Hamertia: The Elven Folly

Horyn apprehensively approached the centaur clan leader, sure that he would meet the same fate as Heath when he admitted it was he who stole, or as he saw it, borrowed the book. Nevertheless, he felt that it was important for a centaur warrior to preserve his honor, so he trotted up to Phezran with his head held high.

“Shouldn’t you be training?” the large centaur asked without making direct eye contact. “Surely that sparring partner of yours has recovered from the light flick I gave him by now.”

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about,” Horyn said, failing to keep a steady voice. “I was the one who…borrowed your book and gave it to Heath.”

Phezran remained silent for a long, agonizing moment. “I see,” he finally replied. “Well, nothing that can be done about it now. I got my book back and Heath was punished for it. Run along.”

Horyn couldn’t conceal the look of shock on his face. “But I was the one who took it. Aren’t you going to…”

“How do you think it would make me look to the others if I whipped the most promising young warrior we have after falsely accusing the weakest?” Phezran asked. “Not very good, I can tell you that. Let’s just put this incident behind us.”

Horyn thought he should be happy that he was being let off the hook for his misdoing. However, the guilt he felt when he saw Heath so badly hurt was too much for him to bear. Against his own self-interest, he continued to insist that justice be served.

“I can’t just be let go after what happened to Heath,” he said. “Can you just do to me what you did to Heath? Nobody has to see you do it. Try to make it as fair to him as possible…”

“You think no one can see the marks?” Phezran snarled, his voice becoming angrier. “Now get back to training before you give me a different reason to beat you!”

Not quite sure how he found the courage, Horyn stood his ground. “I’m not going anywhere until you either hit me or go over there and beg for Heath’s forgiveness!”

The look on Phezran’s face was enough to make Horyn’s heart skip a beat before feeling it drop out of his chest. The outburst garnered the gaze of onlookers, who were eager to see how their leader would react to such insubordination.

Without uttering a single word, Phezran grabbed the same branch from earlier and used it to strike Horyn across the chest. The boy cried out in pain as his legs were kicked out from under him, sending him to the ground. Phezran proceeded to whip him mercilessly, with most of the lashes striking his back. After the ordeal was over, he tossed the switch on the ground and galloped off, leaving Horyn writhing in pain.

The other centaurs looked on, not offering any help or sympathy. Heath, however, quickly rushed to his side. Horyn was still sobbing with his face buried in the ground, unable to speak. Heath gently laid his hand on his back, which was covered in blood. He helped the injured centaur to his hooves and guided him away from the training yard.

After a relatively short walk, yet one that was most excruciating for Horyn, they came to a patch of plants. They grew low to the ground and had large dark green leaves. Horyn bent his knees to lounge on the ground as Heath got to work harvesting the plant. He proceeded to rub the leaves; not enough to rip them, yet just enough to release their oils. He ever so delicately rubbed them over Horyn’s wounds. Horyn flinched at first from the pain, but quickly relaxed when the oil’s natural soothing properties began taking effect. Once all his wounds were tended to, he started feeling much better.

“Thanks,” he said, still sniffling a bit. “I guess I should start appreciating your knowledge of plants a bit more now…”

“I can’t believe he did that to you over a book,” Heath replied. “He didn’t even…”

“It wasn’t over the book,” Horyn interrupted. “He was going to let me go for that, but I wouldn’t let him. Not after what he did to you…”

“Why would you do that?” Heath asked, furrowing his brow in shock. “You didn’t have to. You could’ve just walked away.”

“Not after he whipped you for something I did. I’d be a coward if I just let that happen. And a terrible centaur in general.”

“You didn’t have to do that for me…”

“Yes I did, Heath,” he insisted, gazing at him intently, his eyes still wet with tears. “You didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”

The sun rose to begin yet another day. This time, it was Rychell and Jorie who were the first to wake up. They quietly tiptoed to the side of Elluin’s bed and shook his shoulders.

