Songs of the Green Rider

by Teekagirl

What if Bard Martin had managed to compose a song or two about the life of a Green Rider before his end? A collection of what might have been, and of what was lost.

1. Rider's Call

Rider's Call

o-o-o-o-o-o

When hoofbeats pound within your breast
And your soul cries out to sing
Come ride beneath a forest cloak
Where horses take to wing

A merchant girl lay down her wares
Lay down her rank and name
Kissed her father on the cheek
And to the king she came

And hoofbeats beat upon the road
So hang onto the reins
And hoofbeats beat within your heart
As the call sings through your veins

A scholar boy from Selium
Put down his quill and sighed
His manuscript would have to wait
For now he had to ride

And hoofbeats take you for a ride
Over hills and plains
And hoofbeats flee from bitter tongues
So leave them to their games

An orphan girl without a name
She heard the rider's song
And found beneath the winged horse
A place she could belong

And hoofbeats echo through the night
Beneath the starlit sky
Where the scent of dew takes to the wind
And horses seem to fly

A mender lad knelt by bedside
All swathed in robes of blue
He rose and walked to rider's hall
To wear a different hue

And hoofbeats ring on cobbled streets
As shod hooves hit the stone
Through alleys and by marketplace
To bring the message home

And hoofbeats drum into a song
Of triumph over strife
And though I did not choose the tune
I do not regret this life.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Author's note:

I tried to capture the nature of the rider's call, how it would call anyone regardless of their station in life, and it's insistence. And I'm aware they didn't find Ben until they lost Bard, but he can't have been the only healer in the thousand-year history of the Green Riders.