I really thought there'd be only two chapters, but this one kept growing longer and longer, so now it's suddely a three-shot. Please tell me what you think. Is it confusing? I'm sorry if it is, but if you can point out in what way it doesn't make sense, please tell me and I'll make sure to correct the error.
A big thank you to Lady Gryphon's Mythical Realm for providing so much information on legends and mythical creatures.
Note; I don't know much about horse anatomy, so if you know better than I and notice I've made mistakes, tell me what and where and I'll correct it. Promise!
The morning arrived quietly. Usopp, being the eldest colt guarded the mares and foals as the grown centaurs patrolled the area around them. The night had given them little comfort and only the youngest foals had slept a little. Usopp felt how his eyes stung from sleeplessness and he most of all wanted to lean against a tree and sleep through the day, but with the possible threat of humans around he knew he wouldn't have slept if he tried.
The sound of hoofs alerted the group for a moment before Lucky Rough, a very chubby centaur, emerged from the shadows of the forest, slowly approaching the group of women and children carrying two large elks.
"Breakfast," was all he said as he put them down on a well measured distance from the females. Because you don't want to get too close to nervous centaur meres. They might end up killing you.
"Thank you, Lucky," Shakky, a black centaur mare and the eldest female of the tribe, said and scrapped her hoofs. Lucky returned her greeting before wordlessly turning back into the greenery.
The mares immediately started cooking the elks. Usopp would normally hang over their backs to try to steal a little, but today he didn't feel like eating a lot. Instead he stood perfectly still and looked to the Silver Mountains, wondering how Luffy was.
Something warm pulled at his hand.
"Usopp, aren't you going to steal food today?" Tamanegi asked. He was a young foal that some of the elder foals often made fun of because of his bad sight. That he was a pony centaur didn't help his case.
"No," Usopp answered and smiled down at the foal. "I'm the look-out and must always be alert on the surroundings." He stretched his back, crossed his arms and importantly lifted a leg to prove just how important his position was. "Since the tribe is in danger, Master Usopp must take responsibility for the women and children to stay safe and stuffed. Even if I have to starve to death to ensure you all have enough to eat, it will only make me proud as long as you are safe."
Tamanegi's face shone with admiration, not realizing half of what Usopp said was a lie. But it was for a good thing. After all, they didn't have to scare the foals any more than the situation itself already did.
"Tamanegi! We have to stay with mama!" another foal called out, nervously stomping with his hoofs.
"Ninjin nii-san."
"You better go with your brother, Tamanegi," Usopp encouraged. "Don't want your mother and brothers to worry about you."
The foal looked a little disappointed, but nodded and trotted up to his brother and followed him back to wherever their mother and eldest brother were at.
For a second, Usopp caught a glimpse of the only white mare of the tribe; Kaya. Her long, angelic pale blonde hair was pulled back in pigtails today, hanging over her back and shoulders. Her eyes were red from lack of sleep and crying. Usopp had heard her during the night, along with some other mares and nervous foals. Of course Kaya ought to be frightened. Three years ago both her parents had vanished. Not even Sanji had managed to find them. They couldn't blame Nami, since she hadn't been around by that time, and the dragons hadn't taken them. Luffy was the one who had convinced the centaur tribe they were innocent with the comment; "Eating centaurs? Are they good?" Because Luffy was the only young and growing dragon there was no way the others wouldn't have shared any possible captured centaur with him. The only suspects left were humans. Usopp didn't want to think further than that.
Usopp's ears perked at the sound of galloping. His father's galloping none the less.
"Mother! Father is here!" he called into the tight group of cooking mares.
At his voice the dully beige mare that was Usopp's mother stood and left the crowd. Yasopp became visible between the trees and stopped in his tracks, but continued to impatiently stomp with his hoofs.
"Dearest," Usopp's mother called out and trotted up to him.
"I have news for you all," Yasopp called out so that everyone could hear him. "Sanji has been spying around the edge of the forest. He has confirmed that the traps found yesterday were indeed made by humans and intended for us. There is apparently a large scale farm being built near the edge. The leader seems to think that centaurs would make excellent workers for the farm."
