The sun hung above the western edge of the forest. It was low in the sky, but it was late summer, so I knew it knew I still had several hours of light left accompany me on my walk to the long shallow pond that straddled the northwest edge of the field. I had finally received my leave for the day, and as I had for the past week would spend the rest of my evening out by the woods edge. There I could be alone and not risk my involvement in any sort of diabolical plot that was far beyond my understanding. It was warm enough that on most days I’d sleep by the woods to avoid the politics of the camp and tournament grounds altogether.

 I had already received my dinner for the night. A single ship’s biscuit. It was a dreadful cracker made from nothing but flour and water, though any hint of the water was long gone. Now it was just a hard solid square of blandness. Though it would not bother me, as I traced the stream that emptied into the pond farther into the forest, I came to the crab tree I had found just two days prior. From there I set about picking a few of its apples and placing them into my sack.

 The sack was of rough linen and contained all my possessions sans the clothes I wore. At this moment it was just the biscuit, some crabapples, a wooden cup, and a knife that had been sharpened so many times over that the blade hardly reached past my thumb.

I sat at the edge of the stream dipping my biscuit into the flowing water to soften it just enough for me to chew with relative comfort. From there I set about to find a suitable place to sleep, it looked like tonight would again have pleasant weather, and not be cold enough to push me back to camp.

It was then I saw something. Someone else was in the woods, laying down near the base of a conifer tree. The erect spiny needles providing them support by propping up their head. They sat only twenty of my feet from me. I had not seen them until now and they had not seen me. I decided to approach with no intention of hiding my presence.

 As I approached the figure did not move to greet or even acknowledge me. Even with the sun going shallow and the light peeking into the forest becoming slim I could tell who the man was. It was the knight who I had seen duel the young noble earlier that day, or it was not him but his corpse.

The man still wore the distinct armor he had on during his duel. While I did not know much about the workings of noble families, I knew enough to know this was strange. In the circumstances it would have made sense for the armor to been confiscated by the Dumont family as compensation for the life of the man he had slain. Mayhap they did not want it because of its odd appearance. If they did not have it in them to take the armor than nothing was stopping me from doing such. If I was to sell the armor, I could make more coin than my family had seen for several generations.

 I started removing the knight’s helmet. Long dark hair greeted me as I began lifting it off his head, it spread from under the helmet to halfway down the knight’s torso. I finished the job and removed it from his head. Her head rather. I was not staring at the corpse of a deranged rogue knight as I had suspected but the face of a young woman, not much younger than myself. Her skin was pale and with neither a mark nor blemish anywhere to be found. She was also not dead, as I could faintly hear her breath.                

 I stared at her for minute, using all the knowledge I held to try and piece together the puzzle I saw in front of me. Soon she was staring back with her dark blue eyes, having awoken from her sleep.

“Hello.” She said answering my stares.

Her voice was pretty, but it had no depth to it. It was like listening to master musician play a song on a lyre tuned to only play a single note.

“Hello.” She repeated, this time reaching out for the helmet I still held in my hands.

“Hello.” I replied awkwardly. I searched for a quick question hoping to alleviate my wondering thoughts. “Is this your armor?”

“Yes.” She still held her hands out for the helmet.

“But I saw the knight wearing this armor die in a fight earlier today.” I quickly retorted. My questions were only leading to more questions. “Did you steal this armor from the Dumonts”

“No. That was me. I did not die.” She looked up revealing the spot where the knight’s skull had been pierced in the duel showing that there was no mark.

This time she just took the helmet from my hands, I did not try to stop her or anything, I was too busy trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. She stood up donning the helmet. Her height was the same as I had remembered from earlier in the day, but her face seemed disproportioned with the rest of her body. I imagined her walking on stilts underneath all the armor.

She walked past me onwards deeper into the forest. To say I was curious would be an understatement. Just one day had held more mystery and excitement than the rest of my life. It felt good to be excited. It was a new kind of excitement that I had yet to experience before, and I wanted more.

As she took her next step deeper into the forest, I took one myself following behind her. She did not acknowledge me. The sun would be setting soon, but I did not care I had become addicted to this newfound sense of adventure, and it was leading me towards this strange girl.