Chapter 19 - Summer Home

It had been a long nerve-wracking walk.

After the torch had died, Gabriel resorted to keeping a hand on the centauress’s equine back and let her guide him through the total blackness. For her part she seemed to have no problem walking along the trail without any light at all. The temperature had dropped during the night, and he had wrapped her human half in his shirt to keep her warm.

The centauress hadn’t spoken a single word and Gabriel gave up trying to coax information from her. She didn’t seem to be afraid of him, and at times didn’t seem to even be aware of him. She had just one purpose; to head northward. And as the dim morning light became bright enough for Gabriel to see it became obvious where the centauress had taken him.

“Lendoren,” he breathed aloud as he took in the spectacle.

The mountain range literally took a left turn, forming a flat crescent-shaped valley he guessed to be ten or more miles across. Hundreds of cottages, houses, barns(?), and other various dark-gray buildings dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see. He would have liked to stand there and enjoy the view but the centauress decided to pick up the pace at that particular moment. In fact, in a few strides she broke into a full gallop.

Taking to the air to keep up, Gabriel circled over the centauress as she ran towards the center of the city. But something in the back of his mind told him that the situation didn’t feel right.

‘Where is everyone?’ he asked himself, ‘A city this size, and nobody’s out, even at this early hour.’

From this height he could see that the city stretched the entire width of the valley, with house and buildings dotted amongst groves of trees, vineyards, gardens, and parks. The centerpiece of the city was a beautiful white castle; its three towers stretching nearly thirty stories skyward. Even in the dim morning light, it was magnificent.

Gabriel had simply assumed that the centauress was heading for the castle but suddenly she stopped at a large house and entered. He wondered if he should land and see if she found someone, but before he could make a decision the centauress bolted from the house and ran towards the center of the city. Again Gabriel had to fly to keep up. This time she went inside a much larger structure. Deciding that startling a few centaurs outweighed not knowing what was happening, he landed and followed her in.

If Gabriel could describe the interior to someone in just one sentence, it would be ‘a stepped bowling alley’. There were twenty lanes that ran the entire length of the structure; each roughly equal to the length and width of a bowling lane. The outer most lanes were level with the ground. The lanes next to those were sunken into the ground about five feet. This pattern continued until the two lanes in the middle were set next to one another nearly fifty feet below the surface. As if to deliberately complete the look and feel of a bowling alley, the floors were inlayed with strips of wood. And while the exterior of the structure had been gray, Gabriel could see that the underside of the roof was made of thick wooden beams arching from one side of the room to the other.

‘Like I’m standing under one of the bridges I saw along the trail,’ he thought.

The centauress stood next to the ledge near the middle section and was peering down into the darkness.

King Derit was instantly awake with his dagger unsheathed. Pure instinct had awoken him to the presence of someone else in his private chamber, and his instincts were never wrong.

The large reflecting pool he had built into this room stirred; its ebony-black waters moving and shifting by an unseen force. Overflowing the lip of the pool, the inky liquid began to flow upwards and formed into a large centaur stallion.

“Lord Kennek,” said Derit, bowing as he returned his dagger to its hilt.

“King Derit,” the form said, “I bring you disturbing news.”

‘You always do,’ the king thought to himself, then added, “Tell me of your news.”

“Your son, prince Wikki, is dead,” the ebon figure replied, an imperceptible smile crossing its lips.

The king slowly sunk down on his mat as the news registered in his brain. His third son, while not his most favored, had always been loyal to the royal family. He was also a highly trained warrior, which disturbed him all the more.

“Tell me of his fate,” demanded Derit sternly.

“He was slain by a creature I have never seen before,” replied Kennek, “I managed to destroy one but at least two others are known to me.”

“Show me what these creatures looks like,” Derit hissed.

“Look into the pool,” Kennek commanded.

King Derit walked over to the edge of the pool and peered into the mirror surface. The reflection was that of the interior of a dark building. He could see two figures standing. One was a white centaur, the other was a two-legged creature with a large white carapace. Its face and arms strongly resembled those of a centaur.

“Where is this...thing,” asked Derit in disgust.

“The one you see before you is in the city of Lendoren,” Kennek replied, “I want you to send a large group of your warriors there immediately and kill it.”

“A detail will be passing that way this morning. I will go with them and kill it myself,” Derit clicked angrily.

“As you wish,” Kennek replied, “But I warn you, these creatures are dangerous. I have looked into the past and witnessed two of them slaughter entire nests of flesh worms and the entire royal family of King Nukkew.”

That news hit Derit harder than the death of his son. “King Nukkew is dead, correct?” he asked in amazement.

“Yes,” Kennek replied, “As are his daughters, mates, and heirs. One of the creatures attacked their city and nearly destroyed it.”

The king looked back at the creature in the reflection of the pool in disbelief. How could one creature fight like an entire army? “It does not harm the centaur beside it, correct?” noted Derit.

“Yes, I don’t know why,” said Kenenk, assuming Derit was implying something in his statement. “However that particular one is familiar to me. When you send your troops out to kill the creature in Lendoren, she must be taken to the eastern worm pit and cast in. You must leave absolutely no trace of her presence. Her existence must never be known to anyone but your most trusted warriors. If she is seen by any of my people then kill her and those who witnessed.”

“I will deal with it immediately,” the king hissed, and left the room.

The black figure remained until the king exited, then slowly dissolved back into the pool.

“Guards!” roared the king as he exited his private quarters. Instantly, half a dozen armed warriors stood at attention before him.

“Increase the detail that is going to investigate the fire today,” he commanded, “My spies have reported that a strange creature is near the centaur city and that it must be killed immediately.”

