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| Chapter 3 | |||||||||||
| Light from the doorway woke me up. I shook off sleep and rolled over to stand it took me more effort than usual to get up but my still half asleep mind didn't realise this. I looked down at the king in the doorway. He stood looking at me mouth open in surprise. | |||||||||||
| He had told me I would change, I was now taller than him, was I a giant now? My mind still wasn't working at full speed so when he indicated me to follow him I did yawning, my mind and eyes only on him we reached a round pool where the water was like a reflecting glass. And as my mind slowly woke up I followed his indications to look into the pool | |||||||||||
| The first thing I saw was a dark bay almost black centaur with a white blaze that covered most his face and went on down to end on his horse chest, my first thought was to wish the centaur to move so I could see myself but as I brought my hand up to rub the sleep from my eyes and seeing in the pool the centaur do the same with his hand, white up to the elbow. I jumped back in shock | |||||||||||
| Now instantly awake I looked about me. I was in a large caught yard bordered with high wooden walls. All the Elven in the vaccinate staring at me as the king had. | |||||||||||
| Centaur instinct, I seemed to have received with the change, kicked in and I reared in fright at myself. Not used to my new body I ended in a heap on the ground trying to hide my head with my arms against the ground. | |||||||||||
| 'Calrin?' I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder | |||||||||||
| I looked up at the king who stood beside me. Everyone else had disappeared leaving only he and I there | |||||||||||
| 'I told you, I didn't know what it would do to you, this is a surprise to me but it is as the gods will' | |||||||||||
| He waited patiently as I got up and he led me back to my hut. There, he just turned and shut me in leaving me ther with my depression. | |||||||||||
| As I was now I couldn?t return home, and I had no idea if I would be accepted here. From the reaction I had had earlier, no. The god's punishment on me must be for me to be alone forever | |||||||||||
| Some how I worked out how to lay down and that's how I faced the king hours later when he returned with a young Elvin, I recognised as the prince | |||||||||||
| As soon as I saw them I turned my face away closing my eyes. I felt the hands as they placed the collar back round my neck. I hunk my head as I reached up to touch it just to check that it was what I thought it was | |||||||||||
| It was a slave collar but the markings were different to my last, but different or not I was still a slave. As a tear started to fall from my eye I felt a hand brush it away | |||||||||||
| The prince was stood so near to me, it hat to have been him who placed the collar round my neck. He was looking at the tear on his hand. | |||||||||||
| 'Father centaurs don?t cry?' he looked up at his father | |||||||||||
| I looked up at him curious now | |||||||||||
| 'He must still be part human' he shock his head 'well as the gods wish he is yours' he turned and left us, the door wide open | |||||||||||
| I turned to look at the young Elvin prince as he stared after his father. | |||||||||||
| 'Well you can?t say here now, come on I will lead you to your new home' | |||||||||||
| Unsteadily I got to my feet and followed him with stumbling steps | |||||||||||