by R. E. Butler
* * * * *
Daeton was scared as she and Perseus moved swiftly toward the smoke. It covered the street like a wall, the Vehsi and Urtals battling in front of it, their strange yelling and hooting filling the air. She held herself closer to Perseus’s back. The bone blade was too short to be much use against the creatures, but she knew that she and Perseus weren’t looking to fight them, just whoever was controlling them.
Perseus swung his swords, chopping the creatures down as they rushed them. He never faltered and never lost his stride, pushing forward until the smoke was thick around them and she couldn’t see anything.
Her fear rose, but she pushed it away, calling on the strength of her bear to heighten her senses. She reminded her beast that they had a baby to care for and two mates to live for, and a rumbling in her mind let her know that she and her beast were of the same mind. Whoever was behind the attacks needed to be put down. Period.
She felt something to her left. A coldness she couldn’t quite explain, an evil that made dread pool in her stomach. Closing her eyes, she gave herself over to her bear and let her senses heighten to the point where she was hovering on the edge of shifting. Her bear snarled in warning and her fangs elongated in her mouth as claws sprang from her fingertips. She leapt from Perseus’s back with a roar, landing on her feet as a chill rolled over her.
She opened her eyes and saw a shadow in the smoke. Raking the bone blade down her forearm, she ignored the pain as she covered it with her blood. It began to glow and she held it aloft, causing the smoke to clear around her. She twirled, cutting the smoke away as if slicing fabric. The shadow danced away from her, and she felt the presence of evil around her. She heard the yelling and hooting of the Urtals and Vehsi, but they seemed unable to come near her.
“Reveal yourself!” she shouted, slapping the blade onto her bleeding arm, coating it again and making it glow brighter.
The smoke parted and the shadow came into view. She gasped. It was the white-haired wizard!
“I killed you!” she exclaimed as fear rose inside her.
The man smiled and it sent a chill down her spine. His long white hair was tied in a thick braid that hung over his shoulder, and he wore a black cloak, his chest bare of clothing but covered in red tattoos.
“You killed my brother.”
Her grip tightened on the blade. She pushed aside the sudden fear. Now was not the time for panic. “Urijah tried to kill me so he would have enough power to take over the realm! I did what I had to do to protect myself and my family.”
His eyes flashed bright yellow and his voice thundered as he shouted, “Never say my brother’s name!”
Her ears rang and she shook her head to clear them.
“What do you want?”
“I want your family dead and for you to suffer.” He regarded her for a long moment. Around her, she could hear the battle still continuing. Her family fought for her life. They were honorable people, not like the cowardly man before her who hired thugs to kill on his behalf. Her bear growled in agreement.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said. “You can leave me and my family alone, and never come back.”
The earth trembled as he raised his hands. “I want you to know that I’ll enjoy watching you be sold on the slave market, to see the look on your face when you realize that your future isn’t your own anymore. That you’re entirely alone for the remainder of your life, however short it will be once you’re sold. I had a vision of you, naked and bleeding, weeping for your loss.” His head tilted and he smiled, almost sweetly, as if he loved the idea.
Her bear hovered under the surface and a plan formed in her mind swiftly. “I had a vision, too,” she said, growling the words. “And it begins and ends here.”
Letting go of her bear, she shouted for Perseus. She could feel him nearby; she just hoped he could get to her in time.
* * * * *
Perseus heard Daeton call his name. She was hidden behind thick smoke, but he could sense her through their mating connection. Ekho suddenly leaped up onto his back and said, “Into the smoke, I’ve got your back.”
Perseus gave Ekho one of his swords and leapt in the direction of his mate. The smoke was cold and thick, and he was disoriented for a brief moment as he passed through the thickest part of it. As his hooves hit the ground, he saw Daeton facing off against a man who looked exactly like the white-haired wizard.
