The full moon dappled the forest floor in a flood of pale silver, lighting the way to an overgrown broken road that ended at the roots of a gigantic pine. The only night noises tonight were the deep, baying barks of hunting hounds in the distance, countered by the shrieks and snarls of an angry beast, signaled King Aloysius's quarry was at long-last cornered and exhausted, after a full day of chasing and running. Surrounded by his huntsmen on horseback who were ready to give their own life should the creature try to kill him before he delivered the final blow, the young king rode towards the song of the hounds beyond the last bit of glimmer from the moonlight.

This was the king's first hunt of this kind, a hunt carried out of pure tradition built upon generations of his forebearers as a part of a fertility ritual. It was said the heart and liver of the beast they hunted was magic for such things and was used as a last resort.

The king's wife, Queen Melody, had proven to be barren over the last ten years of their marriage, conceiving not once. Maybe it was the fact she and the king were both only 13 at the time of marriage or perhaps the queen's body was not made for children. Either way, after nearly five years of marriage, fearing her life was at stake should she not produce an heir, the queen presented her favorite servant, known as Jane, as a vessel to bear the king a child. King Aloysius wanted nothing to do with the servant, although the girl was beautiful and tempting in ways other men would find her irresistible.

After several failed attempts to convince her husband to sleep with the servant, the queen resorted to drugging her king's wine every night during the week of the summer celebration banquet in order to coax him into union with the servant, who was more than willing to be known as the mother of the king's child. The queen promised wealth and luxury beyond the foolish girl's wildest dreams if she successfully bore a healthy baby.

After the king was good and drunk on the tainted wine, she ordered attendants lead him to their chambers where she waited ahead of time for him. The queen called out to him in the darkness of their bedchamber for him to come to her. In his state of hazy confusion from the drugged wine, he unknowingly bed the servant instead of his wife as his Queen Melody stood silently. She gripped a sleek dagger in her hand in case the servant decided to change her mind as the task was done to her.

Afterwards, Jane was quickly escorted out before the king woke and put into a locked room which only the queen held the key to, to keep the girl from coming into contact with other men.

Out of the drunken union came a son the queen named Dante. At the time of his birth, upon hearing the news he finally had an heir, although at first enraged that his wife would trick him in such an awful way, King Aloysius allowed his queen to keep the baby as her own. The queen promptly slit Dante's birth mother's throat to keep her from asking for her promised reward.

Queen Melody did not want to be reminded of how she could not bear children. She hoped the effort of ensuring a legacy for the king would be enough, but the courts never ceased with gossip and talk behind the queen's back about how she allowed another woman's baby to become her own or the lengths she went to secure the kingdom an heir. Those who were caught with too much knowledge about the situation had their tongues ripped out on the public square via orders of their queen.

But now, as the tenth year of the royal marriage was coming to a close, the kingdom's law demanded either the queen produce an heir of her own blood or else be executed to make way for another queen. One who would prove viable.

It was a rare instance that a king loved his queen so much that he was willing to go on the dangerous hunt to find the savage centaur-like creature that haunted the dense forests in the deep heart of the kingdom's untamed wilderness.

As the king and his men neared the creature they tracked, which still snarled and shrieked wildly in the dark corpse of ancient trees ahead of the hunters, an odd thing was happening. The hounds were becoming quiet and subdued. Dogs were not trained to be quiet during a hunt, especially so near to the quarry. They were supposed to be aggressive and relentless to tire the hunted animal. This development gave King Aloysius an uneasy feeling. He motioned through torch light for his men to ride ahead of him. Had the hounds somehow suddenly lost the beast? Something was amiss.

The hunters' torchlight disappeared behind the thick brambles and massive tree trunks where not even the moonlight could shine through. The clamor of the hunter's horses' clopping hooves faded away. Their horses whinnied in fright soon after. The men let out terrified yells and wet, gurgling screams shortly before their bones could be heard snapping like dry kindling.

The king's horse, trained to be fearless in normal hunts, stopped suddenly, aware of the unnatural danger ahead, stomped and snorted aggitatedly, as it threatened to buck the king from the saddle as it turned to run from whatever scene was before them. King Aloysius could not calm the spooked horse.

The king dismounted as the horse bolted from an ear-piercing screech of an enraged woman who was nearby. An eerie silence followed.

King Aloysius unsheathed his sword. He was alone now in the oppressive inky darkness of the woods. The moonlight had long ago abandoned him. He knew the creature would find him there. If all of his men were dead, who was to say he wouldn't join them on the other side soon? Deep down he was afraid of his fate and mad that he had agreed to risk his life for such a stupid venture in the name of honor for his queen, but he kept himself calm. An unsteady hand was the last thing he needed if he had to fight this creature even if he was to die at its hands. He kept his breathing at ease and stood his ground.

