The High-Tech Knight

by Leo Frankowski

  Then I was also being drawn to that infernal wall, or at least my chain mail was. And my helmet was pulled from my head, joining my knife on the wall. At that point, the lamp went out, extinguished perhaps by a drop of sweat, or maybe I bumped it. Or maybe whoever or whatever was pulling at my arms and armor saw fit to do his further work in darkness.

  I did not cry out, for a true knight never calls out save as a battle cry. My silence had nothing to do with that silly old legend.

  In all events, I could see no use to my remaining. I could accomplish nothing, and whatever was attacking me, its surcease was beyond the abilities of a mere knight. Let some wizard handle it, or perhaps Sir Conrad.

  I crawled quickly, and perforce backward, out of the tunnel.

  FROM THE DIARY OF CONRAD SCHWARTZ

  Tadeusz the innkeeper was enthused with the idea of opening another inn in Cracow. Several times in the past, he had asked me for permission to enlarge the present inn, since it was so profitable. I always turned him down because we already had most of the business in Cieszyn. The other inns in town handled little but our overflow. When you are already satisfying your entire market, there is no point in investing in further plant and equipment.

  But Cracow had three or four times the population of Cieszyn, and a much larger Pink Dragon Inn there would make sense. To Tadeusz, going to Cracow was like a modern ballerina’s going to the Bolshoi. The big time!

  Tadeusz had six sons working for him, most of them adults. Our plan was to leave the oldest boy in charge of the inn in Cieszyn. Tadeusz would take the rest of his family and, later, one half of his staff and go to Cracow.

  There they would buy-if necessary build-a suitable building. The guilds in Cracow wouldn’t allow me to handle any construction work, which was just as well. I had my hands full as it was. Tadeusz had definite ideas about what he wanted -something similar to our present facilities only larger and plusher.

  After that, I wanted a small inn at Three Walls, and if the Cracow inn was a success, we might expand to Wroclaw and Sandomierz. After that, who knew? Perhaps each of his sons would be an innkeeper.

  Tadeusz, his wife, and five of their sons left for Cracow the next morning as I was leaving for Three Walls. But of course they couldn’t keep up with Anna.

  A mile from Three Walls, I overtook Boris Novacek and a knight heading in the same direction that I was. For a few days last fall, I had worked for the man, and most of my wealth had been gained while in his employ. He had been treated rather shabbily by Count Lambert, to my profit, and I had always felt guilty about it.

  “Boris! I haven’t seen you since last Christmas. Are your ventures profiting you?” I said as the horses walked slowly down the trail.

  “As well as can be expected, Sir Conrad. I thought I would visit your new lands and see what wonders you were working there. This is my new companion, Sir Kazimierz, who now has your old job.”

  “A pleasure, Sir Kazimierz. I hope you last longer at it than I did.” I turned back to my old boss. “You’ll always be welcome at my table, Boris. But the truth is that there isn't much to see yet at Three Walls. We're just getting it built. I'm, pretty proud of the mill and factory I designed at Okoitz, though. You should visit there.”

  “I’ve thought on it, but I fear that Count Lambert would decide that I wanted to gift him with all I own as a birthday present, so I have avoided the place.”

  “He was pretty rough on you last winter. Nonetheless, he now has a cloth factory and more cloth than he can sell. You once said that you wanted to get into the cloth trade. You might strike a good bargain there.”

  “Another thing. I now own a brassworks in Cieszyn. They’ve been selling all the brass they can pour, and are having a hard time getting enough copper. The price of copper in Cieszyn has doubled since last spring.”

  “An interesting thought, Sir Conrad. To buy cloth at Okoitz, sell it in Hungary, and return with copper for Cieszyn. I think that would be profitable. The truth is that I have no goods just now but plenty of money.”

  “Quite a bit of money, in fact. You remember that German who attacked us on the road just out of Cracow last winter? Not Sir Rheinburg, the other German the day before.”

