The Knight

“That’s good,” I said. “I’d like to patch things up, if I can. Meanwhile you’ll take care of my servant, won’t you? I know I’m asking a favor.”

He turned and stalked out of the Great Hall.

―――

Master Agr was standing with his back to the window when I came in. He nodded, cleared his throat, waited as though he were going to talk, then cleared it again. “Good morrow, Sir Able.”

“Good morning, Master Agr. What is it?” They had told me to stand up straight the first time I had been there, and I was careful to do it again.

“Sir Able, I ...”

I said, “Yes, Master Agr?”

Agr sighed. “I cannot conduct our conversation like this. Please sit down.” He motioned toward a chair. “Bring that over here, please.” He sat in his usual chair, behind stacks of reports and ledgers. I carried the chair over, and sat.

“Fighting in the Great Hall is strictly contrary to His Grace’s command. Did you know that?”

I nodded. “Yes, I do. I did.”

“Yet you struck one of the warders with a stool. That is what has been reported to me. I didn’t see it myself.”

“With my fist first, Master Able. With the stool when he started to get up.” Agr nodded. I do not believe I ever saw him looking cheerful, and he certainly did not look cheerful then. “Why did you do that, Sir Able?”

“Because I had to talk to Master Caspar. I knew if I let that warder get up he would interrupt us. What I had to say was hard enough without having to tell him to put a cork in it all the time.” I took a deep breath, feeling like I was going to make things worse but that I had to do it. “Let me say this, and then you can say anything you want. I’m not going to try to defend what I did, but I don’t think it was wrong. Sometimes you’ve got to make an exception, no matter what the rule says. You’re going to punish me for it. I know that, and it’s okay with me. I’m not blaming you. I apologize for raising a ruckus and giving you trouble. But if the same thing happened again, I’d knock him down again just like I did.”

Agr nodded. Nothing in his face had changed. “For those of less than knightly rank, such as I am myself, the customary punishment is dismissal. For knights, it is banishment for a period of months or years.”

“Fine. I’ve been wanting to go north anyway. How long should I stay gone?”

Agr rose and went to his window, where he stood looking out for so long that I began to think he was waiting for me to leave. When he finally sat back down he said, “There have been fights in the Great Hall before, but they were simple matters. This case is fraught with complexities. In the first place, Sir Able, a few of our knights still maintain that you are not one of them. You must be aware of that.”

I said I was.

“They resent your eating at their table. If I punish you as a knight, they will resent that still more. Don’t look like that, please. I’m not going to dismiss you like a servant.”

“I feel that I’ve proved myself.”

“So do I. So does His Grace. I’m simply saying that if I give you knightly punishment, the resentment will be that much greater.”

“There will be none from me, Master Agr. You need not fear my resentment.”

“I fear no man’s resentment in any case,” Agr told me, “but it is my duty to maintain order among you knights. To do that and a great many other things.”

He sucked his teeth. “That is the first complication. The second is that when these fights have erupted in the past they have most often been between knight and knight. I can recall one in which two menials fought. That is the sole exception. I dismissed them both, but I’ve given my word that I will not dismiss you like a menial, Sir Able, and I won’t. Yet if I banish you, the knights will be up in arms. Some because you received a knight’s punishment. All the rest because a knight was banished for striking an insolent churl. They will protest to His Grace, at the very least.”

“I will not,” I said.

“No. I realize that. But there are seasoned knights here of whom His Grace thinks highly. Should they join the protest, and they may ...” Agr shrugged.

“I’m very sorry this happened,” I told him. “I really mean that.”

“Thank you. Lastly, but by no means least, the warders are hated and feared. Not merely by all the knights but by everyone. I don’t want to offend your evident modesty, but I feel quite certain that you are regarded as a hero by nine-tenths of those who know of what took place this morning.”

“I am a hero,” I told him. “I don’t mean for knocking a warder down. That was nothing.”

He smiled, a little bitterly. “Perhaps you’re correct, Sir Able. In fact, I believe you are. But now that I’ve outlined the difficulties, I’d like to hear everything you have to say in your defense. If you’ve a speech in you, this is the time to give it.”