The Sound of a Siren's Call

25.) Centaurs Are Jerks

I'd barely had time to fall asleep before I was woken up again. When I stumbled outside, the light was weak, the bright colors of the sunset barely having faded from the sky. The soldiers stood rigidly next to us, and Ryan found her way next to me.

The soldiers stood as though we were supposed to do something on our own. "Come with me," Ryan signed.

I turned to look for Juniper. Ryan tugged on my hand.

"She belongs in the water. There's a pond for her."

I nodded dumbly. A few soldiers peeled off from the larger group to follow us as she led me down winding streets of squat buildings identical to the one, we'd stayed the night in.

My eyes widened as a small girl turned into a wolf in front of us. I tried to back away, but Ryan forged ahead, dragging me with her. She sidestepped centaurs without batting an eye.

"He's—he's a horse."

"Centaur."

"People don't normally have horse parts."

"Arriana, move on."

I stared after the centaur until they were out of sight. 

I stopped to stare at a particular clump of women weaving yarn into intricate patterns.

"Don't stare," Ryan chastised already moving forward.

"But they have wings. Actual wings."

"So?"

I stopped signing and followed her. Eventually, she stopped by a group of women. I was fascinated by the way everything buzzed around them. Wool threaded itself into a spinning wheel. The wheel then spat out a string that wove itself into a fine fabric. Then, every few minutes, pieces of fabric would rise and join themselves together under the supervision of an old woman, and several needles and thread set in until there was a garment that was cast aside in a pile.

Ryan chuckled at my amazement. "Magic has its uses."

"So it does," I signed.

Ryan had moved in among the group and she waved for me to do the same.

"Everyone, meet Arriana. She's a Deaf half-siren."

A few women signed "welcome," or some other greeting. The rest ignored me.

I sat down watching everything work. Wool went in, yarn came out. Wool went in, yarn came out.

Ryan tapped my shoulder. "See that group of centaurs?"

I followed her finger, still not entirely sure I wasn't hallucinating. I'd never imagined such diversity in creatures. I'd never thought I'd see it. I nodded. "Can you run this pile of clothes over there?"

Without waiting for an answer, she shoved a pile of clothes into my hands, and I grabbed them. She walked away, leaving me to walk the several yards over to the centaurs. I swallowed and stood up.

I tried to be as quick as I could. I put the pile where they signaled I should. I thought it was going well until one of them started talking.

I didn't catch anything they said, but I knew they expected me to answer. "I'm Deaf. I can't hear you."

They said something and all laughed with each other. I turned to go, a centaur walked in front of me.

I turned to go a different way, but they circled around me. My father had done a good job teaching me to fight, but he'd never foreseen me needing to fight a horse, let alone a centaur. I prepared to try to lunge under one of them, but they all turned. Ryan stood looking unconcerned.

They looked from her to me and then they all shuffled toward Ryan. "Go." She signed a smile on her lips.

I moved out from behind them, closer to the witches. I saw her hands turn to fire, and the group around her backed away. There was a pile of wooden swords next to her, each looking like it'd been carefully hand carved. She lit it on fire and strolled next to me as though she'd just taken a walk through the park.

"Centaurs are jerks," she signed as though that explained everything and walked away.

The centaurs stared at us with disdain and I hurried back to join the witches.

"Centaurs are jerks?"

"Yes. I mean, you saw that. Jerks."

"You're the one that lit things on fire."

"As payback." She argued.

Everything continued to weave itself and everyone relaxed.

"Why did I need to take the clothes over there?"

"They're responsible for providing armor and training equipment for new recruits."

"And we're responsible for..."

"Making clothes for the new recruits." She said as though it was obvious.

"And the centaurs deliver it."

"Right." She reclined on a rock as though she hadn't a care in the world.

"What's stopping them from saying they never got it?"

"They wouldn't do that again. You don't mess with witches, Arriana. Especially not bored witches."

I nodded. The rest of the day, the centaurs stared us down and my skin crawled. I had a feeling there was something more than "centaurs are jerks."

"Can we go see Juniper?"

"Not right now."

"We're not doing anything."

"We can't leave until they've checked in that we've done all our work."

"And how much do we have left?"

"Only a couple hundred shirts."

"A couple hundred?"

"Look at how quick we make them. We'll be done in no time."

I watched a new shirt assemble itself.

"But we will go see her?"

"Sure."

The day wore on. The centaurs looked downright murderous as they whittled new swords.

When I pointed it out to Ryan, she was unconcerned. "They'll be just fine."

"What was lighting the swords on fire payback for?"

"Nothing that matters to you. Don't worry about it."

But I did worry about it. I stood, restless. I walked to the pile of clothes and then to Ryan. Then I went back.

I had no idea where Juniper and Castor were. I didn't trust Ryan. She was hiding something. Several somethings. I was in a new place where several guards breathed down my neck and I had very little chance of escape. I was now caught up in a feud between a group of witches I didn't trust and centaurs that wanted to murder me.

"Arriana, relax."

I felt trapped. I'd lucked out that Ryan and a few witches could sign, but the camp at large still didn't know how to sign. I needed to get to Juniper. Even if I was a third wheel, I could trust her.

The pile of clothes flew into the air and almost knocked me over. I gawked as it flew over to the centaurs and deposited itself neatly into a pile at their hooves. They hadn't needed me to run that errand at all. They'd used me.

A guard watched with approval and moved to talk to the centaurs. Their faces turned red and their nostrils flared.

The witches twittered amongst themselves. The guard came over and smiled at us.

"What happened?"

"They centaurs happened to not meet their quota for the day." Ryan beamed.