Chương 124: Chapter 122: Centaurs

We don't find any other signs of the god slayer for the next several days. There are a few battles that aren't really worth talking about. We run into monsters, we slay them, we get a bit more experience and crawl our ways towards another level up. I end up just seven thousand experience away from level forty one, Gigi makes it to level thirty one, Ash makes it to level forty. Gigi is happy that she finally crossed the five digit mark for hit points.

By my reckoning, we're about two hundred miles away from Marketplace by this point. We should be getting to the ocean relatively soon. I can smell the salt in the air, which tells me we're within a day's travel. I wonder briefly what it will be like to see the ocean. I've seen the ocean before, back on Earth, but it's usually a pretty epic experience. I wonder if it will be here as well. I've seen the other ocean, on the far side of the continent. Wrax brought me there, when we went and fought the lava lords.

I've never seen both oceans before. In my old world, I grew up not far from the coast, so I saw the Atlantic ocean pretty frequently. But I never made it to the Pacific. I never saw the other side of the country, other side of the continent. Have I really traveled farther on foot than I ever did in a car or on a plane? Granted, part of that travel was on dragon back, but still. Have we really explored more of the world now than we did in our old world? The old world kept us pretty settled and in one place.

We had all this ability to move around, but no one really did it all that much. The country was huge, and you never spent the time to really explore it. You were too busy with life, with work and with school and with whatever else was taking up your time. But now, we have nothing but time. There are no deadlines to hold us anywhere, no ticking clocks that control what we do during the day. We can walk for ten hours a day, relax for as many as eight hours, and sleep for six. Four, really.

It's all we need to sleep, but we could sleep longer, I suppose. I don't dream all that much. It happens, but it doesn't seem to happen as much as it did in our old world. Is that because I have less to worry about, less for my mind to process? Or is it because life in this world is more of a life of adventure, more of a life that I would dream about in my old world? This is the kind of life that I would dream about, too. A life free from the stresses of the world.

A life where I don't have to worry about paying rent, or about having enough money to live. A life where I don't have to be as careful. I can get injured and it won't ruin everything. I'll just heal. I regenerate in this world, faster than I ever did in my old world. I'm more powerful, more self sufficient, than I ever was in the old world. Am I happy? Is this what happiness is? The rolling hills of the plains give way to a huge flat expanse, a sea of grass waving in the wind.

And with that comes a new set of tracks. These are definitely horse tracks. I can see where the hooves dig up the ground, where the horses trotted and where they sprinted. There are a lot of them, running together, all over these plains. I'm kind of surprised I can't see them just looking around. It feels like I can see forever. The world is suddenly so flat that I feel like I imagined the curve, that the hills and valleys are a thing of the past that I have to wonder if I made them up.

We keep rolling over the information that we gathered about the god slayer from that dungeon. About her weapons, about her magic. About the capabilities that she demonstrated. As I think about all that she has shown herself capable of, I have to wonder if I'm really capable myself. I know that on paper, I'm more powerful than anyone back in Elmspire or in Marketplace. Or, realistically, in Mountspeak, though we've never been there. My stats are higher, certainly. Are my skills?

Are my abilities and my spells at a higher level, or should I be working to train those more? I have 444 levels of skills. Is that a lot, in the grand scheme of things?

"You okay?" Gigi asks me as we walk. I must have let out a sigh or something.

"I don't know," I say.

"I'm feeling inadequate, and I can't quite put my finger on why." She laughs.

"You? Inadequate? This I've got to hear."

"I was just wondering if I'd gained enough skills," I say.

"Or if my abilities and spells are powerful enough. I mean, I have so much further I can go with all of them. Can you imagine if we got to increase our abilities or spells when we leveled up? I'd have everything maxed out by now. But I don't. I have very little that's actually maxed out."

"So what?" she asks.

"I don't have anything maxed out either. And I'm pretty sure you have more skills than I do."

"How many do you have?" She's quiet for a while, probably because she's counting.

"Three hundred and fifty or so," she says.

"I'm more specialized than broad based." I nod. I have more skills than her. Why doesn't that make me happy? Why doesn't that make me feel like I've done enough? Why doesn't that make me feel like maybe I'm not just wasting all my time?

"Do you think we'll see the horses?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

"I'm sure we will," she says.

"You can see the tracks all over the place. They clearly run back and forth through this giant flat plain. So we'll see them, eventually. Maybe just from a distance, though."

"I've never actually seen a horse up close," I say.

"I've never ridden on one."

"Really?" she asks.

"You never rode a horse? Not even when you were a kid?" I shake my head.

"I rode an elephant once," I say.

"At the zoo, when I was really little. I don't really remember it, but there were pictures. But I've never ridden a horse."

"Would you like to?"