  How could I forget? He was the first man I had ever killed. “Yes.”

  “Then you will recall that I mentioned that if he had really purchased my debt from Schweiburger the cloth merchant, and if he had no heirs, I would be forgiven that debt of twenty-two thousand pence.”

  “Well, that very thing has come to pass, and I am now richer because of it. I never had to pay the debt and I even recovered my amber from Schweiburger. ”

  “You mean that man was an honest creditor?”

  “A creditor, yes. Honest? Do honest men pull knives on others on the highway? He tried to kill me, and then you as well. Anyway, my debt was not in arrears at the time. He had no right to accost us like that.”

  “Still, it troubles me.”

  “Well, it shouldn’t. You did no wrong, and now there is a bit of gold for you with which to salve your conscience.”

  “What do you mean, Boris?”

  “I mean that I said at the time that if he really had a deed of transfer, you would get half of my profits. I’ve never gone back on my word yet, and I won't start now. Eleven thousand pence in those sacks is for you.”

  “You have traveled three days to pay me a huge sum of money that I would never have known about if you hadn’t told me?”

  “Yes, Sir Conrad. I suppose that’s a true statement.”

  “I’ve never heard of -such honesty. Especially after Count Lambert took the much larger booty we won from Sir Rheinburg and gave most of it to me, even though you actually found the treasure in Rheinburg's camp. I was so concerned about that baby that I stepped right over the treasure chest without noticing it. I hate to speak ill of my liege lord, but I've always thought that you were robbed.”

  “I wasn’t pleased with Count Lambert either. But his actions as regards the second booty have nothing to do with my word as regards the first.”

  “Boris, you still amaze me. But-there’s no way that I can accept that money. It simply wouldn't be fair. if Count Lambert hears about the business, well, it was all a legal matter in Cracow, and so is none of his business. If he doesn't hear about it, so much the better.”

  “Now it is my turn to be amazed, Sir Conrad. No other knight in Christendom would have forgiven me this debt.”

  “Let’s just say that we're two honest crazy people who like each other.”

  “Done. But tell me, is there something that you need? Something that I can do for you?”

  “You know, maybe there is. You travel all over eastern Europe. You meet a lot of different people. I want to hire a special kind of a man.”

  “The truth is that I know very little about practical chemistry. I know quite a bit about theoretical chemistry, but all of it was using packaged and bottled chemicals that were bought from a supply house. Such places aren’t available in this land, and I wouldn't know bauxite from phosphate rock. But there must be somebody who knows how to take rocks and sulfur and what not and make acids and bases and salts out of them. I think you would call such a man an alchemist.”

  “I don’t understand much of what you said, but I have heard of alchemists. I will spread the word that you want one. But most of those men are frauds and liars. How could I possibly know a good one from an imposter?”

  “I recall that the Moslems had-have-better alchemists than we do, so he might be a Moor. And if he knows how to make the three strong acids, if he can show you a liquid that can dissolve gold, aqua regia it’s called, then he's my man.”

  “I will search for you, Sir Conrad. I cannot promise what I’ll find.”

  “Thank you, Boris. Tell me, what became of the amber you recovered from Schweiburger?”

  “I sold it at a good price to a caravan of Crossmen.”

  On arriving at Three Walls, I had to spend a few hours playing manag
er. The mining foreman reported that they had found a seam of clay in the mine. This was expected, since clay is usually found in association with coal. Still it was good news, for now we knew that we could manufacture bricks and clay pipes efficiently.

  Then a rather shamefaced Sir Vladimir told me about the second tunnel and “sticky rocks.” I had to hear his jumbled tale twice before I could figure out what he was talking about. Then I felt a very pleasant glow.

  I changed into my work clothes and went to the boys’ tunnel. A crowd of people gathered who should have been working, but I decided that they should be in on this one, since it would affect all of their lives.

