Author's note: I am so sorry this is late, mortykins! I should have learned by now not to promise that something will be delivered unless I can actually make it.
But it's here now! And it isn't even finished. But this proves I was working on it!
On with the story!
"Race you!" Virgil called out, plunging down the hill.
Snorting, Richie cut down at an angle, jumping the ravine and whirling, to stop right in Virgil's path.
Planting his hooves into the ground, Virgil came to a stop in front of his best friend.
"Dang, Rich, why don't you try out for courtship?"
"Because, I want to travel. These plains don't go on forever, and I want to know what's beyond the Council Meetings. I mean, all we really know about the outside world, what goes on beyond the herd, is from my meticulous reading of the treatise."
Richie moved off to the side, better to talk with Virgil. Two male centaurs facing each other was usually seen as confrontational at the distance they were standing.
"I know, Rich, I know. Even my Pops mentions that we came from somewhere before the Plains, but none of the treatise we have access to mention why we wander out here."
Richie shrugged.
"I'm just wanting more. You know me, with my thirst for knowledge, I've been teased for wanting to raise human warriors. My Dad flipped out so bad…" Richie fell quiet.
"I'm not sorry about that, Richie." Virgil's low voice carried across, his hand coming to rest on Richie's back, stroking down to his golden coat.
"I know. It's just sometimes, I remember what I thought he was, and what he wasn't. But I noticed my Mom's getting some serious attention, now. I bet it isn't long until she stops dissuading the hopeful and gets someone who can provide a life for her."
Virgil smiled. Richie's mom was an assertive mare, who just hadn't been there when Richie needed her most, out helping in collecting wild berries and updating the charts on the wild life. Their semi nomadic life allowed them to rotate supplies, and even in drought, there was plenty.
"Ah, the sun's going down. I say it's time to go back." Virgil stretched and cracked his back.
"Hey, Virg, what's that?"
Virgil twisted back around, having to step around Richie to see what the blond was pointing at.
"It's a smudge on the horizon."
"There's never been one before."
"No, Richie."
"But, please! Just a quick look. We can get back by morning, and no one will really mind. Or are you afraid Daisy will find another suitor while you're gone?"
Stomping a hoof, Virgil sent Richie an appraising look.
"You aren't supposed to test a girl until she agrees to date you."
"Yeah, and if you dote on her every waking moment, and then take an hour off to see me after she does, she'll suspect inconsistency and drama will follow. Trust me, Virg. Behave as yourself, and that way, she isn't dealing with the person who woo'd her, and the person who's Virgil."
"I do not behave differently in front of her!"
"You can't even tell a joke with a straight face, forget adding the hand gestures that make you so lively." Richie shot back.
One hoof, than his back hoof, and yes, Virgil was following him and arguing with him, and the smudge was getting bigger.
It was sometimes too easy to lead Virgil on in a conversation, and he was one of the smarter Centaurs out there, recording verbal history.
Then again, Virgil also had the body of the typical Centaur. Dark brown coat, with a light white trimming around his hooves, his hair mussed into dreadlocks, and his skin a creamier chocolate than his coat. Virgil had always been a muscled youth, and usually came in near the top of competitions.
Richie, on the other hand, fell into the average of competition. His mother had a trace of Arabic in her, but his father was a draft horse. Thus, Richie never found out if he was more for power or for speed. He just seemed to middle out in both.
"And your goading me into checking out that smudge, aren't you?"
"Precisely, Virgil."
"Richie, I am positive that your best addition and your only attraction is how smart you are. What are you going to ask for when we pass the initiation?"
"That I don't hurl afterwards and get banished?"
"I'm serious, Richie! We'll be bachelors soon, and kicked out of the herd! That's the way things are done, and I'm worried about you!"
"Well, it's not like Centaurs are the only creatures in this world. There are birds…"
"Intelligent creatures, Richie. We've never seen anyone besides a Centaur." Virgil hung his head. Richie had done it again, and now the smudge was looking decidedly green, but what kind of bushes where so huge?
"I think those are trees." Richie mused.
"Richie, dearest, when you think something enough to mention it out loud, you usually leave a three percent error for being wrong."
"That's because I've never seen trees before, so I have nothing to compare it to." Richie replied, his analysis never ceasing to amaze Virgil.
"Come on, just close enough, please? I know it's dark and we won't be able to see too far, but I doubt there are any 'dumb' animals that will threaten us for being among the trees." Richie pushed.
"Fine, Rich, you win. But if we get killed, you can expect a very big 'I told you so' in your next life."
"Okay, V." Richie hardly acknowledge his reprimand, already trotting over to the trees.
…..
