Arwaut

Arwaut is one of the Grey Knights who pursue the Red Riders and initially treat Tiuri as a suspect. A young knight with a broad, dark appearance and lighter, friendlier eyes than his companion Bendoe, he participates in the river crossing during an attack and is later reported to have a cut on his head. His brief appearances place him at the intersection of the Grey Knights’ duty to investigate and the book’s insistence that suspicion must not become unjust accusation.

Identity and Appearance

At the meal held after the confrontation with Tiuri, the Grey Knights remove their helmets and loosen their gorgets, allowing Tiuri to see them clearly for the first time. Arwaut sits beside Bendoe. The two men resemble one another in their broad builds and dark hair, but Arwaut is younger, certainly not yet twenty-five, and his eyes are lighter and friendlier. The contrast is small but distinct: where Bendoe’s heavy brows give him a threatening look, Arwaut’s expression is described more warmly.

Arwaut is among the four knights gathered at Mistrinaut Castle, with Ristridin as their apparent leader. The group’s first meeting with Tiuri has been shaped by the accusation against him and by the knights’ anger. When Tiuri asks whether they now believe that accusation false, Ristridin nods gravely, and Arwaut and Ewijn answer together. Arwaut’s assent marks a change from treating Tiuri as a criminal to recognizing that the charge against him cannot be sustained.

The Dispute over Tiuri

The Lord of Mistrinaut, Sigirdiwarth Rafox, reveals that he gave Tiuri weapons and had been close enough to intervene. Ristridin’s accusation makes clear that the Grey Knights had been prepared to fight Tiuri, while Rafox challenges them to consider what it would have meant to defeat him without hearing him out. He frames the danger not merely as a mistaken judgment but as a failure of the knights’ own ideals: a wrongful act would have dishonored their knighthood and contradicted their reputation for peace and justice.

Arwaut is included among the knights whom Rafox asks to imagine the consequences of acting in blind vengeance. The exchange does not give Arwaut a separate speech or describe his private response, but it places him within the collective responsibility Rafox identifies. At the later meal, the knights wait for Tiuri to speak rather than interrupting him. His question about the false accusation receives a clear answer from Arwaut and Ewijn, and Ristridin’s grave nod confirms the group’s changed judgment.

Pursuit and River Crossing

After Arwaut and Bendoe return from searching for the Red Riders, they report that they have not found the riders themselves but have found their tracks. Bendoe says that several people have seen them nearby, while Arwaut adds that they believe the riders have continued west. The report gives the Grey Knights a direction to pursue, while distinguishing what they know from what they infer: the tracks and sightings are evidence of the riders’ presence, but their westward movement is a belief rather than a confirmed sighting.

During the pursuit, figures are spotted among the trees and a man in red appears to be in a tree. Bendoe urges his horse into the river, which is shallow enough to cross despite its fairly strong current; Arwaut and the squires follow him. Arrows fly from the woods, but none of the riders is hit. The crossing therefore carries the pursuit directly into danger, and Arwaut’s participation is concrete: he follows Bendoe across rather than remaining behind.

Injury and Narrative Role

The attack grows more confused as armed men emerge from the rocks and Tiuri is tackled from his horse. The account later records the cost to the party: Bendoe says that Arwaut has a cut on his head, while Ewijn’s squire has bruised an arm. He dismisses both injuries as insignificant, but the report establishes that Arwaut has been hurt in the encounter. The evidence does not specify how he received the cut or describe treatment, so his injury remains a brief measure of the violence of the pursuit rather than a separate episode.

Arwaut’s role is defined through these shared actions and decisions: he helps follow the Red Riders’ trail, joins the dangerous crossing, and, with Ewijn, accepts that Tiuri has been falsely accused. The contrast between his friendly eyes and the hostility that first surrounds Tiuri is not a complete portrait of his character, but it lends particular force to the group’s eventual willingness to hear Tiuri and acknowledge the false charge. His part in the story is brief, yet it helps show the Grey Knights moving from suspicion toward a more responsible judgment.