Having escaped an Indian attack on a military outpost, Ken, wounded in the arm and leg (and therefore unable to move), finds shelter from the cold and snow in a cave. To look after him, a dog named Lily.
In the delirium caused by fever, Ken sees himself as a child in the company of his mother. The mother, in the dream-memory, tells little Ken an Arthurian fairy tale (from page 47 to page 63) in which Ken himself wears the clothes (or rather the armour) of the knight Parkelot.
As the soldiers attack the Indian camp believing they are making another Sand Creek, the Indians dupe them by heading to the semi-unguarded fort. Warned, the few soldiers of the fort remain, while Ken, together with 4-5 other men, directs the caravan of fleeing women and children. An escape destined not to last.
We see Mandan again, the Sioux chief already seen in first story Lungo fucile.