"I don't know. I mean, I'm not opposed to it. It would be cool if we could catch the horses and each have one that we can ride. We could probably move farther and faster if we did that. But I don't know."

"You know, it doesn't make a difference that you've never ridden a horse," she says.

"You've ridden a dragon. How many people can say that?"

"I know. I rode Wrax. Which also means I've ridden a dead god, if you think about it." She laughs at that.

"Do you think that's why he was so keen to help you guys through the death cycles?"

"It might be. I haven't really thought about it."

"Do you think he knows he used to be a god?" That's another question I hadn't even considered. Do the dragons who used to be gods know that they used to be gods? Do the gods who used to be dragons know that they used to be dragons?

"I don't know," I say.

"I think it's an interesting fact about this world," she says.

"The people in charge, the gods themselves, might not even know that they used to be dragons. And when they die, they might not remember that they used to be gods. It's like the whole world is run by amnesiacs."

"It's a weird kind of balance," I say.

"Hey," El says, interrupting our little chat, "I don't think those are horse tracks that we're seeing." The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"What do you mean?" I ask her. But she just points. I follow the direction of her hand, and I see a group of them riding across the plains. They don't seem to be coming for us directly, but I wonder if that will remain true for long. From a distance, they can be mistaken as horses with riders, the riders standing tall and leaning forward on the horses. But the more I look at them, the more I realize that they aren't horses with riders on them. They're horses with human torsos.

"Centaurs," I say.

"Cool."

"We'll see," El says.

"I think they've spotted us." They do seem to be turning in our direction. And there's a pretty big herd of them. Is that what you call a group of centaurs? I'm not sure. But there seem to be about thirty or forty of them, and they're now barreling down towards us. It's just a matter of time before they reach us. Will they stop, or will they try to ride over us? Will they give us a chance to talk, or are we just about to get in a fight. Centaur. Very rare elite creature, level 40. HP: 20, 000/20, 000.

And seeing them from that far makes my Observation ability go up in rank, to its maximum of level five. Maybe I should use some of the magic crystals I've been carrying around to upgrade it. If they want to fight, they're picking the wrong group. Mab's Rage will do more damage than they have hit points. Unless they have magic resistance the way the oni did, they won't survive a three minute battle. I hope they stop and talk to us.

We spread out a little bit as they charge towards us, so we're not just one cluster of figures that are easy to overrun. I nock an arrow in my bow and wait. They're still about a hundred and fifty feet away, but they show no signs of slowing down. I raise my bow and take aim. I'm not going to let them just charge over us. If they don't slow down, I'm going to shoot them. That's not a good way to start a conversation, but if they're just going to ride us down, I don't think they're in the mood for conversation.

One hundred feet, and I can see that most of them have bows of their own, with spears lashed on their backs. They're aiming at us, but haven't fired yet. What are they waiting for? Maybe they're waiting to see if we shoot first. Seventy feet, and Vincent starts casting a spell. I wonder what he's going to do. Maybe he's going to rain fire down on them as they charge at us. That would also ruin any chance of us talking. But if they don't start slowing down, then it won't matter.

Finally, at fifty feet away, they begin to slow down, rearing up a little as they bleed away momentum. They stop pretty quickly, maybe thirty feet from us, and I see that most of them are drawing their own bows back, ready to shoot at us. We're close enough that I can see their eyes, that I can make out the expressions on their faces. They don't seem enraged. More calm. Almost relaxed. I loosen the draw on my bow and take my hand away from the string.

"Hello!" I shout, waving at them with my free hand. Most of them don't really move, other than to point their arrows all at me. I just had to be the one to speak, didn't I? One of them trots forward a few steps, clearly their leader.

"You are not elves." He says it with a very matter of fact manner, as if he was informing us of this detail. Or as if it meant something.

"I know that," I say.

"None of you are elves, either."

"Are you with them?" he asks me.

"We're not with anyone," I say. I wonder if the god slayer has been through here. Maybe that's what they're worried about; she's an elf. Maybe they've already had an encounter with her.

"The elves are our enemies," he tells me.

"We're not looking to be your enemies," I say. I look at them, at how far apart they're all standing, how spaced out they all are. I think they're all within range of Mab's Rage.

"Then why have you come to our land?"

"We're passing through," I say.

"Heading to the ocean."

"What do you want with the ocean?" he asks me. That strikes me as kind of funny, and I laugh. He doesn't seem amused, and the laughter dies in my throat.

"Um," I say.

"We're just traveling. We don't really have an itinerary or anything like that."

"You use strange words," he says.

"But you speak our tongue. How is that?"

"It's just a talent I have," I assure him.

"Can you tell me what you have against the elves?"

"They are our enemy."

"Yeah, you said that. But why? Is this a recent thing?"

"They have been our enemy since we drove them from the plains," he tells me.

