The Banished Centaur

"... come on, we're not going to go Sparta tonight," she said.

The centaur took a step forward with a deliberate attempt to ignore the wound, but judging from the pained noises he made, he regretted it immediately. "Then... what do you suggest?"

She looked around. With only starlight, it was very hard to recognize anything, but she did recognize some of the trees. One had several branches she'd purposefully broken in specific places to catch her eye.

"I know where we are, and I know a grove nearby. There's a cave I like to hide in. We're very near, and I can do a much better job tending your wounds there than here in the middle of the road."

"You hide in a cave?"

"Well people are... people wouldn't leave me alone. In Sparta, I mean." She grumbled and folded her arms under her breasts. "They dote on me because of... the people I've lost, and because I'm not a warrior they feel like I must be fragile. Like, like I'm an exception to the rule of Spartan strength." And they never realized how much that hurt her. "Surrounded but alone, you know? So I often leave the city and just hide in the forest."

"I... know that feeling all too well." He gave her another smile, so handsome behind his beard, before he leaned his weight onto his spear with his good arm. "Alright Menala, I am your patient."

She nodded and tried to keep a stern face, but once she had her back to him, she smiled. The boys had said that too, when they played war when they were young. She missed those days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The path wasn't well walked, and Nevren had to be careful about branches striking his wounds. After a couple of bad scrapes, she fell in beside his hind quarters so she could keep the branches from hitting it. It wasn't bleeding as much anymore — centaurs healed fast — but still, it was an arrow wound, with torn flesh and muscle and it needed to be treated.

The grove was easier to deal with, with no more bushes scratching at their ankles. But with no sunlight, finding the cave was more difficult than usual, and she had to triple check all her usual land marks. Recognizing the trees at night was a different task than the day, and she was sure the trees were actively trying to play tricks on her. Nymphs or spirits! She grumbled and stared at more than one tree for a minute until she at last found the cave.

The cave was absolutely perfect, as far as caves went. It was tall enough for the centaur and then some, and wide enough for him to turn around in. But if it was dark outside, it was absolute black inside the cave.

"Wait here," she said. "I have a lantern inside, and some flint. Just give me a minute."

"Be careful."

"I know I know. Don't worry about me." She'd been out to the cave well over fifty times. She just had — ouch! Her foot slipped, stubbed a toe, and she grumbled profanities and godly curses upon whatever fool had left that rock by the entrance. She was that fool of course, but she refused to admit that. More nymphs and spirits toying with her.

The cave didn't go much deeper after the twisting entrance, and whoever had used the cave before she had found it had smoothed the walls of any sharp edges. She was the one who had brought the chair and table and lantern. Now that had been an interesting conversation with the city guard, why she was leaving with a horse-drawn cart and a bunch of random furniture. But she managed, she could talk circles around anyone after all, and had made herself a little home away from her normal, boring, depressing home.

The flint. She was feeling around by hand now, going on nothing but memory, but she found the flint, and not long after, the stone. Soon she was making sparks, and probably risking burning herself in the process. After a while though, a few close calls, and some singed hair, she had a lit lantern. Triumph. She grinned to herself and made her way back to the entrance, fire in hand.

She managed to catch a glimpse of Nevren's face before he returned to his usual cold and stern look; he was happy to see her. That alone got her heart racing again. Gods he was handsome. Menala, stop it, you just met this man, you're trying to treat his wounds, and he's a centaur. Centaur! Half horse!

"Success I see," he said.

"Did you doubt me?" She beamed at him, sure her pride for her success was soon to be her downfall, but enjoying the moment anyway.

"No." He nodded, another statement of fact that inflated her ego worse than any man's.

She motioned for him to follow her; there was enough room for him and the cave floor was smooth and clean — except that one damn rock. But once she threw it past him with a loud grunt of a noise, the cave was clear for guests, and she lit the way for him.

"You don't worry about your things being stolen? Or other criminals?"

She shrugged and took a seat at the table she'd managed to get into the cave. That had been one rough day of dragging and fighting branches and brush.

