Roger's Mirka Ch. 02

In the morning Rafa and Roger talked about where to keep Mirka. Roger had his own longhouse but it did not have much in it. Then they agreed that she could stay with Isabella and Rafa. Roger took the chains into his longhouse so that he could do something with them later, but they wouldn't remind the woman of her past. Roger was going to be away for a few weeks taking care of some of his own business, but first he wanted to take the centaurs to where he had frightened the horses. He respected how the centaurs felt about their cousins, the horse. They often times found horses that had been turned out by men and taken care of them as once they had been domesticated it was often hard for them to find food in the wild.

Rafa and Roger left the long house. Rafa went to tell his king Juan Carlos about Rogers mate and to where the elves had moved. Roger went to the smith shop and made the list with Blake. He would buy Blake a new set of bellows and a variety of tools that had been damage due to the prolonged use. Blake knew that the dragon was being very generous but was also asking him to help Rafa watch over the woman as many of the singe centaur males would want to try and take her as their mates while Roger was gone.

True to Rafa's words, Isabella healed the last of the woman's wounds when she had woken the next morning. Roger was thankful, but also saddened that it had taken so much of her energy, now that he could see that she was heavy with child. He had been so worried about the woman he had forgotten that she was about eight months pregnant. She just smiled weakly as Roger tried to apologize.

Rafa walked in and said in an uneasy voice, "Come on Isabella, Juan Carlos wants to see all of us."

When Isabella's footsteps were slow and unsteady Rafa kneeled down and let her mount on him. Very few centaurs let their mates ride on their back. Most of them would find it degrading but they would all allow it when necessary. Rafa didn't care if Isabella was on his back. In fact, he liked the feel of her on his withers as she very rarely wore undergarments so he could feel her wet cunt sliding over him as he walked. The three of them walked over to the chief's long house.

"Hello again Roger," Juan Carlos said as they entered his longhouse, "and a good morning Rafa and Isabella. I see you have done some healing again." She smiled over Rafa's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his upper body. "The tribe of Folk is sending over a few young warriors for us to train. So you may want to stay way Roger as I can't guarantee that they won't try to shoot you if they see you in any of your forms. And I want Isabella to try and keep her healing powers quiet. We don't want them to be tempted to steal you. I know we all want to help other tribes in the area but we haven't had the time to explain how we got to be friends with a dragon or acquired a magical healer."

All three knew what the king meant. Some centaur tribes believe all dragons needed to be killed and if they saw him in his human form they might also kill him to keep their existence a secret. They also might believe that anyone who used magic was a witch and also needed to be killed. Or they might want her for themselves and try to steal her.

"I was planning on taking a trip anyway. I need to buy a few new things for your smith shop. I was leaving today but I would like reassurance that I have your permission to leave the woman I brought here to keep her safe. She was in slaver's hands. I have scared them away and they will not come to find her because they think I ate her."

"Of course we will keep her for you." Juan Carlos said anxiously. "We are expecting our guest anytime soon. Please leave as quickly as possible. We will be giving you the horse you helped rescued the last time you were here to ride until you are a safe distance to change. I think it might be better to see a man riding way then a dragon flying." They left the longhouse and Roger gave a hug to both Rafa and Isabella, then he mounted the horse and road off with the centaur Feli who would bring back the horse. He left just in time. Just as Roger was lost to view, a pack of three young centaurs came from the other way. They had tattoos that swirled like the wind over their human halves. "We are from the Folks Tribe and we come to learn from you. We mean you no harm. My name is Markus." He was standing in front of the other two.

"Then welcome. Our chief is inside and he is awaiting you." Rafa said as he bowed his head in greeting.

"I now doubt that we can learn anything from you if you allow yourselves to be treated like common mules."

Rafa bristled at the insult. "If you are referring to the woman on my back, this is my mate Isabella. She is heavy with foal and has been getting weak. But we are part of the chief's family and he wanted to see her. But he also wanted to make sure to be in the meeting house when you came, so I have to carry her. Insult her again and I will kill you myself." Rafa walked off to Nat's longhouse to relay Juan Carlos's message.

