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As the sun began setting, they finally caught sight of a vast lake as they crested over a particularly high hill.
“Salvation at last!” the black-haired man crowed with eagerness. “My feet are killing me.”
“Poor Ere,” Divina sympathized. “Tomorrow, maybe we can take turns riding—”
Andros snorted and shook his head, stamping his front hoof in protest.
“Uh, that’s a clear no,” the man called Ere said, eyeing him warily. “I don’t want to get on that stallion’s bad side.”
The suggestion of changing riders was dropped as they moved on to other subjects, including the division of labor for securing supper and making camp.
“I’ll leave the details in your capable hands,” Divina said to Ere and the warrior called Sorin, as Andros finally learned through their conversation.
“As for me, I’m giving my baby a bath in the lake, so I can have a better look at his wounds under the grime. You brought my purchases from this morning, right?”
“As if I would dare leave them behind,” Ere intoned.
“I like you Ere. You’re easy to train.”
The male grunted in response and rolled his eyes.
“I’ll wash and brush his mane and tail out while I’m at it,” Divina went on. “He’s going to look and feel like a million bucks when I’m done. Water, food and a good night’s sleep will do the rest. He’ll be better in no time!”
“And then what?”
“If he wants to accompany us on the quest, I don’t see why not. Might be useful to have a swift getaway ride if the centaurs we meet prove to be inhospitable.”
“Maybe for you,” Ere retorted. “He’s obviously not keen to let anyone else ride him.”
If it came to that, Andros would do what he had to. He would not let a debt go unpaid. When he was stronger, he could easily carry all three of them.
The mention of centaurs stayed in his mind as they split up to do their allotted tasks. He recalled vaguely the looming shadow of the creature that attacked him as a youngling. His head throbbed at the memory even now.
Something was missing.
All his life, since that brutal beating that had left him on the edge of death, there was a part of him that he never recovered. He didn’t belong in the animal world; he wasn’t the same as the beasts of burden or the wild horses that raced across the beach. He obviously wasn’t human, but he somehow related to them better, understood their motivations. He was caught in limbo between two worlds.
Yet centaurs…
Half man, half beast.
It resonated with him.
But then, why didn’t he look like the creature who attacked him?
Who was he?
“Easy, big guy,” Divina said as she diligently stroked a bristly brush over his hide as he ate and drank his fill on the grassy bank of the lake.
“What’s wrong? You grew so tense there for a second.”
She faced him and held his cheeks gently with her palms, looking into his eyes.
He flared his nostrils as he breathed in her scent, bathing her face with soft puffs.
Just her voice, presence and scent calmed his confusing thoughts. Eased the pain of those awful memories. She grounded him in the present when he would have gotten lost in the past.
She chuckled with delight.