Daeton threw the bone blade to Perseus and exploded into her shift, charging the wizard, who threw lightning bolts at her as she roared and bore down on him. She slammed into the wizard, knocking him to the ground. Ekho leapt from Perseus’s back as Urtals came from behind the wizard and lifted their clubs to harm Daeton. Perseus shifted into his human form and dove into the melee.
The wizard struggled under Daeton. Lightning crackled on her fur and the scent of burning fur and flesh was heavy. She growled angrily but didn’t ease up, covering the man with her body and keeping him down. She snapped her mighty jaws at him, tearing his flesh with her fangs. Bones crunched and he screamed as she broke his wrists and the lightning ceased.
Perseus rose over them and lifted the blade high into the air. “I send you to your maker with blood and bone,” he said. A strange but familiar power filled him, ancient and strong. As the wizard screamed in terror, Perseus drove the blade into his heart and twisted. The wizard jerked with a sharp cry and then went still. Acrid, black blood poured from the wound and Daeton shuffled away, her nose wrinkling. The smoke disappeared, seeping into the ground like a curtain falling away.
Ekho joined them, staring down at the wizard.
“He looks like Urijah,” Ekho said.
“It can’t be him, though. We saw Daeton kill him,” Perseus said, shaking his head.
“Well, whoever the fuck he is, he’s dead now. Let’s just make doubly sure.” Raising the sword, Ekho swung it down swiftly and cleaved off the man’s head. It rolled away, coming to rest against the body of an Urtal.
Perseus looked around and found his dad, brothers, and the other Centaurs finishing off the last of the Urtals and Vehsi. Dead bodies littered the street, but he didn’t see any Centaurs among them, and was thankful. Next to him, Daeton rubbed her muzzle against his shoulder and growled softly. He slid his arm around her thick neck and kissed her ear.
“I know, little bear. You’re safe, our son is safe, and the danger to our lives is gone.”
She made a sound of agreement.
Ekho said, “Should we burn the bodies in the street or cart them into the settlement?”
Rysk and Tyrant joined them, along with Cosmo and Perseus’s brothers. “Here,” Cosmo said, coming to stand with Perseus. He rested his hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m proud of you, son.”
Perseus smiled at his dad. “Thank you for standing with us.”
“I will always stand by your side.”
Someone brought Perseus a pair of trousers and boots, which he donned and began to work with the others to bring all the bodies into the center of the wide cobblestone street. Daeton used her strength to tug bodies along with the others. She was as determined to gather the dead as the rest of them were.
When the final body had been tossed onto the pile, Cosmo drenched them with accelerant made from the sap of reluin trees, and touched a torch to it. Perseus, Ekho, and Daeton stood far enough away from the blaze that they could only feel a little heat. Rysk and Tyrant were nearby, staring intently at the fire.
“Thank you for coming,” Perseus said to the males. “I didn’t understand why you needed to be here, but I know now that whatever brought you here, it was for this very reason. We’re in your debt.”
Tyrant shook his head. “We owed a debt to your family for our part in her near-death. That we could be here, in your time of need, to help keep Daeton and her young safe – that’s our repayment to you.”
“Whatever evil orchestrated bringing Daeton into the realm in the first place, it’s been put to rest,” Rysk said.
/> Daeton rumbled in agreement.
Although Perseus wanted to take Daeton home and tend to her burned flesh, she was adamant about not leaving. He and Ekho sat with her on the cobblestone street for hours as the bodies burned until there was nothing but bones, the scent of charred flesh heavy in the air.
She walked slowly around the bones that were still smoking as if she were checking for signs of life. Then she lifted her head and bellowed, and the sound was one of triumph. The Centaurs raised their voices, too, and Perseus, Ekho, Rysk and Tyrant added their cry of victory to hers.
Daeton lumbered to them, and Ekho said, “Time to go home and rest, honey kitten.”
Her head hung wearily as they walked back to the settlement. Instead of going to the home they shared with his parents, she went straight to the lake and submerged herself in the dark water. When she rose, she was in her human form, the water sluicing from her body as she wrung out her hair.
