In the last light of Sunset, farmers lay prostrate among the Hills. Knights pressed hands to their chests and knelt on one knee along both sides of the road, while Noble and Rich People stood in the middle to welcome the Knights' Order arriving from afar.
And with them came the fifteenth Holy Grail Knight, Kleber Frankel Perkins.
The knights could barely contain their excitement as they gazed at the Holy Grail Knight atop his Half-Dragon Horse. Power and faith radiated from him; he looked like a legend made flesh.
Their grandparents had grown up hearing tales of the Holy Grail Knights. Their fathers had heard them, and so had they. Their descendants would hear them too.
“Lord Perkins.” Bartov Raymond, lord of Wavecrest Fief, bowed respectfully in his robe. “The Ratfolk learned you were coming and retreated from the border in fear. I've prepared a grand welcome feast for your men at the Castle.”
"No need for such ceremony, Bartov. Your father once served under me."
Clad in Todd Armor and seated on his Half-Dragon Horse, Kleber Frankel Perkins looked like a short giant. He signaled his Chief Mage to rise into the air and survey the area.
Bartov Raymond said, moved, "My father often spoke of his days with the Knights' Order."
"He died? When?"
"Several years ago. A fall from a Lizard Beast when he was young left him with a chronic injury..."
The Chief Mage descended. “Wavecrest Fief hasn't been breached. The border City Wall is holding back the Plague. There are tens of thousands of Ratfolk on the other side.”
"That isn't all! I saw enough Ratfolk to populate a City-States! They're hiding their numbers!"
"Don't worry, Bartov. That's why we're here." The Holy Grail Knight turned to his Knights' Order. "Half of you, kill