“My king,” the captain of the guards replied, “that detail has already left.”

“How many warriors went?” asked the king.

“Four warriors, and two of the centaurs.” he replied.

“Call them back,” the king commanded, “I want an elite battalion armed and ready by the time I finish my meal. We’re going on a hunt.”

“Yes, my king,” the captain eagerly replied, and ran to gather his troops.

“And bring me my finest weapons!” he yelled out as an afterthought.

She had been standing totally still for nearly ten minutes, and Gabriel was at a loss. If this was Lendoren where was everyone? And what was the significance of this building that she would seek it out and then simply stand there?

‘Obviously this place means something to her, but she went to the other building first. If I’d just been pulled out of a pit of flesh-eating worms the first place I would go is-’

{Home.}

A numbing cold ran down his spine and gripped the pit of his stomach. All those bodies in the pit. Was the entire city of Lendoren killed? ‘No.’ he told himself forcefully, ‘Mariah said that there had been travelers from Lendoren.’

But there had been so many bodies.

{Come on, sweetheart,} he said, taking her by the hand, {let’s see if we can find someone.}

She hesitated for a moment then let him lead her out of the building. Something had changed in her demeanor. She’d become almost limp and her eyes were focused at nothing as she hung her head.

{I know they’re not all dead,} he said to her, gently lifting her chin to look into her eyes, {I know some of them left the city. We just need to find them.}

The look on her face gave no reply. He couldn’t tell if she believed him, or even understood him. Following the hoof prints she had made Gabriel led her back to the first building she had first entered.

Judging from the entryway he could tell that the structure had been designed with centaurs in mind. The room they entered into was about the size of a two car garage. Two rows of terra-cotta shelves lines the two side walls while the wall at the rear of the room was painted with a lifelike mural of several centaurs in a field of grass. On both sides of the painting were archways leading into the interior of the house.

Gabriel was fascinated by the painting on the wall. It literally looked like a huge photograph. The lighting in here was dim, but as he closely examined the picture he could nearly make out individual leaves on some of the trees, and each blade of grass had been meticulously drawn. He ran a finger gently across the surface of the picture to see if he could feel the brush marks, but the moment he touched the surface of the wall the painting moved.

The trees swayed in a gentle breeze and the children in the image began playing some game of chase. Three adult centaurs; two female and one male, watched as the children romped in the field. The male, looking up and noticing that Gabriel was watching, trotted over. He was a well built man with light-blond hair and a honey-colored coat. His lower legs were white and his hooves were blond. He wore a white poncho with blue and green bands around the edge.

“Greetings!” he cheerfully said as he stopped in front of Gabriel, “Welcome to our home.”

{I-} Gabriel tried to reply.

“My name is Garo, and these are my mates: Shalynnda and Tara,” the man continued, cutting off Gabriel’s response. The two centauresses waved as each of them was introduced.

‘A recording?’ thought Gabriel, obvious to the fact that the man didn’t know who he was speaking to.

The two women had almost the exact same markings as Garo. The first one, Shalynnda, didn’t have white legs, and Tara’s coat was a bit darker than the other two, but all three of them wore the same type of clothing.

“These are our children.” Garo continued as he turned to face the field, “The young man you see is Eric, and the Goddess has truly blessed us with his twin sisters: Shaniddia and Shahira.”

The three children waved as each of their names were called out, but Gabriel didn’t notice. His mind was racing at the mention of the name ‘Shaniddia’. Could it be the same person he had met? Both of them are healers, but are healers common? Can any centaur do that? Mariah had told him that ‘Lorden’ was a common name. Was ‘Shaniddia’ a common name too? He looked at the women in the picture, and then looked at the albino standing quietly next to him. The girls in the painting looked about nine or ten and were not albino. They all had the same hair and coats as the adults in the picture.

Garo had said something else, but Gabriel hadn’t caught it. He then trotted back to his spot next to the two centauresses, and the picture froze once more.

{Shahira?} he said aloud as he turned towards the centauress. While she didn’t look up at him, the slight motion of her head told him he was right.

{Your name is Shahira, isn’t it?}

Again, only a twitch, but it was enough to know he had discovered her name.

{Show me your home Shahira,} he said, taking her by the hand and leading her through the doorway.

The interior of the home was a single two-story room that covered nearly an acre. Again Gabriel noted that the roof was composed of large arched wooden beams that spanned the entire structure. Several areas along the walls had been carved with images of people. Some he recognized as the centaurs he saw in the painting. Others were unfamiliar. Large windows, their panes fogged by dust and grime, allowed what little morning light there was into the room. The floor was dusty and had quite a few leaves near the doorway. The air in here smelled musty and acrid with the scent of decaying vegetation. Gabriel could see Shahira’s hoof prints where she had entered the room, then turned and left. The room was completely barren except for a large tarp-covered mound next to the wall farthest from the entrances.

‘Nobody’s been here for quite a while,’ he thought to himself, examining the leaves at his feet. They were dark brown and brittle, suggesting they had been in here for more than a year. He swept the edge of his foot across the floor, leaving a path in the fine dust that had accumulated over time. Walking over to the tarp he noted that the corners had been weighted with clay pots full of river stones. It too was covered in the same dust as the floor.

Removing two of the pots off the tarp, Gabriel flipped it back to reveal...

{Furniture,} he said to himself. Ornately carved dressers, cabinets, and tables all neatly set next to one another. He noted that it looked much like the same type of furniture Mariah had in her home. Opening a few of the cabinets he found that most were empty.

