Down to the river

You walk beside Brighid as she leads you towards the river. You pass quite a few centaur villagers on your way, and their reactions mostly range from unhappy to see you to downright hostile. There are a few who wave or say a polite word to your Companion, but the ones who are kindest towards you are the ones who either don’t notice or ignore your presence. For the most part the pair of you are given a wide berth on your walk, but once you pass the guards and get in sight of the river, a trio of young male centaurs block your way to the water, spreading out in a loose semicircle about ten meters further down the path.

Brighid’s face hardens when she sees them, and she bends down to tell you in a low voice, “The Council hasn’t ruled on whether you will be inducted into the tribe yet, so right now you have no legal rights. No matter what, you must not allow them to goad you into attacking them. I am your Companion, let me deal with them. This is at least as much about me as you, anyway.”

Then she steps in front of you and speaks loudly, her voice carrying to the trio and probably even down to the river and back to the village. “What do you want, Neifion? If it is an apology for darkening an otherwise bright day, I will listen, but otherwise, kindly remove yourself from my presence.” You take the time while Brighid talks to look the three over.

The one in the center -- Neifion, presumably -- is maybe a tiny bit taller than Brighid, but not as broad across the shoulders or as well-muscled. His hair and fur are black, and his skin only lightly tanned. If you had to bet, he is either a junior warrior or something like a hunter, who spends some time outdoors but doesn’t do hard labor or strenuous military training. His two minions are of similar build but slightly shorter. One has black hair with a brown coat and the other brown hair with a splotchy white and brown coat.

Neifion sneers at her and rears back on his hind legs, displaying his sheath for Aidan and Brighid to see. “What I really want is for you to come over here and suck my dick while Cad and Brys take turns melting all the ice out of that frozen cunt of yours, but today I’ll settle for you just standing aside while we deal with that piece of trash behind you.” His friends cheer him on, calling out slurs to the two companions.

“Oh, Neifion, you could not handle my mouth on your stub. From how Siwan talks, you’re such a quick shot you would not even last until I touched you. She always comes to me after you mount her, you know that, right? She needs more than two pumps to get off.” Brighid lets that sink in for a moment and just as the cocky young male opens his mouth to shout insults back at her, she continues, “As for Aidan? Not to worry, Neifon, Cadwaladr, Brys; I will protect you from the fierce little human, no need to be scared.”

Nefion snarls and begins to advance towards the pair, his cronies following half a step behind. You can see Brighid’s muscles tense up under her fur. The male centaur calls out again, his voice seething with hatred, “Maybe we’ll just have to do a bit of both, what do you say, boys? Brys, you and I can break in the frigid bitch here and Cad, you can make the runt lift his tail for you before you finish him off.” The three centaurs spread out further and begin to circle around you and Brighid. Brighid turns to keep her eyes on Neifion, but you can see her long ears twitching and swivelling as she tracks the other two by the sound of their hooves on the ground. You decide to turn the other way to watch behind her, moving to keep your place at her side as she turns.

“Tell me, Brighid, have you rutted with your pet yet? Or maybe you just make him watch while you go for a gallop on your riding stick?” He switches to Northern Trade-tongue and continues, “That’s it, isn’t it, human? You tug your tiny little dick while she plays with herself for you?” Your mind flashes back to the night at the creek on the way to Bannagh Macht, but you don’t respond to Neifion’s provocations. “Big Red here has a bit of a reputation, see? She thinks she’s too good to be mounted by a man but she lifts her tail for allllll the women. Probably even been taken for a ride by her own mother! You know, I think we all got off on the wrong leg, here. Stand aside and I’ll let you have a go at her after we’ve had our fun, what do you say?”

You snort and respond to him in Highlands Gallic, “Is your brain entirely in that tiny dick you waved at us earlier? I already heard what you plan to do with me. I’ve got a counter-offer for you. You all want to have sex with Brighid, right? Well, she doesn’t have the right equipment to mount you, but I’m sure she’ll be happy to let me be her proxy. What do you say, how about you just get down on your bellies and lift those tails for me?” You pause for just a second and add one last calculated insult, “Or maybe I’m not big enough. I wouldn’t want to disappoint you. I’m sure we can find a horse somewhere to plow you if that’s more your style.”

You hear Neifion shout in rage and begin to charge, but just as you sink down into a crouch to dodge away from the nearest of his cronies -- Brys, you think -- you hear a short whistle and then two blurs of dark fur leap from the underbrush. One hits him in the front legs under the knees while the other, just a half second after the first, leaps up and rams into the side of the centaur’s body. The first hit unbalances him and causes him to start to fall forward, and the impact of the second turns his stumble into a sideways fall. Before he has a chance to catch his breath, there is one wolf sitting on his flank and another growling at him an inch away from his face. You spin around to help Brighid with the other two assholes, but they are similarly disabled and guarded.

Brighid relaxes from her fighting posture and calls out, “Took you long enough.” You’re not sure who she’s talking to until Anwn emerges from a patch of bushes. You have no idea how you missed a centaur in bushes that barely come up to the top of her legs, but you neither saw nor heard her approach.

“I had to wait for them to actually attack, you know the laws as well as I, Brighid.” The Councillor’s voice is cool and dispassionate. She looks at the three male centaurs with disgust. “Aidan was overly generous to you three idiots. As tiny as your dicks are, I think your brains are even tinier. The oldest insult in the Realms is the one that set you off? Really?” She shakes her head, then whistles softly and the wolves which had been sitting on the men hop down off of them. “Get up, the lot of you. Since you worthless thugs are all supposedly hunters, I don’t even need to consult the others for your punishment. Unless one of you wishes to appeal it up the chain? No? Finally, a sign of intelligence.” She turns her attention back to Brighid and says, “The Council meets at first moonrise. I expect you to be there on time.” Without another word, she walks up the trail towards the village, wolves snarling at her three prisoners and nipping at their heels to get them to follow.