The mares started whispering and foals were shoved in under their mothers' bodies and arms. Usopp just stood gaping. Farmworkers? Them? Just what on earth did those foolish humans think they were? Pets?
"Stay calm," Yasopp's safe voice interrupted the stressed whispering. "We have found and disarmed all traps. The humans should take a hint now. We will stay low for now. If those humans keep setting up traps… we will tell them more directly to leave us alone."
As he said that, he lifted his bow slightly to make his point. The elder mares agreed solemnly, the younger started stomping around from nervousness, the foals held onto their mothers. Usopp's face was set in a grim grimace and he crossed his arms, unknowingly bringing up his shoulders. He couldn't deny he felt trapped. Even though he didn't really want to join the males on their outer guard duty (it could be dangerous) staying with the mares right now wasn't good either. He wasn't a leader and didn't have the strength of a full grown centaur, so if the mares broke into panic there would be nothing he could do.
"Usopp, Ben will take over here and you'll guard the edge of the forest with us."
"Really…" Usopp stared happily at his father before he realized what that meant. "If Ben is coming then I can stay with mother and…"
"You're coming with me, son," Yasopp said noncommittally and grabbed his son by the ear.
"Ouch! Pops, I can walk by myself."
"Of course. In which direction had you thought of walking?"
The colt flushed slightly and looked skyward. There he suddenly spotted a faint flash of gold.
"Luffy?"
"Hm?" Yasopp stopped and followed his son's gaze. "Where?"
Usopp squinted. It was hard to see through the leaves, but he was fairly certain.
"I have to check."
The colt ran towards the hill where he usually watched the sunrise and where he had a clearer view of the sky. Yasopp followed. He was well aware of human's desire for dragons and that Luffy possibly was the last born dragon in the entire world. If he was spotted by humans it could mean the end for the dragon race.
"Where is he?"
Usopp spied with squinted eyes, confused that he couldn't spot his golden friend. He was sure he had seen the sun flash off Luffy's scales. Instead a streak of white rising from the Silver Mountains caught his eye.
"I can't find Luffy, but he's definitely out. Otherwise Old Ray wouldn't leave the nest."
"There are two dragons out?" Yasopp asked bewildered. "Where?"
"Right over there. Old Ray is that white streak right there."
Yasopp squinted as he followed the pointing finger of his son. Still it took a few seconds before he spotted it.
"That?" he asked. "Is that a dragon?"
"Yup," Usopp said absent-mindedly, still trying to locate Luffy in the blue above.
"Your sight is something else, son. I would never have known if you hadn't pointed it out to me."
That had the colt's attention. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"I've seen streaks like that against the sky since I was a little foal, but always thought they were little pieces of clouds coloured by the sun."
"But they are moving," Usopp said with disbelief.
"I can hardly see that. Those streaks are there one second and then they are gone."
Usopp gaped. So there might be other dragons around? He had to tell that to Luffy and Dragon, just in case they couldn't tell a dragon from a streak of cloud in the sky.
"We centaurs have sharper sight than humans, so if we can hardly see the dragons, then there is no way the humans can," Yasopp said calmly and scrapped with his hoof. "But we still have to guard the forest edge when the barbarians come looking for us."
"Right," Usopp agreed… wait. No, his fear was not in control. He could handle himself. He always had his loyal bow and arrows, and his sight was sharp… "Pops, I can't go. I suffer from the deadly if-I-guard-the-forest-edge-I-will-die disease."
Yasopp yanked his son in the ear and pulled him along.
The day went, and evening fell over the waiting forest. Even the ever present wind was quiet, as if holding its breath for what was to come. The Silver Mountains towered over the trees, ancient and solemn. Something was definitely about to happen, Usopp thought.
The young centaur had found a large oak with about the same colour as his skin, so he lay against it, covered himself with dry leaves and lay perfectly still under them in an attempt to avoid notice. Sanji had walked past a moment ago, given him one blank look before he continued on his way. Usopp had grit his teeth to keep from yelling after the golden deer-man. Sanji had had a lot of years to refine his hiding skills and he had the ability to use illusions. So what? Usopp had a good enough cover for him without using magic.
