- "I pondered that for a moment. I could name it something heroic or inspiring but that would have been something of lie of sorts, a denial of what I’d just done. Call a spade a spade.
"His name,” I announced, “is Zombie." - ―Catherine Foundling[1]
Zombie is the name Catherine Foundling uses for her horses, both alive and undead. There have been seven Zombies.
Catherine can mentally command any of the undead Zombies.
Zombies[]
The First[]
Zombie the First was a Bedlam Charger that had taken sick. He had a dark chestnut coat and was over five feet tall. He was killed and raised by the Black Knight in a lesson for Catherine.[1]
The Second[]
Zombie the Second was a warhorse. He was killed by the Summer Court.[2]
The Third[]
Zombie the Third was an undead fae winged horse from the Summer Court.[3] She had a vicious temperment due to her Winter necromancy origins.[4]
She had a taste for corpses.[5]
Her source of flight come from her magical nature, theorized to be a natural domain. This means she does not rely entirely on creational laws to fly, only to steer and adjust. This lends her flight grace and makes it pleasing to the eye.[6]
Zombie the Third died during the Hainaut Campaign by the Axeman[7]
The Fourth[]
Zombie the Fourth was an undead horse[8] Catherine saved from a drow cookpot.[9]
He was killed by Zombie the Third in a fit of jealousy during the Issere Campaign.[4]
The Fifth[]
Zombie the Fifth was a living Helikean horse.[10]
The Sixth[]
Zombie the Sixth was a pale brown Salamans zancada stallion gifted to Catherine by Princess Beatrice Volignac during the Hainaut Campaign.[11]
He was injured during the war against Praes by the collapse of Arcadia.[12]
The Seventh[]
Zombie the Seventh is a "row", a Creature with the body of a horse, but the wings, claws, and head of a crow. Catherine obtained her when the hippocrow bit the head off of her previous horse during the Battle of Kala.[13] Sve Noc, particularly Komena took a personal interest in the her raising.
Zombie the Seventh is eager and obedient, and a quick flier. She is slower on turns than Zombie the Third because of her reliance on creational laws rather than magical ones.[14]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Book 1 - Chapter 6: Aspect
- ↑ Book 3 - Chapter 24: Vanguard
- ↑ Book 3 - Chapter 30: Riot
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Book 5 - Chapter 21: Intervention Zombie the Third was currently being punished by dragging a cart, which looked rather absurd for a winged horse and I knew she very much despised doing. The crime she was atoning for was that this morning I’d found someone had caved in the head, ribs and spine of Zombie the Fourth. She’d tried to look innocent, the wretch, but unless there was another hooved creature in my army jealous of my attentions then I had my culprit. Apparently you could take the Winter necromancy out of the fae horse, but actually you couldn’t and it would keep that vicious temperament forever.
- ↑ Book 5 - Chapter 18: Fable Zombie the Third neighed, I thought, perhaps a little guiltily. Godsdamnit, I’d told Hakram just because it was occasionally appropriate behaviour for orcs didn’t meant he could let my horse do it.
- ↑ Book 6 - Chapter 53: Joust Zombie’s wings weren’t actually what allowed her to fly, since they were nowhere strong enough to actually lift a horse her size – much less with two riders on her back – but Masego had never actually been able to give me a clear answer about what exactly did allow her to fly. There’d been a lot of talk about natural domains and the inherent structural differences of the fae, but the bottom line was that he couldn’t really explain it. There was at least some grounding in Creational laws, though, since Zombie did use the wings to steer around and adjust her flight. It made her flight pleasing to the eye, an extraordinary thing but not unnatural to behold.
- ↑ Book 6 - Chapter 57: Battery
- ↑ Book 5 - Chapter 18: Fable The look she cast at Zombie the Fourth – who was a pure necromantic construct, and so about as sentient as his saddle – was less than friendly, too. I cocked an eyebrow.
- ↑ Book 5 - Chapter 6: Furor
- ↑ Book 5 - Chapter 21: Intervention
- ↑ Book 6 - Chapter 65: Blind Pigs
- ↑ Book 7 - Chapter 13: Footing
- ↑ Book 7 - Interlude: Juniper's Plane (Redux) a hippogriff? No, not quite. He might never have seen one of those outside heraldry, but while the creature had horse’s legs and tail it instead of a hawk-like appearance it had great crow’s wings and head.
It also bit off the head of the queen’s horse, before she stabbed it in the neck.
...
By the time he was done, the queen was sitting astride the dead crow monster with a smugly satisfied look on her face. No, not dead Brandon saw. Undead, for it blinked and let out a happy screech that had him wincing in pain. - ↑ Book 7 - Chapter 21: Amadeus' Plan Zombie the Seventh took nothing more than the pressure of my knees to be guided into a gentle downwards glide. The creature – she wasn’t a hippogriff, not exactly, but given the similarities I was currently leaning towards ‘hippocrow’ – had proved to be eager and obedient after I’d raised her, perhaps because the Sisters had taken a personal interest in the process. Komena in particular had felt intrigued, enough to lend a hand to the process. Regardless, my latest Zombie had proved to be a very good girl indeed on top of being even quicker in flight than I’d thought she would be. Turns could get a little tricky, mind you, but Zombie clearly relied more on Creational laws than magical ones when it came to her flight.
Compared to my last flying mount, anyway.