Chapter 389: The Rider’s Covenant
Luca was completely baffled.
Sigrid, seeing his confusion, went on to explain.
"The truth is, me and the rest of the brigade didn’t know what to expect when we were facing you yesterday. There was a very real chance, or so we thought, that you could have gone berserk and started attacking us all."
She admitted this in an embarrassed manner, her cheeks coloring slightly. "I realize now how foolish that fear was. But at the time, it seemed prudent."
She continued, "Because of that, we decided to hold the duel away from the main village—far from our homes, far from our families. We kept the younger centaurs and the elders safely inside the village walls, maintaining a considerable distance from this place."
"So it’s quite a distance from here. Several miles, at least." She pointed towards the west. "And it would be much better and faster if you simply sat on my back and let me carry you over there."
"Hold on, hold on." Luca raised both hands. "Are you really fine with me sitting on your back? I thought that was...a one-time punishment that happens once and is then completely forgotten."
That was what he had assumed.
A single humiliating act, endured and then put behind her forever.
But Sigrid simply shook her head, her expression dignified.
"Of course not! The bet clearly established that I would act as your steed whenever and wherever you required!"
Luca’s brain gritted its gears. "Wait...so it’s NOT a one-time thing?!"
"It is not." Sigrid confirmed.
A faint, shy blush dusted her cheeks, her ears twitching as she looked away and added,
"Furthermore...since you have already sat upon my back...the Rider’s Covenant has been invoked."
Luca blinked. "The...what now?"
"The Rider’s Covenant." Sigrid murmured, her voice dropping into an ancient, respectful tone.
"Centuries ago, during the Great Wars, the centaur clans formed sacred battle alliances with allied races."
She looked up at him, explaining the history.
"We discovered that paired with a skilled warrior atop our backs, our speed and mobility combined with their upper-body reach created an invincible unit."
She placed a hand over her heart.
"Thus, the Covenant was forged. When a centaur willingly accepts a rider onto her back, it is not servitude—it is a sacred bond of absolute martial partnership."
"The rider swears to defend the centaur’s head, and the centaur swears to carry the rider through the gates of hell itself."
Luca stared at her, utterly dumbfounded.
"So...because I sat on your back for two minutes yesterday...I accidentally entered an ancient, binding centaur martial marriage?!"
Sigrid’s face turned bright red. "I-It is not a marriage! It is a battle partnership!"
"And you have to let me ride you?!"
"...Yes." She whispered, her ears drooping nervously. "Traditionally, a Rider-Bearer partnership lasts for years. It cannot be dissolved simply because one party becomes embarrassed."
She quickly raised her hands, adding frantically,
"Of course, in ancient times, only elite female warriors were permitted to become Riders! Males were strictly forbidden!"
She glanced away, her voice barely audible.
"But...you have already ridden me. The physical act was completed."
Luca rubbed his temples. "So...?"
"So...there is nothing to be done about it now."
Sigrid said, her blue eyes fixing on his with intense, solemn gravity.
"The moment you sat upon my back, the Covenant recognized you as my other half in battle. Regardless of the circumstances...I am your steed."
Luca threw his hands in the air.
"Sigrid, these are ancient, dusty traditions from a thousand years ago! You don’t have to take this so seriously! Just tell everyone the bet is over!"
"No."
Her voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of a mountain.
"Traditions and customs exist for a reason, Sir Luca." Sigrid said, her expression glowing with absolute, unyielding conviction.
"Our ancestors forged these bonds through blood, suffering, and centuries of experience. They are the bedrock of who we are as a people."
She looked him dead in the eye.
"I will not cast aside the sacred vows of my ancestors simply because they have become slightly inconvenient or embarrassing."
"If a tradition was important enough for my lineage to die protecting it...then it is important enough for me to uphold today."
Luca could only stare at her in exasperation.
It was also then that he truly, completely understood just how stubborn Sigrid was when it came to her principles.
She wasn’t merely following an old custom because she had been told to. She genuinely believed in it.
He let out a long breath, half exasperated, half admiring.
"You really are a donkey, you know that?"
Sigrid’s eyes narrowed—but there was no real anger in them. If anything, there was the faintest hint of amusement.
"And you, Sir Luca, are still a human with a donkey’s...attributes. "
They looked at each other for a moment.
Then, despite everything, they both smiled.
"Fine." Luca said, shaking his head. "If you’re going to be this stubborn about it..."
He stepped forward and, with considerably more care than yesterday, settled himself onto her back.
This time, Sigrid didn’t flinch. Her ears twitched slightly, and a faint blush colored her cheeks, but she rose smoothly to her full height, Luca seated comfortably upon her.
"Shall we?" She asked.
"Lead the way, Commander."
And with that, they set off toward the centaur village.
—
Gallop! Gallop! Gallop!
Sigrid glided through the rolling hills surrounding her home, her four hooves striking the earth in a rhythmic cadence.
She deliberately moderated her pace, brushing past tall wild grass and vibrant highland blossoms, doing her absolute best to make the ride as smooth and comfortable as possible for the man sitting atop her back.
On the outside, she maintained the posture of a seasoned military commander, acting as if carrying a human hero through her native territory was the most natural thing in the world.
The truth, however, was that her heart was pounding against her ribs like a trapped bird.
She didn’t know what to feel about this. Any of this.
The entire situation was so far beyond anything she had ever anticipated that she had no framework for processing it.
How did it come to this?
