Penelope held her side as she retreated away from the mercenary and further from the others. She cursed silently under her breath and glanced around for a way to regroup back to Crow and William, however, that didn't seem possible without directly facing the mercenary that was following closely behind. She glanced over her shoulder to see the man urging his horse to go faster as he prepared to try and strike her again. 

The female knight gripped the dagger tightly in her hand. [i]Guess I've recovered enough..[/i] Penelope thought bitterly. She didn't want to be separated from them for long as she was worried that something might happen to them, especially to Crow due to his still developing skills. Suddenly changing directions, she rode straight towards the man pursuing her. He swung at her with the mace again, but she was prepared this time. Penelope ducked away from his weapon and shot past his defense with her dagger, leaving a nasty cut on his hand. 

The sudden wound caused the man to drop his weapon in the heat of the moment, clenching his jaw as he tried to ignore the pain coming from the wound. Penelope tried not to give him another moment to recover and aimed her dagger at his throat. However, the mercenary was quick and already drew his sword to block her attack. Their blades clashed and the mercenary began to over power her. She quickly broke away to avoid his attack and took a slice at his side. 

He shifted out of the way and then lunged at her with his sword. The two were locked in tight combat as Penelope tried to find a way to break through his defenses again. She gritted her teeth, slowly becoming more desperate as she felt the mercenary begin to gain the upperhand in their battle. His attacks were growing harder to dodge and she eventually felt his blade nick her arm. [i]He's getting used to the way I fight.[/i] Penelope realized with a bit of panic. She had to do something to take him by surprise if she had any hope of winning. 

As he attacked again, Penelope attempted a rather risky moving. She tried to lean in past his attack rather than simply blocking or dodging. Her blade successfully broke past his defense and aimed a strike at the mercenary's throat. Penelope let out a small gasp of pain as she felt his blade make contact with her shoulder right before she managed to kill the man. Now lifeless, he slumped off of his horse and fell to the ground while Penelope pressed a hand over the cut on her shoulder. 

It was bleeding but didn't appear to be too deep so the knight relaxed a little. She turned her horse and began to ride back towards the others, hoping Crow and William were able to handle the other mercenaries. As she rode down the street, she soon spotted William riding towards her. A bit of panic washed over the knight when she didn't see Crow right away and that their stallion was riderless. She gave her horse a small kick and quickly galloped over to meet up with the other knight. Her worry was momentarily put to rest as she was surprised to see Crow riding behind William. 

However, it didn't go away for long as her eyes locked in on the dagger that was in his chest. Her eyes widened with alarm and she maneuvered her horse closer to theirs. "William, we need to find a place to stop." She spoke impatiently. Crow was lucky that the dagger wasn't fully embedded in his chest or that it seemed to have missed his heart, but the knight still worried about leaving it untreated for too long.