The White Knight

Garthe father, Simon was a Freeman; he was a blacksmith: he could be on the road without being interrogated by one of the Master's patrols. When he was needed, a runner would come and get him. He had a big enough area to live a little bit more than a serf. When Garthe was born, his father felt like dancing for joy. Her didn’t, of course. He'd be taken away to Count Dracula for a trial. He’d end up a bloodless corpse. Now, he'd have a son to pass his skills onto so! of a blacksmith A son!. Something to pass onto the son..No dowries for the ugly girl left. He thought he should get something considering how ugly her fiance was. Two ugly parents always have ugly kids.“No, I don't. Don't ever grab me again. You think you're a big to do. You're not. You grab me again,you won't have to worry about your daughter and- why would she be anyplace where Garthe could <i>do </i> anything? Seems to me you should be more concerned about that instead of my son.”

“Well. Be that as it may, I want your boy to do the honorable thing. I'll not have my daughter thought as a whore.”

Garthe's father had to laugh. “No, that's not going to happen. She's too ugly for anyone to marry her. You're going to have to have a huge dowry to get her married. I don't think Garth will marry her, no matter what.”

Garthe went home in a hurry. He grew up in one morning. He, as with all children ,used to wrestle with all of the other kids. One day he was wrestling with Elizabeth, who's father was a leader in the town. Wrestling her was easy. One day, he felt differently about her. He felt good. She seemed to feel good too. Neither knew why, yet. They decided to meet again later that night, behind the Church. They wanted to feel that good some more. Even as he fled, he kept seeing her face, unsure if he missed her or simply missed the way she made him feel.

But after, Garthe struggled to make sense of what was happening. He felt something twisting inside him, something new and powerful that he couldn't name. There was excitement, yes, but also fear—fear of what it meant for him and for Elizabeth, and for the way everything in his small world seemed to suddenly light up as a thunder storm. The memory of her laugh made his heart pound, but with it came a guilt he couldn't shake. Was he just chasing a feeling, or did he really care for her? Did she care for him, or was she just as lost as he was? that gnawed at him, pulling him in a direction with the thrill of discovery and the also the terror of having crossed some invisible line. Garthe hit the road one early morning. His father might get enough of a dowry to get him to marry her. Fleeing was Garthe's only only way to get out of that.

He headed to the White Knight Academy. He didn't know if they'd let him in. He had to try. Normally, the Knights Academy was only open to royalty. Rob got in by lying. He said he was the son of Baron con Redsky. He said he;d been robbed. He also said that was saying something about them when someone got robbed on their roads. He also said his father would be upset if his son's heritage was questioned.

Garthe decided it was a good time to move along. Because his father was a Freeman, Gerthe could move about as he pleased. He did have to have sort of plan. If not, he could end up as kindling. He was accepted into the White Knight Society. Some Baron married to a barren woman left him with no heir. He'd have to find a boy to say he was his son. He couldn't just pick up anyone, though. He could say that,”Children should be seen, but not heard.” He could easily fake the son part by saying her had sent the son to a school, a school a long way from here. That was not unusual.

Garthe spent years training to become a knight. He was almost finished with his apprenticeship, and soon he would prove himself worthy of the title. He had to get the approval of the Knights Of The Round table and that was no easy thing. The White Knights knew you didn't get a second chance in a battle. Garthe would seek danger and defeat it. He would find fear and defeat that, too. He wanted adventure and would seek it out. His fellow trainee's thought he was a goof. They tended to avoid him when they could. With one black marble, all his training would mean nothing. He'd never get a second chance. He's have to go home. Garthe didn't want to go home if it meant </p>home</i> home. Going home to the Baron's castle would be okay, but he'd end up as a lazy, no good, useless Baron Xx.

Early one morning, while the other boys were just waking up, Garthe was already helping in the stables or learning the code of Chivalry from his mentors. They told him that Chivalry was a must to be a White Knight. It wasn't true but it would be a learning experience to find that out. He had always dreamed of joining Garthe was about finished with his training and ready to join the ranks of the famous White Knights, and now, that dream was almost within reach. He was almost there. He was ready to be a White Knight, a full member of the White Knight Society. He would then be Sir Garthe. He would be entitled to do battle with the Black Knights. He would also have to con some old knight to pretend to be his father.

