The Maze Ch. 04: Centaurs

"What happened?" I asked eventually.

She didn't answer for a long time, but then took a deep breath. "The humans," she said. "There has long been peace between us and the men of Port Alba."

"Port Alba?"

"A city to the north of here. A good day's run."

"A city!" My heart leapt at the thought. Was I so close to my destination after all?

Furien shrugged. "The humans have been settling ever further south over the years, savaging the forest, planting crops, herding sheep. Of late they have ventured even into our lands in violation of the ancient treaty. My brother and I, and eight of our finest warriors, travelled with gifts to Port Alba to speak with the king, and to demand that the treaty be upheld - for otherwise there will be war between the humans and the Centaur-Ka.

"The king listened to our words, but did not speak. Instead his archers fired upon us. I and three others escaped, though we were pursued and it is by some miracle that I made it as far as I did. A miracle too that you were the ones to find me, for I do not doubt I would be dead otherwise."

She sighed wearily. "Does my brother still live? I must know. But whether he lives or not, there will be war now. The humans have grown arrogant and forgotten their place in this world. They will be reminded." By the ferocity in her eyes, I knew the truth of her words.

*

When we roused ourselves late the following morning, Furien was able to move easily and without pain. We packed quickly and were on our way, Furien alternating between a joyful canter and a brisk walk, while Dala struggled to keep pace. I, at least, had my magical boots.

We moved steadily south, keeping to the eaves of the forest, with a view to the west across rolling hills and grassland, and occasional glimpses of the distant ocean. Midafternoon, a party of centaurs discovered us. All had heavy packs on their equine backs, and carried longswords, or longbows and quivers, slung across their human backs.

Four male and two female, none wearing clothing, and I was amused to see where Dala's attention was focussed.

"Princess Furien!" their leader cried. He was a great chestnut stallion whose human-looking upper half was all rippling muscles. The other five circled around Dala and me suspiciously and we were careful to make no threatening moves. "Is Prince Galras here with you? The king has been waiting most anxiously for your return."

"Alas," Furien answered. "We were met with treachery. I do not know whether my brother still lives."

If there had been suspicion about Dala and me before, there was outright hostility after. "Leave them alone," Furien shouted, with the tone of one used to being obeyed. "They saved my life."

The tension eased, but they watched us warily as we hurried onward, following a well trodden path through centaur villages and eventually to a great township where hundreds of centaurs lived and worked. They were every shade of grey and brown from snowy white to jet black, and the hair on their heads was like wild, glorious manes. The smell of food filled the air, and from somewhere came the ringing of hammer and anvil. I felt like a child amongst adults, peering up at faces all around me. The tables where the centaurs worked and ate and drank were level with my chest, and more than once I found myself captivated by a beautiful pair of breasts immediately in front of my face.

No clothes were worn at all, save by the king of the centaurs, a silver stallion with a crown of gold. "Father!" Furien called, and the two hugged fiercely. The resemblance between them was clear, and tears streamed down Furian's cheeks as she told him of the ill-fated mission.

*

Dala and I were excluded from the deliberations and arguments that followed. We heard many raised voices demanding immediate and terrible retaliation, calling for a great war against the humans to reclaim lands lost and more. We overheard rumours of ancient monsters whose very names struck fear in our hearts: the kraken of the deep sea; the dragon from the Great Waste.

"I liked it better when monsters were just a story," I said to Dala.

"I liked it better when monsters were just abducting us for sex," Dala replied. "This talk of war and devastation frightens me."

Late in the evening, we were summoned to meet the king. "So it is true," he said, examining my medallion. "You are a priestess of Minarwe."

I felt awkwardly vulnerable as he held my gold necklace in his hand. "Thank you for saving my daughter, Goddess," he said softly. There was grief in his eyes, but also a determination that scared me. "If you save my son too, if he still lives, I will give you anything that's in my power to give."

Without conscious intention, I laughed, and my mouth uttered the words, "Such a promise could bring even a king to his knees." It was a shock to hear myself speak like that without volition. The goddess using my body as if it were her own.

The king nodded. "If kneeling before you is what it will take..."

"A lock of your hair will suffice for now," I said. "Prince Galras yet lives, but you must risk your daughter to save your son."

