Part 15 (1/2)
So a commoner in their number”
”But the east line is already low on horse Piotr hbors,” Sir Miesko said ”If you really want him on horseback, why not make him your squire? It's a simple formality”
I didn't see any reason why not I was entitled to a squire or two, and Piotr was the sort ould get a kick out of that sort of thing Being e his pay or duties
I asked Piotr about it and he was absolutely delighted No Ahteenth birthday was ever happier
The cere in and we did it within the hour Sir Miesko ht Any reason for a celebration was alelcohts ere the special friends of three of , Piotr probably wouldn't have gotten his pro hi a field kitchen at a manor where Sir Vladimir and Annastashi+a were stationed
Thus, there were exactly as many men as women at Piotr's feast Natalia, Yawalda, and Janina naturally paired off with Sir Gregor, Sir Wiktor, and Sir Wojciech Banki, I had Cilicia, and this naturally forced Krystyana on Piotr He of course race
Having a partner at a for other things, you shared the same spoon, cup, and bowl Krystyana stayed polite, but was formal and cold And at the dance, later, she refused to do a waltz with him, new squire or no new squire
Why Piotr was so determined to have this one lady was beyond me There had to be a masochistic streak in the little fellow
In the , the beaters were fed while it was still dark and were lined up in the dawn around the periphery of the hunting district, paralleling the group fro up with the beaters to the north When all was ready, the signal to advance was given and the day's walk began People swung sticks at the brush and made as much noise as possible Wild anigressive, so there were no real proble, the beaters were shoulder to shoulder and the valley at Three Walls was packed with aniuards with torches around the blast furnace workers to keep the ani theround outside the valley, perhaps surrounding the plain at the valley mouth with japanese roses
There were over five thousand people at Three Walls that night, and for the four days thereafter Soot them all fed and bedded doall-to-wall people everywhere, even in the church
Baron Stefan, in his gold-washed ar to stay polite, but he and his knights were soht his own servants and had them serve him when everybody else ate cafeteria-style, but I er swearing atroom to bunk down in and that seean and it went on for four days We were better prepared to process the meat this year than last More smokehouses had been built and we had vast quantities of barrels and salt, enough to sell to anyone anted thee machines worked around the clock, and everyone ate liver and kidneys, the most desirable parts of the animal by medieval standards, until they couldn't hold anyof everything and I heard no objections to the final sharing out
The one sour point happened when one of the duke's men, Sir Frederick, came over and told iven hiht ht wear one
Wonderful That cut my potential market for wolf skins by a factor of a hundred My profits were going right down the toilet, but there was nothing I could do about it One did not argue with the duke
I probably had twelve thousand wolf skins co to do with them Maybe I could dye them another color and pass them off as from some other animal
Much later, it turned out that I needn't have worried Saying that none but a noble that a nobleman must wear one, at least to the fashi+on-conscious Polish nobility The demand for wolf skins ay up and the price of wolf skins tripled by est stock of wolf skins in the world? My God, how the , the Banki brothers came to my office, which adjoined my bedroom
”We have come to formally request the hands of three of your wards, Natalia, Yawalda, and Janina, in honorable or said
This took me completely by surprise I'd known for a year that the three couples had a thing going, but matrimony just hadn't occurred to ,” I said ”Sit down and have soirls know that you are here?”
”It was them that put us up to it,” Sir Wiktor said
”That's usually the way of it,” I said ”First off, I want to say that I like you three I think that you would make fine husbands, but, well, I'm not their father I suppose that I can speak for Janina, since her parents are dead, but Natalia's father is alive and well at Okoitz, as are both of Yawalda's parents It is froirls, not or said ”Yet our loves would do nothing without your permission, and it is not likely that a peasant would object to his daughter ht”
”I suppose so,” I said ”There is the fact that these three girls all have responsible positions here, and they all earn very goodthe about your own financial positions Can you afford to support theor said
”Our parents have both been dead for years, and while their lands were aht, they don't do the best job at supporting four You see, there is a fourth brother that you haven't met Stanislaw is probably the best farroheat on a stone!-but he's very much of a stay-at-home We aren't by any means wealthy, but if the dowries were adequate, we could easily support our ladies”
That took ive you three lovely ladies, three of ers, but that I should also pay you to take thehters? Isn't that a bit much?”
”Well, a bride usually coor hushed his over with our ladies, Sir Conrad, and the truth is that while they are eager for e with us, they do not want to leave their positions at Three Walls Your adopted daughter, Annastashi+a, has stayed here after her ets no pay other than his ave hiood fighting men would be useful to you, ith all the caravans you have going in and out of here Don't they need guards?”
”First off, I can hardly adopt the girls in the same way that I adopted Annastashi+a Quite frankly, I've slept often with all three of thehters! And the 'dowry' that I gave Sir Vladiether in that fight with the Cross part of it a doas just a way of giving Sir Vladi the duke Count Lambert never pays more than five hundred pence to , and then only when they're pregnant, generally by hiirls are hardly peasants any like the aave to our cousin Sir Vladimir Say, three thousand pence each In return, ill swear fealty to you and serve you daily for four years, asking only our ht pence a day and ht and his horse That came to just less than three thousand pence a year The brothers were offering me quite a deal, about seventy-five percent off They must have wanted my ladies pretty bad Anyway, I hadn't slept with any of theo to waste
”Okay, I think we have a deal, providing that the girls continue on as et their parents' permission, post proper banns at the church, and so on If you're to swear to h Count Lambert's brother, Count Herman, aren't you? I think we need the permission of both counts before I can swear you in All that will probably take three or fouraround Easter”
The brothers were delighted and went off to tell their prospective brides, aiting out in the hallway, probably with their ears pressed to the door, if I knew that crew, and I did
When the slaughter was over, and the fe with the young and a sixth of theto schedule, we held a last feast and a dance The uests departed happy and heavily laden
The icehouse and storerooross of deer to provide fresh e piles of salted down deer and wolf skins It was time we set up a tannery
I couldn't properly announce the engagements to all the hunters present, since the parents had not yet given their permission, but the day after the crowds left, we threw a party in celebration anyway, just a small one forthe tiive hione, she just naturally came up to join the party The Banki brothers had heard a lot of stories about Anna, of course, but I don't think that they really believed any of the room and sat down I introduced them and explained about her speech difficulty, and they were most surprised to find the who looked like a horse!
I was a little surprised when Piotr came uninvited to the party, which was for my household only, but Sir Vladimir explained that as my squire, Piotr was uess I just hadn't thought it out properly But there was nothing for it but to invite hiive him one of the spare roohted with thisabout it In fact she had been doing a great deal of scowling lately, and I began to think that having a talk with her was in order It hurts to be hated
I thought about her as the evening went on, and some of her troubles were obvious Since I'd met Cilicia, I hadn't had veryto share ive ether Then too, she had left Okoitz in the coo Now one was ed, or nearly so, to the Banki brothers She had always been the leader of that group, and now she was the one left behind Only Natasha remained unattached besides her, and Natasha was a relative newco this out, and I noticed a slight bulge in her tuht have hit on Krystyana's big problem
As soon as I could, I called Natasha aside and asked her about it
”Of course, my lord You didn't know? Krystyana is heavy with your child”
”My child? You're sure of that?”