Brax slowly and wearily opened his eyes. At first he saw everything as a blurry, shapeless blur, but after a moment of blinking and focusing his vision, he slowly began to make out the outlines of individual things.
Where was he? And what had actually happened?
As he gradually regained full consciousness, he began to become aware of the sensations his body was giving him.
Pain. The first thing he felt was pain - burning, numbing, and spreading throughout his body. He realized with surprise that it could only mean one thing - he was alive.
He was hot. When he finally fully woke up, he looked around.
His eyes immediately fell on Lina, sitting next to the bed, her head resting on her forearms, which she was supporting on the bed.
So she hadn't listened to him - again, he realized. He shook his head slightly at her, but he didn't want to admit how grateful he was to her for doing it.
He tried to move his right hand towards her, but it hurt terribly and he also discovered that his hand was immobilized by a bandage. He exhaled and carefully reached out with his left.
He lightly stroked her hair and the thought crossed his mind that he had never met such a stubborn girl before.
Then he lowered his hand and looked around. He was lying in a modest but cozy room - definitely in Lina's house.
Knowing this, he immediately looked back at her. Light was streaming in through the window and illuminating her. At times it seemed as if she was glowing.
Brax began to think. The first thing he thought was that this girl had done more for him than anyone else in his life. She wasn't a warrior, but she had saved his life anyway.
He was interrupted from his beginning meditation by Adar's head, which suddenly rose from the ground. Brax started, because he had not the slightest idea that anyone else was here.
"Hello," he smiled and extended his hand to him.
Adar, however, growled weakly and watched him unapproachably with his dark eyes.
Brax pulled his hand back and returned his gaze.
"Are you still watching so that I don't hurt her?"
Adar barked softly and stretched out on the ground again.
The man realized that he would not gain his trust so easily. But he was firmly determined to gain it.
He plunged into his thoughts again. So much had happened in the last two days! He had been bitten by a dog, he had met the beautiful and kind-hearted Lina and her mother. Now that he remembered how, when he first met her, he had thought that he had seen many like her, he had a strong urge to shake his head at himself.
Then he also met the young mercenary Kalat, who had become his friend.
Moreover, for the first time after all these years, he had thought about starting a family.
And now he was lying in the bed of the girl he had wanted to drive away from him in the forest for her own good, and yet he was almost overcome with happiness that she had disobeyed him and saved him.
If someone had told him a few days ago that everything would turn out like this, he would have laughed in their face, thrown a hammer over his shoulder, and moved on. He would have continued his life over the piles of corpses, paving his way through their bodies.
But now, as he began to rewind everything in his head, he was no longer so sure that this was what he really wanted. He was definitely not as sure as he had been before he lay half-dead in the forest.
He had long regretted being the only survivor, while all his friends had given their lives in battles for ideals that were not even their own. They had died for money. And when they died, their employers were still glad that they didn't have to pay them for it.
So what was their life worth? What was his life worth? Nothing more than a few gold coins on the arm and a toast by the evening fire.
When he was little, he had dreamed of being a brave and terrifying mercenary, just like his father. He wanted so much for everyone to know about him, for everyone to tremble with fear at the sound of his name. And once he had actually achieved that, he felt no joy, because he had no one to share it with.
Now, looking at Lina, he was beginning to doubt even the little he liked about the mercenary life.
Did he really want everyone to remember him only by the number of dead? By the massacre he had committed and to be proud of it? That he was a hero? At this very moment, when he had associated the word 'hero' with himself, his eyelids almost rolled. Could it be called heroism to kill for money? To not look to the right or the left, to only chase after another fight in order to kill?
Now he didn't have to ponder in his mind long to realize that this really couldn't be called heroism. He wasn't a hero. But he knew of someone who deserved the title and who would never think of himself that way.
This girl saved lives. She did the exact opposite of what he did. He took lives, she tried to save them, and she saved them. Even lives like his. She clearly didn't care whose life it was, because if she did, she would have to let him die there, because he didn't deserve it.
Before he could start to wallow in despair over himself, it occurred to him that if his life had been spared, he should try to do something with it now. Something more meaningful, something he could be truly proud of, and something that didn't involve killing.
Life offered more.
If he died, who would remember his friends and would anyone remember him? Stories about him circulated on all the battlefields now, but in a few years, no one would know about him. The battles would go on and they would have other heroes.
Why should he continue to wander through life without a purpose or reason to live? He had one reason right in front of him. He suddenly stopped when it occurred to him.
He smiled uncertainly. Did he really mean it like that?
But then a flame of fear burned him. He could plan his goal, this 'reason' for living, beautifully, but if that 'reason' didn't agree with it and wasn't interested in it... What then?
His head was starting to hurt, so he decided to leave further thought for later. For now, it was more than enough.
He felt terribly weak, but he could still move. After all, he had once killed an entire group with an arrow in his shoulder... and here it was again! He was thinking like a mercenary again and wanted to brag to himself about the number of kills.
He sighed and pulled the blanket off him. He moved carefully to the foot of the bed so as not to wake Lina. He slowly sat up, which made him slightly dizzy. After a while, however, it passed. He looked around the room and looked for a shirt, because he was only wearing pants. But he couldn't find any. He waved his hand and threw his legs off the bed.
