"Phew..."
Grim blew two long streams of white vapor straight out of his enormous, good-natured bear head, scattering the snowflakes drifting before his eyes. Then he shook his great furry head vigorously.
The soft snowflakes kept landing on Grim's furless nose, tickling him as they melted and constantly making him want to scratch it with his claws. It left him rather irritable.
Of course, huffing and shaking his head in frustration solved nothing. Grim still had to twitch his black nose, pick out the scent Klethi had left in the air, and find his boss lady to complete the task Allen had given him.
Grim was actually already quite close to Klethi. Wrapped in thick winter clothes, the girl was bandaging an exceptionally magnificent white horse. The horse stood quietly, letting Klethi wind layer after layer of bandages around her body, covering the hideous gash in her belly.
A little gray horse with an exceptionally sleek coat circled restlessly around the girl and the mare, occasionally pawing the ground and neighing at Klethi as though asking her something.
Around them lay over a hundred wolf carcasses covered in snow, along with dozens of fallen, powerfully built horses. Most showed no sign of life. The remaining horses still rose and fell faintly with their breathing, but even those movements were growing weaker.
The most magnificent stallion among them, his body covered in wounds, lay across an enormous wolf carcass. A closer look would have revealed that his hoof had actually sunk into the Gray Wolf's chest.
It took little thought to realize that an exceptionally brutal battle had taken place here.
In a small forest farther away, hundreds of mares stood with their foals, craning their necks to look this way. The wolves' attack had terrified them, and they were still