"We'd better do a whole lot better than fine." Gabryl flung a glance back at his own team. Zofia would be a match for any of them, he thought, and Patch - she was small, but she was strong, and incredibly fierce. She and Melomene, or Mel, as she preferred to be called, were the last two additions to his band before Trina. They were close friends that worked remarkably well together, which was no doubt what Zofie had on her mind when she chose them for the team. Mel's coat was a glossy black, and she was rather solemn, had a permanent pout, and a tendency for cynicism. But she had a voice that could make angels cry, and when she and the rest of the herd sang together, Gabryl swore that the moon and stars paused in their wanderings, sat down and listened.
"Alright, for you ladies who have never played before," Magnus' voice cut rudely into Gabryl's thoughts, " - and that includes you too, G - Here's the rules. Once you catch the ball, you must stop, throw it, or kick it, unless you're the designated runner. If anyone two-hand tags you, you gotta stop, and put the ball down. Get it into the end zone - that's marked by those pretty white lines on either end of the field, fillies! - And you get a point for your team. First to seven wins!"
"They already know the rules, Maggie. But now that we all know that you finally learned 'em, I guess you have no excuse for cheating, huh?" Magnus made an obscene gesture, and Gabryl grinned. "Sorry, baby, you're not my type." He glanced back at the mares behind him again. "Trina's our Runner."
Magnus grinned. "I'll have a lot of fun taggin' her." He looked over at the delicate-looking grulla dun, and raised his voice, with a sneer. "If I get a little rough, jus' pretend it's foreplay." He tossed his silver mane, and moved back to line up with his team, as Trina looked at the ground, and bit her lip.
"Pig-banger," Gabe rumbled under his breath, pawing the ground with a hoof the size of a small dinner plate. Zofia, as usual, was all business.
"Alright, let's go - Mel, Patch, line up. Trina, when we break, you go upfield, so we can pass to you. Got it?"
"Y-yes..." Trina said, faintly.
"Trina! Buck up, filly, we need you with us," Gabe called to her. "I know you can do it. Just concentrate on the ball, and let us worry about the rest."
Trina nodded, a determined look coming over her face.
"I'm challenging you, so it's your ball first," Magnus said. Gabryl nodded tersely and swooshed his tail. He hadn't bothered to tie it up, for while it was very thick and heavy, it wasn't so long as to interfere with his movements. There was a moment of silence, was the centaurs on the field stood frozen, like brightly painted statures carved from granite. Even the breeze had died, for the space of a heartbeat. Then Gabryl bolted and then almost immediately, he slammed on the brakes, even as he scooped up the big rubber ball, clutching it to his chest - and then Magnus and his team were on him, and he had only a fraction of a second to throw, and he managed to get it off just before Magnus' hands slammed into his chest. Gabryl reared back, and then there was nothing but shouts and war whoops, gleaming hides, flying manes and tails, and hooves, and clots of turf, flashing eyes and teeth, and the dull thud of bodies striking one another.
Magnus' team scored first. Then second, then third, then fourth, before Gabryl was able to restore some semblance of order to his team.
"Don't stand there looking at me!" Gabryl roared. "I'm here to defend you - just get the ball to the line!" He glared at Zofia. "Zofie! Get your ass down to that end zone, with Trina, and we'll show them how it's done!" Zofie nodded and galloped away, and Gabryl charged one of the dark bay brothers, ears pinned back against his head, and his teeth bared. That centaur was considerably smaller than Gabryl, and not nearly inclined to let the rampaging blood bay stud touch him, so he immediately passed the ball. And that was just what Gabryl was expecting. "Patch, were are you???"
"Here Gabe!" Patch leaped up just in the nick of time, practically snatching the ball right from the open arms of the other bay brother. He growled and two-handed her, tossing her backwards. He picked up the ball, as an infuriated Patch scrambled back to her feet. He tossed it to Ghost. The ugly gray centaur spun around to run, and was knocked off his feet by the force of Gabryl's charge. Gabryl snatched up the ball and flung it to Zofia, just as both of the bay brothers slammed into him at once.
"Shit!"
