Centaurian

I ate several more apples, pleased for their welcome sweetness and taste and watched the day come alive around me. Perhaps their gaining trust in me would present an opportunity to escape sooner than I realised, yet no sooner had I that thought when I felt a sorrow at the breach it would cause when I failed their trust. They both seemed people of honour with a care about them yet it was not they who would decide my fate.
I realised the groom was absent and that only Timothy arrived and began his daily tasks, he seemed a purpose about him and was whistling louder than usual.

The stables soon grew real busy with the arrival of the leatherworker, who placed his tools and bags in the corner and began displaying an inordinate amount of interest in me as he leaned back against the wall chewing a piece of straw hanging in the corner of his mouth.

He noticed the arrival of the saddler and the blacksmith and moved to speak with them in soft conversation that I could not detect. They often looked at me as if considering something then the conversation would begin once more.
I knew the three as I had seen them about their duties. They had each looked at me with great interest at some time during their labours in the stables, but sooner or later their interest waned and their duties called.

I saw the Lady stride quickly around the door of the stable and move to them with them a purpose.

“Good morrow Gentlemen”

Each of these older and much larger men, hardened by work and life, grizzly in looks and demeanor, bowed low to the Lady and smiled in return to her. See seemed neither uncomfortable nor unhappy in their presence and I saw little of the airs and graces other humans used around her.

She joined their conversation in earnest and I began to hear snatches of it as it grew more animated from her presence and questions.
“….the modifications may not even be necessary…” , the saddler
“…closer look …” the farrier
“ … no problem…” the leatherworker

They moved around the tack area, picking up bridles and looking at them and I saw the leatherworker place the tips of his thumbs together across his mouth then across the width of the bit, as if to demonstrate something.

Soon they had obviously reached an agreement and each moved to his task with a will as the Lady approached me and looked long and hard. It seems she resolved whatever thoughts caused her pause and she opened the stall door with her small hands and drew it back.

She called Tim to her and they set about brushing me as they had the day before, I was soon lost in the sensation and little conscious of the efforts of the workers around me and yet I smelt and was aware of the approach of the blacksmith. I looked him full in the face, seeking his intent, he looked from her to me and back again, I sensing his fear as well as seeing it written on his face before he saw her smiled reassurance, and she beckoned him in.

They resumed the brushing and he commenced examining me, still unsure at first but his hands reaching out, to touch and feel with sure experience as his sense of wonder took over. He even went so far as to place his ear against my ribs and listen to my breath and lower heartbeat. Then he leant his shoulder into mine and pushed, I shifting the weight as he lifted my leg with practiced hands and examined my hoof and then with familiarity overcoming fear he moved around me, lifting each leg in its turn.

“He is in all respects a fine specimen my Lady, though I can only speak of his horse half, he shows no sign of lameness of weakness in his legs or body, He has never been shod though his hooves are in near perfect condition, better than any wild horse in fact and I see no reason to attempt shoeing him for now. Even for a horse he is a little old to experience that for the first time, lets keep an eye on them though”

He looked at her as if deciding to speak or not, and I saw his decision made in his face,

“as to the human bit, I dunno, I don't mind telling you Milady I dare not touch his chest to see if he has two hearts, for I fear only the spawn of hell could have such, if speak he canst, then why has he not, even to protest his treatment.”

He looked her in the face and resolved to speak his mind,

“I know not how I truly feel about its existence, little enough that it is here before me now.

He seemed finished with his inspection and speech and moved to assist the saddler at what ever he was doing, beyond my sight and hearing and after a minute the leatherworker joined them.

Soon, it seems the work was done as all three men moved to lounge around and watch them finish brushing me. I noticed the leatherworker had his straw in the corner of his mouth again.

The Lady left Tim to finish the task though only my tail remained and she walked before them and looked to each as she spoke.