He grabbed the edge of it with his hand and stood up carefully. He stepped lightly on his injured leg, but he was sure he could walk. However, he almost fell when a piercing pain shot through his injured calf with his first step. He held on, and his hiss didn't even wake Lina. She must have been terribly tired.
He couldn't bear the sight of her sitting in such an uncomfortable position and sleeping, and he carefully walked over to her. He bent down to her and, with clenched teeth because of the pain in his shoulder, took her in his arms and laid her on the bed.
"Watch out," he whispered to Adar with a smile.
The latter growled, as if telling him that he knew it even without him.
He looked at Lina's relaxed face again and then, leaning on the furniture, hobbled to the stairs. He walked up them even more carefully, but he managed them too.
His head started to spin again at the bottom, but he didn't care. He wanted to go out.
He was glad that there was no one in the kitchen or in front of the house, so he began to hobble across the green grass to the stone that he had cracked.
Suddenly he heard a whinny behind him. He turned and saw Burinsfel, who was trotting towards him.
"Hello, friend," Brax said to him and hugged the horse around the neck.
He really liked him, more than all the people until now, but now he knew at least one person he liked better.
Brax then leaned on Burinsfel and with his support he limped to the tree where he had split the stone yesterday. He sat down on the ground and leaned his back against it.
Burinsfel began to graze contentedly, and Brax, perhaps for the first time in his life, or rather in a very long time, enjoyed a beautiful day and was indescribably glad to be alive.
A few clouds floated lazily across the sky. They seemed wonderful to him, just like the weather.
He closed his eyes and smiled contentedly when he felt the warm rays of the sun on his face.
Adar lay motionless next to the bed where Lina was now sleeping for a few more minutes. Then he suddenly stood up out of nowhere and started poking the girl's hand with his nose.
Lina slowly moved her head and after a moment began to open her eyes. She felt something wet and cold on her hand and looked to see what it was.
She blinked in surprise as soon as Adaro's head peeked out at her next to the bed. She was still half asleep looking at him and felt as if she was missing something, something her mind was hiding, but she didn't know what.
She rubbed her eyes with her hand and looked out the window. It was getting close to noon.
Suddenly that 'something' started to fall into place. She looked around the room and realized that when she fell asleep, she wasn't on the bed at all and she definitely wasn't alone in this room.
She jumped up quickly and her mind finally revealed what was still under the cover of sleep. In a second, she remembered everything.
When she didn't see Brax in the room, she realized that neither her mother nor her grandfather would have taken him anywhere in this condition, so the only explanation was...
Her heart immediately pounded and an angry sentence escaped her mouth: "I'll break him!"
She ran out of the room and went downstairs. All three rooms were empty, so she immediately headed for the back entrance to the stable.
She was starting to get really angry. Only Rillan was standing in the stable, and as soon as he saw her, he tossed his head happily. Lina didn't pay attention to this this time.
She flew out of the stable and started looking around the house.
Her lips were tightly pressed together to keep them from shaking with suppressed anger, and her fingers were digging into her palms.
After a moment, her eyes fell on the stone under which Brax was sitting calmly, as if nothing had happened.
Lightning flashed from her eyes.
"You!" she shouted and pointed at him with her hand as if she was aiming.
She walked towards him with a firm step.
"What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be lying on top and not even move-" she didn't finish the rest of the sentence because she tripped over her skirt and almost fell to the ground.
Luckily, she regained her balance in time, so she didn't end up on the ground. She threw her head back to get her hair out of her face and continued towards the man.
"Do you think," she snapped at every word, "that as soon as you get the first attack of feeling that you're fine… you can… just… get up, like nothing happened?!"
Brax meanwhile stood up with some effort and watched Lina, who had stopped right in front of him and was breathing deeply.
She stared into his eyes for a moment, frowning, but then she realized that he was alive. Alive and not far from her. That face that had looked dead just a few hours ago was looking at her!
Lina exhaled and hugged him tightly in a second. She was careful not to hurt the wound on her shoulder. She felt tears about to fall from her eyes, but she quickly brushed them away.
Brax froze at first, expecting her to slap him, judging by how furious she looked, but then he put his better arm around her back and leaned his head towards hers.
He felt as if something had suddenly fallen out of him and he felt so good with her, but on the other hand, he was tormented.
What to say? Sorry? Thank you? None of that seemed appropriate or sufficient.
He had no idea and so he just held her in a victim's arms and wished he could hold her like that another time.
After a while, Lina recovered and stepped away from him. She was very glad that she had held back most of the tears, except for one. She wiped the only one away with a quick movement of the back of her hand. She didn't want Brax to know how glad she was that he had woken up and survived.
He noticed this, of course, and was about to raise his hand to her when he realized that it probably wouldn't be a good idea. After all, he didn't know how she would react to that and he didn't want to scare or startle her.
He just stood there looking at her. He didn't know what to say. Suddenly his head felt dizzy and he swayed.
Lina quickly supported him and draped his good arm over her shoulder.
