Anna only screamed for about 10 minutes. I thought she would have held out longer. That mermaid I abducted... I mean befriended, struggled much longer.

After the ten minutes of screaming and telling me to slow down or put her down, she clung to me with her arms around my neck and seemed to calm down some.

“How much longer are we going to run?” Anna spoke into me ear.

“I think the mining camp is n the other side of that cliff. After that it says on my map that...” I slowed to a jog when I pulled up my mini map. “Wait, does the road not cross the mountain here? It seems to go all the way to the mine but then stops.”

“The mountain pass was the east road just outside of the village. You went the wrong way...” Anna says with a strange look on her face as she pulled away to look me in the eyes. “Did you not check the map when you left town?”

“I could have sworn there was a way to get to the mountain pass in this direction.” I mumble while checking my mini map in more detail. “I think I used to just go north and then follow the mountains east to the road.”

“But, the plains to the north of the mine are centaur territory! They would attack us the second we crossed into their forest!” Anna gave me a panicked look. “I know you’re strong, but even you, the great hero, couldn’t take on an entire centaur army.”

“No, if the army is anything like the roaming patrols I came across yesterday, we shouldn’t have a problem. Maybe this time I could actually catch one.”

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“If you attack the centaurs it could start a war. We already aren’t on good terms with the local tribes, but if you attack them, they could retaliate and invade our village.”

“I don’t think I would say I attacked them yesterday... but they did seem pretty upset. I’ll just have to go wipe them out or something. Maybe if I talk with the chief I could tell them to leave the humans in this region alone.”

“Please don’t start a war. We should just go back to the village and take the east road.”

“No way! I still haven’t gotten a ride yet!”

“Ride? You can’t ride a centaur! They would definitely kill you if you tried to do that! Centaurs never let anything ride them, even comparing them to a horse is enough to get you killed!”

“Fine, I won’t try and ride one if we can just talk to the chief and let them know not to attack the humans in this region.”

Anna gave me a discerning glare. “You aren’t going to turn around and go back the right way are you?”

“No way! Horses are awesome and half person horses are even better. If I can’t ride one, I’m at least going to go talk with one.”

“We just passed the mine and are about to leave the path for the centaur territory. Once we enter the forest there’s no turning back. I can’t convince you to turn back but at least don’t get us killed... please.”

“Ha! I’ll be fine. But, I’ll make sure you’re safe too, don’t worry. I’m not going to let anything bad happen.”