Helot of Languedoc was a wandering knight. At least, he tried to be. Judging by his name, he was born in Languedoc, but he had only vague memories of his homeland—since childhood he wandered through different lands: first as a servant, then as a squire, and then on his own. For in some backwater castle, after a long time of whining and pleading from a teenager, a drunken baron finally struck him—delivering a blow with his gauntlet to his neck—and thus inducted him into a high knighthood order. Helot rose from his knees, took up his weapon, and rode away. He was then fourteen. Over the next few years he managed to fight a few duels and earn a diagonal scar across his brow, a hole in his left palm, and two and a half years of imprisonment.