"One, two, three, four..."

'Hey! No peeking!" A little girl's voice calls out from a distance.

"I'm not, don't worry!" The boy who is currently counting at the moment pauses to yell back to his little sister.

The boy goes back to counting, though annoyed for being so rudely interrupted he started to count aloud much faster the second time. He began counting so fast that the movement of his lips could not keep up with the thought process in his brain and he began to stumble over his words.

"33,34,37,40,65,99,100. Okay ready or not here I come!" He shouted as loudly his vocal cords would allow.

Meanwhile, the little girl was still running and had not stopped until she heard her big brother's voice scream out that he was finished counting and was coming to look for her. She immediately panicked, frantically whipping her head around from side to side, desperately attempting to spot a good last-minute spot to hide. After spinning around, Heidi could see off in the distance a speck of golden brown, almost yellow hair sitting atop a tall skinny fellow moving ever closer at a brief pace. The hair which Heidi saw, she immediately without a doubt in her mind recognized as belonging to her older brother. Never before on anyone else had she seen such beautiful, thick, lush, blonde hair as on her big brother Jonathan. Heidi looked up to Jonathan in every way. To her, he was a hero. However, she would admit to occasionally being a tad bit jealous of Jonathan's hair and overall good looks. As her hair was thin, and greasy looking. To be perfectly honest Heidi did not think too highly of herself. Unlike Jonathan who was always worried about his impression on people, Heidi was more concerned with just having fun, going on adventures, getting dirty and being playful. Even though she was a girl she did not care one bit about her manners or what was considered to be proper behavior for a little girl almost eleven years old.

After seeing her brother in the distance and rapidly approaching her, she dove headfirst into the muddy pile of leaves in a cavity underneath a fallen tree, and landing on her arm. "Aaahh!" Heidi screamed. "Jonathan, help me. My arm, ow, it hurts. I can't move!"

Jonathan who had been running towards his sister chasing after her suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar part of the woods. Frantically looking around and calling out for his sister, Jonathan was beginning to become quite frightened at the thought of being lost. 

Heidi laid on the ground curled up trying her best not to cry, until out of nowhere she heard the deep thunderous voice of a man. Crawling out from underneath the tree, Heidi looked up to see a tall black stallion and riding upon the horse was a knight with the brightest armor she had ever seen. It being the twenty-first century and all, it was the only armor she had ever seen. The knight had no helmet. He had a sharp jaw, handsome nose, and long flowing dark brown hair. He looked rugged with much masculinity, but also young and charming.

"What is the matter little one?" Said the mysterious horseman. 

"I fell, and I hurt my arm and I lost my brother," Heidi said, speaking quickly like a frightened, almost impossible to understand small child.

"Fear not child. I am the knight of the great and mighty Kingdom of Beyond. Come with me and I shall help you in your quest to find your brother." She was a little frightened, but then she felt something that made her trust the knight. She wasn't sure why, but she felt strangely comfortable in his presence, as if he had some sort of magical or deity-like quality about him.

He held out his hand and pulled her up on the great steed which he was riding. "Now, let us go find your brother that you previously spoke of."

Jonathan, still panicking and frantically running through the mysterious wooded area, sees a glimmering light in the distance. He picks up speed and dashes over to it. He suddenly finds himself, back in the meadowy, lightly forested area in which he had playing hide and go seek with his little sister. He heard behind him a thunderous voice speak. He turned around to find a tall, kind, gentle-looking man, with eyes that reminded him of his father. The man stood straight up and towered at least 6 feet in the air.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"What's the matter, my young lad?" 

"I was playing outside and lost my sister."

"Your sister,'' you say. Perhaps I can be of service to you? Allow me to help you find her. For I am the Knight of the Great Kingdom of Beyond." 

"Thank you, sir. Jonathan replied. "May I ask, what is your name?" 

"They call me 'The Horseman,' at least my friends in the village do. 

"A village, where? The nearest market is some fifty miles from my parent's cabin just over the hill."

"You mean you haven't heard of my village boy? I do apologize if I caused you a fright. Allow me to walk with you to my village. It is not very far away, and I am certain that your sister must have stumbled upon it herself.

"Thank you for your kindness sir. I hope that I do not cause you a burden?"

"Believe me, said the Horseman, "it is no trouble at all my dear lad. Now tell me about this cabin you spoke of. What brings you to the Woods of Hanzshire?" 

"Woods of Hanzshire? Is that what this place is called?" 

"Why yes of course. It is named after a powerful and noble king. Hanzshire, my boy, is a great man of honor. He is the mayor of my village and he owns the woodlands that circle around the town."

"Before I met you in this meadow, I was running through the woods, but I had never seen any of the trees before. The whole area seemed dark and foreign to me. Then suddenly I was back in the meadow," Jonathan explained. 

"Ahahaha!" the Horseman laughed. "Those are the Enchanted Trees. They reveal themselves only to those who desire to see more, and they are indeed part of the Woods of Hanzshire." 

"What do you mean to see more?" Jonathan asked.

"Well my son, there is an old legend according to Sir Hanzshire, that whoever looks upon the trees with the intent to find someone they shall be lost in the woods by an eternal curse. It is lucky I was strolling by, otherwise you might not have seen me and found your way out."

"I just followed a light that was off in the distance."

"Yes, that light represents the end of the Enchanted Trees. The light only appears in the presence of those who are on a very noble quest such as me. That is the only way in, out, or through the trees. One must have the desire to find someone and be on a quest of nobility. Funny, you had the desire to find your sister and thus stumbled into the woods, and I have been on a quest for quite some time and thus revealed the light. It is a good thing we met, otherwise you might never have found your way out."

"Well I suppose a debt of gratitude is in order. I owe you a great deal of thanks."

"I assure you that it was no trouble at all for me my young boy. As you youngsters might say, 'no sweat.' Now look yonder, toward my village; over there, just at the base of the mountain."

The two of them walked towards the village and as they approached a monstrous wall and two grand, towering doors, they were greeted by two Gatekeepers.

One of the Gatekeepers held up his hand in a halting position, but the Horseman without saying word, nodded his head. Suddenly, almost like magic, the Gatekeeper froze like stone, while the other Gatekeeper waved his hand at the doors allowing them to open.

As Jonathan walked with the Horseman through the gates into the village, what he saw was a marvelous sight. The village was full of life and cheer. Every person was smiling as they worked, and every child was running around and playing nicely with each other.

"Come with me, my boy. I shall show you to your quarters where you can stay and first thing tomorrow morning, I will introduce you to the mayor," said the Horseman.

"Thank you, sir, I really do appreciate your hospitality, but I must find my little sister and then we must be going, otherwise our parents may worry," Jonathan responded.

"Do not worry boy, I can assure you that you will be safe here, and when you return home it will be like you never left. For that is the secret of our very special village. Not only can it not be seen by the outside world, but it also remains outside the horizontal timeline that the rest of the world runs on. Instead, time works vertically here."

"Come now, I'll show you to your room where you can stay and rest for the evening."

They came to a room inside a mansion of a house, which Jonathan assumed belonged to the horseman. When he opened the door he was greeted by none other than his sister Heidi who ran up to him with her arms wide open and flung herself at him in an enormous bear hug. "Jonathan, you made it. I am so happy!" 

"Heidi, I am so glad you're alright."

"Well, now I'll leave you to be," said the horseman. "Be sure and get plenty of rest. I will come by in the morning to present you to the mayor."