The two of us had been walking for a while now. The sun had now left the sky. I was not faced with complete darkness however as the moon was near full tonight. The armor of the woman I followed also seemed to almost glow in the nights light, it radiated a dark, but visible glow. I wondered if the long hours of work during the day toppled with spending my night walking in the darkness was making me see things.

By now we had long since crossed off into a coach road which the woman had turned westward on, taking us away from the grounds of the tournament. The road was wide enough only for a single carriage, but still provided enough refuge from the trees to let in a good deal of moonlight. The trip had been uneventful so far, spare the occasional distant howl heard from a wolf or coyote. While walking in the night I had thought plenty about what was going on, about what the woman said, what of it was truth, and what was lies. Now though I was only thinking about if I had made the right choice in following her.

In the service of my lord I did not have, or would ever have much, but I had food and a place to sleep, a good certainty of what tomorrow would bring, and that for me it would come. Now I did not even know where I was headed. I soon stopped thinking of it altogether. I was tiring fast and put my head towards focusing on staying awake.

Me and the woman had been stepping with the same stride all this time. She had yet to turn back and look my way or make any sort of acknowledgement of my presence. Soon I started to fall ever so slightly behind. My feet had begun to ache towards the end of my workday, long before I had even set about following the knight into the woods. My calfskin shoes did little to alleviate the pain. I could feel much of the ground I walked on.

Falling even further behind, I spotted a sizeable branch on the side of the road. I stopped a second to grab it, the woman pushing on ahead not slowing for a second. Continuing the trek, I walked while resting as much of my body upon the branch as I could get away with. I was using it more like a crutch than a walking stick, but it was worth it to give my muscles a much-needed reprieve.

Though my pace did not pick up. My eyes were growing heavy, and I began to make bargains with myself. Three counts closed for six counts open. I closed my eyes, keeping them closed much longer than a three count ought to have been. I opened them again, to see the silhouette of the woman disappear into the darkness of the road in front of me. I did not fight them as my eyes closed on me once more, as I stood stopped in the middle of the road.

Suddenly my eyes had opened nearly on their own. A piercing howl screeched my ears, it was close, but I could not see where from. I was now wide awake. I had no idea how long I had stood for. Now I could either run back or I could run forwards I thought. It had taken me less than a count to decide as I took off forwards down the coach road, away from the tournament and my lord’s land, and towards where I had last seen the mysterious knightly woman.

I had not been sprinting long when I saw a faint light further down the path. I picked up my pace running as fast as I could. I now saw a person, not more than two hundred of my feet from me, surrounded by a pack of four wolves. Fueled by adrenaline I pushed forward; it was too late to turn back. I could see the faint eerie light now in all its familiar glow. It was the strange woman engaged in battle with the wolves.

They traced half a circle around her. Her back pushed towards a briar lining the road’s edge. The western most wolf reared up and launched itself towards her. She swung around her right arm in defense, catching the wolf’s maws on the metal fore-guard. Letting go the wolf was quick to regain its footing and as soon as it stood it disappeared into the briars.

The wolf nearest me then followed up with the next attack. It opened its mouth wide, it was by far the biggest of the wolves, and I could fit both my hands plus some arm in its jaw alone, not that you would ever get me to do such a thing. It lunged in and bit her left leg. I could see it had gotten a hold of her knee, though I could not tell if it had penetrated the soft back joint of the armor.

She replied to the attack by bringing her left hand in a down in a fist on the wolf’s head. It let out a shriek but did not let up on its grasp. Another wolf went in to jump but it was denied the chance when the knight brought her right fist into its stomach. It slumped back in shame and waited for another chance to strike. The fourth wolf was meek and the smallest of the four. It stalked from behind but made no move.

I had just started to approach the scene as I realized the reason for the struggle. The knight did not have the long sword I had seen used at the duel earlier today. She fought only with her fists. Its absence had not occurred to me even in all the time we had spent walking.

By now I was nearly on top of the wolves. I was not thinking clearly at all. Earlier I had questioned if my sleep deprivation had led me to see things that were not of reality, but now I could confirm it, for when I looked at the tall imposing knight, I saw only a small young girl. I gripped my walking stick and prepared to throw myself into the fight.  

There was a rustle in the briars, it was small, but enough that I could pick it up even in my depraved state. My feet had reached between the large wolf and the one and the meek one. I did not have the strength to fight them, but they were only animals, and I could win if I scared them away, I rationalized to myself. However, before I had a chance to act the wolf I had lost sight of reemerged. It leaped from above the thicket and towards the girl’s back.

With no time to spare I shifted my weight on to the branch in my hands, using every last bit of strength I could summon from my muscles. Through either luck or skill, I did not care, as I had managed to achieve a direct strike upon the beast, while it still flew in the air. I had killed its momentum and even managed to knock it back into the thorny patchwork of shrubs.

 I went to bring the stick back around and strike towards the large wolf, however I did not. My body no longer obeyed me. I had pushed myself beyond my limits, past the point of complete exhaustion. My legs gave way beneath me. I could only issue a quick glance at the night sky before I tumbled backwards onto the ground. The sky, that was the last thing I could recall.