Things turned around a bit after that. They scored twice more, one almost immediately after the other, both catches being received by Zofia, and then, five minutes later, a third. Zofia was on fire. She was big and strong enough that the other team didn't intimidate her, and she would calmly assess each play to decide where she needed to be and when. Then Trina went for a catch, and fumbled it, and Magnus's team scored again. Zofia gave her an encouraging pat, and Gabryl gave her a thumbs up, and she bit her lip, flattened her ears in determination and tried again. They scored twice more. One of them was Trina's. Gabryl was all smiles. He gave Trina's rump a congratulatory slap as they lined up again. Then the bay brothers double-teamed Zofia, and she went down in a cloud of dust.
"Zofia!!" called all the mares together.
"Dammit!" roared Gabryl, thundering up the field. "Now that was just plain uncalled for!" He helped his primata to her feet, and a dusty and shaken centaur mare limped slowly over to the sidelines.
"Let me run a healing spell," Gabryl said, urgently. "We need you out there."
"And you need to save your strength, Gabe. Plus you'll never be able to focus out here. You might turn me into pink and yellow spotted turtle with a hurt leg. All we need is two more points. You don't need me for that. Pass it to Trina."
Gabryl sighed. "She's trying really hard, Zofie, but I don't know...."
"She scored once, Gabe, she could do it again. Give the filly a chance."
Gabryl nodded, and trotted slowly back out to the field. His own ribs still ached from the way those two dark bays had hit him. He turned to look at his wives. Melomene's once glossy black coat was gray with dust, and Patch's tail had mostly pulled out of its knot. It looked as though she might be getting a black eye to match the one with the spot over it. Trina looked as if she hadn't seen a currycomb in a week. All of the centaur's ears were laid back, and they all looked very hot, tired, and sour. The score was tied, five - five.
"Don't quit on me," Gabryl warned them.
"That thought couldn't be furthest from our minds," Melomene answered in her low and quiet voice. Gabryl nodded, and turned back to the other team.
Magnus grinned. "You're missing a player," he said. "Since they are fillies and all, I'll give you a break, G. Pick another one off the bench."
"Fuck you, nag. We'll win this fair and square, with the players we started with. You're just scared. It'd look kinda bad if you got your rump kicked by a incomplete team of fillies, now wouldn't it, Maggie?"
"Hey, that's your call, G, just trying to make it good for you. Don't want to hear you crying later."
"Don't you worry about me. We're winning this one, boy."
Magnus grinned. "Here we go."
"As soon as I get this ball, you better run like you know, Trina," Gabryl rumbled. "Unless of course, you wanna go home with this prick."
Trina nodded. Her face was hard, under the dust. Gabryl snatched up the ball, Magnus was right there, both hands slapping his chest. Gabryl gave him a nasty look, but dropped the ball, and backed the required distance. Magnus picked it up, and Gabryl flung himself at the palomino centaur with all his might, both hands extended, arms rigid.
"Ooff!"
"You hurt my primata! Rules or no rules, I'm gonna tear your team apart, mule-fuck!"
The ball went flying. Mel had it, and flung it to Trina, and Trina turned and ran like all the demons in hell were chasing her. Gabryl could only stand there and stare. It was true - once that little filly got her legs untangled, she could run like nobody's business. Ghost, Fire Dogg and all the rest chased her, but she ran away from them all and left them choking on her dust. She galloped into the end zone all by herself, head and tail in the air, and did a triumphant little dance.
"Look out!" screamed Patch. Trina looked up, and her face paled as Ghost and Fire Dogg slammed into her.
"Late hit!" roared Gabryl, "that was a late hit!" He trotted down to the end zone, fists clenched, ears back, and tail flagged, his fury visible in every light, powerful step. Ghost and Fire Dogg stepped away from Trina, who slowly clambered up to her feet again, and then stood there for a moment, swaying.
"You alright, babe?" Gabe asked. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Um...three?"
"Heh. You're only off by two. That's good." He gave her a gentle pat, and turned his attention back to the two young studs. Dogg danced away anxiously, swishing his tail, but Ghost stood his ground. Gabryl marched up to him, huffing slightly, and the two stallions tried to stare each other down.
"Let's keep it in the game, yo," Magnus interrupted. "You fight, that means you forfeit. You know the rules." Gabryl whipped his head around.
"There was no reason for that hit."
"You wouldn't be upset if it was a stud they hit. You don't want no favors, 'cause she's a filly - well, make up your mind, G."
Gabryl gave him a long threatening look, and then turned back to Ghost. "You're mine, asshole."
Ghost, as always, said nothing, but he gave Gabryl a ghastly smile.
