King Baldwin IV

What is Given Cannot Be Lost

A/N: The master here was Abul'Khair, an Arab-Christian. He did exist in reality, and he was Baldwin's weapons master as well as the brother to Baldwin's personal physician. That is all history says of him. In the books 'The Last King of Legends' he also becomes Baldwin's personal guardian.

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His sword slipped through his grasp to the sandy ground

from his high position mounted on a stallion.

Their eyes locked—

the weapons master concerned,

the prince ashamed.

He looked away as the master retrieved the weapon.

His right hand tingled beneath the leather layer of his glove

Looking at curious, he flexed his fingers,

leather cracking,

then reached for the offered sword once more.

His fingers would not close around the hilt.

It slipped through his grasp again,

but the master caught it deftly.

The look he gave him was unforgiving—

a look the prince refused to meet.

"Perhaps my left hand." He switched hands, reaching for the sword.

"You need it to steer the horse," the master countered.

The prince seized the weapon anyway,

"Teach me to ride without hands."

"What of your shield?"

"Strap it to my right arm."

The prince avoided the look his master settled on him—

one of pity, remorse, and unsettled grief for the future.

They trained together well into the evening

and halted only when the sun

spilled her scarlet blood as shadows across the land.

Neither spoke of the events that day

or the path the prince chose to take—

rather be called Cursed

for favoring his left hand

than Inept

with a right hand that could not hold a sword.

The master knew this was just the beginning—

the beginning of boy losing

so much of himself.

The boy locked eyes with the master,

as if he knew his innermost thoughts.

"I lose nothing of myself.

I give it freely—

to Jerusalem,

to God."

The master pondered this words

yet kept his peace. 

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Historical Facts in this scene:

1) Baldwin did have to switch his dominant hand to his left hand because the leprosy devoured his right hand first.

2) It is also recorded in history how Baldwin was an expert horseman—a better rider than most of his men, and he often rode without hands.

3) In that culture and that era, left-handers were viewed as unlucky, Satan's children, and almost as Unclean as a leper. Baldwin was a leper and became left-handed. Many thought Jerusalem was cursed for having such a king, but Jerusalem wouldn't fall during Baldwin's reign. It would fall only two years after his death when Baldwin's will had been dismissed by the High Court and the wrong people came into power.

This particular scene is expanded in 'The Kingmakers', and in the book, this incident inspires the master, Khair, to craft a gauntlet sword specifically for Baldwin. That is not a historical fact but merely makes sense due to Baldwin's condition and how long he was able to continue fighting.