Courage and Honour

Courage and Honour

Prologue

I knelt behind the mound that hid me from the eyes below as I readied my crossbow to fire. Why was I doing this? I had no idea my life wasn’t worth the risk I knew but still I readied to make the shot
I took a moment to glance over the mound to glance at the Elven gathering below, I watched as the Elven prince stood among the courtiers as he practised with his longbow
I pulled my crossbow up to rest on the top of the mound and took aim, the Lord was paying a large amount for the prince’s assassination I didn’t want to mess it up, I had no idea why the Lords wanted the prince dead but even to a simple border trapper like myself it was known that the humans hated the Elven, I had been raised believing all the stories that told us that they were evil and we as humans had to destroy them.
I paused for a moment to watch the adolescent prince as he laughed and joked about how his last arrow had missed the target, I had watched the shot and as a skiled hunter I had seen potential in the boy’s skill, he just needed some refinement to his style. I looked down on him for a moment wishing he had been my human son, to teach life’s lessons, how to hunt, to watch him grow a tear fell as I turned my eyes away from him for a moment, I didn’t want to do it but I had to, I had no choice.
I sighed turned back to sight along the crossbow “I am sorry boy, its your death or mine, I wish you well in the afterlife” I moved my finger back on the trigger
The arrow never left the bow instead my whole body froze. I felt a tugging on one frozen arm as I was rolled to one side so that I could see three of the Elven king’s warrior mages standing over me. I watched as one leaned over my frozen body to take my crossbow from my hand
“Your words just now have kept you alive though maybe not for long” he said to me as his hand touched my forehead and I passed out in to blackness

