“By my liver and lungs, I won’t put up with this!”

The knight spurred his horse at one of the male warriors, intending to ride him down. The horse would have none of this, however. The animal reared up, throwing the knight heavily to the ground. Terrified, the horse galloped off.

“Mother of God! His hands!” a knight near Troeven gasped at almost the same moment. “Look at his hands!”

One of the enemy warriors stood near the fallen knight, but did not touch him. A soft warm glow spread from the tips of the warrior’s fingers up his arms.

“God save us! Demons!” gasped one of the younger knights.

Another stirred in his saddle. “We should go to his aid—”

“No!” said Troeven. He could see the eyes of the enemy watching them closely. “Every man hold your position.”

Shaken by his fall, the knight lay for a moment on the ground before coming to himself and the realization of his danger. Clumsy in his armor, he rolled about on his back like an upturned turtle, fumbling for the sword that had been knocked from his hand. The male warrior began to make motions with his red-glowing hands and pointed toward the dismounted knight.

The knight could not understand what was going on. Any other enemy would have leapt on him, helpless as he was on the ground, and run him through. He managed to regain his feet, sword in hand, and took a step forward, thinking, as he did so, how the heat of the day had markedly increased. He was baking inside his armor.

The knight started to sweat profusely. His armor—plate and chain—was growing hot to the touch. So hot that it began to burn his skin.

The metal began to glow red. The knight yelped in pain and flung down his sword and tried, frantically, to rip off pieces of the armor. He could smell his own seared flesh. Screaming in agony, he flung himself to the ground and thrashed about in a frenzy, shrieking for someone to help him, as his skin bubbled and blistered.

“He’s being roasted!” his comrade cried in horror. “Roasted alive!”

They could all see and hear and smell that for themselves. Waves of heat, radiating off the armor, rippled the air. There were sizzling and popping sounds, as of meat being grilled in a skillet. The stench of burning flesh and hair caused more than one knight to cover his mouth with his hand or lean over his horse’s flank, retching.