The Legend of the Esrohs

Chapter 1

"That will be $1,325, dear, for 25 bags of oats." I reach into my bag and pull out the necessary amount of money, sliding it across the counter to CottonKins. My horse eats like, well, a horse.

On the way out the door, I bump into an older man that I have seen around but never actually spoken to.

"Pardon me, sir."

"Oh that's alright. You're a visitor, I see! A traveler from Yonder Lands!"

"Yes, I am, or was really. I've been here for quite sometime. My name's Super, Superwholockian. Who are you?"

"I am LordGanache."

"Nice to meet you."

"You bet it is! Say, are you one of those youngsters running around looking for those Esrohs?"

"No, I'm much too busy training and competing," I scoff. "Besides, they aren't even real. They're just an old horse's tale."

"Ah, now I wouldn't say that, Superwholockian. The Esrohs are very much real, and only those who are persistent enough can find them."

"I don't have time on my hands to look around for nonexistent legends." I begin to leave the NarrowTon General Store.

"One is destined to find the legendary Esrohs. Might it be you?" He says as I let the door shut.

Shaking my head, I pull myself up into the saddle of my tall Irish Sport Horse stallion. The well-worn mahogany leather was smooth and buttery soft as I sat down in it. Phoenix snorted, ready to go.

Laughing, I reined him back. "Easy boy, easy. We'll go in a minute." Just then, the swinging sign of the NarrowTon's Library caught my eye, and LordGanache's words echoed in my mind. Nix began pulling me towards the dock, eager to get back to the ranch. "Not yet boy," I whispered as I turned him to the library.

The unfamiliar smell of worn pages and leather bound books greeted me as I stepped inside. I had never spent much time in the library, besides what was necessary for a quest. I was much too busy. Shaking my head at myself, I began scanning the shelves, looking for any book related to the Esrohs. It was just an old horse's tale, after all, so there should be dozens of books about them. Like fairy tales, right?

Rolling my eyes at the books "Do "Daffins" Exist?" And "On Kaspers," I drifted towards the books set out on podiums, and glanced over them. Books sat out, seemingly untouched but not dusty. "Legend Of The Esrohs: Aphrodite - Authors: The Ancients." The pages were creased but soft from the many fingers that had thumbed through them, in hopes of the next adventure being the adventure of all adventures.

The Horses of Horse Isle were here when we came, they say. They'll be here once we're gone, too, no doubt. The Esrohs most of all; they were here before normal horses and all the people, and will outlast us all. How do they do it? That's a good question. Even the oldest, strongest friendships can go stale after a while. But Aphrodite... she found a way to make friendships stick. She found a way to keep the Esroh Clan together after all those years, all those eons.

As the sun sank lower in the sky, and horses began softly nickering and settling in for the night (even Nix had laid down, tired of waiting for me outside the library),  I felt my hopes rising. Hopes for the adventure of all adventures.