The Wind-Witch

Warhorse of Esdragon #2

by Susan Dexter

Book Two of "The Warhorse of Esdragon"
Faithful wife to a small landholder, Druyan had lived her life in other people's shadows. And if she could sometimes hold the clouds at bay or whistle up a wind, Druyan made sure to keep that talent to herself. Then war came, and Druyan found herself a widow, with no one to help during the harvest but Kellis, the wounded prisoner her husband had locked in the root cellar the day he marched away. But when Druyan freed Kellis from the cellar, she unlocked a Pandora's box, for Kellis had secrets and magic of his own . . .

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, High Fantasy, Fiction, Horses, Young Adult, Adult

335 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Susan Dexter’s favorite subject for her books is fantasy and throughout her life has worked as a librarian, teacher, and writer.

Susan received her first award, the Merit Award, in 1976 from the Lawrence County Open Arts Show. She also received the Distinguished Award from them in 1982 and 1983. The Wizard’s Shadow was listed among the “Books for the Teen Age” in 1993 by the New York Public Library.

She now lives in New Castle, Pennsylvania in the vintage house that her book sales enabled her to buy and restore.

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed The Prince of Ill Luck--the first book in The Warhorse of Esdragon trilogy immensely. Even better, the second book--THE WIND-WITCH--was already out at the time and, when I went back to purchase it, I was surprised to find that it took place several generations later in the same country and the characters from the first tale were the stuff of almost legend in their country now. Many years had passed since Leith followed his princess through hell and high water to make her honor her word to break his curse, and this second book followed a very different heroine. Though the black warhorse Valadin was there having seemingly not aged a day and that made me feel good and like everything would be all right. It's always hard to let go of those characters and friendships that first captured your attention. But, in this case, Susan Dexter's choice was a good one and THE WIND-WITCH is actually my favorite of the three books in the trilogy. Though they are all excellent, this one is the one I re-read regularly. First published in 1994, this series, as is so often the case with these great under-the-radar fantasy titles, this series is now out of print. But used copies are available very inexpensively.

Druyan has just buried her husband. And she's not exactly the picture of a grieving widow, though she does find herself at quite a few loose ends. It was an arranged marriage and, though he was much older than she and they had little in common, she finds she misses the company and what conversation they shared. Much of this is swallowed up, though, by her realization that her farm, her land, the only place she's ever felt truly at home will assuredly be taken from her if she cannot hold the farm and keep it producing for a year and a day from the moment her husband Travic died. And so, with a stubborn sense of defiance and nothing but a couple of young girls and an elderly, arthritic cook by her side, Druyan sets out to defend her home and use the laws of the land to her advantage. Then, within the span of a few days, she becomes the unsuspecting owner of an unusually beautiful and mysterious black horse, and she discovers a prisoner named Kellis trussed up in the celler, where her husband must have stashed him without telling her when the sea-faring Errol invaders reached their land last fall. Druyan weighs his threat against her need and decides to force the obviously dazed foreigner into service to help bring in the harvest and, in the process, lets loose a force she has no inkling of. But Druyan herself is not precisely what she seems. And her own powers with the weather, combined with the marvelous horse and the mysterious Kellis, will all be necessary when invasion threatens Esdragon's coast once more.

Right away I could tell this book was special. I connected with Druyan immediately and her quiet, strong personality was honestly a relief after the constant stream of vitriol and fire that was Kess in the previous book. Druyan is a weaver of some skill and, at night after working her hands to the point where they're raw, she relaxes in front of the fire and weaves cloaks and blankets and scarves of wonderful color and quality and texture. I, along with Kellis (once he's allowed in the house), watched her in wonder and appreciation at this talent I have little knowledge of or experience with. She reminds me a fair bit of Sorcha in Daughter of the Forest and Claire in Garden Spells because of the determined way she pursues her goals, the way she creates something lovely from such simple ingredients, and the way she is so hesitant--almost afraid--to grasp at the few instances of beauty in her life. I liked getting to know Kellis as well, as Druyan slowly let down her guard around him. He's a disarming beta hero and about as clumsy as a bull in a china shop. He knows nothing of farming or manual labor and Druyan has to teach him everything and bite her tongue when he displays an unusual aversion to cold iron. And it's a good thing she keeps him around despite her numerous misgivings for Kellis does have one ability she does not. And it comes in handy in a most opportune moment, when it seems everything she's worked so hard for will be lost in a moment's thoughtlessness. I love this story. I love the characters and I love the not knowing up to the last page what will happen ending. THE WIND-WITCH is good, solid traditional fantasy in the vein of the early Patricia McKillip books, some of Mercedes Lackey's early stuff, and Jennifer Roberson.