‘All neatly packed and covered,’ Gabriel noted to himself as he opened the drawers of a dresser, ‘They didn’t abandon the house; they packed up and left. But they didn’t take the furniture.’

Opening a bottom dresser drawer, he discovered several folded ponchos bearing the blue and green bands he had seen in the picture. All of them were identical and had been neatly folded and carefully stored.

{Shahira, look what I fou-} he began to say, but the sentence was never finished. As he turned around to show the centauress what he had discovered he saw that she was no longer in the room... but five spiders, each the size of a mini-van, were directly behind him.

“Linda!”

Noliea had looked behind her just in time to see Linda pass out and tumble under the surface of the water. Andrea immediately pulled Linda’s head above the water, and was able to roll her upright as the rest of the herd came to her aid.

“Linda... Lindiannua can you hear me?” asked Andrea.

She got no response. Linda was as limp as a dishrag.

“She’s ice cold,” said Andrea to Paul as he knelt beside the unconscious centauress.

Paul scooped one of his massive arms just behind her forelegs and the other below her rump.

“Paul, don’t hurt your-” Noliea began, but Paul was already lifting Linda out of the water and carrying her to the shore.

Paul strained with the weight of the woman. He was tired, and the long years as a slave had sapped him of a large portion of his strength. He managed to get her several yards away from the bank of the river before he unceremoniously dropped her and collapsed as well.

Shaniddia brightened them both and they regained consciousness, but they were both still exhausted.

“They need to rest,” Shaniddia said to Noliea, “we need to find a place to hide until they can travel.”

“Do you two think you can travel just a bit further?” Noliea asked Paul and Linda. They both nodded as the others helped them to their hooves.

“Where?” demanded Shaniddia, exasperated, “Where can we possibly go that they won’t find us?”

“Northeast,” interrupted Alec, pointing in the direction of the master’s city, “They’re expecting us to continue heading towards the plains and away from the masters. That means if they find our hoof prints they should follow them away from us to the river.”

“How far?” asked Paul, panting.

Alec shrugged, “As far as we can I guess. I don’t know how much farther I can travel. I’ve also got an idea....”

{Shahira?}

The spiders were definitely using coordination. While two of them blocked the only exits another two fanned out and flanked Gabriel as the fifth walked directly in front of him. They moved quickly; he could literally feel their massive limbs hitting the floor as they walked.

{Vegetarians my ass,} he growled, watching them move into position, {they hunt in packs.}

Picking up several stones out of the clay pot he was standing next to, he considered his options. Each one was roughly twelve to fifteen feet from leg-tip to leg-tip, with two ebony fangs the length of a man’s arm. They were all dark brown with eight red eyes. Gabriel considered how hard it would be to down one of these things with a thrown rock, let alone five, and each second that passed was one second more that he didn’t know what was happening to the centauress.

{Here!} he said to the spider in the center of the room, {Play with these.} He took the handful of stones and sent them skittering across the floor towards the creature. It jumped back out of reflex, and the other four turned to see if it had been injured. That was the moment Gabriel had been waiting for. Keeping his wings tucked he crashed through the nearest window and headed skyward.

She hadn’t gone far. In fact she was in the grove of trees just across the street from her house. She was enveloped in a blue glow and spiders of every size surrounded her. The five that had been inside the house thundered out onto the street and he could see more coming from every direction.

‘She’s been bit!’ he thought as he rolled into a dive. This would have to be quick. If he landed hard and fast that should startle them enough for him to pick her up and fly out. But as he came down the larger spiders spotted him and sprinted towards the centauress. Seeing that he wouldn’t have enough time he landed between her and the oncoming monsters and looked for the best place to attack.

The smaller (ha!) ones dropped the fruit they were carrying and scattered up the closest tree. That left only a hundred or so on the ground; and they weren’t leaving. Already the largest ones were jockeying for better attack positions while the remaining others cut off any means of escape.

‘Head shots,’ Gabriel thought to himself, ‘That’s the only way. And protect her lower body. The dura-armor should protect her torso.’

Gabriel was also feeling an uneasiness about this entire situation, and it wasn’t coming from being surrounded by the spiders. The sheer panic he had felt at the first sighting of one of these creatures was gone. He was afraid, to be sure, but the fear he felt was more for the safety of the centauress than a panic over giant spiders. He also realized that the overwhelming rage he had felt when Paul, Noliea, or any of the other centaurs had been threatened was gone. He could think clearly now; his mind was focused on saving the centauress.

The area was dead quiet. The morning light was still not at full strength, but the blue glow of the centauress made visibility easy. There was absolutely no wind at all, not even a draft. Nobody: archangel, centauress, or spider moved. The only sound at all was a slight crunching sound, followed by what sounded like someone biting into an apple... or crushing bone.

Gabriel immediately spun around in front of Shahira to see what had attacked her. The spiders in front leapt back in surprise while the area that had formed around them widened a few feet. He was expecting to see a spider imbedding its mandibles into her legs. Instead what he found was a half-eaten fruit in her hands.

{Wonderful time to eat breakfast,} he grumbled as spun back around to face the larger spiders behind her. The moment Gabriel had turned around, they had advanced. Now they were just out of range of his wings.

It was slow going but Alec’s idea seemed to work. They were traveling single file with Henna leading the way and Paul last. Their order was from smallest to largest, each stepping in the same hoof prints the person in front of them had made. It was an awkward gate for Paul but it worked: they were leaving a single trail of hoof prints behind them. They traveled until they came to a thicket of vines and thinellis plants.

