Ashrain

2. Hooves Where None Should Be

Hongjoong stared at the boy, flabbergasted. His hand clutched the bush under his fingers tighter, feeling dull corners of the branch's bark dig into his skin.

He didn't dare pull the leaves obscuring the boy aside, unsure whether he was ready to see how the fellow and the hooves lying limply a couple of feet beneath his torso connected.

The icy wind bit at Hongjoong's nape. Despite it being early morning, the forest seemed dark all of a sudden. The tall trees seemed to whisper maliciously under their dark needles, as if poised to strike at the unassuming duo.

Hongjoong couldn't leave before his concern wasn't soothed. What if the man was hurt? What if something was following him?

Hongjoong took a big inhale and held his breath before he nudged the bush aside. With big eyes, he gawked at the man's hips, lower than his polite gaze would normally stray. Not that there was anything improper he could look at. Starting from the curve of the man's hip bones and downwards, human flesh merged with dirtied white fur. Its original colour might have been beautiful, but mud clotted the short hair and discoloured it into ugly patches.

The long, knobbly legs of a horse attached below. Four hooves sprawled out on the earth, the specks of muck sprinkling the shins giving away a wild ride. The tail was as black as his hair and hung between the underwood like a horrific spider web.

Hongjoong had never seen a centaur from up close before. Their folk were rumoured to live secluded in the valley between the northern twin mountains and they didn't allow many visitors. Few people left the clan. Durnatel harboured only two or three of their kin and they were old and scarred by the wars they had fought.

This centaur looked different from them. Youthful to the point Hongjoong wondered if he had assumed all centaurs to be greying, elderly horses; delicate and susceptible as he laid in the forest. He didn't appear to be from the same folk of able fighters.

Hongjoong's eyes skimmed over him again. He found a wound on his right hind leg. The blood was clotted and dark with the earth that covered the injury and it looked big enough that a horse would have trouble walking on it. Through the mess, Hongjoong couldn't make out what caused it.

Awkwardly, Hongjoong hovered in place and eyed the stranger. Chances were, he passed out after having been chased by a boar and injured. If left here, he would become a snack to the wild animals. His hooves weren't made for the rough terrain of the forest and his legs would snap like twigs if he got stuck on a root.

More than for his human half, Hongjoong was concerned about the agony he had seen horses in after being forced to carry their riders where no horses should go.

Would his judgment apply to a centaur? Or would he be insulted by Hongjoong's theories about his hooved half?

Ever so gingerly, Hongjoong crouched next to the man. His hair hung into his face and he frowned while unconscious. The broken twigs around him looked as if he had crashed to the ground rather than laid down. Hongjoong guessed the flank he couldn't see bore little wounds caused by the splintered underwood that had become his bed.

Hongjoong bit his lip as he touched the centaur's arm. It was warm despite the temperatures, but that made sense for such a large creature. Centaurs had their reasons to reject clothes.

"Excuse me," Hongjoong mumbled as he shook the man's arm. His smooth, naked skin made Hongjoong reluctant as he felt he gazed upon this man without his permission, despite this scenario appearing as an emergency.

"Can you hear me?" Hongjoong asked louder, grip growing more insistent.

Even after rocking and pushing, the man never reacted. His lean chest rose and sunk steadily, soothing Hongjoong that he was at least alive.