The dark was creeping up on them and a thin mist rolled through the forest. Surprisingly, the longer it took for the humans to come, the more nervous Usopp felt. All around him the rest of the centaur tribe was hiding, prepared with their bows and arrows. Usopp caught himself wishing the humans would come already, and mentally berated himself for such thinking. Of course he hoped the humans wouldn't come at all! But waiting for them was much too tiring. If he continued like this Usopp would have no energy left for when and if the humans actually came. He had to relax.
A light danced between the trees… No, not one. Usopp squinted. He had never seen light like those before. A long time ago, when he was only a foal, he had seen fairy light, they resembled the lights that danced between the trees now but there were major differences. These were red, yellow and orange and only bounced forward in slow, gentle hops. It wasn't until the first light in the line stopped that Usopp could see what caused the lights. Right there in the mist under the light the young centaur could see the silhouette of a human.
They were here.
Stiff, on the verge of petrified from fright, Usopp slowly turned his head to look around. He couldn't see anyone. Usopp had never felt so small and lonely and scared, like a little foal. He shook his head. No, this wasn't the time to be scared. The tribe counted on him. He was Usopp the centaur, powerful guardian of this forest.
The lights were still a little far away, nothing that bothered Usopp and his loyal bow. The dry leaves he had covered himself with rustled slightly, but humans are stupid and can't hear well. Usopp prepared his bow and put an arrow to the string. He couldn't aim that well because of the trees, so he had to count the distance between each human and hope his timing wasn't off.
Far away a dog barked and Usopp released his arrow.
The farmers and a few knights walked through the forest armed with ropes, hoping to catch the centaurs in their sleep. Beside the farm-owner, who was right now sleeping soundly in his comfortable bed, only one of the farmers had actually ever seen a real-life centaur. Nobody knew about the knights though, but they seemed to know how to go about this hunt. No dogs, they had ordered, because centaurs are half horses and therefore fast to escape. Dogs would only alarm the creatures.
"I'm still stunned," a man whispered behind him to his friend. "All the traps closed and not a single rat in them."
"Indeed," his friend whispered back. "No blood at all, so they can't have gotten caught and broken out. The centaur I saw looked strong, yes, but I'd never suspect they had some intellect."
Someone behind hushed at them, and they jumped slightly at the distant bark of a dog. A soft thud was heard and the second man walked into the first.
Glaring at his friend for stopping he was surprised to see him fall like a tree with an arrow sticking out from the side of his chest. For a moment the surrounding men just stood there dumbfounded.
Usopp lay perfectly still, staring intently at the line of lights and shadows. The line had stopped around where he had aimed but there wasn't a single sound. Had he hit someone or not? Either way his arrow couldn't have just passed the humans unnoticed. There had to be some sort of reaction.
The young centaur's sharp ears made out the quiet sounds from two bows releasing their arrows close by. Good. That meant he wasn't as alone as he first had thought. And now, after being hit by three arrows, finally the humans reacted.
"Geez, are they slow or what?" Usopp muttered to himself.
A thin centaur slipped out of a bush and quietly walked over to where Usopp lay.
"Yasopp's orders. Stay low and fire when they have their back's turned."
"Got it," Usopp nodded and the thin centaur continued on his reporting quest.
The humans were panicking even worse than a horde of frightened centaur mares. Usopp had thought of them as dangerous before, now he started to rethink his opinion. But a frightened animal can also bite.
A voice hollered through the forest and the humans stilled. The voice continued to yell and the humans moved, now with more precision than before.
So they have a leader, huh? Usopp thought and glanced over his shoulder, not because he heard or sensed anything, only a nervous habit so to say. He'd never suspected to actually find a human standing there with a rope ready.
To the centaur tribe it was lucky that human picked Usopp of all centaurs to sneak up on. No other man of the tribe would have screamed as loudly to alert the entire forest of the danger. Unfortunately though, Usopp dashed straight forward to avoid the rope coming at him, which lead him almost into the arms of the men with the torches.
