The afternoon came in the small village, but there was still no news from the Capital, the people of the village had prepared everything possible to welcome the envoy of the King, particularly the Marquis. However, they were clueless about his appearance, nobody except the village head had ever met the Marquis and the village head could not remember in detail how he looked, whether his hair was black or brown or yellow, the village head could not tell, in defense he admitted that it had been quite a long time since he met the Marquis, approximately, five years.
Which meant, if Ares were to ride into the small town dressed in casual wear without his troops, nobody would be able to recognize him and might even call him a fraud.
For reasons like these, the Marquis had formal wear. A black shiny armor with the Royal crest, a dragon, dexterously sculpted into the armor. The Marquis was the only one in the whole of Thaleia who could wear a black armor. This armor had some special magic, it could repel black magic and external weapons if used correctly. The rumors and legends of this armor the people were familiar with. So when Ares finally rode into the small town with the Hexie sword leading them midair, everybody recognized the popular black armor and they could feel the resentful energy it emanated.
The village head was the first to stand before him and his troops. The sight of the Marquis and his entourage scared him to bits, especially coming face to face with a sword hanging midair, pointed directly at him because he was standing in the way of the sword.
"Marquis Of Order" he knelt on the ground and bowed till his head touched the soil, before standing up; "I am the village head of the small town, I am called Zou by my father"
"Zou, I am Ares, the Marquis Of Order, here to fetch the chosen Priestess" He replied respectfully to Zou.
Sitting in the horse, the usual physique of Ares had been made to seem bigger by both the armor and the size and height of his horse.
"Then, please, allow me to lead you to the house of our Holy Priestess" He said with a bow.
"You do not have to trouble yourself, my sword will guide my path to her for it senses her aura" he said.
"If Zou cannot be of any help to the Marquis then, please permit him to accompany you to meet the Priestess' ' he pleaded.
Ares could only sigh in resignation as he allowed Zou to accompany him to the house of the Priestess. As he advanced to her house, some villagers also joined Zou in accompanying him just to clarify if Phaedra was really the Priestess and they hoped the Marquis would be able to provide answers to their questions.
Dianne and her sister heard the commotion outside but they could not leave their door opened ajar, they waited until the Marquis climbed the steps and knocked on the door before they opened it.
On seeing such a handsome man, Dianne's sister almost squealed but resisted the urge, they wasted no time with pleasantries and led Ares to Phaedra's room even though the sword had already zoomed past the middle of the women to meet with Phaedra in her room.
Ares stopped by the threshold of the door that was left opened, the sword also stopped by the door standing on its tip. Ares turned around to look behind him, the small house was packed with people already, but as tradition and authority demanded, he knelt on the wooden floor and bowed to Phaedra.
This surprised everyone as the all erupted in a murmur.
"Permit me entrance, Holy One" he said, still maintaining his bow.
Only now being spoken to that Phaedra realized that someone was bowing to her, she glanced at his perfectly arched back and big appearance, beside him was a sword standing on its own, probably also acknowledging her presence.
"Come in," she said.
Ares rose to his feet and picked up his sword. Phaedra went dumbfounded at the sight of Ares. He was tall, broad shoulders, slim waist, long silky wet hair, fair skin and murderous eyes. His jawline was well defined and his bone structure was a cause for wonder, as he walked through the threshold, he could only crouch down a little as he was taller than the doorway. He was marvelous.
"I am Ares, the Marquis of Order" he introduced as he looked over at the young girl sitting numbly on her bed, staring at him with deep eyes. Her hair fell down her shoulders making her look younger than she seemed, her legs were crossed and her hands hugged her knees to her chest. She looked fragile and very attractive.
This child was going to be his wife as tradition stated.
"I am Phaedra," she said. Her voice was soft and sounded uncertain but Ares paid no heed, he had no interest in her whatsoever.
"I have come to bring you to the Monarch, King Augustus" he said in a serious tone.
"Do we have to leave right now?" Phaedra asked softly. "I'm sorry, everything is just happening so fast, I don't know if I want to be the Priestess, everything is happening so fast, I can't breathe"
She rested her head on her knees as her shoulders began to shake visibly.