Chapter 38: Calm Before The Storm

The swords sharpened for war slashed through the tough skin of the dire wolves and the dark red blood of beasts not quite monsters painted the tree trunks and white snow on the forest floor.

Despite the strong skill of the frontmost knights, they couldn't rely on skill alone to protect the less experienced. There were too many dire wolves and too many opportunities to get through the defenses.

The formation the knights took in order to keep apprentices and the supplies in the center was flawed. The weakness was immediately taken advantage of as they had to traverse through trees and a dire wolf lunged at Henry from the leeward side of an oversized tree

As he raised his sword with the intention of blocking the beast before it could do harm, he had to let go of the reins of his horse.

This action was enough to knock him off of Lilly completely and he fell flat on his back, the hard impact of the frozen snow causing the wind to get knocked out of him and he felt fear when he couldn't breathe in, but he tried not to panic.

Finally, the air started to reach his lungs again and he avoided panicking.

Slowly sitting up, he could see Lilly had been spooked away but Sir Trenton had been paying enough attention to catch her by the reins before she could go far away.

He made eye contact with the older man for a moment before Trenton yelled, "Henry! Watch out!"

The dire wolf he knocked backward gained momentum again and launched itself at him once more.

From the angle Henry was sitting at, he could see it was already injured by one of the knights further ahead, but it was important to make only fatal blows so they wouldn't be angered and keep attacking.

Where Trenton had stopped his own war horse, all he could see was the large size of the dire wolf overtaking his apprentice and there was a struggle before movement ceased.

The knight couldn't attend to Henry quickly enough because of the spooked horse that needed controlling. Once he got the two horses calm he ran forward and pulled the dire wolf, hoping that it didn't crush Henry on the way down.

The red-haired knight breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled the heavy body of the wolf off of Henry and he saw the reason for the lack of movement.

Henry held his sword in both his hands and pierced the wolf in the heart before it could fall on top of him, his eyes were squeezed shut until he felt the weight of the body leave him.

His brown eyes opened and he took a deep breath seeing that it wasn't another wolf attempting to do him in.

"Thank you," Henry said. "I thought I was going to stop breathing."

Trenton didn't know what to do with the worrying feeling that had struck him so suddenly seeing a wolf overtake his apprentice and all he could do was offer his hand so Henry could stand.

"We need to catch back up with the rest of them and see if there are more wolves," Trenton said.

Soon they were back on their horses and they resumed their pace with Trenton following more closely in case anything else attacked.

Fortunately, they got back to the group without any trouble.

Much of the journey to the front lines went like this, but Henry didn't have another issue falling off of his horse. It was taking a lot of learning, but he was mastering commanding the reins while wielding a sword.

Despite the wild animals they saw, there was a noticeable lack of monsters in the area despite the warning the commander had given out about monsters ahead.

However, that in itself was enough to worry the commander as they pushed forward.

"If there are no monsters here," Commander Lothian said, "they're concentrated at the site of the battle."

The faces of the knights that were already weary from travel seemed to harden further at the news. They had crossed the border of Chemois and only had a day left before they reached the warzone.

As usual, there was a small fire for the group of over 20 men and they waited patiently for a meager meal to be prepared by the apprentices.

Since they were at the end of the travel, the supplies were almost gone. All they had was stale bread and jerky. They heated up water with salt in it each night so that the knights could soften the bread and drink something that warmed them after a long, cold day.

"We'll arrive early in the day tomorrow, only a few miles from the actual battle," the commander continued speaking, standing with his arms crossed and standing halfway facing the men while keeping his eyes on the horizon. "Be prepared for what we will see there. There is no active battle, but there are a lot of wounded men and the chance of an attack constantly. We will need men immediately able to scout the duke's tower. I would prefer volunteers rather than asking someone who doesn't want to go."

Henry paused reaching in one of the cloth bags for more bread when he heard the commander ask for volunteers. This surprised him considering how many times before he had heard the commander give unavoidable orders.

War seemed to make everyone sensitive considering the number of casualties and injuries that had been piling up according to Sir Roland when he delivered the final message.

The apprentice couldn't help almost holding his breath until he heard two older knights in their mid-30s ask to go.

He felt bad being relieved that it wouldn't be him risking himself first considering he would follow Sir Trenton anywhere he asked him to go - but to be comfortable for just a little bit longer didn't seem like such a bad idea.

As soon as he finished helping pass out their meager dinner, he sat down next to Sir Trenton who pat him on the shoulder.

"Make sure to rest well tonight," he said. "There will be things that you won't forget for the rest of your life tomorrow."

Henry nodded in understanding. He had heard about the injured - especially heard about the monsters. There was a sliver of hope left inside of him that Alix and Maximus were alive and well. They were younger and less experienced than some, but they were skilled and vibrant. Henry wanted to believe nothing could put out their light.

"Sir Trenton," Henry said before turning in for the night, having done all that he was supposed to do before he was allowed to retire for the night.

Trenton was surprised to hear anything further from his apprentice and he immediately paused in his short journey back to his own small tent. "

"Yes, Henry?" he asked.

There was a pause as Henry took a deep breath and let out a shaky sigh.

"Th-thank you so much," he had to look away from the curious gaze of the knight. "Thank you for believing in me enough to take me into battle with you. I'll do anything i can to have your back."

The red haired knight nodded with a small smile on his face that was hardly detectable in the darkness of night, the fire dim enough and far enough away that it didn't offer anymore clues to Trenton's true expression.

He clasped Henry on the shoulder.

"You've proved yourself enough. Go rest."

As Trenton got himself ready to sleep, he considered how innocent Henry's words still were.

There was so much his apprentice was going to see in the days ahead. He didn't know how long they would be on the front lines. He didn't know any more than Henry at that point.

Henry was there because of him- because he wanted to follow him despite all of the uncertainty. Henry thanked Trenton for choosing him, but fate chose to bring them to a battlefield, it was nothing inside of Trenton's choices.

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