Perseus and Ekho held their hands out to her and she joined them. Perseus kissed her and looked over her body, checking for signs of injury. The burn wounds had mostly healed with her shift and he knew she would shift again and heal completely.
“I want to sleep for about a year,” Daeton said as he and Ekho held her between them.
“Let’s go home, then,” Ekho said.
“I wish we could go to our own home,” she said wistfully.
Perseus lifted her into his arms and she snuggled close. “Just a couple more weeks and we’ll be ready to move in.”
“Good. It can’t come soon enough.”
“I agree,” Ekho said. “I love your parents, Perseus, but I’m looking forward to having a place of our own.”
“So anxious to get me all to yourselves?” Daeton said, her voice soft and teasing.
“You know it, honey kitten.”
Perseus chuckled as Daeton yawned and relaxed in his arms. “You’re safe now, sweetheart. You and our son.”
“You and Ekho are safe, too. Thank you for trusting me to make the right choice for our future.”
Daeton was asleep before they crossed the threshold. Perseus laid her down on the bed and Ekho climbed in next to her. “I’m going to talk to my dad and the elders. I’ll be back.”
“We’ll be here,” Ekho said, curling around Daeton and covering them both with a light blanket.
As he left, he thanked their lucky stars that Daeton was safe, and the threat against her was finally gone. He’d heard the man tell Daeton that he was Urijah’s brother, so revenge must have been his motive, but it certainly hadn’t been worth his life.
After speaking to his dad and the elders about the events of the day, he watched his dad take the bone blade and swim to the center of the lake to return it to the depths.
“If we ever have need of it, we will know exactly where it is,” Barnabas said.
“Let’s hope that day never comes,” Perseus said.
Hurrying home to his mate, he stretched out next to her and closed his eyes, sending up a silent prayer of thanks to whoever – or whatever – had sent Daeton the vision that had helped them win the day.
She was his and Ekho’s forever, and the next chapter of their lives was beginning with a fresh slate. Whatever the future held for them, he knew they would handle anything life could throw at them, because they were together.
Chapter 6
Ten Months Later
Daeton rubbed her belly and tried not to think about how much her back hurt as Elektra handed her another gift. The baby shower, thrown by the wives in the settlement, was the day before her delivery date. Daeton was excited and nervous. She’d never had major surgery before, and although no one in the settlement seemed to consider the delivery of a Centaur baby through a C-section to be major surgery, Daeton did. She wished, not for the first time, that her mom was there to hold her hand. Ekho and Perseus wouldn’t let anything happen to her, or Cyrene, the herd midwife, but her nerves were out of control right now and no amount of reassurances from anyone were helping to settle them.
Daeton untied the ribbon and opened the fabric wrapping to reveal a beautiful top. It was powder blue and made of soft yarn. Daeton’s eyes stung with tears as she looked at her best friend, Perri. “Thank you so much, it’s lovely.”
“It’s for tomorrow,” Perri said. She reached over and undid one of the two ribbons that decorated the front of the knit, short-sleeved top, and pulled the panel to the side to reveal a conveniently placed slit. “This is so you can feed your little one discreetly.”
Daeton retied the ribbon and brushed her tears away. “Holy crap, I’m going to be a mom tomorrow.”
The wives all laughed. All of them were mothers, and a few were pregnant again, some for the third and fourth time. Elektra said that births in the herd happened in groups, as if the next generation wanted to be sure to be born in close proximity.
Daeton hugged Perri. “I love it, it’s so pretty.”
Perri smiled and lifted the next gift from the pile. Inside the fabric package was what looked like a big sock filled with beans. Daeton smiled and looked at Desi, who had given it to her. “It’s for your back,” Desi said. “If you jiggle the beans back and forth a bit, they’ll heat up and it’ll soothe your aches. It’s filled with parli beans.”