Eyes peered through the trees at the approaching males. They weren't built like any of the inhabitants, and were too young to be bachelors, caught in that awkward stage between too old for a foal but not yet old enough to be a stallion.
…..
The trees smelled.
There was no other way to describe it. Even Richie was stunned for a few moments, before he choked out that water smelled like this when there were puddles and mud on the plane after a particularly hard downpour.
Virgil agreed, attempting to breathe through his mouth.
It wasn't that the smell was bad, per say, but it was different. It had a crisp tinge to it, like a good grain that they found, but the crisp didn't crunch, and Virgil gave up trying to understand the taste after that.
Richie trotted into the forest.
"Wow- the grounds uneven. Be careful where you step." He called back. Virgil nodded, not bothering where his feet put themselves.
He went down on one knee.
"What in the name of my father was that?" Virgil cried.
Richie turned around and headed back.
"I think the ground can be different. Like, not wet dry or mud or grass like the plains, I think the texture here changes more than that." Richie bent down to examine the scuff marks on the ground.
"You're lucky it isn't twisted, you just had a nasty jolt. Come on, up you go." Virgil had to shift his weight to his hindquarters and lurch up. His hand grabbed Richie's shoulder once he was up, and he steadied himself.
"Well, if it isn't two colts out where they're not supposed to be."
An older stallion was standing a ways from them, giving a long look. His hair was grey throughout, and he eyed Richie and Virgil.
"I'm sorry, but according to the treaties this land isn't claimed- or if it is, there are to signs posting that it is, and I haven't seen any, sir." Richie called back across the clearing. The trees here weren't much bigger than they were, and the ground was flat, if uneven.
The older stallion fixed his gaze on Richie.
"And I suppose you are an expert on inter-tribal affairs?"
"I'm studying to be the next scribe for ours." Richie called back.
Virgil refrained from snorting in surprise. He didn't like this stallion.
"I'm Virgil, son of Hawkins, and this is Richie, son of Foley. We're from the Plains Tribe in the West. We didn't mean to bother you. We'll just go." Virgil paced a step back.
Richie stepped to the side, twisting to see the older stallion and giving Virgil room.
"It's polite to say who you are to travelers, you know."
"It's also within my right to kill trespassers." The older stallion said coldly.
"You see, that's funny, because I'm under the impression you and yours are the trespassers." Richie shot back.
Then he and Virgil bolted for the centaur sneaking around them. The man reared up in surprise, Richie slapping his flank as he followed Virgil past, causing the man to lurch forward a few steps and interfere with the pursuers.
"Any ideas on how to loose them?" Richie gasped.
"Just one. Keep turning right until we get back here, and then break for the plains. We can't outrun them on a straight line, they'd just follow us home." Virgil panted back.
Richie nodded.
The scenery flashed by. Richie gave a disappointed shake of his head as he followed Virgil, a little off to the darker centaur's left.
"I know, Rich. But right now, they said they would kill us. And I don't fancy dying before…y'know."
"Ah. Yes." Richie replied.
The clearing was coming back up. Richie felt his ears twitch around, but they'd left their pursuers about a quarter mile back.
"Uhm, Virgil, what's that?"
"It…seems to be a gigantic hole in the ground."
"Was it there before?"
"No."
"Try to jump it?"
"I can. You can't. We could try-"
"No. Go."
Sighing, Virgil stretched his head out and charged the sudden obstacle. His legs gathered below him, and then air whistled through his hair.
His hooves struck the ground on the other side.
"I was going to say we could try it in turns. The place where I'm at is narrower and easier to jump. Your side…" Virgil gestured to the open space on his right. Across the chasm, Richie nodded.
"But…this was the clearing, right? And a strange guy plus open land plus occult followers plus gaping holes in the ground equal…."
"Heck if I know." Virgil called back.
"You go on to Pops."
Virgil gave Richie a wide eyed look.
"What? Richie, that's crazy. You don't know where you're at."
"Well someone has to tell the others that something's going on. You're already across. And I can't build up enough power to get across. And it's wide, Virgil. I think the old guy stomped his hoof in frustration, or something and this happened."
Virgil rolled his eyes.
"Richie- fine, I'll go. You take care."
"I will!" Richie called back.
He watched Virgil head out, tail behind him streaming, before turning around.
"Alright, Richie. There's a tribe of centaurs that don't belong here, and that means that the tribe that does knows they're here. So where's the first one?"
Cutting out to his left, Richie left the giant loop near the edge of the forest and headed deeper.
….
A/N: I so wanted to make this a long one shot. I have the outline and everything. But if I don't finish by Sunday night, I am posting what I have and then making a second chapter for the wrap-up. Or just redoing it. So don't favorite just yet.