Depart for safer territory

“We should probably go somewhere safer,” admits Duncan. “Wolves, or anything else, for that matter, can creep up on us easily from these woods.”

“I know a place not far from here,” says Bray. “It is higher ground, and safer. Let’s go.”

He turns to follow the trail out of the clearing. Duncan takes a few steps before saying, “Say, I don’t suppose I could get a ride, could I?”

“A ride?” Bray looks over his shoulder with a skeptical expression.

“Well, that is, if you don’t mind,” says Duncan. “I’m really rather spent after running from that spider woman, and I don’t have any shoes.”

“Not a problem,” says Bray, sarcastically. “In fact, let’s just agree to take turns. I’ll let you ride on my back for a few miles, and then you can carry me for the next few miles!”

Duncan can tell he hit a nerve. “Look, I’m just saying that you’re bigger than me, so....”

“By that rationale, I should do all your breeding for you, too,” replies the centaur, “because I’m literally hung like a horse.”

“Ok, ok.... I’ll do my own walking,” said Duncan. “I was just asking.”

The two princes make their way in silence for several minutes before Duncan speaks again. “I really don’t know much about centaurs. When you and your father were at our palace a couple of years ago, that’s the closest I’ve ever been. It’s still weird to think of you as being 5 years old.”

“It is weird for me to imagine how you humans are able to wait until you are eighteen before it is acceptable for you to mate,” says Bray. “I suppose it has something to do with your arms.”

Duncan looks at his arms in surprise. “Our arms?”

Bray nods. “They are of sufficient length to allow you to masturbate.”

The centaur speaks so matter-of-factory that Duncan is not sure he heard him correctly. Seeing his confusion, the centaur says, “When you reach puberty, and you start to get sexually aroused, you can pleasure yourself and release the tension. Whereas centaurs....”

Bray extends his arms back as far as he can, and Duncan sees the issue.

“You can’t jack off?” he asks in amazement.

Bray shakes his head. “If I could do what you are able to do, I probably would never have left my room.”

Duncan laughs. “I know what you mean. Until I started going out with girls, jerking off was my primary source of cardiovascular exercise!”

Bray laughs. “So I’ve been told about your species. Imagine if you had no way to release your sexual desire in that way. You’d probably reach full sexual maturity much younger, as we do.”

“So do you have a wife? Or a betrothed? Or a girlfriend?” asks Duncan.

Bray snorts derisively. “I do not choose to be saddled by any one filly quite yet. In fact, that’s at the source of why I’m separated from my family at the moment.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am the heir apparent to my father’s kingdom. He would have me settle down and choose a mate to be my queen, but the fields are too full of many varieties of clover for me to be satisfied chewing the same cud day after day.”

Duncan nods in understanding. Although from different species, he senses a kinship with Bray.

“And then there is the little matter of my sexual preferences,” says Bray.

Duncan stops and looks at him. “I didn’t know there were gay centaurs!” He casts a glance toward Bray’s hind quarters and tries not to allow an image come to mind of two stallions getting it on.

Bray gives him a whithering look. “Of course there are, but I’m not one of them. I’m talking about my preference to sample the females of other species and not limit myself to centaurs.”

“Oh...” says Duncan, feeling somewhat foolish. “I get it. And I know what you mean. There’s just too many tasty dishes on the menu to confine yourself to one entrée.”

“Exactly,” says Bray. “But my parents don’t see it that way, and they think it’s perverted and unbecoming the next king.”

They walk in silence again as Duncan considers this.

“So,” he says, breaking the silence, “how does that work? Do you like go to zebra bars and pick up dates that way?”

Bray shakes his head wearily. “Such small-minded thinking! Yes, my reproductive parts are equine, and I do enjoy an occasional romp with a four-footed partner from time to time, but my head and heart are like yours, and I definitely have an eye for the two two-legged variety as well.”

“Two-legged?” exclaims Duncan. “You mean human?”

Bray shrugs. “Among others. Dryads, wood nymphs, elves, and even dwarves — they’re all so delightful!”

“Dwarves?” exclaims Duncan in disbelief. “How does that even work?”

Bray laughs. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! And there’s no shortage of willing partners; you know what they say: ‘Once you go horse, you’ll come back, of course!’”

He laughs at Duncan’s shocked expression. “What? You’ve never heard that? What about, ‘Once you try equine, no human will be fine’?” He laughs again, sounding more horse than man as he does.

By this time they have made their way to an elevated area that allows them a better view of the surrounding area. “How’s this for a resting spot?” asks Bray.