Chapter 12 Centaurs
An excerpt from The Guardians Book 1: Formation of the Guardians
Berri and Elaen went to the clinic to get their casts removed from their legs. Hugo and Bernard worked as fast as they could while the fairies floated above them.
“There. Now you should be able to walk.” Bernard disposed of the bandages.
Berri and Elaen stood up and tried walking. They were a bit wobbly at first, but were soon walking as they used to. They walked around the clinic for several minutes.
Elaen stopped in front of Bernard. “Adelaen said you may of some fertility increasing herbs Berri and I can use to have a baby.”
“I do. There’s some growing in the courtyard and I have told the domestic staff to leave the plants alone.”
“Wonderful. How much will we have to eat?”
“I’d recommend that you both eat it for the best results. Shouldn’t be hard. It’s a fruit you can eat raw. In fact, the raw form will help you out more than the cooked version.”
“That would be easy.” Elaen smiled at Berri and he smiled back.
“Come out in the courtyard and I’ll show you the fruit.” Bernard led the fairies outside and straight to the fruit tree. “There may be more growing wild in the forest nearby. I haven’t looked.”
The fairies nodded and gathered plenty of fruit in their bags. Darius, Jazmin, and Adelaen were nearby. The fairies flew to them.
“Well, Elaen and I will be going to the forest for a little while. Bernard showed us where the fertility fruit grows and we both have plenty for now.”
Darius smiled. “Don’t be gone too long. You know we’ll all miss you.”
Jazmin shook her head. Adelaen smiled.
Elaen smiled back. “We need some alone time for now. We will be back to prove you elves aren’t better than us fairies.”
Adelaen laughed. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” The fairies flew off to the forest.
Jazmin turned to Adelaen. “Are you and Bernard planning on having children?”
“Not yet. I’m not sure how we could take care of a baby. We both agree that I should nurse. But if there was a way to take care of the baby and still give him or her my milk when I was some other place than the baby, then it would be an entirely different story.”
“That sounds like a job for Greg.”
“Perhaps.”
“He’s talking to Hugo again, right over there.”
Adelaen smiled. “They make such a good couple.”
“They do.”
Greg and Hugo walked near Adelaen, Jazmin, and Darius. Bernard followed closely behind.
Greg stopped in front of the women. “How will you do without the fairy guards?”
Adelaen laughed. “We’ll be fine. It’s not like orcs or raiders are coming to pay us a visit while they are gone.”
“Did I hear you say you’d like a way to give a baby your milk when you aren’t together?”
“Something like that. I don’t know how it could possible.”
“Some people milk cows and goats for food. I’d say it’s more than possible. You’d more than likely wouldn’t let someone milk you, but perhaps a little device to milk your breasts may work out.”
Jazmin raised her eyebrows. “Greg, you may have just done it again. You create that device and some of the women here will be able to take care of their babies and still work.”
Greg nodded. “You women are doing important work and it seems that only those on the domestic staff are able to take care of their own babies easily. The rest will have some trouble. Your work can be dangerous to a baby. You’ll probably need someone else to take care of them.”
Adelaen smiled. “I think you got it, Greg. Let me know when it’s ready.”
Bernard smiled at Adelaen. “I’ll be able to take care of our baby while you’re working, milady.”
*********************
Elaen and Berri flew to the edge of the forest holding hands. It had been a long time since they had lived in the heart of any forest. They had left when they were adolescents because they weren’t allowed to marry each other.
They didn’t stop at the entrance, but flew further in until they were completely alone. There were animals in the forest, but they ignored the fairies as they sat down on the ground and ate fruit until they were full.
It was after that they wrapped their arms around each other and kissed. They paid no attention to the time and just enjoyed themselves.
It was completely dark and they were hungry. They ate more of the fruit and went at it again. They didn’t bother sleeping that night.
The next morning, they finished the last of their fruit. They were kissing when the centaurs walked by.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen fairies!”
Elaen and Berri stopped kissing and turned to look at the centaurs. They gaped at the humanoid horse combos.
“Hi, we were just trying to get some alone time…” Elaen stumbled over her words.
“So you were what we heard last night! I didn’t get much sleep because of your howling!”
“Sorry,” both fairies said.
“Are you littering our forest? I swear no one respects us and they think it’s good sport to hunt us down. We’re tired of dealing with the elves and fairies. We’d prefer to be alone in the forest.”
The fairies blinked. They quickly picked up their things.
“That’s better. Which way did you come from?”
The fairies pointed.
“Oh, we didn’t know there was a settlement there. We’ve heard some rumors from the other direction about the witches and wizards of the Silver Mists.”