"I've been coming out here since Jonal died. Never a soul. The cave hadn't been used in years when I found it either. But look! I have food and water." She gestured to the chair, the big table, the lantern, and various jars and pots she had laying around. They held water while others held dried food. It really was her little home, all for her. And guest.

"You put a lot of effort into this." He walked over to stand by the table she now sat at, but she noticed the limp in his step.

"Wouldn't you, if every day everyone you know was constantly trying to protect you like a baby?" The memory of her friends all looking at her with sad, sympathetic faces ate her insides. She loved her friends and sisters, and she had needed them, leaned on them, when Jonal passed. That was years ago though, and years longer since her children had died, but they still looked at her with those same sad eyes.

"... I just might," the huge beast said, and he put the spear against a groove in the cave wall. With only her lantern for light, everything casted a massive shadow, and she let her eyes wander over the spear to Nevren. The light even casted shadows along the indentations of his muscles, both man and horse.

When the flickering light passed over his bleeding shoulder, she grumped at herself, got up, and looked around. Of course, not a single bandage to be had, or even other clothing. There had never been a need.

So she lifted the hem of her chiton onto the table, took the rock, and struck the hem to split it. When Nevren look at her with puzzlement, she tore the fabric to the side. It normally stopped at the ankle, but by the time she was done, she'd cut off so much of the fabric it was well above the knee. His horse leg was going to take a lot of bandage, after all.

"Improvisation. A useful skill," he said. He was grinning at her, just a little grin of course on his stern face, but a grin still, and she smiled right back at him.

She dabbed a bit of the makeshift bandage in water, and stepped over to him. When she moved around to his hind quarters though, he looked back at her, and his expression changed. At first maybe she thought he was angry, but when the light caught his face again, she saw something else. Embarrassment?

It made sense when she started to wrap the bandage around the top of his rear horse leg. He was a centaur after all, and that meant naked. And naked meant she couldn't help but see everything between his legs.

Her hands stopped, and her eyes locked onto the sight of his large horse... man parts. She was no stranger to horse anatomy, but it wasn't the same thing as having your hands literally a few inches away from the animal's — centaur's! — testicles while trying to bandage his leg. She could feel the heat from his body from so close, and try as she might to ignore it, she could feel the heat from between his legs on her hands. It wasn't an excuse to not do the job right, but more than once, she found herself distracted and taking peaks at the sheath she knew held his member inside.

So quickly she'd forgotten that a centaur was half horse, and so quickly she was reminded.

"Are you alright?" he said.

"Uh, y-yes! Sorry, just...." She took another peak from the corner of her eye while she tightened the makeshift bandage. He was a big creature, and a horse, and... and she'd heard stories of centaurs and human women mating. How was that even possible?

She shook her head, poked herself in the temple with a knuckle a couple times, hard, and stepped back toward the table and in front of Nevren.

"There, cleaned and bandaged." She knew she was blushing, but that was no excuse to stop treating his wounds. Embarrassing things must happen to healers all the time. "Now for the arm. Um, you'll... can you... um."

Nevren let out a pained groan, but with the help of his hands on the cave wall to keep some weight off his bad leg, he laid down onto his side like a napping horse. The position allowed him to keep his human half upright though, much like a sitting human. Now she was the taller one.

"Do centaurs ever sleep standing up?" she said, and she repeated the process of tearing off a chunk of her chiton. A chiton, being nothing more than a large flat sheet tied around the shoulders and looped around the waist with a bit of rope, wasn't exactly a sturdy or covering piece of fabric. In the act of ripping off yet another piece of it, she'd destroyed almost the whole bottom half of it so her legs were completely exposed. She found herself angling her movements to keep Nevren from getting a peak straight up between her thighs. She was a lady, after all.

"We can. We sleep deeper laying down, but for adults, our sides grow sore after sleeping laying down for more than a few nights."

She nodded, and made some oooh and aaah sounds, like it was riveting conversation. Truth was, she was still picturing what was between his legs, and remembering the heat of his stallion body on her skin. She started to remember the stories she'd heard when she was younger at the nearby inns, of centaurs and women. They were very, very sexual stories.

