“Who’s the hooded lady?” Ivan asked Feodor.
“Nadia’s escort.”
“Escort? What do you mean?”
“She came with Nadia from the Sisterhood. My Father says it’s to keep an eye on her. According to what Master Volok told Father, Nadia has a surprising talent. The Sisterhood is interested in her and has agreed to pay for the rest of her schooling.”
“What does that mean?” Ivan asked, with a sinking feeling in his gut.
“I imagine it means that this is just a vacation for her. She’ll be going back to Pavia.”
“When?”
Dimitri leaned over. “In the spring.”
Ivan felt betrayed. Nadia, his Nadia, well, not really his Nadia, but an old and dear friend. Now she would leave Belgorod Holding for a long time, maybe for good. He didn’t know much about the Sisterhood, other than that healers trained there.
Master Volok clapped his hands for attention. He made a short speech, and soon the dancing began as the fiddler fiddled. People danced, laughed and clapped their hands. Ivan danced with Magda, Mary and finally with Nadia herself.
She laughed as she spun in rhythm to the music. He concentrated because his feet had suddenly turned clumsy. When the dance was over, he walked with her to a quiet corner.
He said, “Now that you’re back, what do you think of the holding?”
“I love it here. It’s good to be back.”
He grinned foolishly, nodding. “And it’s great to have you back.”
“That’s sweet,” she said, touching his check.
Oh how he longed for her to leave her hand there. But why did his face heat up when she touched him?
“Are you all right?” she asked.
He blurted out the question that he was burning to ask. “Are you really going back to Pavia in the spring?”
“Who told you that?”
“Ah….”
“Tell me the truth, Ivan.” She poked him in the ribs. “I’ll know if you’re lying.”
“Feodor told me.”
“I wonder how he found out?”
“Master Volok told Dimitri.”
“I see. You men just can’t keep a secret.”
“Is it true?” he asked. “Are you really leaving in the spring?”
“I suppose so.”
“Why go back? Why not stay here?”
Her eyes took on a faraway look. “I have so much to learn. It’s exciting in Pavia and in the Chapter House. The lore books are filled with ancient wisdom. Everything I learn makes me yearn to test myself.” She smiled sadly. “How could I possibly not go back?”
“I don’t understand.”
“I have a gift, a special talent. Many people here paid for my schooling. Now the Sisterhood has agreed to pay the rest. Now I have to learn everything I can. I must prove myself worthy of the trust the good folk of Belgorod put in me.”
“You’ve changed,” he said. “You used to never talk like that.”
“I suppose Pavia’s duchess brought on much of the change.”
Ivan’s eyes widened. “You spoke to a duchess?”
Nadia laughed. “I spent a lot of time at the palace. It was part of my training.”
Ivan nodded numbly.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“What?”
“Your nod?”
“Just that I understand why you act so…regally.”
“You think I act regally?”
“It’s in the way you hold your shoulders or take your steps,” Ivan said, “or in the tilt of your head when people talk to you. But most of all it’s in the way you talk.”
“You’re most kind.”
“There, that’s what I mean.”
Nadia smiled. “You’re too easily impressed. I don’t act anything like the knights I saw or the ladies-in-waiting.”
“Ladies-in-waiting? What are those?”
“Ask Yury sometime. I’m sure he can tell you.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” Ivan said with a laugh.
Nadia sighed, and for a moment, the conversation dwindled. He stole a glance and saw that she watched Karlo from under her long eyelashes. The big knight danced with Lady Belgorod. He moved gracefully. Lady Belgorod and he had become the center of attention on the dance floor, although the song was almost finished.
Ivan suddenly felt hollow, dispirited.
Nadia turned back to him. For several heartbeats, nothing was said. Then she smiled and asked, “You know what I missed the most?”
He shook his head.
“Our snowball fights. Remember how I used to ambush you when you walked the hounds?”
“I do.”
“Why was it that I always won?”
“You didn’t always win.”
“Yes I did.”
“Maybe you did,” he said, smiling, “but only because once you hit me, you ran into the house.”
