Shadowed Veil by Emery Blake

Author:Emery Blake
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Byrd Books, LLC
Published: 2019-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

I was lost in reminiscence as I crossed the open square in front of the hospital. I thought back to my first day here, when the sight of dwarves conversing amiably with a centaur shocked me to my core. I had seen so much already that I barely noticed it until the centaur started trotting toward me. Great. Chiraena was the only centaur that I knew well and the best that could be said about our relationship is that she at least talked to me. The others that I had met did their best to pretend I didn’t exist.

I recognized the bearded face that approached. He was a chieftain among the centaurs in Inter-realm, the one who was there when I popped through the portal from their home realm. He hadn’t looked very friendly then and by his expression he was not happy to see me now.

“Skylar Dufrense.” He spoke my name as a greeting with no further elaboration. None of the Cloven cultures were particularly polite or given to linguistic excess, but the centaurs were downright abrupt.

“Chieftain…I’m sorry, I have forgotten your name.”

“I am Ziphus. You will remember it next time.”

I blinked in surprise. I had come to accept a certain rudeness from Cloven, but this was a bit much. I planted on my good leg and placed my right hand on my hip, affecting an unintimidated air, or trying to, at least. Ziphus towered over me. His long beard fell in narrow braids across a broad and muscular chest. He snorted, crossed a massive pair of arms, and stomped his fetlocked hooves.

Despite their terse speaking style, centaurs were highly attuned to posture and body language. I had clearly upset him. Not wanting to exacerbate an already tense situation, I dropped my hand and assumed a more neutral stance.

“What do you want, Chieftain Ziphus?”

“The faun, Zhas. He is in Inter-realm.”

“What? When did he arrive?”

I thought I had seen the last of the little goat-man when he left me at the outskirts of the old city. A knot I didn’t know I’d been carrying unraveled and I felt a sense of relief and happiness that was entirely unexpected.

“He said that he didn’t want to come here, that he wanted to stay in his home. What happened?”

“Home,” Ziphus snorted. “What home? Weeds choking to death in dusty soils? Sandstorms and wildfires? Only a fool would call that place home anymore.”

Beneath the stoic mask and thick beard, I could see pain and sadness. Incongruous in such a massive and mighty creature, and one who affected such a frosty dignity.

He sighed and looked directly at me. His unblinking gaze was seriously discomfiting, but I straightened my back and resolved not to look away. “It took us several weeks to find him. He had moved from the cave you described. He resisted, initially. But in the end, he saw reason. Since you were responsible for informing us of him, I thought you should know.” And with a nod, he danced around in a half circle and trotted back towards the dwarves.

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