The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

~ George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Chapter 15: Balinor's Creed

Uther was staring out at the field before him with his jaw hard as stone. His men had come to fight a dragon, not an army of men. These men wore the colors of King Cenred which means that the village headman was actually telling him the truth. His archers were being overwhelmed with the emergence of all these new enemy troops. They were being cut down as the enemy rode right into them. Those that were running off to avoid those riders were being attacked from above by Balinor and his dragon.

"Have our riders form up and intercept those soldiers. Protect the archers!" he commanded.

His knights on horseback started to organize themselves and ride for the enemy but the sun above them went dark. When they looked up they saw the dragon diving for them. It swooped down close to them that sent a great rush of wind that had a few of them fall of their horses. Kilgharrah's tail whacked at a few others and sent them flying off.

"The catapults!" Uther cried desperately. "Fire on that dragon while it's still."

"We can't sire," Sir Peter cried. "Our catapults."

The catapults that had cost quite a bit of gold to build were, one by one, reduced to being used for firewood. The few catapults that were left were too busy with the new enemy to focus on the dragon. Not to mention that most of their weapons were iron as to combat the magic of Balinor and his dragon but the soldiers had weapons and armor of steel which were stronger.

Sir Lehman rode up to the king. "Sire, I think it might be best if we retreat!"

"Retreat?! Why? We outnumber these men."

"But they have the aid of that dragon sire. Our men are starting to scatter and are becoming too hysterical to properly fight or follow our commands. We should leave before we have too great a loss to our forces."

Uther growled. He knew that his knight had a point. Much of this force belonged to Gorlois. If he lost too much of it then it could result in the loss of another strong ally's support. If war was going to come to Camelot he couldn't afford to lose any more supporters.

"Very well," he spat. "Sound the retreat and organize the men when they are safely back within our borders."

"Sire," his knights bowed before they rode off to order and organize the retreat.

Uther looked over at the cloaked figure atop the dragon and tightened his hold on his horse's reins. "Curse you Balinor. I swear I will see to your destruction one day," he mumbled to himself before he took off with some of his men riding after him as they fled the battlefield.

Over in the distance Balinor and Richard were still observing everything and they noticed that the forces of Camelot were pulling back.

"They're retreating," Richard said as he pointed at the men at the catapults abandoning them to run away with the knights.

"We better return to the others while the Essetir soldiers are focusing on chasing them and not me or Kilgharrah." He roared out another message for Kilgharrah to go off and find the others. "We managed to send Uther off. We won."

"Did we?" said Richard glumly.

Balinor looked off where Richard was gazing to see a sight that made his mood drop like a rock. Ealdor, so beautiful and peaceful once, had now been razed. Most of the houses had been set afire or brought down. The fields were afire from both Kilgharrah's flame and the catapults' misfires. There were also a few bodies scattered here and there as well.

"I'm sorry Richard."

But Richard held his hand out. "It's not your fault Balinor. I don't blame you. If you hadn't come up with this plan then everyone in Ealdor would be dead and Uther would've got away with it scot free."

Balinor was going to put a comforting hand on Richard's shoulder but the hand flew to his head when Kilgharrah sent him a fast and strong message that nearly gave him a migraine. When the message was finished he gasped. "Oh no."

"What?" Richard asked.

"We have to go, now! Hunith, Gina and the others are in trouble!"

Hunith was pulled behind Abel along with Gina as Sir Tate and his men leered down at them.

"There is no point in hurting any of these people," Abel said as he pushed on the two when they tried to pull him back. "Your king's plan is up in smoke along with your artillery. Leave them be."

"We're well beyond that now I'm afraid. King Uther has decreed for all of you to forfeit your lives. However…there may be a chance for mercy. Tell us who and where Balinor's new wife is and there may be room for compromising with our king."

Hunith huffed through her nose in frustration. "Maybe I should give myself up," she whispered.

"No," Abel hissed. "That won't help anyone Hunith except for Uther. He is a man that only keeps his word when doing so favors him over not doing so. You and your child are too precious to lose now."

"He's right," Gina whispered back. "As soon as they have you, they'll just kill us anyway and take you back to Uther so they could humiliate and kill you."

"But what about the others?" she protested. "They might not feel the same way."

But it seemed that they were more similar then they thought because Stan stepped forward. "Do you think that after burning our homes and hearing your king shout to have us all killed that we're going to be stupid enough to believe what you say then you have another thing coming."

"Then we are left with no choice then." He turned to his men. "Bring them down," he ordered.

