The Knights of Pure Heart

Who will stay strong to the end?

The knight stood in front of the field of peasants, his hand on the sheath of his mighty sword.

“The name is Bebatch! We come in peace!” He made a sweeping movement with his hand, bringing forward another three knights from behind him. All of the knights were clad in shining armor, and were riding on beautiful black stallions.

A humble peasant rose from the crowd. She was maybe in her early 20s, and her clothes were already ripped and torn. “It is true, sir? Is it true that you will bring food and water to our land after these many years of famine and drought?” Bebatch motioned for one of the other knights to step in front of him. This knight had the largest horse.

“I am Eradicus!” he bellowed, his voice shaking the hills. “We are here to save your village! We have been sent by our master,” he paused, his metal covered hand reaching towards his heart. “What do you need?”

A peasant mother stepped up, with her four dirty children clinging to her legs. “We need food, and clothes. A good source of water would be nice too. There was a drought last year, and we lost more than half of our population.”

The two remaining knights behind Bebatch started to come forward. One of the knights had a small horse that was the size of a donkey. The other had a very large horse that was bulging with muscle and was very handsome.

“I am Mordrede!” squeaked the knight on the tiny horse.

“And I am Calamitous!” yelled the final knight, his horse performing a well-executed bow. “We will send two of us back to our kingdom to collect supplies for you. Who shall stay? Who shall go?”

Mordrede immediately backed down from the offer. His horse was already fatigued from the ride up. No one made any other movement to suggest that they wanted to go.

“You cowards!” howled Bebatch, “I shall go, and I will take Calamitous and Eradicus with me! Advance, loyal knights!”

So Bebatch set off down the dusty road with Calamitous and Eradicus behind him. Mordrede was left to deal with the whining peasants. One small child walked up to his horse, and almost spooked it.

“Sir? My mommy wanted to know when your friends are going to get back. My sister has been sick for a long time now, and mommy doesn’t think that she will live for much longer if she does not have water.”

Mordrede looked down into the child’s messy face. Her hair was thrown back into some sort of ponytail, and she was wearing only a small wrap around her skinny waist. He had no idea when the rest of the knights would get back. He looked out onto their small town. The houses were small shacks that were threatening to fall apart at any moment.

As the days progressed that the other knights were gone, Mordrede held his stance. He made sure that no one entered or left the town. There were many complaints, and there was almost a riot. Mordrede had a lot of trust in his friends, and knew that they would return eventually.

Almost one summer had progressed, and the knights had still not returned. The townspeople were now very upset with Mordrede, and they threatened to kill him if his fellow knights did not return soon. They had not harvested any crops, because they thought that they would have food in a few days. Now, everyone was even more starving than before. The small child’s sister had died of both dehydration and starvation.

It was a dusty, sandy day when Mordrede thought that he saw something in the distance. The villagers were all standing around him, jabbing spears and pitchforks at him and his horse. He paid no attention; his sight was focused on the dark blob that was slowly moving towards them.

“There they are!” called out a man from the crowd. Everyone was now looking in the same direction as Mordrede was. The dark shape was getting closer. Was this the moment that would save all of their lives?

Soon, the villagers were gratefully running their hands of large sacks of food and jugs of water. Bebatch, Calamitous, and Eradicus stood proudly over the people. However, it was Mordrede who was the proudest of them all. He might have had a tiny, weak horse, but it was his strong faith in the other knights that kept them all going. He was the one who stood outside of the town for several months, waiting and trusting that the knights would come back.

Calamitous saw Mordrede standing by himself, and he dismounted his horse to walk over to him.

“Mordrede! Eat up, my comrade! You were the one who saved the whole village, not us. You kept the people calm in a time where they almost died. You were strong here,” Calamitous touched Mordrede’s heart, “When no one else was. Thanks to you, we saved this town.”

As Bebatch ripped open the first bag full of food, his voice was heard for many miles.

“For Mordrede!”

Author's Note

For Cal, who will be the only person who will truly understand this story <3

Reviews

[Rae Emeral]

This was really good. I enjoyed reading it. :) Nice job and keep it up.
~Rae Emeral

[DearSweetAgony]

Wow, this is a really nice story. You had really good climax and a awesome ending!
Great job, I enjoyed reading!

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed this story. I like the names of the characters. I like the pace and the action filled chapter. You can tell a story. A good ending to a excellent story.
Coyote

[Cal]

Lulz >.> Oh god... Just... You wrote Bebatch wonderfuly, though I think Eradicus would react rather differently in this situation... Hooray for Mordrede! :D I really like it thanks.

[SoulCrusader (Yas)]

A really enjoyable read :)

[rwar ish me]

very nice.