The Red Knights Ambush and Kill the Black Knight

The Red Riders’ ambush turns what seems to be a formal challenge between two masked knights into an attack by a larger force, and it leaves the Black Knight with the White Shield mortally wounded. The reversal matters beyond the loss of a knight: his attackers also seek the letter he carries, making Tiuri’s delivery mission the surviving purpose of a betrayal that first appears to be a duel.

The Challenge at the Inn

The encounter begins in the middle of the night at the inn where the Black Knight with the White Shield is staying. The innkeeper recounts that, around two o’clock, pounding at the front door woke him. A second knight stood outside in black armor, but his shield was red. He demanded to know whether the Black Knight with the White Shield was there and ordered the innkeeper to wake him, threatening to break the door if he was not let in.

Before the innkeeper could reach his guest’s room, the White Shield knight was already coming downstairs, fully armed. His helmet visor was lowered, his weapons were with him, and his white shield hung from his arm. The Red Shield knight met him in the common room, removed a glove, and threw it at his opponent’s feet. The White Shield knight picked it up and asked when the contest would take place. The answer was immediate: then.

The innkeeper saw the pair leave the common room together without another word. A few minutes later, they rode off together into the forest. Their silence and departure gave the encounter the outward form of a private, formally accepted duel. The innkeeper could only infer what had happened next: he thought they had gone to fight, and neither had returned by the time Tiuri questioned him.

The Duel That Was Not a Duel

That apparent explanation collapses when Tiuri later finds the wounded knight and expresses regret that he has been beaten in a duel. The knight rejects the premise: he says there was no duel and that no one had ever overcome him. The distinction is central to his account. The glove and the ride into the forest had suggested a contest between equals, but he says the Black Knight with the Red Shield lured him into an ambush, where the Red Riders attacked him in numbers.

The attack was not aimed only at the knight. He tells Tiuri that the Red Riders wanted both to destroy him and to seize the letter. They did not find it. Tiuri has just shown him the document, and the knight immediately tells him to put it away safely before explaining what must be done with it. The failed search therefore leaves the mission alive even as its original bearer is dying: the attackers have not secured the message, but Tiuri must now protect and carry it.

Death and the Transfer of the Mission

The knight’s account also corrects the meaning Tiuri had given to the innkeeper’s story. What had sounded like a defeat in single combat was, in the knight’s telling, a many-against-one attack. Tiuri responds with horror, but the knight’s attention remains on the letter and on the person who is to deliver it. He asks Tiuri how the document came into his hands, hears the explanation, and then tells him not to look so worried. Even through the mask, Tiuri senses a smile.

When the knight asks him to remove the helmet, Tiuri sees his calm, noble face. Struck by the sight, he takes the knight’s hand and swears to deliver the letter safely. He also vows to avenge the men who attacked him. The knight refuses that addition to the promise: revenge is not Tiuri’s task; he is to be the messenger. The distinction gives the final exchange its force. Tiuri’s response reaches toward retaliation, but the dying knight directs him back to the duty for which the letter must survive.

The knight’s fingers move briefly in Tiuri’s hand and then become still. Tiuri understands that he has died. Though he has known the man only a short time, he is deeply grieved; he releases the hand, hides his face in his own hands, and prays for the knight’s soul. The death closes the encounter but does not close its purpose. The letter remains outside the Red Riders’ grasp, and Tiuri’s promise to deliver it—not his promise of revenge—is the charge the knight leaves behind.