2 Chapter 2
While Tuxtax watched over his friend, he kept his eye on the door waiting for his sister’s return. She had left several hours ago to look for Rhea—Rixa’s mate—and hadn’t yet returned. He kept hoping that she would find Rhea, and that they would return arm-in-arm with a daring story of near-capture and escape.
As soon as Eleuthereia returned, he realized that his hopes were in vain. The look on his sister’s face told him to prepare for the worse.
She knelt beside the centaur’s bedside. “Is he awake yet, brother?”
Tuxtax shook his head, his dark snaky locks clacking with the motion. “Did you find Rhea?”
Tears welled up in his sister’s eyes and her mauve wings sagged. “It was humans. Humans took her—dragged her away. Why would she and Rixa be outside of their town’s gates at night? It’s dangerous.”
“They’re lovers, El,” Tuxtax confessed in a whisper.
She gasped. “No! You must be mistaken. Rhea is his brother Nyx’s mate, not Rixa’s.”
“It’s true. Maybe they were meeting for a tryst? Or they were going to run away together?”
Rixa groaned, pulling himself from sleep. “Rhea!” he called, pulling off the blankets that covered him and attempting to get out of bed.
Tuxtax and Eleuthereia helped him sit upright so that he could rise.
“Rixa, what do you remember?” Eleuthereia asked, concerned.
“Rhea! Humans have taken Rhea. I need to go; I need to find her!” the young centaur roared in panic.
“We can help fly you back home. You can gather the garrison to rescue her,” Tuxtax offered.
Rixa moaned in despair. “No; I’m as good as dead to them. Tax, Rhea is pregnant; she will foal any day now. My brother will kill her if he finds her first.”
Tuxtax gasped in shock; he closed his eyes in concentration to come up with a plan.
Eleuthereia shook her head. “Your brother is no monster, Rixa; he would never…”
“He already has! He caught us in a tryst. He called for the guard.” He took a deep breath and confessed, “There was a struggle. Nyx and I fought. I don’t know if he’s still alive. But Rhea and I barely got out with our lives. We were going to run away to the western springs when the humans attacked. I…I need to go. I need to save her.” Rixa stumbled forward, testing his balance on his wobbly legs.
“You cannot go alone, Rixa.” Eleuthereia draped his arm over her shoulders, steadying him as the centaur leaned against her.
Tuxtax’s heart yearned to comfort his friend. He swallowed his terror and his dread and volunteered, “I’ll go with you.”
He heard Eleuthereia make a little strangled noise of surprise and pride.
“What good can you do, little boy?” Rixa sneered with a huff.
“Rixa!” Eleuthereia hissed.
“I…” Tuxtax spluttered.
Rixa replied, “Tuxtax, we are friends, and I love you like a brother. But you’re in no condition to help me. Look at you—you don’t even have a beak yet! You’re still stuck in your juvenile form—how can you battle humans if you can’t shift into your griffin form?”
Tuxtax winced at his friend’s words; his mouth became dry, nausea overcame him. He fought back tears. As much as he wanted to deny Rixa’s accusation, the truth of his statement felt like a dagger in his gut.
His shame evolved into gratitude as he heard his sister lash out in his defense. Eleuthereia’s eyes narrowed in anger. She squared her shoulders haughtily and spat back, “He can still track the humans. He might be unable to shift, but his aura-reading skills are still sharp. And he still has the warrior training you’ve given him. He is quite lethal with his battle ax.”
Rixa laughed. “Lethal? Lethal against targets made of straw? He never goes outside! He hides indoors all day, and only lurks in the shadows. He hasn’t visited our village in a decade.”
Finally, Tuxtax found his tongue. “I won’t let you down, Rixa! I’ve let myself down, all these years. I’ve let my sister down—she’s wasted her life waiting for me to grow up, and I haven’t,”
“Brother.” Eleuthereia clucked her tongue in sympathy.
Tuxtax continued, “But I’m ready. I’ve waited my whole life for something to happen, and it hasn’t. I can’t shift, but I can still help. And I need to do this. I need to move on. El, you need to, too. We can’t stop living our lives waiting for something to change.”
Rixa sighed heavily, then nodded. “I suppose your human features can help you infiltrate the enemy. You can hide your wings under a cloak and slip into their ranks to find a way to get Rhea free.”
Eleuthereia offered, “Let me help you gather supplies. Rixa, Tuxtax and I can help you track the people who captured Rhea. I will wait for you at Anchor Rock; we can meet there once you’ve freed Rhea and find a safe place for her to birth her foal.”
Tuxtax winced at his memories of the place where he had met and lost his soulmate. “Anchor Rock?”
Rixa went pale. “You tracked the humans to Anchor Rock?. The humans took my mate into the land of the elves?”
She nodded. “I cannot help you fight, but I can use my aura tracking abilities to scan the forest for allies. Perhaps we can find an elf or two who can help us?”
Tuxtax shook his head. “Thanks, sister. But you need to go on a quest of your own. You’ve put your life on pause raising me. You need to go out and find your mate. She’s out there somewhere—I’ve met her! She was a cute little blond-haired girl that helped rescue me from humans when I got captured all those years ago…”
Eleuthereia’s face fell. “Tax, she’s long dead now. Humans don’t live that long. It’s been eighty-five years since she rescued you. It’s not possible that she’s still alive. It just isn’t.”
“But…” Tuxtax spluttered.
