The Good Knight-Errant (7/10)
To Part 6/10
**
Danny walked until he could stand it no more. His father found him sometime later, sitting on a log by the path, staring at the dirt.
“I sent him off on Gawain,” he said, not caring how it came out, or if his father knew the truth and killed him. Would his own father kill him?
“That was a good idea, son. That way when someone finds him, they’ll assume he was robbed on the road.” He placed his arm around Danny and pulled him up. “Come along, then. Let’s get you some food and rest.”
Danny could only nod. He felt his father’s large hands on his shoulders. Hands that had always made him feel safe and loved. Even now he couldn’t help but believe a little that everything would be all right now because his dad was here.
“I know he was your friend, but it’s for the best, Danny. You have to learn to think of the greater good. The good of Sandford.”
Danny nodded again and started walking. He didn’t know what the greater good meant. All he knew was Nicholas was alive and would stay that way. Even if that meant Danny never saw him again, it would be enough. It would have to be enough.
**
Nicholas woke with a start when his head hit the back of the chair. “What!” He readied to stand and fight, but instead of a dark forest surrounded by evil wearing friendly faces, he was in a cozy cottage staring down a wizened wrinkled face.
“So. Sir Knight awakens.”
“You.” He looked around, at the simple furnishings, and a familiar person at the stove. “Where? What?” He sat back down.
“You found your way back and I knew you would, did I not say, Doris? This knight would be the one, he would.” The old woman bent over a pot and pulled out a cloth with noxious-smelling paste clinging to it. “We just need to get you fixed now…”
Nicholas only half heard what she was saying as he stared at the girl at the stove. “Dorin?”
She turned and curtsied lightly. “Evening, Sir Nicholas.”
He pushed away the noxious-smelling rag and put his head in his hands. “This night did not at all go as I expected.”
“Not many of the best nights do,” said while a firm hand pulled his head up and goop was smeared on his face. “But they all seem to end where they should, when it counts.”
Nicholas allowed her to administer to his cuts, noting they almost immediately felt improved, though stinky. “Are you a witch? And…Dorin? Are you a girl?”
“Oh, I am but a woman who knows plants and such.” Nicholas could not help but catch the sly edge to her words. “And Doris here is my sister’s daughter’s girl.”
“My aunt did not wish me to live in isolation with her, and I always wanted to be a knight, sir,” Dorin-no, Doris said. She handed him a bowl of stew.
“I sent Doris to the stables when she was able to travel on her own, I did, but I always told her this world is no place for a girl who knows too much.” The old woman’s face crinkled kindly. “She is too clever.”
“Very clever indeed,” Nicholas acknowledged. He looked at the stew in his hands and put it aside. “What is the time?”
Doris answered. “Nearly dawn, sir. I am expected at the stable for my morning session with Danny.”
Danny! Nicholas suddenly felt a wild beast in his chest. He started pacing, his mind awhirl. “I need to go back to the village, Doris, but quietly, can you direct me the best way?”
“Of course.”
“And I’ll need you to do something for me-wait, what morning session?”
Doris avoided his eyes, but when her aunt cleared her throat (which may simply have needed clearing), she answered, “Reading the code to him and some other stuff. Silly love stuff. I read it to him and he memorizes it. My aunt taught me to read,” she finished proudly.
Oh, Danny. Nicholas sat down once more. “This has to remain between us, Doris, can you do that?” He awaited her nod, never disbelieving he would get it. “It is for Danny’s safety that he not know I’m coming.”
The old woman wiped his face and applied more of the goop while humming. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. “Do not worry about your squire friend; he left the woods whole not too long ago. He grieves, but he is well.”
“He’s not well yet, but he will be.” Nicholas stood and grabbed the page by her shoulders. “I’ll be not too long behind you, but there are things I need you to do for me, and you’ll need to be very brave.”
Doris lifted her head and pulled back her shoulders. “I am ready, sir.”
He turned to Doris’s aunt, “And you will be returning those stolen items hanging from you tree to their proper owners by morning.”