"Hey Nat, I have to talk to you." Rafa said as he entered with out knocking. Nat stepped out of the back she was just getting dressed. She came out tying up the back of her dress. "We have visitors. They think Isabella is weak because of the foal and that is how the king wants it."

"I know he visited me quick this morning and the word has been spread. We waited as long as we could to tell you guys because Blake had told us of what happened last night. We figured it would be best if he told the three of you together. I also see Roger got out fine."

"Yes he got out fine. Now I will head back to our longhouse as we are taking care of Roger's soon to be mate. I don't want her trying to run on us so I want to be there when she wake up." With that Rafa left Nat's home and returned to theirs.

Rafa could see that he was already too late. Mirka had woken up and was trying to leave. "Hold on Isabella," was all Rafa could say before he lunged in to a full gallop. He quickly caught the woman and carried her back into the longhouse. As softly as he could he placed her on the furs. Mirka jumped up and quickly grabbed a small knife that had been left on the table. She was pointing it at Rafa. Isabella quickly slid off his back so if he needed to run again he could. She was nauseous from his movements. "We mean you no harm. Look for yourself we healed you. Even your feet are no longer burned."

The woman looked at her feet and then back at Rafa suspiciously. "I guess you did, my name is Mirka. What is yours?" She lowered the knife slightly.

"I am Rafa, and her name is Isabella but she can not speak because she was born mute. You are going to stay with us for awhile. You are free to move around the village but we have some visitors form another tribe with us so you should try to avoid them."

"Then I will make it easy for you just let me go?" she half yelled at Rafa.

"I am sorry I can't let you do that." Rafa smiled. "Roger asked me to keep you safe for him and I would just have to catch you gain. Do you think you can out run me?"

"No." she said half heartily, "but I could find a way to escape."

"Then we would just have to put those chains back on you." Rafa said ominously. "So do you promise not to run again?" "Yes," she said admitting defeat.

Rafa continued, "I also want you to take Isabella with you always she will help you understand everything we do. If any one asks you belong to Roger. He is away doing some business for the tribe. This is for your protection. Do you understand?"

"No why do I need more protection?"

"Like I said we have visitors from a different tribe. They might take you as their mate. Then there is also the fact that once there was a woman who didn't have a mate. She was used by many of the single males of the tribe before any of the paired males could pull them off. She unfortunately died. I would hate to see you go the same way. I am also afraid of what Roger would do to me if I let you get hurt. So do you understand now?"

"I think I do but you make me one promise." She said, and she prepared herself for a fight.

"Depends on what the promise is."

"You do not hand me over to the slavers I ran from."

Rafa laughed. "If I tried to hand you over, Isabella is likely to hit me with a frying pan. She hates to see all her good healing go to waste. Besides Roger would kill me if I gave up his mate."

"So I am Roger's mate? I have no choice in that mater?" she said laying down the knife.

"Of course you do. We don't force our mates but most women chose to be mates once they see how we fawn all over our mates." Rafa said with a smile.

With that Rafa put his arms around Isabella and she smiled. She leaned back into him stretching her back as he placed his hands over her swollen belly.

Mirka had to admit that Isabella looked like the picture of serenity and joy.

"I expect you to help Isabella for the next few days she is tired from staying up doctoring you all night."

"How am I to know what she needs me to do if she can't talk?" Mirka asked

"Isabella can show you pictures of what she wants if she puts her hand on your face. I would like it if you stay in here for a few days or got out with Nat, our other healer. She will be by later today to check on Isabella. The visitors we have might not react well to Isabella's gifts. So we are trying not to let them know what she can do." Rafa's face took on a pleading look as he said his next words. "You may be holding Isabella's life or happiness in your hands. As the best case they will want to kidnap her so they can have her worst case is they think she is a witch and kill her."

The pleading look in his eyes made her heart break. "I will do all that you ask."