“Are you up, El?” Rychell asked. “We wanna go out exploring some more.”

Elluin groaned as he stretched his arms above his head. “Morning guys. You two can head on out. You don’t have to wait for me, you know.”

“But aren’t you coming with us?” Jorie inquired. “I’m sure there’s still a bunch of places we haven’t seen that you could show us.”

“Maybe later, guys,” he replied, sitting up in bed. “I have some business to attend to.”

“We live in the northern forest now,” Rychell said. “How long till we get to start taking part in all this business?”

Elluin grinned. “When the business concerns you, I’ll let you know. Now go run along.”

The boys shrugged and hurried out of the room, eager to start another day of roaming about the forest. After several moments, Elluin found the strength to pull himself out of bed. All sorts of thoughts were rushing through his min. How would the centaurs react to his proposal? Would they jump at the idea like the fire mages or, feeling that he is simply a trespasser on their land, trample him to death? He forced these questions in the back of his mind and headed out in the direction of Jastra’s room.

Making it about halfway there, he was soon forced into a situation he would have liked to avoid. Folwin was leaning against the wall, as if he were waiting for Elluin to pass by. He took a deep breath and approached the elf with whom he had just had a major fight with the night before.

“Hey,” he said as casually as he could manage. “I’m, uh, sorry about last night…”

“Don’t worry about it, El,” Folwin replied, sounding genuine enough. “We were both pretty riled up. I just wanted you to understand that I have some serious concerns about this whole thing.”

“I get it, Folwin,” he said. “It’s a major undertaking and you’re worried. But trust me, it’s a sure victory for us. We’ll get in, get out, and everything will be fine.”

“I’m not gonna stand in your way, El,” he assured him. “But I’m also not gonna personally take part in it. I hope you can understand that…”

Elluin nodded. “It’s fine. With the forces we’re putting together, nobody who doesn’t want to take part in it will have to. I’d never make my best friend do something like that.”

Folwin smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck, El,” he said before walking off.

With the conversation having gone much better than anticipated, Elluin continued on his way to meet up with Jastra. He felt a renewed sense of vigor, knowing now that no one was going to attempt to stop his ambitious plans.

Not bothering to knock, he opened her door and marched inside, relieved when no dagger was put to his throat. Jastra was sitting on the edge of her bed, as if she had been waiting for him all morning.

“You ready to go?” he asked, choosing to forgo the exchange of pleasantries. “We better get going if we want to make good time.”

She nodded and stood up. “Was worried that you forgot. Let’s get moving.”

Jharyn and Feno were just waking up from a night spent sleeping on the ground. They felt relieved that Druin hadn’t paid them a visit while they were asleep and did to them what they were sure he had done to Nealey. They stood up, stretched, and waited for their eyes to adjust to the sunlight.

“So…uh…should we go and try to find the others?” Feno asked, not sounding too excited by the idea.

“We can go look for Connak and Dakath,” Jharyn replied. “I’m sure Druin is still off by himself somewhere. Let’s just hope we don’t run into him first.”

At that moment, Elluin and Jastra came into sight, allowing Jharyn to temporarily forget the current situation. He even let himself grin as she approached him. Feno really couldn’t have cared less.

“So how’s the preparation going?” she asked him. “Have you guys been training?”

“Well I think Druin would much rather kill me than a troll right now, so training is kind of on hold at this point,” he replied. “But I sure am glad to see you.”

Jastra leaned in and kissed him. “And I’m glad to see you,” she whispered in his ear.

Feno and Elluin stood there and exchanged an awkward look. Once the embrace was over, their talk of business resumed.

“So what brings you two down here?” Jharyn asked. “Shouldn’t you be preparing for the war as well?”

“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Elluin answered. “We’re going to the woodlands to ask the centaurs to join us.”

Jharyn’s eyes widened. “Centaurs? What makes you think they’ll help you?”

