William slipped in and out of consciousness as he was being dragged to the stock at Redside. He knew when his hands and head were placed in the stocks and locked therein. He knew when the first passerby stopped, a market woman holding a goat leash in one hand. However, he only got in all these percepts, nothing made sense to him; even if he wanted to, he found that he could not talk or put up any resistance.

 

The sun stayed firmly in its place, ready to blaze the madness out of the day. From the sun’s position, William knew it was sometime around eight o’clock that morning.

 

The crowd formed in ones and twos till there was an ugly, boisterous company about for him. The guards were still nearby, but they would leave in an hour or so, and when they did, he would be at the mercy of the crowd, but he was certain they would not be showing him any mercy.

 

Maybe it was because they felt betrayed he lied to them, or maybe it was because they were furious one of them dared to escape the terrible luck they were all fated to have. One thing William knew for sure was that the crowds were always happy to inflict pain, eager to destroy anyone that seemed to suffer misfortune, the poor crowd.

 

The time came and the guards stepped back, giving the crowd access to William. They would stone rotten eggs, vegetables, water from sources best left out of a man’s thoughts.

 

A kid ran out from among the crowd and pulled at William’s left ear. The crowd cheered and clapped him.

 

One truth among crowds is this, they always needed a leader, a forerunner, someone to set the ball rolling, someone to show that it could be done, that it was possible. And William knew this, so he wasn’t surprised to see some of them bringing out the tomatoes and eggs and cabbages and rotten fruits they had brought to stone him with.

 

Encouraged by the applaud from the first bold attack, the same kid ran out again to pull at William’s ear. However, this time around, he ran into a wall of muscular human body and bounced off it, landing sorely on his butt. The rest of the crowd stepped backwards at the menace before them.

 

William raised his head to see who it was that stood before him.

 

Roland? He thought.

 

And almost as though he heard William call him in his heart, Roland turned around and gave William a sad smile. But before Roland looked away, William caught a glimpse of the fiery bear that scared the crowd away.

 

“Leave me, Roland,” said William. “I won’t have it.”

 

“God loves you, William,” Roland yelled without turning back, fire in his eyes ready to fight the world. “And so do I.”

 

Two men came up from the crowd, wanting to do battle with Roland and lead him away. But in that moment, a man with fiery red hair jumped out the crowd and stood by Roland’s side.

 

“Go!” Wat screamed. “Disperse! Or I will fong each and every one of you, as Jesus Christ the Nazarene and his mother the most Holy Virgin Mary are my witnesses, I will fong every one of you up the hole of your arse!”

 

A hulk missing the front teeth and all the hair on his head came out from the crowd and stood before Wat. “What is it that you said?”

 

Wat rolled his hands into a punch and struck the giant on the nose.

 

“You broke my nose!” he screamed.

 

“Good,” said Wat, warming up. “Then you wouldn’t feel what’s coming next.” He kicked the hulk at the juncture where his legs met and stepped back.

 

The hulk bellowed, rolled his eyes into his head, and fell unconscious to the floor. Two men came out and dragged him away from the front.

 

Then came Ralph bearing a forge hammer, and Kate holding a metal shear. Chaucer came right up after them, everyone of them clad in their green tunic’s with a black phoenix embroidered on the front.

 

“It may be, William,” said Geoffrey, grinning lopsidedly at William. “that the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others.”

 

Though the five defenders be brave in spirit and strong in bones, what chance did they have against a crowd of more than two hundred desperate to take out their life frustrations on another human like themselves.

 

They stood together to form a shield before William just as the barrage of rotten vegetables began to rain from the crowd.

 

Five monks in cowls and capes arrived at the scene and the crowd made room for them.

 

“You stop justice?” said the man in lead.

 

“I stop a man from being punished because of his birth,” said Geoffrey, “If the man in stocks was born to a noble house, then he would never be here in the first place. So I ask you, wise monk, what makes a man noble? His birth or his heart?”

 

The monk stood in silence for a long time and said nothing. When he did move, he threw his cloak behind him with a flourish as did the other four men that flanked him.

