Stress Relief

Within the confines of his tent, Henry could still see his breath as he woke up.

As the knights traveled north for the battle, the weather got progressively worse. The north was away from the sea and at a much higher elevation. Colder weather settled in quickly the further they traveled.

They were in the midst of mountains, moving at such a slow pace because of the rocky terrain and incline. They had to get off of their horses so their horses wouldn't get harmed by the uncertain footing.

At first, Henry didn't know how to cope with being cold all the time. The first few mornings he spent traveling, he thought his hands and feet were going to fall off when he woke up in the morning - only to feel relief when he started moving around.

Eventually, he was forced to adjust. The other knights didn't seem to find any issue adjusting to the cold.

Before he was allowed to lay down and rest, he would have to stay completely dressed but make sure to get anything metal away from him or his body wouldn't regulate his temperature correctly. He even started wearing gloves and doubling up on his socks as he slept so that the coldness wouldn't pierce him.

Getting a good night's rest was vital to being able to face an entire day of travel.

Occasionally a church would let them stay the night as they passed through, but for the most part, they experienced the nothingness of forest and plains.

Henry's brown eyes widened as he realized it was condensation rising from his mouth. Even within the tent was miserable. All it seemed to do was block the wind, but it offered no extra warmth.

Knights did live worse than peasants sometimes, Henry thought.

As Henry crawled out of the opening of his tent, he caught a view of the fresh snow that had fallen overnight and he understood why he was so cold.

The commander had said something about there being snowfall ahead, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky when they went to sleep the previous evening.

It wasn't the first time the commander seemed to be able to predict the weather out of nowhere. Nothing would indicate some of his predictions, but it seemed he was always right.

He let out a sigh as he saw others already leaving their tents fully dressed and with armor on. There was no such thing as a break and they still had a week left of travel.

Without needing any instruction, Henry went back into his tent and started rolling up his blanket roll and putting it back in his pack. He already had boots on and pulled his armor over his body. He undid his belt so he could slide on the sheath of his sword.

Before he could collapse his tent, he leaned back onto his heels and ate a piece of jerky from his mother. There was enough for him to eat one piece per week until they reached the front lines and he relied on them each morning.

After the tents were rolled back up, they were soon moving forward on the unpredictable terrain, guiding their horses by their reins and seemingly making no progress as they moved forward.

There was no break until the sun was high in the sky and by that point, the snow seemed to be blinding white.

With it reflecting off of the snowy surface of the mountains, Henry found it hard to see, but he could keep going forward knowing Sir Trenton was just a few steps ahead of him and leading him in the right direction.

When it started to seem like they would never reach the top of the mountain pass, they made it.

Henry couldn't help falling to his knees once they reached flat ground and he felt Lilly put her nose on his head.

He heard Commander Lothian's deep voice.

"We'll rest here enough to feed the horses and ourselves. There are only a couple of hours until we reach another church."

Sighs of relief could be heard throughout the twenty knights and five apprentices who were on the journey.

Staying in a church meant a somewhat warm place to sleep and hospitality from the clergy who lived within the church permanently.

"We're taking a longer break because the route ahead has monsters," Sir Trenton explained to Henry. "We'll be able to be on horses on the way into the valley, but have to be on high alert and with weapons ready."

"What kind of monsters?" Henry asked.

"Any kind you can imagine, but in the snow, there could be dire wolves which could easily run down even our fastest horses," the knight continued. "With the commander in the front, you probably won't even get a chance to face any of them."

Jerky and dried bread were passed around the troops and everyone ate their fill in silence until they were told it was time to press on.

As soon as they were back on the trail, everyone seemed to be in higher spirits since their horses could gallop and they were no longer trudging through snow.

With the new energy they found, they made it to the church much faster than expected and Henry was blown away by the sight.

The sun was starting to reach the horizon of the valley below them. In front of them was a tall, grey brick church that seemed to have been there since the beginning of creation. There was a bell tower on top of the steeple and the roof was covered in snow.

However, the most surprising part was the unfrozen lake next to the church.

Its blue color was a shock next to the stark whiteness of the snow. Steam rose from the surface and disappeared into the sky.

All the knights seemed to be transfixed on the water and Henry had to look towards Sir Trenton who was next to him.

"What is this place?" he asked the knight.

"Healing hot springs," he explained.

Henry had never heard of hot springs before and didn't know something like that was possible in the middle of winter. He didn't understand how something could maintain enough heat but he wasn't going to question it.

Commander Lothian only had to say one word as knights were already dropping off of their horses one at a time.

"Go," he said and gestured towards the water.

Henry was surprised to see knights leaving their horses in the fenced area by the church and immediately walking to the water, removing their armor and clothing as if there wasn't snow on the ground.

He quickly averted his eyes and didn't move from his horse, but he heard a voice come from his right side.

"Get off your horse!" Sir Trenton said. "Take your clothes off and don't get anything wet."

Henry robotically did as he was told, only moving because someone had told him to.

Once his horse was with the others and he had removed his clothing, he speed walked into the hot spring after Sir Trenton.

The feeling of the cold underneath his feet only to be replaced by the heat of the water and slimy rocks was an unbelievable shock. He felt like his whole body was thawing out the moment he was in the water up to his shoulders.

Instantly, he understood why it was called a healing hot spring. He felt every bit of stress from the last week seem to melt away.

The expressions of the knights around him told him a similar story of their stress relief.