“Centaurs love to battle,” Elluin replied. “From what I’ve heard, anyway. With them and the fire mages by our side, it’ll only take a few minutes to wipe out those trolls.”

“So you’re actually leaving the forest?” he asked, genuine concern in his voice. “Sounds pretty dangerous to me.”

Jastra laughed at that last remark. “Have you ever known me not to jump into danger, Jharyn? Besides, Elluin and a bunch of his little friends were already outside the forest. If they could handle it, I’m sure I’ll be just fine.”

“Just be careful, Jastra,” Jharyn said softly. “You know I care about you.”

She couldn’t help but smile. She kissed him again, this time quite a bit longer than the first.

“I promise, Jharyn, everything will be just fine. I love you.”

Feeling that there was no end in sight to the mushy encounter, Feno cleared his throat, turning everyone’s attention to him.

“So…you guys are going to talk to the centaurs?” he asked timidly.

“That’s right,” Elluin replied. “They’ll be our best asset against the trolls…along with you guys, of course.”

“Do you think…um…maybe I could come? I’ve always wondered what was outside the tree wall. And I’d really like to see a centaur!”

Elluin exchanged a quick look with Jharyn, who simply shrugged.

“Are you sure?” Jastra asked. “Going on an adventure like this is a pretty big deal for a…”

“For a what?” he asked.

“For a little guy like yourself,” she continued. “I don’t know if you should…”

“I’m a fire mage!” he insisted. “I can handle anything!”

Jastra looked to Elluin who, like Jharyn, offered only a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s fine with me,” he said. “As long as he doesn’t slow us down.”

“I won’t!” Feno exclaimed, a big smile spreading across his face. “Let’s go!”

At the gnome garden, the boggart was still tied to the tree, just as he had been since the night of the intrusion. Both his mental and physical state appeared to be deteriorating. He spent all of his time rocking his head back and forth muttering things about digging to himself. His behavior was becoming more and more unbearable to the gnomes with each passing moment. They decided to call an assembly to discuss the matter, meeting in one of their gnome homes. Filwood was currently presiding over this meeting.

“We should just execute the damn thing!” one of them called out.

“Let him dig one of his precious holes until he falls through the other side of the world!” shouted another.

“I say we go to war with their whole bloody race!”

Filwood banged his hand against the wooden wall, slowly bringing order back to the assembly. Once everyone was quieted down, he officially began the meeting.

“The boggart’s condition grows worse by the minute,” he said. “He is unable to provide us with any valuable information. When pressed, he simply continues to mutter about holes and digging. This is the kind of enemy we are dealing with! They have no logic or reason. They steal land from hardworking gnomes and use it to dig holes! These holes are not used for planting. They serve no purpose! These parasites can no longer be tolerated! It is time for the gnomes to reclaim our land! We are in the works of planning our next move, this I assure you. We will no longer be dominated by a race whose sole purpose is to defile our land! We are gnomes! We are proud! We will reclaim our land! And the boggarts will be destroyed!”

The gnomes erupted in applause. Filwood pushed his way through the rambunctious crowd and stepped outside. He walked straight up to his prisoner and untied him. Looking him directly in the eyes, he gave him an ominous warning.

“Run back to your boggart friends and tell them the gnomes are coming.”

In the woodlands, Heath sat next to his garden, admiring his plants. Morning training was set to begin shortly, but he had no intention of attending. No centaur had ever skipped a training session before, but Heath was willing to take the risk. He wanted to avoid another encounter with Phezran at all costs.

“Heath, what are you doing?” Horyn asked as he walked up to the garden, noticeably slower than usual. “Training’s gonna be starting soon.”

“I’m not going,” Heath replied bluntly. “And neither should you.”

Horyn couldn’t help but snicker at the suggestion. “Do you know what Phezran would do to us if we didn’t show up? Come on, we should get moving.”

“What could he do that he hasn’t done already? Kill us? I’m not a warrior and I’m certainly not his warrior. You should hang back with me too, Horyn. You shouldn’t just let him get away with that.”

