Lina was about to apply the rest of the mixture from the bowl to his wound, but when he asked, the container slipped from her hand and fell to the floor, where it turned upside down.
She quickly bent down to pick it up. Fortunately, the mixture stuck to the bottom, so it didn't fall to the ground.
Lina then sat down closer to him and wiped the rest of the mixture onto his shoulder with her fingers.
Part of her wanted to answer that she didn't know that the damned tool was left somewhere in the forest, but the other part stopped her.
"It's outside. Behind the stone where you were sitting. Kalat found it and brought it," she said in a calm voice and began to bandage his shoulder.
As soon as he had uttered that seemingly ordinary sentence, she couldn't look up into his face beyond his chin. She didn't want to see in his eyes again the belligerence and stubbornness with which he approached mercenary work. She realized how foolish she had been to think he could change, to think about things other than death and fighting.
Brax had been watching her intently the entire time. You could tell he hadn't looked away for the past few minutes. Now, at his question, his eyes widened, as if trying to take in everything that was reflected on the girl's face. There was so much he didn't know what to think.
"Thank you," he told her, smiling slightly.
But he realized she hadn't noticed. Her gaze was fixed only on his shoulder, her hands busy wrapping the bandage.
When Lina had finished, she gathered up the dirty bandages and the bowl and stood up. She heard his answer, but she didn't mean to say anything to him that he wasn't grateful or that it was a pleasure. If she could, she would erase all the fights and all the murderous tools from his mind.
Brax still didn't fully understand what was happening, why Lina looked and acted the way she did now. He wanted to understand, but it was clear to him that he couldn't ask, so he did something completely thoughtless, and yet, as if he had planned it all along.
As soon as Lina turned her back on him and was about to leave, he grabbed her hand.
The girl turned in surprise and looked at him. Her eyes were wide and she stared at him incomprehensibly.
Brax didn't have the slightest idea what to do or say, so he just looked at her and tried to read something from her expression. He lightly clasped her hand in his, and the warmth radiating from her palm strangely comforted and disturbed him.
Lina felt her heart start to race and she wanted to pull her hand out of Brax's grip, but she didn't know how to move now, because she felt completely frozen, unable to move even a little.
Suddenly, there were sounds on the stairs and Lina jerked her hand away, because she didn't want her mother to see something like that. She didn't know exactly how she would react to it, but the certainty was the certainty.
But only Adar, who had previously disappeared unnoticed, ran inside. He sat down at the head of the bed and watched Brax.
He laid his head on the pillow, somewhat confused, trying to calm his heartbeat and settle the thoughts that were currently swirling in his mind.
He was starting to feel tired, so he closed his eyes. However, before sleep could overwhelm him, Lina's voice spoke to him: "Wait a minute." He
opened his eyes sleepily and saw that the girl was standing by his bed, holding a clay mug in her hand from which there was a slight smoke.
"Drink this. It should help you repair the blood loss," she said and pressed the mug into his hand.
Brax leaned on the elbow of his good hand and obediently began to drink the liquid. It did not taste bad, as he had expected. Even when he had taken the last sip, he realized that it was an excellent potion.
He exhaled and had the mug taken from his hand again. He looked at Lina and was surprised to see that she was smiling at him.
He couldn't help it and asked: "Why are you smiling?"
Lina raised her eyebrows: "Would you rather I frown?"
"No," he shook his head. "I just... just..."
He was starting to feel more and more tired. His head sank onto the pillow and his eyes began to close. He focused his gaze on Lina once more and then his eyelids closed for good.
"I told you I had my methods," the girl nodded and covered him.
She patted his cheek lightly and had to laugh when his head shook slightly.
Then she started cleaning the herbs. During that time, she turned around several times and looked at the man. She always had to smile when she saw him lying motionless without protest in her bed.
"Watch him, Adare," she said as soon as she was done cleaning.
The dog barked softly and lay on the floor.
Lina went down the stairs to the kitchen and began to prepare the food. As she was putting the cauldron over the fire, she heard footsteps outside the door and turned.
"Good afternoon," her grandfather greeted her, handing her the meat she had bought.
"Good," Lina smiled and took the meat.
"So what about your prey?" he asked as he pulled off his coat.
Lina had to laugh, and then she said, "He's woken up and looks like he'll be all right. If he can lie down as long as I tell him," she added, clenching her jaw.
Grandfather shook his head and said, "Well, I don't know, I don't know, child. Making a mercenary lie down… takes more than your oratory skills."
