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“How so?” Divina was almost afraid to ask.
“The centaurs will come for us,” it was Daphne who answered.
“We, along with eighteen other women, are the sacrifice that the centaur stallions will collect during the Rite of Hippodameia in three days.”
Divina’s mouth fell open with shock at that.
She looked around at each of the faces of her newly found friends.
They nodded back at her in grim confirmation.
“The centaurs will carry us off into the mountains, where we will never be seen again.”
~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~* ~ *~ * ~
“You’ll never guess what I learned,” Divina said as soon as she bid farewell to her friends and reunited with Sorin and Ere as they came ambling out of the men’s section of the bath hall.
“Would it by chance pertain to centaurs and virgins, a sacrifice on the next full moon?” Ere quipped as they walked.
Divina barely watched where they were going. She trusted that the males would lead the way. She was useless with directions, in any case. Never could remember which direction was which based on the sun’s position and shadows and such.
That’s why she always found helpful people to ask when she was lost. And why she trailed along behind Ere and Sorin as they slowed their long strides to accommodate her comparatively short legs.
Besides, walking on platform heels on dirt roads was a bitch.
“How did you know!” she exclaimed, rounding her eyes.
“We need to find out more. It’s all a big misunderstanding, I’m certain of it. We should stay behind and negotiate a truce.”
She looked around just then, noticing that they had left the village some distance behind. Apparently, they were hiking up a hilly path, dotted with small trees and large bushes.
“Did you hear me? Where are we going anyway?”
“Toward the Pelion Mountains,” Ere answered, continuing the hike without pausing.
“It’s where the leader of the centaurs resides. And if the stories are true, then it’s also where he’s holding the Horn we’re after.”
“So, what?” Divina put in. “What do you propose we do? Climb up the mountain and demand he gives it to us?”
“Something along those lines,” Ere muttered. “I’ll try reason first. Then negotiation—”
“What would we negotiate with?”
He shrugged.
“I’ll think of something. And if there’s nothing, then we can always steal it and ask for forgiveness later.”
“That’s a horrible idea,” Divina said. “What if the centaurs need the Horn? We might be leaving them in a bind.”
Ere clawed a hand through his long, loose hair.
“Look, I’m just trying to complete our mission, okay? I don’t have all the answers. Who knows, maybe there’s a lyre in those mountains too. Find the horn and storm the mountain. Maybe that’s what Shifu meant.”
“I think we should go back to the village and help prepare the maidens…”
“Prepare them how? How does one prepare for being a virgin sacrifice to half-men, half-equine beasts?” Ere pointed out.
“Well, theyarestill half men,” Divina said.
