The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True Read Online Free PDF Page B

hands?" commented Sir Gologras. "That took me completely by surprise the first time you did it. Do you practice as much with your left hand as with your right?"
    "More, actually," Sir Gawain said.
    "Amazing," replied Sir Gologras. "We must train together after this."
    "Unless one of us is dead."
    The two knights circled in silence for a moment.
    "Yes," Sir Gologras said at last. "Unless one of us is dead."
    They closed again and fought fiercely and brilliantly for several minutes. They each landed several blows on each other, but only on the places that were best protected by their armor. Then they broke apart to circle again.
    "I thought you had me there for a moment," said Sir Gologras as soon as he had his breath. "When

    I slipped just then, I left quite an opening at my neck. I'm surprised you didn't cut off my head."
    "I ... ah ... I thought it might be a trap," Sir Gawain said. "And what about you? When I lunged forward and you stepped aside, you could have brought your sword right down on my back, where my armor's weakest."
    Sir Gologras said nothing for a long moment. At last he murmured, "I ... thought it might be a trap?"
    They circled some more.
    "This is going to go on for a long time, isn't it?" asked Sir Gawain.
    Sir Gologras nodded. "And yet it can't end until one of us wins. When it's over, one of us will no longer be unvanquished."
    "Does that really matter so much?" asked Sir Gawain.
    "That, my friend, is a very good question," replied Sir Gologras slowly. "Ready to go again?"
    "Ready," said Sir Gawain.
    They charged again, and once more the swords flickered and swung and clanged and thudded. The watchers in the field and on the castle walls could scarcely see the blades, so swiftly did they move, but the knights themselves always seemed able to block each thrust or slash. Then Sir Gawain got his chance. Sir Gologras swung a mighty blow, which Sir Gawain parried, but the force of the two swords striking was such that Sir Gawain's right hand went numb. Realizing that Sir Gologras's sword hand might also be numb, Sir Gawain quickly switched his blade to his left hand and brought the hilt down on Sir Gologras's hand. It worked. Already numb, Sir Gologras lost his grip on his sword. Sir Gawain stepped on it, then laid the edge of his own blade on Sir Gologras's neck.
    "Yield, Sir Gologras," he said.
    Slowly, Sir Gologras sank to his knees and removed his helmet. "I can't yield," he said.
    "What?"
    "If I yield, then I'll have to swear loyalty to the king, and I've promised not to do that."
    "Then what do we do?"
    "You won, Sir Gawain. You'll have to kill me now."
    "I don't
want
to."
    "Nevertheless, you have to. Go on. Cut off my head."
    "Blister it! Why do people keep asking me to cut off their heads?" exclaimed Sir Gawain, furiously. "I don't
like
cutting off heads!"
    "Well, I don't see what else we can do."
    Sir Gawain glared at his stubborn friend for a long moment. Then he said, "Unless this is one of your traps."
    "Eh?"
    "You could be kneeling in order to take advantage of me. You know that my right hand is numb and probably can't hold my sword very tightly."
    "You're holding your sword in your left hand," Sir Gologras pointed out.
    Sir Gawain shifted his sword back to his right hand. "As I was
saying,
" he continued, "you could be planning to knock my own sword out of my hand, then shove me back off your sword and get the advantage."
    "Seems like a pretty stupid trap to me," said Sir Gologras.
    "That's what makes it such a good plan. No one would suspect it. You'd take me completely by surprise."
    "Would I?"
    "Yes."
    With one hand, Sir Gologras knocked Sir Gawain's sword from his grasp. With the other he pushed Sir Gawain a step backwards. Grasping his own sword, Sir Gologras rose to his feet and laid the blade on Sir Gawain's neck. "Yield, Sir Gawain."
    "I do yield," replied Sir Gawain. "Gladly."
    A minute later, both knights stood before King Arthur, who looked grim. "You have won, Sir Gologras," he said.