With a cry of anguish, he recoiled away, cursing the gods and their creations. He shouted, "I will not!" - but Furian took his arm and he allowed her to calm him.

"I choose the risk," she said. "The goddess saved my life, and I will honour that now."

After a long, anxious moment, the king nodded.

"Very well," I said. Out of thin air I produced a scroll of translucent silk, symbols inscribed on it that should have burned the gossamer with bright, blue flame. I handed this to Dala, whose eyes widened with fresh awe as she absorbed the meaning within. "Do you understand?" I asked.

"I do," Dala said - and with that, Minarwe was gone, my body my own once again.

*

Although most centaur homes were large communal spaces with grassy floors, large doors all around to admit the sun during the day and shut out the cold wind on a winter's night, Princess Furien had a smaller such place to herself.

"Normally my brother would sleep here with me," she said sadly, having invited Dala and me to join her. It was strange to be somehow both inside and outside at once, but the thick grass made an acceptable mattress.

Dala sat combing her long, blonde hair as she studied the scroll. "We're going to need clothes," she said. "I saw curtains outside, made of some fine, glossy material. I could use that, and I'll need scissors and thread too. Buttons, if you have any."

Furien sighed with amusement. "The human need for clothing is quite absurd. Why are you so ashamed of your bodies that you must cover them always?"

But she left us and went to fulfil Dala's request.

"It won't be safe for Furien to come with us," I said to Dala. "It will be hard enough rescuing the prince without having to protect Furien as well."

Dala just smiled. "I haven't figured it all out yet, but disguising Furien and Galras will not be a problem. No, getting anywhere near Galras will be a problem. Distracting the guards long enough for us to escape will be a problem. And something else..."

With a faraway look in her eyes, she twirled the lock of the king's hair between her fingertips. "I do not think it will be wise for us to ever return here, even if we do succeed. Such a gift from the goddess will not be without cost."

I slept well that night, while Dala cut and sewed blue and gold fabric, fashioning skirts and trousers and shirts and jackets of an unfamiliar style. "Who's going to wear all that?" I asked.

"You, me, Furien. Galras eventually."

Furien burst out laughing. "I am not wearing clothes," she said.

"I'm not wearing those clothes," I said.

"You are," Dala said to me, "and you'll have a bath first. You look like you were born in the forest. And as for Furien..." Dala took my knife and waved it in a melodramatic fashion. "The goddess gave me a spell for you, but I need to carve it into your flesh."

Furien's eyes went wide and she stopped smiling. "You're going to cut me?"

"Trust me, Princess. Close your eyes and think of Galras."

Dala had a point. I'd not had a proper hot bath with soap since leaving the Farm. I'd hardly bathed at all in weeks, the water from the mountains being so cold. I'd grown used to my own stink. My new feet may have hated the soap and heat, but what was left of the human girl who grew up in the Farm adored it, and after a long soak in the tub I emerged almost a different person. A woman again, albeit one with green, mutated legs.

Furien, meanwhile, suffered the cut of my blade in Dala's hands, whimpering as the sharp tip etched a bloody symbol in her silver-haired thigh next to the scar from the arrow. "This next bit may hurt," Dala said, and recited words that hurt my head and made Furien scream.

A thunder of hooves preceded the doors being flung open, centaur warriors charging in to save their princess from her traitorous new human friends - but they stumbled to a halt in shock. They gaped at Furien who stood on two human legs, clutching desperately onto Dala and me for balance.

"Goddess," she gasped. "This is profoundly unnatural."

*

By the time we reached the border, Furien had mastered the art of walking on only two legs. She had also stopped whining about how slow it was walking as a human. She had even stopped complaining about the indignity of wearing clothes.

If she still leaned on me for support from time to time, I certainly wasn't complaining. The warmth and smell of her were a welcome distraction, and I sensed in her a similar enjoyment of my presence. After so long in the mountains by myself, I found myself amazingly with not one but two beautiful young women for company, and couldn't remember the last time I had been so happy.

To my eyes, we looked utterly ridiculous. A trio of young women dressed in blue and gold. Furien and I were armed with bows, Dala with a short sword. (She had used her newly learned witchcraft to polish and sharpen the blade; that she clearly had no experience in wielding swords only made it seem even more deadly.)