  I crawled in almost on my belly, so tiny was that shaft. From the position of the shaft and the way it angled upward, it was obvious that it had been dug with the intention of draining the mineshaft above. If I could accurately measure the angles and distances involved, I should be able to compute the distance we would have to pump to reach the coal.

  But more important was what stopped the old miners from their digging. Once I reached it, there could be no doubt. The knives and Sir Vladimir’s helmet were held magnetically to the ore seam. There's only one magnetic rock that I know of, and that's magnetite, sometimes called lodestone. It's one of the best iron ores.

  The old miners had dug that far and had then been scared off by something that they couldn’t comprehend. It was probably why the valley had been abandoned fifty years ago.

  I really had to yank to get the knives and helmet away from the ore seam, but it seemed important that I do so. Sir Vladimir was glad at the return of his equipment, but from that day on his helmet was magnetized and collected iron filings the way a boy collects dirt.

  “Did you find the Ghost of the Mines?” a dirty boy asked me as I returned his knife.

  “No, but I found a treasure he was guarding!”

  This caused a lot of mumbling in the crowd, so I climbed a bit up the hill so they could all hear me. -..

  “There is a kind of magnetic ore called magnetite that has the property of sticking to iron and steel. We have a seam of it in that shaft. It’s perfectly natural and nothing to be afraid of. It's a good ore, and with it we can make iron and steel.”

  “Do you realize that in this one small valley, God has seen fit to give us every major mineral that we need? We have coal and iron ore and clay and limestone! With that we can make mortar and bricks and concrete! We can make iron and steel! We even have sandstone to line our furnaces and to make grinding wheels! I tell you that whatever else happens, the success of this valley is assured!”

  That got a cheer out of them, even though they didn’t realize all the work that would be involved.

  Interlude Three

  I hit the STOP button.

  “Tom, I can’t believe that many minerals all in one spot. Was that your doing?”

  “It was not. Except for the limestone, which is a common mineral throughout the Carpathians, those were all small deposits. None of them would have been commercially exploitable in the twentieth century, when volumes were large and transportation cheap. Small deposits like that are common in Europe. Conrad just lucked out, having them all so close together.”

  “Anyway, stop interrupting.”

  He pressed the START button.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sir Vladimir and I had just spent another grueling three-hour session of fighting practice, trying to teach me how to put a lance through a quintain, an old plywood shield with a small hole in the center of it. The glues used were inferior to the modem ones, and the thin strips of wood had started to delaminate. It wasn’t quite like modem plywood. The plies were at sixty-degree angles rather than ninety.

  The shield was fixed to one end of a crossbar that was mounted to a swiveling post. At the other end of the crossbar hung a hefty sandbag. You charged the thing at a full gallop and tried to put your lance through the hole. If you missed the hole, as I usually did, you hit the shield, spun the post around, and the sandbag hit you in the back of the head. This generally knocked you off your horse.

  Sir Vladimir considered even that arrangement to be rather effeminate. He wanted to replace the sandbag with a rock.

  I simply couldn’t master it. After two weeks of steady bruising, I was just as bad at it as when I started.

  “I’m beginning to lose faith, Sir Conrad. I fear you'll never be a lanceman. But see here, it isn't all that bad. Death must come to all men eventually, and at least yours will be in the glory of combat, with your friends looking on. We'll give you a beautiful funeral, and I'll light a candle in the church for you every Christmas and Easter.” He really meant it.

  It didn’t help at all that Sir Vladimir never missed with a lance. He was supposed to be instructing me, but in fact he didn't see how it was possible for anybody to miss so easy a target. He could hit the hole sideways! I mean that he could set the quintain at right angles to its normal position, charge it at a full gallop, and while passing three yards from it thrust his lance out to the side and skewer the hole every time.

  It was becoming obvious that if I was going to win the coming trial, I was going to need special weapons, or tactics, or help. Preferably all three. “Sir Vladimir, let’s go over the rules again. You said the code was 'arm yourself.' What if I brought in a cannon?”

