“Don’t be, this’ll be lots of fun for us, not everyday one goes exploring.”
Feebly, the knight fought with his helmet, trying to get it off. “Please,” he rasped. “You must.”Sighing, Summer brushed past Arthur and helped the fallen knight. She held the helmet in her hands, looking over the revealed face. Young, blue-eyed, pale curly hair limp with sweat, Much like Arthur, in fact. He lay supporting himself on one elbow, looking up at Arthur with pleading eyes.
“If you don’t, it all begins again,” he said.
Arthur was almost taken back with how much they almost looked alike. Was this some weird test? A test to show one’s courage and strength. Was it something that if he did end up killing this fallen knight. In such a honorable still, would he be damning himself in a odd way?
Looking at Summer, he turned to her. “What do you believe I should do? I don’t wish to kill a fellow knight, not one so fallen and can accept defeat so graciously.”
Gently, she touched the crumpled edges of the fallen knight’s armor. “I — I don’t know.”
“Please,” he begged, voice cracking. Summer bowed her head, wishing desperately that Arthur accepted magic, so she could tell him how strongly the knight felt about this. Not that she wanted to kill him either, but it seemed to mean so very much to him.
“Let’s — maybe it’s not a killing blow. If we help him … ” She looked up to Arthur.
Arthur’s eyes flickered to Summer and sighed, holding his sword up a bit. He thought about striking, but he couldn’t stand to do it either, no matter how much he was being begged to do this. “Not a killing blow? Do you mean like stabbing in the abdomen and such?”
“Can you tell me why? Why this need to be stabbed and finished off?”
“No!” Summer flung up her hands, trying to shield the fallen knight, who reached up, trying to push them aside. “I meant the other way. Maybe if we help him, heal him, take care of him … maybe he only wants you to kill him because he thinks he’s dying anyway.”