At that all hell broke loose. Abel cast a spell that made two of the soldiers trip over their own feet and fall down. The druid elder cast a spell too that some of their swords grow hot in their hands. However, they weren't enough as the men were quickly shaking off their attempts to hinder them. When Tate saw what they were doing he had is men concentrate on the three druids first. Stan saw Abel being kicked down and he went and tackled the man before he could go and continue. Sadly he was clocked on the head by the butt of another soldiers sword hilt before being restrained. Some of the children starting picking up nearby rocks and trying to throw them at the soldiers but they were batted away. Tate pushed down a villager that tried to come at him and as he was going to reach down and try to restrain him with the others his reflexes kicked in and he brought his sword to block a thick branch that was being swung at him. He saw that the one who tried to attack him was a very pregnant woman who looked a week or two short of child delivery. She was young and looked aggressive and he felt that she just might be the one that Uther was looking for.

"Who is your husband?" he demanded turning his sword on her.

Hunith saw Gina in danger and she ran and leapt on the knights back to try and stop him from hurting her. Tate fought off her attempts to scratch and force him down and shook her off to land on the ground. Gina ran and knelt at Hunith's side as Tate towered over them both. When all was said and done, the soldiers had spears aimed at the women, children and weaker men while the stronger village men that tried to resist were kneeling with swords at their backs along with Abel and the other two druids. Tate moved that they be moved to a fallen tree trunk to serve as an executioner's block. Tate turned to look at the woman who fought him and save the pregnant girl. He would have to take responsibility for executing her.

"I'm sorry for all of this," Tate said softly. "Believe me, it gives me no pleasure in having to do this."

"Words I would expect from a coward," Hunith spat.

Tate fought the sudden gag reflex as he raised his sword up. The soldiers behind him followed his lead as they raised their swords to over their kneeling targets. As he did it, Tate closed his eyes. He didn't want to see the sight of spilling the blood of these women in his nightmares. Their screams were going to be hellish enough for him in later years. Right before he brought his sword down he heard the woman before him scream and suddenly he found he couldn't bring his hand down for the strike. At first, he thought it was a reflex kicking in to stop him before he heard his men behind him.

"We can't move!" one of the soldiers shouted out.

"I'm stuck!" said another.

All the soldiers who were about to execute Abel and the others were all frozen with their arms raised just like Tate was.

"Us too!"

The soldiers holding the rest of the people were also frozen. They were all like statues except for moving their heads slightly. Tate struggled as hard as he could but he couldn't even move his toes. He immediately looked to the four druids still kneeling.

"What have you done to us?!" he gasped out.

But they just looked at one another in surprise. This magic wasn't done by any one of them and it was too strong for them anyhow. The Elder knew a freezing spell but he wasn't strong enough to freeze all these men at once.

"We're not doing this," Abel cried.

The Elder raised his eyebrows as he looked over at Hunith who was standing up from the floor and helping Gina to her feet too.

"Take their weapons," Stan cried out as he got back to his feet.

All the village men ran to the nearest soldier and took their swords and spears from them. Hunith was going to go over to the druids and ask if they were alright when she suddenly grabbed her head as a big wave of dizziness came over her. She didn't know why but suddenly, she felt so tired and weak. Abel saw her swaying and ran to her before she collapsed in his arms. As soon as she did Sir Tate and his men suddenly could move again. As they regained control of their bodies they began to stare down the ends of their own weapons as the villagers pointed them right at them.

Sir Tate was weighing their options. They were disarmed, yes, but the ones armed didn't look too well versed in combat. He doubted that most of these men even swung a sword before today. He wondered if they should take a chance and charge them for their weapons to finish what Uther had ordered of them. There of course was the other option to run to avoid bloodshed. The main purpose for chasing these villagers was to prevent the spread of Uther's move to come into Ealdor for Balinor but its safe to assume that executing these people will not stop that now. Then again, there is also the chance that Balinor's wife is still among these people. His hunch was still on that clearly pregnant lady but then again, it could be any of these women here including the one that had attacked him, with what just happened to all of them maybe it is.

Yet none of that mattered as the choice was made for him when a roar sounded off right above them. The dragon was hovering right over their spot and sent a fierce roar that shook the trees before it started to descend. The horses they brought with them were spooked and they started to gallop away leaving all the men there. That sent the men into a frenzy as they ran off themselves in any and all directions to avoid feeling the ire of the dragon. It's tail swung around at them for good measure as they tried to avoid it. Tate would've ran too but he was cut off by two men on horseback as they pointed their swords at him. He recognized one of them easily from his time at Camelot.

"Going somewhere?" asked Balinor sternly.

Balinor and Richard rushed to check that their wives were okay as the knight they had captive was being restrained by two of the villagers. Sir Tate was actually not really struggling too hard as he knew there was little point. With all these armed and angry people, not to mention the dragon close by, he doubted he would live past this day. Hunith and Gina were assuring their husbands that they were fine as well as explaining what happened. When they were done Richard stomped over to Sir Tate and put all the rage he could behind the punch he threw across his jaw.

