I ignored the yells coming from Robyn, calling out my name. I was overwhelmed, and I desperately needed to be by myself. If I could just rest and sleep... Maybe I would wake up, and find myself still in my bed at home, realising it was all only a weird dream. Though that meant that Imogen would be back in her wheelchair. We would lose our horse and pony. And sooner or later, lose the house too…
As I stopped to pant in the wide doorway of a ruined house, I heard an animal roar. Not a horse – it was something I wasn’t familiar with. Next came the cries of a woman, yelling “Jeremy!”. Then another female voice – screaming out for help.
Regaining my breath, I took a minute to steady and calm myself down. Damn my anxiety attack! It was tied in with my autism. Too many new faces, and too many shocks in a row. Now there were others in danger. If I could just focus on their needs, rather than mine…
Yes, that helped to calm me down. Soon, I was quickly running towards the nearby noises. Using my torchlight, I could see two centaurs – Jeremy and Kimberley – facing off against a huge black bear with their knives and flame-lit torches. A crossbow had evidently been knocked to the ground by a swipe from the bear before the bolt had a chance to be fired. All three of the combatants bore slash wounds, which looked ugly in the torchlight. And from a collapsed building nearby…
“Help me! I am…trapped!” the latest voice, cried out. She coughed, presumably on the dust cloud that hung around her.
It was down to me then. Quickly looking out, in case other wild animals were nearby, I then scrambled over the fallen large blocks of the collapsed wall – to spy a woman’s face staring out from amidst a large pile of debris. That, and her bare arms, were all that I could see of her.
“Hold on!” I yelled back. Briefly checking around me, to ensure that I was not putting myself into danger from another possible collapse of the walls and roofing, I dashed forward. Placing my torch down, I grabbed hold of the lady’s outstretched arms, hoping to pull her out. But two things then unfolded. One, I realised that there was too much weight preventing me from pulling her clear. Two, as our grasping hands made contact, I felt a warm tingling on my palms that was brief – but it made me suck in my breath. The woman’s eyes widened at the same time as mine. She’d evidently felt it too.
“What was…that?” she gasped.
“No idea! Let’s get that broken roof off you. I’m not strong…, but I’ll do my best,” I grunted.
“I will try…to lift the…pieces, as well,” she told me, haltingly. As if her English wasn’t perfect. I pushed the thought aside from my mind, and worked with her to remove the myriad pieces of rubble that we could. It took several attempts with the larger bits, and the light wasn’t good, outside of the beam of my torch. But eventually, working up a big sweat, I managed to clear enough of the debris from her… To reveal the naked upper body of this woman. I gaped at her pale, freckled face, and firm, B-cup breasts. Her stomach was toned. Her frame sturdy, yet at the same time, elegant. She looked somewhere around thirty. A decade younger than me and Imogen.
“W-why are you not cl-clothed?” I stammered.
She tilted her head a little. “Clothed? Oh, you mean having…false skins…like you do? Pull me out, and I will…explain, Charlie.”
With less weight covering her, it was now easier to pull. But she seemed heavy. Gradually, the woman was moving her still-hidden legs to gain traction and free herself.
Wait – how did she know my name? I hadn’t given it. And I didn’t know hers…
There was the pounding of hooves, I stopped and looked around – to see, bearing flame-lit torches, Icaro and Darwin galloping towards us. Pausing to confer between themselves – Icaro then rushed in to aid Jeremy and Kimberley.
Whilst Darwin aided me in helping to first clear more of the fallen rubble – then pull the naked maiden free of her imprisonment. Eventually, we managed to yank her out - to reveal that she wasn’t human...
Taken aback, I grabbed my placed torch and shone the light at her. Yup. No mistake about it. Elf-pointed ears and the lower body of a horse. She was another centaur. A pretty one – with her hazel eyes, long, dusted, strawberry-blonde hair hanging over her blonde-brown mane. And further behind, on her back…
“No!” I froze. “It can’t be…”
“Greetings, new sister,” I heard the Icelandic horse-centaur say to her. “I am called Darwin. Who are you?”
I stared at the saddle that was tied to the centaur mare. “C-Citrine!?” I spluttered.
“I am…indeed Citrine. The name that you and Mistress Imogen gave me.” The centauress inclined her head towards us, and then she smiled. “It is good to be able to…talk to you, Master Charlie. But what have I been turned into? This upper body – it is strange! Like a human? But I am now the same as you, Darwin?”
“Yes,” he smiled back. “You are the horse who our goddess transformed alongside Imogen. Both of you are now centaurs. Welcome to your new kind, Citrine! We will help you adapt – just as I adapted from being a horse to becoming the centaur I now am.”
