Courted Sanctuary

Chapter 19

  As much as the shock of Adalbern's rebuke had stunned her, further salt was pressed into her wounds. For several days following, Adalbern's predictions appeared to prove correct. The farmers harvested and returned with great sacks of flax and rye every day. The sheep in the fields were all sheared of their fur and their village was filled with more abundance than they had seen in years.

  Still the fires burned each night. Still there was no attack. Still Humbert refused to come to her.

  As she stood before the women, finishing the prayer for their evening meal, Adalbern entered the hall. He did not look at the women but walked quickly around them to reach Sieglinde. Though the prayer had been completed and the women were permitted to begin their meals, they did not.

  "You must come with me quickly," he whispered in her ear.

  "Are they attacking?" she whispered back.

  He shook his head. "It is Humbert," he said. "He is ... not well. He made me promise not to tell anyone else."

  She nodded and moved to follow him but he did not move. "You will need to fetch some of the healing supplies," he added. "Anything that can cure infection."

  Her eyes widened. She nodded slowly and told him to go on ahead. When he left, she instructed the women to take care of tidying after their meals because she would not be returning to eat. Gerhild, the Crone of Healers, stood and asked if they were in any danger.

  "Not at all," Sieglinde replied. "One of the men is sick."

  "I will get my medicines," Gerhild said.

  Sieglinde did not want to betray Humbert's request but in such a small community, it was impossible to keep secrets. Likely by morning, everyone would know, but it would not be her who told them.

  "I have been requested specifically," Sieglinde said. "Please, stay here and enjoy your food. If I require your help, I will not hesitate to send for you."

  Confused, the crone relented and slowly lowered back into her seat.

  A few minutes later, Sieglinde was knocking on the door of Humbert's small shack with an armful of cloth and cured poultices. She was not sure how bad a shape he was in or what exactly was wrong. It was a wound of some kind most likely, but she wanted to be prepared for anything so she had grabbed as many different jars and cloths as she could find in the apothecary.

  Adalbern opened the door a crack. When he saw it was her, he pulled it wide to let her pass. Over her burden, she could see Humbert's face. His eyes were closed but his rapid breath indicated he was not asleep. His skin glistened as it reflected the light of the small fire in the middle of the tiny room.

  She turned to look around the cloth she held and nearly dropped the small jars of medicine.

  His hand was resting limply over his stomach. His shirt was ripped and covered in caked blood and pus. It looked as though he had not bled much and there was no blood currently flowing from the wound, but it was moist and rotten.

  She fumbled to set down the jars. It was only luck that when one fell, it did not break. It rolled until it hit the side of Adalbern's foot. The contents were prevented from spilling by the animal skin lid that had been tied onto it.

  "What happened?" she asked as she knelt down next to Humbert, who was lying upon a bed of dried grass.

  His eyes fluttered. When he saw her, a faint smile curved the corners of his mouth. "Sie-glin," he whispered.

  "I came to check on him," Adalbern said. "I wanted him to start working again tomorrow and intended to make sure he had had enough rest. Obviously not. The fool has been like this for days, refusing to get help when it could have done him some good because he was too damn embarrassed."

  "Too ... stupid ... " Humbert corrected weakly.

  "How did this happen?" Sieglinde asked as she turned to her jars. Finding the intended target, she grabbed it quickly along with a small wooden scraper from the top of the pile of cloth. A painful tingle shot into her sinuses as she removed the animal skin cover. Quickly, she dipped the scrapper into the jar and lifted out a gob of green paste.

  "I'm not sure exactly what he did," Adalbern said, "But from what I can tell, he cut himself with his sword days ago and refused to admit it. Then like a fool, he did not tend to it properly or fetch the healers so it began to fester. Now he has a fever and if he is unlucky, will not make it through the night."

  "He will," Sieglinde said as she carefully spread the paste across the festering wound. It was at least as long as her hand. With the discolouration and swelling, it was difficult to tell the exact extent of it. She covered the entire area, ignoring Humbert's twitching with each touch.

  Adalbern said nothing but she refused to entertain the possibility that he could be right. She focused upon her work, upon keeping her hand steady, upon spreading the poultice evenly, upon minimizing the pain Humbert was enduring.

  Adalbern remained standing by the door, watching her.

  "You can go," she said finally, as she set down the poultice and took a length of cloth to wrap around Humbert's middle. "I can manage."

  Even as she said this, she was struggling to get the cloth underneath Humbert to wrap it around him properly.

  "Are you certain?" Adalbern asked, seeing her struggle.

  "Yes," she said, her impatience growing. "Tell the others ... " She stopped her task for a moment and sat back on her heels to catch her breath. "Tell them he is simply unwell and to stay away until I say otherwise. He needs time to heal, not the disturbance of curious onlookers."

  "And if he dies?" Adalbern asked.

  "He won't," she said.

  He did not argue.

  Sieglinde had never been so relieved to see him gone, not even after he had yelled at her.

  She heaved and huffed as she tried to get the dressing around Humbert. When the wound was properly covered, she sat back on her heels and watched him.

  She wanted to hit him for whatever he had done to himself; she wanted to hit him for his refusal to seek help; she wanted to hit him for all his stubbornness; but she simply watched. If he was going to live, it would only be through enough rest and care. If he did die that night, it would not be without a fight.

  All at once, she agreed with Adalbern.