Reading Order: The Prince of Ill Luck, THE WIND-WITCH, and True Knight

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Druyan has lived her life as the dutiful daughter. Marrying when she was told, putting her talents to the skills deemed 'appropriate' for women. When her husband is unexpectedly killed, Druyan finds herself on a precipice -- submit meekly once again to her uncle, the Duke's, choice of a new husband or keep her loss private and work, work, work for a year and a day proving her holding profitable and become her own master. For once, Druyan follows her heart and chooses the latter. With the help of her meager farm help, her mythical horse Valadan and the unsuspecting raider turned farmhand, Kellis, Druyan begins to make Splaine Garth her own.

But Kellis is not simply a wounded foreigner hoping to pay a blood debt by working Druyan's farm. Cursed (or blessed) with the gift of sight, Kellis begins to see warnings of raiders invading Esdragon and even as he warns his Lady not to trust the visions, she is not content to simply do nothing. Each time Kellis scrys a vision of destruction, Druyan rushes off, fleet as the wind on the back of Valadan, to warn the unsuspecting victims. But Kellis cannot find it in himself to let his Lady ride off alone, unprotected, and their headlong flights bring unwanted scrutiny when they want it the least.

Heavens above, I think I fell in love with this one wholeheartedly from the very first sentence. First of all, it's full of lovely writing with a sloooow buildup of tension that I found myself all but gripping the pages in earnest concern as Druyan hurled herself into harms way time and again. Susan Dexter is such a wonderful storyteller. Truly. Her detailed passages of daily farm life contrasted against the looming threat of war never failed to thrust me right into the moment. Each sentence seemed to be crafted with such a loving touch that I wanted to mull over each word individually and digest them slowly.

Druyan has something of the wild wind within her (as you can gather from the title) but it has been battered down so thoroughly all her life, that the gradual loosening she allows was pure magic. Her quiet determination to save her farm, her friends, even her country utterly entranced me as I was constantly awed by her courage and loyalty. Under Kellis' careful and watchful eye, she becomes a woman of her own making and I loved every minute of it. I cannot recommend this treasure heartily enough and you better believe I've got the rest of the series already queued up in the TBR pile.

[Jen526 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very much "my cup of tea". I love the fairly narrow scope - a widowed farm-wife with a bit of magic needs to keep her farm productive long enough so she can earn the right to own it without having a new husband forced upon her - and the way that scope widens a little in the back half without going completely off the rails. I particularly enjoyed the level of detail (without going overboard) that went into showing all the many, many tasks that go into keeping the farm solvent to meet her goals.

I, of course, also really love that the heroine is a capable adult woman who has a firm sense of her own self and her own goals, but doesn't angst overly much about her lot in life, and I like the fairly matter-of-fact way that the affection/love between her and the love interest evolves across the book from a partnership of convenience to actual respect and that final admission of love. I even like the use of the magical warhorse that the series is named for. (I usually really dislike magical-creature books, but his use here is really well done. He's important to the plot, but he's more of secondary character than a driving force of "look at the cool magical horsey!" sort of vibe). Definitely recommended for fans of lower-key, less "E P I C!!!!" sort of fantasy.

[Wuf · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a special one for me. I first read this book probably around 1996-ish, when I was in middle school. I think, originally, I picked it up because it had a cool horse and lady on the cover. Even to this day I could remember plot points and specific details about it, and it inspired one or two ideas of my own. I remember loving this book to death, so much so that I started wondering recently if it was really that great or if it was just my teenage self and a strong pair of nostalgia goggles. So, when I found a copy in my local used bookstore I couldn’t help but pick it up and put it to the test.

The story follows Druyan, recently widowed, who has always suppressed her ability to call the wind and storms. Knowing she’ll be married off the first moment someone discovers her husband has died, she decides to try and manage her farm for a year and a day, knowing if she succeeds that it will become hers by law. Oh, and she also has a magical horse that chose her when she was young.

