Keep moving

Duncan listened for a few more minutes, and after hearing nothing further, decided to cautiously keep moving. Carefully stepping as silently as possible, he soon found himself in a clearing, surrounded on three sides by dense forest, and with an overgrown trail leading out from the fourth side.

Just as he is about to examine the trail, he hears a savage growl from behind him. He spins around and gasps to see a huge wolf coming from the area of the forest where he had just emerged.

Duncan looks around quickly for something to use to defend himself. Finding nothing more than a small stick, he bends over to pick it up. As he does, he hears a "twang" from behind him and a "whoosh" over his head. Immediately after that, the wolf emits a sharp yelp, and by the time Duncan can focus his eyes on the beast, it is toppling over, with an arrow in its chest.

Spinning around to learn the source of his unexpected rescue, Duncan sees the last thing he could have anticipated: a centaur.

The creature, half-man and half-horse, steps into the clearing, holding a bow in one hand and readying an arrow with the other. The human portion of the animal resembles a young adult male of perhaps 18 or 19 years of age. He is clean-shaven, with short, black hair, and wearing nothing other than a necklace of some sort and a quiver of arrows strapped over his shoulder. The horse portion is brown and well-groomed, with a saddle bag strapped within reach of the human hands.

Ignoring Duncan for the moment, the centaur steps past him and approaches the wolf, arrow at the ready. Once content that the creature is, indeed, dead, he turns and regards Duncan soberly.

"Are you unharmed, Your Highness?"

Duncan stares, open-mouthed. "How on earth does he know who I am?" he asks himself.

"You are Duncan, Prince of Mirantia, are you not?" asks the centaur. "It has been nearly two years since I saw you last, but I would swear you are the same person I met, along with your father and elder brother. Do you not remember me? I am Bray, son of Orathathon, King of Centaurs."

Duncan finds his voice. "Bray? But that's impossible! It was only two years ago, but you were a small boy -- er -- colt -- um -- whatever you call yourself.... You must be close to my age now."

Bray allows a half smile to form on his lips. "You assume centaurs age at the same speed as you humans? I would have thought you to be less species-centric in your thinking. Yes, that was two years ago, but we mature at about the same age as horses. I am nearly five years old -- well past the age of adulthood."

Duncan can hardly convince himself that he is looking at a five-year-old. He realizes he needs to forget about any kind of a human point of reference and treat Bray as he would an adult male of his own species.

He has a lot of questions about why Bray is out here, away from his royal family, how he managed to be able to save him from the wolf, and a whole bunch of other things, but he is also acutely aware of the fact that he isn't wearing a stitch of clothing.