“We live in the Silver Mists.”
“Oh! But you can’t be a witch or wizard with those weapons.”
“No, we’re warriors. We’re guards who protect those who live there.”
“You survived the orcs?”
“Yes, many of us did. It wasn’t easy. There were lots of them.”
“Yes, we know. We fought them, too.”
“Then we thank you for the causalities you caused them before they reached us.”
“You would thank us?”
“Sure, why not?”
“That’s not how others treat us.”
“Oh. Well, we’re just a couple of oddballs who live in the Silver Mists with other oddballs. Many of us left our homes because we weren’t allowed to be ourselves.”
“That sounds too good to be true.”
“Would you like to meet some of the others? We aren’t just fairies and elves— we are also the merfolks of the sea.”
“Merfolks?”
“Yeah, they look like elves from the waist up, and fish from the waist down.”
“Oh.”
“We would love for you to join us and remain as you are.”
The centaurs raised their eyebrows. “That’s quite an offer, but we’ve had other offers, which have all gone sour.”
“That’s terrible and sounds too familiar.” Elaen paused and looked at Berri. “I’ll tell you what, we’ll go and let our companions know you’re here in the forest. We will probably come back and start negotiations with you. We will listen to all of your grievances. We don’t like to be treat that way any more than you do.”
The centaurs nodded to the fairies, who turned and flew out of the forest. Soon the fairy guards were back home. They wasted no time finding Darius, Jazmin, and Adelaen.
Adelaen smiled at them. “I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
“We ran into some centaurs.”
“Centaurs? I’ve heard they’re very dangerous. Taems bragged he killed several of them, but I never believed him.”
“He may have told you the truth. They aren’t happy with the way many elves and fairies treated them.”
Adelaen nodded. “We are a sorry lot at times. So, are we going back to talk with them?”
“Yeah, they are wary of us, but we thought it’d best to come back and give them some time to think about joining our oddball group.”
Adelaen laughed. “We are a bunch of oddballs. Even Bernard will admit that.”
Elaen and Berri smiled. Darius and Jazmin walked closer.
Darius looked around at everyone. “Then we will have to be cautious about approaching them. I don’t want to get into fights with them.”
Jazmin spoke up, “They aren’t friendly most of the time I’ve seen them. I have no grievances with them. So, I always steered clear of them. They would watch me, but they never approached me.”
Darius nodded his head. “I’ve experience them watching me, but I never went near them. I’ve seen what they can do when you get too close and make them mad. It’s not pretty. They have every right to be wary of us.”
Adelaen nodded. “So when do we want to go and talk with them? Later on today or tomorrow?”
“Let’s wait until tomorrow. For now, I want more of that fruit and perhaps some sleep.”
Jazmin shook her head. Adelaen smiled.
**********************
The next afternoon, Adelaen, Darius, Jazmin, Berri, and Elaen went to the forest. They wore their weapons just in case, but hoped they wouldn’t need them.
It didn’t take long to find the centaurs, who were waiting. They stared at the elves and fairies and said nothing for a long time.
Finally, Adelaen spoke up, “You haven’t had any problems with us in the past, have you?”
“Not from the direction you came from, no. The other directions, yes, we’ve had trouble. Some seem to think it’s good sport to hunt us down.”
“Yeah, I heard my former commander brag about killing some of your people. I thought he was just boasting.”
“What was your former commander’s name?”
“Taems.”
The centaurs grumbled and growled.
“Oh, you’ve heard of him. He turned into an orc and we had to kill him and burn his body.”
“Wonderful! Perhaps we can be friends.”
Adelaen raised her eyebrows. “Really? That would be great.”
“Well, we are willing to give you a chance. Do you call yourselves something other than witches and wizards of the Silver Mists?”
“We are Guardians at the request of the Goddess Stefani.”
“Ah, you know her?”
“Yes, we have a way of communicating with her so that everyone can talk to her.”
“That sounds a lot like magic.”
“It’s advanced technology, which seems like magic to anyone who isn’t familiar with it.”
The centaurs nodded. “That makes sense. Will we be able to talk with the Goddess Stefani as you do?”
Darius stepped forward. “Yes, when you become a part of the Guardians, we will give you your own communicators and you can use those to talk with her or others who live in the same realm.”
“Sounds good. We’ve seen you and the other elf, who hasn’t spoken yet today.”
Darius nodded. “Neither one of us saw any reason to annoy you and thought it best to stay away. I’ve seen what you can do when you’re angry.”
“Ah, being overly cautious. Yet, we felt you both were more respectful than others have been in the past. I’d say you’ve all earned a chance to become allies, even though the fairies were too loud the other night.”
Elaen and Berri blushed. Adelaen put her hand over her mouth and laughed. Darius and Jazmin smiled.
Darius pulled out his communicator. “Okay, I’ll contact Greg so he and his crew will make you some communicators. We’ll bring them to you once they are built and teach you how to use them.”
The centaurs nodded and smiled.
“Greg, we need some portable communicators built for the centaurs living in the forest.”
“No problem, Darius. How many do they need?”
“Oh, good question.” Darius looked to the centaurs. “How many do you need?”
“How about 20 to start with? There are more of us, but many don’t want to come out of hiding at the moment.”
“Okay, did you get that?”
“Yeah, 20. They should be ready by tomorrow morning without any problems.”
“Thanks.” Darius put his communicator away.
“That looks a bit like magic, but you said it was just technology.”
“Yeah, Greg knows what he’s doing. We’ve had quite a few improvements with him. I know the domestic staff is quite happy with what he’s done so far.”
Adelaen nodded. “He’s not done either. He keeps coming up with new ideas on his own and he also listens to others when they have problems they can’t solve on their own.”
“Sounds like someone we’d like to talk to.”
“I’m sure he will listen to you. He’ll ask questions to make sure he understands what your problem is before he comes up with a solution.”
“Even better. Some of us are inventors and scientists as well, but we don’t tend to use much in the way of technology. As you can see, we don’t have much use for it.”
“We only use what we need. Beyond that, it seems like too much of a waste.”
“Yes, it certainly can be wasteful. Would it be too much if we followed you to the Silver Mists?”
“No. You’re welcome to visit us.”
“Won’t others be shocked by our appearance?”
“They might, but they won’t complain. We’re all the people who don’t fit and you’ll fit in without any trouble with us.”
The elves, fairies, and centaurs walked out of the forest and back to the Silver Mists. People stared at the centaurs, but relaxed when they saw they were relaxed.
The nuns and monks nodded to the guards and the centaurs as they walked past. The guards and centaurs nodded back.
Lady Penelopi greeted the group with Luka. “Welcome to the Silver Mists. I had no idea we had such neighbors living in the forest. I’m surprised there aren’t any fairies.”
Berri and Elaen flew around Lady Penelopi and Luka. “Lady Penelopi, we were there a few days ago.”
Lady Penelopi smiled at the fairies. “I’m sure everyone has heard about that. I hope it was worth it.”
“We can’t tell, yet. We’re still trying.”
“Lady Penelopi, I can’t say we have been around so many elves and fairies before and not harmed at the same time.”
“You are welcome here as is everyone else as long as you respect us.”
“Yes, of course. This is a strange and new experience for us all.”
“We welcome you as a part of the Guardians.”
********************
The next morning, the 20 portable communicators were ready as promised. The centaurs met Greg and his crew in the courtyard. It took hours, but the centaurs learned how to use their communicators. They learned to call individual Guardians and the Goddess Stefani.
It was a fun day for the Guardians. The centaurs smiled and laughed. Even young Faedin learned more than she had hoped. She now had her own communicator and had more people she could learn from as she was growing up.
Over time, they kept watch in the forest. They listened to travelers and let some pass who were oddballs looking for the Guardians. Others they stopped and had to fight. They were able to listen for rumors and watch the village that were nearby to their forest. They informed the other Guardians.
What fascinated them the most were the merfolks. The centaurs couldn’t understand how they were able to live in the sea.
A young centaur woke up from a pleasant dream. She, Faedin, knew she would have to go on a journey through the forests of the planet Platinum to fully understand what her dream meant. She was a scientist and knew the Guardians well. She kept her portable communicator in her bag at all times, unless she was using it. Her bag also contained paper, quills, and ink. She herself was also considered one of the Guardians— like many of the centaurs, she wasn’t sure about the alliance with the elves and the fairies. However, the Guardians had proven they were respectful and never had they burdened the centaurs. All the Guardians believed everyone in the alliance were free to leave and go on their own.
She was thoughtful as she munched on her breakfast looking up at the sky. There were silver clouds overhead. Faedin smiled. She knew it would be a long, but beneficial journey ahead. She left watching the gossamer left by the spiders nearby to where she ate her breakfast. Her thoughts were on what it means to be a Guardian and how that meaning would affect her work as a scientist. She was still a child, but she had learned all that the other centaurs could teach her. It was time for her to go out into the world and learn what she could from observations and the other Guardians.
