Legend of the Fire Rangers - part IV

Knight of the Realm

"What is a Knight?" Aloise asked. They had hiked all day, without speaking. But now they were sitting in the ruin, with a fire in the hearth that the Vèsajeksa had promised was under a spell. "What do you mean you don’t know what a knight is?" Nicolay responded slightly surprised. "Tess called you a knight, and you denied it, something about an oath? Isn’t a knight a fighter, in armour and often a horse?" Aloise explained her question. "No. I mean yes, but that’s not all." Nic answered, now he had to explain.

"A knight is indeed an mounted warrior, specialised in fully armoured combat with lance, sword, mace, and other weapons. But just going out and fight is not all there is to it, a knight is supposed to be a gentlemen, a helper to those in need, an example to society. A knight starts as a boy, a squire, who is a helper to a knight, taking care of the horse, the armour, helping him dress. In return the knight is to teach the squire about all there is to it. Once you’ve been a squire for seven years, you can take the oath, to join a knightly order. Where firstly the knight you where a squire for promises that you know everything, and he will risk his name for your actions. Then you swear to him, a priest and the master of the order. To do that tho you need to have all the gear and a horse."

"How far did you get?" Aloise asked, she poked right trough his story.
Nicolay sighed. Did he want to tell this? Oh well if Aloise was anything like her mother, he wouldn’t sleep till he told her. "The knight I was a squire for, turned bad, real bad. The order killed him. I didn’t have the required 11 years yet. And no other knight would take me as I was ‘infected'."

Aloise was quite for a moment, they were both staring at the remaining glowing coals of the small fire. Having eaten the remaining of the stew Tess had given them, they now were ready to sleep. "What did you do after?" She asked.

Nic didn't answer at first, just rolled himself tighter into his cloack. "Created you."