Before Horyn could reply, they heard a ruckus in the distance. Hooves galloped hard against the ground and warrior cries echoed through the trees. The two centaurs exchanged a quick look before moving in the direction of the disturbance. When they arrived on the scene, they saw a group of centaur warriors standing in a circle, surrounding what appeared to be three strange creatures. They had the head, torso, and arms of a centaur, but lacked the body of a horse below the waist. Heath and Horyn couldn’t make sense of what they were seeing.

“Elves have not been in our woodlands for centuries!” Phezran shouted, stepping into the circle. “What is your purpose for being here?”

Elluin stepped forward to address the head centaur, not looking nearly as nervous as would be expected. “We admire your warrior culture,” he began. “I am seeking out anyone who would be willing to fight by our side against the trolls to the north. It’s obvious they would stand no chance against a centaur army. So I ask you, will you come and fight with us?”

Phezran smirked. “Why would the mighty centaur race be interested in fighting on behalf of elves? What need do you have for war, anyway? You live comfortably in your forest inside a wall of trees. Certainly you have no real enemies.”

“A troll enslaved us and I personally ended his life,” Elluin responded, true confidence in his voice. “We want to make sure nothing like that happens again. Besides, it was my understanding that centaurs love a good battle…”

A long moment of silence ensued. Although trying his best to maintain a demeanor that commanded confidence and authority, Elluin’s mind was flooded with uncertainty. Feno stood there frozen, enthralled by seeing a centaur for the first time, as well as uncertain about how their encounter would end. Jastra, being the only elf who truly never felt fear, was positive she could handle any scenario. Of course, this is what she always tried to convince herself. Finally, bringing the tense moment to an end, Phezran grinned.

“Very well,” he said. “You know that a true centaur warrior would never turn down the opportunity to fight. We will need a bit of insurance, however…”

“What do you mean?” Elluin asked, his mood rapidly changing from uncertainty to relief back to uncertainty.

Phezran exchanged a look with one of the centaurs that stood in the circle and then glanced at Feno. Before they could process what was happening, the centaur grabbed Feno’s arm and led him away. His calls for help faded as he was quickly carried off.

“What are you going to do with him?” Elluin shouted.

“As long as no centaur blood is spilled fighting for your cause, nothing,” Phezran replied. “But if one my warriors are harmed fighting alongside a bunch of elves, your little friend will be used as an archery target.”

Elluin and Jastra looked at each other, their faces showing genuine concern. However, they were both fully aware that there was nothing they could do.

“Remember,” Phezran continued. “I am agreeing to do this because centaurs love fighting. I care nothing for your cause. Is that understood?”

Elluin nodded. “I can assure you that none of your warriors will die fighting these trolls. They’re old and feeble. We will ride in together and slay every last one of them without spilling a drop of blood on our side.”

“Well then,” Phezran said. “You have no reason to worry about your strange little companion. When will we be riding off to battle?”

“Tomorrow,” Elluin replied.

Jastra snapped her head to look at him. “Tomorrow?”

“No reason to wait,” he replied. “We head out tomorrow and should arrive by the following day. We take out every last one of the things and it’ll all be over.”

Phezran nodded and gestured for his warriors to disperse. “Tomorrow,” he repeated before trotting away.

Heath and Horyn remained hiding behind a tree, intently watching the strange creatures until they disappeared in the direction of the forest.

“What were those things?” Heath asked, a profound sense of wonderment in his voice.

“No idea,” Horyn replied, mirroring his friend’s sense of awe. “But I know how we can find out. Let’s go find the little blue haired one.”

“So now that everybody’s calmed down, should we do some training?” Jharyn asked after reconvening with the other fire mages.

“Why?” Druin replied, still sounding a bit irritable. “We know what we have to do; march north and burn anything that moves. What’s the point of training?”

