Evening had fallen. The hunting that had taken place over the course of the afternoon had been a success, Ben reflected, as he stepped into the woods that bordered the abandoned centaur village, to see to his toiletry needs.
During the day he had remained in the village, along with the centaur Marcus; and his horse, Bolt – whilst Amanda and Lucy had taken their own pair of horses, Daisy and Lightning – along with the centaurs Luke and Midnight, to form the hunting party.
Ben hoped that he was good at listening and coming to the right conclusions – and by watching Amanda’s interactions with others in their group, he could tell why Amanda allocated certain people to certain tasks. The equestrian team leader did not want Wendy and Midnight to get up to anymore ‘horseplay’ whilst the survival of everyone was on the line in this strange, deserted world. Having Wendy teach Snow and June how to dress and how to shoot bows was sound enough. And, given that the former owner and horse pairing of Luke and Snow had now given way to a touchy-feely relationship, separating the two during the day made sense.
Nobody in the group was homosexual – so having him search the village with Marcus for useful items, or clues, whilst keeping an occasional eye on his own horse, was fine by him. But the parchment records they had found in the ‘bedroom’ of one house, came with a nasty discovery. On the bed were the skeletons of two centaurs, hands clasped in death as they faced each other. He and Marcus had examined the bodies, but could find no obvious cause of death. From their condition, and the state of the room, though, it was clear that they had been dead for many years.
Marcus snorted, carrying the bound parchment records out with him as they left. “At least they died together – apparently peacefully. Maybe this is their diary.”
But neither of them could read the ink-written script. It wasn’t that of any language known to them, though Ben thought that the nearest comparable language to it was what he’d seen of Ancient Greek. And by the time they presented their findings to June, Snow, and Wendy, the three ladies were thankfully clothed in some of the jerkins and tunics the party had found in the houses.
“Oh, my god…,” Wendy whispered as she scanned the parchments. “How could you not understand this? It is a diary. They had a plague…” She fell silent as she read through each parchment from start to finish. Meanwhile, Ben and Marcus looked quizzically at each other.
When Wendy finished, she was weeping. “They… The centaurs, I mean… They were living here contently. And then a plague struck the village, brought in by visitors from the next village. It swept through the whole world. It eventually ended – but by then, only the writer and his wife were left… Um, guys… Why are you all looking at me, like that?”
“Because, as we said, neither myself or Ben can read it?” suggested Marcus.
“I cannot understand what is on those parchments, either,” June piped up.
“Nor I,” Snow added.
Wendy scrunched up her nose. “Can you former horse girls even read!?”
Thinking quickly, Ben reached inside his padded work jacket, pulled out his pen and small pad, and wrote on a page, before showing the words to June and Snow.
“The…quick…brown…fox,” Snow began.
“…jumped…over…the…lazy…dog,” June concluded. “Gosh! We CAN read.”
Wendy turned pale, and she collapsed upon her knees. The other centaurs kept her from falling other. “Why can nobody else here read this diary?” she gasped.
“I’ve got a theory…,” Ben mused, pushing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. “But it’ll have to wait for later…”
***
Back in the present moment, Ben finished his ‘restroom’ activities, before washing his hands with the village soap and bucket of water he’d brought along with him. He then zipped up his pants, after pausing and wondering if this would be the last time he got to see his privates…
How long will it be before I follow in Luke’s and Marcus’s hoof steps, and I become hung like a horse…? He thought solemnly to himself.
Ben thought back to the return of the hunting party that afternoon. They had returned with smiling faces. Midnight and Luke had proved themselves good at chasing down wild hogs and skewering a couple of them with their spears. Whilst Amanda and Lucy, on their horses, downed some birds and rabbits with their crossbow bolts.
With the discovery of some bone knives and other kitchen tools, including pots, the group had managed to cook some of the meat for dinner – with the remainder going into the village icehouse. On the return journey, Daisy and Lightning had sniffed out an orchard close to the village – and now the group had some apples to add to their growing stock of food.
Now the immediate future for them didn’t look so bleak.
Ben walked back to his horse, Bolt, who was munching on some grass. “Are you okay, boy?” he asked Bolt.
Bolt eyed his owner and nodded. Apart from speaking a few words, he hadn’t yet shown any signs of transformation. “I…am…fine, master.”
Ben shook his head. “Call me Ben, not ‘master’. I dare say both of us will soon become centaurs ourselves. That’s if we can’t work out what exactly brought us here, what’s changing us, and how we can reverse it.”
“Ben…,” the horse assented. His ears twitched, and he turned his head towards one area of the surrounding woods. “I hear…crying.”
Ben turned away from Bolt, and the direction of the campfire and voices of the group in the village centre. Now facing the twilight-shrouded woods, he strained his ears. Now he could hear a woman sobbing. His heart missed a beat as he recognised the pitch. He had comforted this lady before, when she was being stalked.
“Oh no! Lucy…,” Ben whispered. “Stay here, Bolt. Call me if you need me.”
“Will do…, master. I mean, Ben,” Bolt responded.
Ben quickly slipped between the trees. Some of the party had left the others, after finishing their meal of fire-roasted meat, followed by apples. Amanda, though, had looked ready to fall asleep after being on edge all day.
Which meant that there was less control over the centaurs wandering off, Ben theorised…
He found Lucy, not far away, at the edge of the hill that the wood lay on. In the light from the two moons, he could see her staring down at two moaning figures in the clearing below. Rushing up to join Lucy, Ben could now observe Marcus and June fully immersed in the climax of centaur lovemaking. Then, with Marcus recovering his breath and tenderly kissing June’s neck and mane, he carefully pulled out and separated from her.
“That was…wonderful,” June panted. She turned her face towards Marcus as he moved to her front. Then they kissed. A slow, loving, passionate kiss.
“It was,” Marcus agreed, once their lips separated. He seemed lost in his thoughts for a long moment, then he addressed his lover. “I used to be a joker. But I’m serious when I say that I will be your friend and your mate, June. For as long as you want me. I am… I am no longer…"
“…a halfling. Neither of us are now, dear Marcus. I sense that…we have just made each other complete. And now we are…mates,” June affirmed, hugging him.
Marcus nodded. Suddenly, he sniffed the air and shot his attention upwards, to see the pair of watching humans. “Lucy…,” he called up. “Don’t be afraid! Yes, the transformation hurts. But once it’s over, you’ll start to appreciate your new speed, strength, and endurance!”
“And when you bond with your chosen male… It is heavenly,” June added, smiling at Lucy. “I now have no wish to go back to being a horse-halfling.”
“Nor I to being a human-halfling, ever again,” Marcus declared. “I look forward to you joining us as a brother too, Ben! You’ll love being a centaur!”
“What do you mean by ‘halflings’, Marcus?” Ben fired back.
“You are both only two-legged,” Marcus answered, weighing his words. “You are centaurs only in your top halves. Apart from your ears being wrongly-shaped, that is.”
“It’s like…they’ve been ch-changed in their minds, as well as th-their bodies!” Lucy whispered, getting her sobbing under control.
“Exactly.” Ben rubbed Lucy’s shoulder, to comfort her. Then he called down again. “Marcus… June… When you’re ready to move on, could you please climb up to us? We need to talk.”
“Will do!” Marcus yelled.
“No… They shouldn’t see me like this,” Lucy whimpered. “They smelt my fear.”
“Like wh-? Oh!” Ben stared at Lucy as she stepped back into the moonlight. Although her knickers were in place, her pants were down – and Ben could see that Lucy’s legs were furred. Also, the bone structure was wrong for a human. Lucy patted at the top of her knickers. The skin was bulging in two places, just above her waist…