THE ENCHANTER AND THE CENTAUR
The Cursed Centaur
Chap 3 — The twisted memories wrapped around him like dark, sinuous ropes.
It had been a few days since Diego’s sexual encounter with the centaur.
Guilt niggled at Diego. He didn’t know how to contact Aegon, nor would it be wise to do so, since whoever had written that note, seemed determined to kill the centaur if Diego dared to interact with him again.
He hadn’t had any more death visions lately, either of the centaur or anyone else. But still he felt ashamed of himself for doing nothing to help Aegon. He had been deliciously rammed by another guy, but sex, no matter how wonderful, was only a distraction. Diego needed to stop being a coward and confront the issue.
To find the likely perpetrator, he had to go down to the darker dimension, where ghouls and other devious beings lived. Diego’s horse already looked so tired and spooked, that the enchanter decided to give him a break and let him stay home.
He combed his horse’s mane with his fingers, which the equine seemed to enjoy, until he batted his owner’s hand away again with his nose. At least his horse didn’t seem angry anymore that Diego had left him alone at the swamp.
At the thought of the swamp, Diego’s chest seized with more guilt. He didn’t want Aegon’s death on his conscience, no matter how apprehensive he was to revisit the darker dimension.
If he saved Aegon, he could also enjoy himself and play with the centaur’s two dicks. The arousing image only amused him for a moment before the terror settled back in. The enchanter took a deep breath. It was now or never.
Diego waved a hand to draw up a shadowy portal, and slowly stepped inside. When he exited the portal, he saw the familiar gloomy glow of the landscape. It was a perpetual night with haunting overtones.
Ghouls and other monsters peered hungrily at Diego as he walked by. But none of them would dare hurt him, because he was Trevian Gleamstone’s plaything.
Gleamstone was the lord of the darker dimension. Diego had met and become his favourite toy back at The Fashionable Pony, the high-end brothel that Diego had frequented during his early days of sexual adventure.
Before long, he arrived at Gleamstone’s house. A little ghoul stepped out of the door. Diego recognized Cadence, Trevian Gleamstone’s genderfluid nibling, who went by ze/zir pronouns.
Cadence widened zir eyes, which were beautiful as a rainstorm. Ze smirked. “If you want to bang my uncle, he’s too busy right now.” Wisps of ghost smoke flowed over zir small form.
Ze was fifteen but looked much younger, due to zir height.
Diego opened his mouth to argue, but he heard a bellow. “Diego, come in! Never mind Cadence.”
Diego stepped over the threshold, ignoring Cadence’s scowl.
Trevian Gleamstone was tall and bulky, like a wrestler. Despite all that had happened between him and Trevian, Diego felt the old desire rekindle in him.
Unfortunately, ghouls could read minds. Trevian’s smile widened, and he gazed appreciatively at the enchanter’s body, as if disrobing him already.
Diego coughed to clear his throat. “Not today.”
Trevian frowned.
Diego continued, “I want to know what you’ve done with Aegon the centaur.”
Trevian’s jaw hardened. Even his ghost smoke appeared to grow darker. “Who’s that?”
Diego sighed. “There aren’t many people I know who have the power to freeze time, even for an hour. It was you who wrote the note, wasn’t it?”
The ghoul huffed. “It was Cadence who wrote it.”
The smaller ghoul plopped down on a couch and snorted. “I didn’t draw the clown, though.”
Trevian ignored that. Diego took the note out of his coat pocket. He had read the message several times over, and had realized that the words were not written in ordinary pen or printing ink. There was something misty and strange about the words, so he decided to go on a hunch. “I didn’t know you could write in ghost smoke,” he observed.
Cadence shrugged, unconcerned.
Diego furrowed his brow. Trevian was clearly a nasty ghoul, with no qualms whatsoever. But he had expected better of Cadence. Despite zir grouchy demeanor, ze actually had a conscience, unlike most other ghouls.
“Why did you do it?” Diego asked both of them.
Trevian’s grin displayed the shine of his sharp teeth.
“He got in the way.” The ghoul angled a glance at his nibling. “I wanted to just kill him, but Cadence thought it would be more satisfying to let him live, and to torment him with eternal loneliness.”
What? Diego thought in dismay. Cadence’s expression revealed nothing, just stared up at him with a childlike innocence. Cadence is never truly innocent. I wonder what ze has on zir mind.
No doubt Trevian would hear Diego’s thought, but the ghoul lord knew better than he did that Cadence was more merciful than most darker beings.
Cadence said, “There were others, not just you, who Aegon dallied with. One by one, we warned them to leave the centaur before it was too late.” Ze pronounced this in a monotone, while tapping zir fingers on the edge of the couch.
“That can’t be right,” Diego protested. “He’s just a centaur, not a powerful being like you. What exactly have you got against him?”
Trevian eyed him; he flexed his arm muscles in a way that made Diego both aroused and worried.
“I’m not revealing my secrets to you, not even with your pretty face,” the ghoul replied. “But if you want us to release Aegon from his torment, you’ll have to pay up yourself.”
Please, no, Diego thought with panic. The twisted memories wrapped around him like dark, sinuous ropes.
When Cadence showed Diego out of Trevian’s house, and walked him down the stretch of road towards his portal, the young ghoul tapped him on the shoulder.
Ze whispered, “Don’t worry. You’ll have me as your sidekick this time.”
Click here for Chapter 4
This story was written to Jonathon Sawyer and Bradan Writes Stories’s Monday Mashup Prompt 23
Prompt #1:
Explore a character's phobia (2 pts)
Diego has a specific phobia towards the darker dimension…or at least to
something that happened inside the darker dimension that caused him to
avoid it for days, even though he's usually not the fearful type and
even has special protection from the ghoul lord.
Constraints:
A unique writing method (1 pt)
Cadence wrote the note in ghost smoke.
A tired animal (1 pt)
Diego's poor horse was exhausted.
An unlikely sidekick (1 pt)
Cadence mysteriously announces that ze will be Diego's sidekick for
whatever hell he's about to go through! This is so unlikely because
Cadence doesn't even like Diego, though ze might feel sorry for him.
What is Cadence planning?
A makeshift comb (1 pt)
Diego uses his fingers to comb his horse's mane.
Hardcore Constraint:
A moment of childlike innocence (2 pts)
Cadence looks up with childlike innocence.
Literary Device
An internal monologue (5 pts)
Diego uses internal monologue throughout, though not all are in italics.
I tallied up my own points (1 pt)
Total points: 14Tagging folks who have kindly commented on previous parts of this series (in alphabetical order of first name): Bradan Writes Stories, J.C. Lovero, Marie A. Rebelle, May More 💜 Tales , Posy Churchgate - Writes & Edits Fiction, and Sonja Glucksberg.
If you loved this story, you might also enjoy: