20 Punished for Innocence

The weeks slowly passed, while autumn was approaching with big steps. Thanks to the summer and plenty of food available, my body recovered even more. At that point, creating two or three steel ingots a day wasn't a problem. My medical knowledge got better as well. The doctor gave me more work, where even patients with runny nose became my responsibility.

I knew which plants, and medicine to use when treating wounds, bruises or simple flu. Though the doctor never mentioned any names, he didn't have to. My only question was, where he was getting the liquids and plants from. One day, I decided to ask him. "Why are you interested?", he asked when the question about medicine was asked.

"I'm just curious. You don't have to answer, I'm nobody anyway", I replied fully expecting no answer. "... I collect, and make everything myself. The forest has plenty of medicine, if you know what to look for. Now that your curiosity is satisfied, go back to work", he said. That made sense after giving it some thought. No one seemed to visit the doctor in the morning. My guess was that he was gathering plants, or making the medicine during that time.

Another good news, was my new dagger. I managed to carve something useful from wood, then made a mould and casted my metal dagger. Fortunately, Grond had access to grinding wheel, which made it easy to sharpen the blade. The steel dagger remained stashed inside the smithy, as it was also my new place of practice.

Dina didn't know about the dagger, but she pressed the idea of escaping a few more times. She even learned about people who usually had an eye on us, or rather her. People didn't really bother me, or inspect me anymore. I've been there so long, no one believed I'd escape or do something stupid. She on the other hand, was a different story.

I told her a few times that we didn't have a map, we had no money, no weapon and there were people who'd support Rand. From what people talked about, the Grasshill Village was at least three times as big as Horseplain Village. Moreover, Senty was getting married to the son of the Village Chief. That relationship alone would help Rand in catching us. With hunters and maybe even warrior on our tail, how far would we run away?

Besides, I had only about half a year left of our original agreement. Though Rand could potentially go back on his word, after another half a year, I'd have higher chances of escaping than at that point. In other words, I was against escaping, and would rather bid my time.

My constant rejection of her offer to escape, made her a bit more distant towards me. She'd talk with me, but we wouldn't spent time together like before. I wasn't an idiot, I knew that she'd try to escape alone. I wasn't sure when or how, and my words wouldn't change anything.

Then one morning, it happened. Just before my work at the smithy, some people found me to ask some questions. "Where's that woman? She's your responsibility", the hunter I treated previously asked. "She should be at the woodcutter's place, chopping wood", I replied albeit fully aware she escaped. "Don't bullshit me! She's not there, where is she?", he snapped while grabbing me by my clothes.

"How the hell should I know? She always went to work at this time, I have my own work. You want me to follow her all day? Then who's gonna do my work, eh?", I snapped back. The guy didn't like that, and punched me in the face. "Take this bastard with you, I'll go outside", he commanded the younger hunter before leaving.

"You better tell me what you know, or you'll regret it", the young hunter threatened me. "Are you people stupid? I don't know anything. I'm doing my work, the fuck do you want from me?", I asked while trying to pick myself off the ground. *Bam*, "Ugh..". "Watch your words scum, or I'll stop being nice", he said after kicking me to the ground once more.

I picked myself up without a word, while the guy grinned at me. "What, you mad? Hit me then, I'm right here", he taunted but I didn't take him up on that offer. *Clap* he slapped me and said, "Don't you dare look at me like that again, you pussy... Now, follow me. Rand's going to deal with you later".

While following the guy, I vowed to repay him and the other hunter for everything. 'I hope she escapes... I made a mistake. I should've escaped with her'. I regretted my choice and the hesitation, especially since she managed to do it even without my help.

The guy took me to Rand's house, but he wasn't around. Instead, Senty walked out to 'greet' me. *Pak*, "Ugh...", without any warning, she punched me in the stomach. "Where's that bitch?", she asked angrily. "I don't kno... Urgh", she punched me again before I finished. "Where is she?", "I don't... Ugh..", she punched me again.

"Where is she?", she asked the same question third time, but she didn't hear anything from me. I remained silent. *Clap*, *Pak*, "Agh!" *Bam*. She slapped, punched and kicked me. Even when I fell to the ground, she'd kick me some more. "Take this piece of shit to that cursed house, and keep an eye on him", she ordered the hunter. The guy grabbed my collar, and lifted me off the ground. "Move scum, or I'll drag you there", he threatened.

I followed him while holding my stomach. Her punches were heavy, and aimed at the same area of my stomach. Though my body recovered somewhat, I felt like vomiting. We arrived at the house, where the guy kicked me inside, and shut the door. "... You... will... die..", I mumbled to myself full of anger. Only the feeling of stabbing these people to death, remained in my mind.

Thankfully, I managed to calm myself down. The situation would only get worse, if I tried to attack the guy outside. The time slowly passed. During the afternoon, the doors to my house flew open. "What were you told?", Rand asked me as he entered. "What do you want me to say? I told them many times, I don't know where she is. I don't know how she left, or when", I replied.

At least he didn't punch or kick me, that was a good start. "I told you she's your responsibility. So, how come she's not here now?", he asked another question. "My responsibility? I can't read minds, and you told me to work. How can I know anything, when most of the time we don't see each other? She didn't cause problems before", I explained.