Chapter 1

I woke slowly, not shore of what I was to face, I remained still and kept my breathing steadily, faking sleep, while slowly I opened my eyes.
I found myself in an ill lit wooden structure, that didn’t surprise me as most Elven structures were made from wood. As I looked as far as I could all I saw was that I was alone in an empty room with no doors that I could see, the only thing in the room apart from myself was the blanket that acted as a barrier between myself and cold ground beneath me.
Slowly I rose from where I lay shaking my dully-throbbing head I sat up.
And felt the weight of a metal collar round my neck
I reached up to examine the band and found that it was covered with engravings that wound all over the outer surface but left the inner side plain and smooth against my skin. The collar was designed to be worn comfortably for along time.
From the first touch I knew what it was, an Elven slave band. I had been told all the stories of Elven raids into the border villages where they stole people for slavery and bound them with a copper band, a band that only Elven hands could remove and that bound the person to the Elven who was their master, to leave there master the spells in the band would slowly start to kill the slave unless they returned to their master to have the spells reset
I stood as I herd a commotion outside the room and a door I knew hadn’t been the before opened
First an Elven mage walked tough the door holding me frozen before I could even think of running out the door. The mage moved to one side to let another Elven though. This one to me looked like some kind of lord
He stood tall and majestic. As he entered another, behind him, handed him what I recognised as my crossbow
“Fine craftsmanship” he said as he examined it “but not an assassins weapon, moor the weapon of a hunter” he indicated to the mage, who placed a round crystal between he and I.
“ I wish to ask you some questions and this” he indicated the stone “will tell me if you lie”
He nodded to the mage and I felt my body released from its frozen state, I crumpled into a small heap on the ground.
He had someone bring him a chair as I worked the knots out of my muscles where I sat
“I wouldn’t move from where you are” the mage silent till now spoke as I made an attempt to stand again
I shrugged at him as he stood to one side against the wall of the room as the other left and the door disappeared again leaving only the seated Elven and the mage.
“Now we will begin”, he looked over the crossbow once more “did you make this”
“Yes “ I answered him and gasped as he slammed it on the ground splintering the wood against the ground
“Remember human, my kind are stronger than yours and from this moment forth all that you are is mine to brake and bend to my will”
He defiantly had my attention, so this was to be my master for the time I was to live, I was terrified
“Who told you to kill my son” this was the king, now I knew I was in trouble
“Are you afraid, little human” I nodded,
I couldn’t speak, but I think it was the growing wet patch at my crotch that proved it. I watched as he wrinkled his face up at me in revulsion
“Who, human” he asked again
I had no idea what to do, I was afraid. No I was petrified. So I did the only thing I could think of to do and told him the truth
Sat there trembling and damp from my own urine I told him of the load who had appeared outside my hut one morning and demanded I undertake the task of Killing the Elven prince, one of his guards had tossed me my crossbow and quiver and then set my hut on fire with all the firs I had amassed fur trade at the local autumn fare
He had told me if I didn’t comply he would hunt me down and as I watched he would flog the elderly couple, who had raised me when my father died when I was a boy, to death before doing the very same to me
“The lords name?” the king had lost most of his anger but still looked at me as if I was something he had trod in
“I…. I don’t know it sir, I am a commoner it is not for me to know the name of those higher than I, only that I show the proper respect”
Slowly under the frowning glare of the mage I moved my self to a kneeling position and bowed my head to the earth
With my head to the ground I couldn’t see what was happening but I heard a sound of disgust and my body was showered with dirt as if someone had kicked it at me
When I had the courage to lift my head I was alone. I picked up the blanket and shook it out before moving it from the centre of the room to the corner farthest from the hidden door
I lay there for an hour or more, it was hard to tell what time had passed, the dim light never changed.
I was completely lost in my thoughts when the door opened again, as before the mage entered first
“Move or make any attempt to attack or flee and you will be frozen where you stand and left that way for the night”
I nodded my understanding and stayed where I sat wedged in the corner, as a centaur entered carrying a large tin wash tub, he was an elderly bay stallion who examined me where I sat with a thoughtful look on his face
I looked him over as he watched me, he was all over deep brown fur apart from a white sock on his right fore leg and a white and the fur on his left hand was also white to halfway up his forearm. When he moved the longer fur on his head out of his eyes I saw a star decorated his fore head.
There was something familiar about him but I couldn’t place it until the sorrel yearling entered behind him and placed a pile of cloths. There was no mistaking him he had a blaze that went from his forehead and ended on his equine chest both his hands were white but what distinguished him for me was the small white scar on his hindquarters.
Last summer I had saved the colt, as a foal from a trap designed by hunters after the bounty that a centaur head brought. Yes I also was a hunter but I only hunted for meat to feed myself and for furs to trade for other foods and tools I needed. I didn’t believe in hunting for a bounty and never the killing of young no mater their species
The centaur smiled at me “you recognise my grandson” he stated, I nodded “I thought you were the one who saved him and returned him to us”
I had been at a fair distance when I let the colt go to return to his heard I was surprised any of them had seen me as I had made efforts not to be seen
“A life is owed to you by my people I will mention this to the king when he decides your sentence, but for now clean yourself and eat”
The yearling had just left a seaming bowl beside the also steaming tub and smiled at me as they all left
The bowl contained soup; I smiled weekly, no utensils needed as I could drink it from the bowl. It was wonderfully tasty for food given to a condemned man and filed me up
I rinsed the bowl with a small amount of the washing water before striping and using it to ladle water over myself as I stood in the tub to wash
I had found a small cake of soap in the pile of cloths and used it to clean my self completely including my hair
Not wanting to dress in my soiled clothing I looked at the clothing that had been left for me there was a pair of cotton pants died an earthen colour and an un-dyed cotton shirt both simple garments. I put them on and though they were simple they were also comfortable and of a good fit, included with them was a pair of light moccasins, I had no wish to get rid of my boots so I left them to one side and put my boots back on.
With nothing else to do I wrapped my old cloths up and placed them under the blanket to rest my head on. I lay down to let the food in my belly digest, full and clean I found it hard to keep my eyes open and so I slept

Chapter 2

I woke to find the tub, and bowl had disappeared and moving my head I discovered so had my old cloths, my head now rested on a second blanket. My boots had also gone; the soft moccasins were placed beside my bed.
I sighed and put them on, finding them as comfortable as the other cloths I had been given. Footwear on I got up and started to stretch and pace around, I wasn’t used to this much inactivity. I missed the woodlands of my home
During my pacing, unknown to me, the door had opened and the Elven king stood there watching me. As soon as I noticed him I froze unsure of how to respond
“Don’t go to your knees again fool,” he held his hand up as if to stop me as I was about to bow to him “we need to discus your sentence, do I need a mage?”
I shook my head as he carried in his own stool and a second one, for me it seemed
He pointed to the second stool as he sat indicating for me to do also, I sat nervous but I managed to keep myself from falling as I sat
“Do you have a name human?” he watched me with the cat like eyes that most Elven have
“Calrin” I answered unsure “How should I address you sir”
I decided to try to be pleasant as he was trying to be to me but I had a feeling he was hiding something. I sighed it was probably my execution date he was keeping from me
“My King, is the Elvin title, none of this Highness or Sire foolishness you humans seem to like, I am king so call me such
“Calrin, I consulted the gods last night as to your future, and what they told me has me unsure. Normally you life would belong to the one to who committed crime against but because of your debt of honour with the centaurs I can not kill you, but what the gods order…”
He left the sentence hanging as he hung his head and beckoned to the door. Two guards entered and stood either side of me, I looked at each in turn fear kept me still the old Centaur entered carrying a wooden flask. He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t reed, handed the flask to the king and left
The king examined the flask and whatever it contained for a moment before nodding to one of the guards
The guard reached down and with his knife cut a small lock of my mid brown hair and passed it to the king
“My King” I whispered as he sprinkled the hair into the flask, he looked up as I spoke “when am I to die?”
He smiled sadly at me while mixing my hair into whatever the flask contained
“You are not to die, the gods have said so, they instructed me in the making of this” he lifted the flask to me “I am to give you this, then leave you alone for three days then you are to serve as my son’s protector from then until you die, that is the gods wish” he sounded a little disappointed