Noliea motioned everyone into the thicket. Even Paul had no problem hiding under the thick canopy. The light here was so dim the ground under the plants was bare dry earth. They settled down in pairs and rested. Everyone except Alec. As tired as the man was, he paced in the cramped area he could find.

“Alec,” whispered Noliea, “Get over here.”

Alec sulked over to stand in front of her. She pointed to the ground and gave him her best “I dare you to argue with me” look. If he didn’t have any reason to object or was simply too exhausted to try only he knew. Either way he bedded down slightly off her center to face both Noliea and Melinda.

“I don’t know how you do it,” he said, already knowing what she was going to talk about.

“Do what?” she asked, knowing that Alec tended to skip the first few sentences of a conversation.

“Tell other people what to do,” he replied, “Its... its not an exact science. I’ve made two observations today that already claimed one life and-”

“You don’t know that!” Melinda protested.

Everyone knew that Alec wasn’t one who could hide his feelings, and both women could see the obvious pain the man felt.

“I’m sorry, Alec,” Melinda said, “I didn’t mean to say it that way. I just-” Her voice choked, and tears welled up in her eyes. “I just have to believe,” she whispered.

“I wish I could.” Alec said darkly, “I was really rather fond of that girl.”

Indeed, Alec had been a father figure to most of the herd, but he had practically taken Rowena as his own daughter. Noliea couldn’t recall if he had ever taken any mates or sired any children of his own. When she was a girl, her only memories of Alec was a thin man who practically lived in the goddesses castle; his angular nose always buried in some ancient tomb or writing one of his own. When her herd had left Lendoren, she was shocked to discover that Alec had joined them.

“I remember when we left Lendoren,” said Noliea, still thinking back to their journey, “We weren’t even a half days travel out of the city when someone told me you were coming with us. I went to the back of the herd and found you pulling that wagon of books.”

Noliea, Melinda, and a few others that were eavesdropping on the conversation smiled. Alec had packed almost half the library into a wagon and was single-handedly trying to pull it across the frontier. The wagon itself wasn’t going to last two days at that weight, let alone Alec. The herd distributed the majority of the books amongst the families. Alec, with the help of five others, could finally use it without causing any damage to the wagon, or the team pulling it.

“I would have pulled that wagon all the way across the great plain myself.” Alec said in reflex. The herd had teased him the entire journey. He had neglected to bring any food, water, personal belongings, or clothes other than what he was wearing the day they left. His only though was on preserving the books.

“And if we had built a wagon large enough you would have,” agreed Noliea.

Alec’s mood lightened a bit, but then darkened just as fast. “They burned those books,” he said, remembering the day he was captured. When the masters had ambushed the herd the rest of the team pulling the wagon ran. He alone had stayed and tried to pull it into some nearby woods to hide it. He didn’t even make ten paces before they swarmed over him. His last sight of his beloved works was a column of smoke rising up from the prairie. “They’re gone.”

“No they aren’t,” said Noliea softly, “I speak to them every day.”

Alec looked up at her, not understanding what she meant.

“They’re-” she began, but a rustle of leaves made her stop short. Someone was coming.

The situation was tense. If anyone moved: spider, archangel, or centauress, the others would react. Shahira seemed oblivious to the tension surrounding the situation. She was leisurely eating one fruit after another, all the while the bright blue aura surrounded her.

‘Okay Gabriel, think,’ he mentally told himself, ‘Mariah said that they use spiders in fruit groves to “keep the place healthy until the end of time”, and they were “always sneaking in and eating the soap”. Eat soap... eat soap... what do they make soap out of?’

It really didn’t have much of a smell, so he couldn’t tell if it was animal or vegetable.

‘So they take her into a grove of trees, keep me away from her, and... bring her food? Are they fattening her up? Is she glowing out of reflex? If they were intentionally put into these woods to guard them, what are they guarding them from? Other centaurs? If that were the case then they wouldn’t be bringing food to her, they would be guarding the food from her.’

He suddenly realized the flaw in the situation. ‘Gabriel you idiot, these are her spiders!’

As loath as he was to the idea, these spiders were actually trying to help Shahira. They had perceived him as the threat and had acted accordingly. Still, he wasn’t about to leave her here alone.

{I’m betting you can understand me,} he said to the large spider he had been facing. If his hunch was correct then this creature was even more intelligent than he was giving it credit for. It had intentionally positioned itself behind Shahira, keeping Gabriel away from her front and giving her a chance to eat. {I’m going to step away from her but I’ll be watching. I slaughtered a few thousand dune-worms to get her back home, and if so much as one of you hurts her I’m coming after you first.}

If the spider understood him or not, he couldn’t tell. Its eight emerald eyes showed no reaction and it didn’t move.

Slowly stepping away from the centauress, Gabriel began to walk around the huge arachnid and head towards the house he had come from. The large spider countered by turning in place, keeping Gabriel in front as he moved. The other large spiders, their numbers having increased to over thirty, moved to flank his exit. Any spider less than ten feet in width moved out of his way. They literally formed a path back to the roadway in front of her house.

Gabriel was getting a very uneasy feeling about this. It was if he was being herded away. ‘Like the first five originally tried to do.’

{I said I would be watching,} he said, stopping, {I didn’t say I would be leaving.}

Gabriel stood about twelve feet from Shahira, not quiet enough room for the giant creature to interpose itself between them. Gabriel also noted that it also was keeping just out of range of his wings. It was either afraid of him or it had calculated that Gabriel could use them as weapons.

{Shahira?} said Gabriel to the centauress. He expected no reply and received none.