Citrine smiled widely, reassured. I saw that her teeth were now as human as the other centaurs. Then she saw me swaying. “Master…?” she called out, worried for me.
“This is…just a little too much,” I croaked, as my head went woozy and I fell forwards.
Startled, Citrine was just in time to catch my shoulders with her new hands and palms, as my knees hit the ground. A moment later, I blacked out.
***
When I came to again, roused by the smelling salts that Cindy had produced from her own first aid kit, I found myself in an unfamiliar building. Lit by the wall bracket torches, I could see that the single-floor building was large, and taken up by wooden shelving and wall slots – with an area containing wagon-like contraptions and harnesses.
“Where…?” I coughed.
Cindy, sat down next to me, held me steady. “Be at ease… Because of that bear attack, we’ve moved to the town’s post office. Easier to defend this building – in case more bears are roaming from the nearby woods. Don’t worry – everyone else is here, including your pony.” She paused and smiled. “So… You are Imogen’s brother! Can I call you Uncle Charlie?”
“Um. Fine by me, Cindy… Hey!” I exclaimed as the young centauress suddenly lunged forward and hugged me, despite us never having met before this day. “Well, it’s good to see you, too… My niece!” I added with a smile.
I ignored her giggling, and looked around – to see that, close by, Maggie was applying a bandage to an arm of the injured Jeremy. He also had minor cuts to his equine trunk. Kimberley was already sporting a bandage to the front of her body – both above and below her waist. Icaro was on guard at the door. Tim was nickering to Jade, getting her to approach him, in order to eat something that looked like oatmeal. Robyn was in conversation with Darwin. Whilst Imogen and Citrine – the two newborn female centaurs – were talking to each other, sitting underneath the crackling fire of one of the wall bracket torches, as they hungrily ate from what seemed to be leather-wrapped food rations from the centaur party. With Imogen teaching Citrine how to hold food and eat it, using her new hands and fingers. I noticed that Citrine was now wearing Robyn’s sheepskin jacket, to cover up her now-human chest.
As I came to, the others approached to speak to me. Though an armed Icaro stayed at his post. Imogen got down on her equine knees and hugged me.
“Glad to see you’re okay, Charlie. Well done for saving Citrine!” She released me and pulled back. “Are you alright now? You had a panic attack. Should I tell them…about your condition?”
“I…I’m feeling better now, sis. But…don’t say anything about that,” I instructed her. I turned to the others. “Sorry I ran out on you. I had too many things to take in. Are…? Are you okay, sis?”
Imogen gave a somewhat-bucktooth smile that I had missed seeing on her. “Honestly, I am. Now that I’ve eaten, I feel good. Strong. Not only am I getting use to walking again, I’m starting to coordinate myself with having four hooves, without falling over. And I did fall over a couple of times whilst you were gone!” She gave a giggle. “Citrine and I were so hungry, we’ve probably eaten half of the centaurs’ rations. I ate like a horse… I seem to have two stomachs now. I guess I need to eat more, given my larger size. Ironic, given that I was trying to go on a diet!”
“You do indeed have two stomachs, Imogen. Both you and Citrine now have two sets of vital organs each,” Darwin spoke up as he squatted down besides us. He gave me a look of approval as he handed me some food and dried meat to eat. And some water to drink. “Welcome back, Charlie. And thank you for rescuing our other new sister. Our goddess will no doubt be smiling upon you.”
“The bear that attacked you pair…?” I asked Jeremy and Kimberley, in-between mouthfuls.
“We managed to drive it off – but hunger could bring it back to us. And there’s the chance there could be more in the area,” Kimberley answered. She turned to address Icaro and Darwin. “We need to head back to Hylonome’s Haven and bring in more of the herd from there. Preparing this town for colonisation is proving harder than, ah, expected.”
“Colonisation?” I echoed. “What’s the story behind you all? How did Robyn’s daughter fade away from our memories and come to be amongst your kind, as one of you?”
“It’s a long story. We’ve heard some of it from them whilst you were out, Charlie,” Imogen squeezed my hand, looking grim. “It’s…hard to take in, but, well… You saw what happened to me. It’s a variation on what apparently happened to Cindy and all the rest of her party of girl scouts – including their Den mothers. And the horses that were with them. And every time, out of those transported here – like we were – a human is transformed into a centaur, in conjunction with a horse also becoming a centaur. Hence Citrine and I both joining ‘the natives’ here at what must’ve been the same time, even though we were apart.” She paused, still holding my hand. “Eventually, Jade, Robyn, and you… You will all become centaurs too. They say there’s no going back, Charlie… But considering…the situation just before we were sent to this world… The mess that I was… Maybe it’s just as well. The five of us won’t be parted now. We can all live new lives. Here in this world…”
I pressed the palm of my free hand against my face, shuddering. Still trying to get to grips that my sister and one of our horses were now mythical beings made flesh. Let alone this talk that Jade, Robyn and myself were also destined for the same fate, with no say in the matter…
“Can someone explain it all to me, please!? Who here is a native centaur of this world?”
