Centaur Legacy (34 page)

I slammed the trap door, heaved the
single reclining chair that still remained in the living room over
the access panel to camouflage the entry. The doors burst open and
windows were smashed into the house. Centaurs leaped in through
each opening.

Shock, outrage, and disbelief shone on
the faces looking at me. I didn’t recognize any of the Centaur
faces staring back at me, and no one moved. Lacey, Daniel and the
Strayers had kept their word: no one knew of my transformation.
They lost their element of surprise when no one knew what to do
against a living, breathing Centaur with hooves. I towered over all
of them, rage emanating from every pore on my body. I was ready for
them and they were ill-prepared for me.

The ten men stood, mouths agape, only
one holding a gun. I put my back to him and kicked him with every
ounce of strength I had, which, funny enough, was almost too much.
He sailed through both sheets of drywall separating the living room
from the kitchen and ended up sprawled out across the kitchen
table. I reared up, my head a fraction of the inch from the ceiling
as my front hooves pawed two more attackers to my front. When these
two went down, the very real danger registered with the remaining
seven in the room. Weapons were drawn, but my reaction time was
swifter than theirs.

A stout muscular man lunged at me with
a knife. I easily moved out of his path and delivered a heavy blow
to him as his forward momentum was helped along by the strength
within me.

Another carrying a dagger came at me
from my other side, trying to bury it deep in my back. I caught the
knife in my hand before it could sink into my flesh, did a quick
turn and had it aimed squarely at his heart. Before I could sink
the knife into him, I felt another approaching me from behind. My
hoof caught him in the jaw as I heard his body sail several feet
back and plant hard in a corner. I easily disarmed and knocked the
other five unconscious.

The brute force this body was able to
deliver was astonishing. I stood alone in the room, bodies laying
in all corners. I hadn’t killed any, but that wasn’t my goal. I
merely needed to keep Cami safe. Their deaths would serve no
purpose.

After the battle this evening, I
doubted any would come after us again. There was still a concern
over those guarding the perimeter. How could I get Cami away from
here? Knives, daggers, and handheld weapons were of no consequence
to me, but bullets were another matter, and I couldn’t tell who
outside held guns.

I wouldn’t risk even a
whisper but knew Cami would be listening to my thoughts,
“
I’m fine, Love. Stay where you are while
I find a safe way out of here.
”

Her answer was immediate in
my mind, “
I trust you,
Drake.
”

An outside light shone brightly. I
wanted to keep whatever element of surprise might be available. The
broken windows would allow someone to see directly into the place.
I turned off the light switch in the living room, the kitchen, the
hallway; I stood in the pitch black willing my mind to locate all
the remaining warriors around the perimeter of the property. All
had held their position until the lights went off.

I had to have stumbled onto a
predetermined signal because as soon as the house was completely
dark, I could feel them all sauntering toward the house. Their
confidence radiated from them; they believed the house was secure
and the occupants were restrained.

A voice called from the yard, “Geeze,
Rosco, what the hell happened? It sounded like a bar brawl from out
here.”

I didn’t know Rosco, but could only
assume he had been the leader of the assault. The voice called
again, “Rosco, everything’s okay, right?” I felt him stop his
advance.

To keep my element of surprise, I had
to do something. If I answered and I sounded off, I didn’t know how
many guns might fire in through the windows. If I didn’t respond to
the question, it could be the same response. I searched my mind
trying to remember any accents, but none of the attackers had
muttered a single word. I needed the Centaurs outside to believe it
was safe; I needed them in closer. I took a deep breath and yelled,
“Clear! We got her!” I didn’t dare say another word and worried
that my shout may have just given me away.

It didn’t. I was so attuned to this man
that I actually heard his footsteps separately from the others who
were advancing. We really were a warrior race because this was
better than any military technology that identified friend or foe.
Not only could I identify him, I knew his position and could
determine which footsteps were his from at least fifty feet away
through the walls of the house.

“What, are ya,’ havin’ a séance or
something? Turn the lights on already. It’s like the arctic tundra
out here! Get the girl in the van and let’s go!” I heard a vehicle
pull up the driveway, the engine running.

I needed them on my turf; I needed them
off-guard. Taking out ten Centaurs at once was better than I had
hoped just moments before their assault, but thirty was a different
matter and would require more than just a few seconds of shock to
gain the advantage. I looked around the room and picked up a dagger
and a hunting knife. I believed my hooves were better weapons, but
putting one in each hand gave me an option if anyone got
close.

“Rosco, turn on the damn
lights!”

I saw the fuse box in the hallway. In
the blink of an eye I was at the panel and had shut off the power
to the house. I bellowed back, “Can’t! Guarding her!”

I heard his heavy steps stomping the
snow off his boots onto the floor of the kitchen. He was in the
pitch black house after emerging from the front yard that was
lighted by the bright light. His eyes hadn’t adjusted when he said,
“Guarding her? Just tie her up and let’s. . .” He was out cold in
one blow. He hadn’t seen the man still sprawled out on the kitchen
table beside him, the one I believed was most likely Rosco. I
boosted the second man off the floor and on top of Rosco and waited
for more footsteps.

Cami’s thoughts came to me
quickly, “
Drake, there’s no one at the
back of the house. It’s safe. I know it.
”

The warrior part of my brain told me to
stay and fight the others so we couldn’t be pursued, but the
betrothed part of my brain argued that it was more important to get
Cami to safety. My pledge won out. I moved the chair from the trap
door, lifted the hatch, and reached my hand as far down as I could
to lift Cami out.

When we reached the back door, I looked
in all directions. Footprints etched in the snow showed feet had
gone toward the front of the house. She was right: this was our
best egress.

