Ch 22 The Centaurs of Switzerland
Sunday morning after church Sibylla Papadopoulos, the young prophetess, approached Albus, Cleo, Rose, Scorpius, Jesus and Ginny Wang. "The centaurs would like to meet with you six," she told them. "Dress in shorts, sturdy shoes, and meet me at door B at the lowest level of the castle in an hour. Please let your parents know you will be with me."
Sibylla looked at Frerin and Dis, the Elves that usually shadowed Albus and Cleopatra and served as bodyguards. "Frerin and Dis may stay close until I tell them to wait. When we meet with the centaurs they can be close, but not in the meeting."
An hour later the six Magi met at a small door that led from the bottom floor of the castle to the green valley. There were no homes of Magi in the valley, although there were farms. Many of the greenhouses that raised crops were in the hills above the valley, as were some orchards. Maybe twenty percent of the valley was farmed, and the rest was parkland or wild. Even the barns for cattle and farm equipment seemed to have been in caves or hollowed out areas in the mountains.
The day was warm, and no one minded wearing shorts. They walked about half an hour, and then Sibylla had them sit down on some park benches that were arranged in a circle. She started, "There are only twelve herds of centaurs. They all communicate by something that looks like a portal, an open doorway that leads from where one herd is to another herd. These portals are closely guarded, as are many areas that the centaurs inhabit. Apollo, who Albus and Cleo know, is here, having come through one of the portals.
"The centaurs are, as you know, prophets. They have been sundered from almost all Magi, although the heirs of the prophetess's of Delphi have maintained contact with them. Our contact has been awkward and intermittent. From our prayers and insight, of both the Magi and the centaurs, it seems that we need to work together again, to the benefit of both.
"As many of you know, prophecy is often stronger in the female. Centaur mares are even shier than the centaur stallions. One of the reasons is clothing. I do not know the whole history, but Magi have used the fact that they are clothed and centaurs are not to indicate that the Magi were the dominate, and that centaurs were just little more than animals, pets. The obvious solution would be for centaurs to wear clothes, but as herd animals and how they were created, that is a hard thing for them to accept.
"Albus and Cleo, and I, have successfully met with the centaurs by going naked above the waist. That is not an issue with wizards, but it can be very embarrassing for witches."
Sibylla looked at the three witches. Cleo quite obviously did not have any problem with going naked above the waist. She may not have felt she was particularly pretty, but she celebrated all her femininity, and had no problem showing it. Rose and Ginny were obviously worried.
"If you want to come with us to see the centaurs, especially the mares, it is time to strip to the waist," Sibylla told the others, as she took off her lightweight blouse and bra. Cleo did the same, and used her wand to support her substantial superstructure.
Rose took off the strappy top she was wearing, shrunk it, and put it in a pocket of her shorts, where it disappeared. She looked over to Ginny, who did the same. Rose took a deep breath, and turned her back to the others. She took off her bra, and put the bra in the same pocket, before turning shyly around. It wasn't really any different that the beach in France where … except it was different. Especially with Scorpius there it was … that was the problem.
Ginny looked at the three other witches, and decided it they could, she could as well. She didn't turn around; she just took off her bra and put it in a pocket.
Sibylla told the Eves, "We need to go a little further, alone. Please stay here. If Albus or Cleo call for you please come, but otherwise please stay here."
Sibylla led the way, with Albus and Cleo following, Cleo bouncing like she usually did. Everything about Cleo was exaggerated, and seeing her hips move back and forth, up and down, was quite a sight.
When they arrived at the clearing where the centaurs were they were met by an equal number of stallions and mares (Albus and Cleo learned early on to never call them men and women!). One of the mares was nursing a foal at her breast, and Rose, who was a keen observer of body types and shapes, looked at the centaurs. The human part was roughly human, but there were significant differences. The average human female had a smaller rib cage than the average male, and narrower shoulders, although there was a wide variety among people. Cleo had a wide rib cage, but nothing about Cleo was small. Rose had a small rib cage, and Ginny's was even smaller.
The human part of the centaur seemed to mostly be rib cage, and they were significantly wider and deeper than that of a human. It made sense if the centaur lungs were in the human part. That of course meant that the female centaur's breasts were larger as well, and considering the size of the babies they needed to feed it made sense that the breasts of the mare nursing her foal were mammoth.
Albus and Cleo noticed Apollo and Selene. "Greetings friends Apollo and Selene," Albus waved.
