I Will Be the Greatest Knight

Irene could feel the warmth of someone else, and the situation felt far less hopeless.

In the pitch blackness of the cave that had just collapsed, she managed to utter, "It's me."

There was a sigh of relief and a clanking as an armored man crouched down, realizing Irene was on the ground.

"I'm so relieved," he practically whispered. His voice was much closer than before when he let out the sigh.

In the darkness, the Commander's hand found her shoulder plate; she could feel the weight of it but not the anxious squeeze he gave her.

There was silence as they both seemed uncertain of what to do now. They were certainly trapped. It hadn't quite set in fully.

"The others," the Commander realized.

There was another shift of boots against the rocky ground and it was clear the Commander was standing up, trying to search the massive rock pile for a way out or a sign that the others hadn't been crushed.

"Bren! Sven!"

"Commander!" Bren called back, his voice full of panic. "Are you alright? I'm trying to move rocks. They're simply too large, sir!"

Irene's eyes squeezed shut. There wasn't anything to see anyway. Her heart clenched at the apprentice's panicked voice. It seemed so far away. Bren likely felt responsible in some way. That was just how apprentices behaved whenever knights were harmed. IF they had worked harder, done more, perhaps it would have turned out differently.

"We'll go get help!" Bren shouted again.

"No!" Sven shouted. "Commander, there are other exits in that cave. I've been inside these caverns before. A few lead to the summit, and one leads back down the mountain on the northern side away from Tenetium."

"Then we'll keep going on!" Henry shouted. "We will find an exit. Go to the summit as planned. Wait for us. Inform the others of what happened if we don't make it there before you."

There was a pause and Irene could only imagine their hesitance to leave knights behind.

"If you're sure, Commander!" Bren finally answered.

The Commander's footsteps got closer. Irene could hear his armor shift as he crouched again. She didn't realize he was reaching for her again until she felt weight on her chest plate. The act made her feel shamefully nervous, but her ridiculous crush wasn't priority at that moment and she knew as much.

"We'll get out of here. We don't have another choice," her Commander explained, trying to comfort her.

"We'll get out of here," she echoed, her voice wavering.

She flinched when the Commander yelled, "Go! We'll figure it out. Go to the summit." But he settled once more and she felt the weight on her plate leave and the sound of him searching around for something—anything.

"We have to be careful," the Commander continued. "I don't know what else lurks down here."

Irene's eyes were watering again. She didn't know how to tell him that she was stuck. He seemed hopeless before Sven told him there was a way out. However, he was going to have to leave her behind until they found something substantial enough to get her unburied or… she might die if her supplies ran out before then.

"Commander, my leg is stuck under rocks," she explained, her voice still wavering. "I can't move."

The Commander uttered a quiet "what?" before she realized he was, yet again, feeling around in the darkness. This time, she knew he was touching the plate over her shin.

Irene was too scared to even try to wiggle her foot. What if the rocks settled further? Right now, it didn't hurt, but she wasn't sure if it was because she was in shock or if it had gone numb.

"Your leg is certainly stuck," the Commander agreed, his disappointment evident. As usual, he tried to remain hopeful. "The rocks around here don't seem to be all that big. I can unbury you."

"Commander," she began, her voice stopping his movements. "You ought to leave me here and go seek more help. I'm going to slow you down and nighttime is due to fall in only a short amount of time."

The days were getting shorter because of impending winter. Even if the hour was early, the darkness of evening came miserably fast.

"I will not be leaving a knight behind," he responded so vehemently. "I don't know what else lurks in this cave."

She didn't have the confidence to answer. The space around them began to fill with noise anyway because he began to dig at the rocks that were around her leg. She could only sit there and listen helplessly, not knowing what was going through his head or what he was discovering because he had gone silent otherwise.

"I don't want these rocks to collapse," he explained, ceasing his digging. "We might have to take off your shin armor, but we will be getting you out of here."

Irene's eyes widened at that. She felt regretful that she had managed to keep her full suit intact from the moment it was given to her. Her father had been the one to commission the suits for both her and Felix when they were first knighted. They all agreed that her suit was the smallest they had ever seen.

"My father had this armor made for me when I was knighted…" she trailed off.

"I understand, but you will still have the rest of your armor," Henry insisted. "I will have the finest leg armor smithed for you once we're out of here. I would rather make sure your leg is alright than leave it pinned under rocks because we're insistent on preserving the armor."

There was another moment of silence as his words sank in. She realized it truly was ridiculous to prioritize armor over herself when she had been worried that something had happened to her leg as well.

"I'll try to unstrap the leg armor," she finally agreed. "Then we can get out of here."

The sound of metal against rock could be heard as Irene bent her legs and dragged herself closer to the rock, pinning her foot down. She reached underneath her knee and found the leather straps that tightened the armor to her leg.

"I've got it. I think I might lose the metal over my foot entirely," she explained.

However, she soon felt a hand over hers and her head turned towards the Commander in shock. He always seemed so unaware of his own presence. Or perhaps he thought higher of her and that she wasn't idiotic enough to misconstrue every time he was gentle with her and miss it whenever he stopped.

"Don't pull your leg out quite yet," he explained. "I'm going to make sure the space doesn't collapse as you pull your foot out."

Since she had loosened her leg armor, it was enough that he could reach underneath the plate so that his hand was against her shin. Using his forearm, he pressed against the armor with his forearm.

Her head felt hot. She pressed on.

"Try to pull your leg out now," he directed. "I think I've stabilized it as much as possible."

"Okay," she whispered. "Here I go."

Irene managed to pull her foot out. She was able to keep the boot, but all the metal once covering her foot and shin was stuck there likely forever.

"Now back away as quickly as possible," her Commander directed, his voice strained.

When Irene pushed herself as far as she could towards the opposite wall, the Commander let go of the load he was bearing with his arm and the rocks settled further, causing dust to erupt all over the cave.