Marti Mendenhall.com

The Knight's Code

1) Pledge loyalty to thyself first and goodness next.
2) Honor love and life above all else.
3) Treat all beings as equals, with respect and kindness, whether beggar or king, Valdorian or Dartanian or Osea.
4) Defend but do not offend.
5) Practice modesty and humility.
6) Seek out and correct injustice and evil.
7) Keep thy word.
8) Live without riches, attachments or excess, so that thou will be free.
9) Do not allow thyself to be ruled by greed, lust or anger.
10) Never take more than thou needs.
11) Protect the weak and less fortunate.
12) Question the strong and question the wrong.
13) Give.
14) Use wits before weapons.
15) Avoid all unnecessary acts of violence. The best defense is avoidance.
16) Love with all one's heart.
17) Be honest, and avoid lying and deception, especially to thyself.
18) Treat thy opposition with dignity and honor.
19) Use moderation in all areas of living, even moderation.
20) Be educated in all aspects of life.
21) Be aware, alert and prepared at all times.
22) Listen to the body. Do not practice self-deprivation.
23) All knights are servants to others.

Prologue

A breath of change swept through the kingdom of Valdor one night. People sensed something was different by the stillness of the air. Trees swayed and creaked to an invisible breeze, an unheard rhythm. The green lights of fairies whizzed out from the forest in euphoria, flying over towns and occasionally causing mischief. Dark shapes, still and silent boulders in the wooded mountains rose up, stretched, and danced in the starlight.

It was as if all of Dartania heard music on the breeze, a gossip among the trees and ferns no human could grasp. It was this way all across Valdor. Dartanian plant people within Forget-Me-Not Forest were alive with a spark of hope they had not felt for twenty years.

Miles away from the forest, green-eyed slaves scrubbing spills in the late night hours looked up from their chores and listened. They craned their necks and strained their ears expectantly, smiling and not knowing why.

Olive-skinned beggars in holey clothes and the hint of pointed ears sat up from their nest of rags in the streets, eyes wide with surprise. Half-breed children, part Dartanian and part Valdorian, smiled in their sleep, whispers of a dream hinting at what was to come. Even an occasional blond-haired, blue-eyed servant felt a surge of optimism for no reason other than a green light that glowed in the distance.

Leagues across the countryside from the forest, Queen Rowena, who once had been fairy ruler of Dartania, slept nestled in a bed of human crafted blankets and creeping vines. The stone walls of the Valdorian castle where she currently reined could not keep out Dartania's magic this night. Green leaves uncurled and weaved through her wild locks of dark hair. The moonlight fell on her green face, across the deep-set eyes now closed in troubled sleep. Her frame seemed all that more fragile and weak, her illness hardly disguised without an aura of magic to camouflage the shadow of death consuming her. But tonight was different. An unseen power filled her, glittered across her skin.

A thousand ears listened as fate revealed itself to their queen.

Queen Rowena sighed. Flowers shuddered in excitement when they heard the unspoken words in her breath. She turned and rolled to her side, smiling as if embraced in the arms of a long awaited lover.

She saw the devil, or the man her late husband's people called the devil. Dartanians preferred to call him the Green Knight. Dressed in leaves and vines over his armor, only his mouth and chin were visible under his half-helm. A sparkle of green eyes shone from underneath the grill of his helmet. His reputation was so great that fairies whispered of him beyond the mists and into the worlds beyond.

Rowena still sensed her immenent death and the consuming despair fate had in store for the kingdom if she died. But there was one other fate. In this one, the hope of forest, land and sea people would return. This hope hinged on a single man and his determination alone.

The possibility of triumph escaped from her breath and sent waves of expectancy into the wind. Countless creatures stirring in the night froze and dared not make a noise lest they disturb the Fairy Queen.

Humans in the land of Valdor who happened to be out, glanced over their shoulders and walked with uncertain footing, noticing the crackling tension of the still and silent night. They hurried on their way, trying to persuade themselves their tired eyes deceived them. They still stared at the dancing trees and the swaying flowers, the hawk frozen in mid-flight knowing a strange promise washed across the land.