A slight breeze assaulted his nose with the scent of wet dog and pungent, raw flesh.

"Aloysiuuus," a low, airy, catlike growl called playfully out from the edge of the flickering torchlight. "Aloysius, have your men left you all alone with me?" The creature seemed to purr as she spoke.

A woman. I will be killed by a woman, King Aloysius thought to himself.

"I could end you as easily as I ended your dogs and your men. I have no weapons. I destroyed them with bare claws, teeth and hooves. I could snap your spine. Tear out your guts. Or perhaps present your remains to your loyal subjects. I don't think I will eat you. No. Humans are much too bitter for my palate." Her voice moved in melodic circles. King Aloysius couldn't track her movements. She was surprisingly stealthy for her size.

"I know why you're here," came the whisper in another low growl. She was behind him.

The king turned around, swinging his sword. It was too late. His sword was met with a block of brute strength that snapped the cold steel upon impact on the creature's arm, the likes King Aloysius had never seen before. In the blur, he tried to hit her in the face with the torch, but she smacked it away from him and gripped both of his forearms with her curved claws. She dug into him as she lifted him up over a foot off of the ground before he could blink, as if he was but a mere child.

The dropped torch's fire licked at the dry brambles. Most animals would be afraid of fire and flee. Not this monster.

In the dim light, the king was mere inches from something he had only heard stories of. Monsters and humanoids existed on his island, but they were wild and untamed things that hid in the shadows.

The overwhelming scent of iron and wet dog took his breath away. Despite this, he looked directly into pale slitted emerald serpentine eyes that had no reflection of light. The face itself, underneath a glaze of drying blood, appeared to hide the most beautiful woman the king had ever laid eyes upon. Even her full lips were tempting to want to kiss if she had been human. He dared not break her gaze in fear of what she may do next. The king was at her mercy.

"You were stupidly advised to kill me. Your wife won't be successful by eating my organs nor any of my kind's flesh. No, I was warned by my ally you were coming in hopes to hunt one of my kind. I volunteered this time to spare the others." She readjusted her grip on the king's arms. He feared she was going to snap his bones out of spite. She was made of pure muscle.

"Now...Holding you like this...This is the only way I can truly talk to you. You may not believe me, but I truly wish to help you in your plight by different means. I forgive your foolishness in pursuing me, but, before I help you, I must ask a favor from you first, hmm?" She tilted her head slightly to the side like a curious puppy. She was unnervingly calm.

The centaur pulled on King Aloysius's thick, tightly curled hair, to the point of nearly separating his scalp from his skull to emphasis she was serious. She sniffed the curve of his exposed neck in an act that was almost sensual.

"Have I any choice?", the king spat out as his blood roared in his ears.

"You smell of sweat and a bit of fear. Not nearly enough fear for me. I know this isn't how you want your life to end. I have foreseen your destiny to take control of the outer islands, becoming king to both humans and wild beasts. You can only do this with my help. And, you see, I want peace between your kind and mine. No more slaughter. Stay out of our territories. We will not venture into yours. What happened tonight in these woods, with the deaths of your men, forgive me for that as well. I was only defending myself. Promise me those things and I will ensure your wife will carry your baby within her by the next full moon."

"That's too soon for her to know! A monster cannot keep its word!"

The creature flung him hard into the burning brambles. The heat licked at the whole length of King Aloysius's body, but strangely, there was no pain from the fire. His skin did not crack open and blister. There were only the sharp pricks of the bed of thorns.

"And how do I know you would keep your word?! Your kind is just as much a monster as mine!" the beast screamed furiously, as she reared up onto her hind legs and stomped down her massive hooves on either side of the king, sending up a flurry of bits of burning debris. Her long mass of white, blood-streaked hair tangled around her beautiful, blood-caked face as she snarled and bared her fangs. The small fire flared to a wall of an inferno around them.

"Don't you see? I have powers of my own! While I'm alive! You and I aren't harmed by the fire that rages before us now. This same power will help your wife bring new life. Take me to your castle in chains if you must, for your pride's sake. Lock me in the depths of a dungeon as an animal. Keep me as a pet. If Melody bears no child, I will allow you to kill me as you wished to do so on this night. On my honor. I want peace between our kinds. Agree to my terms or else I will kill you now. You can't escape me."

What a failure King Aloysius would be to his people if he were slaughtered by her. He could take her back in chains and claim he broke her spirit. The aspects of power and prosperity were too tempting.

"F-fine! I agree to your terms!" King Aloysius stammered through gritted teeth.

A sigh on the wind extinguished the fires around them, leaving them in the stillness of the dark forest.

"Aloysius, you will come with me now," the creature's voice boomed as she grabbed for the king's hand.

"I thought we were going home."

"We are. To my home first. You have a speech to make."

"Ab-about what?"

"Peace, of course. Now, come."

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