Chapter Eighteen

T hey no longer kept a punishing pace. Enide eyed her lord warily. He slouched in his saddle as they rode slowly across the fields. Tended fields gave way to natural meadows, and then, at last, they came to a forest. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the trees. Wildflowers grew underfoot. Rabbits and squirrels darted recklessly across the path as if playing. Enide even saw a fawn peek at them from behind a tree. With ghostly silence, Erec ignored everything except the trail leading forward. Enide noticed everything. In particular, she noted the blood droplets that fell from the bandage at his side. In time, she became so obsessed with watching the drops fall, everything else faded away.

When Erec halted, it startled her.

"Look there," he whispered.

He pointed off toward a hillock. A knight sat astride a fine charger. Enide's mouth dropped open. She knew the horse.

"Guingalet," she gasped. How could it be? "And Gawain ?"

It was his shield, certainly. But she remembered Gawain as being…bigger.

Erec shook his head. "Kai."

"How can you tell?"

"His carriage. The way he holds his shield." He shook his head again. "It's Kai."

Enide squinted. "Well, why is he on Guingalet, carrying Sir Gawain's weapons?"

"Why is he here ?"

Suddenly, the knight started forward, calling out a garbled greeting.

"God's blood. He's seen us." Erec's shoulders slumped as if in defeat. But of course, he wouldn't want his old comrades to see him like this. Nothing had ever defeated him before.

"Put your visor down," Enide said. He turned to her, puzzled. "Erec, your shield is so battered your crest is gone. The paint is gone from your armor. Your horse is different from the one you had in Cardigan. Put your visor down, and he won't know it's you."

As she said this, she drew her cape up and pulled her veil over her face as if shielding her eyes from the sun. Erec plunked down his visor. Kai rode up beside them. Without so much as a "good-morrow-sir," he grabbed Erec's reins.

"Knight, I wish to know who you are and from whence you have come."

Erec straightened, affronted by Kai's nerve. "You must be mad to accost me this way."

"Don't be angry," Kai said, in a voice too patronizing to soothe. "It's obvious you are hurt. Come with me. King Arthur and his queen are close by."

"I must decline. Do not detain me. While there is daylight left, I must press on."

Kai scowled. "Don't be foolish. Wherever else you end up tonight, you will mayhap be treated poorly. Come with me now and be served well."

At this, he made the mistake of pulling on Erec's bridle.

"Vassal," Erec cried, "do you imagine you will drag me off by force?" He put his hand to his sword and threatened, "Take your hands off my bridle. Back away or I will strike you." In an odd way, Enide was heartened by his response.

"Strike me?" Kai scoffed. "See if you dare!"

He took Guingalet a short distance away and turned to face Erec.

"Fight me!" he cried, lowering his lance.

Enide cringed to see Erec unfasten his own to prepare to tilt. This had gone too far. He couldn't fight another battle. Moreover, when he lifted his lance, he had it turned around, butt-side forward.

"Erec!"

"He has no hauberk, the idiot," Erec said under his breath.

The next moment they charged. Before Enide could blink, Erec smote so hard that Kai was smacked in the head by his own shield and toppled from his horse. Erec circled around to gather Guingalet's reins and deliver the prize to Enide.

The horse trotted up to Prudy with a snort of greeting. Fortunate horses. How nice it would be to feel safe within Arthur and Guinevere's circle again. How good it would be to hear Gawain's laugh.

"Sir," Kai called out, rising to his feet, "before God, I swear to you that horse was not mine to lose. It belongs to the most chivalrous knight in the world. Although you have defeated me, I hope you will return this horse to its rightful owner and so earn greater honor."

"Take it," Erec said, dropping the reins. "I will not claim it wrongfully."

Kai lumbered forward and took hold of Guingalet's bridle. He peered at them both, but Enide was relieved to see no glimmer of recognition. Not even her dapple-gray palfrey caught his attention.

"Thank you, courteous knight," he grumbled. "I will make good report of you to my lord King Arthur and to Sir Gawain."

Erec merely nodded. Kai mounted Guingalet and after a few kicks, the reluctant horse started away.

"Gawain is going to be stewed," Erec said, pushing up his visor to watch Kai disappear into the trees. "Poor Kai. He meant it as kindness." A wavering smile passed over his face. Enide's heart melted at the sight. "He's just so bloody awful at it."

Kai was certainly not known for kindness. As she laughed, Erec's smile returned. He regarded her in a way that brought a blush to her cheeks.

"Lud, Enide," he sighed. "Come. We can't stay here."