He studied them with a frown, uncertain when his battle-witch had the chance to interact with his enemies when she was newly arrived.
The sound of pursuers reached his sensitive boar's ears.
Dropping the coins into her pocket, the Shadow Knight tossed her over one broad shoulder and wrapped his arm around her thighs securely. He flung his head back and belched a roar that would be heard by every one of his men for miles, a signal he had captured what he came for. Testing his balance with the woman's additional weight, he maneuvered weapons to the side opposite the one she was on and lowered to a squat, eyeing the trees in the area.
With nothing more than pure leg strength, he launched towards the nearest tree and used it as a stepping-stone to the next.
The Shadow Knight leapt and ran from tree to tree, touching each trunk only long enough to propel onward to the next, thereby avoiding the troublesome brush that clogged the forest floor.
He reached the deer trail through the forest and leapt from tree to dirt, landing in a crouch before bounding forward with the agility of a great cat towards Blue Star Bridge, where his men would rendezvous and rejoice at having a new battle-witch to lead them in the upcoming war against Green Dawn Cave and his mortal enemy, Brown Sun Lake, the last great battle before this era ended and with it, the curse of Black Moon Draw.
A thousand years of Shadow Knights had dreamt of this day. His legacy, his curse, his fate - were all about to change, now that he had found the key to absolute victory.
Not even the gray fog of the curse that clogged his blood dampened his triumph as he made his way towards Blue Star Bridge.