to her tail.\u00a0 The four men were sleeping on the carpet and following Glenillyn\u2019s lead, the mare dragged the guards bodily through the fire, which consumed them immediately and with nary a shriek, their ashen corpses covered the rug as it was dragged outside the door.\u00a0 Cadwallon\u2019s remaining band set out after him, guided by the sparks.\u00a0 These Glenillyn quenched, and mount and robber rode off into a nearby field.\u00a0 Just before dawn, he returned to Traer safely, handed over the mare, received the cows and gained for himself great renown for daring as against the men of the Southlands.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for both men, the story doesn\u2019t end there.\u00a0 The mare herself sustained burns passing through the fire that night.\u00a0 The ashes of the corrupt guards wore into the sores opened by the flesh wounds, infecting the mare with the evil intent that an unjust death does.\u00a0 The next night, she broke free of the stables of Traer, breathing fire as bright\u00a0as ever from the hearth of Cadwallon at her captors, her flesh still rotting yet clinging to her animated frame.\u00a0 She galloped off across the land, set free by her power.\u00a0 From the prints where her hooves stepped that night, no plant has since grown.<\/p>\n It is said she has bred many more mares in her corrupted image.\u00a0 On starless nights, beware the whinnies that wind through the dells of the Southlands and the haunted dreams of men.<\/p>\n Inspired by the Welsh legend of Genillyn, the Thief of Glamorgan.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sound of rapping at the door barely interrupted the thunderous downpour.\u00a0 After the proprietor peered through the iron peephole and made out the huddled form, he let the stranger in.\u00a0 A drenched Glenillyn from the Northlands passed the threshold, introduced himself, and asked for shelter at the house of Traer in the Southlands.\u00a0 He was carrying a bridle round his neck and spurs dangled from his belt. After a frugal supper filled with rich conversation, Glenillyn inquired as to what service he could render to repay Traer\u2019s hospitality.\u00a0 The dark host sat silent for some time, then he said to his guest, \u201cI ask nothing of you save you bring me the prized mare held by my neighbor to the west.\u00a0 He guards her with such precision that for months all my attempted ambushes have been in vain.\u201d Glenillyn said, \u201cYou in the South are certainly slow and cowardly by our standards.\u00a0 We would have made an attempt to get her and even have died rather than hang about for moons.\u00a0 Tell me where she is and wait here over the next night and see how I do.\u201d Said Traer, \u201cWe know all about the boasting of your people.\u00a0 Cadwallon, the son of Uther, has the mare at Gelligaer.\u00a0 She feeds by day in the midst of soldiers.\u00a0 At night she slumbers on a fine brachan[1] in the far corner of his house, with the whole household between her and the only door and four of his best men Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[686],"tags":[66,361],"class_list":["post-1361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-fiction","tag-hook-seed-or-legend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1363,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions\/1363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/unicornrampant.com\/newccb\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}