The Hermit Herbalist

Chapter 11 - Offense Against Honor

Clint kept running.  His heart felt like it would burst from his chest, but he had to get back to Loki.  He had to tell her that he forgave her and to ask for her forgiveness in return.  The smile never left his face, even when his cheeks ached and his lungs were screaming.  He could feel his bow slapping against the back of his thighs, but he did not care.  He slipped on the muddy ground several times and once, fell flat on his face.  Clint pulled himself up and continued his sprint.  Soon, he ran into the hunters as they went back out into the woods.  "Oi!  Barton!  Is that you?!" Lanh called as he ran by them.

"Yes, it's me!  No time!" Clint shouted over his shoulder.  Lanh, Ragnar, Hagan, and others all burst out laughing and cheering as they watched Clint run as if he had the hounds of Hel behind him.  Clint tripped a few more times, cutting his hands, but not caring.  

He soon caught sight of Loki's house and he called out, "Loki!  Loki!"  There was no answer, and he wondered if she was woman enough to sulk about him leaving.  He came up to the door, but actually skidded to a halt.  The bolt on the door was broken.  Clint inhaled sharply, drawing a proper breath into his lungs for the first time.  "Loki?" Clint asked as he pushed the door open.  The chaos that greeted him froze the blood in his veins.  The cauldron was overturned and its contents were on the floor.  The bed was broken, and several of Loki's priceless jars were shattered.  A whimper made him look to the corner near where he knew she kept the churner.  "Loki!" he exclaimed as he saw her huddled there.  Clint dropped everything and went to her side.  

"Ah!" she screamed, lashing out with her nails, sharp as claws.  Clint caught her hands and pulled her to him.

"It's me!  It's okay, Loki!  I'm here!  It's me!" he told her, his words becoming a mantra.  Loki must have eventually realized it was him, and she melted in his arms.  She cried, weeping big tears that soaked his jerkin.  He stroked her hair as he glanced down at her feet.  The antlers he had left were lying there, and they had some blood on them.  "Loki, are you alright?"  She sniffed and finally looked up at him.  Clint gasped as he saw her nose and lips were bleeding.  She was sporting a black eye, and a gruesome array of bruises around her throat.  Her shift was torn across her bosom and at the hem.  Loki was missing a fingernail on her right hand and she was trembling like a leaf in the wind.  Clint felt the heat of anger creep up his neck and he tilted her head so that she could look back up at him.  "Loki, did Kael do this to you?"

"He came... and said... that you had left.  That he... would have me... whether I liked it... or not," Loki answered him haltingly.

"Did you beat him off?" Clint queried.  Loki gave him a slight smile and held up the antlers.

"He got these to the side of the head.  He was lucky he had half strangled me, otherwise, I would have embedded this in his skull," Loki responded.  Clint had to smile at her bravery.  She really was still a she-wolf.  

"Is there anything broken that I should know about before I move you?" Clint asked carefully.

"Nothing broken.  Just half strangled, beaten, and terrified to death.  He didn't succeed," Loki answered.  Clint nodded as he stood up and went to the bed, taking several blankets from it and coming back to her.  "He forced me onto the bed," Loki said absentmindedly.  

"Looks like the bed got it bad," Clint answered with a sad expression on his face as he wrapped the blankets around her.  "I'm taking you to Ogen.  He has to catalog your injuries and I want Gyda to take care of you proper."  He picked her up and Loki cried out, her arms wrapping around his neck.

"What for?  Why must Ogen write these down?" Loki asked distantly.  

"Because you were assaulted, Loki!" Clint said firmly, causing her to cower.  "Hush," he soothed after the fact.  "I'm not angry at you.  How could I be angry with you?"  

"You were angry when you left," Loki reminded as he carried her out the door.  

"I was angry, and for that I am sorry.  Ogen met me before I left and gave me the letter you left him," Clint explained.  Loki hummed.  "Your words... I was moved by how unselfish they were.  My presence in your house has put you out a little, but you cared for me.  Where others surely would have cast me out for being mortal, you saved me."

"The least I could do," Loki mumbled.

"Loki!  Stay awake!  Come on!  Don't fall asleep!" Clint urged, jouncing her a little to keep her eyes open.  She moaned and her grip around his shoulders slackened.  "Hold on.  I'll get you to Ogen."

"The Norns above!  What happened?!" Ogen demanded when a pale faced Gyda led Clint into his bed chamber. 

"She was attacked.  She has been strangled and beaten.  Please!  Help her!" Clint pleaded as he carefully placed Loki on the healer's bed.

"Was she raped?" Ogen queried as he quickly grabbed his medicines and tools.  Clint shuddered at having that word applied to Loki.

"While she was awake, she said that she was untouched," Clint answered and Ogen breathed a sigh of relief.  

"At least that did not happen," Ogen said.  Clint held Loki's one hand while Ogen began to clean the blood away and Gyda cut away the remnants of her clothes.  She quickly covered Loki's modesty with a clean blanket and began to treat the injured finger.  Ogen said nothing to Clint of why he had returned, or if he had read the letter.  He simply worked quickly and efficiently on his patient.  "Her throat is badly bruised.  Thankfully, her windpipe was not crushed.  Her previously injured ankle has suffered from being stepped on.  It is twisted again," Ogen said.  Gyda wrote these observations down on a piece of parchment.  "Her fingernail was torn clean off.  There are bite marks near the cuticle.  If my calculations are correct, it was wrenched off by human teeth."  Clint closed his eyes and kissed Loki's hand.  "Mark there, Gyda, she suffered two blows to her face: one burst the veins in her nose and caused her bruised eye; and the second, caused her own teeth to tear her lower lip."

"Animal!  Bastard!" Clint cursed as Ogen and Gyda continued their work.  The healer looked at the mortal.

"Who did this to her?" he asked firmly, but already suspected the answer.  

"Kael Bjornsen," Clint responded.  Ogen cursed violently, and Gyda burst into fresh tears.

"That man must be held accountable for this offense.  This cannot go unpunished," Ogen said and Clint nodded his head.

"She cannot fight this, but I will fight it for her," Clint said and Ogen and Gyda looked at him.  "I will challenge Kael to single combat for her honor.  For his attack on her is an attack on me as well.  I think this falls within the honorable rules of the Norns."  Ogen agreed.

"Once we have her comfortable, I will inform the other elders and we will find Kael," Ogen informed Clint.  Gyda continued to cry, whispering words of comfort into Loki's ear, even if she could not hear her.  "Barton, I will bring them here.  I don't want to leave Ikol and Gyda alone."  Clint affirmed that he preferred that to leaving the two women on their own.  

"Gyda, can you have some hot broth or something for Ikol when she wakes up?  It'll help her strength," Clint said to the young girl.  She nodded her head and stood up, reaching for his hand.  She took it and kissed his knuckles.

"Thank you for fighting for her, Barton!" she said to him, her tears falling into his fingers and palms.  "Thank you so much!"

"It's my duty, Gyda, and I'm happy to do it," Clint informed her.  The maid gave him a smile and left the room after her master.  Clint turned back to look at Loki.  She was pale and her black eye stood out starkly against her skin.  Her ebony hair was strewn over the pillow and she was lying so still.  She might as well be dead.  He sat down beside her and held her hand.  "I'm so sorry, Loki," he whispered.  "This is all my fault.  If I hadn't left you in a huff, you wouldn't be injured and in this bed."  It was the ever so subtle squeeze of her hand that informed him that she had somehow heard his words.