Usopp's speciality was to run. Well, all centaurs could run of course, but Usopp was faster and had slightly quicker reflexes. The downside of his personality was that he couldn't think of attacking while fleeing.
"It's here!" Usopp heard a human voice call out, at the same time he realized there was a human right in front of him and dug his heels into the soil to stop his pace, lifting up his front body to kick out so the human would get away from him.
A rope caught Usopp's arm and threw him slightly off balance.
"I have it!"
"Never!"
Usopp, instead of trying to tug his arm free, charged for the human and hit him with the side of his body, grabbing the man's knife from the belt while he was at it to cut the rope off, never losing speed.
Now the young centaur had gotten himself together enough to start thinking fast. After cutting off the long end of the rope Usopp pulled out his bow and arrows, turned his upper body mid-jump and fired. What he didn't expect was for something hard to collide with his side, throwing his body heavily to the ground where he kicked with his legs to roll around and stand back up. But he wasn't fast enough. More rope tied his hind legs together and tugged to keep Usopp out of balance.
"Got you now, half-man," a rough voice growled.
"I don't think so," someone else yelled.
The attacker was kicked off him. Had Usopp ever been so happy to see Sanji before? Probably not. Sanji however had taken the shape of a bare-chested human man with black trousers.
Usopp's attacker turned around and his eyes strangely reflected the moon's light just like an animal's. "Huh? What are you doing, protecting the centaur? Aren't you one of us?" he growled dangerously.
Usopp wanted to retort, saying Sanji was holy compared to the dirty human race, but Sanji beat him to it.
"Don't flatter yourself, man-witch. My strength far surpasses yours."
Usopp haltered for a second. Man-witch? Sanji liked to frighten the colts with stories about them; the witches' sons with human appearance but animalistic strength and some even had animal abilities. They were on the humans' side?
The attacker, the man-witch, snorted and tossed with his head so that his long tail of hair moved to his back. "Your strength surpasses mine, you say?" He pulled at his long Fu Manchu moustaches in a thoughtful motion. "You smell like the forest, so I can tell you're no simple human. What are you?"
"I'll leave you to figure it out on your own, man-witch. Usopp, get away from here."
The centaur was happy to comply. He cut his legs free, picked up his bow and fallen arrows and ran off.
The forest edge had turned into chaos. The centaurs were at a disadvantage due to the stupid humans having dropped their torches, setting dry leaves on fire that spread fast. Caught between the humans' ropes and putting out the fire the centaurs were doomed to lose this battle.
Usopp thought fast. He saw his father and Lucky Rough back to back holding their ground with short swords, they didn't need help, but the centaurs trying to stomp out the fire really did need help. Fire frightened anybody, but it seemed the humans were too stupid to understand they too were in danger because of the fire.
Gritting his teeth in anger and desperation Usopp rushed forward and jumped into the flames, kicking up as much soil as possible. It helped a little, but it burnt his skin.
A hard hand reached out and pulled him out of the fire.
"You reckless little idiot," his father growled at him. He was about to continue when the glimmer of metal alerted him of an attack.
It was another man-witch! Unlike the one Sanji was currently fighting, this one was definitely a man-witch. His skin colour was a bright orange and his square neck about as long as the rest of his body. Usopp might have laughed at the fact that this man-witch had an allover square body if the situation hadn't been as desperate as it was. Now was the time to get out of the way. If his father was fighting there was no place for him in the battle. All he could do was aim and hope he'd hit the target.
Escaping into the shadows of the forest, away from the flames, Usopp thought he'd have some distance to work from. Hopefully there were no more man-witches.
From his hiding spot in the dancing darkness the young centaur colt had a good view of what was happening in the light of the growing flames. It was thanks to those red and yellow tongues of fire that Usopp noticed the shape of an unnaturally large owl. Another man-witch!
Usopp hesitated only a second, but the owl had definitely locked eyes on one of the stronger centaurs, so Usopp let his arrow fly, hitting the owl in the head. It made a sound somewhere in between surprise and pain when it fell with its arms waving around. Short arms for an owl, Usopp thought, but knew he wouldn't have to waste another arrow on it. The centaur the owl had aimed for had noticed the man-witch and would finish it.
