Chapter 5
The prince was in light armour, and there were a company of winged hussars.
Jurko sniggered.
"They saw an enemy warship and Jarema turned out before they made out the Polish pennants. And he got nosy enough to stay and see what was going on."
"Be fair, Jurko, you'd be nosy enough in like circumstance."
"Well, fair point," said Jurko. "Lads! A good Polish song to prove we are friends, some of those hussars look jumpy!"
The Cossacks obliged.
"Bogurodzica dziewica, Bogiem sławiena Maryja!
U twego syna Gospodzina Matko zwolena, Maryja,
Zyszczy nam, spuści nam!
Kyrie eleison!"
Poland's oldest hymn, written by St. Wojciech, in honour of the Virgin Mary, and traditionally sung before and after battle, was hardly likely to be sung by invading Ottoman Turks.
The waiting hussars and other guards relaxed.
Among them was Jan Skrzetuski.
He gazed, thunderstruck, upon Helena's extraordinary loveliness, not recognising the grubby little boy who had been learning to be a Cossack.
"My prince ... is that the Princess Kurcewiczówna?" he asked, reverently.
"So one must infer; she has something of the look of her father," said Jeremi.
"I ... I think I am in love," said Jan.
"Indeed? Well, she shall have her choice, but if you are desirous of wooing her, I'll not say you nay," said Jeremi.
The girl might be full of the romantic side of a Cossack rescuer, but she might change her mind, in which case being married to a loyal and admiring youth was all to the good. And if she did not change her mind? Well, Jeremi had plans in train for the Cossack Bohun.
The Cossacks tied up and disembarked, laughing.
"Your share, my prince," said Jurko, bowing low to the ground, and with a cart load of precious things. To bribe his patron was to ensure that there were no problems when bringing in more ships to sell.
"And the warship?"
"I thought we might use it to harry yet more shipping, if you willed it," said Jurko. "I'd a mind to sell the other ship ... your share ..."
"Oh, benefit from this one, my boy, and if you operate out of Kijów, I'll take a tenth share in any others."
Jurko bowed again.
"Thank you, my prince. I have a buyer in mind, though I do not know what I should be asking for a ship."
"I wouldn't settle for under 800 red złoty, if I was you," said Jeremi. "And a galleass three or four times as much."
"Thank you, sire," said Jurko. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he saw one of Jeremi's hussars grab one of the girls. "We didn't save these girls for you to start mauling them about as if you were ruddy Ottomans; leave her alone! These girls are all untouched, destined for the Sultan's harem, and they are good, honest Polish and Cossack women, who should have the right to marry and have a real family." He half drew his sword on the hussar.
"The women are under my protection," said Jeremi, sharply. "Where they are accepted, I shall see that they may go home. Where they are not, they will be found suitable husbands or positions in my household."
"Sire, may I be maid to Princess Helena?" it was the girl who had asked their fate, and she had been covertly watching Helena.
"Would you wish that, Princess?" asked Jeremi. "Your own maid..."
"I have never had a maid, your highness," said Helena. "My companion was dismissed when my uncle died, and I have been maidservant and target for my aunt ever since. If ... Jancia, wasn't it? ... wants to be my maid, I will be delighted."
There was a murmur of horror from the hussars, that a szlachcianka should be made to be a maid.
Jan Skrzetuski went on his knee.
"Only order me, princess, and I shall do your bidding! Do you wish this aunt arrested? I have met her, and I did not like her attitude towards you!"
"What would her sons do without her? I have no quarrel with them," said Helena. "I wished only to avoid them, in case they spoke to her of my whereabouts."
Jurko moved beside Helena, possessively.
"The princess has her knight, Lach," he said.
"Prince Jeremi said that I might court her," said Jan, rising, to stare down on Jurko. There were few enough people able to do that, and Jurko gave him an upwards look through his lashes.
"Court is not wed," he said.
"Enough!" said Jeremi. "Come back to the palace, Princess, also Captain Bohun and Lieutenant Skrzetuski, and your new maid, my child; my wife is eager to dress you and see that you are given the sort of life any young maiden might dream about. You shall be fêted and courted by many, and for at least another year, you shall remain unwed."
"Thank you, my prince," said Helena. "I am glad Jurko thought of writing to you, to beg your succour and protection."
Jurko almost opened his mouth to say it had been her idea, but she stood on his foot.
Oh. She understood the politics of it; and wished to keep him in the Prince's favour.
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"Why on earth do you want to be my maid, Jancia?" asked Helena.
"Lady, you learned all our names, and you quelled the Cossack who made lewd comments with a tart comment that you'd like to see him on a slave block with fat old women commenting on his physique because he wasn't love's young dream for any girl. And I thought, I want to serve you and help protect you as you have protected us. We expected to be used, and then killed, but your man is a true knight! And if I can do something to pay that debt to him and to you, I will."
"Why, you are pretty noble-minded yourself, Jancia," said Helena. The girl was darker of hair than Helena, but with a creamy skin, and large, dark blue eyes. "I thank you; and perhaps you will be my friend too? I could not be friends with any of the servants in my aunt's household, nor with the people in the village, for they all feared her and would have carried tales. I have never known any other girl near enough to my own age."
"Why, I would be honoured, lady, but I will be careful not to overstep the mark. You should not be too friendly to the servants, they will feel uncomfortable, and other szlachcianki will despise you."
Helena sighed.
"I have no idea really how to be a szlachcianka."
"I expect the prince's lady will help."
"Yes, I'm afraid so," said Helena.
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Princess Gryzelda exclaimed when she saw Helena and was introduced to her.
