The Old Knight

The old knight sat on his armored horse and waved for his two servants to come to him. They were hiding up on a small hill during the battle. They both ran and one carried a flask of wine. They had to jump over bodies of men, women and children.

As they came close, he shouted,"Help me down!" While they helped him dismount, one of the servants who was named, Mosah asked loudly in the native language, "My Lord...are you the only one who lives?"

The old knight grunted and laughed out,"I am...it seems as if my fellow crusaders have finished their journey by death!" The other servant who was named,Leoves, proclaimed with excitement,"You are a great warrior Lord James...a great, great warrior!"

Sir James removed his helmet and handed it to Mosah. His peircing blue eyes were glassed over from the tears of exhaustion and intensity. He smiled as he saw women and children escaping....crawling away from the village in the high grass on the hill.

The setting sun reflected in his eyes as if the sun itself was the reflection. With not a scratch on him, he raised his sword to the heavens and declared,"Come...all you warriors of Palestine....I shall make your mothers weep and your wives will be my bed of warm flesh!"

A small boy came from the shadows of a broken down, blood spashed brick wall....screamed and threw a stone at the old knight. The stone crumbled on the old Knight's breast plate and fell in pieces at his feet.

Sir James glared at the boy at first but began to laugh. He shouted with a gruff voice,"Child....you are no David and I am no Goliath!" The boy stood still and shivered.

The old knight ordered Leoves to bring him forth. Leoves approached the boy and the boy still didn't move....they expected him to run. Leoves reached out to the boy and the boy snapped his face towards the servant. Leoves was now close enough to see that the boy was blind.

Leoves called out to the old Knight,"Sir James...the boy can not see...his eyes are crippled!" Leovis grabbed the boy and pulled him towards the old knight. Sir James kneeled and took the boy's hand...saying,"It was a fair toss of a stone for one who is so small and cannot see."

Sir James patted the boy's head and ordered Leoves to tell him in his language to follow the warmth of the sun and leave. Leoves took the boy through the carnage of dead villagers and knights to a meadow....then smacked his behind while shewing him away.

Sir James and his two servants saw the boy on a ridge...standing in front of the sinking sun. The boy spread his arms wide and screamed for vengance in his language. For a moment...the sight sent a chill through the old knight. It looked as if the boy made a dark cross.

Night fell as Sir James rested on the soft bed of the finest home. Mosah strummed the strings of his instrument as Leoves rubbed oil on the naked body of the old knight. The old knight took her hand and said,"So fair are you my sweet Egyptian servant...if I were not so tired as a dead man...I would lay with you till the moon falls." Leovis smiled and poured a pool of wine in her cupped hand for him to sip.

The stars slowly dripped over the large stone window sill and the lamp fires danced them to sleep.

Morning rose with a warm wind and a bight pink sky. Leoves eased herself from the side of the old knight and stood naked at the window. She remembered walking by the pyramids as a child and thinking how magnificent they were. She looked back at the old knight...his muscular, bronze body was so scarred and yet so beautiful.

She then looked out the window again to see dust blowing far away...it was the dust of horses. She shouted for Sir James and Mosah to awaken!

They hurried and dressed the old Knight in his armor and ran to a well where his horse was tied. They dressed the horse in the metal plates and chain mail. Sir James walked up to his servants and horse...saying,"Ah...what a lovely day to spoil the joy of revenge!"

Leoves and Mosah helped the Sir James mount his horse and handed him his sword. The old Knight grinned and said,"They never fail to gather an army to come and kill the last knight."

At least a hundred hosemen were charging towards the village from a slope in the meadow. A hunderd more soldiers followed behind. They were screaming battle cries and waving their swords!

The hoard was almost to the edge of the village when Sir James shouted,"Come to death....rise my men of the cross!" Fifty four knights who were playing dead rose slowly and cheered,"Sir James...son of victory....father of fate!"

The hoard hesitated a little when they saw the knights but charged fiercely towards them. ir James ordered Leoves and Mosah into the house just before the steel began to clash! He pulled back the reigns of his horse...the horse reared and he charged at the hoard while screaming,"Kill them all!"

The hoard was no match for the ruthless and battle hardened knights. The slaughter of more than two hundred men took less than a half an hour. Sir James had many times used the trick of letting women and children escape who believed all the Knights had fallen except him.

Other village men and soldiers from the area would come to kill him and then be surprised by his crusaders. This was a war strategy and it worked very well...every time.

As the dust cleared, Sir James looked upon the ridge and saw what must have been a thousand soldiers. A figure in white appeared from their midst and walked down the hill towards the knights with the army slowly following. Sir James wiped the sweat and blood from his eyes and could see it was the little boy who had struck him with the stone. The boy had obviously unveiled the trick because he must have heard the knights who were playing dead...whispering.

Sir James called his servants out to help him down from his horse. He ordered them to take the armor from the horse. He kissed Leoves...sat her on the horse and told her to ride away. He told her that his horse was twice as fast and could go twice as far as the enemies horses.

Sir James asked Leovis to interpret what he was saying. Tears fell from her face as she told the old Knight that the boy was shouting the words,"Kill them all!"