I'm already in charge there!'
'Well, I won't stand for it! I'll go talk to the duke about this!'
'Feel free, but I've already discussed the matter with him. You know that he has long been displeased with you concerning the way that you have consistently lived in sin since coming here. He thinks that you should get married and that my daughter would be an excellent match. He has already given his blessings on the union!'
'But my lifestyle is a good deal more moral than yours!'
'True, at least by any sensible standard. But I am a mere backwoods count, whereas you have made yourself into a hero. Heroes have to live upright lives! After all, the youth of Poland looks to you for guidance! Myself, I think where you went wrong was all the charity work. You should have left those wretches alone,'
'But this is filthy, rotten blackmail!'
'Yes, it is, isn't it. Shall we say the day after Christmas for the wedding? The Bishop of Wroclaw has already given dispensation for the posting of the banns.'
'Damn you, Lambert! God damn you straight to hell and the devil!'
I stormed out of my office, pushing aside a startled secretary who was standing in the doorway. I went down to the stables, threw a saddle on Anna and charged back to Three Walls. I told the stable girl, Kotcha, to put Anna's best saddle and barding on her and went up to my room.
I put on my best armor, not my efficient Night-Fighter suit, but the fancy, engraved, gold-plated stuff they'd given me for Christmas a few years back. I threw my wolfskin cloak over my shoulders and went down to the strong room. I came back up with my saddlebags filled with gold. To hell with the silver, the gold would do. It was all that I could carry, anyhow.
Then I headed down the trail, or railroad track now, and at the first intersection I headed not east, toward the Mongols, but west, toward France! I'd heard a lot of nice things about France. Maybe I could even learn the language.
Nine years in a country that punishes a man for helping the poor! Well, to hell with them! To hell with them all.
We rode like thunder for hours and Anna never let up. She didn't know where we were going or why, but I wanted to go and that was enough for her. The one good friend I had.
Darkness was closing in as we rode by the trail to Countess Francine's manor. Well, it was a bit cold for camping out, and I hadn't brought my old camping gear along, anyway. Maybe Francine would like a lift back to France.
She was a countess while I was only a baron, despite the fact that her county was much smaller than my barony. She only had six knights subordinate to her, yet she was my superior in status. Because of this, she absolutely refused to use my title or her own when we were together, and got unhappy when I used them myself. I think she thought I really gave a damn about that sort of thing.
Her watchman must have called her, because the drawbridge was lowering as we approached, and she stood just behind it, waiting.
'You come gaily clad, my friend!' she said as she warmly embraced my cold armor.
'It seemed like a good idea, if I was going to France.'
'France! But you must come inside and tell me ail about it!'
A marshal came up to take care of Anna, but I slung the heavy saddlebags over my own shoulder. I just wasn't very trusting anymore.
At supper, Francine got the whole story out of me.
'So you charged away like a hero in a fireside tale, without even a change of underwear.' She giggled. 'Oh, you poor little dumpling.'
'Well, I don't think it's the least bit funny.'
'Of course it is not, darling. It is horrible. You have been rudely treated by a man that you have done everything for. You have a perfect right to be angry, but if Lambert has made himself your enemy, then you must fight him! You have done great things here and you must not let them be stolen from you!'
'The truth is that I really don't give a damn anymore.'
'You have just worked too hard for too long and have treated it all too seriously,' she said.
'Call it a long vacation, then. Say, fifty years or so. France still seems like a great idea. Would you like me to give you a lift there?'
'To ride with my knight and hero back to my homeland? Oh, Conrad, what a romantic thought! But France is not Poland and if you did not marry me, people would call me a strumpet! Would you let them do that to your poor damsel?'
'And so I would have to do the very thing I was running away from. You're pretty good at popping balloons.'
'And someday you must tell me what a balloon is, but not right now. Think! If you do not care about your wealth or position, what of the people who are depending on you? What of the noble Sir Vladimir? What of earnest little Sir Piotr? And Lady Krystyana. I know you loved her once. Has that love turned to such hate that you would abandon her to the Tartars?'
'No. I guess not.'
'Then you must stay in Poland and find a way to resolve your problem with Lambert. We must plan our strategy! We must confound your liege lord and defeat him!'
'Well, I can hardly go out and fight the man.'
'Of course not. You have a hundred fifty thousand fighting men and he does not have a hundred fifty, yes? How could there be a fight? You could massacre him if you wished, but that would be immoral. No. You must use a woman's arts of persuasion and intrigue, and I am the woman to help you with this. First, you must realize that you have many friends in the very highest places. The Bishop of Cracow is your friend and confessor, yes? And the duke himself is a member of your order of Radiant Warriors. And you have me. I spent many years by the side of the old duke. I know where all the bodies were buried and was privy to all of the old duke's secrets. '
'All? You mean...'
'Yes, all. Even about you. An old man will always tell everything to an adoring young woman.'
'Then ... tell me what you know about me.'
She glanced around to see that the servants were out of the room, then said quietly, 'I know that you have come to us from the far future in some way that even you do not understand. Is that enough?'
'It's way too much. You shouldn't have been told.'
'But I was. Don't worry, darling, your secret is safe with me. I swear that you are the only person I have ever told it to, and ever will.'
'And it doesn't bother you?'
'It is passing strange, but I love you still.'
'Well. You mentioned strategy. What do you think we should do?' I asked.
'First we must speak to the duke. We must do this right away, before Count Lambert has a chance to see him again. We must find out where he stands on your marriage to Jadwiga, and-'
'Who?'
'Jadwiga. Oh, you dumpling! You do not even know the name of the girl they are trying to marry you to?'
'The count never mentioned it.'
'Well, now you know. Knowing the young duke as I do, it is quite possible that he really does want you to get married. He is such a prude about some things! Has he ever mentioned it to you?'
'I'm afraid so. Quite a number of times, as a matter of fact. '
'Then you just might have to get married.'
'What!'
'Hush, dear. It is not the end of the world. You have been living with Cilicia for many years now, yes? Nothing need change if you were married to her. It could be done quietly, a few minutes with a priest. Is that so bad?'
'I can't marry Cilicia. We couldn't have a Christian wedding because she refuses to become a Christian! Believe me, I've been trying to convert her since we first met. And even if I was willing to become her brand of Moslem, which I'm not, her father has some sort of complicated theological reason why I couldn't join their church, or whatever they call it. The whole thing is simply impossible!'
'Then marry me. You have been coming here every few weeks for years. That would satisfy me, if I could get