She tilted her head and smiled. “Only trying to offer some protection to those in need, but if’n you say so, knight, it will be done.”
“Protection? I thought…you don’t by any chance have six toes on your left foot, do you?”
“Both of ‘em, actually,” she said, still smiling.
**
Danny did not sleep. Possibly he dozed or something like it, because he did open his eyes, time had passed, but there was no sense of having rested. His first thought was of Nicholas, where he was. London was days away by horseback and Nicholas had nothing with him but his wits, which were mighty, he had to admit.
He avoided the stables that morning, not wishing to spar with Dorin, though he would have to go eventually to make certain Lily was well cared for. Danny made himself a promise that he would care for Nicholas’s horse as his very own for the rest of his days.
The knight’s area was quiet. He could see his father in his rooms, but he had no desire to speak to anyone. He wandered into the village. His perfect village, where he had been raised to run the streets, and had been loved and coddled by all. He hated the sight of it at the moment. There was a curious air this morning, as if something were waiting to happen, but Danny couldn’t put his mind to it. He stopped outside Roper’s shop and looked around. Not many on the streets this early; most were still inside, and for that Danny was glad. The only sounds were the murmurs of the Porters as they swept the walk in front of the pub, and Father Philip as he spoke with the Prossers about some important business or other. Amanda Paver was heading towards the shop and waved a greeting to him that he all but ignored. Horse’s hooves clopped the street behind him and he turned. His heart stopped.
Nicholas rode into town center looking as if he owned it. He wore a gleaming coat of full battle armor without the helmet, broad sword and short sword crossed at his back. The sun rose at his back, turning his yellow hair shining, and Danny would swear for the remainder of his days that he looked like an angel descended upon them. His heart immediately started racing, in happiness to see him, in fear of what was to happen next, in pride that this was his brave friend. Danny glanced down the street and the entire town had gone still, all eyes were on the knight now dismounting his horse.
Nicholas ignored him, eyes only upon the town elders staring him down. “Morning,” he said, making it sound a threat.
It was a battle to end all battles, Danny would later think, with more weaponry than he knew the elders of his little village could possess. Though if he had to list his favorite moments, they would, in no particular order of preference, be:
Yes, he had to admit, that last was the best moment of all.
**
Nicholas threw Gawain’s reins to Danny, who grabbed them first try. “Doris,” he called into the stable.
“Sir”
“Danny needs his armor. Is Lily ready to ride?” He dashed into the back, where Lily was indeed armored and battle-ready. He tugged on her reins and glanced into the tack room, where Danny was struggling into his armor.
He could hear the other knights gathering outside the stables, their charges tied behind them. He mounted Lily and rode out. He raised his voice to be heard over the grumbling of the prisoners. “Sir Robert, make certain the town elders and Sheriff are put in gaol. And keep the rest of the townspeople inside until we give the all clear.”
“Aye.”
Nicholas looked at the Sirs Andrew and Sir Anthony. They were still regarding him a bit warily, and he could not blame them, but they were needed and he had to trust in their better instincts. Danny was now suited up and rode out astride Gawain. He looked every bit the knight he should be.
He nodded at the lot of them. “We head into the woods at the north entrance.” He galloped off, hearing them follow suit without word.
They reached a clear spot just south of the cave. Nicholas looked to what he could see of the sky through the trees. Almost midday. Time to wake the dragon.
“Doris! Do you have what I need?”
Doris was running toward him, dragging the heaviest, longest lance she had found. “Here, sir!”
“Good. Hold Lily while I work on this.” He spared a moment to smile at the page, who was breathing heavily, but stood straight and held Lily still for him.
“Sir Andrew, your axe, please. And if, Sir Andrew, you could also help me.” Nicholas didn’t even await a response, but set the lance against a nearby boulder and started chopping at the narrow end.
“Nicholas,” he heard Danny say.
He turned to his disheveled friend, bruised and raring for more fight. A rumbling through the trees could be heard in the distance. The dragon was waking, looking for its gift. His heart twisted with what he was about to do, but he knew its rightness in his bones.
