Chapter 18: The First of Many Lessons
"Apprentices!" Gunnar called. "Gather here when you're finished."
The four others as well as the knight were cleaning up the aftermath of such a random dire wolf attack. They dragged the bodies of the wolves close to the stable.
The attack opened up the need to further observe the forests surrounding the Duke's property. While the plains were large and bare of anything except for grass and the meandering stream that ran through the center and went to the floodplains further south, the dense forests on the foothills leading up to the rocky Norther Mountains were the source of most problems.
Since the other knight wasn't summoned, he nodded to Gunnar and went to see the outcome of his horse. Since the dire wolves were dying, some had run back to the hills. Others tried to chow down on the horse but most died after thinking they were going to fend the humans off.
Irene witnessed the harrowing moment of a knight being forced to make an awful decision.
Considering the bottom half of the beautiful black animal had been thoroughly thrashed by the dire wolves, there was no quality of life left for him.
The knight held the horse's head in one of his arms. As if to hide what he was about to do to the animal, he put the horse's head on the left side of him while his right hand unsheathed his sword.
He was at a distance so all Irene could see was the knight's head lower but it seemed he had said something to the animal. Shortly after, he lifted his unsheathed sword and thrust the blade downward, decisively stabbing the loyal steed in the lungs and heart so it would die quickly.
There was stillness for a moment as apprentices and their appointed trainer looked on. The knight sat there for a while, holding onto a horse that was certainly no longer with them.