"Many years ago. These plains are ours, and we will not allow you or anyone else to take them from us."

"We're not looking to take them from you," I say.

"Like I said, we're just passing through." He regards me for several seconds. I wonder if he's going to give an order to turn me into a pincushion. My legs tense, ready to dive to the side if the arrows start to fly. I won't have long to move, but I might be able to get out of the way of most of them before they can strike.

"You're not with the elves?"

"Did an elf recently pass through here?" I ask. He gets a little tense, stepping back and forth in frustration. I take it that means that she has been through here.

"We're looking for her," I say.

"She slew many," he says.

"We could not stand up to such a terror." I nod.

"How long ago?" I ask.

"Three days," he says.

"Are you with her?" I shake my head.

"We're chasing her," I say.

"Following her. We're not with her. We've never actually met her before."

"You are not allies?" I can't tell if he's being suspicious or hopeful.

"Not at the moment," I say.

"I keep telling you, we're not your enemies."

"That is what she said as well," he tells me.

"Did she speak your language?" He nods. So my ability to speak their language might be counter productive. It might make him think that she and I are on the same side. This is tricky.

"We're trying to catch her," I say.

"To kill her?" he asks.

"To capture her and make her pay for her crimes?"

"What crimes are those?" I ask.

"She slew many," he tells me.

"Did you attack her first?" I ask. He gets indignant.

"She invaded our territory! She came into our land and slew us indiscriminately. It was all we could do to get away from her." I hold up my hand to try to placate him. He trots side to side a bit in frustration.

"We're not here to kill you," I tell him.

"But we will defend ourselves if we need to."

"She brought the sky down upon us," he says.

"She killed our leaders." Ah. So this guy isn't used to being in charge. That explains why he isn't a different level or anything.

"What are they saying?" Ash asks me.

"Are you negotiating passage?" That's a good idea.

"I'm working on it," I tell her. I look back to the centaur.

"We mean you no harm," I tell him.

"We just want to pass through your lands. May we have your permission to do so?"

"You don't want to kill us?" he asks. He sounds almost hopeful, but at the same time disappointed. That's weird.

"I don't want to," I agree.

"But you could?" Now he seems more suspicious.

"If need be," I say.

"But we mean you no harm unless you try to harm us first."

"You have magic that can harm us?"

"Yes." Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Am I negotiating well or am I threatening him? I can't really tell.

"We do not wish to be victims," he says.

"Do you swear you won't attack us? Our children?" I have a brief image of centaur children, and I'm reminded of the fact that newborn horses can run within hours, but newborn humans can't even hold their own heads up. I try really hard not to laugh.

"We won't attack you if you don't attack us," I say.

"We just want to pass through. No harm to you or yours."

"Swear it," he says.

"I swear it," I say.

"Do you want me to swear on something?"

"Swear on your souls." Sure, why not. I'm not sure that the soul is really a thing anymore, since we just respawn back in the same body. But sure.

"I swear on my soul that we won't attack you unless you attack us first," I say.

"I think we should just attack them," El says.

"We can take them. There's only like forty of them. They'd probably be worth a level or two." I turn towards her and hush her. Then I look back at the centaur, hoping he doesn't understand our language or at least didn't hear what she said. From the looks of it, he at least understood the gist of it. He looks angry, afraid, and aggressive. El might have just screwed this whole thing up. I hold up my hand again, trying to calm everything down.

"If you leave us be, we won't do anything to harm you," I say.

"I swear on my soul." That seems to appease him a little bit, because he turns back to look over his shoulder at the other centaurs. Maybe he's trying to get their approval. Must be new at being the leader. Which I suppose he is, by his own admission.

"And you'll just pass through?" he asks.

"No harm to the land or those who dwell in it?"

"We will only harm those who seek to harm us," I assure him. Then I have this sudden thought of tripping over a rock and deciding that the land sought to harm us, making us free to set fire to the whole rolling plains. Intrusive thoughts. I dismiss it as quickly as I can, hoping that no sign of that thought showed itself on my face.

"Very well," he says. He reaches his arm out and gestures downward. The arrows pointing at me suddenly go away as the other centaurs lower their bows and release the tension on the strings.

"Go in peace. Pass through our lands as quickly as you can. Bring harm to none, lest you forfeit your souls."

"We will harm none who don't try to harm us," I say.

"And we have no intention of harming the land. You have my word." He grunts, as if unsure what weight to give my word. But he gestures, and the other centaurs start to move to the side, away from us. We watch them as they slowly pick up the pace, gathering speed as they move away from us. Soon, they're racing through the grass again, slowly disappearing from view. I let out a breath, glad that we avoided combat. It wouldn't have been a particularly difficult combat. Like El said, we could have taken them.

But something about it just felt wrong. It felt like we would be picking on them.