The male tried to turn and make a run for it. The female was much faster and stronger that him. She caught up to him and put him in a side headlock. "Stop it! Please! It isn't right! I need to go!" he cried out in pain. "That sounds great. I'll be here to escort you. As soon as you get those powers of yours, I'll mount. Our colts and fillies will be so strong." she said as he tried to struggle. There seemed to be no way for him to overpower her. That's when we charged them. We were able to get them separated with a few quick jabs to her side. We made sure to keep the shaman candidate behind us as we confronted her. She was furious that she was not getting her way here. I could see she was especially mad since it was other males preventing her from making a claim. Still, she was not suicidal. All 4 of us were armed. Petras and Jeran had armor. I left the heavy iron armor behind with the Swifthearts. I still had a simple leather armor set with the red and white tunic with the house crest. She was unarmed with only a leather tunic on. Glaring us down, she turned around and walked.
Under the circumstances, I would say that was a victory. Not every encounter had to end in bloodshed. He looked at all of us. "Thank you. She was too strong for me." he said gratefully. I hoped that it would transfer over to him being a part of our group. "You clearly did not want to be with her. Rescuing you was an easy choice." I said. His eyes widened. He then bowed. "The tribal tradition dictates that if a mare is rescued in the heat of battle, the mare is to swear their fealty to the one who rescues him." I was more than aware. He cleared his throat and said "That was you 4. I pledge to follow you whereever you go and lend you my aid." he really did not look happy saying that. He wanted to be a shaman. Being a part of our group, especially with a random human in it, was not the life he dreamed of. I smiled at him. "You wanted to be a shaman, right? Let us protect you as you make the journey. I kind of want to see what it looks like." His eyes widened with hope. "You'd let me go back to my tribe!?" he asked. I shook my head. No way. "You will be a shaman in our group." I said.
It was non negotiable. We saved him. He had to come with us. If his tribe wanted him that badly, they would have given him a warrior companion. He deflated hearing that from me. It was a small compromise, but he was not going to be going home. That dream ended when that female got in his way. If it was not us 4 taking him away, it would have been her. At least he would be able to become the shaman he had trained hard to be. It was objectively the better fate still. He sighed and asked if we were ready to go. We were. Since this was his journey, he was the one leading us there. We could afford this detour. The Swifthearts did not give me a firm deadline. It was because they did not care if came back. I had gotten Jeffery advanced to the rank of count. The portal basically took no time at all for me to say all of my final goodbyes and gather my loot. I doubted that it would take too long for him to get where he needed to be. Asking for his name, he said it was Enetes. It was a nice name according to the other centaurs. My being there certainly would slow things down a bit.
