A Knight of Honor by Laurel O'Donnell

brightly on her face.   “So, Slane was in town just yesterday?”
    Jared nodded, poking the fire with a stick.
    “Well, I must say one thing for him.   He certainly is persistent.   Any other man would have given up,” Taylor said, lying back on the bed of leaves she had made for herself.   “It’s been over a week now.”
    “That blacksmith also said that there was another man asking about the ring and the woman who wears it.”
    Taylor’s smile faded.
    “He said the fellow looked like a mercenary.   He wore a sword and quilted armor.   I don’t like this.   If it were one man...”   He shook his head.   “But now there’s more than one.   I don’t like this at all.   Something dangerous is going on here, Sully.”
    Suddenly, something shifted just at the corner of Taylor’s vision, a quick flash of movement in the forest.   She straightened up, reaching for her sword.   “Jared,” she whispered urgently.
    Without hesitation, Jared snatched his sword from the ground and faced the dark woods before them.
    Taylor quickly got to her feet, putting her back to Jared’s.   She held her sword before her, ready for any enemy, her gaze scanning the dark trees, assessing the area with a practiced eye.   They waited for something or someone to come out of the darkness.
    But there was no movement from the forest.   Only the wind rustling the leaves of the trees answered their silent challenge.
    “What did you see?” Jared asked.
    “Something moved,” Taylor answered, straining to see into the shadows of the night.   “Someone’s out there.”   She cocked her head, listening.   But silence answered her.   No crickets chirped, no owls hooted.   All the animals had become silent.   Her grip tightened on the handle of her sword.
    Jared turned and she moved with him.   “Maybe it’s just an animal.”
    Taylor continued to stare at the shadows.   Maybe it was just an animal.   A boar, maybe.   Or a --
    The forest erupted in a cacophony of movement!   Figures leapt from the darkness, seeming to come alive from the very trees themselves, men brandishing swords and axes.
    Taylor swung instinctively at a man charging straight for her!   But the attacker parried, expertly nullifying her blow.   She deflected his blow in return and had to spin quickly to block another strike from a second attacker.   She feinted and lunged at the first attacker, catching him in the stomach.   But her blow bounced harmlessly off metal.   They were wearing armor beneath their black tunics!
    The second attacker, not much more than a black shadow dancing in the light of the fire, lunged.   Taylor knocked the second attacker’s blow aside and lashed out with her booted foot, throwing the first man back as he tried to get near her.
    She knew she had precious moments to rid herself of the second attacker before the first one rejoined the fight.   She drove forward, attacking the second man relentlessly, swinging, thrusting, lunging.   But he blocked all her blows.   She gritted her teeth and thrust.   Again, the man parried her blow, pushing her blade up away from him.   She snapped her wrist down sharply, tipping the blade toward his neck, and used every ounce of strength she had to thrust downward.   She was rewarded with a wet gurgle and then the man went down.
    They were good, she thought, quickly moving away from the fallen attacker.   Too good for robbers or cutthroats.   She quickly glanced at Jared and saw him busy fighting off two more attackers of his own.   Another lay dead at his feet.
    Footsteps came in fast behind her, and she whirled in time to sidestep a blow from the first attacker.   She swung her blade again and again, driving him back.   Suddenly, he stood his ground and thrust, but Taylor stepped away from the blow, countering with a swing of her own, catching the man’s outstretched hand.   He howled in pain, dropping his sword.   Taylor kicked the weapon out of his reach and