"Alright then, let's line up!" Magnus bellowed, and the two teams faced off again. But Trina was still badly shaken, and the rest of them were too angry to think straight. The next score belonged to Magnus's team. "Next point wins." The palomino centaur smiled smugly, and gave Trina's rump a slap as the trotted past her. "Got your bags packed?"
"Fuck you, Magnus," Trina retorted, her little high voice cracking with anger. "You haven't won yet."
Gabe flung back his head and laughed. "That's tellin' him - Good for you, Trina! Let's take this ball and shove it down their throats! Line up!!" The teams regrouped to face off for the last time.
Gabe took the ball, flung it, and Mel caught it. Unfortunately for her. She never had a chance. Magnus was right on top of her, and in the resulting collision, Mel was dropped her back on her haunches, with an angry cry.
"Closed fists? What the hell's the matter with you?"
"That was not a tag!" Gabryl finally lost the remaining threads of this temper. But there was little he could do, as Dogg, Ghost and the two bay studs were holding him back. Patch spun around and started to come to his defense, but Gabe roared, "Forget me - get the ball, Patch, get the friggin' ball!!"
"Get the ball, huh?" Patch said, a malicious twinkle in her mismatched eyes. She raised her voice. "Hey, Mel!"
"What?"
"Go high!"
Melomene grinned. "Okay...." She lowered her head, flattened her ears and charged Magnus full-speed. Magnus had no one to throw to; his entire team was hanging onto Gabryl, who was dragging them all step by step up the field.
"Ghost! Dogg, somebody!!" Magnus raged. Ghost let go, and started running after Mel, but the tall black centaur mare had a good head start. "Oh, shit!" Melomene leaped into the air, with the intent of letting her entire body smash into Magnus, and the huge palomino reared to meet her, a very bad move on his part, as a small brown and white streak tore across the field and came in behind him, dropped at the last minute, hit the dirt, and slammed into his hind legs. Some two thousand pounds plus of centaur did a complete back flip and went crashing to earth.
Everyone stopped, stunned. And stared. Total silence settled over the playing field. One of the old-timers on the sidelines turned to his sway-backed and grizzled companion, and remarked, "And that is why nobody ever lets fillies play Seasamh agus Caitheamh. They're too damned rough."
And so the last point belonged to Trina. With a small high-pitched whoop of delight, she snatched up the ball, rolling freely across the turf, and ran. Gabryl grinned as he watched the small black maned blue-gray streak fly into the end zone, spike the ball, and let out a wild cry.
"Up yours, Magnus!" And then she gone, lost in the small mob of her sister-wives, all screeching and whooping it up.
"We won!!"
Gabryl trotted slowly over to Magnus, who was just regaining consciousness. "Ohhhh... what happened?"
"My wives happened. Looks like you got a nasty knock on the head there. You're lucky you didn't break your back. They're mean bunch of fillies. You shouldn't have pissed 'em off like that."
"Good thing we lost. You can keep those wives of yours. I pity the idiot whoever takes 'em off your hands."
Gabryl's grin grew wider, and he offered the big yellow centaur a hand, and helped him to his feet. "Good game."
"Yeah. Not bad."
Two minutes later, the whole little party was trotting along the darkening streets, with Patch leading them in the singing of a very bawdy song, very loudly, and the rest chiming in on the chorus. Well, all except Trina. Her blush was visible even in the gathering dusk, and Gabryl couldn't help but chuckle. Give her a month with this rowdy crew, and he imagined she'd not only be joining them, she might even lead a verse or two. Patch stopped singing for a moment, and turned twinkling eyes back toward her sister-wife. "I don't hear you, Trina!"
"B-but, I don't know the song!"
"You've got to know the chorus by now! We're on the eighth verse. We need one for you - Adeli, a verse for Trina!"
"Tell us of Trina, a filly so fine, blush like a maid, as fresh as springtime, runs for her mounting-- she's so fleet of feet, but Gabe be too heavy; she falls to the street!"
"Adeli! That was awful!" Gabryl roared, laughing and shaking his head. Trina laughed too, but then called back - "Aye, Adeli, he's called me almost every night this week - I figure if he doesn't let up soon, I'll be so bow-legged, I'll be two hands shorter by the end of the month!"
"There's some two by fours in the back room, love; you might see if you're able to prop yourself up!"
There was a little more good-natured teasing, and a great deal more laughter, and eventually, a new song began and a chorus of centaur voices echoed through the darkness, and their bodies threw long strange shadows under the streetlights, as they flicked on one by one.
