turner the centaur by: turner smith illustrated by: turner smith

Turner the Centaur

By: Turner Smith

Illustrated By: Turner Smith

Copyrighted by

Because I Felt Like It Incorporated

January 2009

This story is dedicated to my father for being almost like a brother to me.

Once upon a time there was a centaur named Turner. As a baby, his

parents had abandoned him in a village of humans. There he lived a peaceful

and happy life.

Turner was fair and just and respected by all (not to mention handsome), so when disputes occurred within the village, he was the one who was turned to for mediation. Despite this, he rarely felt welcome around the humans.

Hearing the terrible deeds performed by the humans every day, Turner began to yearn for a village of his own kind.

One day, two brothers came to Turner with a dispute over who should inherit their father’s land after his death.

Turner could not decide on a fair way to divide the land and soon their dispute erupted into a bloody war.

The brothers were forcing people to take sides, and many innocent people began to die.

Turner could no longer take the horridness of

the humans. So he set off to find a centaur

village, which he had heard rumors was located

in the forest. He was joined in the quest by

Angelica, the lone other centaur in the village,

and Eva, a human desperate for an escape from

the violence.

The forest was eerie in the day, and at night animals crept around ominously leaving Angelica and Eva wishing they were back in their old village. Only Turner’s courage kept the trio searching for the rumored centaur village.

After weeks of searching, they had to admit they were lost. Everything looked the same, and no one felt like they were any closer to the end of their quest.

But then a face popped out. It was a little man-beaver and he eagerly motioned for Turner and the others to follow.

The man-beaver led the trio on a twisty path and eventually stopped in front of a little house made of sweets.

The man-beaver motioned for Turner to knock. Hesitantly he did, and a few seconds later an elf answered the door.

“Hey there, “ The elf said cheerfully, “ My name’s Buddy.” Turner and his companions introduced themselves and let Buddy continue, “ I get really lonely out here in the forest so you guys can stay as long as you want.”

Turner agreed, happy for a safe place to stay the night, quite sure he wouldn’t want to stay with this creepy creature beyond that. The three travelers settled in and went to sleep with Buddy still jumping around happily.

ZZZ ZZZZZZ

The next morning though, when Turner awoke, Angelica was missing!

Turner knew she had to have gotten lost in the forest and it would be up to him to save her. But Eva had different plans.

“Forget about Angelica,” she whispered seductively, “we can stay here with Buddy and not have to worry about anything ever again.”

Turner’s half-man part was sorely tempted by the offer but through sheer willpower, he made the noble choice and said, “No thanks two legs,” and left quickly.

Turner saw a trail of footprints leading into the forest. He followed them into the forest and saw Angelica cornered by the most terrible beast known to centaur. A dragon!

Dragons are the mortal enemies of centaurs and Turner was tempted to run away in fright. But during the trip through the forest he had fallen madly in love with Angelica so he knew that he had to save her.

He snuck behind the dragon and grabbed Angelica and ran, but the dragon chased and cornered the two of them. Then an orb flew at the dragon and it exploded leaving the dragon dead.

BOOM

A centaur stepped out, and said, “Fellow centaurs you are welcome to come with me to the village of our kind.”

Now Turner had a tough choice, he could go live with others of his kind and forsake his childhood home, or escape the war permanently and possibly fit in for the first time in his life.

And he went off to live with others of their kind, and lived pretty much happily ever after with Angelica.

Hero

Turner

Temptress

Eva

Damsel In Distress

Angelica

Friendly Beast

Man-beaver

The Creature Of Nightmare

The Dragon

The QuestThe journey to find the centaur village.

Nature vs. The Mechanistic World

The human civilization is at war so Turner opts to travel through the forest instead of living there.

The Initiation

When Turner realizes he doesn’t want to live with the humans anymore.

Haven vs. Wilderness

The centaur village is haven whereas Turner’s original village and the forest are the wilderness.

The Crossroads

Turner has to choose between the centaur village or his old village.

Or