Was that blood?

​

Liliana stopped abruptly. She clasped the rein tighter and hurried towards the spot where several trees had crashed into each other. Snow, already a few days old, crunched under her boots. The forest was silent. As she approached, she discovered more and more red spots on the ground and even on the branches. She slowly raised her head and immediately wished she hadn’t. Which animal the parts hanging from the trees were from she couldn’t say, but it was definitely dead. It looked like it had rained torn intestines, muscles and bones. To her horror, she also discovered shreds of clothes and human skin. Everything had remained fresh and nearly odourless; however, the mere sight of it made her slap a hand over her mouth and nose to swallow a bout of nausea.

​

The donkey on her side didn’t fare much better. It brayed and jumped. Liliana stumbled sideways to the ground. The rein grated on her hand, and she had to let go in order to stop herself being dragged across the forest floor. As she struggled back to her feet, she saw the donkey disappear among the trees. Now she was all alone.

​

Liliana hesitated for a moment. Should she run after Donnie? No, as long as she found him before it got dark, everything would be fine. She took a deep breath before turning back to the bloody scene. The cold cleared her thoughts. There were wolf prints, but also tracks Liliana couldn’t interpret. In the opposite direction, there was a kind of drag mark. Following it, she recognised sporadic outlines of hands, as well as bloodied pieces of fur and cloth that had stuck on sharp edges in the snow and protruding branches. She walked on, heart pounding, until she saw a bloody bundle on the ground a good thirty feet away. The closer she came, the more certain she grew. It was a person!

​

Liliana listened intently in the direction of the forest. The fear that the wolves might return – or whatever else had caused this carnage – sprawled across her skin. But there was no howling, no cracking sounds, no growling; not even the rustle of a mouse. The surroundings lay as silent and lifeless as the victim.

​

Father’s warning voice resounded from her childhood days. Never touch something dead if you don’t know how it died. He had taken the dead blue tit from her with a scowl and made Liliana scrub her hands until her skin peeled.

​

She knelt next to the curled-up figure. At first glance, all the limbs seemed to still be present, just not necessarily in their intended position. The entire body was blood-smeared and covered with wounds, bites and cuts. There was little left of the once exquisite clothes.

​

What if he wasn’t dead? Could she bear the weight of never knowing whether she had left someone to die because of inflated fear?

Carefully, she touched his wrist, ignoring the throbbing in her own chest and focusing all her attention on her fingertips. Yes, there was a flutter. She slid forward to wipe the dark, blood-soaked hair out of his face.

​

‘Can you hear me?’

​

He remained motionless. She checked again by holding her fingers in front of his nose. There, too, she found the barely perceptible breath of life. She couldn’t leave him here. Even if he died on the way, she had to at least try to help him.

​

She wrapped her arms around his torso and lifted him. After a few steps, she had to put him down again. Struggling through the forest like this, bit by bit, Liliana was soon overcome by dizziness. The exertion, coupled with all the blood that had covered her chest, chin and arms, tightened her stomach. Her legs started to shake. Where was that stupid donkey?

​

‘Donnie! Donnie! Where are you? Come back!’

​

Finally, she reached under the man’s arms from behind and dragged him on like that. They would never reach the farm otherwise. Unfortunately, the tendrils, roots and saplings that protruded from the encrusted snow scratched his legs, leaving a scarlet line on the ground. She consoled herself with the observation that he was beyond any perception of pain.

​

When she finally approached the edge of the forest, the donkey appeared, as if he had been waiting for her.

​

Liliana scolded him with relief. ‘You fool, I needed you!’

​

She was wondering if it made sense to heave the dying victim onto the donkey for the last stretch when she heard her name.

​

‘What happened? I heard Donnie scream like mad!’ Cedric squeezed through the bushes and rushed towards her. His eyes widened. ‘You’re covered in blood! Are you hurt? Who is that?’

​

‘Cedi!’ Liliana lowered herself to the ground next to the stranger. Her side ached as if a knitting needle were stuck there. ‘We have to bring him into the house.’

​

Exerting all of her strength, she helped her brother place the stranger on Donnie. She wiped her forehead until it occurred to her that she was smearing even more blood on her face. She could taste it in her mouth already. Bite wounds … rabies … She quickly spat on the ground and pushed the thought far away.

​

As soon as they had reached the farm, Annelies came running. ‘Merciful Light! What is going on?’

​

‘Get Grandmother!’ Liliana tugged at the wounded man and urged Cedi, with a nod, to lend her a hand.

​

The maid took one glance at the stranger and started her nagging. ‘Where did you get him? From the forest? Are you crazy?’