Mirka found it easy to get along with Rafa and Isabella. It took a few days for Isabella to get back on her feet so she stayed in the large bed that was in the back room. Mirka would bring her chicken broth and bread to help her regain her strength. Mirka also found out that the images that Isabella could show you were very detailed and even had sound so they worked together getting things arranged for the baby. Mirka continued to sleep on the pallet of furs by the fire but it never seemed to be as soft or as warm as the first night she had spent there. She even liked Nat who had stopped by on the second day and came to check on Isabella every couple of hours. She seemed to be very worried about Isabella. They had decided to take a walk to Nat's house as Isabella was starting to get restless.

When Mirka asked Nat, "How long is her pregnancy going to last?"

"Since the baby will be part human and part centaur, it should last about 10 months. Isabella is about eight and a half months along. So soon the baby will be here." Nat said as she smiled at Isabella. Just then a strong arm grabbed Mirka around the waist and pulled her off of her feet.

"Let me go" she yelled in the face of the tattooed centaur that picked her up.

"Only if you kiss me," Replied Markus

"I am the mate of Roger you will let me go or face his wrath." Mirka said raising her chin in defiance.

"Well I don't see him around to protect what is his, so he deserves to lose it. Especially, since you are just a woman. I would love to..."

But what ever Markus would love to do to Mirka, they didn't find out as a large black fist came over Mirka's shoulder and struck his face. Markus fell to his knees. Blake caught Mirka before she could hit the ground. He set her besides Isabella and shielded all of them with his body. Markus glared at Blake as he stood back up. "What was the meaning of that?" asked Markus.

"I could ask you the same thing." Blake brought him self to his full height which was about half a foot taller then Markus.

"I was just having a little fun."

"No you were mistreating a mate of my tribe and." Blake started but Markus cut him off.

"In my tribe we share woman. You should too as a sign of good faith in us."

Blake grabbed him by his throat and lifted him up until his front feet left the ground. "I will not allow you to touch any of the women of this tribe."

"Blake what are you doing?" Juan Carlos Called as he came across the scene with Rafa and the other two Folk tribe centaurs.

Blake let him go as he bowed to Juan Carlos as he gave his answer. "He had grabbed Roger's mate and was trying to assault her."

"I just wanted a kiss." Markus said sulkily, "In our tribe we share mates. That way every one wants to see the foals thrive as there is no way of knowing who the father is."

"Well we do not do that here. You will not touch a woman of this tribe or you will face the penalty."

"Yes sir."

"You will join us as we are going to go sparing. This is after all what you are here to do unless I was mistaken. Blake I will deal with you later." A dark look passed between Juan Carlos and Blake.

Blake bowed and said "As you wish I will meet you at your house when you are done with the sparing match."

Blake watched as Markus left with the others. Rafa stayed behind for just a moment placing his forehead on Isabella's as he whispered something to her.

"Don't worry Rafa, you go with the king I will walk with them if he is interested in Mirka I think it would be wise for us to keep our guard up."

"Thank you Blake," was all that Rafa could say as he stepped around them and broke into a trot to catch up with the others.

"I didn't mean to intrude but it was better that I do it then Isabella."

"What do you think Isabella could have done? She is just a woman like me." Mirka said slightly confused by his comment.

"You would be surprised by what she can do if she needed to do it. We will tell you all after Markus and his gang leaves. I also think it will be wise of us if I stay with you all. After all you three are some of our most precious treasures we have."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to face Roger if Mirka gets hurt." Nat said half joking but there was a dark undertone of truth to it.

"No not Roger, I don't want to face the combination of Rafa and Roger. I know that it would upset Isabella and I would have Rafa breathing down my neck for letting anything happen to you two. "

They had reached Nat's house and as they entered Mirka asked the next question that was on her mind "Is Roger that powerful of a centaur?" A note of fear was in her voice.

"Roger is probably the most powerful being in the forest." Nat said as they entered her longhouse. But she gave a look to Blake and Isabella none of them fully understood why they were not correcting her about Roger being a dragon and not a centaur. "He is also the kindest thing around. We are just happy he finally found someone he wanted to mate with. Why did you ask? Are you worried about him hurting you?"

Mirka looked slightly guilty as she said, "Well since have never meet him I am a little afraid of him."