“Danny, I need you and Sir Anthony to go engage the dragon until I am ready.”
“Engage?” Sir Anthony said behind him.
“Yes,” he looked around. “We need to keep the dragon away from the village. It’s going to be angry, and possibly very large.” He focused his attention on Danny. “You can do this.”
“I can,” Danny said, all confidence. He bent to gather his sword and shield, stood and nodded to Nicholas. Something was missing.
“Wait!” He grabbed Danny’s arm. “Daniel, kneel before me, please.”
Danny, confused, did as he was told. Nicholas smiled at him, and wished it were under different circumstances. He picked up his own sword and held it aloft.
“Do you promise to uphold the honor of your King and Country?”
All confusion fled from his face, and Danny’s smile rivaled the sun in brightness. “I do, sir.”
“Do you swear to follow the Code of Chivalry in all it entails: to protect the innocent, fight with honor, and exhibit courage in word and deed?”
“I do,” he answered.
“Do you offer your loyalty to King, Country, honor, freedom, code, and your friends who lay their trust in thee?”
Danny’s voice was soft, but his gaze direct and unflinching. “You know I do, Nicholas.”
Nicholas brought the flat of his sword against Danny’s neck. “I hereby dub thee Sir Daniel of the Order of…the order-“
“Of Saint Nicholarse,” interrupted Andrew the shorter. “Can we get on with this, please?”
Nicholas smiled. “Yes. Rise, Sir Daniel, and join your fellow knights in this mighty battle. I know you will fight bravely,” he finished softly.
Danny stood. He nodded to Nicholas and without word picked up his sword and shield, lifted his head and turned to face the dragon. Anthony joined him and they took off through the woods toward the rising racket.
“Godspeed, Danny,” Nicholas whispered. He picked up his axe and went back to work with Andrew the taller. He had a singular purpose, but his mind could not help wandering to Danny. He knew Danny would fight well, but a dragon is an unknown entity. And, a small voice in the back of his mind reminded him of the woman who started this all, the sorceress who had struck the bargain with the town elders, who controlled weather and killed sheep and crops. He supposed killing the dragon would not be enough, then. After, he and Danny would search the woman out; find other villages she had exploited, perhaps. The thought of further adventures with Danny by his side caused him to work faster, chop with more force at the hard wood.
When the tip seemed sufficiently pointed, he handed the lance to Andrew the taller and grabbed Lily’s reins from Doris. To his appraising eye, her battle armor was expertly placed, tightly clasped, but with enough give to allow for a full gallop. “Well done, Doris,” he said quietly to the page by his side.
He took a deep breath and cleared his mind of all thoughts of the future but the ride ahead. Andrew the shorter gave him a boost to mount in his armor and handed him his helmet. He rested it on his lap and took the lance from Andrew the taller. He kept his eye on the middle distance, focused on the sounds of outraged dragon reaching their ears. “This falls to the two of you should we fail. Stand your ground here. And if something should happen to me, please give Lily to Dorin.”
“Dorin…the page, sir?” one of the Andrews (he couldn’t be bothered to check) asked.
“She will make a fine knight one day,” he said. He put on his helmet and pulled down the face guard just as he heard someone say, “She?!?”
Nicholas patted Lily’s neck. “All right, girl. All right.” His voice echoed in his ears. He felt his heartbeat slow and his breathing level, then he kicked his heels into her flank and leaned forward into the gallop.
Part 8/10
**
Danny walked until he could stand it no more. His father found him sometime later, sitting on a log by the path, staring at the dirt.
“I sent him off on Gawain,” he said, not caring how it came out, or if his father knew the truth and killed him. Would his own father kill him?
“That was a good idea, son. That way when someone finds him, they’ll assume he was robbed on the road.” He placed his arm around Danny and pulled him up. “Come along, then. Let’s get you some food and rest.”
Danny could only nod. He felt his father’s large hands on his shoulders. Hands that had always made him feel safe and loved. Even now he couldn’t help but believe a little that everything would be all right now because his dad was here.
