To her surprised, her back was pressed on something solid and feathery... she was caught by something...a bird's back!

What the hell?

She was lying on the back of a big white bird!

A big bird, indeed!

Her eyes widened.

How she's going to go back to Esmeralda's house?

They were getting farther away from the floating land!

She was clutching at the feathers of the bird afraid to get thrown below.

The strong wind was blowing at her face, almost throwing her out of the birds back!

She was trying her very best not to lose her grip on the bird's feather. She can feel her hands weakening, it's hard for her to support the weight of her body while the bird was moving her wings up and down not caring if she will fall or not.

She wondered if the bird knows that she was on board on its back.

Then all of a sudden, a big black bird was flying directly towards them at lightning speed, they were about to collide into the blackbird!

"Jesusssssss!"

"Oh, noooooooo!" Kate screamed at the top of her lungs.

B-A-M!

The two birds collided into each other, due to the sudden heavy impact... Kate was thrown out of the white birds back.

She was falling straight into the forest below...she saw the two birds fighting each other above her.

She closed her eyes preparing herself for her painful death...this time...no one can save her.

The first branches of the tree hit her back...

It's not that painful...

More branches hit her back... harder this time.

Ouch! This times it's painful...but not gonna break her bone.

When her body was about to hit the ground...

She falls into something hard...a solid body...a naked chest of someone!

She immediately opened her eyes to see what she landed upon...to her surprise she stared into two black orbs of a man's eyes, he was grinning at her, he was sporting a long curly black hair. He got a solid body, hard chest, and arms and when she looked down below his feet she saw that he has a lower body of a horse!

Holy shiit!

She fell into the arms of a centaur!

Frightened out of her wits... she felt nausea took over her senses as blackness taken over her consciousness.

King Voyen, the leader of the centaur stared at the beautiful goddess that falls from the sky, he was starstruck by her beauty.

A coughing can be heard, coming from the king's right hand, Jezan.

"Your highness, is she did?" he asked, peering at the woman's face.

King Voyen looked at the heaving chest of the woman. "She's still alive! She just passed out. Instruct our men to come back to the palace. We will hide this woman from anyone who wanted to get her. I've been waiting for a long time for a wife to give birth to my heir. Now that I finally see her, I will keep her by my side!" he grinned in happiness.

He looked heavenward trying to see where the woman came from but he can't see anything up there, he only saw black and white birds fighting above.

Did the woman come from the bird?

"Let's go back to the palace! Hunting is over!" Jezan shouted his command to the centaurs gathering nearby.

A few moments later...

The ground was being pounded by the foot of hundreds of centaurs moving into one direction, to the north side of the forest where the towering trees were thick as a block of cement.

The king's troops entered an opening which leads to their forest hideout.

This is the special place for the king of the centaur, he called it his palace.

Two kilometers away, there is another place where the rest of the centaur beings were living peacefully.

King Voyen handed the unconscious woman to the leader of his slave, Ezi.

"Prepare this woman for the wedding ritual tomorrow night. This woman will become my wife and your future Queen!" he commanded.

"Yes, your highness!" Ezi answered promptly.

King Voyen placed the unconscious Kate into Ezi's arms.

Ezi and the rest of the slaves went to the direction of the king's chamber to perform the king's task assigned to them.

The king's palace is no more than a big wide place with no rooms, the walls were built with woods and lumber and the roof was made of thick leaves and branches of the trees.

Outside the king's palace were huts with the same structure but much smaller, they were occupied by the king's soldiers and hunters.

Ezi lowered the unconscious woman into the makeshift bed made of wood.

She stared at the woman's mesmerizing beauty, amazed by her porcelain skin and her beautiful long hair.

The king was waiting for his queen for a long time, this time, a queen has appeared from nowhere. This is a reason to celebrate!

Ezi ordered the two slaves who are standing nearby to gather water. "Fill the tub with water, we will wash this woman from head to toe so that she can be thoroughly clean before sleeping with his majesty!" she ordered.

"Yes Ezi!" the two slaves replied in unison.

They picked up the wooden pail that was used for gathering water and walked out of the king's palace heading to the stream located nearby.

Back in the king's bed-chamber.

Ezi started to take off Kate's clothes from her body.

Suddenly... Kate opened her eyes...she looked at the face of the woman staring at her...the woman's lower body was that of a horse!

The woman was trying to get rid of her clothes!

Huh? What this woman is going to do to her!?

"No, please stop! Get your hands off my clothes!" Kate shouted angrily at the centaur woman.

Ezi steps back. "My Queen, the king instructed me to clean you up because tomorrow you are going to marry, King Voyen. Please, understand my side. I'm just doing my job," she pleaded.

Kate's eyes went saucer-like in confusion.

Was she dreaming?

The last time she remembered she was being thrown from the back of the bird and was falling...then she remembered that her body landed in the arms of a centaur!

That's right!

A centaur man catches her body before she comes in contact with the hard ground.

She was saved by that centaur guy!

That centaur must be what this woman was mentioning to her as their king.

Kate massaged her head. The king must have taken a liking on her and wanted her to become his wife! And she's going to get married to him tomorrow!

No! That's one thing she can't allow to happen! She's not gonna marry a stranger even if he is the king of the world!

She must find a way to escape this place and find her way back to Esmeralda's house!

But how?

Ezi steps forward to continue her task.

"My Queen, you need to discard your clothes and take a bath, you must be clean all over before you can see the king," she explained.

Kate glared at her. "Don't you dare touch me!"

The two slaves come back from the stream bringing the wooden pail with them and poured the content into the wooden tub nearby.

Kate watched them with curiosity in her eyes.

Done emptying the pail into the tub the slaves went out of the room to fetch more water.

Ezi was confused about what to do with the woman that was staring at her angrily.

Angering the future queen will surely warrant her severe punishment.

A few minutes later, the slaves returned and pour the water into the tub and they left again.

Ezi went to the wooden tub and pour some fragrant smelling oils into the tub then scattered petals of flowers in the water.

She looked at her future queen. "My Queen, your bath is ready."