"I know, and that's why he's lying down now," she said casually, continuing to prepare the food.
The man then laughed and shook his head.
"Well, that's something to be left alone - you can handle men," he said with a laugh.
"If he doesn't have enough sense to know what's good for him, then I have to do it for him," Lina said, her jaw clenching again, remembering his behavior.
The man just nodded and went to wash his hands in a bucket outside. As soon as he returned, the girl asked, "Where's mother?"
"She went to town. Dorel stopped by this morning. He said his wife had been feeling pretty sick for two days and they didn't know what to do about it."
"Oh," Lina nodded.
"Plus, there were vendors selling various goods and they also sell ornamental flowers. Dorel said they looked just like the ones you went to pick. He probably has no idea what they're worth, so Lorina can buy them there," he winked at her.
"That's great," Lina smiled.
Then she finished her meal and they ate together. Grandfather then headed to the nearby forest, where he was cutting down trees for firewood.
In the meantime, Lina tidied up the house and prepared food for Adar and Brax. Adar was going at it as if he hadn't eaten for a fortnight, but Brax was sleeping like a dead man.
The girl knew very well that this was no longer due to the herbs she had added to his potion, but the result of exhaustion and injury.
She checked his bandages, and since none were leaking, she didn't change them. She sat down next to him and watched his sleeping, relaxed face. Her eyes ran over the receding and almost disappeared wounds on his face.
After a moment, she raised her hand and gently raked her fingers through his hair. She ran her palm down the side of his face and felt several days of stubble.
She thought about everything that had happened in the last few days. About how they had met, how everything could have turned out differently if she had allowed him to accompany her on the journey, what would have happened and not happened if it hadn't been for her and his stubbornness. She also wondered what if he had changed and wanted to start living his life differently - without a fight. What if... No! She was stupid, she thought, as the thought of him staying here crossed her mind.
She just sat there, thinking—she had no idea of time, her eyes searching Brax's face and her thoughts wandering in all directions.
When footsteps sounded outside the house, she jerked her head and realized that all the time she had been watching Brax and thinking, her hand had been gripping his palm, without her even realizing it.
"Is anyone here? Lina! Lorina!" a shout came from downstairs.
The girl jerked, let go of Brax's hand, and told Adar to stay. She ran down the stairs.
Below them stood two men from the village, supporting a third. Lina recognized him immediately. It was the blacksmith's son—Jalot. He looked terrible. His once pure blond hair was now dirty with dirt, and his once cheerful, smiling face was red and sweaty from fever, and judging by the way his brown eyes were absent-mindedly looking around, he wasn't in the best of shape.
Lina immediately approached him and placed her hand on his forehead and cheeks.
"What happened?" she asked.
"We found him in the forest. He's badly beaten and completely burned. The blacksmith said he hadn't been home for three days. He had been driving over the hills to the neighboring villages where he sold goods. When we found him, he didn't have a single penny on him. The only thing we could think of was that bandits must have found him, robbed him, beaten him, and left him to die," the man replied, moving Jalot's arm so that he wouldn't fall.
"Put him here," she said, showing them the room that belonged to his mother.
The men did as she told them.
Lina quickly prepared a herbal potion and poured some into Jalot's mouth.
As soon as he swallowed, his gaze sharpened considerably and he looked at her in a bit of surprise.
"Li… well?" he asked in a whisper.
"That's a miracle!" one of the men gasped.
"No, it's not," the girl frowned.
"I'll take care of you, Jalot, nothing will happen to you now," she told him and smiled at him. She
wiped the sweat from his forehead with her hand.
Jalot smiled at her and nodded.
"It'll only be like this for a while. The fever didn't stop. The herbs only brought him back to a sharper consciousness for a moment," the girl explained to the men.
She immediately began examining his body to find the cause of the fever. She ran her hands over his arms and felt an unnatural heat on his left forearm.
She took the dagger that her mother always kept under the bed and cut off his shirt sleeve. She pulled it away and stopped when she saw a long, jagged wound with irregular edges that stretched from halfway down his forearm to almost his elbow. The wound was bleeding slightly and pus was seeping out.
The girl heard the men gasp.
She examined her entire arm. Red streaks ran along the veins from the wound. Lina took a deep breath, realizing that ointments and potions wouldn't be enough here.
She leaned over Jalot. He smiled at her and raised his good hand to her face.
"I'm just... a little scratched," he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Lina took his hand and tried to look encouraging.
