Bellona

Nine

We had collected everything that we needed too, so we were all ready to leave this cave and venture out to the rest of Traijin. I had remained completely silent after Aleksander accused me of acting just like my brother.

In some ways I was silently fuming inside as he had the gall to compare me to my evil older brother. He wanted to destroy all Nijian- his own flesh and blood and he'd ruthlessly killed all of the tribes that we had allied with. I wanted to save Nijian, the Tribes and Traijin.

"Alright grab my hands and we'll be on our way" I spoke in a monotone voice, holding out my hands for them to take.

"Alright we're going to the Dark Forest in order to speak to the Centaurs" Alexei said grabbing onto my left hand and Aleksander grabbing the left one.

I closed my eyes and thought of a forest that was filled with pine and fir trees that were so densely packed together you couldn't see the sky above, I guess that's why it was called the dark forest. I pictured snow underfoot and half horse half men beings galloping around us in formation bearing swords.

I could smell the pine trees as if they were right in front of me and I opened my eyes.

Trees were packed everywhere the eye could see and we were shrouded in darkness, you could hear the occasional owl hoot in the distance and the wind whispering through the trees. I listened closely to hear anything that sounded remotely like the sound of hooves but was granted with nothing.

"Uggh that was horrible" Alexei complained as he shook his head and wobbled around as if he was dizzy he then gained his balance and whispered to me "Bellona you can produce light using magik"

I thought of light erupting out of my hands and a tiny blue spark as if like a blue flame flickered and then spread to cover the rest of my hand. I held it up so that the rest of us could see where we were going.

"So how are we going to find the Centaurs?" Aleksander said looking around him.

"We don't, they already know we are here" Alexei said looking around as well.

I concentrated on the sounds of the forest around me and in the distance I could hear a low thundering noise- Centaurs. And lots of them.

"They're on their way, should be here in less than a minute" I said as I listened to the thundering noise as it became louder and more distinct, I could hear the sounds of several hooves thumping against the snowy ground.

"I can hear them too, they are close. Prepare for battle formations" Aleksander ordered.

"Why battle formations?"

"In case they mistake us for Jiyan"

By now I could see shapes and silhouettes move about interspersed between the trees occasionally weaving in and out. The sound of hooves was very prominent as they stomped across the freshly fallen snow.

A single shape moved forward toward the light glowing from my hand, I reached out to extend it's view and what I saw took my breath away.

What I had seen in films or in mythology couldn't compare to the sight right in front of me. A glorious beast stood tall and proud in front of me brandishing a sword that was high up in the air, the half horse half man plodded on all fours toward us at almost double our height.

The shiny sleekness of his coat merged with the white of his skin, he had strong legs and whipped his tail back and forth as if agitated. His body was quite hairy but looked strong with rippling muscles. He had long hair that reached down to his shoulders in Brown tussled locks with leaves riddled through it. At the side of his head but higher were ears but not normal ears horses ears.