Social etiquette demanded of wayside peasants to clear from the road when military personnel would pass by and to offer a courteous, albeit simple, bow of the head. It was simply a way to let the soldiers know their efforts and risks were recognized. A reverent bow was only an obligation when high ranking officers came, and it was to bow head and shoulder with the right hand on your heart as a sign of submission. Everyone laid a hand on their heart and bowed.

Nine riders, of which five were regular soldiers in gambesons mounted on palfrey horses, whilst the remaining four were mounted on Tuskiols, rare and expansive mounts.

-“My, such beautiful beasts…!” whispered Lauria in awe of the Tuskiols.

Tuskiols were close relatives of the horses, but humans saw in them august creatures deserving of much care and respect. If their well-known cousins had to be tamed and trained to fit any role from a sumpter to a courser or destrier, any Tuskiol was to be taught how to carry just like a rider had to learn how to ride. Training and teaching were quite different process; simply looking in its eyes was enough to realize that. Their eyes were not on the side but on the front, for they feared no predators and looked at rather than around them. Many fables picturing animals with a human mind, and Kastosians enjoyed those regardless of social status, attributed to the Tuskiols wisdom and or insight. Ears were longer than those of horses, and males had a small golden goatee. A mane, also golden, went down their neck as a regular crest, but then became like a lion’s mane just before the shoulders. In the distant Horsendansk Island, such hair gave them the title of King of the Open Lands.