Zequarion

Chapter I

The woods were one of the very few places that weren't under the jurisdiction of the drow elves. Hazel had always been curious about them. She knew that they were dangerous, of course, but her curiosity overpowered her voice of reason.

“I'm going out for a walk,” Hazel called to Layla, her best friend, who was in the kitchen.

“Okay, but be back soon,” Layla said worriedly. Layla had always had anxiety, but it had worsened when her parents and Hazel's were taken by drow elves.

“I will,”Hazel replied, then walked out the door. As she walked, she thought back, as she often did, to the day when drow elves had arrived at her house to take her parents away.

She had been in the kitchen baking with her mother and her father had been in the adjoining living room. A loud banging on the door had startled them all. Her father had jumped up and opened the door, as Hazel and her mom peered through the doorway from the kitchen. Three burly drow elves had pushed their way in. You have been selected by the drow elves of Zequarion to work in the palace for the remainder of your lifetimes, one of them had said. Hazel remembered seeing glimpses of emotion on her parent's faces: denial, anger, sadness, and acceptance. No one resisted the drow elves. Hazel never blamed her parents for leaving her. She had immediately ran to Layla's home, only to find that Layla's parents had been taken that very morning. Hazel and Layla had lived with each other ever since.

Now Hazel was approaching the dead-end of the street. The woods loomed in front of her. Dark and foreboding, the trees seemed to whisper and chant dark messages. Hazel took a deep breath and entered the woods.

“Fawn! What have I told you about climbing the prison tower?! Come down this instant!” Fawn's mother, Nephiah, yelled. Fawn, who was sitting at the top of the 96’ tower, grinned and looked down at her mother. She stood up and walked to the edge of the roof. Fawn could feel gusts of wind threatening to push her off. But she didn't need a push. Fawn jumped.

She waited until the very last moment before pressing the button on her jacket to deploy the parachute. She floated gently to the ground in front of the fuming Nephiah.

“If you do that again,” she roared, “I will personally drag you to the lab and have your father render you incapable of doing magic!” The grin faded from Fawn's face. To not be able to perform magic was a horrifying prospect.

“Fine,” Fawn said, “can I go see Daphne?”

“That would be Princess Daphne. Just because she's your cousin doesn't mean you don't have to call her by her respectful title.” Nephiah crossed her arms in front of her chest. “And no, you can't, because you have school tomorrow and I don't believe you finished your essay, which is due tomorrow.”

Fawn rolled her eyes. She had finished the essay, but it wasn't great by any standards. Writing was certainly not her strong suit. And she had to go to a normal school.

Normal schools taught people, elves, goblins, faeries, young cyclops, and even gorgons. There were few drow elves whom Fawn wasn't friends with, but the wood elves hated her. In a normal school, heavy racial barriers divided the students. Inter-racial marriage wasn't permitted under the domain of the drow elves.

Fawn began to walk down the street towards her house, but stopped when she saw a girl, about Fawn's age, step into the woods. The woods were a forbidden place. Fawn decided to follow her because; a) she had always been curious about the woods and b) the girl was beautiful.

Fawn was lesbian. Being so was relatively common for people and wood elves, but very rare for drow elves.

Fawn silently stepped into the woods after the girl, taking care to stay out of sight. She followed the girl for just two minutes before she stopped and tilted her head as if listening to something. Fawn could hear hooves pounding the forest floor. As she took another step, a twig snapped under her foot. Shit, Fawn thought and jumped nimbly behind a tree.

Hazel could hear what sounded like hooves galloping in front of her. She also heard a twig snap behind her. She whirled around, but saw no one.

“Hello?” she said tentatively.

“Hello, intruder,” a deep, masculine voice said. Hazel turned and there in front of her was a centaur. He had the body of a muscular Arabian horse and the head and torso of a man. He held a crossbow aimed at her.

Yikes! There was a crossbow aimed at her! Hazel suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. She knew that centaurs were highly territorial creatures and that she had just trespassed on their land.

Behind the centaur, both male and female centaurs gathered. All were equipped with a weapon.

“I was just, just, taking a walk. I didn't know this was your land. I'm sorry, I'll be going now,” Hazel took a step backward. The centaur who seemed to be in charge sniffed the air.

“Where is your companion?” he said. Hazel was confused.

“I came alone,” she said. One of the other centaurs smirked. He looked slightly younger than most of the centaurs.

“Sure you did,” he said.

“Toros, please,” the lead centaur sighed. Toros rolled his eyes.

Hazel had slowly been backing away from the eminence, but stopped when she heard a horse-like grunt behind her. She turned her head. There were more centaurs! She was trapped.

Suddenly she felt a sharp, stinging pain in the side of her neck. She began to slip into unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was: “Toros, I told you not to do that.”

Fawn gasped quietly. She had climbed a tree and witnessed the whole event. She watched as the centaurs lifted the girl's body onto one of their backs. As they moved back towards their camp, Fawn followed. She leaped from tree to tree, always taking care to stay behind the party so they wouldn't spot her.

Toros knew they were being followed by a drow, a female. He had one of the best noses in the tribe and could smell her. He didn't tell anyone though. He was going to be the one to capture her and he would be a hero.