"Oh, my poor child! Come, I will find you a room, and ... goodness, what are you wearing? We can't have you dressed in rags like that!"
"This is my best gown, and I did all the embroidery on it!" said Helena, stung.
"My child, it might be suitable for the best gown of the wife of a sołtys, but the village mayor's wife is still a peasant. Nobody will take you for a princess!"
"I would hope, madam, that my speech and bearing would mark me as a lady; and if they do not, then I will go back to being a Cossack, where at least I am valued for what I do, not what I wear," said Helena, coldly.
"Oh, that is all princess," said Gryzelda, approving. "My child, I am sorry you had to be with those rough men on the boat; what was Captain Bohun thinking?"
"He was thinking of keeping me safe from my aunt, who harangues and finds fault all the time. He was thinking that I was best hidden amongst his men, and then brought covertly to his prince; but perhaps I have exchanged one who finds fault in everything I say and do for another who hates everything I am."
"My dear girl! I do not disapprove of you, but that you have been so ill-treated. And it must have been quite terrible if being with those Cossacks was preferable! Here is a pretty room for you, and you must be tired, I will find you a nightrail, and your maid might comb your hair for you."
"Oh, no need for that," said Helena, gaining some malicious pleasure in the look in the woman's eyes when she took off her cap, plaits and all. "I asked Jurko to give me an oseledets haircut, so that I might hide in plain sight. I like it; it is not so heavy or cumbersome as my plaits, which I only recalled when I wore them on the cap and was reminded how uncomfortable so much hair is."
"It will grow again," said Gryzelda, with a slight wobble to her voice.
"And I can cut it again," said Helena, brightly.
"Oh, my dear, people are so quick to judge ..."
"Let them; Jurko knows I am not shamed," said Helena.
"You should not refer to a man to whom you are not married or closely related by his first name, especially a pet form of it."
"But why would I suddenly change? I have known him since I was a little girl, it would be like stopping calling any of my cousins by name."
Gryzelda suppressed a sigh.
There was a long way to go with this stubborn little girl.
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"Come through into my office, Jurij, if I may call you that," said Jeremi. "Jan, wait without."
Jan smirked, convinced that the Cossack was going to be warned off courting the lovely Helena.
Jurko thought so too, and was unsure what to make of being waved into a luxurious padded chair, and given mead.
"I ... I need to come to the point, in a confession, lad," said Jeremi. "It isn't easy. I ... I am sure you have lain with many women before you saw the fair Helena?"
"To my shame, I have even used the odd slave girl before we killed them in the Cossack way, before Helena pointed out how wrong it was," said Jurko.
"But you understand that a young man is not always ... interested ... in what happens, after ... his gratification," said Jeremi.
Jurko gave him a sideways, upwards glance.
"I am aware of that," he said.
"Jurij, I knew your mother ... before you were born, long before my marriage. I am your father," said Jeremi. "I cannot acknowledge you, it would ... irritate ... my wife's powerful family. But it can be our secret we acknowledge in private ... I can arrange you tutors if you need to learn anything ... And I wish you will be a friend to Skrzetuski, who is a good officer and a good man. I want to be your patron as I cannot give you what I should have given you when I was too young and callow to know the value of a son, that you might have been openly my son then to present to my wife as a stepson before politics became complex ..."
Jurko stared for a moment.
"I ... I see," he said. "I always wanted a father I could respect. How would it work?"
"Michał, my legitimate son, is my heir; but I will adopt you under the Korybut banner. Jurij Korybut Bohun, how does that sound?"
"It ... sounds good," said Jurko. "And Helena?"
"Skrzetuski wants her too. You will both court her, and she will make her own choice," said Jeremi. "She needs to learn what it is to be a princess, and then she will come out, and meet many people. Go to court. If you love her, you will wait for her."
"I would wait for her until hell freezes and the Apocalypse is upon us if need be," said Jurko. "She should know how to support her position as a princess."
"And you should know how to support the position as my known, but not acknowledged, son," said Jeremi. "She wrote the letter for both of you ..."
"I read a little ... better than I did when we sent that. She has been teaching me, and how to write. I know enough Latin to pass as a szlachcic."
He received a rare smile from the ascetic features of the prince.
"I will arrange a tutor who will give you two hours a day. He will be sworn to secrecy. He will also teach you the modern dances such as are used at court, and genealogy. I know a man who owes me enough favours to be suitable. Helena will be doing lessons in the morning; you will not have many chances to meet, but you will be under the same roof. In a month, if you have done well, you will be free to make another raid with your men. And in three months, before rasputitsa turns the roads to mud, I will take Helena to Warszawa, to court, and there you and Skrzetuski may try to gain her attention. In the mean time, you will both see her at meals, and perhaps in strolling in the gardens."
"Yes, highness," said Jurko, his mind whirling. "I mean, yes, father. I ... I am honoured by your trust in me."
The prince had not tried to ban him from seeing Helena all together. He was giving him leave to court her, and letting him learn how to be the sort of courtier who should approach a princess. He wanted him to be friendly with Skrzetuski.
"You are a credit to my household," said Jeremi. "And you bring lustre on our banner."
Jurko knelt.
Suddenly he knew who he was, where he had come from. It might not be official, but his father had given him the gift of truth, and trusted him to understand why he could not be fully acknowledged. He found that despite everything, he felt a flood of warmth towards the prince, and loyalty he would never have believed possible. He was crying.
Jeremi raised him to his feet and kissed him warmly.
"My son!" he said, embracing him.
"Oh, father!" cried Jurko, holding him fiercely.