The Rules of Blood-Volume Two ; Chapter 53 (269) - As All Things Pass
A man jumped down from the cart he was carrying towards the city.
“Silvia,” he yelled as he ran towards the horse lying on the ground. When he saw what happened, he could only whisper, “My baby girl…”
Part of the road that was supposed to take them out of the valley gave out, making the horse lose its balance and, in the process, snap and break one of its front legs.
“My poor girl,” the man muttered as he placed a hand on the mare’s nose, petting her gently.
The horse could only heave as it lay there.
Both the horse and the man knew this was the end of the road for her. The man didn’t care for the contents of the cart, nor for the fact that he was staying at the edge of a forty-foot drop into the valley.
All he cared about at that moment was Silvia, the mare that took him on this road countless times to sell his wares in one of the towns nearby. And he couldn’t hold back the tears as he knew they would never make that road together again.
He took out a knife from the leather sheath he wore on his chest and watched Silvia with kindness in his eyes as he prepared himself to give her peace.
The mare, despite the pain in her eyes, attempted once more to move her leg, but her metacarpus was snapped cleanly in two, making the horse neigh loudly once more as a result.
“Shhh, poor girl,” he tried to calm the mare down, whispering to her gently, trying as best as he could to tame his own tears.
He clutched the knife in his hand, thinking on how to offer her a swift death. But he never killed a horse; he never killed anything to begin with. He was afraid of the thought of it, his heart pounding, but he knew he had to do it.
Not for him, not for a desire to kill, but to relieve Silvia of her suffering.
He got up, moved around her, and placed a hand near her ribcage, trying to locate the mare’s heart.
And there it was, a slow heartbeat, Silvia’s heartbeat.
The man exhaled sharply, placing the knife’s tip in the place where the mare’s heartbeat felt the strongest, and prepared himself.
A second. Ten more. Sweat dripped from his forehead on the mare’s hair. Then tears, before he took the knife away.
“I can’t do it,” the man cried out, before placing his forehead on the mare’s back, crying his eyes out.
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“I’m sorry, Silvia,” the man kept on repeating, “I can’t do it.”
The man did not even pay attention to the pair of steps that approached him, only realizing someone else was there when one of them placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Let me do it for you,” said Blanc, as he clutched his hand around the man’s shoulder.
The man’s eyes grew wide as he looked at him, tears making his brown eyes slightly red.
He stared, sniffing every few seconds, before looking at the horse near him, then back at Blanc.
“C-can you do it?” the man asked, pain in his voice.
“Yes,” Blanc nodded, “If it will make things easier for you, I will do it.”
“How about her? Will it make things easier for her?” the man began crying again, grabbing Blanc’s forearm with his free hand.
“She is in pain, my friend, and even if you care for her deeply, it might not heal, and even if it does, she will be in pain for the rest of her life,” Blanc explained to the man, gentleness in his voice.
He saw the wound as they approached, and it was clear the mare had to die, for both of their sakes. The man tried to calm down, but his words only made it worse.
Blanc could only let the man cry as he turned slightly to the mare, petting her back gently.
“Was it Silvia, you called her?” Blanc asked, a sad smile on his lips.
“Mhm… my son *sniff* picked her name years ago,” the man tried to reply.
“Hello Silvia,” Blanc whispered, his hand petting the heaving horse, “I will send you to a place where pain is but a nightmare, where grass never ends, grass so green it will make you shocked when you see it.”
The man’s crying ceased as Blanc spoke, his kind words calming Silvia slightly, her heaving turning into a quiet breath.
Blanc placed his hand towards the man, “Your knife, please.”
The man stared at Blanc’s hand, but ultimately placed the blade in his hand.
“Give her peace,” the man muttered, getting to his feet and walking away.
“Do not leave her side,” Blanc said, turning towards the man, “Send her off properly.”
“But I…” the man tried to speak, but no words came out.
“She is the one dying, give her the honors to see you as she leaves, do not leave her alone now,” Blanc explained, “Discard your pain for a minute, and do it for her, not for you.”
The man looked at the ground for a moment, but turned on his heel, approaching Blanc and the mare.
He moved around them, sitting face to face with Silvia.
“I’m here, baby girl,” the man smiled as he looked into her eyes.
“May the Vita grant you peace, Silvia,” Blanc muttered as he placed the knife above her heart, “And may She receive you in kind.”
With that, he pressed the knife deeply, the sharp edge cutting through skin and flesh, past an opening in the ribs, straight into the mare’s heart.
There was not much fighting from the mare as he kept pressing down. The light slowly vanished from Silvia’s eyes until, seconds later, her body went limp.
She was at peace now.
But the man, as a gut-wrenching scream left his lips, was all but at peace. Yet it will pass, as all things pass.
Grief was but a lesson the Vita offers all living beings.
And now, it was his turn to learn it.
.
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Volume Two ; Chapter 53 (269) - As All Things Pass
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