“I know he was your friend, but it’s for the best, Danny. You have to learn to think of the greater good. The good of Sandford.”
Danny nodded again and started walking. He didn’t know what the greater good meant. All he knew was Nicholas was alive and would stay that way. Even if that meant Danny never saw him again, it would be enough. It would have to be enough.
**
Nicholas woke with a start when his head hit the back of the chair. “What!” He readied to stand and fight, but instead of a dark forest surrounded by evil wearing friendly faces, he was in a cozy cottage staring down a wizened wrinkled face.
“So. Sir Knight awakens.”
“You.” He looked around, at the simple furnishings, and a familiar person at the stove. “Where? What?” He sat back down.
“You found your way back and I knew you would, did I not say, Doris? This knight would be the one, he would.” The old woman bent over a pot and pulled out a cloth with noxious-smelling paste clinging to it. “We just need to get you fixed now…”
Nicholas only half heard what she was saying as he stared at the girl at the stove. “Dorin?”
She turned and curtsied lightly. “Evening, Sir Nicholas.”
He pushed away the noxious-smelling rag and put his head in his hands. “This night did not at all go as I expected.”
“Not many of the best nights do,” said while a firm hand pulled his head up and goop was smeared on his face. “But they all seem to end where they should, when it counts.”
Nicholas allowed her to administer to his cuts, noting they almost immediately felt improved, though stinky. “Are you a witch? And…Dorin? Are you a girl?”
“Oh, I am but a woman who knows plants and such.” Nicholas could not help but catch the sly edge to her words. “And Doris here is my sister’s daughter’s girl.”
“My aunt did not wish me to live in isolation with her, and I always wanted to be a knight, sir,” Dorin-no, Doris said. She handed him a bowl of stew.
“I sent Doris to the stables when she was able to travel on her own, I did, but I always told her this world is no place for a girl who knows too much.” The old woman’s face crinkled kindly. “She is too clever.”
“Very clever indeed,” Nicholas acknowledged. He looked at the stew in his hands and put it aside. “What is the time?”
Doris answered. “Nearly dawn, sir. I am expected at the stable for my morning session with Danny.”
Danny! Nicholas suddenly felt a wild beast in his chest. He started pacing, his mind awhirl. “I need to go back to the village, Doris, but quietly, can you direct me the best way?”
“Of course.”
“And I’ll need you to do something for me-wait, what morning session?”
Doris avoided his eyes, but when her aunt cleared her throat (which may simply have needed clearing), she answered, “Reading the code to him and some other stuff. Silly love stuff. I read it to him and he memorizes it. My aunt taught me to read,” she finished proudly.
Oh, Danny. Nicholas sat down once more. “This has to remain between us, Doris, can you do that?” He awaited her nod, never disbelieving he would get it. “It is for Danny’s safety that he not know I’m coming.”
The old woman wiped his face and applied more of the goop while humming. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. “Do not worry about your squire friend; he left the woods whole not too long ago. He grieves, but he is well.”
“He’s not well yet, but he will be.” Nicholas stood and grabbed the page by her shoulders. “I’ll be not too long behind you, but there are things I need you to do for me, and you’ll need to be very brave.”
Doris lifted her head and pulled back her shoulders. “I am ready, sir.”
He turned to Doris’s aunt, “And you will be returning those stolen items hanging from you tree to their proper owners by morning.”
She tilted her head and smiled. “Only trying to offer some protection to those in need, but if’n you say so, knight, it will be done.”
“Protection? I thought…you don’t by any chance have six toes on your left foot, do you?”
“Both of ‘em, actually,” she said, still smiling.
**
Danny did not sleep. Possibly he dozed or something like it, because he did open his eyes, time had passed, but there was no sense of having rested. His first thought was of Nicholas, where he was. London was days away by horseback and Nicholas had nothing with him but his wits, which were mighty, he had to admit.
He avoided the stables that morning, not wishing to spar with Dorin, though he would have to go eventually to make certain Lily was well cared for. Danny made himself a promise that he would care for Nicholas’s horse as his very own for the rest of his days.