A single, solitary spider slowly advanced towards the centauress carrying some type of fruit the size of a lemon. Dropping it at her hooves, it reached out a single leg and touched the glowing centauress. The blue glow traveled up the spider’s leg and washed over its entire body. A second or two later it pulled its arm away and the blue glow that had enveloped it vanished. It then turned and headed back into the woods. Next came two, then three, then three hundred as waves of spiders of every size descended on the centauress. Each one brought her something; a fruit, a flower... even the smallest ones would bring her a mushroom or a piece of something Gabriel couldn’t identify. All they wanted in turn was to touch her for a few brief moments; to have the blue glow surround them for a second or two then they simply left.

The situation had lost some of its tension as time progressed. Neither Gabriel nor the spider in front of him had taken their eyes off each other. Both wouldn’t budge until Gabriel heard a voice off in the distance.

“Hello!” came the faint voice, “Can anyone hear me?”

It surprised Gabriel, but Shahira spooked as if waking up from a dream. She sprinted towards the voice in a dead run; spiders leaping in every direction to get out of her way. The only two who didn’t move was Gabriel and the arachnid in front of him. They still faced off even as the others disappeared after the centauress.

{Hope you enjoy being alone.} Gabriel quipped sarcastically as he sounded through the branches above him. The moment he cleared the tops of the trees he could see who had called: Two centauresses and four of the insect people were coming up the roadway. A moment later he saw Shahira leave the forest and travel the short distance between her and the party. The two centauresses both ran ahead to greet her. The four insect people, all of whom carried spears had spotted Gabriel and were closing the distance between themselves and the centaurs. Gabriel made sure he got to them before they did.

“By the authority of King Derit, I order you to surrender,” one of them said as he leveled his spear at Gabriel. The two centaurs had spooked as Gabriel had landed, but the albino centauress stayed next to him, a look of bewilderment on her face.

{My name is Gabriel,} said the archangel, {I am a stranger to your world, and seek to find my way back home.}

“How is it you speak our language?” clicked the one who had ordered him to surrender.

{A centaur gave me this,} he replied, pointing to the translation medallion, {It translates my language into yours.}

“The fruitpickers told us there was a healer in the city,” said the tan-coated centauress, her eyes as wide as saucers, “They said it was being guarded by a terrible monster.”

“What does the centaur say?” asked the insect.

{She said that the creatures of these woods told her that the centauress and I were in the city.} Gabriel replied, noting that the insect people couldn’t communicate with the centaurs. Indeed, Gabriel now saw that the spiders were at the edge of the forest, and that all four insect people were pointing their weapons in that direction. It was one more bit of information Gabriel filed away in the back of his mind.

“Disgusting creatures,” said the insect, “They should be hunted down and slaughtered.” Then, turning his attention back to Gabriel, he said, “We shall take you and the others back to the city. The king will know what to do with you.”

{I have a few questions,} Gabriel said, already feeling anger towards this insect man swelling. He also noted that none of the centauresses were wearing bonds or chains. Turning to the first centauress he said, {I am looking for a city called ‘Lendoren’.}

“This is Lendoren,” she answered, still looking him over with amazement, “The city has been abandoned for many seasons. We have moved northward to the city of the Klidz.” She indicated the four insect people standing near them.

So that’s what they’re called...Klidz.

“You can discuss things as we walk,” interrupted the one who had done all the talking, “This city is haunted, and those creatures would like nothing better than to make a meal of me and my men.”

Actually, Gabriel wanted to leave the city as well, but there was one detail he wanted to take care of. {You two take her and start heading out. I’ll catch up to you.}

“Where are you going?” demanded the insect. But Gabriel had already taken to the air.

Gabriel landed in front of Shahira’s house, and went back to the tarp-covered furniture. Picking up the poncho he had found, he replaced the tarp and set the stone-filled pots back in place. As he turned to leave, he was confronted by the same giant spider he had faced in the woods.

{I still don’t know if you understand me,} said Gabriel, {But I don’t trust the insect people. I want you to follow us. I have seen them kill centaurs without reason.} And with that, he flew out the window.

A few moments later, Gabriel landed just ahead of the group. {Here,} he said, approaching the albino centauress and unfolding the poncho, {I think this is yours.}

“She won’t-” one centauress tried to say, but was cut off by one of the Klidz.

“You are not to leave us again!” commanded the insect, “You are a prisoner of King Derit, and will do as I command.”

Ignoring the insect, Gabriel gently placed the poncho over the centauresses head and addressed the two centauresses, {Do either of you know this woman’s name?}

“That is the lady Shahira, daughter of priestess Shalynnda,” said the centauress who had first spoken to him, “But the Klidz told us she was dead.”

“You will maintain silence,” the insect command, “Surrender the translation medallion to me.”

Gabriel kicked out the legs from under the insect and pulled the spear from his claws. {I have encountered your people before,} he said with unusual calmness as he pointed the spear inches away from the insect’s head, {I find them to be crude, slow, and weak. Yesterday I destroyed an entire nest of worms to save this centauress, and I have business with her people. I strongly suggest you stay out of my way.} With that, he snapped the spear in half and tossed it into the grass.

“Are you the one who made the fire we saw to the south?” asked the black-coated centauress.

{Yes. I went into the worm nest with a fire to light my way. When I got deep inside the tunnels, I accidentally walked into a pocket of gas, and it exploded.}

“Did you find any others?” the other centauress asked.

Gabriel shook his head, {No.}

“Then there’s a chance the others escaped!” she exclaimed.

{I found many remains of your people down there.} Gabriel said somberly.

“What are you discussing?” the Klidz leader demanded.