"Haven't you been watching every one here? Do you think we would try and keep you safe if he was going to hurt you?"

"No, I am just nervous why you all think he would like me as we have never even met. I mean why do centaurs take some women as mate but not others?"

"We have different reasons," Blake answered. "But the most I can tell you is every stallion comes to a point in his life were he gets the urge to have a mate. Most will go off and look in the nearest villages. A very few have just grabbed the first young girl they find. The biggest problem with that is the girls have to be checked to make sure they are virgins. You see we only take virgins as they are less likely to bring any disease into the tribe. The smarter and more patient ones watch the villages for a while to see which woman they like the most. Then they watch to see if that woman is attached or if she is sneaking form one house to another at night, which of course means that she is probably not a good mate."

"Why haven't you mated Blake?" Mirka asked curiously but even before he answered Mirka could feel the change in him.

"I was mated. I think I will wait out side while you women chit chat. I am going to work on a design that I have been working on so when Roger comes back with the bellows I can complete it." Blake's voice was hollow. As he left he literally laid his body in front of the door. He sketched on a piece of paper he had taken out of the tool belt that was around his waist.

"I didn't mean to insult him. How can I apologize?" Mirka asked Nat.

"I would do nothing right now. As you can guess his mating went bad. We don't often talk about it. You see he had decided on his mate but he watched her for a long time and the werewolves who were watching figured out which woman he wanted. They convinced her to allow herself to be kidnapped and then to tell them where we had hidden our tribe. Her betrayal cost many lives."

"We are at war with the werewolves?" Mirka asked, slightly in awe of the fact the werewolves were real too.

"No not since Isabella came. With our visitors here it is not the right time to tell you that story but as soon as they leave you will be given a full account of what Isabella means to this tribe."

The women were working silently on a small hammock that would be strung up besides Isabella and Rafa's bed for the baby to sleep in. As they put in the final stitches in, Mirka asked the question that was on her mind, "Why do the centaurs have to kidnap women? Isn't there any female centaurs?"

"There weren't any female centaurs for generations but, now there is Maria, Rafa's younger sister."

Nat beamed at the other two women. Isabella lost her color and dropped the ceramic mug she had just filled with tea. The cup smashed in to pieces as Isabella ran from the longhouse. Blake had gotten up at the sound of breaking ceramic and was looking in to check on the girls as Isabella fled past him.

"What is wrong Nat?" Blake asks urgently.

"Isabella just thought of something we all forgot about. We forgot to hide Maria! What if they see her? You have seen how that one acts with Mirka. What do you think he would do if he finds out about her?" Nat said as she and Mirka rushed from the hut.

When they caught up to Isabella she was leaning against a longhouse on the edge of the sparing fields. She was waiting for Rafa to get done sparing and come over. When Juan Carlos blew the whistle for a break he came over with Rafa.

"What is wrong?" Rafa asked as he pulled Isabella in to his arms.

"I think she had a bad dream." Blake said loudly as he had noticed that Markus was trying to listen in. Mirka notice that Rafa's eyes became extremely unfocused. She also noticed that the others were trying to cover up the fact that any thing was happening so she would play along.

"I remember those days," Juan Carlos said, "I remember when Sofía was pregnant. It seemed that every five minuets she was coming to me because she had some new fear. Either it was a dream that there was a problem with the baby or that I had gone missing. At least Isabella is almost due."

Rafa's eyes returned to normal and he smiled and bent down to kiss Isabella who was visible calmer. "I am safe and so are you and the baby." Rafa then looked at Juan Carlos as he said, "I am sure that Markus's treatment of Mirka could have set off the bad dreams. I am sorry for the intrusion to our training Juan Carlos. Nat, could you keep Isabella with you? I trust you to be able to keep her calm until we are done."

With that Rafa and Juan Carlos went back to training. Isabella walked over to Nat and put her arm around her friend and they left the training field with Blake walking with them. It was a while later that both Nat and Mirka jumped as Rafa entered the longhouse. Isabella who had her back to the door just leaned back as if she had expected it to be him all along. Rafa just nuzzled her neck as he spoke to the others.