AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stand down!”
Andros gave the order in a voice that traveled like thunder rolling across stormy skies. It wasn’t loud, but it was easily heard.
And immediately obeyed, as the horses calmed and stood still again. Just sans their riders.
The centaur warriors hadn’t moved a muscle in the chaos, nor the two geldings that Sorin and Ere brought, one of which Divina still rode. The beast stood placidly beneath her and Sorin, turning its ears in the direction of Andros’ voice, alert but calm.
After that episode of coordinated pandemonium, she didn’t feel threatened or surrounded by the soldiers any more, though they were mostly still there.
Some of them still bore arms, but they looked as disoriented as they no doubt felt. No longer in orderly lines, many of them in the process of picking themselves off the ground where their horses threw them.
Instead, the centaurs looked completely in charge. The bridled horses that Andros so easily commanded stood like sentries on the outer perimeter, ready to act again should their prince call upon them.
Andros faced the Archons once more, stamping his hooves and tossing his head to demand their attention.
“Listen well, leaders of men,” he commanded in that same low, even voice.
Divina was fangirling her male so hard at the moment cartoon hearts fair burst out of her eyes. In under two minutes, Andros had single handedly subdued an entire battalion of soldiers. And he wasn’t even winded!
She wanted to squeal with approval and clap her hands.
A look around at the girls on their own centaurs showed that they shared her awe. Many of them clasped their warrior-beasts tighter to them, as if they were even more convinced by Andros’ display that they’d made the right choice:
These centaurs were the bomb!
“I shall overlook what just occurred in deference to the couples before you, Thessaly’s daughters and my centaur warriors. But if you test me further, there will be no mercy. Nod if you comprehend.”
The Archons nodded one by one, some of their faces still displaying distrust and even disgust, but the defiance and bloodlust had been beaten out of them. They knew they had no hope of winning in a fair fight. Not when just one centaur warrior prince had so easily dismantled their whole army.
“Your women will be safe with us, this I promise you,” Andros rumbled, stamping one front hoof to underline his words.
“Ixion’s rule is at an end. Hewillbe defeated upon my return to the Pelion Mountains. There will be no more Rite. No more exchange of women for the bounty of the Horn.”
The Archons and soldiers looked at one another and muttered amongst themselves.
This was unheard of. They’d performed these Rites for centuries, perhaps longer. This was always the way it was done.
One of the Archons blurted out, “How will you get your…females then? None of our daughters would willingly go with—”
“I’m willing!” Leila shouted upon her centaur stallion.
“So am I!” Daphne said next.
Suddenly, a chorus of eager “I do’s” and fervently raised hands swept through the maidens on top of their stallions, making the Archons gape in astounded silence.
The women smiled and laughed and hugged each other and their Mates. Their joy was clear for everyone to see. There was no question that they chose this, wanted this.
“As you see,” Andros answered and turned toward Divina with a flash of white teeth in a quick triumphant smile.
“We will win them.”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
Two miles from the outskirts of Thessaly, well into the darkness of the hills and valleys between the city and the Pelion Mountains, when the level of danger decreased significantly, Sorin handed Divina back into Andros’ safekeeping.
Well, he didn’t so much hand back as the centaur warrior trotted quickly by and snatched up his woman midstride, making her squeak like a child’s toy in surprise and disorientation. One second riding on the gelding in front of Sorin and the next plucked up and plopped with a bounce on her stallion’s back.
Andros shot Sorin a parting glare, as if it was his fault for touching any part of Divina’s person in the effort of keeping her steady, calm and safe during the tense confrontation on top of the acropolis.
