Episode 056

                “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
                                Luke ? ? ?

                “How can you say that?” Marilyn said, glaring harshly at Everett. She looked up, at Edgar and Sydney, as the three knights looked back at her. Suddenly, it dawned on her how out of place she was, how rudely she was acting. Slowly, she lowered back down to the chair.

                Everett looked at Edgar, then to Sydney. The dame motioned over at Marilyn with her head. Everett turned to Marilyn, sighing as he thought. He looked down, templing his hands as he thought. “I, I can see why you would say that.” He said, his voice held steady and reasonable. “But you’ve got to understand that for us, the whole situation is different.”

                “How?” Marilyn asked, looking at Everett with wounded eyes. “How is it so different from you? Aren’t you . . .”

                “We are knights.” Everett answered with a constant, firm, but gentle gaze. “The world is a very different place for us. We do things very differently than most people.”

                “But how can you turn your back on people who need you?” Marilyn asked, her voice regaining strength all ready.

                “Because to us, we don’t think they need us.” Everett said. “You have to understand, Marilyn. These people have never sought us out, never asked us for help. And if anything, they would want us to stay the hell out of their personal life.”

                “But, but . . .”

                “Why waste your time fighting endlessly in a war you can’t win,” Everett said calmly. “When patience and a calm mind will help you to see that one, well-placed strike is all it takes to bring down your foe?” He asked rhetorically. “Why fight endlessly against the tide, battling it violently, at the costs of lives and effort and materials, when simple patience and kindness will reach an even greater result?”

                Everett shook his head, continuing in Marilyn’s stunned silence. “We are knights.” He said with exhausted pride. “We are the last resort.” He looked over at her. “Violence is never the best answer. Violence is what happens when all else fails. Violence is what comes when you can’t do anything else. And that’s what the Knights are. They are violence. They are might. But the entire endeavor of the knights, the whole meaning of the Oath of Chivalry, as hallowed or as flawed as it may be, is to make a force that gives might to the right end, to make a force of power that can stand up to any other, but one that is dedicated to doing ‘the right thing’.”

                “The right thing?” Marilyn asked, looking at Everett, as if the other two knights were no longer in the room. “How do you know what the right thing is?” Everett turned his head, looking behind him at Edgar.

                “The knights are governed by four principles.” Edgar said, his academic voice soft as he spoke. “What is right, what is fair, what is just, and what is moral. In all situations, we must ask ourselves what is the appropriate outcome for each.”

                “What do you mean?” Marilyn asked, lost.

                “Two guys are about to start a fight.” Sydney said, before Edgar could answer. “And a knight wants to know if he should stop it or stay out of it. Or even more, if he should protect the fight and let the two fight it out. He has to consider what is the best outcome for each of the four.”

                “And you have to do that by either drawing on experience,” Everett said. “Or considering the Oath of Chivalry.” Everett took a sip of his water, then motioned to Sydney. “Let’s take her example. Two guys are about to fight. What do you do?”

                “I stop them.” Marilyn said immediately. “They could hurt themselves, or someone else. And they’re disrupting the peace and they’re probably going to destroy property.”

                “That’s true.” Everett said. “But consider it as a knight. Right, fair, just, and moral. Now, the right thing to do is unclear, so you can’t rely on that. The fair thing to do is to help if one is seriously outmatched, either by prowess or physical matching. The just thing is of course, to stay the hell out of it, as it’s illegal to involve yourself in a fight, even if you’re trying to break it up. And the moral thing is, well, that all depends on how you think problem-solving should be handled.”

                “But suppose both of these guys were evenly matched.” Everett went on. “The right thing, the fair thing, and the moral thing are all either inconclusive or defunct. So, what do you go on?” He motioned to Marilyn.

                “The just thing.” She said, nodding her head a bit. Then she shook her head, as if shaking off rain that wasn’t there. “But how can you stand aside in the case of drug dealing.”

                “Think, Marilyn.” Edgar said, sitting forward. “What is the fair thing to do?”

                “To help.” She said, emphatically. “I need help to bring them down.”

                “I wasn’t aware that you had any interest in dealing drugs.” Sydney said, looking at Marilyn. The girl looked at the dame, a shocked expression on her face, but before Marilyn could say anything more, Sydney went on. “If you aren’t in the business, all you’re talking about doing by bringing them down is disrupting someone else’s business. So, you’re saying that the fair thing is for us to help one person to bring down an economic corner stone that employs hundreds of people. And if we do bring it down, we’ll only be changing the employers and worsening conditions?”

                “We’re getting ahead of ourselves.” Everett said. He turned back to Marilyn. “What is the just thing?”