"You're going to lie down now," she said in an uncompromising voice.
She shot him a glance, trying to suppress the heat that was rushing to her face at the sight of his bare chest. Her eyes now fell on the bandage on his shoulder, through which blood was beginning to seep.
"Thanks, but… I can do it myself," he said, trying to get out from under her arm.
He felt terribly humiliated, seeing a girl who was so much weaker than him, helping and supporting him.
Lina, however, grabbed his wrist tightly and did not let him pull her hand away. Now it was really convenient for her that he was so weakened.
"Now you will obey. For better or for worse. Do you understand, Brax?" she said sharply, her determined eyes piercing his.
Brax was reminded of the look she had fixed on him in the forest, telling him she wouldn't leave him there.
He could only face her for a few seconds, and then he looked ahead. He felt strange under her gaze - as if he were afraid to look at her any longer. He had the feeling that she, the only one, could look into his soul, and that was why he was afraid of what she might see there.
He wanted to lighten the seriousness of the situation a little, so he asked, half-amused.
"In a bad way?" he raised his eyebrows and watched her face again.
Lina smiled deadly seriously: "Yes, in a bad way. You may have your own ways of making someone obey, but believe me - I have mine. You wouldn't like them."
"I guess I got myself into quite a mess," he smiled.
"You guessed that with admirable accuracy," Lina said through clenched teeth.
In the time they had been talking now, she had swallowed so many angry words she wanted to say to him about his irresponsibility for his own life and health that she had to bite her tongue to hold back the tide.
"What happened to Kalat and the others?" Brax asked, surprised that he hadn't asked sooner.
"Everyone is fine. Kalat took the prisoner to the inn and then came back for us. The men from the village went with him to help him," Lina answered.
"Kalat said he would come to see you," she added.
Brax sighed, "At least it turned out this way."
So the whole action had not been in vain. The robbers dead, the prisoners freed, Lina alive, and he… too.
As soon as they reached the house, the girl gripped Brax's waist tighter to pull him to her side so he could better reach the stairs.
The man was surprised again by her endurance and now her strength, because she still seemed defenseless and fragile.
"You will lie there until I tell you you can get up. You will sleep a lot and also drink potions to help you repair the great loss of blood," she said as she helped him settle into the bed.
Brax rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief: "I guess that won't be necessary. I don't need to lie like bread in the oven. I have to stir it up," he stared at her, trying to convince her with his eyes that she wouldn't succeed in this.
He had never been in bed for more than a day, and it must have been a real blow for him to endure it.
Lina didn't give him a single look and adjusted the pillow under his head.
"Of course," she nodded her head ironically. "You forgot something, though. A few... completely unimportant things. That... loaf of bread has wounds all over its surface, it almost lost blood, i.e. yeast and water, and the main and most important thing - you're in the herbalist's house. Only her rules apply here. In other words - when you're done, I'll pull you out of the oven."
"I can't stand lying here for a few days!" he tried to resist, although he knew it was probably useless.
"You'll make it. Like I said – for better or for worse," Lina said uncompromisingly, raising her head defiantly.
Brax closed his eyes and asked again: "I wonder how you're going to keep me here for worse."
Instead of Lina's answer, Adar's growl sounded in his head.
"Ah," he nodded. "That's bad."
"Clever, Adar," Lina praised him and patted the dog on the head. "If he moves from here, you'll raise the alarm, okay?"
Adar barked and his dark eyes rested on Brax.
Lina looked at the man and realized that he was considering how to get around her four-legged friend.
She laughed and turned to the table where she had her herbs spread out.
"And if that fails, I have another. And you won't be able to argue with that," she said, pounding several herbs in a bowl and mixing them with lard, creating a grayish-white mass.
Brax thought hard about what he couldn't defend himself against. All he could think of was that he would have to die to actually not defend himself.
"Are you going to kill me?" he asked, laughing.
"No," Lina shook her head as if they were discussing the weather. "Something worse."
Then she turned and walked over to him with the bowl.
Brax was watching her intently. He couldn't take his eyes off her.
Lina felt his gaze, but she was determined not to look at him.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and began to untie the bandage on his shoulder. As soon as she saw the wound, she examined it carefully and then clenched her jaw.
"Great," she breathed. "You're bleeding again. You could have saved yourself your gallant deed of putting me on the bed now. The wound wasn't and isn't healed enough to last."
She took a piece of clean cloth and placed it on his wound to stop the bleeding.
"How do you know?" Brax asked, confused. "You were asleep."
Lina looked into his blue eyes now and had to smile.
"Yes, she was asleep," she nodded. "But... I know I fell asleep by the bed, and besides - how else would I have gotten there?"
She laughed in amusement and removed the cloth, which she had used to dry the wound, before she began to smear the area around him with a gray-white substance and apply new ointment to the wound.
Brax didn't even notice what she had just said to him, because he was only focused on her eyes. He felt a strange urge to lift her face so he could look into them again. However, as soon as he thought of it, a memory of everything that had happened recently rushed to him. He suddenly realized that he was missing something and he knew very well what.
He looked at Lina and said in a balanced voice: "I just... would like to know one thing - where is my hammer?