I set my bag down and looked at the white centaur that I met earlier. "Do centaurs keep their words?" I asked him. He said "Among other centaurs on the plains, sure. As a herd, bonds are very tight. Anything not done by talking is solved with fighting. You are just a weird 2-legs walking around without a tribe on their territory." The leader growled at him and said "Stay out of this, short tail!" He then turned to me and said "I keep my word and so do my warriors. You pay me, and you'll get off our land safely." That was all that I needed to hear. They would probably try to cheat me out of any deal I made. "If you give your word to get me all the way to the town, I will pay you all way more gold than that." I said as I opened the bag to give them a peak at the gold and jewels. The looked shocked and demanded to know where I got it. "It doesn't matter where I got it. It's mine now and I'll give you some if you help me get there." They looked from me to the white centaur. "Do we have a deal or no?" I said to the group, zipping up the bag and putting it over my neck. They were willing to take me.
As we continued, I asked if they had any food. One of them had some bread. I asked him for it and he shared with me. It was nice and flaky. With food in my system, I was able to continue on. They really did not want the white centaur to follow us in their territory. I did not have any loyalty to him so I did not speak up for him. He just left us. I did not forget what he said though. I was going to have to sleep with one eye open until we got there. We went for a few hours, but we did not get very far. There was still about an hour before the sun would set. "You're moving too slow 2-legs! How long is it going to take for you to move. You have protection." one of the warriors said. The frustration was shared by the leader. He did not want to continue taking me over. "This is more than we bargained for. Let's go." he said to his men. Some of the warriors did not mind going with me. After a brief discussion, they split down the middle. 4 left to return to the main herd. The other 4 were going to finish the job and get payment. None of the remaining centaurs let me ride on their backs. That made walking.
Jeran, Casone, Ororos, and Petras were their names. I asked them because I could at least trust that they were interested in the mission. At the very least, the drive to explore and have an adventure is a driving factor for young men of any species. When it was getting late, I told them that I would eventually need to sleep. They told me to keep up with them for an hour more. I nodded and we walked together. When they had gotten to a point they were comfortable, they laid down. I was sat in the middle and rested. They were all in a circle and were looking at me. I made sure to keep a firm grip on the bag as I rested on it. There was still a risk of them trying to steal the bag and leave me for dead. When I was sure that they were sleeping, I was finally able to go to sleep. Being plagued by nightmares, I was not ever unconscious for long periods of time. That was good for not being robbed. It was not too good for being well rested. When it was time to go, we continued walking. I noticed that Jeran was walking much closer to me than before. Ororos and Petras were looking at him concerned.
