Arelenne watched the flicker of emotion running through the captain's face, incredulous that a Roman would think twice about leaving a Woad to die. For her part, the young knight knew of blood and death and was well accustomed to its practices. It was neither good nor bad, it was just the way things were.
"If our captain has no stomach for even the most common of retaliation, how can we expect him to lead us to battle?" she said in a loud whisper to Gawain.
Arthur's back stiffened as the words carried to him, and he turned back to stand before the young knight. "Any man who would leave another to pain is no knight," he said. "And neither is he fit to be called above an animal."
Arelenne lifted her chin defiantly. "Noble words for a Roman," she said. "It is your people that have had plenty of practice with torture and ridicule have you not enslaved countless nations before us?"
The captain did not answer for a long moment, his brow furrowed in thought. Arthur knew what his rank called upon him to do, but likewise did his heart war with his station.
"I am not my people," he said finally, and moved past Arelenne back into the direction of the crowd.
He unsheathed Excalibur as he went, holding a hand up when Tristan made to follow.
Arthur returned to see the man snarling and crying out in his own tongue as the villagers pelted him with a rain of stones, and a cry went up among them when the knight cut his bonds.
"A captain releasing an enemy of Rome?" cried one villager. "What devilry is this?"
Arthur pulled the Woad to his feet and pointed Excalibur in the villager's face. "He is not an enemy right now he is just a man who is broken and bleeding," he said, and as he spoke he realized his words rang true. This was not the man who slew his mother, and it was not right that he should turn away from any who needed his aid.
Roman, Briton, Sarmatian they were all equals under the eyes of God. Had Pelagius not taught him this? Had his father not taught him this? Bolstered by the revelation, he lifted his chin.
"Stand aside," he said.
"Rome will hear of this," shouted the man angrily. "You put our village in great peril by releasing him!"
"When next you capture a prisoner, either kill him or free him," Arthur said. "If I catch any of you doing this again I shall break you as you broke him."
And he put the man's arm about his shoulders and helped him limp to where his knights stood watching. They were not cruel boys but they also did not see beyond the rules of war; they did not understand Arthur's actions.
"Bedivere, fetch a horse from the stable," Arthur bade the closest one, and the boy set off at a run to do so.
The captain stood quietly as he watched the villagers disperse from the fire, meeting the gaze of the man who had spoken against him.
"I will not see any of you do this," said Arthur to the lads. "You are knights who now fight for honor and justice, and there is no greater insult than to torture a helpless man."
"They would do that and worse to us," spoke up Bors. "How would you have us act?"
Arthur shook his head. "Let the dishonorable do what they must; no man may take your honor save yourself," he said. "Live and die by a code and your life will have meaning."
Bedivere came with the horse then, and Arthur helped the Woad onto it. "When we meet on the battlefield, you are my enemy," he said to him. "But now you are simply a wounded man whom I have given aid to. Ride hard and swift, friend of the earth."
The Woad looked at Arthur and nodded sharply, speaking soft words in his own tongue. Then he dug his cloth wound heels into the horse's side and disappeared into the night.