Watford Tales

Centaurs

Simon

The next two days just suck.

I give up my room to Penny and Micah and sleep on Dev and Niall's floor. Which actually would be kind of fun, as those two generally treat me pretty well these days and know how to have a laugh. Except that everyone is so worried about the goblin attack, and Mordelia being kidnapped and Baz having to go home, that no one is in a very good mood.

And I miss Baz.

And I feel stupid. Like I should be doing something and I can't think what. Like I'm wasting time.

It doesn't help that Penny is distracted by Micah. Normally she'd be rehashing the details of that night, of the goblin attack, and what Fiona said when she came to get Baz, of what we know and what we don't know, until she drove me crazy. Until we got somewhere. Or felt like we were getting somewhere.

I spend time with Ebb. She has named the gwythaint Johnny Depp, and now he won't answer to anything else. Oh well. He's getting bigger, fiercer looking. I don't think he can stay with Ebb and the goats much longer. Ebb has gotten attached to him, but she's also worried he might eat one of the kids.

We have a strategy meeting the second night, in the nursery, under the restless white hare, but we don't come up with much. Niall went to the Coven meeting, which sounds like it was a confused mess. People are breaking into factions, taking sides. No one knows where the Mage is hiding or why he would take Mordelia. Malcolm Grimm ended up stalking out in a white hot rage (kind of like something his son would do.) Penny is going to try to get something out of her mum, the rest of us are going to poke around and see what we can come up with. Penny wants me to see if I can get anything more out of Ebb, which I would object to more if I had anything better to offer. I think about going back to my halal man, but my instinct tells me he doesn't want to be questioned. He rescued us when we needed him most. I don't want to thank him by harassing him.

It's the second night of tossing and turning on the floor of Dev and Niall's room when I hear a dull thud at the window. I look out and there, in the moonlight, is a centaur. His bow is in his hand, and there's an arrow stuck in the side of the wooden window frame.

He's beautiful, long white blonde hair flowing down his back, his bare chest glowing white in the moonlight, his legs and flanks a deep rich brown. He looks right at me and gestures with his head to come with him. I nod once and turn to pull on some clothes. Dev and Niall are both up, sitting in bed, Dev looking half asleep, Niall, unnaturally alert. They want to come with me. I'm really not sure if that's a good plan, but I kind of like the idea of company, so I agree, and the three of us dress hurriedly and sneak downstairs.

The centaur nods at my two companions. He doesn't seem to object, but turns without a word, into the woods. We follow, the crusty snow crunching beneath our feet. The moon is riding high in the sky and it's easy to see. We walk for a long time, deep into the forest, to a part I've never been to. The trees grow close together here, thin whippy birches with white bark that glows in the moonlight, their branches casting blue shadows on the snow. The silence is broken by the sharp barking of wolves, echoing crazily in the still night. It sends a shiver right through me, though I figure nobody's going to bother us in the company of a centaur.

At last we see the orange glow of a fire off in the distance. Another few minutes of walking brings us to a clearing in the forest. There's about ten of them there, mostly males, but a couple of females as well. The moonlight is shining on their bare breasts. There are several foals, dozing sleepily by the fire. The adults are all standing silently, their eyes on the three of us. The bloke who brought us bows ever so slightly. He bends one front leg and lowers his majestic head to another, larger centaur, an older one, with flecks of grey in his masses of black curly hair and black beard.