“So you admit that I always won?”
“You wouldn’t win anymore.”
“Don’t be too sure about that.”
Karlo appeared beside them. He asked Nadia, “May I have the next dance, milady?”
Nadia said as she curtsied, “It would be my pleasure to dance with such a noble knight.”
Sir Karlo laughed and held out a heavily muscled arm. Nadia took it. Looking back over her shoulder, she waved goodbye to Ivan.
Glumly, Ivan went to Feodor. Together they watched the others dance.
“Maybe we should go upstairs and cheer Yury,” Ivan said.
“I heard he’s asleep.”
Ivan shrugged, turning moody.
After the dance, Master Volok said, “It’s time to eat.” Lady Belgorod escorted Nadia to the head of the table. Housemaids set hot food and ale before them. Lady Belgorod made a short speech and everybody clapped at the end. It was a grand time and everyone enjoyed themselves. At the end of the evening both Nadia and Lady Belgorod were given a standing ovation.
Feodor spent the night out in the kennel. The next morning he helped Ivan with his chores. Yury slept, while Petor, Volok and Dimitri traveled to the nearby farms to tell the farmers about the moot in two days time. The few times Ivan went inside, he found Karlo and Nadia together in the main hall. They played backgammon and traded tales.
Ivan’s dislike of the knight increased. He began to question Karlo’s motives. Most of all he wondered about Perun and his sealed pouch. He wondered if someone could have left notes in the pouch. That would mean confederates hidden out in the woods. Hadn’t Magda first thought of Karlo as a bandit? The idea seemed a bit of a stretch, not because there couldn’t be bandits, but because it would be difficult to hide all the trail signs of bandits.
“Let’s go look for trail-signs,” Ivan told Feodor later.
“Today?”
“If they’re out there then today is better than tomorrow.”
“You won’t find anything,” Feodor said.
“Why not?”
“Last night Petor and my father looked. They took your pouch-story seriously.”
“Oh,” said Ivan. Then he thought of how Karlo had looked at Nadia. He turned mulish. “I still want to search.”
“Then let’s start.”
Ivan took Stribog, Vesna and his club. Feodor took his dog and an axe. They prowled around the holding in a mile-wide circuit. Once they came upon a lone wolf trail.
“Here’s a bold one,” Feodor said.
Ivan studied Vesna as the dog sniffed the trail. It must have been old. The dog wasn’t interested.
Later, Ivan spied a raven on a pine branch. He took out a sling and slipped in a stone. He muttered an oath as snow jumped up near the raven’s feet. The big bird cawed with rage, taking off to safer parts.
“Why did you do that?” Feodor asked.
“I’m hunting ravens now,” Ivan said. He told Feodor about the strange raven with the white mark on its beak.
“You’re letting yourself get worked up. I think you’re just
jealous about how much time Sir Karlo is spending with Nadia.”
Ivan fell moodily silent as he kept an even sharper watch for ravens.
They returned to the house toward evening, worn out and having found nothing.
-7-
The morning of the moot, Yury finally awoke and asked for food and water. In the afternoon, Feodor and Ivan went up to see him. Yury grinned a lot and endlessly told them what his father had said about him remaining a squire. To his disgust, he couldn’t remember the wolf fight, but in his buoyancy, he shrugged it off. Finally, dusk came and both Feodor and Ivan were dragooned into helping set up the moot logs. By the time the logs had been rolled into place (outside the picket fence but near the mill) farmers, their wives and children rode up in their jingling sleighs.
The horses were left in their harnesses, while the sleighs were parked a goodly distance from the logs. Once the sun set everybody from the holding, including a heavily bundled Yury, stood around the moot logs. Master Volok gave a short prayer to Hosar before he threw his torch onto the logs. Soon a blazing roar crackled. The huge flames kept everyone warm in the winter night.
Master Volok climbed atop a small wooden platform and shouted for everyone’s attention. He told them how Sir Karlo had saved Yury. Next he said that yes, Sir Karlo did have a kingly writ and permission to enter the Old Forest. And yes again, Sir Karlo could recruit farmers to help him find and dig up this treasure. “Yet I would have you hear what my wife said to me,” Master Volok said. He climbed down from the platform and gave his wife a hand up.