"Greetings!" Cleo greeted the centaurs, waving her arm exuberantly, the by this time very long plaits flying back and forth. "It is so good to see you again!"
Apollo and Selene smiled; they were used to Cleo's exuberance. The rest of the centaurs looked warily at the Magi.
"I need you to promise, to swear on your wands," Apollo started, "that what we say and do here will remain confidential. If Albus and Cleo come into their own as king and queen of the Magi, they may want to deal with the issues we are raising here."
All the Magi, including Sibylla, took out their wands and swore oaths that anything spoken or revealed during this meeting would be shared only among the seven of them.
When they were finished a large stallion and mare strode to the front and faced the Magi. Normally you could see the large male organ of a stallion, and their maleness was a little intimidating. For the first time you could see, only on this stallion, not on any others, that there was also a large human looking male organ, down where the human looking and horse part joined. The mare had where the human and horse parts came together the human female parts, again visible for the first time.
"I am Abraham," the stallion announced.
"I am Sarah," the mare followed with.
"Most of the magical animals on earth came to earth with the first High Elves," Abraham proclaimed. "The modern DNA analysis proves it. Centaurs were created by Greek Magi, or the predecessors of the Greek Magi, to be a present to the king and queen of the Magi about four thousand years ago, we think. We were created as herd animals with human parts, not as part human part horse beings. That is why we cannot be considered beings, but because of our status as property must be considered beasts. This is part of the magic that created us."
"Would you like the magic to change?" Cleo wondered. "I would not want any sentient creatures to be considered property!"
"As queen, not crown princess but queen, you might have the power to change our status," Sarah replied. "Be warned, there is no guarantee that you will take the wand of your great grandmother, and that is the easier task. Taking the last crystal ball and defeating the Lord of the Dementors will be much harder, and much more tragic for you and your family."
"Do we have to confront the Lord of the Dementors?" Albus wondered.
"I doubt if you will have a choice," Abraham replied.
Sibylla agreed, "If we read the omens correctly, you are fated to confront Jezebel sooner than you would like, before you are finished at Hogwarts, and once you have come into your own as rulers you will be forced to confront the Lord of the Dementors."
"In this the centaurs and human prophets agree," Sarah confirmed.
"We need to tell you how we breed," Abraham proclaimed. "There is tragedy and sorrow in what Magi did to create us. You see, we really are two parts, mostly horse but by appearance and genetics part human, mashed together in such a way that breeding is not easy, and is all too often tragic."
"We are born in two parts, human and horse, with a too small heart and all our lungs in the human part, and the rest of our organs in the horse part," Sarah explained. "Both parts need to be born within minutes of each other, with the human looking part first. There are only a few minutes after the human part is born before the horse part needs to be born, and then the two parts need to be joined. Over a quarter of the time something goes wrong and the foal dies, and the percentage of foals that are dying is growing."
"The mortality rate for mares who are pregnant has been over five percent," Abraham added. "When the herd is stressed it can climb much higher. We must be stressed now, since it is almost ten percent and climbing, per pregnancy. Our creators did not care, considering us beasts. It is not easy maintaining the size of the herds, yet we must to perpetuate our species. If this keeps getting worse, we do not know what we will do."
"If you had the choice to not breed would you take it?" Albus wondered.
"Probably not, but it has been discussed," Abraham replied.
"The mares think breeding is worth the risk, but it is joy mingled with sorrow," Sarah all but cried, sorrow evident in her face and bearing. "Much sorrow."
"Humans think nothing of seeing animals breed," Abraham pointed out. "We were created as animals, and as animals they believe we do not make love but breed, breed when it is time."
Abraham and Sarah then came together, front to front, the human parts mating, or at least that was what it looked like. Followed this joining, human looking with human looking, there was a second mating, with the stallion going around and mounting the mare as a horse would.
To say it was embarrassing would be an understatement. Each of the three Magi couples held hands, but did not look at each other.
"What could solve your problem?" Albus wondered after the Abraham and Sarah had parted, wanting to quickly move beyond the scene they had just witnessed.
"Would it help if we knew what spells created you?" Cleo added. "Sometimes I can see what is happening when I examine people with my wand."
"You may examine us," Abraham agreed, looking to Sarah, who nodded yes in confirmation.
Cleo approached Sarah, and examined her, paying special attention to her reproductive organs and to the area where the human and horse areas joined. She did the same with Abraham, to Abraham's intense discomfort. She pondered the situation; you could always tell with Cleo was pondering by the intense expressions that flowed across her face, and the way she often shook her head, the plaits flying.
