Blue Hawk
As the horsemen draw nearer, Hawk considers calling forth the spirits to have the horses throw their riders, leaving the rider vulnerable in the confusion. He decides against it, though, as he is quite tired from the long horse ride and his previous spell to befriend the horse. Besides, if the horses are trained for war, such an attempt would probably be doomed to failure, anyway.
When the horsemen grow nearer, Hawk realizes that they are not horsemen at all, but horse-men. Hawk has met them in the tribal lands, and they can be very troublesome if not approached correctly.
“Everyone,” the shaman calls out in Anglish, “off and away from the horses, before they are offended.” He then suits actions to words, to the vast relief of both parties involved. His dismount is neither graceful nor gentle, but he lands steadily on his feet, and begins moving to place himself between the horse-men and his horse.
The tribesman takes stock of his spiritual energy, the size of the horse-men, and the distance, and concludes that trying to cast a spell to make them more well-disposed towards him would likely be a bad idea. He will just have to rely on his natural charm and linguistic ability.
As the centaurs approach, he lowers his weapon, and genuflects. “Hello, Salaam, and well met, great warriors of the plains,” he says, speaking (except for the Arabic greeting) in his own native tongue.
[Edited to add:]. As the last word leaves his lips, a loud report sounds behind Hawk. The shaman flinches at the sound, but does not stand or raise his weapon, hoping that whatever caused that noise has not just guaranteed their entry into the spirit realm this day.