The knight’s area was quiet. He could see his father in his rooms, but he had no desire to speak to anyone. He wandered into the village. His perfect village, where he had been raised to run the streets, and had been loved and coddled by all. He hated the sight of it at the moment. There was a curious air this morning, as if something were waiting to happen, but Danny couldn’t put his mind to it. He stopped outside Roper’s shop and looked around. Not many on the streets this early; most were still inside, and for that Danny was glad. The only sounds were the murmurs of the Porters as they swept the walk in front of the pub, and Father Philip as he spoke with the Prossers about some important business or other. Amanda Paver was heading towards the shop and waved a greeting to him that he all but ignored. Horse’s hooves clopped the street behind him and he turned. His heart stopped.
Nicholas rode into town center looking as if he owned it. He wore a gleaming coat of full battle armor without the helmet, broad sword and short sword crossed at his back. The sun rose at his back, turning his yellow hair shining, and Danny would swear for the remainder of his days that he looked like an angel descended upon them. His heart immediately started racing, in happiness to see him, in fear of what was to happen next, in pride that this was his brave friend. Danny glanced down the street and the entire town had gone still, all eyes were on the knight now dismounting his horse.
Nicholas ignored him, eyes only upon the town elders staring him down. “Morning,” he said, making it sound a threat.
It was a battle to end all battles, Danny would later think, with more weaponry than he knew the elders of his little village could possess. Though if he had to list his favorite moments, they would, in no particular order of preference, be:
- Tripping Amanda Paver just as she was about to attack Nicholas. Her dagger had already lodged in the shoulder joint of his armor and had thrown him off. This was the first time Danny had ever got to save anyone, though Nicholas would later remind him that wasn’t truly the case, as Danny had saved him the night before in the woods. Danny preferred not to think of the night before in the woods.
- Nicholas grabbing his shortsword off his back and throwing it to him.
- Catching Nicholas’s shortsword without a stumble, when thrown to him.
- Watching Nicholas, a sword in each hand, fight off the Coopers as they threw daggers from seemingly every direction.
- Standing up to his father. He would never admit to anyone this was the most difficult part of his day, even after everything, but Nicholas seemed to know this anyway.
- Running alongside Nicholas, catching a glimpse of the smile on his face, as they finished rounding up the village elders.
- Helping convince the other knights that Nicholas was right and yes, there truly was a dragon in the woods, no it wasn’t just one of his stories, and did people think he simply inserted fantasy into everyday life all the time?
- That moment in the lull, as he was grabbing Gawain’s reins and they were heading to the stables for armor when Nicholas looked at him with a glint in his eye, raised his eyebrow, and said, “Ready to slay a dragon, Danny?”
Yes, he had to admit, that last was the best moment of all.
**
Nicholas threw Gawain’s reins to Danny, who grabbed them first try. “Doris,” he called into the stable.
“Sir”
“Danny needs his armor. Is Lily ready to ride?” He dashed into the back, where Lily was indeed armored and battle-ready. He tugged on her reins and glanced into the tack room, where Danny was struggling into his armor.
He could hear the other knights gathering outside the stables, their charges tied behind them. He mounted Lily and rode out. He raised his voice to be heard over the grumbling of the prisoners. “Sir Robert, make certain the town elders and Sheriff are put in gaol. And keep the rest of the townspeople inside until we give the all clear.”
“Aye.”
Nicholas looked at the Sirs Andrew and Sir Anthony. They were still regarding him a bit warily, and he could not blame them, but they were needed and he had to trust in their better instincts. Danny was now suited up and rode out astride Gawain. He looked every bit the knight he should be.
He nodded at the lot of them. “We head into the woods at the north entrance.” He galloped off, hearing them follow suit without word.
They reached a clear spot just south of the cave. Nicholas looked to what he could see of the sky through the trees. Almost midday. Time to wake the dragon.
“Doris! Do you have what I need?”
Doris was running toward him, dragging the heaviest, longest lance she had found. “Here, sir!”