"May I see your wand?" Cleo asked Albus. Albus gave Cleo his wand, and she examined Sarah and Abraham with Albus's wand. Then she asked Rose, then Ginny, and finally Sibylla, and just examined Sarah. Finally, she took the other bamboo wand out of its metal case, and examined both centaurs.
Cleo pondered some more, and finally she asked, "May I have Dis, my Elf companion to come here? I think this is an Elfish wand," holding up the wand she had just taken out, "and I think it may have had something to do with creating the centaurs."
Everyone looked to Abraham. Abraham looked to Apollo.
"Ask the mares?" Apollo wondered. Abraham nodded 'yes.'
Apollo looked at Selene, who insisted, "If it can save the lives of mares and foals, we need to do this!"
Abraham looked at Sarah, who concurred. "It is not right that we lose so many mares and foals. We need to accept all the help offered!"
Abraham told Cleo, "Call your Elf."
Cleo called, "Dis, just Dis, please come here."
A quick 'pop' and Dis was standing next to Cleo, first looking around quickly to see if there was any trouble, then looking expectantly at Cleo.
"This is Sarah the centaur, and her mate Abraham," Cleo explained. "I would like you to examine both of them with this wand, paying special attention to their reproductive organs, and to the place where the human looking and horse part join."
Dis looked uncomfortably at the proffered wand, and after a noticeable pause gingerly took it. The Elf closed her eyes and waved the wand, opened her eyes, looked away from everyone, and waved it again. She held the wand close to her, and as far away as she could, pointed it down at the earth and up to the sky. She turned around, and told Cleo, "I can handle any wand of the Magi without thinking about it. I have no desire to use them. They are just things, important things to Magi, but things. This is an Elf wand, a very powerful Elf wand. It makes me desire things that are very good, and that may be very bad, and that are … I cannot say it.
"I will try to use this wand, but it is not mine to use. You are asking a most hard thing from me."
"I will take the wand back after you are finished," Cleo told Dis.
"Please!" Dis exclaimed, relieved.
Dis examined both centaurs. She then gave the wand back to Cleo, who put it in its metal case.
"Could an Elf have helped make the centaurs?" Dis asked. "If one did, I am not sure that it was something that they should have done. I just don't know, however. I probably said things I should not have said."
No one said anything for a while, pondering what had been going on. Finally Rose asked, "Have you had witch midwives try to help with giving birth, and animal midwives, veterinarian healers?"
"Why?" Abraham asked.
"THREE things!" Cleo exclaimed. "You need a witch midwife for the human part, and witch veterinarian for the horse part, and an Elf healer for where the two parts join. An Elf healer using this wand! That is what you need."
Albus jumped in with, "I have learned to trust Cleo's instincts with these things."
"Remember that potion that even the professors were having problems with?" Scorpius added. "It took Cleo and her unique instincts to get it right. I agree. If Cleo says that is what it will take I would trust my life on it."
"It is my life," Sarah acknowledged as she moved closer to Abraham. "We should do this."
"Two Magi and an Elf at each birth?" Abraham wondered, putting his hand on her lower back. "That is asking much of others."
"Asking for help when help is needed is wisdom, not weakness," Albus insisted.
"The midwives should examine Sarah as soon as possible, and continue to examine her, so they can learn," Cleo insisted.
"Call the midwives," Abraham concurred after he looked at Sarah, who nodded her agreement.
"So much for keeping everything private," Scorpius reflected. "I am documenting what we are doing, and I will try to keep this meeting as secret as I can. Some of what we have been talking about needs to be shared with a few trusted healers, however."
"Do what you need to do," Abraham responded.
The group walked back to the circle of benches, where they met Frerin. Everyone put their clothes back on.
"I will take care of recruiting the midwives, including the Elf midwife," Sibylla told the group. "I will need Cleo and the wand for the first meeting, and maybe for others. I will see if there are any more mares pregnant, and do my best to have the midwives examine all pregnant mares, and maybe others."
"If there are deaths you need to have the bodies autopsied," Rose insisted. "I know that there has been tremendous progress in Elf healing, and in understanding Elf bodies, over the last twenty years, and the combination of magic and modern science is why."
"There is something seriously wrong with the way centaurs were created and treated," Albus reflected. "Changing it will not be easy."
"Call a couple of Auror guards, and then take a walk in the park," Sibylla suggested. "That way if anyone asks what you did this afternoon you can honestly say you just relaxed and walked through the park."
Which is what they did.
2021