As we rode out, young Henryk dropped back from the front column and rode at my side. 'A remarkable coat of arms, Sir Conrad.'
'Indeed, my lord?'
'A white eagle on a red field. That is very similar to the insignia of the dukes of Poland.'
'Consider it a symbol of Poland, my lord.'
'And the eagle wears a crown. Do you claim to be a king?'
'No, my lord. I'm saying that Poland needs a king.'
'Hmm, 'Poland is not yet dead.'' He read my motto. 'Are you saying that Poland is dying?'
'It's lying in a dozen pieces, my lord. That's a fair start. '
'You know that my father and I are working to unite those pieces.'
'I know, my lord. When you weld them back together, I will change my motto.'
He laughed. 'Done, Sir Conrad! In ten years I'll watch you paint out that motto yourself.'
'Gladly, my lord. But do it in nine.'
We stopped for an early dinner and then spread out at twohundred-yard intervals to sweep through the forest, driving the animals toward the mountains. Lambert was on the far right, and my station was next to him, with Sir Vladimir to my left. They had deliberately put me between two experienced hunters, which was fine by me.
After a few hours I found myself facing a large bull bison a hundred yards away. Anna immediately broke into a gallop. Anna was trained to pass to the right of a charging knight so that one's spear went over the horse's neck at the knight to the left, but it was easier to use a spear on the right if one had to strike downward. I signaled her to pass on the left. The bison charged at us, not to slightly miss, as a knight would, but directly at us, to ram!
I was bracing for a crash when Anna abruptly sidestepped at the last instant. Surprised, I managed to get a slashing cut into the animal's shoulder. It was bleeding, but it was not mortally wounded.
The bison had had enough and took off at a dead run, angling in front of Lambert. Anna, of course, raced behind it.
'After it, Sir Conrad!' Lambert shouted, and blew a signal on his horn, which I didn't understand. I'd been given a hunting horn, but I didn't know how to use it.
Anna was faster than the wounded bison, but he was built lower to the ground than we were, and he knew it; he charged through the thickets and under low branches. We lost sight of him.
I found tracks along a game trail and followed them for half an hour. By now we were into mountainous country and the trail seemed to lead between two cliffs, about two hundred yards apart, into a valley beyond. The valley contained about a square kilometer of flat land and was devoid of bison, wounded or otherwise. We worked our way up the sloping walls toward the bald mountains above, but it was soon obvious that I had lost the animal.
I was tired, and Anna probably needed rest, although she didn't show it. I dismounted, took a long drink of water from my canteen, and gave the rest to her. I sat down and fell another yard into a hole.
It was not actually a hole but a cave, and the floor sloped downward at a forty-five-degree angle. I was sliding on my back, headfirst into the darkness. My shoulder hit an obstruction. I yelled and flipped over and skidded on my armored belly, feet first, for about twenty yards and then hit water. Ile cave was narrow, only about a yard across, and had I still been going headfirst, I might have ended my story right here, by drowning.
As it was, I was able to wedge myself between the walls and work myself out before I ran out of air. Climbing up in slippery armor was a miserable job, but I managed it. I looked around. It was not a natural cave at all but an abandoned mine'
When I finally got out to greet my anxious horse, I threw myself on the ground, exhausted.
Shortly, I heard a horn blowing from the entrance of the valley. I got up, managed to get a squeak out of the horn slung on Anna's saddle, and then sat down again, carefully avoiding the hole.
Count Lambert rode up. 'Sir Conrad, what are you doing up here?'
'Trying my hand at drowning, my lord.'
'Drowning on a mountainside with no water in sight? By God, you are all wet! Another of your arcane arts?'
'No, my lord. I simply fell down a mine shaft.'
'Ali, yes! I remember that shaft. It was dug in my grandfather's time. They used to dig coal out of it and burned limestone from that outcropping to make mortar.'
'The coal seam ran out?'
'No, there's plenty of coal down there. But when you have two men mining and thirty more passing water buckets, there's not much profit in it. That mine is full of water.'
'I noticed, my lord.'
'Well, we got your bison two miles to the east. You followed a day-old trail up here. I gather that you don't know much about hunting.'
'No, my lord. I've never hunted before in my life.'
'There are a lot of things that you don't know much about. Since we're alone, it's time we discussed them. I'm talking about Krystyana.'
'What about her?'
'Understand that playing a joke on my sister-in-law is one thing. Encouraging a peasant girl to take on the airs of the nobility is quite another. Aside from the offense this gives my other vassals-yes, and my liege lord! Do you realize that Henryk asked me why I had a noblewoman working like a servant?-aside from that, have you thought about what's to become of her? Is she going to be content to settle down as a peasant's wife?'
'No, my lord. She wouldn't be.'
'Do you plan to marry her yourself?'
'No, my lord.'
'Then why have you encouraged her to rise so far above her station?'
'Well, she's a good girl, an intelligent girl who wanted to better herself, and I didn't think-'
'That's just it! You didn't think! What's more, it's spreading. Three or four of the others are starting to imitate her. You started this, Sir Conrad. What do you plan to do about it?'
'I don't know, my lord.' He was right, of course. I'd set the poor kid up for a nasty fall. I'm good with technical stuff, but I am not a wizard when it comes to people problems. Best to change the subject. 'You know, if there is still coal in this mine, I could build pumps to empty the water. We could make mortar here again.'
'Ah! I see where you are leading. That would take you out of Okoitz, and you could take the girls with you. Well, why not? You've given my workmen projects that will take a year or two to complete, and it's time you had your own lands, anyway. What if I gave you this valley and the land for a mile around it?'
'A mile, my lord?' God! He was giving me some eighteen square kilometers of land!
'You are right, of course. This soil is rocky and poor. You'll need more. The top of that mountain is the boundary of my brother's land. We'll make that your southern boundary. We'll extend you to Sir Miesko's land on the east and to Baron Jaraslav's on the north and west. That will give you lands about six miles across. You should be able to eke out a decent living on it, in sheep if nothing else. In return, let's see. I'll want you to come to Okoitz for two days a month to oversee your improvements there. And if you get this mine working, I'll want a hundred mule loads of mortar a year. Agreed?'
'Yes, my lord. You are most generous!'
'Good, then it's settled. Leave tomorrow and take the girls with you. Now let's return to the hunting party.'
'Will the duke approve your grant?'
'That is a very good question., I don't know.'
I had taken first blood on the expedition, which was apparently some sort of honor even though Sir Vladimir had actually killed the bison. All told, the knights took four bison and six wild pigs.
The meal that night was braised pork-sort of a shish kebob-and bison stew.
Because of the first-blood thing, I was seated at the high table between Lambert and the duke. I was the only mere knight up there. All the rest were at least barons. Baron Jaraslav sat to the duke's left.
The high table was just that. It was a third of a yard higher than the rest of the collapsible trestle tables in the hall. We had a correspondingly higher bench to sit on.
