The Horsemen

About an hour later, the unknown horsemen were seen crossing the river from the exact spot where the strange water goddess was found by one of them. He was the most handsome man among the four of them and seemed to be the commander as he took all the decisions and the others were following him.

All of them looked young, about twenty-five to thirty years old and were fully armed. Every one of them looked good in their black suits. The one who stole a gaze of a certain beauty, stood out from the other three as he was riding a pitch-black horse while the others were brown. His curly golden hair danced in the wind as his horse galloped on the grass on the northern bank of the river. The domineering aura he had in his personality and his noble behavior expressed that he was superior to the other three.

After passing the area with grass on the river bank, they entered the little wood that had light vegetation. They followed a narrow path that ran across the wood to the north. At the end of the wood, they saw a small village that had a few cottages situated far from each other. They rode their horses along the road which led across the village and the few people who saw them gave strange looks as it was very rare to see strangers coming to Hulia.

It had been two weeks since they passed the Northern boundary of the Sothern kingdom. They could travel across the Central kingdom following the shortest route in two weeks. This was due to the convenience of traveling along the even routes and the availability of facilities. When reaching the Northern boundary of the Central kingdom, the altitude increased and the routes became tougher due to the hills.

They had been traveling for four days since they passed a village and had to supply certain things from this village. There had been something wrong with one of the horse-shoes of the horse ridden by Soolen. He was the closest to the commander and he seemed more like a friend than just a follower or a guard to the commander. Soolan's horse needed repair for its shoe as it was damaged due to the rough cliffy routs they had to travel on for days and, they had to find a blacksmith from this village too.

They saw a villager carrying a cart of vegetables and asked him if there was a blacksmith in the village. The villager showed the way to the only blacksmith's hut they had in the village. The four horsemen hurried in the direction the man showed as the sun was going down and they had to find somewhere to spend the night before it got dark.

They found the blacksmith's hut and Soolen stopped there with his horse while the others went for buying the stuff they needed. The blacksmith came out with curiosity as they rarely had unfamiliar visitors. "How can I help you?", he asked while checking the stranger from head to toe with his attentive eyes.

"Oh, I want to get this horse-shoe fixed", said Soolen showing the front right foot of his horse while holding the rein in his other hand.

Soolen tied the horse and helped the blacksmith to remove the horse-shoe. "The shoe is still good. I need to refix it with some new nails" the blacksmith said after checking the shoe.

He started his work while Soolen sat there on a short wall watching the blacksmith fixing the shoe. The blacksmith was a friendly man of about fifty years of age. "Where are you from?", he asked without taking his eyes off the work he was doing.

"We are from the Southern kingdom", Soolen answered. "Ah from a long distance. Are you exploring the northern areas?" Asked the blacksmith while fixing the repaired shoe onto the hoof of the horse.

"Yes. We are just traveling to the North for sightseeing", Soolen answered holding the horse with the rein in one hand and patting it on its neck and head to keep it calm. His words were not completely the truth but also not complete lies. They started the journey in the first place due to their commander's idea. He always wanted to travel everywhere to see the world and that was the reason for these four horsemen ending up in this small village that evening.

While they were fixing the horse-shoe, the other three found a place to buy some food and drinks they needed for another few days. According to the villagers, there were no villages in the North except an isolated settlement at a seven days distance from this village. All the villages in the North were abandoned twenty years ago.

Soolen paid the blacksmith with a few coins, one or two extra for his friendly nature and did not accept those back. "Did you find a place to stay the night?", the blacksmith asked Soolen intending to help him for his kindness.

"Not yet. We have to find somewhere before it gets dark", Soolen said hopping onto his horse. "I've got a place where you can spend the night. I can prepare it if you like.", the blacksmith said pointing towards a small cottage a little far behind his hut.

A couple of hours later, the four horsemen were seen sitting by a fire, made in front of the cottage that was shown by the blacksmith. They were having their meal together with the blacksmith. He was living alone and had no family. Therefore, he enjoyed the company of these young men even though, they just met the same day. The fire was burning well, lighting the faces of the five men in red and making dancing shadows behind them. The warmth from the fire and the meal they were taking brought comfort and lightened their minds as well as their bodies. It helped them to drive away the coldness that the wind brought from the mountains.

The rider of the black horse was always looking for a chance to find something about the young lady who took his heart away. From her clothes and appearance, it was obvious that she was not an ordinary village girl. All of them were talking about many more things that were not important to any of them. They just enjoyed talking with each other while having the meal. "Who else lives here, except the villagers?", the curious man asked the blacksmith taking the chance.

"It's only us here. A small village of nearly seventy houses", the blacksmith said looking at his bowl and taking a spoonful to his mouth.

"What about the other side of the river? Does anyone live nearby?", the young man asked expecting a positive answer to satisfy his thirst.

"Ah yes. Lord Fearyan's mansion and his guards' houses are on the other side of the river", although the blacksmith answered in an indifferent tone, these words lit a spark in the young man's heart. If anyone was observing nearly, he could have seen the sudden smile that appeared on his handsome face. The sudden reddening in his ears due to excitement could not be seen due to the red light from the burning fire.

The smile vanished suddenly after the name "Fearyan" was processed in his head the next second. "Ah, is he the lord Fearyan from the Northern kingdom?", asked he trying to maintain his tone unchanged.

"Yes, that's him. Oh! Lady Elindella is from the South as well. You might know her", the blacksmith said having his last spoon and finishing up the meal. After hearing about lord Fearyan, the other three who were talking and laughing, stopped for a while and paid attention to this conversation.

"Ah yes. I have heard about her" was the answer of the young man and he asked again, "do they have children?" out of curiosity although he had already known that they had a daughter.

"Yes. They have a daughter. But anyone hasn't seen her, only the maids at the mansion" said the middle-aged man standing up after finishing the meal. The fire was about to go out and Soolen added a few pieces of firewood. The moon was full in the Eastern sky diminishing the light of the thousands of stars. The cold wind that came from the mountains made their muscles numb as the night grew late. It was time for them to go inside the cottage and embrace the warmth of the blankets and have a good sleep as they were exhausted from the riding throughout the day and also, they had to continue their journey early the next morning.

Three of the young men were concurred by the sweet goddess of sleep, seconds after curling under the blankets. One was kept awake by the contradictory thoughts that waged war inside his mind. Finally, he allowed the positive and happy feelings to win over its dark aspect involving lord Fearyan with a deep sigh that cleared his mind. Hours later, he let the sleep touch his eyes after swooning for the thousandth time with the allure of the fascinating figure coming out of the water. Even during sleep, for his ecstasy, she did not abandon him for the rest of the night.

Early in the next morning, the horsemen were seen passing the Northern edge of the village even before the mist got thin. The blacksmith found the few coins they left on the table as a gift for his hospitality which he did not want to accept.