​

‘He’s still breathing! We have to help him!’

​

‘I am certainly not touching him!’ Annelies backed away with her hands raised, as if Liliana had tried to slap her. ‘You should get Priest Mathias! He’s as good as dead anyway!’

​

Cedi hesitated but gave in to his sister’s pleading looks. Together they carried the injured man to her room, and Annelies followed at a safe distance. Liliana ran to find Father’s bottle of liquor. When she returned, she found Grandmother already with the others at the bedside.

​

Her hands on her hips, Grandmother asked, ‘Why did you bring this dead body into our house?’

​

‘He’s not dead! We need to help him!’

​

‘Oh, I don’t know, dove …’

​

‘Imagine me or Cedi lying on that bed! You’d do anything to save us, wouldn’t you?’

​

‘Yes, yes, but …’

​

‘Are you that scared?’ She looked around reproachfully and pointed to the wounded man. ‘Look at him! We are his last hope! Here in the village, we haven’t had a case of rabies in my whole lifetime.’

​

Annelies shook her head reluctantly, while Cedi seemed to wait for Grandmother’s answer. She sighed. ‘I don’t think there’s much we can do for him.’

​

‘We have to at least try!’ Liliana knew her grandmother well enough to know when she was about to relent. ‘I’ll get your ointments!’

She grabbed the bundle from Grandmother’s chamber and ran back again.

​

‘All right.’ Grandmother took the bundle off her. ‘Chamomile for cleansing, yarrow to stop the bleeding and ribwort to stimulate skin formation. Clean sheets for bandages. Move! This man has already lost far too much blood! But rub your hands with cider. Just in case.’

​

Since Annelies still refused to touch the dying man, she was sent to fetch Priest Mathias. Liliana started to remove the torn clothes from the body and clean the wounds. She had helped Grandmother patch up injured people from the village before and had believed she wasn’t easily fazed. But now she felt weak on her feet.

​

Of course, Grandmother noticed and turned to her, using a stern voice. ‘Go and wash that blood off! Thoroughly. With soap. Then get a bite of bread from the kitchen, dove.’

​

She nodded, took a gulp from the liquor bottle, and rinsed her mouth with another. Her throat burned as she stumbled out of the room.

​

‘Hey, you’re supposed to rub it in, not drink it!’ Cedi shouted after her.

​

Outside, she bent over the small stream behind the oil press. In her twenty-two years, Liliana had never seen anyone in such a bad state. She washed her hands, her face and all her clothes. If her fingers hadn’t gone numb, she would have enjoyed the cleansing cold.

​

In her wet petticoat, she staggered back to her room to get fresh clothes. There the stranger lay bandaged on a sheet on the floor, while Grandmother pulled on his outstretched arm, her foot in his armpit as a counter-lever.

​

Liliana dropped her pile of clothes. ‘Grandmother, what are you doing?’

​

She heard a muffled snap, and Grandmother gently put the arm back. ‘His shoulder was dislocated. That’s what happened to Frederik last spring, if you remember?’

​

‘He wouldn’t stop whining,’ Cedi interjected. ‘At least this one knows to keep quiet.’

​

‘Very funny, Cedi,’ Liliana began, but Grandmother interrupted her.

​

‘He needs proper stitches in some places. His torso has literally been slashed. Unfortunately, I’m no surgeon. And my eyes aren’t getting any younger.’

​

‘Then someone should get a surgeon!’ Liliana said, slipping into fresh clothes.

​

Grandmother shook her head indecisively. She and Cedi grabbed the ends of the cloth and lifted the stranger back onto Liliana’s bed. ‘That would cost a lot, only for him to die on us anyway.’

​

‘And if he dies because we didn’t bother with a surgeon?’

​

There was a brief moment of silence, and the sounds from outside gained prevalence: the croaking of arguing chickens and a dull rumbling from the barn. Grandmother put a hand on Liliana’s arm. ‘We’re already doing what we can. I’ve seen people die from far milder injuries. Today, the journey to the city and back would take too long.’

​

Liliana crossed her arms and said nothing.

​

‘We’ll put a compress of comfrey root on the arm here and the ribs. This looks contused, could be broken, who knows. As for the leg here, we’ll need to put it back into the right position and fasten it in place. Cedric, find me two rods.’

​

When the two others were gone, she added quietly, ‘If he survives the night, we’ll ask your father to send someone to the city tomorrow. All right, my dove?’

