Vale of the Vole Read Online Free PDF

girl. Perhaps this was because nothing much was expected of a relationship between a man and a centaur; it was strictly convenience and company.
    Now night was closing. "Perhaps we should stop for supper and a place to sleep," Chex said. "Do you think there will be other dragons?"
    Esk had been thinking the same thing; his legs were tired. "I had feared I couldn't afford to sleep; maybe now we can take turns watching."
    "Yes!" she agreed gladly.
    They foraged for fruit, then set their watches: Chex would stand guard until she got sleepy, then would wake him for a similar spell. She assured him that she would not fall asleep without knowing it; some centaurs slept on their feet, but her legs tended to buckle, waking her.
    Esk retreated to some bushes for natural functions, which modesty Chex found amusing, then piled some leaves beside the path and lay down. But though he was tired, he was not yet sleepy. "Are you going to the Good Magician to ask what your talent is?" he inquired.
    She swished her tail as if snapping off a fly. "No; I'm afraid I would have to serve a year for news that I have none. My concern is more— well, awkward."
    "Oh. I didn't mean to pry."
    "It's all right. I can talk to you. It isn't as if you're a centaur."
    "I'm not a centaur," he agreed. How well her sentiment echoed his own!
    "It's to find out how to fly."
    Of course! He should have guessed. "You know, your wings don't seem as big as those of the big birds," he said. "I'm not sure they could support you in the air even if they worked perfectly. I mean, they might lift a smaller creature, but not a centaur."
    "That's obvious," she said somewhat coldly. "I've been practicing flapping them for months, developing my pectoral muscles, and as you can see they have filled out, but I just don't have the lift I require."
    Esk was too embarrassed to tell her that he had taken her front muscles for breasts, and rather well-formed ones too. Centaurs wore only occasional harnesses or protections against heat or cold, and never concealed their sexual attributes. The breasts of female centaurs tended to be impressive by human standards, perhaps because they were structured to provide enough milk for offspring whose mass was several times that of human babies. Chex appeared to be no older than he was, but her breasts would have been considered more than generous on any human woman. Obviously, he had let himself be deluded by a preconception.
    "What I meant to say was," he said somewhat awkwardly, "could it be that your magic talent is flying? That your muscles and wingspan only provide a small part of it, and magic the main part?"
    "If it is, then why can't I fly?"
    "Well, if you were flapping your wings instead of doing your magic, then it wouldn't work."
    "But how would I work my magic?" she asked plaintively. "I have thought of that and tried to will myself into flight, but nothing happens."
    "I don't know. I think you're right: you must ask the Good Magician. Maybe he will be able to tell you some spell you can invoke that will make it work."
    "That is my hope," she said. "Why are you going to see him?"
    "I have to find out how to get rid of a demoness who threatens my family." He explained the rest of it, except for the business of Metria's amatory offerings. That matter was too embarrassing.
    "I'm surprised she didn't try to tempt you sexually," Chex said. "Human males are known to be vulnerable to that kind of inducement, and demons are unscrupulous."
    He felt himself blushing in the darkness. "Uh, well—"
    "Oh, that's right—you humans are sensitive about that sort of thing, aren't you! How quaint!"
    "Quaint," he agreed. Then, not wishing to discuss the matter further, he closed his eyes, and in a moment he slept.
    She woke him in deep darkness. "Esk! Esk!" she whispered urgently.
    It took him a moment to get oriented. "Oh, yes, my turn to guard."
    "No, I think a dragon's coming."
    Suddenly he was completely alert. "Where?"
    "From ahead. I smell the