“Each of thee I have grown up with and my love for each has grown. We share of a common bond in the horses. I ask each as friend to speak nothing of what transpires this morn. My husband is not yet King though my father fades and I fear for us when he does. This is a man of no honour, only conquest, no more than a warmonger who gains his position through marriage to my Fathers line, not by his own merit. I ask, as your Princess, that you know now I hold my Husband in little regard, he would no doubt frown on this venture should he learn of it. I place in each a trust for my life by saying these words of treason and he is just as sure to kill this amazing beast to prove his power over me if I do not handle this cunningly and well.“

Each bowed a little lower this time than ever before, “By your command Highness,” replied the leatherworker with a sincere formality, each man nodded his assent before gathering his things and leaving.

Tim finished his task at the back and then moved to where the men had been working. He came back from there carrying a saddle, he moved alongside me before pausing to look at her

“peraps it's a bit close in here my Lady, I mean if e bucks you may get hurt ”

“I think not, he seems a creature of gentler spirit and I think he trust us both, he moves with a slowness around me, as if aware his size and strength could hurt me easily. Notice how he stamps his rear legs hard when I am distant from him, like any horse, yet not at all when I am close, he just moves slow and gentle”

I felt him place the saddle upon my back, just behind my withers. The girth straps fell loose against my ribs and I turned to look over my shoulder and down at the device. The stirrups had been tied together over the saddle, so as not to alarm me perhaps, or to stop them becoming deadly flails should I object with force.

Tim reached slowly underneath my lower chest and grasped the girth, feeding the buckle loose till I breathed out in my lower lungs then pulling it tight as I breathed in. It was not really uncomfortable, just unusual and I noticed my upper lungs working a little harder to compensate for the restriction.

He then moved away and returned with a second piece of equipment, his hands concealing it as he moved towards me. Only too aware of the place a horse holds in the human world, I had long ago figured out what was going on. It seemed to me that no other avenue of escape had come close to presenting itself, so I would see where this one led a little further.

His hands contained a stiff leather collar with a long rope attached, he climbed the side rails of the stall before placing the collar around my throat quite loosely and doing it up. I moved my head and stretched my neck against its unfamiliar presence but it too was of little discomfort.

He pulled on the rope very gently, urging me from the stall and then handed the rope to the Lady.
She took a few steps and played out a few spools of rope before producing from nowhere I could discern, a small piece of sugar which she held up to me.

Though we were unaware of sugar till getting to know humans, we often trade for it as a supplement to the honey that is our natural sweetener. It offers its own pleasure to the taste without the stings of the bees as its collected from the wild swarms.

I moved forward to take it and she walked backwards holding it out, yet placing no more tension on the leash than necessary to draw it with her as she retreated. Once we reached the breaking yard she handed me the sugar and I ate it immediately, Here she nodded to Tim who came to hold the leash as she disappeared into the stable, appearing in a rush astride the stallion I had seen her on yesterday. She had donned leather gloves and I noticed the spurs affixed to her heels, not in place earlier but only too apparent now.

She rode the stallion to where Tim was standing and held out her hand for the leash, which he handed up to her and I felt her take up a little more slack on the collar than Tim had done. She gently heeled the stallion and he moved off at a walk and I felt the leash jerk at my throat so I moved into step behind them. I could see from here her well-shaped hind area, rounded and firm on the leather saddle, making it so that I found it hard to look at little else. A quick look had shown me the sandy ring would not require me to pick my way, careful lest each step bring me down and break a leg.

Bolstered by my acceptance she kicked the stallion to a faster speed and then even faster forcing me to keep up, only to slow pace, breaking each gait to the slower we circled and came to a complete halt.

Tim quickly made his way to us and reaching over his heads height, untied the stirrups, I felt them fall to either side, touching my ribs as they swung before coming to a rest and once still I barely noticed them against my flanks.

I watched as she slid from the back of the stallion to the ground and made her way to me, eyes appraising, and I realised that she had spent a lot of time around horses as human females do. In her I felt an understanding, not of my human half but that she was comfortable enough with my horselike half to trust the other. If this made her at ease then I would do all I could to cultivate both it and my chance at escape.

My resolve lasted almost as long as it took to reveal the device the men had prepared. It was a halter and bridle designed to fit a mans head, its long reins attached to a metal bit.