​

Not taking her eyes off the stranger, Liliana nodded. Only after she could in good conscience assume that she had done everything possible for him, did she finally eat some bread and cheese. Then, lost in thought, she sat down at the weaving loom. Finding this stranger in the woods was undoubtedly the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her. Who was he?

​

Although she had few friends among the villagers, she would have quickly recognised one of them, even in this sorry state. In addition, the tattered clothes were of precious workmanship, with rich colours and engraved silver buttons. No one around here was dressed like that. He may have just been passing through the area. But that raised just as many new questions. Where did he come from and where was he headed? Had he been travelling alone? And if not, what had happened to his companions? Was he the only survivor? Had they thought him dead and simply left him behind?

​

When the others came in for lunch, Liliana hardly noticed. Because Priest Mathias was nowhere to be found, Annelies returned without him. Cedric, who had only just turned fourteen, was busy giving his account of the story. Meanwhile, Grandmother served gruel, which Hans and Jakob, the two farmhands, immediately shovelled into their mouths. Frederik and Father listened with the same sceptical lines on their forehead.

​

‘Do we know who he is?’ Father asked.

​

‘No,’ Liliana replied, and the others who had already seen the stranger shook their heads. ‘I’d guess he’s in his mid-twenties. His clothes were torn but too fancy for someone from around here.’

​

‘Do you have any idea what might have happened to him?’

​

‘No. There were wolf tracks. If it was wolves though, why would they leave him lying around and not just eat him? There were even bloody guts scattered in the trees! I’ve never seen anything so horrifying!’

​

‘He must’ve met one of those monsters!’ Annelies lowered her voice. ‘I hear beasts roam the forest at night, horned and with wings. They drink blood and kidnap children.’

​

‘You hear a lot.’ Frederik rolled his eyes.

​

‘I’m serious! My friend Lena has an aunt who almost fell victim to one. She saw a terrifying figure among the trees, whose eyes gleamed with malice in the darkness. In her village, several people have disappeared without a trace.’

​

This provoked another roll of Frederik’s eyes, but Cedi shuddered with relish, and Jakob nodded knowingly.

​

‘Enough of these old wives’ tales,’ Father grumbled. ‘It was scavenging birds. Ravens will peck at a carcass, for example, and if they got too greedy and dropped parts or fought over them …’

​

But Annelies wasn’t cut back so easily. ‘Two nights later, a sinister figure crept around Lena’s house and sniffed around everywhere. The chickens didn’t lay eggs for a whole week because they got such a fright!’

​

‘Oh, come on,’ Cedi interposed. ‘Now that’s made-up! I bet it was just an unlucky suitor who made his rounds at beautiful Lena’s house, like a mangy tomcat. She should be glad he didn’t sing.’

​

‘Talking about suitors.’ Frederik diverted the conversation. ‘You told us about your uncle the other day, Annelies. His engagement broke off?’

​

He gave Liliana a meaningful look and she put on an uncaring expression, although she was tempted to kick his leg under the table. She had no plans of getting engaged to anyone’s uncle.

​

‘Oh, it was terrible!’

​

Annelies immediately picked up on this prompt and talked about a dispute over a long hair that the fiancée had discovered on a coat collar. Liliana sighed inwardly. It probably came from a horse. As long as Annelies held the attention of the table, the maid didn’t care what kind of nonsense she spouted. But Liliana was bored with trivialities disguised as grave news. Usually, they weren’t even very inventive. She would have preferred to immerse herself in one of her books, which touched her with their skilful narrative no matter how many times she’d read them already.

​

Soon, Father chased them back to work. In winter they had more leeway, yet there was a long list of tasks that needed doing every day. The harvest had been so successful this year that the men were still busy threshing. Liliana preferred not to go back into the forest for now and continued to weave until it was time to milk. She would look for resin for Grandmother’s incense and pitch ointments another day.

​

In the evening, the family sat in the living room as usual. Since this was open to the kitchen, the heat of the stove spread well. In addition to carving, braiding, spinning and weaving, there was a lot of chatting and gossiping. Liliana gladly took this opportunity to disappear into her room and read. Father took pride in having a daughter who read, so she didn’t care when Annelies and Cedi accused her of wanting to avoid work.

​

Although, this time, Liliana was drawn to her room not only by her books but also by curiosity and concern for the stranger. He was still lying there like a corpse. Relieved, she watched the blanket move gently up and down over his chest. She grabbed one of her books but kept looking up, because she knew the tale she read almost by heart. Before she set up straw sacks in the living room to sleep on, she’d fetch a warming pan so that he wouldn’t freeze.

​

‘Don’t give up,’ she said softly.