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"Here it is, go find an elderly black and white mare and tell her Will's herd has arrived." Alpha leaned over to me and said quietly. I nodded and cantered off to find the old mare.

"Black and white, black and white." I whispered to myself as I weaved through the surrounding centaurs belonging to the other herd. I spotted the mare lying down beside a chestnut draft. I cantered up to her and swallowed. She looked up at me with kind eyes.

"Will's herd has arrived." Her expression changed, she got up and trotted off to a group of centaurs talking. I stood by the draft that remained lying down.

"Hello, I'm Callum." He reached up to shake my hand; I bent down and shook his.

"Sigourney, just call me Sig." He smiled back. I looked back to where the mare trotted off to; a fairly large black stallion came walking back to me. Beside him walked a large white stallion, he was looking off to the side, he had white hair hanging in his eyes and sticking out around his head.

"You're from Will's herd, aren't you?" the black stallion asked in a deep gravelly voice.

"Yes. My name is Sigourney, Sig for short. I assume you are the Alpha of this herd?" I

cocked my head slightly. He nodded.

"Sigourney, this is my son, Soul." I smiled and looked over at his son. He was looking at me with large red eyes. I did a mini wave before turning back to his father.

"I'll go tell Will that everything is okay to come in." I turned and cantered back the way I came. I stopped a few feet away from Alpha.

"It's all good, we can go in." I grinned at Tilly.

The stars beamed at us as they hung in the black sky. The little ones were asleep together, along with a few tired others. The rest of us sat and talked about our new living arrangements by a deep, wide river. Tilly and Brian were swimming in the shallow area while I walked on the grass along the river. I could hear the chatter and splashing from a few feet away; I shivered slightly and hugged the wool blanket around my shoulders.

"Hi there." I nearly jumped out of my skin as a voice at my feet said.

"Down here, yeah, hi." I peered around in the darkness then suddenly spotted a flash of silver in the river that connected to a girl with silvery white hair and shimmering fins, a mermaid.

"Hello." I made a small wave.

"Come in, the water is fantastic in this area." The mermaid cocked her head and flashed a bright smile; I smiled in return and reached out a hoof to dip in the water.

"Get out of here!" A voice bellowed and grabbed me back away from the water. The mermaid shrieked and dove back under the dark water.

"Wha..." I looked down at the water.

"Mermaids look and sound sweet and gentle but once they get you in the water they'll pull you under and drown you. Be careful around the deeper areas, we've lost a few centi's because of those evil things." I swiveled my head around to see who had pulled me away. White hair stood out against the night. Soul let my arms go and I turned my body around to face him.

"Thanks. I had no idea. I've never met one before."

"Lucky you." He said unenthusiastically before turning and walking away. I stared after him for a few seconds.

"See you later then." I said quietly, he was already gone. I looked down and pondered the subject of him until Tilly screaming and laughing broke me from my thoughts. I shrugged and continued walking down the side of the river.

"Yeah, yeah. You say you can beat me, but I'm like three years older than you. And I'm way bigger than you." I looked up at the large chestnut with my hands on my hips.

"Well then you don't need to worry. Now, let's race." I raised an eyebrow. He grinned and nodded.

We faced Tilly, who was standing about a hundred feet away from us, holding her arms up.

"Ready. Set. Go!" Tilly swung her arms down and I and the stallion took off. By the time we were halfway there I was a good ten feet ahead of him.

As usual, I won.

"Well, well. You're really too fast for words. I swear ye flew most of the time!" He wiped his forehead and held a hand out to me. I shook it with enthusiasm. Tilly came trotting over to us, the guy left.

"Haha, another victory. How do you do it, Sig?" I shrugged and grinned at her.

"Sigourney! Over here, now!" I swung my head around; Alpha was motioning for me to come to him. I waved back to Tilly and sauntered through other centaurs in my way and halted in front of Alpha.

"You called?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Daniel, Soul, myself and a few others on the protection line are going through the forest to make sure everything is safe. Check to see if there are any griffins, empousai, gorgon, harpies, hydra, you know the drill. Do you want to come? We can always use extra centi with us." He listed the deadly creatures as though they were types of trees.

"Duh! You know I love coming on excursions! Especially when I get to kill harpies. Those things creep me out." I shuddered then smiled at him.

"It's not really an excursion, but whatever. We leave tomorrow at dawn. Be at the main tent by then. And bring your bow, and your sword but make sure to bring your bow. You're most handy with that thing." I nodded eagerly. He dismissed me after we spoke for a few minutes about how the herd was adjusting to their new living arrangements. I yawned and stretched my arms back as far as they would go, then retired to my small tent. It wasn't much, a bed on the ground, a little fire burned in the corner so I wouldn't freeze at night, and a table that held a candle, but I didn't need much. I yawned again and reached behind me to untie the slip that covered my chest before I flopped down on the bed. All the other centi made fun of me for lying on my back when I slept, but I t was way more comfortable no matter how much it made me snore. I settled in with a brown wool blanket over my barrel and a grey one covering my belly and chest. I blew out the candle and closed my eyes, still thinking of the next day.