“None of us are,” Icaro spoke up from the doorway, answering me. “Only the foals who have been birthed since the first arrivals came a few years ago, are native-born. The rest of us are horse-born – such as myself, Darwin, and Kimberley – or human-born, such as the fillies and colts here with us, who are on the cusp of adulthood. I was brought to this world as a horse, along three others, and our human owners – a stud farm family from Argentina. We were all soon physically blessed by our goddess into becoming centaurs, and we joined with the herds at the first two villages to be colonised: Chiron’s Grove and Hylonome’s Haven.”
“In recent years, more humans and their horses have been…teleported…to this world, called Arcadia Centauri. To other parts across the main continent, creating new herds after being transformed by our goddess, Epona,” Darwin added. “Kimberley and I are scouts from our Australian-born haras. We had recently travelled to link up with another haras, at the request of Epona – and we made contract with Icaro and the young ones with him, here, at the town of Pholus Prior. Epona wants us to help make the town inhabitable for our race as our numbers slowly increase. Our aim is to restore the lost civilisation of the previous centaur race.”
“Previous race?” I frowned, finishing my basic meal.
Maggie nodded solemnly. “The original centaur race died out, decades ago, as a result of a virulent plague – caused by centaur louts interbreeding with cattle, then… Um, behaving badly with centaur mares. The disease mutated and also became transmitted by touch. It’s now burnt itself out, though. We’re all safe from it.”
“And various portals around Earth have brought humans and horses here. Epona then transforms each of them, in order to rebuild the centaur race. We are her children – and we enjoy our lives here.” Tim smiled. “It can be a hard life. But our minds and instincts – a mixture of human and horse – ensure that we work together and look after each other! We run freely – but we will strive never to be like the centaur louts of Greek legends again. Our survival depends on us being the best of what it means to be human and horse combined.”
Maggie grinned. “You will all love being centaurs, too! I promise. Don’t be afraid of what the future holds for you…”
“We were brought here without permission!” I bristled.
“Same for the rest of us!” Jeremy grinned. “None of us want to go back to Earth, though. Even if we could. The portals only work one way. And Epona can’t send anyone back – so we understand. And Maggie’s right. It’s better to live as a centaur, like us – instead of being a human halfling, back on Earth.”
“Halfling…,” I sniffed.
“Sorry. Not trying to be rude,” Jeremy informed me. “We centaurs see humans and horses as half-centaur in body. You’re here for our goddess to physically make you complete. Like she has with your sister and your former horse, here. And then you’ll all work and live with our kind. For our mutual survival.”
“How did YOU and your group get here, mom?” Cindy asked Robyn.
So her mother, Imogen, and I told them all about the strange painting, and the glow from it that removed us five from our house and stables, and relocated us in the abandoned town.
Cindy nodded. “Our girl scout troop – and the boy scouts – were drawn into this world, via portals created by similar paintings, too.”
“It is interesting that your painting was signed by the god Fate,” Darwin mused, stroking his white moustache. “It seems evident that he foresaw your family losing the house and the horses. And he wanted Robyn and Cindy to be reunited. Hence your arrival close to us.”
“Fate and Epona… They have saved me. I was…” Imogen gulped and forced herself to continue. “…in despair. My overdose… It was not an accident.”
The centaurs took that in, and looked sorrowful. I squeezed my hand around hers. She gave a smile of gratitude.
“I’m really sorry to hear that, Aunt Imogen,” Cindy spoke up. “But Epona has fixed your body now whilst she transformed you. You won’t need those tablets anymore. And you can live a joyful and productive life here, with us and with whichever herd you wish to join.” She turned to Robyn, looking worried. “You and dad divorced not that long before… Before I went on that girl scouts trip, mom. Has he…contacted you since?”
“Only to squeeze more money out of me, sweety,” Robyn sighed. “But I refused to bow down to his demands. I left the USA, and moved back to Canada briefly. Before flying over to help Imogen and Charlie. Don’t worry – he’s not with us. He’s still in the states, stubbornly stuck in that dangerous personality cult that he and his friends identify with…”
Cindy gave a sigh of relief and trotted over to Robyn to lay her head against her mother’s shoulder. “I’m glad we’re both free of him, mom…! He’ll forgot about you, now. Just as you both forgot about me. And he would not be worthy of becoming a centaur,” she declared, before smiling at us. “But you and the rest of your party are!”
