Beyond the mountains, a man sat under a tree beside the stony road. There was blood on his sleeve, and his sword lay across his knees. A few figures were running away in the distance. Great-heart first stopped the company behind shelter, then went with a road guard to find out what had happened.
The man was called Valiant-for-Truth. His attackers had tried to take his scroll and force him to say the King’s way was a lie. When he refused, they attacked. He was out of their reach now, but his hand was still bleeding.
Only after Great-heart said it was safe did Christiana and Mercy bring cloth and water. The man said he could still walk and did not want to delay them. Christiana looked at his hand. “You can still have that bound first,” she said.
Beside his father, Chris asked whether he had been afraid.
“Yes,” the man said. “Especially when they said I could go if I changed just one sentence. I thought that perhaps saying it without meaning it would end the trouble.”
Chris remembered the fair and was silent for a long time.
Great-heart asked what had kept the man from giving in. He pointed to his scroll. His faith was not a story he could change whenever he chose. If the Lord was risen and salvation was real, he could not call him false to make the moment easier.
“But you needn’t remain here alone,” Great-heart said. “Standing for truth does not mean refusing help from your brothers. The church the Lord gives us is a body. Its members need one another.”
At last the man put away his sword and let them help him up. The lodging arranged care for his wounds. When he was stronger, he decided to join them and watch the rear through the Enchanted Ground.
That evening, Christiana’s daughter watched her father repairing a bag and asked, “If someone asks about something I don’t understand, must I answer very bravely?”
Valiant-for-Truth smiled from his nearby chair. “You can bravely say, ‘I don’t understand yet.’ Then study and ask. Defending an answer you do not know is not the same as defending the truth.”
Christiana remembered that. There was much she did not understand either. When the children asked why God had allowed Faithful to be killed, she could not invent a chart explaining every event. But they could look together at what Scripture did reveal: the Lord was holy and just; he had himself suffered on the cross; and he would bring the rule of death and evil to an end.
Before putting out the lamp, she prayed that her children would be faithful all their lives. She did not pray that they would always appear cleverer than everyone else.