Rand stood there for a while, took a deep breath, then said, "Go to work". Though my stomach hurt, and I could tell my eye was a bit swollen, I went outside to work. 'At least at the doctor's place, I can use some medicine to take care of pain', I figured on my way there.

Once there, the doctor didn't ask why my face looked like that. He probably didn't give a damn anyway. "You can treat those people, now that you are here", he said and went back to his room. There was no one to complain to, and could only start my work. Once all the patients left, I went inside the doctor's room. "Can I get some of the medicine for myself?", I asked. He didn't answer my question, but didn't deny it either.

I grabbed some plants, then checked his reaction. 'So he doesn't mind. Good', I thought and left his room. After dealing with my own pain, I headed to my house for some rest. "... Fucking bastards", I said to myself quietly. No food awaited me. I figured that was my punishment, for once more being innocent. I was really hungry, I haven't eaten anything for whole day.

I decided to head to the river, or at least grab some apples, but that was denied as well. "You ain't going anywhere. Rand forbade you from leaving the village for now. Scram if you don't want to get beaten up", the young hunter said. Me arguing would only add more injuries to my body. Because food was out of reach, I went to the well and drank water.

I could only return to my house, and go to sleep. The following morning, I carried out my morning tasks and was relieved to find some food inside my house. 'I guess they can't starve me too much, otherwise nothing will be done', I thought. During the afternoon, I helped out at the doctor's place as usual, but people became nastier towards me. They'd spit at me sometimes, or call me names.

'Hold it in, nothing good will come out of it, if I snap back at them'. With that thought in mind, I made it through most of the day. The final patient left with some bandages, and in good time, as I was about to leave. But then, the doors flew open, and the middle-aged hunter walked in while dragging something behind him.

"Oh my...", I covered my mouth. What the guy dragged behind him, was Dina. She was unconscious, badly beaten, and her leg looked broken. The guy dragged her inside, then ordered me to call the doctor. "Doctor, a patient with severe injuries", I said with a hint of urgency. He stood up from his chair, and joined us in the main room.

"Why does she look like this?", the doctor questioned. "Since when do you need to know such things? Fix her up, Rand said he still needs her", the guy replied. The doctor looked at Dina calmly, then at the hunter and said, "No". My eyes widened at his words. He was a doctor, and he refused to help a patient in such condition?

The guy didn't take it calmly, "You want me to make you, or will you do it by yourself?". "I'm not interested in your arguments. I'm not going to help her", the doctor stood by his words. I tried to intervene, and perhaps change his mind. "Doctor, the patient looks really bad. Please help her, you are a doctor".

He turned towards me and said, "I don't like to repeat myself. If you want kid, you can do it yourself". I was shocked again, 'How... How am I supposed to help her? With bandages?', I questioned myself. "Old man, don't cross the line. Just because you are Rand's friend...", the doctor stopped him there. "I'll give you five seconds to leave my house. I'm not going to repeat myself".

When doctor said that, the man backed away for some reason. "Rand will hear about this", he said before leaving. I wasn't sure what just happened, but Dina needed help. "Are you seriously not going to help her?", I asked while picking Dina up. The doctor didn't reply, he simply walked back to his room. "What a fucking cursed village...", I didn't continue speaking, there was no point.

With Dina laying there unconscious, I wasn't sure how to treat her. "Stay calm, think what you learned... First, stop the bleeding", I said to myself, and proceeded to take off her tattered top. She had many cuts, some of them light, some of them deeper. Using alcohol, grinded plants and bandages, I treated the wounds as much as possible.

With the bleeding stopped, the next step was to treat her face. 'You fucking animals, how could you do this?', I asked myself while gently cleaning, and applying some liquids. She had perhaps two teeth knocked out, but there was nothing I could do about that.

Her biggest injury was the leg. 'I saw the doctor deal with broken arms and legs, but this? What the fuck did they do to her?'. The more I saw, the angrier I became. Before trying to straighten her leg, I had to take off her pants. That's when I noticed bleeding from her private parts. My heart and hand stopped for a second. 'Did they...', I hoped it was just the blood from someplace else, but no.

"They cut her... Oh my god...", it wasn't bad, it was bleeding only a bit. Though the sheer thought of someone doing it, filled me with rage. "You sick fucking bastards.... Sick fuckers..." I said to myself for the lack of better words. I hoped they'd burn alive. I wanted to go out, and set the whole village on fire.

I stopped the bleeding and applied medicine, but then had to calm down a bit. I didn't understand how someone could be so cruel to another person. As if they tortured her, did it for pleasure. I felt sick just thinking about it. The broken leg was the hardest for me to fix. Just because I saw the doctor do it, didn't mean I could come over to someone and fix their broken leg or arm.

I tried a few times, and realised what the doctor was doing. He was straightening the limb in order for the bones to heal themselves alright. I realised that after her leg snapped into position. 'Maybe it wasn't as serious as it looked... Anyway, now I just need to stiffen it, and apply medicine', I thought.

As I was doing that, the doctor's voice came from his room, "It's getting late kid". "... I'm almost done", I replied without a shred of emotion in my voice. "Take her with you as well", he added. Once her leg was fixed to the best of my abilities, I gently picked her up and left the doctor's house.