  “What is a cannon, Sir Conrad?”

  “That’s sort of hard to explain. What if I was a bowman like Tadaos?”

  “A bow is hardly a knightly weapon. No true belted knight would use one in honorable combat. The bow is for peasants and women.”

  “Why is that? It seems a strange prejudice.”

  “Well, if everybody used them in a battle, who would know who killed whom? Where would be the glory in just going out and getting shot? The best men would fall as easily as the worst! What a horrible situation! No. A true knight would never use a bow or fire a trebuchet or anything of the sort.”

  “So projectile weapons are out?”

  “Of course, Sir Conrad.”

  “I guess that scuttles my cannon idea. I probably couldn’t develop gunpowder in the time available, anyway. How about armor? I noticed that you knights never armor your horses.”

  “There would be no point to it. Striking another knight’s mount would be a foul. At your trial, four crossbowmen will be at the ready to kill the man that does a foul deed.”

  “I didn’t realize that. How about weapons? I can use my own sword, can't 1, and not one of the heavy choppers you guys use?”

  “Your own sword is legal, as are any daggers, maces, axes, mauls, war hammers, or anything else that is not thrown. A weapon must stay in your hand.”

  “How about body armor? Do I have to wear chain mail?”

  “No, but you’d be a damn fool not to. You ought to have a coat of plates made as well.”

  “A coat of plates?”

  “Yes. I should have mentioned it sooner, but there’s still plenty of time. It's sort of a leather vest with iron plates sewn inside. You wear it either over or under your mail.”

  “You might want to get a great helm as well. They fit over your regular helmet, and you wear them for the first few charges, until the lances are broken. After that, if it comes to swordwork, you can take it off, to see better.”

  “So anything I come up with in the way of armor is fair?”

  “Anything at all. But I hope you don’t plan something stupidly heavy. Anything that slows you down will earn you a blade in the eye slit.”

  “What I’m going to build is going to be as light as chain mail.”

  The blacksmith I’d hired was good enough to handle general repair work, but I needed a real master. The best man I knew was Count Lambert's blacksmith, Ilya. The man was rude, crude, and obstreperous, but he had the skill.

  I left for Okoitz within the hour.

  Ilya was willing, indeed eager to come to Three Walls. It seems that he wasn’t getting along well with the wife Count Lambert saddled him with.

  �
�You understand that this is only temporary,” I said. “I won’t be a part of permanently separating a man from his family.”

  “You don’t have four kids screaming in the room when you're trying to relax. Somebody else's kids at that.”

  “If you didn’t want the woman and her children, you shouldn't have married her.”

  “Count Lambert wanted me to. You go argue with him if you want to.”

  “It’s not my problem.”

  Count Lambert was willing to lend me Ilya providing I found a replacement. The harvest season was in full swing and it was vital to have someone who could repair broken tools.

  I loaded Ilya behind me on Anna’s rump, and we made it to Cieszyn before dark. I gave Ilya a sack of money and told him to hire four assistants, plus one more man for Count Lambert.

  He was to buy his weight in iron bars and whatever tools he might need, and bring them to Three Walls in two days, along with a ton of charcoal.

  I introduced him to the innkeeper and to the Krakowski brothers, and told them to give him every possible assistance.

  Then I was back at Three Walls in the early dawn for more fighting practice. After that I limped back to my hut and started cutting out little pieces of parchment.

  It took the girls and me three days to get it right, but we made a full suit of articulated plate armor, the kind you’ve seen in museums. We made it out of parchment, with buttons sewn on where the rivets had to go.

  By the time Ilya had his forge set up, we had a complete set of patterns for him to work from. He thought it Was crazy, but he thought everything I did was crazy. I let him bitch, just so long as my armor got built.

  When you think about it, a blade is an energy-concentrating device. A sword takes all the force in your arm and concentrates it on the tiny area of the sharp edge. That’s why a sharp blade cuts better. It has a smaller area.