A cloud of grey-brown dust hovered in the air as the herd of centaur trotted along in their endless migrations across the Great Southern Plains. At the head was the herd’s stallion, a broad, thickly muscled dark centaur with a long black mane. A leather belt cross over his otherwise bare chest. It held a quiver of arrows, to go with the powerful recurved bow ready in his hands.

The plains held many dangers. Though it might seem like one could gaze across the wide, flat ground for miles and see nothing around them, the next tall clump of prairie grass could hide a hungry warg, poised to pounce. And the large, four legged predators were nothing compared to two-legged hunters…

A short distance behind the stallion, Kidai trotted along with the other mares of her herd. The youngest of the four, she was the only one without a foal thus far. The other three each had two or three foals cantering along behind them.

“Ooohh!” Kidai gave a pleased murmur, spotting a flash of color among the yellow-brown expanse of grass. A large ridge of granite jutted up from the earth, left behind eons ago when the massive glaciers had flattened this territory in long forgotten ages. But the young centaurette’s interest was less in geological curiosities and more on the small bushes clinging to the edges of the rock. Several of them still had ripe berries bright against their wilted leaves.

Trotting over, Kidai twisted her torso around. Slung across the back of her lower body with woven grass ropes were several baskets, also woven from the most plentiful material to be found in the endless grasslands. She grabbed one that wasn’t so full, undoing the ropes holding it shut and began to gather the berries. Though centaurs could subsist entirely by grazing on the grass if they needed to, like any other sentients, they preferred a more varied diet if they could get it. And if they didn’t eat all of them, they would let the rest ripen a bit and ferment them into a potent alcoholic drink.

Kidai worked quickly, breaking off clusters and berries and dropping them in her basket. The rest of her herd had continued on, expecting she’d catch up once finished. As they made their way across the endless plains, the mares often stopped briefly to forage what sustenance there was to be had in this hard, unforgiving environment.

It was because of this, Kidai was a ways off from the others when the ambush was launched. They had been carefully hidden in a hollow, low enough to be out of sight in the tall grass. Doubtless they’d been watching the dust plumes of the small herd, trailing it at night to remain unseen until they were in the perfect spot to ambush the unwary centaurs. A shrill whistle signaled the attack  and as one, a dozen mounted humans rode, sweeping in either direction to surround and cut off their startled prey.

In the first seconds, half a dozen bows twanged and at the head of his herd, the stallion collapsed to the ground, pieced by three or four arrows. The shaft of his own arrow fell from the bowstring, he’d not even had a chance to draw it back. The raiders knew how futile it was to try and break a proud, savage centaur stallion. No sense risking retribution from his powerful bow, while they focused on the easier, helpless prey that was the mares and foals of the herd.

As the stallion fell dead, the raiders put away bows and drew long rope lariats.  Whirling them around their heads, the raiders circled round the mares and foals, who milled and turned about, stunned and confused by this sudden ambush. Without warning, the raiders let fly, a dozen rope lassos flying in from all sides. Dodge as they may, the three mares were inevitably snagged by one or two ropes each. The raiders focused on capturing them first. They knew the foals would be reluctant to flee by themselves, and even if they did, they wouldn’t get far before they tired, allowing the raiders to round them up with ease.

Meanwhile, the raiders set to work securing their first catches of the day. More lariats were thrown, with the intention of snagging the centaurette’s legs, tripping them to the ground. When this was accomplished, the experienced centaur wranglers leapt off their mounts, who were trained to trot backward, keeping the lasso ropes taut while their riders hurried forward to finish roping them.

From her spot, a dozen yards back, partly hidden behind the rocky outcropping, Kidai had gone unnoticed thus far, as she watched the capturing of her herd with horror. But it wasn’t to last. As the humans stood up from the helpless, squirming centaurs, hooves and hands both tightly trussed, one of them spotted Kidai, peering over the ridge. He pointed, giving a shout.

With a gasp of alarm, Kidai turned, struggling not to trip over her four legs as she got her lower body around and started to gallop. To her horror, she saw two of the men were already on their horses, those strange creatures that had the lower body of a centaur but a strange, stubby, armless head in place of the upper body. Whirling lariats and whooping, the hunters chased after the frightened mare.