"This road is an ancient trade route," Furien said. We were walking north along a road that hugged the coast. To our left was an expanse of blue so vast it seemed there was no other side. I had seen the ocean from the mountains, but up close it was so much more real. The smell of it too, like nothing I had encountered before. "It passes through Port Alba and leads eventually to a frozen land," Furien continued. "It passes south from here through the land of the Centaur-Ka, through many kingdoms of men, to the Great Waste itself."

"Trust me," Dala said. "They'll think us strangers from afar and laugh at us, but they'll let us pass."

She was right too. There was a guard post at the border, and we were sneered at by men with swords, but they were there to watch for centaurs, not colourfully dressed humans.

We found a sheltered spot away from the road for the night, and I built us a fire. Furien sat beside me, and I was more aware than ever that the princess was a human now, not a centaur, and she smelled divine. "How long will I be this way?" she asked Dala.

Dala sat across the file from us, combing and braiding her blonde hair, clearly tired from lack of sleep and from so much walking. She glanced up, perhaps looking for the moon.

"A half moon, waning," I supplied.

Dala nodded. "Six days, then. Maybe seven." She stretched her arms out and yawned.

"Six days," Furien echoed. "Six days to get to Port Alba, find and rescue my brother, and get back home. It's not possible. What other magics did Minarwe give you?"

Dala regarded us thoughtfully as she finished tying up her braids. "Three spells the goddess gave me," she said. "One of transmutation, and you see how well that works. One of translocation, which I do not yet fully understand. And one of summoning, requiring a name to be spoken in ecstasy."

"How are these others at all useful?" Furien demanded.

"A summoning could provide the distraction we will need," Dala replied calmly, "but if I am to speak the name in ecstasy, I will need help from both of you." Her eyes glittered with wicked amusement. "So why don't you both stop acting so shy and start practising what you'll do to me when the time comes."

And with an exaggerated yawn, Dala lay down and closed her eyes.

"I don't know what she means," Furien muttered after a while. Her cheeks were flushed and she refused to look at me.

"She means," I said carefully, "that we should practise kissing."

Furien laughed, and glanced briefly at me. "Well, if Dala thinks it will help Galras, it would be foolish not to try."

"Yes," I agreed, trying to suppress a grin. "Foolish."

And so, between firelight and stars, I kissed a princess. A tentative kiss at first, soft lips against soft lips, a murmur of startled pleasure. "I've never done this before," she said.

"Practice makes perfect," I started to say, but her lips were against mine, more urgently this time, soft and warm but also hungry.

With fingertips I teased her nipple through her silky shirt, but she pushed my hand away. "Kisses, Mia," she whispered.

Kisses, then. I kissed her mouth, her cheek, her neck, tracing a path from her ear to beneath her chin. I lifted her shirt and circled kisses about one nipple, then the next. "Oh, you are cruel, Mia," she said, guiding my mouth to those sensitive tips and I kissed her there too, sucking her nipples into my mouth, teasing with my tongue.

She pushed me away, but lifted my shirt and bent to treat me likewise, and I was glad that Dala had forced me to bathe and that I didn't taste of sweat and leather. Furien kissed and teased my nipples until I wanted to scream, and this time I pushed her away, but only so we could kiss again, no longer a tentative exploration but instead a demanding need to touch and taste each other.

I guided her onto her back on the ground, kissing her breasts, kissing her belly, lifting her skirt to kiss between her thighs. "What are you doing?" she gasped, but did not resist as I kissed her very human pussy, kissed her sensitive clitoris, kissed the lips that had never been kissed before.

"Oh," she said. "I think we need to practise this a lot..."

*

The following day we walked between fields and orchards, and through a dozen villages, each bigger than the last, and I had never seen so many people all at once. Late afternoon, we came in sight of Port Alba, a castle fortress overlooking a busy harbour full of smaller fishing boats and two huge ships with high masts. The city, for indeed it seemed like one, extended far beyond the fortress walls and I gaped in astonishment at the crowds of people all hurrying in every direction, children running wild, stalls selling foods and fruits I had never seen before.

Furien was unimpressed with it all and urged us onwards, eager to get to the centre and the castle where her brother was. Dala sold her sword to a blacksmith for a bag of silver coins. "It's a good thing one of us knows what they're doing," she said. "Let's find a room for the night."