Daeton wiggled the sock back and forth a bit and then felt the soft surface, amazed at the heat. She leaned forward in her seat and placed the sock on her lower back, leaning back and sighing in relief as heat spread over her aching muscles. All the ladies laughed and Daeton smiled sheepishly. “I love it, thank you so much.”
“I’m sorry it took so long to get it to you. I had trouble getting enough beans for it and had to wait for a harvest.”
“Please don’t apologize, it’s an amazing gift. All the gifts are,” Daeton said.
As the party continued, Daeton opened the remainder of her presents. Everything from toys to outfits to blankets for the nest. Baby Centaurs slept in something called a nest, a circular bed with raised sides. It was made of woven branches and rested on the floor in their bedroom. Thick layers of blankets made the entire nest comfortable for the baby who, because of his horse body, couldn’t lay in a traditional cradle. Centaurs grew quickly in the first few weeks of life. Within a day, he would be able to hold his head up on his own. Within a week he’d be walking. He would be in his half-shifted form until age two, when he’d be able to shift into his human form.
As the party waned, Daeton’s bear grew restless. It was the night of the full moon and she hadn’t been able to shift in several months. She missed communing with nature, traipsing through the woods with her mates, and hunting. When her mates showed up at the end of the party to help her carry her gifts to their home, she told them she wanted to go for a walk in the woods.
“Really, sweetheart?” Perseus asked, his arms laden with gifts.
“Yes. My bear needs some forest time.”
“You’ll be able to shift after you have Adi, though,” Ekho said. “That’s tomorrow.”
They’d taken to calling the baby Adi as a nickname. She felt like the last few months had sped by, and she couldn’t really explain her needs to her mates, because they didn’t experience them.
“You don’t get my need to shift because you can just go hunt without shifting. It’s different for me.”
“I didn’t say I was against it, honey kitten, I was just curious. I know it’s not the same for me because I can’t shift, but I do understand feeling twitchy about needing to be outside. Let’s put this stuff away and go for a walk.”
She hooked her arm through his and smiled. “Thanks.”
After depositing the gifts in their home, she put on sturdier shoes to protect her feet from the brambles and rough terrain of the woods and slipped on a jacket. Although it never got really cold in Cholas, it was their cool season and when the sun began to set, the temperature dropped. Now, as evening approached, she could feel a chill in the air and her bear relished it.
She had no i
dea what time of year it was in the Mortal Realm. She wondered if she was feeling twitchy not only because of her nervousness surrounding the birth of her son, but because her bear wanted to den-in. In the winter months, bears would stay in the den, leaving infrequently. Her family lived underground, in a mini city outfitted with electricity and running water, self-contained farms, and everything that a bear could want for his or her family.
She couldn’t make a den for her family here. The settlement was always busy. There wasn’t a slow time, where everything shut down and activity slowed. If it wasn’t harvest time for the settlement’s many fruit and vegetable farms, it was planting time. Animals needed tending. Homes and furniture needed to be built or repaired. She’d created a little business for herself of specialty clothing, using her skills in embroidery to create beautiful tops and skirts for the wives in the settlement, and occasionally selling them in the market in Cholas. She’d made a special blanket for Adi, from yarn she’d spun from the wool of sheep-like creatures called caulilis. She’d dyed the wool a light blue, and then used navy dyed wool to embroider his name in one corner.
“What’s troubling you?” Perseus asked as he held her hand. Ekho had taken her other hand and she walked between them.
“I miss my family. Maybe more right now because Adi’s going to be born tomorrow. I never thought my mom wouldn’t at least be a phone call away.”
“We get to go to the Mortal Realm soon,” Ekho reminded her.
“The time difference is so strange. It hasn’t been long for us, but so much can happen in ten years for them.” She shook her head and squeezed their hands. “Don’t mind me, okay? I’m all out of sorts from the baby, I’m really fine. We get to be parents tomorrow. I should be happy, not all moody and bummed out.” She stopped walking and looked around them at the woods. The trees were tall and thick, their leaves rustling in the breeze. “I love the woods here. I love this realm because it brought me into your lives.”