CHAPTER#96

"This path is terrifying, by the way."

"More terrifying than being down there?" she asked.

"No," he admitted. What would have happened if he had been caught down there? Nothing good. The way the centaurs were attacking each other told him he would get tossed around and possibly trampled. "Do centaurs really go up this way?"

"This path is a shortcut to the tower that was carved for emergencies only. So the answer is no, not regularly. My people only came this way if there were intruders trying to break in to the tower, but they quit doing that after Emily and the Snow Queen took up residence up there. Once they were inside, they locked it up and nobody could get in."

"When was this?"

"It happened either when I was young or before I was born, it's hard to remember. They would pop in and out of the valley, and Emily attempted to find out information about the tower from the centaurs. They treated her very poorly, so she and the Snow Queen used to just come down into the valley and mess with us from time to time. Nothing serious at first. But after they moved into the tower, strange magic could be felt coming from the tower day and night. Months passed by, and then nasty storms arrived and flooded the valley out. Centaurs died in the deluge, so several of us went to demand justice."

"I bet that went well."

"That's when we discovered that Emily had left. The Snow Queen froze the mountaintop and created that thing you saw, the dragon, to protect her. She mainly keeps to herself, but every now and then some foolish centaur would get the idea to go after her. They were never seen again."

"So how did you get to Earth?"

"My aunt figured that if Emily had left, there must be some sort of portal. She hunted for it extensively along the mountain, careful to avoid that thing, and finally found it in that grove of trees. For over a year, she used a variety of communion spells to communicate with earth and forest spirits in an attempt to figure out how to use it. Eventually, she spoke with some creatures who had seen the portal in action, and you know what happened next."

"I do." Down below, a couple of centaurs had wandered away from the orgy and collapsed on the ground. Mike and Zel were gaining in elevation quickly now. "Looks like a couple of them are done."

"Up ahead is one of the wider switchbacks. Why don't you hop off my back? I'm getting tired and I think we have a good enough lead." He saw the area she spoke of and slid down with her help once they were there. Ratu fell away from his neck and transformed in midair, her adult form appearing in front of them.

"Now that was exciting," she said, gazing down below. "I can almost smell their arousal from up here."

"Thanks for the archery spell, by the way. I was worried it wouldn't work."

"Me too. I nearly ripped one of your arms off by accident." Ratu shook her head. "Control spells are dangerous when you make a body do something it isn't really capable of."

"Like archery?"

She shrugged. "Your body is capable but untrained. For it to seem natural, I literally took control of your arms and made them do my bidding. You could have fought me if you wanted, but it would have been difficult. The same spell to make you outrun the centaur, however, would have easily broken your legs."

"She's right," Zel added. "I'm just glad you had a plan. I heard the centaurs talking about what you said about Orion, so a bunch of them came to the Trial just to see him kick your ass. If they hadn't, we would have had to run through them to get up here."

"What about your father? Did he at least seem glad to see you?"

Zel let out a sigh but remained silent. He decided to leave it alone.

They continued up the long trail, and Mike became winded. Ratu seemed fine at first, but eventually turned back into a snake and rode on Zel's back. They both were wheezing for air by the time they reached the top of the incline, and a wider trail appeared that wound around the mountain.

"That was the hard part," Zel said. "I wish I had some water, my head is starting to hurt."

"Same." His shirt was soaked in sweat. Down below, the centaurs had set up what looked like a triage center of sorts. Some of them were still fucking in tiny clusters, but the rest had been scattered about. Tables of supplies had been set up, and he could make out poultices being applied.

A few hunters were now ascending the trail, forming a single line. There were ten of them and they were carrying an assortment of weapons.

"Shit. They're gonna catch up to us before we get to the tower." Zel's shoulders slumped. "I'm too tired to run."

Ratu reappeared, a crooked grin on her face. "I've got this."

She moved her fingers in an intricate pattern, summoning beams of light into her hand. They coalesced into a sphere of light that swirled with color, like a lava lamp in fast motion. "Find a rock, something you can throw."

They looked around, and Mike found a jagged stone that looked decent. He handed it over, and the light soaked into it like water into a sponge.

"You're not going to hurt them, are you?" Zel asked.

"The thought crossed my mind, but no. I don't think your people are bad. They're just stubborn and a bit misguided." Ratu took the stone and hefted it in her hand. It glowed brightly for a moment and she threw it.

Arcing through the air, Mike would have lost track of the stone if not for the glow. It flew fairly far, bouncing a few times until it landed still quite a distance from the hunters. Shortly after landing, a giant plume of glittery smoke boiled out of the stone and over the mountain, causing the hunters to flee down the trail. Many of the centaurs below shrieked in terror and dropped everything they were doing to get away from the oncoming cloud.