Lady Belgorod surveyed the crowd before she cleared her throat. “I urge you against this. You are farmers, not miners. It is better to rest for the coming spring than to go off tramping into the Old Forest. You have your own choice in this, of course, but in my heart I see nothing good happening from it.”
The people nodded as Lady Belgorod climbed down.
With his broadsword at his side, Sir Karlo climbed atop the platform. With the flames casting a play of shadows and light upon his pale face, he seemed every inch the knight. He showed them his map and the bag of silver coins. Then he talked about stout work being richly rewarded.
He ended with: “You would earn silver coins to buy more cattle, pigs and sheep. Or perhaps you wish for a new plow or an iron cooking pot from Pavia. Or maybe you wish to travel to the court to see the king. A few weeks tracking and spirited work in the Old Forest would allow all that. I personally vow that no harm will come to you.” Sir Karlo drew his blue-steel sword. “Few things, I wager, would gladly face a Bavarian knight when he has drawn steel.”
Master Volok motioned for him to step down. Magda stepped up next.
“You know that I don’t usually speak at a moot,” Magda began. “This time I feel I must. Strange events have occurred. Where one wolf prowled the district, suddenly an entire pack appears. What’s more, I know you’ve heard that several wolves charged Master Volok in the sleigh when he brought Nadia home. Only by Nadia’s magic were the wolves driven away.”
A murmur swept through the crowd.
“Yes, Nadia uses her talent in ways different than I use mine,” Magda said. “My point is this: Do you dare to enter the Old Forest with so many white wolves in the district? It’s something you should consider.”
“Nadia!” a farmer shouted. “Tell us how you chased off the wolves!”
“Yes!” another farmer cried. “I wish to learn about this.”
Lady Belgorod motioned to Nadia, although the Sisterhood escort seemed displeased.
“Go on,” Ivan whispered. “Tell the good folk about it.”
“Very well,” said Nadia. In her courtly manner, she walked to the platform and let Petor help her up the steps. Like Lady Belgorod, she surveyed the crowd. Nadia seemed every inch the highborn princess.
“Good folk of Belgorod Holding,” Nadia began. “If the truth be known, my tale is short and rather mundane. Master Volok held the reins while Gruner slept off his mighty feats at Rudel’s Inn.”
People laughed, well knowing Gruner’s ability to drink ale. Gruner himself smiled, although his wife didn’t. He quickly wiped away the smile.
“From out of the forest,” Nadia continued, “five white wolves gave chase. Master Volok shook the reins and we drove faster. The wolves leaned low to the ground and ran with purpose, their tongues slavering for our blood. Seeing they would reach us, I took out my wand and used the art taught me in Pavia. I could practice this art because your money and love had sent me to the Sisterhood Chapter House to learn. With my wand, I tricked the wolves and made them fear. They slunk away with their tails between their legs.”
The people clapped.
Nadia blushed. “Please, please,” she asked, holding up her hands, “don’t clap. Or better yet, if you clap for me, then clap for Gruner the Blacksmith when he makes a solid plow. Or clap for a good wife when the chicken she cooks tastes delightful. Or clap for a huntsman when he flushes out quail. In other words, my skills are just like yours, given to me by Hosar for the good of the community.”
The people whispered at her skill with words. They smiled proudly, especially the women who had helped pay for her schooling.
Sir Karlo motioned to Master Volok, indicating that he wished to speak again. Master Volok gestured toward the stage.
The big knight took the stand and gazed out over the crowd. He nodded to Nadia, to Magda and to Lady Belgorod. “You are persuasive speakers, I freely grant you that. Belgorod Holding is a lucky place to have such folk as you. Yet I believe that we are forgetting an important fact. Consider the idea of danger and the rewards won from braving danger. Would Nadia have become a powerful magic-user if she hadn’t braved the danger of leaving Belgorod Holding to travel to Pavia? For three years, I’ve heard, she lived alone and among strangers. Now she has returned with powerful and helpful skills.”