“So… Your group is all together now. One male and four females arrived.” Icaro closed his eyes for a few moments, before reopening them. “Epona has just informed me that, to balance the stallions and mares ratio of our kind, one of the females in your group will need to become a stallion. It will not be the two who have already been blessed with the transformation, so…”
“…oh, great,” Robyn groaned, holding her head between her hands, before turning to look at Jade. “That means it’ll be you or me, girl!”
Jade twitched and neighed. “Wh-wh-when…w-will we…change?” she stuttered.
Robyn, Imogen and I were startled. “Then you DID try to say my name earlier, Jade!” I exclaimed. “That’s part of the change? She’s already gaining speech and human intelligence!?”
“Yes, it is – but there is a complication. Epona has whispered in my mind that because she invested much energy in repairing Imogen’s broken body, as well as transforming Citrine, she needs to rest before she can change the rest of your party,” Maggie declared. “She does not yet know when that will be.”
Robyn and I both rubbed at our weary eyes. Great, I thought. Just great…
“Useful for your goddess to give information to you centaurs like that. Does that mean she’ll talk to me and Citrine the same way?” Imogen pondered.
Tim shook his head. “She can talk to me, Jeremy, and the girls, in that way – because she changed our minds and souls into those of centaurs, even as she changed our bodies…”
“…but the adults can only be mentally linked to Epona if they have already mated with a willing centaur stallion or centaur mare,” Jeremy continued, smirking. “Darwin and Kimberley haven’t yet chosen their bond-mates.”
“And I had mated once…” Icaro added his voice to the discussion.
Jeremy groaned. “They don’t need to know about that, Icaro!”
The Criollo centaur glared at the younger male. “How did that horse you were chasing after, end up under a collapsed building, Jeremy?”
“Good question…,” I voiced, glancing at Citrine. I noticed that she was sitting far away from the impetuous boy-centaur, looking despondent. And there was obviously some bad history between Jeremy and Icaro.
Jeremy stared at the floor for a few moments, then faced us. “I tracked Citrine down – but she was too spooked by the sight of a centaur chasing after her. She ran into one of the fragile buildings before I could catch her reins. And then that bear showed up and went for us. The bear and I crashed into the building as we fought - and we caused the roof to collapse. I’m sorry to you all.”
“And then, ah, I came along to help Jeremy with the bear, though I wasn’t able to shoot it in time, before it injured me. Then you came to our rescue, Icaro,” Kimberley concluded.
“You…are…reckless!” Icaro snorted at Jeremy. “Have you not learnt from your previous mistake? From that other bear attack, just months ago?”
The boy hung his head. “I’ve apologised for that, too, Icaro. I…I will not endanger anyone here again. Her family have managed to forgive me. Why can’t you…?”
We watched as Tim, Maggie, and Cindy, got up and trot over to Jeremy. They all said nothing – but one by one they rubbed Jeremy’s shoulder. Then they walked back to their places. Solidarity with their herd-brother – but no challenge to Icaro’s judgement, I noticed.
“So…, in order to have this mental link with your goddess, I would need to…mate?” Citrine asked, changing the subject from a tense situation to an embarrassing one.
“That is correct,” Icaro confirmed. “The physical change is in truth just the first part of you becoming a centaur. When you mate with your willing centaur partner, you are both demonstrating to Epona that you are embracing your new natures. She then rewards you with new knowledge and skills to help you contribute to the survival and wellbeing of your haras. The mental transformation is…joyous beyond words. Your mate and you become loyally bonded – to the extent that to be parted from them for more than a few hours becomes distressing…” He snorted, and turned away – apparently wiping at his eyes with his rough hand.
“Awkward… So what happens now?” Robyn asked aloud.
“Your group should rest. Sleep if you can. Our party will take it in turns to hold watch for any bears. In the morning…, we will head over to Hylonome’s Haven. A couple of days ride north from here,” Darwin answered. What he said next made Cindy beam with joy. “There, your daughter can introduce you to her centaur family. Whilst we wait for you, and the rest of your group to join our kind!” He paused, and nodded towards Citrine. “Your former horse is now a sentient centaur. I have left it to you to release her from your service…”
Robyn looked puzzled for a moment, so I spoke up. “He means that we should remove Citrine’s saddle from her, Robyn.”
Citrine watched as Robyn and I rose and stepped towards her. “Master Charlie? Mistress Robyn?” she said quizzically.
Robyn shook her head. “Darwin and Charlie are right, Citrine. You’re no longer a horse. I guess you now have a human-like brain. We can’t…own…you. You are the owner of your own destiny now. It’s your life from this point, onwards. I hope you have a long and happy one.”
And so, working together, Robyn and I removed Citrine’s saddle – with Imogen nodding her agreement and stepping in to assist us too. Then, her eyes teary, Citrine embraced Imogen, Robyn, and me in a heartfelt moment…