I Will Be the Greatest Knight

The sound of falling rocks would forever cause her heart to race at the thought of how close they were to immediate death. The fact that Irene was the only one to get slightly pinned was practically a miracle.

Irene had to remove her helmet completely that time because the dust was closer to her face and filling her helmet. She was worried about breathing it all in.

It was in that moment that the Commander decided to back away from the rocks, but he promptly tripped over Irene's outstretched legs.

The woman let out a pained gasp. Her ankle was already bruised and swollen from the rocks collapsing on her in the first place. A metal clad food tripping over it was the last thing she needed.

However, ever caring for his knights, the Commander was quickly on his knees at her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice slightly desperate. "Can you stand?"

Her eyes were squeezed shut and she felt his hands find hers in the darkness. He tried helping her up. She knew that it was inevitable, but she was still holding her breath even when the man effortlessly helped her to her feet.

Her left leg was fine. It was the right one she could hardly put any weight on top of. She leaned against the wall.

"I can't put weight on my right leg, but I don't think it's broken," she admitted. "Without my armor on, it certainly would have been crushed completely."

Rather than showing her his disappointment, he insisted, "Just lean on me. We'll get out of here in no time."

His hands returned to hers, and she felt a particular ache in her heart. He then moved his hands to her waist, covered in armor.

She felt happy he couldn't see her because her face was certainly red. Her heart hadn't yet calmed.

With no other choice, her right arm went around what she could reach of his armored shoulders.

"This is a familiar position," the Commander joked, trying to lighten the mood. "At least this time you're sober enough to keep your head up."

Irene had the urge to slap him. She was mortified.

"I'm never going to live that down, am I?" she asked, her voice miserable.

"Probably not," he admitted with a laugh that made her feel even worse.

"I could find my way out by myself if you're insistent on teasing me," she insisted, becoming stubborn.

"I don't doubt that at all," he responded, his voice becoming gentler. "But this way will be faster. At least I'm not insistent on carrying you."

Irene groaned at that and had no choice but to give in and allow him to lead her along like a crutch. But rather than the quietness a crutch would offer, he kept talking her. It seemed he was insistent on slowly wearing her down because it was working.

"You ever been lost in a cave before?" he wondered.

"I wasn't the one who was lost," Irene admitted. "My father was trapped in a collapsed cave and I ran away from home trying to find him."

"You ran away from home?" the Commander asked in disbelief. "Did you have a bit of a rebellious streak?"

"Commander, joining a knighthood was my rebellious streak," she admitted. "Learning swordfighting when my mother wanted me to learn proper etiquette was my rebellious streak, so I suppose that means I'm still in it."

The only noise for a while was their armor clanking as they moved forward, having no choice but to touch one another as they went through the cave. It seemed that the Commander was thinking on her words for a few moments.

"Would you have been pleased with a life like that?" he wondered, breaking their lack of words. "I can't quite picture you in an environment like that."

He knew he shouldn't pry too much, but the words when she was drunk about it not being such a bad thing to be treated gently often returned to his thoughts when she was around.

"Not at all," she admitted. "I look like my mother, but I take after my father in every other way. Even without a hand, I imagine even now he can't hold still. I'm sure that region of Chemois is the safest it's ever been with my father's restlessness."

The Commander had to relent his curiosity, and he silently sighed, a small smile pulling at his lips. He doubted he would ever get an answer about his specific curiosities unless he got her drunk again—which he certainly couldn't do. It was best not to pry.

"I'm a bit like you in that way, I think," he admitted. "I was never satisfied with anything until I joined the knighthood. Now there's a constant need to climb higher."

"Well, sir, you've reached practically the highest point without becoming the King himself," Irene observed. "What's left for you to accomplish?"

Henry bit the inside of his cheek.

He had absolutely everything in the world at his fingertips for the first time in his life, yet he wanted for so much even still. He wanted the duchy to grow and feel safe. He wanted the knighthood to grow and conquer. Most of all, he wanted a family of his own. It was what kept him up at night the most and perhaps the most wounding of all of his desires.

But he couldnt burden her with that much.

"There's still plenty left," he assured her. "You'll have to see."

It was vague, but it seemed they both had reached a point of conversation where neither one of them were willing to reveal more.

Irene was finding that they were equally as complicated. She had much she couldn't say, but it seemed he was the same way.

The talking became less serious as they moved through the cave and tried to avoid obstacles while they certainly climbed higher and higher. There was even a point where Henry couldn't be used as a crutch because they were both on their hands and knees climbing. Irene didn't need to put pressure on her ankle here, so it worked out.

However, once they found themselves on more even footing, the Commander went back to her side until they started to be able to see light for the first time the entire duration of their trip.

"That has to be an exit!" Irene exclaimed, unbelievably relieved. "I think we've finally made it."

As they inched closer and closer and it got a bit brighter, Irene's heart seemed to relax and her tenseness was starting to leave.

However, it came rushing back when they finally breathed in their first breaths of fresh air, but the Commander lifted Irene in a bridal hold so that he could scale down the rocks much more quickly, and their feet were on surprisingly soft grasses despite how dry it had become during late autumn.

"Sorry, I figured that would be much quicker," he admitted with a cheeky grin that elicited a glare from the armored woman he had just handled like a tiny doll.