{I am telling them that only this single centauress was found alive in the worm nest I went to. But the remains of several thousand of her people were also in a pit. I could not even begin to estimate the count.}

It suddenly occurred to Gabriel that he never saw a single Klidz carcass in the pit.

“You will not discuss these things until you are presented to King Derit!” the Klidz hissed.

Gabriel’s patience was growing very thin with this creature. {I don’t think you understand the situation,} he growled as he advanced on the insect, {First off: I am nobody’s prisoner. Secondly: My business is with these people, not you. And third: If you point a spear at me one more time I’m going to take it away from you and shove down your throat.}

“You dare threaten me! Correct? It is you who does not understand the situation. There are four of us, and only one of you.”

{There are only five of you,} Gabriel corrected, {Another of your people is coming up the trail.}

A lone Klidz was running up the path towards the group. “Uhrup! I bring urgent news! Kings Derit himself commands that you-” but he stopped mid-sentence when he caught sight of Gabriel.

“Speak up!” Uhrup demanded, “This creature is my prisoner. I am taking him back to the king to be interrogated.”

“The king has ordered you and your men to return to the city immediately,” the insect stammered, not taking his multifaceted eyes off of the strange creature before him, “The king is marching this way with a full battalion of elite warriors in combat armor. His orders are to kill a strange creature in the centaur city and the white centaur it protects.”

A horrible feeling of uneasiness swept through Uhrup. The king was coming here himself, with two thousand of his elite warriors, to kill a single creature that he had just turned his back on? Diving onto the ground, he partially tucked himself into a “C” position, then popped himself to full height just as his lower legs passed over his head. The end result was about nine feet of distance between himself and Gabriel, while now facing his opponent. Another insect dutifully tossed him a spear.

{Impressive,} said Gabriel, actually surprised that the insect could move like that, {I suggest you go back to your city and tell the king that I will be waiting for him here.}

“It speaks!” said the fifth insect.

There was an awkward moment of silence as centaurs, insects, and archangel said nothing.

“What did he say?” asked the black-coated centauress.

{He says the king is sending an army to kill Shahira,} replied Gabriel, {Evidently nobody was supposed to discover she was alive.}

“Why?” she asked.

{I don’t know. More importantly,} he said, turning towards the insects, {how did the king know we were here?}

“You two,” said Uhrup to two of the other insects, “Stay here and keep watch over the prisoner. Don’t let any of them leave.”

With that, Uhrup, the runner, and one of his solders left, leaving the three centaurs and Gabriel to be guarded by the two remaining solders. The moment they were out of sight, Gabriel turned to Shahira. {Forgive me,} he said, pulling his shirt off her from under the poncho, {But I will be needing this soon.}

“Ask it why they want to kill Shahira,” said the darker mare anxiously.

“I order you to remain silent!” one of the two remaining insect people commanded. He held up his spear at the ready.

{She asks why you would kill the white centaur.} Gabriel translated.

“I ordered silence!” the Klidz hissed as it advanced.

Gabriel flung his shirt at the second Klidz as he grabbed the end of the spear. The Klidz yanked back in reflex, but not before Gabriel released his grip. The Klidz lost its balance and stumbled back. Gabriel kicked the second Klidz in the chest, a satisfying ‘crack’ sounded as it tumbled backwards. The first one rolled backwards onto its feet, and aimed its spear directly at Gabriel, but a moment later it turned and skittered as fast as it could run on all legs. The other, the moment it could flip over, ran after the first.

{Cowards,} Gabriel muttered under his breath as he picked up his shirt. But as he turned to face the three centauresses, he suddenly realized that the two guards had not fled because of him.

He was standing less than ten inches from the eight neon-red eyes of the same spider he had encountered this morning.

{Oh crap.}

Everyone froze. Someone, or something was moving just outside the thinellis’s thick blanket of leaves. Nobody dared breathe. For what felt like eternity they listened as the sounds progressively got softer and softer. But just as the first sounds no longer audible they could hear other noises in the forest; those of the masters. They could hear the clicking of claws as they walked through the forest. From the sound of their gate they must have been crawling on all of their legs; spreading their weight to prevent sinking into the soft dirt. If that were true then they weren’t carrying any sharp-sticks.

It occurred to Alec that there was a flaw in his deception. While the masters would think that only one of them had passed this way, if a master were to discover the trail near the thinellis plant, they would notice that the tracks lead directly into the middle of the thicket!

‘I have failed,’ he thought to himself, ‘My works are gone, Rowena is dead, and I have led the masters straight to the entire herd. My life has been nothing.’

But a sudden inspiration hit him. ‘We left only one set of prints. That means if the masters trace them here they will only expect one person.’

Alec looked around at the wall of leaves closest to him. It would take a master a few moments to work its way through the interlocking leaves. In that time he could charge the master and run past it before it got into the undergrowth. Since it was always dark under here he surmised the masters wouldn’t be able to see the rest of the herd. Alec gathered his nerve and watched the area where they had left the trail.

Judging from the sounds, a large group of masters passed by their hiding place and headed westward. Alec was ready to bolt the moment any of them came through. But they simply passed by, and in a short while the sounds of the forest returned.

They stayed until midday, sitting quietly and regaining their strength. Alec worried how their trail, which had been intentionally obvious, could have been overlooked by so many of the masters.

“Do you think it’s safe?” Melinda whispered into Noliea’s ear.

Noliea looked around at the others. Linda had regained her strength, and nodded her head as she made eye contact. All the others in turn nodded as she looked at each one. They were ready to leave.

“Okay,” Noliea whispered, but was cut short by Alec’s signal.