I like to consider myself a more knowledgeable reader now, and I’m happy to say the book still stands on its own merits. I still love the protagonist, Druyan, who grows from someone who does everything expected of them into her own self-made woman. I appreciated that the love interest, Kellis, wasn’t only that and that he carried serious burdens of his own. The two mains are wounded, put-upon people, and they both grow through the story. Luckily, they both grow in generally the same direction. The world building is solid and doesn’t try to wave away or excuse the injustices the female characters endure and takes joy in their triumphs. The prose is lush and descriptive and, yes, I still go a bit gaga over that damn horse.

That’s not to say the story doesn’t have problems. It’s a very slow moving book a lot of the time, with periods of brief flashing action. This gets better as the story goes on, but it felt like it took a long while for the plot to really get moving. Some of the character reveals, especially regarding Kellis, felt a bit clunky, and one or two points felt somewhat contrived. The ending too I felt could have been a little neater but overall the plot and story were very good indeed.

Despite the slow start, I was kept wondering how things were going to play out and the story held a distinct note of tension for me about whether or not Druyan would succeed in her plans to keep her farm. The crescendo of the book and the defining moments for our heroine, felt very satisfying and I could see how the events of the book led her to where she ends up. All in all I’m very glad I gave this one a revisit, and would highly suggest it to anyone else who loves fantasy and doesn’t mind a story that lingers a bit.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read the first book and probably won't read the other two in the series either, but I really liked this one. An enjoyable old-school fantasy with a determined, independent heroine and a heavy focus on the work of running a farmstead. I found the leisurely pace, subtle slow burn romance and detailed descriptions of the weather, land and rituals of farmwork almost meditative.

I do agree however with a point in one of the more critical reviews, regarding the romance. Perhaps I'm too used to modern writing but I did have some dissatisfaction with the romance pacing and one point in particular.

Near the very end of the book when Druyan hints that she is pregnant, I had a very "Uh... WHAT???" reaction. I'm not sure it's a sign of good romance writing if you have no idea they had sex earlier in the book. I suppose it must have been during the healing scene after Druyan lost her fingers, but after re-reading that section I'm still not certain and, if it was, Druyan's consent must be murky at best; she is almost dying of blood loss at the time and later tells Kellis she doesn't remember anything that happened that night except dreaming about moonlight and wolves. There was no further reference to it that I caught, so at the end of the book when she suddenly and inexplicably seems to know that they had sex and she is pregnant from it, I was quite blindsided.

[Caroline Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many books with heroes have them go off on heroic quests, with nothing to tie them down, and no home base. This book does a marvelous job depicting what goes into saving and holding onto the land you have - while still doing all the chores necessary to keep that land productive! For once the heroes have to split their time between saving others, and doing manual work on their own farm to keep it going, while the raiding throughout the countryside gets worse and worse. I truly envy their stamina because I can't imagine having the energy to plant and harvest and also travel around warning others about the raids!

The heroes in this story are not the best fighters, or the most learned. Sure, they have magic, which gives them an edge, but their truth strength lies in seeing what is wrong, and setting about to fix it, despite the terrible odds. Turns out you can find time to be a hero, even when you have a farm to tend.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan Dexter's The Ring of Allaire was one of my favorites as a young woman. I read Dexter's other works, but they never left as strong an impression on me. But that made re-reading The Wind-Witch a special pleasure, because it's a book I appreciate much more as an older woman. Druyan, with her broad capable hands and fierce independence, is a fantastic heroine, and this was a very enjoyable read.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite like the horse tales.

This time he picks the Witch, struggling to be independent with her farm after her husbands death, she meets the shape shifter and adventures and romance follow.

YA really.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating tale

I enjoyed reading this tale of a young woman determined to protect her people and save her farm and win her independence,
I was captured by the world building and felt like I was watching a film the writing was excellent!

[Kristina]

P

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as the first in this series. It drags in places.

[Lex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoyed these books a a teen

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot how much I liked this book.

[Melissa Cuevas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, after the first one, I asked myself if I was even going to bother, but since someone had bought me both of these and I needed something to read in the bathtub, I did.

First off, this one is much more tolerable than the Prince of Ill Luck. I'll start with the pluses and work my way down to the minuses. Druyan (female protagonist) is a pretty solid plus. Unlike her predecessor in 'Prince', I never found myself wondering why she hadn't been drowned in the toilet as a child. She's a pretty steady, level headed sort of fantasy heroine, and I can handle that.

