[ WP ] A Witch attempts to kill the knight who has been hunting her for years by pretending to be a damsel in distress . As she discovers his ultimate weakness , she realizes she has fallen in love with him .

`` Help!'' 
 
 Ser Galen's eyes narrowed at the shriek, though he struggled to remain outwardly calm. He had been a witch-hunter for years, and this would not be the first trap he'd been led into by his own compassion. *Nor the last, * he thought grimly, spurring his mount toward the sound. 
 
 It was late. The witching hour, it was called - the time just before midnight when the barrier between the world and the next was thinnest. The ideal time to strike back at a pursuer, or lash out at a victim. It was possible that the cry for help was issued from someone with a perfectly innocent reason to be here on the moor in the dead of night - but unlikely. 
 
 `` Hail, the desperate!'' Galen shouted after checking the wards on his shield. `` Are you in need of aid?'' 
 
 `` Yes!'' Not the voice of a young woman - perhaps just old enough to be a grandmother. `` Help me, please! My daughter, she's not breathing!'' He saw her come running toward the light of his lantern, silhouette plain against the starlit brambles. `` How far?'' Galen asked, gently urging his steed forward. `` Across the brook, milord, about a league. Please, she needs a priest!'' 
 
 `` Direct me, then,'' he instructed, making the sign of the cross and throwing salt across his shoulder. `` Ride with me. I would not separate a woman of God from her imperiled kin.'' The woman ran up to the horse and mounted it behind him with an ease that bespoke years of horsemanship. Unusual, but not impossible - and any witch who tried to mount his horse would be met with intense pain. `` Forward here, ser, and turn to the left as you cross the brook!'' she commanded confidently. That was more unusual, for a peasant addressing a knight. *Curious. * 
 
 They came upon the girl laying unconscious against a tree. The woman leapt off immediately and cradled her, pulling one of the girl's hands up to brush her face. *She conceals knowledge of medicine, * Galen realized. `` Does her blood yet flow?'' he asked, watching the reaction. `` Yes, her heart is beating, milord. Please, we need to bring her to a church! She may yet confess her sins and enter God's kingdom in a state of grace.'' 
 
 *A trap, but not for me, * Galen mused. *Fell creatures may not enter hallowed ground unbidden. * `` She does n't need a church, mother.'' *What am I doing? * he wondered, but continued: `` She needs her blood let, and tea made of willow. She's been bitten by a snake, do n't you see? Her blood will curdle and rot if we are not quick to push it from her.'' 
 
 `` Ser knight, she's been here cavorting with the Devil himself. Small wonder if she's been bitten by a serpent. I would not want her to live in sin any more than to die in it, do you understand? Take us to a church at once!'' She threw her arms about in a commanding gesture. 
 
 Galen pushed the old woman away and threw a quick circle of salt about the girl. `` Do you think you have authority over death, woman? Has all of your wickedness driven from you the memory of compassion?'' She spat at this, but he continued. `` Until the moment of death, all of God's creatures may find redemption. Even this girl. Even you. Please do not make me end your life, and hers, tonight.'' 
 
 Two grotesque punctures about the left breast marked the poison's entry. Quickly, he set to the bloodletting. *An initiation ritual. * He had seen these marks before. *The next step, the profane resurrection on an altar of our Lord. * Grimly, wordlessly, he pushed the tainted blood from her wound. 
 
 He was there for some time, intent enough that he did not see the witch return. She placed a small clay cup of willow tea at the boundary of the circle and said, `` Do you truly think she can be saved?'' 
 
 `` Her wounds are not fatal. She may yet live through the night.'' 
 
 `` Stubborn as ever, I see. That's not what I meant.'' She looked away, pensive. `` How long have you been chasing after me now?'' 
 
 `` Nine-hundred and sixty-two days,'' Galen replied, not looking up. `` Though if you count the days I spent as page to Ser Thalus, God rest his soul, the total is increased by eight hundred and twelve.'' 
 
 She smiled at that. `` He was never as careful as you are, Galen. Nor so concerned with the lives of blasphemers.'' 
 
 `` All are rendered equal before the Lord,'' he quoted in a monotone. `` We shall not turn away those in need until they have turned away from our Lord God.'' 
 
 `` And do you think, even now, that she has not turned? That I have not turned? Would you stoop over even me, to push poison from my veins?'' 
 
 `` My lady,'' Galen exhaled, extending one hand from the circle and picking up the tea, `` It saddens me that you do not understand that is what I am doing now. All children of God are given the opportunity to repent until they are dead. My mission is to ensure that you meet with one outcome or the other.'' As he poured the tea across her lips, the girl began to cough and breathe more deeply. `` I will not forsake anyone, even a mistress of the Adversary.'' 
 
 `` I daresay you will not,'' she said, seemingly whispering into Galen's ear. He stood up, shield raised and sword drawn, but she was long gone. 