"Jalot, your hand... is infected. I'm going to have to... burn the wound you have there so it doesn't spread to your body. Do you understand me?"
Jalot paused for a moment. He clearly didn't like the idea.
"Well... I..."
"I know, I don't want to get involved any more than you do, but... I don't know of any other option," she said, her eyebrows drawn together and her expression sympathetic.
Jalot knew she was telling the truth. If anyone in the village could be trusted completely and completely, it was Lina and her mother.
He nodded slowly and took her hand in his.
"It'll only be a moment," she promised him.
Then she stood up immediately and went to the kitchen. She put the poker she and her mother had prepared for such situations on the fire. It was less than two inches wide and straight, without a curved end.
"Please take off his shirt, take off his shoes, and cover him halfway up his chest," Lina called to the man.
They did as she told them again, but as they pulled his shirt off his head and laid him back down, they called to her to come and take a look.
Lina ran over, holding a mortar and pestle with herbs in her hands, and looked at the wound the men were pointing to. It was on the side of Jalot's chest. Fortunately, it wasn't inflamed like the one on his forearm.
The girl immediately cleaned it with a hot liquid, causing Jalot to hiss a few times in pain.
As she was applying ointment around the wound, her grandfather returned home.
The men greeted him respectfully and stepped aside so he could go into Lina's room. They quickly explained everything to him.
"Do you want to help with anything?" he asked her.
"No, thank you," Lina shook her head. "Just hold him," she realized.
Once the wound was dressed and bandaged, she got up and headed for the kitchen. There she prepared a potion from herbs that she had previously pounded in a mortar. She applied a thick white ointment to a piece of cloth and brought it all into the next room.
She ignored the astonished and admiring glances of the two men. Her grandfather, however, noticed them and looked at Lina with pride and pride.
Jalot also watched Lina, but with a somewhat more strenuous effort, because her rapid running was difficult to perceive due to his reactions slowed by a high fever.
When the girl had everything ready for the bed, she told the men to hold Jalot's legs and her grandfather's arm.
She went to the kitchen for a poker, which glowed a few inches from the end with a glowing golden-orange color.
She stood to Jalot's left and clasped his shoulder with her free hand.
"It will hurt now, but it won't last long," she said, looking as if someone had been burning her for a long time.
Jalot nodded.
"Do you want something to eat?" she asked him.
"No," he said.
"Okay," Lina nodded and knelt down next to him.
She slowly brought the poker closer to the wound, aiming it so that it covered the entire length of the wound.
She looked at Jalot once more, then quickly placed the red-hot poker on the wound.
Brax was awakened by a sharp scream.
He started and sat up quickly. It made his head spin and he had to lower it to keep from passing out.
He ran his hand over his forehead. His leg hurt and his whole body felt stiff.
But the scream came again, and he stood up and began to limp toward the stairs. His first thought was that something had happened to Lina, that someone was hurting her.
As soon as he saw part of a man's body peeking out from the room below, he was seized with rage, but Lina's voice quickly dispelled it.
"It's done," she said.
He saw her cross the room with a poker in her hand, which she threw onto the iron plate on the table.
She was out of sight.
He walked slowly to the door of the room and peered inside.
He saw a man lying on the bed, his face wet with sweat and red with fever. His forehead was drawn and his chest heaved in a heavy, shallow breath. Two other men stood at the foot of the bed, watching the girl. The third—the oldest of them—held a jug in his hand, and his eyes were fixed on Lina.
He looked at her too—she was fully absorbed in tending the man's injured hand, onto which she was pouring liquid from the jug the oldest man held. Then she placed a cloth with white ointment on his hand and began to secure it with a bandage around his forearm.
As he watched her, fully absorbed in her work, a strange feeling passed through him, imagining that she was caring for him in the same way. Just as carefully and just as sensitively. He saw her eyebrows drawn together, as if in a pained grimace, as she looked at the face of the man she was tending.
He saw how quickly and gently her fingers touched his body, and how she bandaged his hand.
As soon as she finished with the hand, she sat down by his head. She lifted it up for him and placed it on her lap. Then she carefully began to pour the potion she had in the mug into his mouth.
Brax watched as she ran her hand over his forehead and her eyes wandered anxiously over his arm. It occurred to him that he would like to remember how she had treated him, that he would like to know what it felt like when her healing hands touched him. As soon as he imagined it, he felt his heart pound and a strange, unfamiliar warmth spread across his face.