He handed me the flask, I took it and examined the contents. due to the dark wood I couldn’t tell if it had any colour. I sipped it tasted strange, not like pond water as some herbal mixes can but I couldn’t recognise or place the taste, unusual was the only word o could think of to describe it contents
On finishing I handed the cup back to the king as he watched me curiously
“I have no idea what it will do to you, Calrin, only that it will change you physically some how,”
He got up to let one guard take his and my stool away, as I got up I almost fell I felt so dizzy. The second guard caught me as I stumbled and helped me to my bed, mumbled a thank you to him as, at the king’s order, he removed my collar.
The king was the last to leave he watched me as I slowly fell unconscious. My last memory was of the king ordering a small bucket of water to be left for me
The next tree days were like a living hell for me, when I was awake I was feverish and often hallucinations caused me to rave my sleep was plagued with nightmares, it had to be the worst time of my life and I was completely alone.
I remembered childhood fevers and always Mother Anya, the old woman who with her husband had taken me in when my father died; she would always be at my bedside comforting me. And when, a year ago I almost cut my finger off chopping firewood it was she who treated the wound and teased me as to how much a fool I had been but with a mother’s love shining in her eyes
It hurt to be alone and a recurring theme in my nightmares was seeing Mother Anya and Papa Magnus stung up and dieing the lord standing over me laughing
Finally the fever left me but the pain in my heart and the loneliness were still with me, almost blindly I reached for the bucket near by and drank deeply before falling in to a peaceful and dreamless sleep

Chapter 3

Light from the doorway woke me up. I shook off sleep and rolled over to stand it took me more effort than usual to get up but my still half asleep mind didn’t realise this. I looked down at the king in the doorway. He stood looking at me mouth open in surprise.
He had told me I would change, I was now taller than him, was I a giant now? My mind still wasn’t working at full speed so when he indicated me to follow him I did yawning, my mind and eyes only on him we reached a round pool where the water was like a reflecting glass. And as my mind slowly woke up I followed his indications to look into the pool
The first thing I saw was a dark bay almost black centaur with a white blaze that covered most his face and went on down to end on his horse chest, my first thought was to wish the centaur to move so I could see myself but as I brought my hand up to rub the sleep from my eyes and seeing in the pool the centaur do the same with his hand, white up to the elbow. I jumped back in shock
Now instantly awake I looked about me. I was in a large caught yard bordered with high wooden walls. All the Elven in the vaccinate staring at me as the king had.
Centaur instinct, I seemed to have received with the change, kicked in and I reared in fright at myself. Not used to my new body I ended in a heap on the ground trying to hide my head with my arms against the ground.
“Calrin?” I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder
I looked up at the king who stood beside me. Everyone else had disappeared leaving only he and I there
“I told you, I didn’t know what it would do to you, this is a surprise to me but it is as the gods will”
He waited patiently as I got up and he led me back to my hut. There, he just turned and shut me in leaving me the r with my depression.
As I was now I couldn’t return home, and I had no idea if I would be accepted here. From the reaction I had had earlier, no. The god’s punishment on me must be for me to be alone forever
Some how I worked out how to lay down and that’s how I faced the king hours later when he returned with a young Elvin, I recognised as the prince
As soon as I saw them I turned my face away closing my eyes. I felt the hands as they placed the collar back round my neck. I hunk my head as I reached up to touch it just to check that it was what I thought it was
It was a slave collar but the markings were different to my last, but different or not I was still a slave. As a tear started to fall from my eye I felt a hand brush it away
The prince was stood so near to me, it hat to have been him who placed the collar round my neck. He was looking at the tear on his hand.
“Father centaurs don’t cry?” he looked up at his father
I looked up at him curious now
“He must still be part human” he shock his head “well as the gods wish he is yours” he turned and left us, the door wide open
I turned to look at the young Elvin prince as he stared after his father.
“Well you can’t say here now, come on I will lead you to your new home”
Unsteadily I got to my feet and followed him with stumbling steps