Alec gently rose to his hooves and went over to the area where they had entered the bush’s canopy. Slowly unweaving the leaves he peered through a small hole.

“No wonder they didn’t find us,” he whispered as much to himself as the rest of the herd, “The hoof prints are gone.”

“She wants you away from Shahira,” said the black-coated centauress.

{Tell her I want her away from Shahira.}

“She says Shahira is her friend. She won’t let you harm her.”

{Harm her?} Gabriel growled, suddenly feeling an urge to rip a few limbs off the bug, {Where were you when she was trapped in that worm pit? Where were you when she had thousands of maggots sucking the blood out of her while she stood waist deep in their crap? And where the hell were you when those Klidz just tried to kill us?} He turned at looked at the centauress, {The only thing this... this... creature wants is someone who will stand around and heal it!}

As Gabriel spoke, the anger in him tripled. He wasn’t expecting this creature to attack, he was hoping for it, {Several hundred of those insect people are coming back here to kill Shahira, and I don’t need the added problem of putting up with you! Now move.}

Amazingly, the hulking arachnid bowed slightly and backed up, but only to the point of standing directly next to Shahira.

{Is there any chance she will harm Shahira?} he asked the centauresses.

“No.” the tan-coated centauress said flatly, “They are good creatures, and you shouldn’t talk to them that way. We were all told that Shahira was dead, and...”

“And what?” Gabriel said, his anger subsiding at the look of fear on the woman’s face.

“and now that we know she isn’t, I’m afraid of what you will do to us.”

Gabriel was stumped. ‘What I will do to you??’

Gabriel looked down at himself. He had left for this city feeling numb, half drunk, afraid, but clean. Now he seemed to be in perfect health, he had absolutely no fear of the spiders, but was once again covered in filth and gore.

{I will do nothing to you,} he said as he put his shirt back on, {In the few days I have been on your world, I have met several of your race as well as the insect people you called ‘Klidz’. The Klidz I encountered have enslaved your people, and I witnessed two centaurs being killed for no reason other than entertainment. The only reason they aren’t dead now is that one of your healers brought them back. Which reminds me: When I went into Shahira’s house, I saw a picture on the wall that moved. A man named... um...}

“Garo,” she said.

{Yes. He said that he had twin daughters: Shaniddia and Shahira. But in the picture, the girl named Shahira had golden colored hair. This Shahira is an albino.}

“She has a curse on her,” the bark-coated centauress said, “She rejected a suitor and he put a curse on her.”

Gabriel lit up like a Christmas tree. ‘A curse! Bingo!!’

{Did he also put a curse on her sister Shaniddia?}

“Yes, but she doesn’t look like an albino, she looks like she’s dead.”

Gabriel was instantly suspicious. The chances of him flying twenty-five hundred miles then saving Shaniddia’s sister were astronomical to the point of being stupid.

{Then I have met her sister,} he said, {She and several others were being held as slaves by Klidz in another city east of here.}

The two centauresses stared back at him with their jaws open.

“By the Blessed Goddess, Shaniddia’s alive?”

{I have met a healer that calls herself Shaniddia. I was told that the reason she looks like she is dead was that she had a curse on her.}

“We need to get back to the city,” exclaimed tan-coated centauress, “We must tell Shalynnda that both of her daughters are alive!”

{No,} replied Gabriel, {The Klidz knew that both Shahira and I were here, and they said that they were coming back with several hundred armed troops to kill us both. I’m afraid that if you took her there they will kill her.}

“But why would they want to kill either of you?” she asked.

{I don’t know, but I’m rather suspicious of the fact that I found thousands of bodies in the worm pit but not one of them was a Klidz.}

“They are fighters. They build metal tipped poles and sharp metal rods and practice killing. The tunnel worms do not attack them.”

{I can easily avoid them, but you three will need to hide until I can stop them from trying to kill Shahira. Is there a safe place to hide in this city?}

“We cannot stay here. There are many tunnel worms that live in the ground. They will come out and kill us at nightfall.”

Gabriel pondered the situation, {Can either of you tell me where the Blessed Goddess is? Can she help us?}

It was obvious he had struck a nerve; the look on both of their faces went from the shock of meeting this strange creature to one of sadness and grief, “The Blessed Goddess has not been to Lendoren for many seasons of summer. We fear she has abandoned us.”

Another shiver ran down Gabriel’s back. For some reason he had dreaded meeting her. Now he felt even more dread not meeting her. {That is my business with your people. I have been to a temple of the Blessed Goddess high up in the mountains far south of here. There I saw hundreds of centaurs trapped within it. The old woman who lives near the temple asked me to come here and get help.}

The two women turned and looked at the giant arachnid that had been silently standing watch over the albino. “She says there are many Klidz at the front of the city.”

{Damn it,} he cursed aloud, {I need more time!}

“Time for what?”

{Time to figure out how to get all of you safely back home.}

“They won’t hurt us,” said the tan-coated centauress, “They were escorting us to investigate the fire.”

{And what will they do to you once they kill Shahira?}

“We never heard them say they were going to kill Shahira,” said the black, “You are the one who said that.”

{Can you hide her?} Gabriel asked the arachnid. He was fast running out of options.

“She says she will look after Shahira,” the black replied, “What are you going to do?”

{Try and lure King Derit away from the city.}

“Someone covered our tracks,” said Alec, running his hand across the ground. He felt the indentations of one of the prints, and pulled out the clump of leaves that had been put in it. They weren’t matted. “Whoever it was didn’t leave a trace.”

“Look,” pointed Melinda, “you can see where the masters traveled.”