                “The just thing?” She asked back. She thought for a moment, then just shook her head.

                “To not get involved.” Everett said clearly. “The police don’t like civilians getting involved in anything, even their own defense. And even if we are knights, in the eyes of the police, we are still civilians.”

                “That leaves the moral and the right thing.” Edgar said. He took a sip of his water, looking out Everett’s window. “What are they?”

                “They moral thing,” Marilyn said with certainty. “The moral thing is to stop people who are hurting others.”

                “How is what they’re doing any different from what the beer and cigarette companies are doing?” Everett asked. “You’ve got to understand Marilyn, once a line is drawn, for the knights, that line can not be changed. You can not say ‘these people are wrong because they do it on the street, where as these people aren’t wrong because they have the backing of the government’. If what you were saying is true, that if we had to involve ourselves, I’m sorry, but there is no way in hell I’d waste my time going after the small-time dealers peddling marijuana and crack when JR Reynolds is out there, making billions of dollars a year of cigarettes.”

                “So far, it’s three out of four.” Sydney said, looking at Marilyn. “Already, the odds are against it, but want to take a risk and try your luck?”

                “The right thing,” Everett said, with a sigh. “Is to go in there and absolutely slaughter those guys.”

                Marilyn looked up at Everett, surprised to hear him say those words. But when she looked up at him, she could see the moral strength of the man. “The right thing,” He went on. “Is to not allow these bastards to sell and push the innocent with this crap. The right thing is to make them pay for every single life they’ve ruined.”

                Marilyn smiled weakly. “Okay.” She nodded. “So, I thought you guys were a force for right. So, why won’t you get involved?”

                “Have you been listening?” Sydney asked, leaning forward. “Just because something might be right, doesn’t mean it’s fair, just, or moral. You can’t always let your own feelings guide you.”

                “Why not?” Marilyn asked. “If you know it’s right . . .”

                “Is it right to break the law?” Sydney asked, looking at the girl before the three knights. “Is it right to disobey the laws of your land? Is it right to disregard what you feel, in place of what you know?” She shook her head, continuing to look up at Marilyn. “How can you balance out morality versus legality? How can you say that this person’s rules are more important than that person’s feelings?”

                “The knights answer to four things.” Edgar said, his calm voice silencing the two girls. “We answer to ourselves, to the Oath, to God, and to the laws of our nation.” He looked at Marilyn. “In that order.”

                He leaned forward, his old face suddenly seeming to come alive with power as he looked at Marilyn. “Tell me, Marilyn, have you ever spilled blood? Have you ever injured a person intentionally? Have you ever seriously done harm to a person of your own choosing?”

                The girl stared at him in silent concern.

                “Doing harm is not an easy thing for anyone, even if it is in the face of evil.” Edgar explained. “And it is something that knights, long ago, learned all to quickly was a painful thing to deal with. Violence is a living force, with a mind and a will of it’s own. Violence is one of the key traits of humanity.”

                “Violence and humanity?” Marilyn said. “What are you talking about?”

                “Civility is only necessary in the face of hostility.” Edgar explained with a cryptic look in his eyes. “The entire concept of civilization is simply an effort to make violent force a last resort. And yes, it’s true. The knights were, and are, meant as a force to give strength to those who do not have it. We are to stand none can, or when none will.”

                “But just the same, we will not stand up at the cost of ourselves, unless the need is great enough.” Edgar shook his head. “And I’m sorry, I can not justify sacrificing my life, or anyone else’s life, to fight a battle that, even if we are momentarily victorious, will only lead to greater misery and bloodshed down the line.”

                “But then what good are the knights?” Marilyn said, uncaring about her rudeness.

                “The knights are a force for the innocent.” Everett said, looking at Marilyn. “We are to give strength to those who do not have it to give. And we are to stand when no one else can, or will, like Edgar said. But you are asking us to stand futilely, for a war that none of us believe in.”

                “You don’t believe in saving lives?” Marilyn exclaimed, standing up. “Can’t you see that I need your help? Can’t you see that I need you to stand up now? What are you, a bunch of cowards?!”

                Edgar and Sydney glanced at each other.

                “The simple fact that you want to try and take on a drug syndicate does not make you in need.” Everett said. “It makes you foolish. And the fact that we are not willing to follow you on an idiotic crusade does not make us cowards. And the fact that you insult us with one of the most grievous insults you can deal to a knight does not mean we will respond in kind.”

                Marilyn’s blood went cold.

                “Now,” Everett said, looking stoically polite at her. “I would like you to leave.”