Chapter 4

Once outside I realised that the Elvin were back in the caught yard but were no longer staring at me in fact they were avoiding my gaze, as I watched them I hadn’t realised that my walking had improved and I wasn’t stumbling as much
But as soon as I did realise my back legs noted and I went down knocking all the air from my body
A deep light boomed about the compound and the old centaur that both the king and prince addressed as Grandfather trotted up
“You were doing well lad while you were using instinct and not concentrating” he supported me with his body as I got up again, “May I help in assisting, Calrin to your home, my prince” he bowed to the prince when he nodded a yes
As the three of us walked, Grandfather talked to me constantly, he showed me the main layout of the royal compound,
The compound was a large rectangular area surrounded by wooden fortifications and sparsely filled with single story long houses
The largest I was told was the Grate House where the King gave audience and also his chambers were there; the king was the only person who had private rooms I was surprised to find out
The other long houses were for the staff and the Elvin responsible for day-to-day running of the place. A guesthouse and the quarters of the Kings guard, and his mages
The buildings we had come from and where I had been imprisoned, were storerooms and the last of the long houses, the smallest, he didn’t tell me about just opened the large door for the prince and myself
It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the darker inertia of the long house but soon enough I saw it was all open plan, their were no apparent rooms at all.
At the fare end a partition divvied it almost the whole of the back end off from the rest of the long house and partitioned alcoves lined both long walls
Most of the alcoves open to the centre of the long house, held beds, others held stores and one near the opening of the back division was in the process of being adapted for me
I watched as the two Elvin, working on it filled half the area with some kind of bedding material held back by a low wooden barer, they had obviously designed living for centaurs before
As they finished I thought of the only thing I could think of to do to thank them and bowed on my fore legs speaking my thanks as I did.
But I still had limited control of my new form and ended laying uncomfortably with my for legs outstretched before me and my hind legs I a knot
Grandfather just laughed with those who had been working on my new home as he got me to my feet once again
The prince looked on with a smile until I finally got to my feet again
“I know my father hasn’t said as much but Calrin welcome to your new home”

Chapter 5

A week had gone by since becoming a centaur, and I had all but mastered the new form, discovering that I have also been given the instincts that went along with the form. Grandfather often still teases me I’m as ungainly as a newborn foal
Though I am settling in with the fact tat this is what it is to be for the rest of my life I am defiantly alone, grandfather has become a kind of mentor but the prince, Prince Kadayan, I don’t know how he sees me,
I know his friends tease shout and order me around, they know what I am what I did to become what I am and my shame,. I refuse to ask the prince to steep in as I know I deserve al I get but I can’t help feeling that I am a disappointment, a burden to him
I lay in my quarters thinking on this, felt so restless I couldn’t sleep, in the end I got up and as quirt as I could left the long house for the well in the centre of the compound.
I tried often to serve the prince as I thought I must but often my bulk stopped me or he ordered me not to do anything as he could do it him self, only yesterday I asked grandfather what the human slaves the Elvin caught did as I had not seen any in the week
He told me the humans caught were the ones that traded and or trapped the creatures if the Elvin lands and were so punished to a sentence of years of servitude working the Elvin farmland, it had surprised me that the sentences were often not permanent but often at the end of the sentence they were given the chance to return home or continue on, many continued on
Grandfather had told me it was because many found life better here and I would to if I didn’t keep my mind in despair and find a place for myself
As I took a drink I thought on his words, I was only a burden to the prince because I had not found a place. I smiled to myself if I was a burden to him then the best way for me to find my way, was to turn that around. True centaurs never were asked to carry any one as the Elvin held them as noble brothers bur I wasn’t a true centaur and I was also a slave.
“Calrin,” I said to my reflection “time to clime out of the pit and do some work for a change” I smiled at the quote of Mother Anya but it soon left as I felt a pang of worry for my adopted parents
Returning to the longhouse as quiet as I left I gathered some tanned leather that had been stored for future use and a set of spare leather working tools and set to work
It took me three days to finish my project working mostly at night, I had often made my own things working with leather as often the worked hide was more valuable than the raw skin, it had also given me something to do when snowed in during winter.
I had often made variations of what I wanted now but still often I had to improvise
The buckles and fastenings were easy as the Elvin smith had seen me working and I had told him I was practising my old skill to get the hang of my new hands, I had even joked with him that leather working was bound to be better excepted than weapon making.
I don’t know if he felt sorry for me or I amused him that day but he provided any bit of metal work I desired
When I finished my project, I vowed to myself that I would make something for him in thanks, and before I could stop myself I was mentally designing a broad belt to carry all his tools
I smiled at the timing as I put the whole thing together, the prince tomorrow was to set out on a short journey to the near by town to meet an old friend who held a position similar to mayor