As if she had heard his thoughts, Lina raised her head and her gaze immediately fell on Brax standing by the door. She blinked in surprise and her mouth opened in astonishment.
She then recovered and said in a low voice, "Go back upstairs and lie down, please."
The men turned their heads as if on command and looked at the person Lina was talking to.
Brax ignored them and paid no attention to them. His eyes were fixed only on Lina's face.
"Can I help you in any way?" he asked her.
Lina sighed and smiled: "Yes, you can. By going to lie down."
Brax set his jaw defiantly and was about to say something. However, the girl spoke faster: "Go, please."
She fixed her eyes on him, in which he could easily read that she didn't want to argue with him, but that she really wanted him to go.
Brax closed his eyes because he didn't want to leave, but in the end he turned and headed back to Lina's room.
The girl looked after him in disbelief and was completely amazed that he had obeyed. But when Jalot's head moved in her lap, she turned all her attention back to him.
She carefully poured the rest of the potion into his mouth and then laid his head back on the pillow. She placed a cold compress on his forehead and covered him with a light blanket.
She then thanked the men for their help and told them that they could go home now, that she would take care of him and also to tell Jalot at home that they had found him and where he was now.
They both respectfully bid her farewell and, together with her grandfather, who had gone to accompany them, left.
Lina immediately began treating the other injuries Jalot had on his body, which were blessed. None of them were as serious as the wound on his hand or side. They were mostly deeper and more superficial scratches.
She was done with this one, she washed his face, chest and arms, tidied up the room and wanted to go to the kitchen to heat up the food she had prepared for Brax.
"Stay... here... please," a voice called from the bed.
Lina stopped and looked at the still-hot Jalot, who was looking at her with tired eyes.
She walked over to him and squatted down by his head.
"I'll come and check on you again, but I have another wounded man here. I won't forget you," she said and lightly ran her hand over his forehead.
Jalot shook his head and closed his eyes.
Lina sighed and got up, went to the kitchen and heated up Brax's soup. Once it was hot, she poured it into a plate, took another piece of bread and a spoon and went to the stairs.
Brax heard someone coming upstairs and quickly sat down on the bed, just in case it was Lina, which he immediately confirmed, because he had been pacing back and forth around the room the whole time, thinking.
Lina looked at him immediately and was glad that if he wasn't lying down, he was at least sitting up.
"I'll bring you something to eat, you must be hungry," she said and put the plate on the table.
"Thanks," he replied and went to the table.
He carefully sat down on the chair and was about to grab the spoon when he realized that he couldn't move his right hand. He looked at the bandage a little bewildered - he would like to take it off, but it was clear to him that Lina would never let him do that.
The girl noticed his gaze and asked with a suppressed smile, "Do you want to… feed me?"
Brax looked at her and almost shouted, "No!"
Lina laughed and shook her head.
"Well… I've never seen so much fear in your eyes," she said and laughed again.
Brax was completely paralyzed by the mere thought of something as humiliating as being fed by a woman, and what's more, if that woman was Lina, but he liked the sight of her laughing face, and so he had to laugh at the thought and his reaction to it too.
"True," Lina said after a moment. "The thought of a woman feeding Brax, a great mercenary, must be very… well… hard for you."
Brax smiled a little at how well she had guessed his behavior, but then he saw pain and a strangely sad expression on her face, which wiped the smile from his face.
Lina turned and began to make his bed. As soon as she was done, she turned to him and said, "I have to take care of Jalot now. Can you promise me you'll lie down?"
Brax looked at her, still confused by the way her expression had changed for the second time in such a short time. He didn't understand it any more now than he had before.
"Okay," he finally nodded.
Lina sighed and walked over to him, leaning against the table and looking at him.
"Look, I know it's really hard for you to stay in one place for a while, like trying to tie a falcon to the ground, but..." she paused and hesitated for a moment.
Then she lightly placed her palm against his face.
"I'm not doing this for my own pleasure, because I'd like to see you in bed, so..." she suddenly stopped and blushed slightly when she realized that what she had just said could be understood in another way, but then she recovered and continued.
"You should just lie down and rest for a few days, not for me, but for yourself! Don't you realize that you almost lost your life?"
Brax's eyes were filled with the sight of Lina's face. The warmth of her palm on his face warmed him and he didn't want her to ever withdraw her hand. He suddenly felt so terribly weak that he would have agreed to her and done anything she wanted if only she had told him.
