Prøven | Part 1

It was still early in the morning, when Kettil placed a foot outside the doorstep. His body was covered in thick furs, and as he exhaled, his breath left a white-hot trail in the cold morning air. As he walked down the dirt path towards the pastures, he could almost feel there was something wrong. There were no chickens to be seen, and then he realized he hadn’t heard the rooster this morning. Kettil pressed his eyelids closer onto each other and try to look into the distance. But the mist blocked his view. He walked alongside the pasture of the horses, but none of them came to greet him. They were all gathered in the corner of the pasture, staring into the direction Kettil was headed to. He swallowed as he continued moving forward and felt his heartbeat raise. With his hand he slid over the wooden fences that were covered by a thin layer of ice. And then he noticed..

The sheep stood in the middle of the pasture, all with their heads down but definitely not grazing. As one of them noticed Kettil, they started to bleat in harmony. Kettil frowned his forehead, and without thinking any further he jumped over the fence and started to run towards the sheep. As he reached the middle of the pasture he was breathless, but that was nothing in comparison what he saw when the sheep made some space for him. It was like they grant him passage to the middle of the herd.. passage to the ewe that was lying there, bleeding to death. Kettil gasped, threw off his gloves and immediately fell onto his knees next to the suffering animal. His hands were shaking, not knowing what he had to do. The ewe was still breathing and shivering just as hard as Kettil was. ”Hush little one.” He whispered and tried to swallow away the lump in his throat. Without knowing what he was actually doing he placed his hands on the ewe’s neck. He wanted to stem the blood, but how could he do that without choking her to death? Tears appeared in his eyes as he took his hands back, covered in blood from the poor animal. Kettil looked over his shoulder, saw the farm in the distance. And from there it was a ten minute run to the village.. There was just no time to get help for her.. When he looked up he saw the ewe looking right back at him. It felt like his hearth shattered in his chest. ”I have to do this.” He whispered to himself and felt his face becoming pale. From the edge of his boot he pulled a little knife, one he normally used to cut through leather or rope.. Kettil looked at the knife, and back towards the sheep. ”This is no way for you to go girl. But I have no choice, this is the most merciful thing to do.” He closed his eyes for a second and inhaled deeply before he cut through the ewe’s throat and immediately ended her fight.

With tears in his eyes he raised back on his feet. Kettil had taken many lives from many animals, that was just the way things worked. But that was when the time was right, when they had had a beautiful life with plenty of food and lots of love. He always made sure it was a quick death, no pain, no stress. But this? He had never seen something like that before. The gap in the sheep’s neck.. the depth of the wound.. By Odin, what monster had attacked this ewe?