And to the minuses... her male counterpart, Kellis. Like his predecessor Leith in Prince, he is a foundling, Leith was shipwrecked and Kellis has been captured. This is necessary to set up the perfect dependent male dynamic that the author seems to get off on. Also like Leith, Kellis spends an inordinate amount of time concussed into a haze. This was adequately explained with Leith, who is supposedly cursed, but serves no other purpose in this one but to render Kellis even more hopeless, helpless and hapless. This plot hole, repeated throughout both works, gives the author a chance to keep them both firmly under leash, an opportunity to describe their 'swellings' and 'clottings' and gives the reader some faint hope that they're both actually good guys suffering from repeated traumatic brain injuries.

Kellis has been captured by Druyan's husband, and locked into a root cellar with four of his 'compatriots'. It takes Dru four or five days to remember that they're there (we can forgive her, nobody left her in charge of the kennel, and she's had a bad week.) She remembers that they're there when she desperately needs slave labor. (Ooookay, I get the concept but the implementation seems a little weak here.) So she goes to get them out, guessing that she, two dogs, two young shepherdesses, a teenaged boy, and a crippled housekeeper can keep five violent raiders in check. Luckily for her, when she opens the root cellar she discovers that four of them have escaped (without causing any chaos, mayhem, damage or theft, how convenient.) leaving only the badly concussed (!) Kellis. She prods him out of unconsciousness and informs him that he's going to work off his debt. He goes along with this (traumatic brain injury + lack of concrete intelligence about what there is to keep him well behaved, okay) and he is put to work straight out of concussion and a few days locked in a root cellar. (He is the enemy, gotcha.) Turns out Kellis has a racial allergy to iron (damn farming implements) + concussion + few days locked in cellar gives us one of Dexter's heroes at their finest; a long suffering unto the point of sheer pathetic male who conveniently passes out the moment the work is done and requires yet more tending by the female. Why doesn't he just...I don't know...leave? The more I found out about him as the book goes on, the more I just don't swallow why he didn't just walk off. Apparently he is so insipid that the promise he made under duress (and concussion!) to be a slave is enough to keep him around to be pathetic and abused.

And yeah. One final thought. I understand not going into grotesque and pornographic detail when your characters have sexual relations but...please...don't dance around it so badly that I have to go back to try and figure out if and when it happened.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wind-Witch is Druyan, whose life as a farmer’s wife has been fairly ordinary aside from the small fact of her ability to whistle up a wind or redirect a storm. This ability she has kept quiet, even from her husband, magic not being terribly well looked-upon. The only other extraordinary aspect to this simple and good life is the rather small black horse Druyan discovered one day; as no one came forward to claim him, he was, by default, hers, and whatever she suspects about his extreme uniqueness is, again, kept to herself. It is, of course, Valadan, immortal Warhorse of Esdragon (“of course” because the book is “The Warhorse of Esdragon, Book 2″), and he is anything but ordinary.

“Ordinary” is turned upside-down when the sea raiders begin to come, killing and plundering as sea raiders always do, and the local lord calls for troops – including Druyan’s husband – to try to fend them off. In shockingly short order, Druyan is widowed, left alone with a tiny group of very young and very old female servants to try to maintain the farm – and to do something about the wounded raider, Kellis, her husband captured and locked in the root cellar just before he left. In many ways it turns out just as well that of the several raiders who were put in there only Kellis remains – the others dug their way out and left him to die. But he didn’t die, and though he might find death preferable to surviving as Druyan’s prisoner and indentured servant, he heals. Trust slowly, cautiously grows between them as she discovers that, in many more ways than one, he is not your typical raider.

This could have been the setup for a completely generic fantasy romance – but it was written by Susan Dexter, and that is not what Susan Dexter does. (Did.) The trust between the two of them is hard won, and goes little further – the elderly woman servant certainly never trusts Kellis as far as she would a rabid dog. But all he wants is to fulfill his obligation to Druyan, work out the year they agreed upon which will help her keep the farm, and then leave for parts unknown. All Druyan wants is to keep her farm and see peace return to the countryside. It’s frequently doubtful that either of them will get their wishes.

As always, Valadan is beautifully drawn. And as always, so are the humans; they evade the usual pigeonholes fantasy characters have a tendency to slot into, and give every indication that they have full and complete lives before, after, and beyond what the story tells. The story is (as always) excellently well told, with unexpected twists and turns and a perfectly satisfying ending. It’s yet another reason to mourn the lack of books by Susan Dexter over the last ten years.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book in a series that is actually a bunch of independent books that happen to be in the same setting -- the one before The True Knight. I noticed a few references to fictional history that reminded me of that, but they are both stand-alones.

