Chapter 66: A Leaders Grief
"ENOUGH!" Shouted the chief to the herd. His voice was booming and his usual commanding tone was layered with audible grief. He continued,"I don't know what happened to Perillees and Achilles, but it is much too dangerous to go back and look for them! You cannot go and search! That place is a death trap and I will NOT be responsible for sending my own people to a death they do not deserve! This is my final order! NO!"
One of the centaur warriors looked on and sneered, saying,"You say this, yet we all know that you and Perillees constantly competed for the chiefdom! Who's to say that you aren't just saying this to secure your own place in the herd!"
A small crowd was formed behind this warrior and the female centaur standing next to him, whose eyes were bloodshot red from all the crying she had done. She poured her heart out to the chief and had begged him to send some men to search for her herd mate and her son, but the chief continuously refused. Seeing no other option, she started to ask the warriors to help her on their own accord. When the warrior centaurs heard the plea they questioned why the chief wouldn't want to look for them, and this theory had been proposed by one of the scouts who had been more loyal to Perillees than to the current chief.
Both centaurs were strong, and had constantly had battles, so many in the herd believed it to be a rivalry. What they didn't know was that Perillees had never wanted to be the chief and in fact believed in his heart that Jacinus, the current chief, was a much better centaur for this job. But he had never voiced his opinion to anyone other than Jacinus, so none of the other centaurs knew, creating this situation.
Jacinus took a deep breath to stabilize his anger and as calmly as he could muster he started a speech. "Shut your mouth." The centaurs were taken aback, but Jacinus continued,"Perillees was my brother, and though we were not born from the same herd mother, our kinship was deep. He was the centaur I could lean on in times of crisis, and when I needed a problem solved that I alone could not deal with, he was the one I called."
Jacinus also started to cry as his voice started to crack with emotion,"With every fiber of my being I also wish to go and look for him. But I know that if he is not dead, he will survive. I worry about him every minute that goes by, but my priorities should be for the herd as whole and not simply my personal wishes. This is why he trusted me with this position! I will say it now! Perillees is much stronger than I am! I have no doubt that if he wanted to, he could be the chief! But instead he chose me to represent us Centaurs! If he is alive, I shall pray every night that he returns! And if he is already dead, I shall pray for him to be happy amongst the gods embrace! It is his name that I command you to forget this idiotic idea!"
The Centaurs saw that their chief was genuinely weeping while he said this, and the crowd could tell that this was not an act, and this was his raw emotions being displayed. Achilles mother stepped forwards and gave Jacinus a deep and powerful hug. Squeezing him tightly like she would with Achilles.
Jacinus could only weep and continually said,"I'm sorry.. I'm sorry... Perillees please forgive me... I'm sorry..."
The warriors were very understanding and immediately dispersed the crowd so that the chief could have his own space to grieve. One of the warriors who was the second in command of Perillees' troops told the scouts to go in search for a good place to settle and then commanded a small batch of warriors to travel with him and eliminate the beasts that may try to harm them in the area. This was the default course of action the Perillees had drilled into him the moment he had seen this centaurs talent in giving orders to his fellows. Divide your attention to only the most important things and execute them as quickly as you can!
They had not done anything like this since getting over to this forested area, and as such they were lacking critical information in the surrounding beasts and the area itself. So the young centaur, named Locys (Low-Kiss), immediately took over and started the most basic form of information gathering and food supply gathering.
Suddenly Tyranus, who had gone with him to search the forest, stood still and looked to the south of where they currently were. His eyes widened and then narrowed as his focus seemed to increase by many folds.
Locys noticed this and asked,"Tyranus, what's the matter? Is your fire detector talent telling you of danger?"
Tyranus didn't answer and simply seemed to focus more and more as he slowly walked forwards as if in a trance. His head would cock from one side to the other from time to time and then, as if he had discovered something, his eyes went wide in astonishment.
He whispered aloud, just barely enough for Locys to hear,"Achilles is alive..."
Jocys eyes widened at that and he shouted,"What?! How do you know?!"
Unfortunately, he had shouted this in a quiet forest so his voice traveled very far within. Right as Tyranus was about to explain what was going on, the pair heard a lot of rustling in the area to the west of them!
Jocys and Tyranus quickly took a stance and waited for the beast to show itself. However, as the rustling got closer and closer, what stepped out of the bushes was not a beast but a creature that resembled their upper halves very closely!
Out stepped a figure that stood on two legs, had the same upper body as them, was relatively tall, and had pointed ears!
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