"You bastard!" he roared after he did so. "You were going to kill my wife and my child! All my fellow villagers!"

The force of his punch made Tate nearly stumble but his captures held him and kept him from falling off his feet. Tate's lower lip started gushing blood but he didn't pay any mind. He just kept his gaze firmly on the ground. That only seemed to make Richard angrier as he drew out his sword and pointed it at the knight.

"Richard," Gina cried out.

Richard didn't react. He kept his heated glare on their prisoner. "I should run you through right here and now."

Tate didn't flinch. He still kept his gaze down on his own feet. Richard's arm was shaking as his sword was raised but someone grabbed his shoulder. He looked to see that it was Balinor and he looked determined.

"It's okay Richard. Let me deal with him," he insisted. Richard huffed but after a few moments under Balinor's determined face he rested his arm. "Thank you."

"Don't make me regret it," he said as he put his sword back in his sheath and stepped back to be with Gina.

Balinor walked forward to be directly in front of Tate. "Look at me," he said calmly. Tate didn't move right away but after Balinor repeated it again in the same tone did he look up and meet his eyes. "What's your name?"

"Sir Tate," he answered.

Balinor narrowed his eyes. "Do you know who I am?"

He nodded. "Balinor."

"I must say…I didn't think Uther let cowards become knights."

At the word 'Coward' Tate looked over at the woman who scolded him before. It was the same tone that she had used. He now knew that she was the one that she was indeed Balinor's new wife. Also, it made the fact that both of them call him a coward sting harder.

"Coward? What do you mean by that? I'm not scared of any of you or of dying here."

Balinor chuckled. "I mean, that the entire time you've been restrained you haven't looked not one of these people you were about to kill in the eye. You've been keeping your eyes firmly to the ground even when Richard was a moment away from killing you. I think that the least you could do is face the people who you were about to slaughter." He saw Tate glare at him but that only made him glare back harder. "Now what?"

"I'm not a coward!"

"Look at them!" he ordered. "Look at these people, you coward! Look at the people your men was going to kill. Look at the two pregnant women, my wife, who you were going to strike down."

"With his eyes closed," Hunith added sternly as if she was scolding a troubling child. "How are you not a coward again?"

Tate slowly looked at all the people who were either glaring at him or trying hard not to look at him. Men, women and children.

"I was only following my king's orders,' he mumbled. "I am under oath to serve him. I had no personal desire to hurt any of these people."

"You take no responsibility then? Only a coward tries to pass the blame on someone else for their actions. You will answer for what you've done here."

"Then kill me and be done with it."

Balinor shook his head. "I'm not going to kill you. Unlike your king who kills out of spite, I only kill when I'm left with no choice. Uther and his knights pride themselves on how they are noble and just but they, and you, and nothing but finely dressed brutes; nothing but glorified butchers. It seems like he is stomping that out as well as magic if the stories behind Sir Ector is anything to go by. I will show him real nobility and give mercy and let you live where your king hasn't."

The people around him were surprised. Richard was livid.

"Balinor, you're just going to let him go, just like that!" he protested.

He shook his head. "Oh no. I won't execute this man but I won't him forget this day. This day where you tried to kill villagers, especially two pregnant women all for your king and kingdom. Every day from now on, you will remember this day and what you tried to do in the name of your king and how I let you leave with your life." Balinor took Excalibur from his belt. "Hold out his sword hand."

Tate's eyes nearly bulged out. "What? Wait…what are you doing?" he gasped out as the men holding him made him kneel and extended his right arm out over the log that they were going to be executed over.

Balinor asked the people to take the children with them away so they couldn't see this. "Let's see if you can still serve your king and Camelot when he can't have you kill on his command. And, I don't need anyone to strike a sword down for me."

"No…stop!" he struggled.

"Stop crying," Richard spat. "I'm sure that all those people your king had executed these last two years would've loved to have lost a hand over their heads."

Balinor raised Excalibur high as he aimed for the knight's wrist. He kept his gaze on the man as he did to show him the true difference between them. He then brought his sword for a clean hit.

End of Chapter 15

A/N: What did you think? I didn't think that Tate should've been killed but he still has to have this moment marked with him somehow and this seemed like a good idea. He's not really a bad man, it's just that his hands are tied especially with what happened to the last knight that tried to resist the king in favor of mercy for the people. The next chapter will have Balinor and everyone meeting the Druids and also have their minds on what happened with Hunith and the whole freezing thing. And Uther has to deal with the fact that war has been sparked.