It was well after dark before we were able to relax at last. Dala had found us an inn near the castle and a high room overlooking the harbour. The buildings outside the castle walls were all of wooden construction, and close to the walls they were all several storeys high. The inn's narrow stairways and overhanging construction made it seem on the verge of falling over onto the road below, and it shifted and creaked in response to the wind outside.

We dined and drank in the tavern below. Furien fretted anxiously about our mission, and Dala flirted shamelessly with anyone and everyone. I was just overwhelmed by all the noise and people - and more than a little drunk. I enjoyed watching the way Dala's seductive moves and friendly smiles attracted men. She never allowed herself to be cornered, always playing one man off against another while inviting a third to rescue her with her bewitching eyes.

Later we all collapsed together onto the one large bed. "He's right there," Furien seethed. "Close enough to reach out and touch, and all we can do is sleep and drink."

"He is alive, though," Dala said. "They keep him chained to a column in the throne room."

What Furien said next I didn't understand, but didn't need to. She added, "We're going to need a really big distraction to get anywhere near him."

"Well, I," Dala said, rolling over on top of Furien, "am ready if you are. It's a shame you're not a man, but I hope Mia has taught you well."

Furien's blush of embarrassment was delightful. She glanced at me as if to ask for help, or maybe to ask permission. "Dala has laid down a challenge," I whispered in her ear. "She has suggested that she needs a cock to reach ecstasy."

Furien considered my words for a moment. "I feel insulted," she said.

"Shall we prove her wrong?"

"Let's."

We were all three of us quickly naked, and as Dala lay back on the bed, grinning cheekily as Furien straddled her, I captured Dala's wrists and tied them to the headboard. "Hey," she whined, tugging uselessly at the binding.

She cried out in complaint as Furien and I rolled her over onto her elbows and knees. "This isn't what I want!"

"Yes it is, slut," I growled, and smacked her hard on her gorgeous, round bum. "You seduced your Da, didn't you, slut?" I smacked her again, the loud crack of flesh against flesh loud enough that I wondered if it would be heard outside. "You wanted to feel his hard cock pounding into you, making you scream with pleasure." Smack! "You probably even wanted his wife to discover him in the act." Smack! "Didn't you, slut?" Smack!

"No!" she pleaded, her cheeks red from the impact of my hand.

Furien slid her fingers into Dala's pussy, fucking her gently. "She's so wet," Furien said, suppressing laughter. "The slut's enjoying this."

"Of course she is," I said. "She even seduced a spider in the woods, hungry for its monstrous cock. I heard her cries of pleasure. I found her in its web, cum dripping from her insatiable pussy. I bet she still tastes of spider cum."

"Hmm," Furien said, and offered me her fingers to suck, fresh from Dala's pussy. They certainly were wet (but didn't, I was glad to find, taste or smell of anything except pussy).

Smack! "Tell Furien what you did after I set you free, slut."

Dala moaned with frustration. "I made myself come," she said, almost too quietly to be heard.

"I rescued you too soon, didn't I? You liked being the helpless fly in the spider's web."

When she didn't answer, I smacked her again. "Yes!" she cried. "I wanted him to fuck me. I wanted him to fuck me again and again. It was so fucking good!"

"We're going to put you on your back now," I told her, "and you are going to ask Furien very nicely to sit on your face so that you can make her come with your mouth. Say, 'Yes, Mia,' slut."

Dala nodded, and whispered, "Yes, Mia."

We rolled her over. There were tears in Dala's eyes, and her face was bright red with embarrassment, but she looked at Furien and said, "Please, Princess Furien. Sit on my face. I want to make you come with my mouth."

Furien grinned and quickly straddled Dala's head, her ass towards me. "This is one thing I do love about being human," she said.

I bent down to kiss Dala's breasts and suck gently on her nipples, alternating back and forth as Furien murmured with pleasure and her hips moved restlessly. My fingertips teased Dala's clitoris, or dipped inside her, fucking gently. I was in no hurry to bring her to a climax.

I shuffled round so that I was next to Furien, looking down into Dala's lustful eyes for a moment, but it was Furien I kissed, neglecting Dala, teasing her thus before circling back, my lips descending onto Dala's sweet, blonde pussy, my tongue sweeping softly across her swollen clitoris, my fingers penetrating her ever deeper. If she could take a spider's huge cock, she would take my hand.