I Will Be the Greatest Knight

Irene walked over the lump that would be stairs if the snow were lower and onto the small porch on the outside of the large building.

To be completely sure, she tried to push the door open, but quickly found that it was reasonably frozen and the snow along the bottom was keeping her from doing so.

Unlike the door in the first house, this one opened in one direction. That meant people couldn’t get trapped by the snow since it opened into the building rather than out.

There were no immediate tools to move the snow this time, so Irene opted to drag her feet in front of the front door and first work away what was fluffy rather than stuck. Henry did the same, and they both took care of each half of the small porch until they got all the way down to the ice.

"Could we dump water on it?" Henry asked.

Since they kept their waterskins close to their bodies so that they wouldn’t freeze, they always had melted water with them.

"Not unless we want to create a hazard for ourselves later in the day," Irene responded with a light laugh. "I’ll just use the back of an axe to break it up. We won’t need to get rid of all of it to get inside, just what’s keeping the door stuck."

"I’ll follow your lead," Henry responded.

Soon, the two of them were breaking up ice along the front door. They were able to test the door two more times before it finally started to budge.

"This time for sure," Irene insisted. "Lend me a shoulder."

She and Henry both leaned into the door.

"On three," she directed. "One, two... three!"

With both of their forces on the old wooden door, they were finally able to open it.

It gave way more quickly than expected, and they both fell onto the floor, Henry slightly on top of Irene.

As he looked down at his wife to make sure she wasn’t hurt, he was met with her laughter instead. He gave in and laughed as well.

The Commander stood up and offered his hand.

"Two capable knights on their backs because of a damn door," he explained. "Good thing nobody else was here to see us."

Irene glanced at the horses.

"Somehow I feel like they’re judging us regardless," Irene admitted. Then she turned away from the door and made it deeper into the large house. "From what I gathered last time, this must have been where the village leaders stayed. The long meeting table and one of the beds being raised higher than the rest..."

"What will we do with the horses?" Henry wondered.

"Actually, we can bring them in here," Irene explained.

"Are you sure?" he wondered. "It feels disrespectful."

Irene shook her head, and she walked deeper into the massive structure until she was along the back wall. There she found the pen that Sammy had used years before. She hadn’t even used all the hay in the first place, so there was more to rake down and give the horses a decent-sized bed in their pen.

Henry followed her and offered a helping hand when he realized what she was doing.

"I discovered last time that people brought their animals indoors during winter," she continued as she prepared the area with a rake. "That way we can make sure they’re warm and out of any type of danger that they might experience out here. It will be a well-deserved break for them after facing a wyrm."

"It’s like the peasant village," Henry responded. "If you had livestock, you’d bring them inside during particularly harsh points of winter so that everyone could share warmth. A lot of our friends used to do this, but we could never afford cattle or a horse."

"Look at you now," Irene muttered, amazed.

She finished up raking the hay while Henry cleaned dust out of the water bucket and then emptied his waterskin into it. They would need much more than that, but it was a start.

For a moment, Henry considered the door in the back of the pen that was clearly for horses or livestock, but he knew that it was undoubtedly buried in snow. The horses would have to be fine walking through the same door as them.

"Look at us now," he corrected her, a lighthearted tone in his words. "What’s mine is yours."

"That it is," she responded with a faint smile.

Unable to help it, Irene went to Henry and kissed his cheek before brushing past him. They both then went to retrieve the horses.

Shortly after, Irene lit a fire in the hearth while Henry lit another one in a stove. They put two pots on top with snow filled to the brim.

"You’re going to be quite happy to be indoors," Henry said to Froid as he scratched his chin. "For weeks you both have been so brave, trusting our every command."

Irene approached Sammy similarly.

"You even healed quickly so I wouldn’t worry about you," she said to her steed.

At that, Henry turned to her.

"And what about you?" he asked. "We haven’t been able to remove our gloves. Let me see your hands."

Henry gently pulled at Irene’s wrist and brought her to a nearby table and chairs. He was able to crouch in front of her and remove her gloves since she wasn’t being stubborn. He also removed his.

He looked down at the patches of red where new skin had formed. There were still plenty of white flakes of skin that had yet to fall off. Despite how disgusting Irene thought they looked, he brought them to his lips.

"It pains me to see them like this," he admitted.

"It’s because I was foolish to think I could resist a wyrm’s magic when I’m here," she responded.

Henry had noticed that from the day they killed the wyrms. Her guilt was ever present.

"I want you to let go of the guilt," Henry insisted as he looked up at her, gazing into her green eyes he had loved from the moment he saw them. "Can I tell you a story of a time I almost got Commander Lothian killed because I was affected by a monster’s magic. Your experience is something to learn from. I don’t hold it against you, so please don’t hold it against yourself."

Irene nodded, slid off the chair, and planted herself on Henry’s bent knees. He effortlessly stood and brought her to one of the beds, where he began to remove her boots before he could begin removing his.

"Please tell me," she requested.

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