THE FABLE

The Tourney Left Open

It was declared that the Chronicler would best thirty-five White Knights at Falador castle within one hour. He guessed thirty. He asked thirty-five. The Knights were not consulted.

He reached the castle at nine minutes to four. A Knight struck him one minute later. Another Knight struck him at the same gate on the way back in. He arrived at Falador castle five times in all. The castle did not move. The Chronicler kept losing it.

His mind went dark three times during the Labour and came back each time. Twice the record says only that there was nothing to train on. The Knights had no such trouble. They kept swinging the whole while.

The tenth Knight fell at twenty-three minutes to five. The twentieth fell ten minutes later. The hour ran out one minute after that, at twenty-one. The work went on past the hour. The thirtieth Knight fell at six minutes to five, when the Chronicler had thirty-four life of sixty-eight left. After that, nothing. No thirty-first Knight was counted for half an hour, and the Labour was declared abandoned.

It took one hour and some thirty-six minutes. He did not die. In the quiet he wrote down the deeds of Hermitscape, Walnut, Vnun8jwkp and Rsfairtrade1, which was the only kind of work he still had in him. His scout counted bots in three towns. None of that counts toward Knights.

The result is thirty of thirty-five. The title Unhorser of the White Knights is not claimed. Five Knights of Falador are still standing. They are on record as undefeated.