“Well I just thought…”

“Well quit thinking,” Druin interrupted. “We’re fire mages. We don’t have to practice doing what comes naturally to us. Well, real fire mages don’t, anyway…”

“That’s enough,” Connak stepped in. “There’s nothing wrong with practicing our skills. We do it all the time when battle isn’t eminent, I don’t see why we shouldn’t do it now. We can just shoot some fire against the trees for now.”

Druin scoffed and haphazardly conjured a fire ball before directing it at a nearby tree. Although he clearly wasn’t taking the exercise seriously and didn’t take much care in his aim, the fire ball hit its mark. Once the flames dissipated, Elluin and Jastra came walking into view.

“Glad to see you boys made up,” Jastra smirked. “Training, I hope?”

“If Druin would take it seriously,” Connak remarked, glaring at his fellow mage out of the corner of his eye. “Say, where’s Feno.”

“He’s…hanging back with the centaurs for now,” Elluin replied quickly, not giving Jastra the opportunity. “Wanted to learn more about them and all that. You’ll see him again after the battle tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Connak asked. “Why so soon?”

“Why not?” Elluin responded. “I’m sure you guys will be ready by then. I know the centaurs will be.”

“Fire mages will be ready tomorrow,” Dakath said, stepping forward. “Tomorrow we eliminate the troublesome troll race.”

“See,” Elluin said, smiling. “Dakath has the right idea. We’ll meet up with you guys tomorrow at dawn when we pass by to get the centaurs, alright?”

The fire mages nodded as Elluin and Jastra made their way back toward the northern forest. The last item on their prewar agenda was compiling a list of all the elves who would be taking part in the battle. Although Elluin was sure it wouldn’t be many, he remained hopeful that he could at least recruit a couple to take an active role in the cause for elven security.

Just as he thought, everyone he wanted to talk to was gathered in the library. Athtar, Rydel, Onvyr, and Rania were looking over their favorite gnome book while Rychell and Jorie were hovering over the bookcases, glancing at just about every book that was available. Elluin had never asked them if they actually knew how to read or not. Nevertheless, the two boys were ecstatic as they pulled each book from its place to take a look at it.

Elluin cleared his throat, turning all of their eyes towards him. “I just wanted to let you guys know that I’ve secured the help of the centaurs and fire mages for the upcoming battle,” he announced. “Is there anyone here who would like to join us?”

Onvyr and Rania exchanged a look, conveying that neither had any interest in taking part. Rydel simply sighed and lowered his head while Athtar put his arm around his back. But to the surprise of everyone in the room, Rychell and Jorie’s heads shot up.

“We wanna come!” Rychell exclaimed.

“Do you know what we’re going for?” Jastra asked.

“Of course!” Rychell replied with a snicker. “To fight trolls. You guys are going on an adventure and I wanna come!”

“And you too, Jorie?” Elluin asked.

Jorie nodded his head. “Rychell’s told me all about the north. I wanna see it myself!”

“So can we come along?” Rychell asked, his eyes widened in excitement.

“Sure,” Elluin replied. “If you guys are sure you can handle it.”

“I’ve been up north before,” Rychell replied. “We’ll be fine!”

“Alright then,” Elluin continued. “Anyone else?”

He looked around the room to see nothing but apprehensive faces that would not even make eye contact with him. It became clear that the only elven companions he would have, along with Jastra, were the two youngest elves in the forest who would probably prove useless in battle. They would have to do.

Dig dig dig dig, dig dig dig dig, sing a digging song! All the bogarts do is dig! Dig all day long!

Far east of the elven forest, the boggarts were doing what they did every minute of every day. Occupying a vast stretch of open land, they pushed their shovels into the ground and dug out a hole until the width and depth were to their satisfaction. Once this hole was complete, they found another clear patch of land and repeated the process.

