Tarsus lay where he had been placed, head bowed.For the moment, they had forgotten him, as long as he stayed still and submissive. His body trembled every now and then as his grief overwhelmed him, but for the most part, he was simply numb.The wind had picked up and blessedly began to blow the smell of burning flesh away. He swallowed hard against the nausea that welled up, then raised tear-damp eyes to the fortress. Somewhere in there, his half-sister lay dead, a victim of revenge and hatred. The only one who had ever loved him, the gentlest soul he had ever known, and she had been killed for something she had never done.Along with the rest of his family…Those he would not mourn.Great hooves stopped before him, and he froze, breath suspended.“Up.” The command left no room for argument, not that he would have found the courage for it.He gathered his hooves beneath him and managed to get his rump up, but his forelegs were so shaky he almost collapsed again. A hard hand took his arm and dragged him to standing, leaving bruises in its wake.He looked up into the cold eyes of the other centaur, shivering at the unyielding hatred that shone there. There was no mercy at all, no hope…The only reason he yet lived was the very coloring that had made him such an object of scorn in his own tribe.The attacking force had been so taken aback by him that they had spared him out of curiosity. Once that waned, he doubted he would be long for this world.Covered in dirt and grime from working, his white coat matted and dull, tail tangled and knotted, he knew he was ugly in the extreme. The looks he received alternated between disgust and curiosity, but he was well used to that.“Open your mouth.”Tarsus hesitated in surprise, and that earned him a cuff to the head that almost sent him back to the ground. He obeyed then, cringing back as he hesitantly opened his mouth.Something hard was jammed between his lips, and he jerked back as leather slipped over his head to hold it tightly in place.Those around him laughed at his shock. They had bridled him, an insult of high order, as though he were no more intelligent than a horse. The bit did not allow him to close his mouth, and when the huge centaur that held the reins jerked him forward, he whimpered from the pain.He stumbled in the large one’s wake, unable to balance properly with his arms tied brutally behind him, long since numb.He did not try to look back as they led him from the only home he had ever known. There had been no happiness there, and he had no expectation of any in the future.