The fire was really spreading! The still fire fighting centaurs had to retreat and the rest with them. Usopp worriedly wondered how Sanji was fending in the flames. Ageless he might be, but the fire could very well kill him. But there was nothing a single centaur can do against a wildfire. Usopp couldn't even take a run around it just to check on the golden deer-man.
"Damn! You stupid humans!" Usopp cursed and turned to run deeper into the forest; the only place to go to. The mares were still in there, along with a lot of other animals and mythical creatures. Not all trees could move, and those that could wouldn't be fast enough.
A flash of silver in the sky. Usopp stopped, standing perfectly still staring at it.
It couldn't be...
A screeching roar sounded and a white flame flooded from the young dragon's mouth.
It was.
"Luffy, you fool! What are you doing here you stupid dragon!" Usopp yelled angrily and followed his silvery glowing friend back to the battlefield.
Luffy's white flame ate the red ones, and when the young dragon's long body clumsily landed, the fire was out, leaving only a few remaining embers. He roared again.
Every human had heard of dragons. But seeing one was a very different experience. For most it was the cue to run and run fast. They left their few resisting prices and turned their tails. The four who remained were most probably all man-witches, whereof one was the square long-neck, with a few additional, bleeding wounds.
Luffy growled at them with every glowing scale pointing out and his tail twitching around. Usopp joined up right beside him. The wounded centaurs were escaping, those who could still fight hid in the forest's shadows. They were mainly archers after all. They could do more harm from a distance.
It was Usopp and Luffy against four man-witches. The dragon growled, sparks in his mouth and ready for a fight, but Usopp suddenly realized his position. He too was an archer, so what was he doing in the middle of the battlefield?
"My, my, my," a sweet, female voice sounded. Usopp jumped, his head spinning to find the speaker.
The man-witches turned around, and behind them a small white, fluffy cloud was growing bigger until it was about the size of a curled up, grown human body.
Usopp stared. A slim, pale-skinned pair of human legs reached down from the cloud to the ground and the upper body of a human female lifted from the cloud's top. The cloud itself snaked around the woman's body, took solid shape, so that behind the man-witches stood a beautiful woman with long, blonde hair, blue eyes and fluffy cloths that revealed a lot of pale skin. The most noticeable about her was the goat-horns on her head.
"Mother," the man-witches greeted respectfully.
Usopp froze. The man-witches called this strange female "mother"? But man-witches were born from witches. So this fluffy lady was… a real witch?
The woman smiled sweetly, her eyes fixed on Luffy.
"A real dragon youngster. I had almost lost hope to see one within my lifespan."
"Your life won't last much longer, witch!" shouted a voice from above.
The day when Usopp didn't get scared of Nami the griffon was yet to come. Even now he took a leap over Luffy's body to put some distance between him and Nami. Luckily he was good at jumping too or he might have gotten his legs cut away by Luffy's razor-sharp scales.
The man-witches took a step back and drew their shoulders backwards in awareness of the griffon's strength. Dragons are dangerous enough, but every witch worth her salt knows their weakness. A griffon on the other hand, especially a female one, is never to be taken lightly.
"Ease, my sweet," the witch cooed.
Her sons moved to her sides where they probably felt the safest. She counted them and frowned.
"I have six sons," she stated with a cold voice and locked her eyes on the griffon. "Where are my last two sons?"
"How should I know," Nami retorted with a scoff.
The witch gritted her teeth. "You insolent horse-hunter."
Nami lowered her head, prepared for an attack.
"I killed one of them."
Witch and man-witches' attention sharply turned to the only centaur left within sight. Usopp, though on shaky legs, stood his ground with a stubborn face.
"Be not angry with the centaur, fair lady."
Sanji's voice. The witches turned and their eyes widened. The golden deer-man had had to take his original form and stood leaning against a tree, holding his bleeding left side with one hand and a pretty big, nasty-looking scratch on his left front leg's shoulder. All over his body there were scratches as from claws and bruises were starting to form on his chest and the side of his forehead. For some reason he was even more stunningly beautiful than normal, as if the deep-red blood and tired expression were only an illusion to lure the unsuspecting human into his trap. But Usopp's heart clenched at the sight. Sanji wounded could only mean that he had had troubles with the man-witch he had fought. He wouldn't be able to fight another one!