Then he realized with surprise that what she wanted from him and what he had not understood a moment ago now seemed surprisingly clear.
He exhaled, literally amazed at his blindness for not understanding something so clear. Then he realized that he wanted to say something.
But out of nowhere, a groan came from below.
Lina flinched and pulled her hand away from his face. She quickly walked to the stairs.
"Lie down and rest, please," she told him before disappearing.
For the rest of the day, she changed Jalot's compresses, gave him drinks, and bandaged his wound. Since he was delirious from the fever, she couldn't afford to close her eyes for even a moment.
She held his hand, pushed him down on the bed when his mind was so foggy that he wanted to get up and he barely noticed what she was saying.
Long into the night, she spoke to him in a soothing voice and let him squeeze her hand when the pain shot through him and he was unable to control his strength or movements, because he was still delirious.
It was only early in the morning that she had the impression that his fever had begun to subside, so she now gave him drinks every now and then, changed his compresses and kept talking to him in a soft, soothing voice.
Her eyes would sometimes close from fatigue, but she would always shake her head and rub her face and forehead with her hand to wake herself up. In the end, she didn't even notice when her head sank back onto the bed and she fell asleep.
As soon as Brax finished eating, he did as Lina told him and went to lie down. Before he fell asleep, he replayed in his head what he had come to, and he was sure that he was definitely not wrong in his conclusion.
When he woke up, it was still dark. He remained motionless for a while, listening to the silent house, but after a few minutes he could not stand it any longer in bed.
He slowly got up and headed for the stairs. He caught sight of Adar's dark silhouette, which sat down and watched him. However, he did nothing, and Brax was able to continue down without any problems.
He crossed the kitchen, which was illuminated only by the light of the blazing fire in the fireplace, and quietly entered the next room. The next second his eyes fell on Lina, whose head was lying on the bed and her hands were hanging to the floor.
He stopped for a moment and just watched her. The sight of her, exhausted, tired, and yet still so beautiful and selfless, did strange things to him. Finally, he could no longer stand and watch, so he slowly approached her.
He was about to slowly reach out to touch her when he stopped himself. He looked at the man lying on the bed and touched his forehead under the compress. As soon as he felt that it was not too hot, he lowered his hand to Lina. He lightly slid down her arm to her waist to take her in his arms and carry her to her room, where she could finally get some proper rest.
However, as soon as he tried to grab her with his hands, she jerked and woke up. She turned her head to him and gasped in alarm, because Brax's face was so close to hers that if she moved her face forward just a little, she would touch him.
For a second, her eyes fell to Brax's lips, and in that brief moment, she thought about what it would be like to put her face closer to his. The next second, she spat out the thought in her mind. She
jerked back and said, "What's going on? What are you doing here?"
Brax couldn't answer at first, because her proximity made his heart race and his brain seemed to stop thinking rationally for a moment, but then he recovered.
"You need to go to bed, you're exhausted. Come on," he said in a whisper, nodding his head toward her room.
Lina turned her head to Jalot and shook her head, "No, I can't. I'm not that tired again. You go lie back down."
She stood up and replaced the dried compress on Jalot's forehead with a wet one. Then she went into the kitchen and began to prepare another potion.
Brax watched her and was furious. Not only because she had disobeyed him, but also because he knew full well how tired she must be. He didn't want to see her so exhausted, so he went after her and grabbed her arm with his good hand.
The girl turned to him, a defiant flame burning in her eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked him.
Within a second, with a quick twist of her arm, she had broken free and stood before him, her hands clenched into fists.
"Just because you're bigger and maybe a little stronger," she said, tossing her head, "doesn't make you someone to tell me what to do and what not to do."
If Brax hadn't been angry, he would have laughed at what she had just said.
A little stronger? Something? Was she serious? – he wondered.
As he looked at her, watching her face and the eyes that were fixed on his, he realized that perhaps it would be best if he said what he had come to during his deliberations right away, knowing what he was getting into.
The direction of his thoughts was also reflected in the change in his expression. Suddenly, his anger and the effort to push Lina to rest evaporated. A somewhat uncertain, even shy expression settled in her, which, in addition to his blue eyes, which melted when he looked at the girl, were the cause of Lina's heart beating faster and her clenched hands loosening.
"You can..." Brax cleared his throat, because his throat was a little dry.
However, Lina beat him to it again: "This is for you," she said and handed him the mug with the potion. "Drink it and go lie down, okay?"
She didn't wait for his answer. She took the second mug and headed back to the room.