Wraith is Born
Wraith is a minor character in Rise of the Winged Assassin. Normally animals don’t receive character profiles in my books, but he’s kind of special. I was first inspired to create him when I attended the Texas Renaissance Festival a few years back. We go every year, and that particular year we stopped in awe at a woman dressed in black battle armor, sitting atop the tallest most majestic horse I have ever seen. I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him, and that day I knew that he would appear in Rise of the Winged Assassin.
She had quite a following surrounding her, but I broke through my shyness to ask her about him. He was of the Percheron breed and was seventeen hands high! Now that’s a big horse. This picture should give you an idea of how big they are. I’m still not sure how she got up in the saddle.
Now that I had decided he would be a minor character in my book, I needed someone to ride him. This character had to be able to hold their own and be able to handle such a horse, so I instantly knew that it would be Jasmir. She’s also in the book and is of a race called the Hakirians. A what you ask? It’s a shape shifting thing, but they will have their own profile which will come later.
Wraith would become her war horse. He’s feisty and has a mind of his own, but Jasmir can hold her own with him, and the fact that she is extremely feral goes to show that Wraith can’t be spooked by much of anything. He also has an attribute that no other horses in the book have. He has amber colored eyes that match those of Jasmir and her brother Lucien, and he can see in the dark. Bred by her people, the horse and rider form a bond very early in their lives. The bond isn’t one where they can read each other’s minds or anything, but I wouldn’t mess with either one of them and expect to come away unscathed.
So why name him Wraith? I wanted a name that said he isn’t just some animal a rider would use as their mount. He’s a war horse who can be a formidable opponent in his own right. And of course, wraiths don’t mess around, and neither does he.
I found this picture on Pinterest. This is pretty close to how the warrior and her horse looked at the festival, and is how I envision Jasmir and Wraith together.