The land, once covered in trees and rich with vegetation, was now a barren grassland covered in holes of identical size. The boggarts, not much larger than gnomes, dug their holes to be only about one foot deep and one foot wide. They grew nothing in them, for such a disgraceful act was unthinkable. The holes served no other purpose than mere existence.

“Remly Boggart! Remly Boggart!” a small creature called out as he appeared in the distance.

One of the boggarts who was engaged in digging, nearly identical in appearance to all the others, paused for a moment to look up. Seeing his incoming comrade, he left his hole and ran up to greet him, shovel still in hand.

“What is it, Terri Boggart?” he asked. “Was your trip to the forest a success?”

Terri Boggart fell to the ground and attempted to catch his breath. He shook his head. “Those…gnomes. They caught me! They said they’re coming to destroy us!”

Remly Boggart only chuckled at hearing this. “All these years and they’ve waited until now? I don’t think so.”

“But…”

“Not another word about it, Terri Boggart,” he insisted. “The gnomes are of no threat to us. Come now, you look exhausted, why don’t you get back to digging?”

Terri Boggart lightly nodded his head and stood up. He followed their leader to an empty spot of land and was handed a shovel. Trying to get the memory of the gnomes and his time in the forest out of his mind, he began digging. After removing a few shovelfuls of dirt from the ground, he began feeling much better. Perhaps Remly Boggart was right. Besides, what could the gnomes possibly do to such a large group of boggarts?

“This trip to the gnome garden will help you forget all about it, Ry,” Ath assured his friend as they walked together along the path.

“I hope so, Ath. I thought I might have gotten through to him last night…”

“Ellie is gonna go through with whatever he thinks is best,” Athtar replied. “Nothing you can do to stop him. Don’t worry about it, Ry. Let’s go see what Filwood is doing!”

Athtar grabbed Rydel’s hand and quickened his pace, nothing Rydel wasn’t used to. They reached the gnome garden in no time at all.

“Hi Filwood!” Athtar greeted. “How are you guys doing today?”

“Busy, very busy,” the gnome replied, scampering about erratically.

“Gnomes are always busy gardening!” Athtar exclaimed. “How is today any different?”

“We’re not doing any gardening at the moment,” Filwood told him. “We’re preparing…”

“To garden?” Athtar asked.

“For war,” Filwood replied bluntly. “You know you’re always welcome here, Athtar…and I suppose your friend is as well, but I only ask that you stay out of our way while you’re visiting.”

Athtar nodded and glanced over at the tree where the boggart had previously been tied up and held as prisoner.

“What happened to the boggart?” he asked. “He didn’t escape, did he? Me and Rydel could go look for him!”

“We sent him back to our land to tell the others what’s about to happen,” Filwood explained. “The gnomes will reclaim what’s ours.”

Rydel was about to speak, but quickly bit his tongue, remembering what had happened the last time he spoke out against the idea.

“Ellie is going to the war with the trolls pretty soon!” Athtar said. “Maybe the elves can help you once that’s over!”

“Well we sure would appreciate it,” Filwood replied. “We’re still in the stage of developing our strategy. If there’s one thing everyone knows about boggarts, except that they love digging holes, is that those holes are sacred to them. Nothing is more disrespectful than filling one of them with water. If we could find a way to flood all of them…” Filwood’s voice tampered off, a sinister grin taking over his face. “Anyway, we really must be getting back to work. Have a good day, Athtar.”

“Good luck!” Athtar called out as the gnome quickly moved along to convene with his companions. “Well it looks like these guys are gonna be busy for a while, Ry. Guess we should get going back to the library.”

The two elves began the journey back to the library. Once the gnomes were out of earshot, Rydel decided to finally speak up.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to tell the gnomes we would help them fight the boggarts?” he asked.

“Ry, the gnomes are my friends. They’ve always been nice to me. If they need help fighting a bunch of boggarts who destroyed their land, I think we should help them.”