Kidai never thought she’d galloped faster, but it wasn’t fast enough. Briefly, she saw the open ring of a lasso pass over her head, then it dropped, neatly around her torso. Skillfully, the roper pulled as it came about halfway down, snapping the loop shut tight, trapping Kidai’s arms against her sides. He reined his mount in and the lasso rope went taut. Kidai tried to keep going, but the lasso yanked her upper body back. Her lower body, still moving forward under inertia, was turned, her hooves flailing as she struggled to stay upright, a struggle she lost. The mare went down in a cloud of dust.

Before Kidai could right herself again, the two humans had leapt down and were upon her. Awkwardly, she tried to kick at one with a hoof, but he dodged the clumsy blow, grabbing her leg. It was pulled down, alongside her other hind leg. Rope appeared in the man’s hands, now wrapping around both legs, trapping them together. Her other legs were soon caught and roped together as well, trapping the centaur’s lower body in a makeshift hogtie.

The other man had turned his attention to Kidai’s upper body. She flailed her hands, trying to ward him off, but as with her legs, he simply grabbed them, twisting them roughly behind her back. The mare cried out at the pain. She felt rough rope biting into her skin as her hands were tied. She continued to scream, but a moment later, a wooden bit was jammed between her teeth. Before she could dislodge it, the ropes on either end were tied together behind her head, keeping the muzzle in place.

Satisfied with their handiwork so far, the men stepped back, letting the frightened mare continue to buck and struggle, in a futile attempt to free herself from the ropes. Only once she’d slumped down, gasping for air around the uncomfortable bit in her teeth did they approach again. They fiddled with the ropes around her hooves and Kidai felt the tight pressure diminish, though not entirely. When she tried to move her legs again, she found her hooves had been hobbled, giving her enough room to walk, slowly, but not to trot or gallop.

Before she rose to her feet, the wranglers dropped another, smaller lasso over Kidai’s head, tightening it around her neck as a lead. By the time she’d struggled upright, the other end of the lead was tied to the saddle horn of one of the raider’s horses. Both men mounted, turning them around to rejoin the rest of their party and the captured centaur herd. As the man holding Kidai’s rope set his horse trotting, Kidnai found her choices were to follow as well or be choked by the awful lead. Head bowed in misery, she followed.

While Kidai had been distracted by her own capture, the rest of the raiders had worked quickly. The foals had, as expected, been roped easily enough, and led back to rejoin their mothers, who were upright, hobbled and gagged like Kidai. The mare was led over to the others. Her lead was untied from her captor’s saddle and joined with similar leads linking the rest of the captive mares together at the neck, in a long line. The wranglers then started roping the foals into a second line.

While they were doing this, another rider came galloping over. As she came into sight, Kidai and the other mares couldn’t help but stare in both horror and amazement. The rider was female, but human like the others. But instead of riding a horse, she was seated on the lower back of another centaur mare, a light, dappled creature.

Like Kidai and her herd, this centaur was obvious a prisoner of the humans, but instead of rope, she wore an elaborate harness about her upper body, joining the the saddle on her lower. Her hands were kept strapped behind her back, attached to the harness. A matching head harness held a leather-wrapped bit between her teeth. Blinders on either side limited her field of view directly forward while a set of reins were anchored to the head harness. The other end was held in a tight grip by her rider. As she trotted over, Kidai noticed, with horror the designed branded into her left flank.

“What do you think, Ma’am?” One of the wranglers called, cheerfully.

“Very good.” The woman replied, examining the line of stunned, dejected captives. She held up her free hand, supporting a bird of prey. “Got a message from Rey’s crew. They’re about ten miles south. Spotted another herd heading westward, but it’s a big one. Send two hands back to the ranch with this lot, get ‘em branded and saddle broken as soon as possible. The rest of you come with me.”

“Yes ma’am.” The centaur roper nodded. He gestured to two of his men, detaching them from the rest of the raiding party. The others, meanwhile, mounted up and rode off after their mistress, chasing the next unfortunate herd of centaurs.

The two left behind took charge of Kidai and the others. The leads of the centaurs at the front were tied to one of the raider’s saddles. The other man meanwhile brought up the rear, keeping an eye on the two lines, wary for trouble. When he signaled  he was ready, the lead man set his horse forward at a walk. The helpless centaurs had no choice but to follow or be choked. Heads bowed, they were led off into slavery.