"You should probably sleep laying down for a couple nights then until that leg is feeling better." She got down onto her knees in front of his human half, and reached out for the wounded shoulder. She didn't have vinegar to help cleanse the wound, so she had to make due with some water and her clothes. Centaurs were hardy creatures, she knew that from the stories too. She was confident he'd heal fine if she could stop the bleeding.

"You're right," he said, and he looked away from her when she got closer.

Her heart stopped. Was he disgusted? A human, so close to a centaur? But when she took a peak at his face, he didn't look disgusted. If anything, he looked excited. When she looked down, she found her position had spread her chiton apart, and little more than an inch of the loose fabric covered her ass or hips or anything.

She ignored her position as best she could. The wound was more important.

"Do you have anyone waiting for you? In your tribe?" She got a little closer until the huge shoulder of muscle, next to the big chest of muscle, and the big arm of muscle, were all quite close to her face. Why'd he have to be so massive? It was making her mind wander, and lewd thoughts of her hands caressing those muscles started to sneak into her mind. But she had to lean in and layer the fabric right over the wound and tighten the knot, with just the right amount of pressure. Her knuckles grazed his skin, and she blushed again. And again a few more times while she worked.

"... no." He shook his head again and looked back her way. "No one." He tried to keep his stern face, but she managed to catch some discomfort in his eyes, but not physical pain. She'd touched a nerve, maybe.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have asked." Finally done with her the bandage, she stood up and started to fix what remained of her chiton to try and cover her legs and ass once more. She struggled to pull down some of the fabric, but all that did was make it tight to her body before springing back up to the top of her thighs when she let it go. And after another failed attempt to adjust the worthless garment, she gave up, humphed with frustration, and just stood there, exposed legs and all. Her actions had drawn Nevren's eye though; so embarrassing!

Nevren was watching her. Not just watching her, but staring at her. His eyes had grown dark, almost menacing, and his hands at his sides now bent at the knuckles like he wanted to grab something. His breathing had gotten a bit faster too, and his arms were starting to flex and release like... like he was ready to fight.

"Are... you alright?" she said. Her heart was beating fast again, just like on the road with those three monsters who were going to hurt her. Nevren had a strange look in his dark eyes, animal, and every so often he gave a quiet rumble that sounded far closer to something a lion would make than any horse. It was her imagination, it must be.

But Nevren's gaze wasn't breaking. When she stepped to the side, his eyes followed her like a predator. And they weren't meeting her gaze. Instead, his eyes were roaming up and down her body, from her naked thighs up to her breasts, and he looked hungry. Very hungry.

He looked away and shook his head, like he was trying to shake something out of his skull. His breathing was getting faster, heavier, making his shoulders rise and fall. Awareness crossed over his face, but was washed away again by something primal. Putting his hands down on the cave floor, and pushed himself hard to help drive his weight up onto his horse hooves once again. So big, so massive. He loomed over her, buried her in his size, and blocked the exit of the cave with his body.

"Nevren... what're you...."

He took a step closer. Everything had grown so silent that she could hear his hoof hit the stone clear as a bell. Gods, even the human half of him was huge, shoulders so broad and body thick like a tree trunk of muscle. Everything that had seemed so appealing a moment before was now terrifying. It was like someone she couldn't see had been striking their own flint against iron on Nevren this whole time, and like dry twigs, he was set on fire.

She knew that look. That was the look the bastards on the road had given her.

"Nevren, don't. Don't!" She backed further away, further down the cave, but the cave only went another ten feet deep before it was nothing but rock wall. She pressed her back against it, and looked around at the pots nearby. Just water and food; even the pots themselves would make for horrible weapons.

The huge beast walked closer. Clop clop. He towered over her, just a wall of muscle and power and need. What had happened? How had he changed so quickly? One moment she was treating his wounds, and he was acting shy like a young boy; the next he was ready to... to....

He came a little closer and turned his side to her a bit, like a horse displaying itself. Her knees started to shake, and she fell onto her butt in the cave floor.

He was erect this time. A thick, long horse member dangled underneath the behemoth's body. For just a split moment, her eyes were glued to the giant shaft, amazed, terrified, but her eyes shot back up to Nevren when he took another step toward her.

