The White Knight

The call once again echoed throughout the land. "Help me!!!!!"

The white knight stared at the tall, blackened spire where the Princess was kept. Several had tried to overcome the obstacles in the way to the beautiful lady, but none succeeded. The screams were now commonplace, as regular as the songs of birds or a crash of thunder on a rainy day.

This knight was no different in his determination. He had deftly crossed the treacherous river with only a few pockmarks from the sharp boulders that lay in wait under the surface. He had already traversed the steep mountainside, grunting and grabbing at any outcropping along the sheer surface with his calloused hands. Unlike the others, though, he had just slain the mighty dragon guardian that regularly circled the tower and often invoked the Princess' screams, with hardly an etching from the foul beast's acidic bites.

His white armor clashed against the barren, blackened, charred landscape. The tall tower lay right in front of him, the Princess' calls louder and closer than any that had heard before him. Only one spiral stairwell now separated him from the prize that awaited at the top of the tower.

Every step was its own agonizing trial, each tougher than the last. Only the calls of the Princess, ringing through the tower windows, kept the knight's motivation to move forward. Step after gueling step, sweaty armor clinked and clattered against the stone stairs as he pulled himself closer to his goal.

After an eternity (or two!), the knight finally put his hand on the final stair. An oak door muffled the next scream from the Princess. Placing the key in the locked door, it twisted and offered a very anticlimatic 'click'.

The knight pushed the door open to see his prize. A once beautiful, voluptuous woman now lay chained to a stone pillar, tattered rags barely covering her famished figure and a fresh, black cloth covering her eyes. Another shriek pierced the air. "No! Not again!"

"You are mistaken, my lady. I do not come to harm you. I come to set you free." The knight's voice was hoarse from exhaustion.

"Oh, yes, please! Thank you!" The sweet, soft words were a wonderful contrast to the shrieks that had escaped prior.

The knight moved to the pillar and examined the chains. Surely some magic or trickery was at work, for there was no way to remove them. The Princess squirmed in anticipation of her freedom as the knight fumbled with the manacles.

Ideas exhausted, and strength nearly so, the knight summoned one last mighty feat beyond his means. Pulling with all his might, the ancient chains heaved and groaned. The Princess pulled with all her might, and coupled with the strength of the knight, finally snapped.

Tears and cries of happiness flowed from the Princess. Her shackled hands shook as she sobbed her thanks to the knight. She reached for the blindfold that had finalized her prison, and lowered it.

"Oh!" she choked, viewing what lay inside the still nearly pristine white armor on the floor next to her. "Oh," she repeated.

"I am sorry, fair knight... but I simply cannot offer..."

"Princess!" The echo of several men in armor rattled from the open door and the stairwell below. The room soon filled with a small contingent of men. The Princess rushed to the guards ini complete adoration and happiness.

The white knight looked on as the Princess showed her gratitude in the most carnal way a woman can show a man. His strength gone, he could do nothing but lay, and watch, and listen.

And as they left, the white knight summoned the most reserved bit of strength any human had ever found and pulled himself along the floor.

And soon after, the guards and Princess left the tower, stepping past the recently pristine white armor, now disgured and soaked in crimson, without even a second glance.