—
When she was just a child small enough to still trip over her own hooves, her mother would sit beside her in the warm glow of the evening and tell stories.
She would narrate legends of the great wars that had swept across the continent centuries ago, when the races had been forced to band together against common enemies or face annihilation.
Her voice would especially drop to a whisper as she spoke of the Riders Covenant, the sacred bond between centaur and rider.
She described how elves had once ridden upon centaur backs, their bows singing death from above while centaur hooves thundered across battlefields.
She told of dryads whose nature magic had intertwined with centaur speed to create living storms of thorns and wind.
"The bond formed by those who swore the oath would last forever."
She said, her eyes distant with the weight of ancestral memory
"Even after the wars ended and the battles were forgotten, the connection did not fade. It endured for a lifetime. Sometimes..."
She paused, her voice growing soft.
"Sometimes it became deeper than family itself."
Young Sigrid, wide-eyed and breathless with wonder, would lean forward and clutch her mother’s arm.
"Deeper than family? How is that possible!?"
"Because they depended upon one another, my dear." She smiled gently. "One relied upon the other to navigate treacherous terrain, cross impossible distances, and escape dangers that could have claimed their lives. And in return, the other defended them with their very life."
"They entrusted their lives to each other, fought together, and faced death side by side. Their bond became sacred."
She gently brushed a strand of silver hair from Sigrid’s face.
"Those riders and their centaurs eventually became sisters."
Sigrid’s eyes widened.
"Even though they shared no blood. Even though they were born of different races and different worlds, they came to understand one another more deeply than many families ever could."
Her mother’s smile softened.
"That is what the Rider’s Covenant truly means."
"A bond that, once forged, was meant to last a lifetime."
Hearing these amazing tales of camaraderie and friendship, Sigrid, who already burned with the desperate desire to become the most noble knight her people had ever known was absolutely beside excitement.
"Mother! Mother!" She bounced on her small hooves, her tiny tail swishing with excitement.
"Could I have a partner like that one day!? Someone I could rely on in battle!? Someone who would ride on my back and fight beside me??"
She puffed out her chest and declare with all the solemnity a child could muster:
"I’ll train so hard that no matter who they are—even if it’s a massive ogre—they’ll be able to sit on my back!"
"I’ll become the strongest centaur ever, and my rider will be the luckiest rider in the whole world!"
Her mother chuckled at this display and reached out to gently pinch her daughter’s cheeks.
"Such pure desires." She would murmur, her eyes soft with love. "But I’m afraid it cannot happen, my darling. In fact, it would be a rather terrible thing if such circumstances were to arise."
Sigrid’s ears would droop.
"Why, Mother? Why can’t I have a rider? You said the bond was beautiful! You said it made sisters out of strangers! I want a sister too!"
At that time, Mavis had not yet been born. It would be another year before her little sister came into the world.
And Sigrid, lonely in the way only children often are, had yearned for companionship with every fiber of her being.
Her mother’s smiling face had grown somber then, a gentle sadness touching her eyes.
"Because, my dear...the only time that sacred oath is ever invoked is during times of absolute war."
"So, for you to gain a rider...a war would have to break out. A war so horrific that you would be driven to sheer desperation."
She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a quiet whisper.
"Tell me, my sweet knight...do you truly want a war?"
Young Sigrid recoiled, horrified by the realization.
"No! No, I don’t!" She stammered frantically. "A knight’s duty is to protect her Queen and keep her people safe! I don’t want a senseless war just to get a partner!"
Her mother would smile then and press a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"Such a sweet, smart, wonderful girl. You understand completely."
But even through the warmth of her mother’s praise, Sigrid could not entirely banish her disappointment.
The dream of having a bonded partner, someone who would trust her completely and whom she could trust in return had taken root in her heart, and letting it go was not so simple.
Her mother, perceptive as always, seemed to sense this.
"Don’t despair, little one. Even though you may never gain a sister through the Covenant...I have a feeling you will gain a little sister very soon regardless."
Sigrid’s eyes had gone wide as moons.
"Really? Truly? You mean it, Mother?!"
Her mother had nodded, her hand resting gently on her own belly, a gesture that Sigrid, in her childish excitement, had not understood at the time.
"Hopefully."
The joy that had erupted in young Sigrid’s heart was indescribable.
She had spent the following weeks chattering endlessly about how she would be the greatest big sister in the history of centaurkind.
How she would guard her sibling against any danger, teach her everything she knew, and be a knight not just for her queen but for her family as well.
Her mother had listened to all of it with that same proud, knowing smile.
But then, on one particular evening, just before she had drifted off to sleep, her mother had added something strange.
Something that had not made sense at the time.
"Of course." She had murmured, almost to herself. "Just because a great war may never occur...that doesn’t mean circumstances won’t arise where you find yourself with a partner nonetheless."
"The Covenant...can be formed in many ways. Not all of them require a battlefield."
Sigrid had blinked in confusion. "What do you mean, Mother? I don’t understand."
But her mother had simply smiled and said nothing more.
Now, galloping through the sunlit highlands with Luca’s weight warm against her back, Sigrid recalled that conversation with a flush of profound embarrassment.
What had her mother meant?
Had she been hinting at a future husband? Some male centaur who would one day claim the right to ride upon her back as her mate?
That was the most logical interpretation and it would explain why her mother had been so deliberately vague.
Or...had her mother somehow known?
Had she possessed some flicker of foresight that had shown her this exact moment?
Her daughter, grown and armored, carrying a human Hero upon her back through the golden grass?