The prologue being a superfluous link to the first novel, the story begins with Druyan finding a marvelous black stallion when at a strange garth for a funeral. She realizes it's Valadan, the legendary half-wind horse, but no one else does. (She has a little magic herself, being one of those reasons why women were forbidden to whistle; she can produce a storm that way.)

And then we leap forward in time, to when Druyan is holding Splain Garth for her husband while he is in the duke's service, against the raiders -- a band of them had attack the garth, even, and four were captive -- only her husband is accidentally killed by a stray arrow. And they have no children. She is thinking of what will happen when she realizes that a widow who holds her lands for a year and a day can lay claim to the lands in her own right. A serious shortage of hands leads to her thinking of using the captives, only to find that all but one escaped, and that one suffered a head injury.

Kellis, his name is, and he's not one of the raiders' people, and he had other reasons why they had left him behind, that he doesn't go into for her -- he can foresee things, but his predication went awry with the garth.

It winds on, with the importance of getting in the harvest and dealing with the sheep, the continuing ordeal of the raiders pillaging the countryside, the duke's foolish notion of building a fleet to counter them (and manning them with whom?), and Kellis's secrets -- the first one she learns is that he's vulnerable to cold iron.

An interesting tale

[Nytetyger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book two in the series and again we have the semi prickly female with magic, but this time the male is also a mage who is broken in spirit as well as body. Her husband slain in the many raider raids to her homeland, Druyan decides to not tell anyone, but stead for a year and a day so that the land will be her own. She chooses to use the prisoners taken by her husband before he left to war, but only one is left—Kellis. He is the usual Sue Dexter hero, and yet, this couple work together. The main bitchy character is the housekeeper, and she is tolerable, as we only deal with her in bits.

Druyan is a rather brave woman, and you like both her and Kellis, and root for them throughout. As the thread from book on, Valadan exists, and assists both of them as only a Wind-sired immortal and sentient steed can do. All in all, so much better than book one that I am actually eager to read book three.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of want to give this book five stars because I love it so much more than I love my other four star books. But I'm not quite convinced it's that good... No choice for it! Must go back and recalibrate all my ratings.

OK, maybe not.

I can't remember now where I picked up The Wind-Witch. I was someplace random, I remember that, and I liked the title, but the book sat on my shelf for a while because it's the second in a series of three and, by the time I got it, I was kind of over series. But I think it stands alone just fine by itself, which is a huge compliment. The writing is nice, the world is well-crafted, the characters are good, the wolves have been romanticized slightly, but it's nowhere near as annoying as when other writers romanticize wolves, the plot moves along, the idea is original, and I can't think why it has taken me 20 years to decide to find and read the other two books. Every time I reread it, I'm surprised again by how good I think it is.

[Barbara Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book for more than a decade, waiting until I could find and read the first in the series, before reading the second. I did not realize that a couple generations had passed between the two, and I could have read this without knowledge of the first.

The plot was decent, although one main point to do with Kellis bothered me, and stretched my ability to overlook it: five days - forgotten - in a cellar without eating or drinking? It could have - should have - been explained away by magic, but it wasn't.

However, I do like Dexter's strong women, and the rest of the story was just barely plausible.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an old favorite. Druyan captures the essence of the dutiful woman forever hemmed in by the dictates of society in general and her male kin in particular. She's capable of so much more and constantly chaffes under all of the restrictions on her. When an accident takes her husband, she seizes the chance to freehold her farm and enlists the help of a shape-shifting foreseer. Her own magical talents and the help of her immortal horse Valadan make the story of her struggle to save herself and her people truly engaging.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

My love for Dexter's Ring of Allaire sent me after her other books, but this is definitely more grown-up than that one. The formation of the main character, and her experience with the wind-stallion, was disquieting but compelling. The balance of 'shall I trust? Do I dare trust' appealled to me.

[Ellen Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book.

I miss simple, character-driven fantasy like this. Still good on my umpteenth reread.

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books, for its sheer storytelling. A superbly paced capture/wartime/woman-in-charge story with a little magic and a fabulous horse thrown in. (M/F)

[Gabrielle Poma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better story than the first book. The only connecting element is Valadan himself; love that horse.

[BLynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay but I just felt like there were too many holes in the story. Seems like it skipped over several things.

[Debi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book more than The Prince of Ill Luck but not quite enough to give it five stars.
I love Valadan just as much. He gets 5 stars always. On to The True Knight.