Lina took the hammer, and if she could, she would have burned him with the lightning that shot from her eyes that moment.
She wanted to throw it far away so that no one would ever see it again.
She almost swung it, but then something occurred to her.
With the hammer in her hand, she walked over to the stone that had just cracked. She put it behind the stone and then turned back to the house.
"Lina!"
She heard a scream and then she saw her mother running towards her with a basket in her hand.
Lina walked over to her and the two women hugged each other tightly.
Her mother soon turned away from her and took her face in her hands.
"I thought…" she shook her head and smiled shakily at her. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Mother, I'm okay," Lina smiled.
"I see," Lorina said, narrowing her eyes as she saw her daughter's face and her gaze skimmed over her clothes, which revealed more of her body than they covered.
"What happened to you and how did you get out of there? We heard that you were captured by robbers and—"
"Mother," the girl interrupted her, "I'll tell you everything later, I promise, but right now I have to treat Brax. He's injured and unconscious. He's lost a lot of blood and—" Lina stopped, trying to catch the breath that was tight in her chest.
"Child, calm down, okay?" her mother said, taking her hands. "Where is he?" she asked.
"In my room," Lina replied, turning toward the house. "He has a deep wound on his shoulder. I brought only the most ordinary herbs with me and treated him with them, but you know very well that they only work on minor injuries."
She went into the kitchen and poured water into a kettle to heat. She then hung it over the blazing fire.
"The wound on his leg is healing slowly, but well. The same goes for his neck and face. He has bruises, abrasions and all sorts of minor wounds all over his body," she shook her head.
Lorina only nodded and began to help Lina prepare and prepare the necessary herbs.
Once they were all laid out, Lina picked them up in her arms and carried them to her room. She spread them out on the table and immediately went to check Brax's pulse again. She looked at him worriedly. He was as pale as a wall and did not look well at all.
"Hold on," she said and touched his face for a second.
Then she quickly turned and went downstairs to wash her hands thoroughly.
Her mother had brought hot water, cloths, and bandages upstairs. She looked at the young man in bed and took a deep breath. She had seen worse injuries, far worse, but the ones she saw had no chance of survival. Whether he had the strength to heal, she didn't know.
When Lina entered the room, Lorina turned and went downstairs to get more ointments.
The girl immediately set to work. She pulled Brax's cloak and shirt off. She removed the dirty bandages from his shoulder and used a piece of cloth to get all the herbs out of the wound.
The area around the wound was still red. As soon as the wound was clean, she soaked a cloth in a cauldron of hot water. She then began to wring it over the wound, not noticing that it was burning her hands. She repeated this several more times before the wound started to bleed again. As soon as she saw the first drops joining together into a small stream that would soon flow from the wound all over her body, she poured the cleaning fluid from the bottle into it. This time she didn't have to be stingy, but could pour as much as she wanted into it.
"Here you go," her mother said, standing behind her. "At least it doesn't smell."
She handed her a container of black ointment. Lina took it and scooped two fingers of ointment from it.
She hissed softly because the ointment immediately started to burn her fingers, as they were covered with small abrasions.
Then she applied it all to the wound until it was full and covered the edges. She smeared the area around it with another ointment, light green Bars. Then she placed a piece of cloth over
the wound and secured it with a bandage. She got to her leg right away. She pulled off his bloody boots and then took a small dagger and cut off his trousers below the knees. She proceeded with the wound here in the same way as with the shoulder - with hot water and cleaning fluid. Only instead of black ointment, she put white ointment around the wound. Then she bandaged the leg.
When she examined the wound on his neck, she simply rubbed it with white ointment and did not put any more bandage on it. She covered his face with the same substance.
"I'll take it away," said Lorina.
She bent down and picked up the dirty bandages, boots and ointments that were no longer needed.
Lina just nodded and sighed. She didn't know why. Maybe because she was home, maybe because she had treated what was most important.
But she wasn't finished yet. She soaked another piece of cloth in the now comfortably warm water and began to wash Brax's face, neck, arms, and legs where there was no ointment or bandage. It was quite difficult, because the blood had dried well, but she finally got the worst of it off.
When she was finished, she placed his arms at his sides and covered him with a blanket. She also ran a cloth soaked in cold water over his mouth. She sat on a small stool and watched his pale, motionless face.
She didn't look back even after her mother came into the room.
"We can't give him the herbal potion that would stop the blood loss until he's conscious," she said desperately.
"No, we can't," Lorina nodded. "You've done everything you can for him. We're not going to do any more now."
When Lina didn't move, her mother put her arm around her shoulders.
"Come downstairs for a moment. You treated him and now it's your turn. You look terrible, so come on."
Lina didn't want to move, but she knew her mother was right. There was nothing more she could do now. No one had ever healed anyone with a look. At least not from injuries like these.
The girl went downstairs to follow her mother and entered the kitchen.
"Here's our adventurer," a deep male voice said from the table.
Lina smiled and went to hug her grandfather, who was sitting at the table over a plate of soup.
He was a man of medium height with a graying beard and almost white hair on his head. However, his brown eyes were as bright as when he was young, and his expression was a mixture of joy and worry.
"I'm glad you're back under your own roof," he said, stroking her head.
"Me too," Lina replied, smiling again.
Then she let her mother direct her to a chair and allowed her to wash her face and treat the wounds she had.
"So I heard you came back with a pretty big catch," he said as if in passing.
"Father," Lorina said, shaking her head in disapproval.
Lina looked at the corner of the table and her mother as if she hadn't even heard. She nodded and said nothing. She didn't even hiss in pain this time as her mother cleaned her wounds.
"Well, I always knew you'd be a hunter," the man continued, sipping his soup.
Lina looked at him in confusion.
"I wasn't so lucky. No way. I had to win your grandmother from the blacksmith at a very high price. Well, wouldn't it be nice if I just went on a trip once and came home with a pretty young woman, wouldn't you say, Lina?" he smiled, wrinkles forming a fan around his eyes.
Lina exhaled with laughter and shook her head.
"Grandpa, grandpa," she said and sighed.
"Come on, child," the man said in a serious voice. "Head up! He'll jump like a deer!"
Lina opened her mouth to say something, but her mother stopped her, shoving a spoonful of soup into her mouth.
"Eat, you must be really hungry," she said firmly.
The girl gulped down a few more mouthfuls of soup while her mother combed twigs, leaves, and grass out of her hair.
As soon as she had finished, Lorina sent her to her room to change into clean clothes.
Lina was starting to feel more and more tired, but she fought off sleep as best she could. She headed upstairs to her room in her clean clothes.
"You should get some sleep," her mother called after her.
"Yes, I will. I'll be down in a moment," Lina replied, and quickly ran upstairs.
She went over to Brax's bed and inspected his bandages. Then she wet his face and mouth again. She was incredibly glad that he didn't have a fever, and she sincerely hoped he wouldn't.
Then she pulled a small stool up to his bed and sat on it. She watched him for a moment before resting her head on her hand resting on the bed and watching his chest rise and fall with a gentle breath.
She wasn't really thinking about anything now, she was just glad he was breathing.
She didn't even realize her eyelids were closing and within a moment they had closed completely and she was asleep...
"Your time hasn't come yet. So live and don't forget us."
These words rang in his head as he opened his eyes.