The White Wolf and A Stray Puppy

The Law of Surprise

A gasp sounded though the large room. Everybody stilled, many of the lords had stood up and all were watching this cursed knight and the queen, waiting for their next move.

I, too, was tense. Surely a fight would break out in the next moments, so I prepared myself to grab my daggers. I grabbed my skirt in the middle of its length and pulled it up, securing the fabric with my belt, so that the front part of my dress was only half length. That way I would not trip over the hem of the skirt, plus I could reach my weapons way better.

The tension in the silent room was cut by the sound of metal dragging over metal, created by multiple swords being drawn. The royal guard.

They charged at the cursed knight and he cut them down, one after the other. But more were coming, one with a halberd. The axe-like lance caught the knight's sword in its spikes, disarming the knight, his weapon clattering on the stone floor. The guard with the halberd swung his weapon at the knight, hitting him in the face and throwing him to the ground, groaning.

The queen rose from her seat.

The guards gathered in front of the knight, ready to strike. The guard with the halberd raised the weapon and brought it down.

"No!" wailed the princess.

But the blow did not hit the knight. At inhumane speed the witcher rushed towards the scene, blocking the halberd, cutting through the wooden handle with ease. The knight on the ground caught the upper part of the halberd while Geralt cut down the now disarmed guard. The two men looked at each other in a silent agreement to fight together.

"Kill them both!" yelled the queen, and the guards charged at Geralt and Lord Urcheon. The witcher sliced his way to the attacking guards in a manner that I can only describe as a dance. I've seen him fighting more times than I could count, but never against this many opponents. The way he made his way from guard to guard, cutting each down with a single move of his sword, hypnotized me. He had taught me how to fight like this, but I would need to practice for many more years, probably for more than I have left to live, to reach his level.

I was ripped out of my trance by guests drawing whatever weapon they possessed to follow the queen's command; to kill the witcher and the knight.

Oh, no, no. That's not happening, lads.

Finally I pulled the first altogether four pairs of daggers – yes, a lady has to be prepared – from the holsters on my calf and took my place in the middle of the action.

Another lord, the one who had previously pulled the helmet off the cursed knight joined the fight on our side.

"The Law of Surprise has been called. You kill them... you kill me," he said, head-butting an attacking lord in the nose and pulling a blade.

The rest of the crowd charged at us, only a few people, mostly the ladies, Jaskier and Mousesack, remained at the sides of the room, staying out of the fight.

With my daggers I sliced through the attackers. A few of them were slightly taken aback when they saw a woman fight, especially one with her skirt hiked up, so that the legs were visible, but as soon as they felt my blade pierce their skin they snapped out of it and collapsed on the ground. Quickly looking around I noticed a man charge at Geralt from behind, the witcher was currently preoccupied with three men in front of him, so I threw my dagger at the coward attacking from behind, my blade piercing his throat, and the man fell to the floor, gurgling. Having defeated the men in front of him and having heard the gurgling from behind him, the witcher turned, looking down at the man on the ground, noticing the dagger and looked up at me, giving me a short nod of acknowledgement. We both turned back to fight whoever attacked us, blades swinging. I only wished I had my sword, but the daggers will do.