The tracks led due west, and with the dampness of the leaves, it was impossible to tell how many had come through.

“They’re ahead of us now,” said Noliea, “If we head south or west, we’ll be right behind them. If we head east, then we’re heading back towards the worms.”

“You’re not suggesting heading north?” asked Shaniddia.

Noliea shrugged, “I don’t know what to do.”

“Why don’t we stay here until dark?” suggested Amanda, “The masters will not want to be out at night, and will go back to their city.”

“Do we want to be out at night?” said Shaniddia.

“I want anything that will get us back to Lendoren.” Amanda replied, “If we travel due west at night, that will give us a days travel ahead of the masters. If we don’t then the masters will always be right behind the herd, capturing us one at a time.”

“Or the flesh-worms eating us in the dark,” retorted Shaniddia.

“We didn’t see any last night,” pointed Amanda.

“You think they’re dead, don’t you?” asked Shaniddia.

“No,” said Amanda, “but if any remaining flesh worms came back last night, they must have seen the dead ones. I’m guessing they will avoid this area for awhile and that will give us a chance to travel at night.”

“That’s a very big guess to stake the lives of the entire herd on,” snapped Shaniddia, “They might just avoid the masters city and search for us in these woods like the masters are.”

“If my observations displease you, then offer your own,” replied Amanda coldly.

“I don’t think there are any options available to us that don’t involve risk,” interrupted Noliea, seeing that the conversation between the two was quickly becoming an argument, “No matter which direction we go, or when we travel, we’re going to leave a trail. Which means the masters will easily find it and follow. So the only way to avoid them is to put a few days travel between them and us.”

“So you’re suggesting we travel at night?” asked Shaniddia.

“I don’t see any other option. We can’t spend the rest of the season hiding under a thinellis plant, and I’m so exhausted I doubt I could outrun the slave master. Lara? Serena? Did any of the food make it through the river?”

“We lost a little,” replied Serena, “but there’s enough for the herd for one good meal.”

“Good. I want everyone back under the thinellis plant. Find a place to bed and get as much rest as you can. Alec, you and Ian wait until the rest of us are back under, then erase the hoof prints. As soon as it’s dark, we’re going to travel due west until we’ve crossed the great plain.”

“And one more thing,” Noliea added, giving Alec an almost imperceptible glance, “Everyone here is going to go to Lendoren. I don’t want anyone else sacrificing themselves for the safety of the herd. Let’s not make Rowena’s selflessness be in vain.”

Gabriel flew northward across the center of Lendoren. To his right he could see a huge number of Klidz marching at the edge of the city. He noted that they marched in square formations. There were two squares per row, and twenty rows. From this distance he couldn’t determine how many Klidz were in each square.

‘The roadway was roughly twenty feet across. Each square is about that width. Each Klidz is roughly four feet wide... aw screw it, there’s a bunch of them! How am I going to get Shahira past that? And how did he know we were here? That worries me. Can he track the amulet? Now there’s a thought. What if I can get him to chase me out of the city?’

With a plan in mind, Gabriel looped around and headed at low altitude towards the front of the advancing army. Once he got nearer to the front of the city, he swooped down even lower, flying just above ground height. When he was just out of sight, he landed in the middle of the path and waited for the approaching Klidz. In less than a minute they spotted him.

“King Derit! Look!” said General Kror, pointing at the strange creature in the middle of the road just ahead of them.

The king had spotted it the same time the general had. “It waits for us in the open,” he observed, already tightening his grip on his spear, “It wants to be seen.”

“What are your orders, my king?” General Kror asked.

“Take half your men and surround it. Then have the remaining troops split up and cover the woods, city, and trail behind it. Tell them not to get too far away. My spies have informed me that this creature is very cleaver.”

“Yes, my king,” Kror replied.

Orders were passed among the troops with military efficiency. The neat, straight squares that had marched all the way from Derit’s city dissolved into four masses; each one moving like a living creature. Gabriel was amazed at the speed and precision at which they coordinated their attack. No wonder Merek was so afraid of them! In no time at all they surrounded Gabriel in a ring roughly fifty feet in diameter. He also had no problem identifying their leader. King Derit was easily five times larger than any of the other Klidz. A lone Klidz advanced towards him.

“By order of King Derit-” it began.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Gabriel replied, loud enough for the king to hear.

There was a murmur of voices from the Klidz surrounding him.

“How could you have possibly known we were coming?” demanded the Klidz standing before him.

“The same way you knew I was here,” he replied coolly.

General Kror looked back at the king. “It lies,” said Derit.

“It makes no difference if you believe me or not,” said Gabriel directly to the king, “The fire I created was enough to draw you and your best warriors here, which is exactly what I had planned.”

“You are insane if you believe you can defeat my army,” the king roared. The swarm of Klidz loudly clicked their agreement.

“I have no intention of defeating your army,” Gabriel replied once the noise had subsided, “In fact my plan was never to flight a single Klidz this day.”

“Then tell me strange creature,” the king hissed as he advanced, “what exactly was your plan?”

As the king advanced, the circle closed in around him.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Gabriel, waiting for the exact moment, “My plan was for you to leave your city unguarded!”

Gabriel waited just long enough to see if the king understood, then sounded straight into the air. He didn’t want to fly too fast or they might not see him leave. Leveling off about fifty yards above the ground Gabriel flew northward along the trail. Once he was sure they understood where he was going he increased his speed and gained altitude.

‘I just hope those two centauresses don’t do something stupid,’ he thought to himself.

He wasn’t going to have much time. He could already see the Klidz city in the distance.