He knew what she meant. There were a number of one-of-a-kind or few-of-a-kind creatures, often the results of crossbreeding. In addition to the winged centaurs there was Grundy the Golem, and his wife Rapunzel, who was a human-elven crossbreed who could change sizes and had the most marvelous hair in Xanth. There was Gloha herself. Naturally she related well; she knew what it was like to be unique in species.

But right now he had to take action. With Che the captive of the Goblinate of the Golden Horde—the very worst place to be—he had to take necessary steps immediately. He did not acknowledge that it might already be too late, that the goblins could have boiled the foal at dawn; that simply was not a viable option. He had to assume that the goblins would play with their victims a while, torturing them psychologically before proceeding to physical mistreatment and finally the boiling. He had to assume that he had at least this day to organize for the recovery.

For this was not a mission that could be simply accomplished. The horde was vicious, with its horrible hate spring, and any ill-planned effort would result in disaster. Oh, the winged monsters would gladly exterminate the entire horde, but that would be useless if Che died in the process. So Cheiron schooled himself to do what was most difficult at the moment: nothing. He had to get more information before he acted, and then act with extreme dispatch.

"Gloha, may I ask a favor of you?" he asked.

"Of course, Cheiron," she said. "I want to help."

"Go to Dragon Net and tell him I wish to organize a posse to rescue my foal," he said. "But not only must it be capable of handling the goblins of the Golden Horde, it must be highly disciplined and not strike until we are ready. Ask him to have it ready by day's end, if possible."

She considered, evidently worried about the delay, but deferred to his judgment. "I will tell him," she said, and flew away across the flat surface of the mountain.

Cheiron walked across to where Chex was sleeping, with Grundy Golem on her back, similarly asleep. What a wonderful thing it had been when Chex came into his life! He had been the only winged centaur in Xanth, then had heard of a young female. But a centaur did not develop an association with another centaur merely because the other existed. The situation and the other centaur had to be right. The female was young and inexperienced and had not yet figured out how to fly. She was a fine looking specimen, healthy and resolute, but inexperienced. The fact that she was beautiful and winged was not enough; did she have the character required of the species as he foresaw it? He would have to test her and find out.