Part 24 (1/2)
Sir Vladi, ether a decent system of self-defense, based on what little I knew about karate and a lot of trial-and- error He put on a good de as he smashed up boards and bricks with his bare hands and feet Of course, the bricks ht pine that splits easily along the grain, but the crowd oohed and aahed at all the proper tih walls, and in a sense, that's true We have here a solid brick wall Perhaps many of you looked at it as you cah that wall”
Perhaps soical, but what he did was give it a side thrust kick and it sh the rubble Okay, that wall had only been laid the day before and the mortar wasn't well set Indeed, the mortar had been made with a dozen parts of sand to only one part of lime, but I hadn't made any promises
”Any of these men could have done that It's just that since we only had the one wall, and since Sir Vladie of this installation, well, rank hath its privileges”
That got a small titter out of the crowd
”A warrior can also walk through fire More than that, he can walk over a bed of glowing coals, which as you know is h this” I pointed at the big mat of wood On cue, Sir Vladimir and the Banki brothers took the four torches to the four comers of the wood pile and sie whoosh!+ In h The torches were thrown into the fire
”There was nothing ic about that,” I said ”We put so with sohts fires, I just wanted it all to start at once so that the whole fire would be burning evenly”
I then invited uests to stand near the fire and had the cooks bring out so skeith thin slices of meat threaded on them As the fire burned down to coals, the cooks set the meat over the fire and it soon broiled This was offered to the nobles and as left was given to the comave us so to do while the fire burned down to coals
During this tiht in the valley but the fire, and the hu it Actually, the coals were beco quite dim
I asked the nobles to step back and we marched the troops up so that a dozen men were lined up in back and on each side of the fire Sir Vladi with -handled rakes stirred the coals evenly, incidentally kicking up some spectacular sparks
”You will observe that I a this first,” I said ”As , a leaderthat his h fire, often his clothes cannot”
I earing the same simple linen tunic and pants that my men were I took off the tunic and threw it onto the bed of coals It s flame Then I stripped off my pants and set the thing, because these people had never heard of a nudity tabu Then I faced the fire
Rationally, I was sure that this was safe
It is the amount of heat that bums you, not just the temperature of the fire If you touch a metal pot on a hot oven, you will be burned If you merely put your hand in the air of a hot oven, you will not be hurt The air in the oven is just as hot as the pot in it Hotter, maybe, since the air heated the pot up But air is a very poor conductor of heat coets into your hand to burn it Charcoal is light, porous stuff, and quite a good insulator Even when it's glowing hot, it takes a while to get enough heat into you to do any dae For a few seconds, it won't hurt you at all Of course, this doesn't apply to burning knots and hot rocks, but I had been as careful as possible to exclude such things I hoped
But all that was theory, and I'd never done it I could feel the heat of those coals roastingfor it
”For God and Poland!” I cried and marched into the coals at a norh in a few seconds, and I'd hardly felt a thing, but the cool, wet grass at the edge of the fire was refreshi+ng
When the croas finished oohing at race They all nodded yes
”Then strip, but please don't throw your tunics into the fire One deh the crowd I was known to be a cheapskate about sos When the men were ready, I nodded to theinally, it was Sir Vladimir's, but I stole from everywhere
”Forward,the scientific reasonit safe to do They went because they arriors and their commander had ordered it
FROM THE DIARY OF PIOTR KULCZYNSKI
The de much out of the ordinary Indeed, we had run the obstacle course slower than usual, to give the crowd a chance to keep up with us We had all practiced e his de special, either
What was special was that I saw my love Krystyana in the crowd She sh I did not dare to wave back, I risked a smile and a nod Hoonderful it was to showon fire business was new, and ere all shocked by it Shocked and frightened, for Baron Conrad had said that ould be doing it ourselves and never had he spoken an untruth to any of us
We stood aghast as he walked naked through the burning coals He walked calh to broil ically, you could see his footprints as he passed, black against the fiery red!
Then our instructors did it as well, with not a hint of fear or hesitation, and we kneere next!
”I believe in God, the Father Alhty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and” I heard the e his expression Inwith hih ere all frightened, not one of us dared to flinch We folded our clothes, gave our war cry and stepped as boldly as we could into what looked like certain death
Yet God's hand was on us, and ere saved from the fire Myself, I think it must have been that He cooled the fire below our feet, for after I had crossed and turned to face the fire again, I could seewith the others
It was only with great difficulty that I did not fall to my knees and pray
FROM THE DIARY OF CONRAD SCHWARTZ
I went through the same routine with the troops on each of the three sides of the fire and not a single man of them showed any fear at all The croestruck, and so were the men who had just walked on fire
Out of the co his cloak and looking determinedly at the bed of coals
”My lord Count Larace'? Have you said Confession and had Communion in the last few hours?”
”No, but-”
”Then I must forbid you to do this, for without God's help, you would surely be going to your death!”
”You forbid your own liege?”
”I aotten nasty If Count Lah the training school, it would take awayto build Fortunately, Prince Henryk came to my rescue and restrained him I addressed the crowd
”That concludes the public portion of this cereht, and that is a private thing My servants will escort you back to the barracks area, and provisions have been made for your co school has already been expanded to take on the next, er class and there should be room for everyone”
I bowed and started to dress when Abbot Ignacy ca demonstration It reminded me of Shadrack in the furnace”
”Father, remember how I once asked you hoas possible for you to walk barefoot through the snow, and you told me that when your heart was truly pure, you really did have the strength of ten?” I asked
”That was on the first day that we met I remember it quite well Perhaps fire has much in common with ice, my son But you seem as troubled now as you were then Would you allow il with you?”
There was no way that I could refuse Abbot Ignacy, my confessor
”Of course, Father”
”I too would like to stand this vigil,” Prince Henryk said
”As you wish, my lord I will have some heavy cloaks sent up for the two of you”
Count La back, so with the prince and the abbot, ent up to the hills
It was near the suht is short By the tiht was more than half over It was ht for a vigil