"Nevren, don't! Nevren!" She screeched, a full-on scream that would have made the other Spartans laugh, but she didn't care. She was going to be raped!

Nevren took a step back. He shook his head hard, brought his hands up to his face, rubbed at his eyes, and gasped.

"... gods I—" He cut himself off with a palm on his lips.

A moment ago, the man had looked like a wall of iron and lust. Now, he looked like a boy, terrified of what he'd just done. He took a step back, and another, shook his head a few more times, and turned around.

"I am so sorry, Menala. I'll... I'll go." He reached for his spear, and started to limp away. His rear leg was still wounded, and walking was making it bleed again. He looked back over his shoulder at her; the shame on his face was palpable.

"W-wait." She tried to get up, but her knees were still shaking. Cursing, she put a hand against the cave wall and forced herself onto her sandals. "Wait!"

Nevren stopped at the cave exit, lit only by the flicks of fire light that managed to bounce along the cave walls. He looked over his shoulder at her again, spear in hand and bracing some of his weight. He looked devastated. He was so tough before, so hard and rugged and stone.

"What happened?" she said, and walked right up to stand beside him. It took all the willpower she ever had to approach him like that again, and more than that to ignore the huge phallus between his legs. He was still aroused.

"... I should go, Menala, I—"

She punched his side, the horse part, right above one of his good legs. Gods damn him it was just a big wall of muscle.

"What happened, Nevren! You scared me half to death. I thought you were going to... do... like those men from before."

He frowned at her when she punched him, but it lasted for only a second before it faded back into sadness.

"Centaurs are violent creatures, Menala. Sometimes, when... we lust, we... it's... like a haze. And we can't... control ourselves." He looked away from her, like he was confessing the most horrible thing in the world. "Some lose themselves to it more easily to it than others."

She knew about centaurs, she knew the sorts of things they did. She just never had context. Fear still crept up and down her spine, made her breath come out in tiny, useless pants, and made her legs shake and hard to stand on. But she punched him again anyway! Thud. He didn't budge an inch, but that didn't matter.

"Damn it Nevren, you...." Oh. The centaurs had done something horrible in the past because of this, something that lead to him leaving his tribe. That's why he was so far away from Athens. Had his tribe done something horrible though, or him?

"I should go, before I offend you further." He took a deep breath, put his weight down against his spear, and started limping away again.

So she punched him a third time!

"Menala! Would you—"

She glared at him, but the effect was ruined. She could never glare well, too soft Jonal had teased, and with the small tears welled up in her eyes, the best she could hope for was a pitiful combination of weepy and upset. It did the trick though, and Nevren's stern face melted away.

She stepped in front of him. "You could have... you should have... why wouldn't you...." She grabbed his other hand, and started to pull him back into the cave.

"Menala, what're you doing?"

I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. He was a big, bad, scary creature with apparently a dark past and an animal's sexual appetite. He was dangerous! She should have been running away, or at least not stopping him from leaving. But she didn't listen to that part of her, she just listened to the part of her that wanted to help him.

"Lay down." She pointed down where he'd been laying before.

He looked at her, brow quirked, face torn on what must have been frustration and shock. But when he tried to walk past her, she kept herself between him and the cave exit.

"I will not—" He put his weight onto his bad leg, and winced with a sharp inhale between his clenched teeth. "Menala, this isn't safe."

"Lay down! You're not going anywhere." She reached out and pushed down on his horse shoulders. Of course it was like trying to move a wall, but after a few moments of her futile struggles, Nevren groaned and laid down. "Now," she said, "you have been nicer to me than anyone has in a long time. Everyone treats me like a charity case, except you! Men won't even look at me that... way... anymore! You...."

Laying down as he was, body licked by the fire light, she could see every part of him at once. His human half, strong and defined, rested against the cave wall, while the giant stallion body covered the cave floor. Her eyes drifted down his human body, along his tattoos, and down to the mass of horse muscle and short hair. Laying down like he was, his erection was laid out across the floor as well, and she gulped audibly at the size of it.