Karlo surveyed the crowd. “Surely many here spoke three years ago about the dangers Nadia would face if she left Belgorod.”
A few people nodded.
“But Nadia was brave enough to overcome those dangers and win renown with her art,” Karlo said.
“He’s twisting my story around,” Nadia whispered to Ivan. “You know I didn’t leave in order to gain renown, but to use the talent Hosar had given me.”
“He’s right just the same,” Yury whispered.
“Shhh,” Feodor said. “Let me listen?”
Ivan couldn’t decide if the knight’s words had truly displeased Nadia, or if she’d said that for their benefit. Then he felt guilty for questioning her words.
From upon the platform, Karlo raised his voice. “Let me tell you about another time when danger overcome brought great rewards.”
Yury’s eyes lit up.
Karlo told the tale of Bogdan Monomakh. The knight had helped Charlemagne defeat the Avar Khagan at the Ring. The people listened, entranced by Sir Karlo’s skills. Then Karlo deviated from the tale and told the story of Bogdan Monomakh’s groom. He’d been a young lad from a small village. There the bullies had beat him up and the good wives had scoffed at his scrawniness. Finally, the lad had run off. Through a series of local adventures with an old she-bear, Nine Fingers the Bandit and Bog the Giant and his infamous toll bridge, the lad had won some courage. A few of the Belgorod folk laughed at the tale. Then Karlo told how the lad had helped save Monomakh from vengeful Avars by pretending to be a leper. As such, the lad had escaped the Avar camp to make it to Bogdan Monomakh’s retainers. The end of the tale was well known, with Bogdan Monomakh killing the Avars in their camp.
Men shouted in approval.
Sir Karlo smiled, eyeing the throng. “Because Monomakh faced danger, he won great rewards as well as a great name. If you join me in this quest, you too may earn fame as well as riches. So what say you?” Sir Karlo shouted. “Will you join me for a few weeks of adventure, stiff work and well-earned pay?”
“I’ll join you!” a farmer shouted.
All eyes turned toward narr
ow-faced Farmer Lech. He smiled at his neighbors. “I wish to gain some easily won silver,” Lech said. “What say you, Danko? I know you’d like a new sleigh. Why not join me in the Old Forest and earn enough silver for it?”
Farmer Danko shook his head.
Feodor whispered to Ivan, “Everyone knows Farmer Lech is lazy. He’s always looking for ways to make quick money.”
Ivan recalled that Lech had once hotly argued against Dimitri and his record keeping. In the end, Dimitri had given Lech a few extra coppers out of his own pocket. After that, however, Dimitri wouldn’t allow Lech to join the farmers in the spring cutting.
“Your pardon, Master Volok and Lady Belgorod,” a farmer said. “But I do need a new plow and oxen. Silver would come in handy to buy both.” He examined his feet, then looked up and said, “I’ve never had a chance to earn silver before.”
Lady Belgorod whispered to Volok. Volok cleared his throat. “You do not need my pardon, Goodman Pavel. And I will add that either Petor or I will check on Sir Karlo within the Old Forest.”
In the end, three farmers and four farmers’ sons agreed to join Sir Karlo. They would leave in two days time.
Ale was brought out and the folk drank freely. As the fire died down, the farmers took torches out of their sleighs and lit them. They climbed into their sleighs with their wives and children and took their leave.
The moot was over.
-8-
Ivan finished his morning chores the next day and hurried into the kitchen. As he started his second bowl of porridge, Petor entered and sat across from him. Ivan knew the look on Petor’s face. The Belgorod knight had found him something extra to do today.
“I want you to check the hunting nets,” Petor said.
Ivan accepted a cup of broth from Mary. “All of them?” he asked.
“No, just the bear-nets.”
Which, Ivan knew, were really the bear and wolf nets. Deer and elk nets were bigger than bear-nets, while the rabbit-nets were much lighter and surprisingly even bigger yet. The bear-nets weren’t large, as things went, but they were strong and heavy.
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