 

“It’s the King!” one of the crowd screamed just before passing out.

 

They shuffled backwards and fell to their knees in obeisance.

 

The five guardians of William exchanged glances at each other and fell to their knees after deciding silently that the king would not possibly throw rotten tomatoes at their friend.

 

King Edward, formerly known as the black prince was standing before them with four of his knights; fierce looking men with their hands to the hilt of their swords.

 

“What a pair we make!” King Edward said, walking past the kneeling men up to William at the stock. “Both trying desperately to hide who we are, and both failing miserably at doing so.”

 

William looked up at the king and returned his gaze to the ground, ashamed for what he had done.

 

“We are nothing alike,” he said, without raising his head. “You could have entered the competition if you wanted to, I couldn’t have.”

 

“Count Adhemar withdrew when he discovered it was I behind the helmet,” said King Edward. “Although I believe his reasons might have been for political leverage. But if the vicious Count Adhemar withdrew, who do you think would have dared to stand up to me?”

 

William swallowed.

 

King Edward bent before William and spoke in a hushed tone so only William heard the words he spoke.

 

“There was a debate at the palace yesterday, and it lasted till this morning,” the King began. “I wanted to have you released immediately when you were captured, but my ministers stopped me from doing so.”

 

William raised his head.

 

“It’s nothing personal,” the king assured. “They are just worried releasing you would be a slap on the face of the King of Messers’s favorite, Count Adhemar. Foreign relations might breakdown and we risk fertilizing the grounds for an imminent war.”

 

“Then you should listen to them,” said William, “The kingdom is more important than one man.”

 

“I don’t think so, William. I think that every man is a part of the kingdom,” said King Edward.

 

The king took a glance at William's companions. “Do you see how your men were ready to defy the world for you? They were going to stand against me for your sake and I believe that is a quality only a noble at heart possess. And as a new king, I need men like you by my side.” The king smiled. "My advisors will be quite angry at me for doing this..."

 

He rose to his feet and turned to his men. “Release him!”

 

William staggered when he was released from the stock. It was only a few hours yet but he could feel the pain on his back and neck.

 

The King gestured for William to come over. “Please,” he said.

 

Everyone gasped in utter surprise at the event unfolding before them. Even William was stunned and took a few precious moments to respond.

 

Standing before the crowd, King Edward began in a loud voice. “This man here may appear to be of humble origins, but my personal historians have discovered he is descendant from an ancient royal line! This is my word and as such is beyond any contestation!”

 

He drew his sword and turned to face William. “If I may repay the kindness that you once showed me," he said before smiling. "Take a knee.”

 

Every bone in William’s body felt like it was broken. And the ribs Count Adhemar had punched the day before felt like thorns in his side.

 

However, he managed to fall to one knee unaided before King Edward.

 

“Be it known to all men that I, King Edward am minded to raise William Thatcher by virtue of his honor, loyalty, valor, and skill at arms, to the high rank of knighthood.”

 

King Edward looked down at William and asked, "Do you swear fealty to me King Edward, to defend and obey me until death shall take you?"

 

William looked up astonished and after a brief pause answered, “I so swear.”

 

King Edward continued, "And I, for my part, do swear to defend and honor William Thatcher as befits a true knight."

 

King Edward then tapped William lightly on both shoulders with his sword.

 

"Then I, by the power vested in me by our Lord God and my father King Edward and his father and his father before him and so on. By all the witnesses here,” he paused.

 

“I dub thee, Sir William Thatcher," King Edward proclaimed.

 

"Arise, Sir Knight,” King Edward stretched out a hand to help him up.

 

Sir William looked up at him in disbelief for a moment. Then, grabbed hold of his king's arm.

 

“Thank you, my king,” Sir William grunted as he rose to his feet.

 

“Can you joust?” asked King Edward, smiling.

 

The question surprised Sir William.

 

“There’s my tournament to finish,” said King Edward smiling. “Are you fit for the competition or shall your forfeit stand?”

 

William swallowed. “I am fit,” he said, much to the dismay of the aching parts of his body, which was all of him by the way.

 

“Then I will have your opponent informed, to the list!”