Part 5 (2/2)
”Of course I told you that I worked that out of your priest So?”
”So in the twentieth century, Poland is one of the world's largest copper exporters, whereas right noith all the copper ht be one of the world's largest copper iary, andAndrew rich”
”Huh Andrew has been less than polite to me lately So where is this ore at?”
”Maybe fifteen nica I'll have to find the exact location and find out ns the land”
”You've already done the second, boy The lands for forty nica have been in my family for centuries So I own copper What do you want out of it?”
”Well, if I could lease the land, your grace, what if I paid you a sixth of the profits in taxes?”
”A sixth, hell! I should get only one-sixth of what I already own? I'll give you a third for finding it and getting a srace, the cost of setting up an efficient e It will take hundreds of thousands of pence If I'm to pay that”
”So who says that you are? We'll do it on my lands and they'll be my factories and mines I just want you to run them for me, the way you built those cloth a fortune off theet half the cash he rakes in”
”Interesting, your grace I'd often wondered why Count Laain or bet with cloth, but not with money”
”Well, now you know Well, do we have a deal?”
”Do I have complete control of the whole operation?”
”hell, yes Do you think I'd want to dirty s your way, and I'll leave you alone, just so you turn in a good profit after the first year”
”The workers would be as well taken care of as those at Three Walls? And they would all be sworn to me?”
”It's a waste of et much out of them if they were sworn to so else you want to steal frorace There will be a lot of transportation going on We'll be taking coke froain to thethe copper back to Cieszyn There are eleven toll booths along that route Can anything be done about it?”
”Plenty That'll be my coke and my copper You tell that to any petty baron who tries to tax the me his head! You can throay the rest I wouldn't want anybody that durace I believe we have an agree it to er, and I want this binding on both sides Of course, the way you keep getting into fights, I just ht outlive you That was some of your judo stuff you used to break that Crossman's arrace It's called karate I didn't have any choice He was really a better fighter than I was My sas stuck in his shi+eld and I couldn't get it out I had nothing but ht you were just playing with hiain, your grace, I had to That first blow to the head he gave me would have killed me without this new plate armor As it was, it twisted the helht shoulder I couldn't use my shi+eld at all I couldn't even see it! Fortunately, I once learned a style of sword- fighting that doesn't use a shi+eld, but only a sword It's a sport in , because in the interests of safety, the coht on different sides of a fence I used that on him”
”Hah! And you beat hirace He was still better thanblows didn't hurtdefeated Sir Adolf”
”Interesting Could you race But this armor cost me eleven thousand pence, a dozen times what chain mail would cost In a few years, I'll have machines such that I can sell it for five hundred pence, and I'll besuits by the thousand”
”Good I'd like a suit of it race, there's no reason e can't make a few more suits by hand I'll have two suits ift, but please understand that they must be exactly fitted to your body Plate doesn't stretch the way chain mail does You'd each have to spend so made”
”I wanted to visit you anyway, as ood look at Lady Francine's tits! I'll be there in the spring”
”Wonderful, your grace We'll all be looking forward to your visit Be sure to bring your ar so that we can show hilowing If I was right, Lady Francine had a near royal protector, so she needn't worry about any legal problems The duke was the law If he liked her, she was safe, Church court or no Church court An oldwoman He has the wealth and power to keep her well, and lacks the ability to get her pregnant Not irls realize this, but their ancestors iser
More i to finance the whole copper works! Oh, I'd have to ot a fair return on his -ht, the duke had no idea what aAfter all, I trained my accountant ned to ave me that I wanted a table, four lamps, parchment, ink, and pens Once that was delivered, I told hiht and after that he was free to go away
It seemed that a lady would cost extra, unless I wanted one of the noblewoest themselves tohim I found that he had heard that I was a wizard who knew everything, anyway He knew he couldn't get aith a lie, so he figured that his best chance of survival was to tell the absolute barefaced truth There are certain advantages to having a strange reputation
There hadn't been anyone at dinner that I found attractive enough to be worth the hassle, and none of the ladiesI needed was an irate husband challengingabout other ladies available, I was told that the cost was a penny or two I gave hi, pretty, enthusiastic, and obedient I wanted her in an hour, and if she wasn't up to snuff, I'd take it out of his hide I guess I was in sort of a s like that, but when everything is going right, you get sort of wild
He said that he would do what he could, and what did I want told to the ladies who had bribed him?
”Just say that I have killed sixteen men in the last year, and I don't want any jealous husbands on my soul ”
”That should do nicely,the duke's contract when the servant returned with two young ladies
”I wasn't sure of your tastes, lanced up and said, ”The redhead will do” I gave the blonde a penny for her trouble and dis with the servant I told the redhead to undress and get in bed, and went back to writing the contract
Once I was through, I blew out three of the la to think that Count Laht The easiest way to treat subordinates was to give orders and expect the, the duke read the contract, said it e had agreed on, and gave it to a clerk to have sorabbed a bite in the castle kitchens, packed a lunch big enough for six and was pleased to see that the servant had Anna ready
”There was no bridle,me my hefty new lance and shi+eld
”Anna doesn't like bridles and spurs Tell the duke's servant that I e from the island so as to be on the west bank of the Odra River It was frozen over, but river ice can be treacherous, especially on horseback Anna can do soood reason
An hour's run took us to Legnica From there we headed northeast until we hit the river, then followed it upstream until it made a wide bend to the east
I'd toured the mines once, and they were just off the river, I think at this bend Of course, that was in the twentieth century, when one, and this ould be-a built-up industrial area
And rivers change course
It was dusk when I thought I n of human habitation for hours and Anna said that she couldn't s and I had so