I took a second to catch her gaze, the
adrenaline still pumping hard in my veins, “Cami, you’re going to
need to hold on. We’re going to race the wind tonight.” A thick
comforter was balled up near the back door with our backpack and
Cami’s coat. It hadn’t been strategically placed there, but when
Cami was rearranging the house to accommodate me, this was where
the blankets, pillows, and our personal items were kept during the
day. Neither of us felt right about disturbing Cameron’s things in
the bedrooms.

I lifted Cami easily into my arms and
galloped out the back door, through the back yard, along the
river’s bank that bounded the property and into the night. We
didn’t hear a voice of any kind, and as I put distance between us
and the house, the Centaurs who had surrounded us became more fuzzy
in my mind as their potential for danger diminished.

I had run for at least forty miles,
through streams and over rocky terrain where my hoof prints
couldn’t be detected, when we came upon a boarded-up motor lodge.
The sign in front indicated it was closed for the winter and would
open again on Memorial Day. The place was far better than the barn
I had spent a few nights in.

It felt safe, as the place had no ties
to anyone we knew. We tried several of the doors, and all were
locked tight with curtains drawn. We found one that was on the back
side, opposite the abandoned parking lot that nestled into the
forest behind it. Seeing our footprints would be next to impossible
in this remote area. I thrust the door handle hard, and the lock
gave way.

Cami walked into the dark room. The
electricity hadn’t been cut and the heat was on, not warm, but
enough so that the pipes wouldn’t freeze. Cami went to the
thermostat and turned the temperature up to a balmy sixty degrees,
then flicked on the bathroom light. It didn’t light the entire room
but gave off enough of a glow that we could see where objects were
in the room.

Cami asked the question I didn’t have
the answer for. “Who were those guys?”

“I wish I knew.”

“You didn’t recognize any of
them?”

“No. They weren’t there for
me.”

Cami nodded. “You didn’t kill any of
them. Once they recover, they’ll tell. Everyone will know about
you.” She looked sad, and I wished she would share her thoughts
with me, but she held them in, blocked from me.

I walked to her. I had felt so awkward
around her in this body until tonight. I understood Zeus’s words; I
understood why Chiron’s magic had done this to me. I was better
able to protect her in this form. That was what she needed now more
than anything. More than a lover, more than a confidant, more than
a friend, Cami needed a warrior if she were to survive.

I was pleased that it would be me. I
wondered selfishly if I would ever be given my old body back. I
wondered if I’d grow old like this. Would Cami ever find peace, and
if she did, would she share that peace with someone else? My mind
tumbled in a free fall, until I felt two delicate hands placed on
my cheeks.

I looked down into Cami’s
milk-chocolate brown eyes. She had heard my concerns and answered,
“It isn’t permanent.”

I shuddered under her touch. “You can’t
know that, Cami.” I took a breath and added, “If it is, I have no
regrets.” I pulled her to me, nestling her head against my chest.
One arm held her to me as the other caressed her cheek with my
thumb.

She whispered, “These men, whoever they
were, won’t stop. They’ll find us again. They’ll use a Centauride
to locate us.”

“I know.”

“We’ll never know peace.” Despite her
words, the warmth of her body calmed me. I remembered the rage I
felt when the men surrounded me while Cami was safely tucked in the
basement. A rage I had never known consumed me and with it a single
goal, to keep her safe.

With more confidence than I felt, I
answered, “We’ll find peace. We’ll find it together.”

Her resolve was strong, “Not unless we
take the fight to them.”

My arms tensed so I loosened my arms as
I was worried I’d crush her. “What’re you saying?”

“I’m saying we go to Centauride. We
meet with the Centaur Council. I’m saying we let the world know I
am the last Chiron Centauride, and I am of the Lost
Herd.”

“Cami, that would be
suicide.”

“If we don’t and a stupid Centaur
decree, or whatever they’re called, gets passed down to hunt all
the living Tak descendants, it’s a death sentence for my family.
We’ve got to try to stop it. I can’t lose my family.”

“I can’t lose you. Even if I’m stuck
like this forever, I can’t stand the thought of losing
you.”

She was still snug against my chest,
“You won’t lose me. If we can’t have this life together, you
already promised me eternity in the pasture. If we don’t do this,
now, while we can, this life will be spent on the run, being
hunted. No. We take the fight to them.”

“There’s a good chance we won’t make it
out alive.”

“But there’s a chance we will. Plus I
have my secret weapon.”

“Your secret weapon? You’re able to
plant ideas in other’s heads?” We hadn’t discussed it before, but
I’d been told this was the Centauride skill which had infuriated
Zeus to begin with. If she had the skill and planned to use it,
there would be no escape for either of us.

She shook her head, “No. I have the
strongest magic in the universe.” I thought of the arrow, the way
it had transformed me, and the fact that it was lost to us
forever.

Cami had read my arrow thought and
answered before I could protest that the arrow’s magic was never
going to be ours. “No. Before my mother left for the pasture, she
told me the strongest magic was love. You’ve proved her right over
and over again. Tomorrow we make our plans to travel to
Africa.”

“You’re forgetting Zandra is the
chairman. We could fly all the way there and never address
anyone.”

“You
are forgetting the effect you will have on them. Remember the
astonishment on the men’s faces who saw you tonight? You are a
living, breathing Centaur – no matter what they’re told to do,
they’ll listen.”

I hoped she was right. I hoped we
wouldn’t be walking into more of an ambush than we had found
tonight. I hoped a lot of things, but one more so than anything
else. There was a chance that she was right. If we could make the
Centaur Council see reason, we had a chance at a life
together.