The Legend of Skydancer
Many, many years before the rise of the 2nd Dark emperor, a stallion was born in the stables of a local lord in the hills of Caspary. It was the most beautiful of foals, being a dark grey with black forelocks and white star upon it’s forehead. When the lord’s youngest daughter, Liera, a tall, skinny branch of a girl all of seven years old, first saw the foal, she dubbed him Skydancer, declaring him the “most beautiful horse I’ve seen.”
Even as a colt Skydancer displayed a streak of spiritedness and stubbornness that surprised the lord’s groomsmen. When it came time to break the yearling for riding, even the best of the lord’s horse trainers found themselves amazed at the tenacity and stubborn refusal of the horse to bend to their will. Only young Liera, who had doted on the colt every day of its life was able to mount and ride Skydancer. It was eventually decided that Skydancer would be her’s, since only she seemed able to ride him.
On the summer of Liera’s 15th year, as she and her family were returning from a festival in the next town when they were ambushed by Orcs. Everyone but Liera was killed by arrow fire, with even Skydancer taking a fatal wound. Even as he was dying, he ran like the wind to get his young rider home safely. He died before they had gone a league, but so stubborn was his will and so great his devotion to Liera, that his spirit ran on, carrying her to safety. It is said that Knorr was so impressed with his love for Liera, that he granted the horse the ability to walk between life and death, so that he could look after her.
After her own death many decades later, Liera recognized one who would need SkyDancer more than she, and she sent SkyDancer to look after Cerelia, known as the Horseless One in the prophecies of the Companions. As Cerelia's own destiny led her towards Ascension as the goddess of justice, SkyDancer become bonded to the goddess, who eventually granted him the ability to bear children.
Every First Sword of Cerelia since Reginald Wallace has had an offspring of Skydancer as their mount.