Esvas - Hippodrakon diomedon
"V Iounios, 6,465 (956AD), Théma Makedonías, Romanía
The corpses—a herd of red deer—had been thoroughly picked clean. It looked of wolves, but we heard no howls. Lions hadn't graced these lands in ages. Bears don't hunt in such numbers. Poachers scarcely take more than two. Scythians leave nothing. The prints on the ground were hooflike in shape, but the toe indentations suggested claws. And then there was the difficulty of the silk. It was vaguely reminiscent of snake silk, but so much more massive. There were great sheets tangled in the brush, translucent and pale, fluttering like palace curtains in the morning wind.
XXI Iounios, 6,465 (956AD), Théma Makedonías, Romanía
The valley erupted in a crescendo of trumpets and horns, the thrums thundering across the Rhodopes in concentric cycles. Our troop, jolted with equal parts awe and dread, spurred onwards, hoping to catch a glimpse of these silk-shedding equine hunters, the very animals locals claimed the great Herakles tamed centuries past."
An adult Esvas often lies between a thoroughbred and a draft horse, both in height and weight.
Often found near the 'Twisted Monarch' tree, small herds and individuals gather there for both the shade and the nearby water.
Females' horns appear stunted, while the males' grow to elaborate lengths. Skilled trackers can often determine the gender of the individual by the calls they hear over the steppe.
Wyrmlings are roughly the size of cats, but grow quickly during their first year.
Local superstitions hold that the 'Twisted Monarch' was a punishment by the gods for the abhorrent acts committed by Diomedes, Thracian King of the Bistones. Having been fed to his own mares, the Esvas, his remains sprouted as the first Monarch.
While its dewlap is no longer as prominent as its lizard ancestors, it still flares when communicating or threatened.