“Good. Hold Lily while I work on this.” He spared a moment to smile at the page, who was breathing heavily, but stood straight and held Lily still for him.
“Sir Andrew, your axe, please. And if, Sir Andrew, you could also help me.” Nicholas didn’t even await a response, but set the lance against a nearby boulder and started chopping at the narrow end.
“Nicholas,” he heard Danny say.
He turned to his disheveled friend, bruised and raring for more fight. A rumbling through the trees could be heard in the distance. The dragon was waking, looking for its gift. His heart twisted with what he was about to do, but he knew its rightness in his bones.
“Danny, I need you and Sir Anthony to go engage the dragon until I am ready.”
“Engage?” Sir Anthony said behind him.
“Yes,” he looked around. “We need to keep the dragon away from the village. It’s going to be angry, and possibly very large.” He focused his attention on Danny. “You can do this.”
“I can,” Danny said, all confidence. He bent to gather his sword and shield, stood and nodded to Nicholas. Something was missing.
“Wait!” He grabbed Danny’s arm. “Daniel, kneel before me, please.”
Danny, confused, did as he was told. Nicholas smiled at him, and wished it were under different circumstances. He picked up his own sword and held it aloft.
“Do you promise to uphold the honor of your King and Country?”
All confusion fled from his face, and Danny’s smile rivaled the sun in brightness. “I do, sir.”
“Do you swear to follow the Code of Chivalry in all it entails: to protect the innocent, fight with honor, and exhibit courage in word and deed?”
“I do,” he answered.
“Do you offer your loyalty to King, Country, honor, freedom, code, and your friends who lay their trust in thee?”
Danny’s voice was soft, but his gaze direct and unflinching. “You know I do, Nicholas.”
Nicholas brought the flat of his sword against Danny’s neck. “I hereby dub thee Sir Daniel of the Order of…the order-“
“Of Saint Nicholarse,” interrupted Andrew the shorter. “Can we get on with this, please?”
Nicholas smiled. “Yes. Rise, Sir Daniel, and join your fellow knights in this mighty battle. I know you will fight bravely,” he finished softly.
Danny stood. He nodded to Nicholas and without word picked up his sword and shield, lifted his head and turned to face the dragon. Anthony joined him and they took off through the woods toward the rising racket.
“Godspeed, Danny,” Nicholas whispered. He picked up his axe and went back to work with Andrew the taller. He had a singular purpose, but his mind could not help wandering to Danny. He knew Danny would fight well, but a dragon is an unknown entity. And, a small voice in the back of his mind reminded him of the woman who started this all, the sorceress who had struck the bargain with the town elders, who controlled weather and killed sheep and crops. He supposed killing the dragon would not be enough, then. After, he and Danny would search the woman out; find other villages she had exploited, perhaps. The thought of further adventures with Danny by his side caused him to work faster, chop with more force at the hard wood.
When the tip seemed sufficiently pointed, he handed the lance to Andrew the taller and grabbed Lily’s reins from Doris. To his appraising eye, her battle armor was expertly placed, tightly clasped, but with enough give to allow for a full gallop. “Well done, Doris,” he said quietly to the page by his side.
He took a deep breath and cleared his mind of all thoughts of the future but the ride ahead. Andrew the shorter gave him a boost to mount in his armor and handed him his helmet. He rested it on his lap and took the lance from Andrew the taller. He kept his eye on the middle distance, focused on the sounds of outraged dragon reaching their ears. “This falls to the two of you should we fail. Stand your ground here. And if something should happen to me, please give Lily to Dorin.”
“Dorin…the page, sir?” one of the Andrews (he couldn’t be bothered to check) asked.
“She will make a fine knight one day,” he said. He put on his helmet and pulled down the face guard just as he heard someone say, “She?!?”
Nicholas patted Lily’s neck. “All right, girl. All right.” His voice echoed in his ears. He felt his heartbeat slow and his breathing level, then he kicked his heels into her flank and leaned forward into the gallop.
Part 8/10