One of the White Knight's told him to exercise his horse. Garthe hated that. It meant walking the horse down the road, through the meadows, and back. It was a bore. As he was crossing one of the meadows, he glanced back and didn't see the camp. Well, if he couldn't get to the camp, then the camp couldn't see him, and why was he walking? He jumped up on the horse's back and kicked the horse in the ribs to get him moving. The horse turned his head and looked at Garthe. Then he bit Garthe's leg and threw him.

Garthe got up and glared at the horse. The horse glared back. Garthe thought about his 150 pounds and the horse's 700 pounds and thought about the apple he'd brought along as a snack. He fed the apple to the horse while rubbing its ears. Garthe had that horse purring like a newborn kitten. Garthe jumped back on the horse. The horse turned and looked at Garthe.

“No, no. Whenever you're ready, just go where you want. No kicking.”

That horse went into a full gallop. It was all Garthe could do to hang on. The horse came out of the meadow like a tornado and was galloping down the road, around the bend, across the creek, and into the forest.. Dust was really flying. Then, the horse pushed its forelegs out to come to a halt. There was a <i>nun</i> in the road. The horse stopped about two feet short of the nun. Garthe stopped a bit further on. The horse became fearful for some reason. He too was fearful, but had a good reason to be fearful. Garthe got up and greeted the nun.

“Good morning, Sister, he said.

“Humph. Yes, well. See that?”she replied and pointed behind Garthe.

Garthe turned to look. Didn't see anything and told the good sister that.

“You don't see that toad? Are you blind?”she replied disgustingly.

Garthe turned back. Yes, there was a toad there. He thought it was a rock when he looked at it for the first time. It was the biggest toad he'd ever seen. He looked at the toad, and the toad looked at Garthe. Garthe then turned back and told the nun that he did see the toad. He was thinking , so what? The Nun stopped him for a reason, no matter what it was. The nuns, like the priests, didn't have to explain themselves. Garthe hoped he wasn't going to wrestle toad or , maybe, the nun. He did wonder it if was as good as other women. He wasn't sure if nuns were women.

“That's not a toad. That's the Fairy Princess. The Wicked Witch turned her into a toad. She has to stay that way until a handsome, young prince comes along and kisses her. Then she turns back into the Fairy Princess, and they live happily ever after.”

Garth thought, so? Then he told the nun that.

The nun told Garthe that he was not a handsome, young prince, but he'd have to do. She told him to go kiss the toad. Garthe thought that over for about a for a minute and said no. The nun then reached into her wide sleeve and brought out not a ruler but a yardstick. Whoa! thought Garthe. Whoa! thought the horse. Even the horse was afraid of a nun with a stick in her hands. The horse thought he could outrun a nun but not with a lot of confidence.

“Don't make me use this,” the good sister told Garthe.

Garthe went over and bent down to the toad. He looked at the toad for a while. The toad looked at Garthe. Then Garthe quickly kissed the toad and jumped up and back. The toad jumped back too. Then Garthe waited for the toad to turn back into the Fairy princess. It was a real toad. He didn't know what the toad was waiting for.

Garthe then heard cackling behind him. He turned to see the nun's habit lying in the road. He looked to see that the nun was actually the Wicked Witch.

The world organization debates disarmament in one room and, in the next room, moves the knights and pawns that make national arms imperative. E. B. White

In big battle scenes, like 'King Arthur', you see the knights in all their fine armour, but they're not in the thick of it: follow the perspective, and you'll find some poor little sod, who didn't want to be there, anyway, with his head split. Michael Foreman

I'm sick of all these knights in shining armor parts, I want to do something worthwhile like plays and films that have something to say. Tyrone Power

And much more am I sorrier for my good knights' loss than for the loss of my fair queen; for queens I might have enough, but such a fellowship of good knights shall never be together in no company. Thomas Malory

My father, whose work I adore... was down working on little things of grass and dead birds. Well, that didn't interest me. As an 8-year-old kid, I wanted knights in armor and so forth. Jamie Wyeth

I do more research about 'Lumberjanes' than I did for a story of medieval knights. Noelle Stevenson

In tough times, we all hope for knights in shining armor, or the cavalry, to show up and effect change. Dean Devlin

One aim of the Boy Scouts scheme is to revive amongst us, if possible, some of the rules of the knights of old. Robert Baden-Powell