"A golden deer-man," the witch breathed with ecstasy. "This detested forest is full of the most precious prices. I will make you my dearest possession."
"I'd love to," Sanji answered without hesitation, but with a mocking smirk.
"Sanji! What are you saying?" Usopp screamed at him.
The golden deer-man raised a bloodied hand at him and pushed himself from the tree. "I would love to be yours, fair lady, but you would not treasure me knowing…" he stepped into a ray of moonlight so that everybody could see his whole body, whereof one of his
hind legs was covered with blood like a knee length sock "that I just killed your wolf son," he finished.
"Jyabura?" one of the man-witches breathed in disbelief.
The witch was not so cool about it.
"You? My son. My sweet…!" Her white cloths started to boil and swirl and even more of the bubbling substance, like foam, emerged from her hands. "I curse you forever!"
She threw a swirling, boiling substance Sanji's way, but he didn't move.
"Sanji!" Usopp cried and prepared to shoot, but didn't know what to aim at.
Luffy short forward at the witch, intending to head-butt her, but was stopped by the man-witches.
Nami also dashed, but in Sanji's direction. The golden deer-man almost swallowed his tongue. He could survive a curse, he knew, but these young people still tried to save him! Even the gorgeous Lady Gryphon!
A black streak passed him.
The witch's magic hit Nami dead on and she was completely covered in white, boiling foam.
"Lady Gryphon!"
"Dammit! Nami!" Usopp yelled. Sanji was wounded and now Nami was cursed! How would Luffy win this battle with only Usopp as ally? Where was Dragon when you needed him?
A bright blue light flashed inside the boiling cloud surrounding Nami, and it was brushed away, revealing a much smaller form of the bright sunset-coloured griffon as well as a unicorn. A black unicorn with a glowing horn.
"Robin!" Luffy called out happily.
Sanji let out a breath from relief. "Beautiful Robin. You are here at last."
"I could never let Luffy fight alone," the unicorn said with a smile. "I will tend your wounds later too. Rest now, you have done everything you can."
"Thank you. Lady Gryphon?"
Nami slowly looked up. Usopp still stood safely behind Luffy, but Nami's obvious change made even him feel pity.
Sanji too choked at the sight.
Nami the griffon had indeed been cursed. She still had wings, talons, lion legs and paws and a tail, but her gracious and powerful body had shrunk, gotten thinner and lost a good deal of its graceful line. Her strong beak was gone and her pointy ears had fallen lower on the sides of her head, even changed form and grown a little. The white feathers on her belly and face were gone, revealing ivory skin.
Nami had the face and body shape of a human!
"My body!" she screeched. "My beautiful body! How could this happen? Such a wrenched form! What did you do to me, you witch?"
Robin the unicorn stepped in front of the now griffin-woman, glaring warningly at the witch.
"I won't let you fulfil your curse," she said.
"I'd like to see you try and stop me, dirt-blood," the witch scoffed back. "What can you, a mare half-breed unicorn, do against me, a pure-blood witch?"
"I stopped the curse already," Robin answered softly. "The threat young Nami makes isn't gone. She can still fight, and I will too."
The witch smirked, giggled, threw her head back laughing.
"You will fight me? How not cute. Such a young griffin is impulsive. You, many times her age, will never be able to keep up with her."
"We'll see about that."
All of a sudden Luffy charged again, aiming for one of the man-witches, snapping with his powerful jaws. The surprise of the attack caught the man-witches off guard, and one of them got a cut on his cheek, something he certainly didn't seem to like.
"The dragon is mine," he growled angrily.
"Don't lose temper, my sweet," the witch warned.
Usopp quickly summed up the situation. Sanji was out of battle, Nami, cursed or not, and that black unicorn would take on the witch. Luffy against the strongest-looking man-witch, one that would probably keep his claws full. Usopp himself stood alone against no less than three man-witches.
Not good.