“I know, Ath. But do you really think elves should be getting involved in their business. I mean I don’t even think we should be battling the trolls. Elluin is making a big mistake…”

“Well, think about it this way, Ry. We were talking about writing a book before, right? Well now we’ll get to write about when the gnomes took their land back from the boggarts! It’ll be awesome! An epic story about battle and conquest and the gnomes taking back what’s theirs!”

“With what paper?” Rydel asked curtly.

“Well…maybe the trolls have some that Ellie can take…”

Rydel sighed.

Horyn and Heath cautiously approached the strange creature that was sitting up against a tree. Feno didn’t put up much of a resistance after the centaurs apprehended him, so they saw no reason to tie him up. He sat there with a rather odd look on his face, one that encompassed excitement, bewilderment, and fear. He wanted nothing more than to see a centaur with his own eyes, but was now regretting his earlier decision to come along.

“What are you supposed to be?” Horyn asked, standing several feet away. “Where’s the rest of your body? What are those…things?”

“You mean my legs?” Feno replied. “They’re like what you guys have only, you know, not horse ones…”

“Well his name’s Horyn,” Heath said. “But he was named that because of the horns on his head, not because he looks like a…what did you call it?”

“A horse,” Feno repeated. “You have the upper body of an elf and the lower body of a horse. Haven’t you ever looked in a mirror?”

“Never heard of it,” Horyn replied bluntly. “Never heard of a mirror either. But if you mean when we look in a puddle and our reflection is mirrored back to us, then yeah, we know what we look like…”

“Well I’ve never seen a centaur before,” Feno continued. “I think you’re fascinating.”

“And we’ve never seen an elf before,” Heath replied. “How do you even gallop with only two legs?”

“We don’t gallop, we run…or walk. I guess I could show you if you wanted.”

The two centaurs’ faces lit up in a way Feno would have never expected. He knew he was excited to see a centaur for the first time, but he would have never thought that they would be just as excited to see him. Allowing himself to forget that he was being held in the woodlands against his will, he stood up.

“Let’s have a race,” Horyn suggested. “But I’m sure we know who’s gonna win…”

Feno smiled as he got into position while Horyn and Heath did the same. His face dropped, however, when he got a glimpse of Horyn’s back.

“What happened to you?” he gasped. “Were you in some sort of battle?”

“I, uh,” Horyn sighed. “Phezran did it to me,” he murmured.

“Who’s Phezran? A troll leader or something?”

“He’s the leader of our centaur clan,” Heath answered. “We had a bit of an…issue over a book.”

“So he beat you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Horyn said dismissively, wanting desperately to drop the subject. “He hit Heath and then me when I challenged him on it. It happened, it’s over now. Let’s just have the race, huh?”

“You shouldn’t just put up with that, Horyn,” Feno replied, genuine sympathy in his voice. “I could take care of him for you…”

“And just what would you do?” Horyn shouted. “Just drop it! I don’t need to constantly be reminded of the night I was beaten. Can we please just race now?”

“Sure,” Feno spoke softly, dropping the conversation for now. “Let’s race.”

They got back into position and took off after counting down from three. As expected, the two young centaurs took an early lead, leaving Feno behind in the dust. A set of four horse legs proved much better for racing than a pair of short elf legs. Horyn and Heath came to a halt when they got so far ahead that they could no longer even see their new elf companion. Eventually, Feno returned to their line of vision, panting and looking as if he might pass out. They galloped back to him.

“Big shocker there, huh,” Horyn laughed. “Don’t feel bad, I’m surprised you can even move at all with those things.”

“You guys sure are fast,” Feno said, still trying to catch his breath.

“We know,” Heath replied, smiling. “Hey, do you wanna go see my garden? Maybe I have something an elf could eat.”

Feno would have never thought that centaurs could be so normal. Considering his encounter with the others earlier that day, he was worried they would prove to all be brutal beasts who would view him as nothing more than their prisoner. His interactions with Horyn and Heath, however, were making him feel that perhaps the centaurs weren’t all that different from himself.

“Sure.”