Shadow of a black figure

Seeing no one showing up he still continued," Who is he? Where is he now?"

The there men including the old man exchanged each other a few glances among them. No one said a word. One of the youngest one among them who had not said anything hesitantly responded," Yes! yes! He is so brave and kind____."

The man had just started speaking but the other man tapped on his thigh and waved his hand. He put on his face a wierd smile with widened eyes and dissented," These are just stories. How can one believe in them!" He faced towards Arthur. He curved his lips into a meaningful smile and continued," You don't need to believe in it. You are new here, and will get used to this by the time you settle here." This villagers were certainly smart and it looked like they were unwilling to reveal anything about the mystery man. Arthur knew this by now that villager would let nothing out. It would waste his time waiting here. He continued sipping his drink. He hoped his plan to continue with efficiency.

Untill then a there were loud noises coming from a distance that disturbed this silence. It was the sound of a loud clumping of feet in strong way. The horses were now seen galloping down the village. The men sitting around Arthur gasped in fright. Their feet froze. The men were seen hording on the horse back. They were soldiers who had come for their suprise visit for the taxes. They caught their speed and headed even close

One man with Arthur began screaming,

"R___Run! Save y___your lives." The other man at a distance from them too started screaming.

"Run! Run! "

Some distance away from them a man ran banging a plate in hand and was screaming continuously," Close the doors! the bastards arrived again, the bastards arrived again. Save yourself." The was screaming on top of his voice and was disappeared. He was now seen nowhere around. The village that was lighted by a few lamps earlier was all gone. The light now was the light coming from the torches by the horse sides in their belt. The sight of the villagers was in chaos. They all started to scuffle to get in their house. The men along with Arthur too ran. One man pulled Arthur from there with him," Come with me."

Arthur felt astound all this while. He had no time to react. This was indeed a sight, a sight of distraught.

The expeditious escapes all over cooled down to no one seen on the street. Every one had hid themselves. The lowly troubled people were already struggling to have their meal. From where could these people pay the taxes? Their faces were filled with fright. Their mouth was clamped and their eyes remained fixed. Their voice was struck in their throat. Meanwhile the hand holding Arthur and running all this while lost its grip. Arthur took it as his chance to move away from them and hid behind a house from where he could see everything happening ahead. His actions were so swift that no one noticed him go there. Now the only voice to be heard was the horse clamping slowly around and the soldiers shouting outside.

"We know you all are here. Come out now or else we will be forced to strike you out ourselves."

The people didn't dare to make a move. There was stillness all around on the street. The rooftops appeared even darker than before. The soldiers took turns to shout in an alerting tone. Their voice was heavy and demanding. They continuesly kept warning the villagers to come out but were suddenly struck to mute themselves by a sudden sound of leaves fluttering in the air in the direction ahead of them. The dust on the ground rose with the leaves leaving the frozen air to lighten up creating a small whirlwind. The soldiers who were moving and shouting in turns a while ago were now fallen flat. No one uttered a word. They looked in the direction of the that wind.

A shadow of a black figure appeared from the middle of that dusk. The horse gaits were heard. A masked man in a black outfit on the a brown horse now could be seen galloping into the direction of the soldiers. He held the cordeos in his hand. In no time he reached and pulled his horse. The speed had come to a sudden halt causing the horse to rear on his hind legs. The man controlled the horse to get back on it's feet. The dust on leaves following them from behind had stopped too. The soldiers gazed at the man all this while. Their brains had stopped and their lips froze. They just kept looking at all the actions happening before them.