Chapter 13
When the war ship sailed into Kijów with its prizes – they had taken three merchantmen, two more in addition to the one with Róża – Jurko put his arm around Jan in a quick embrace.
"She's come with my father," he whispered, eyes fixed on Helena.
"I lost her to you before I even knew her, didn't I?" said Jan. "You cannot blame me for trying."
"Not at all; she is the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world," said Jurko. "I think it may have been the sabre drill that did it."
"Sabre drill? You taught her sabre drill?"
"Why, you saw me do so; when she was dressed as a boy," said Jurko.
Jan stared, open mouthed.
"The little boy was... you jest, surely, brother?"
"No, it was Helena; such a brave little Cossack! And demanded that I shave her head to make a disguise her cousins would not see through."
"And nor did I! Amazing. But you were punishing mistakes as hard as you might on a real boy, to harden him for battle."
"Of course; would I do her any favours to let her think she was better than she is? She's a marvel of fortitude, and she understood. And she saved my life when some coward attacked me from behind."
"Mother of God! I had no idea. Though to be honest, attacking you from behind is prudent; you fight like a demon."
"But you wouldn't come upon me from behind."
"No," said Jan.
"And that's why you're my brother," said Jurko. "We fight well together."
Jurko ran down the gangplank to bow low to Jeremi and then to Helena. Being acknowledged was something which warmed him, but there was no point in causing offence to his sire and patron. He turned, and nodded, and Róża trotted forward.
"Sire, I have adopted a daughter," said Jurko. "The filthy beast who owned her..." his expressive eyes filled with tears.
"How badly hurt is she?" asked Jeremi.
"Jurko! Do you mean..." Helena gasped.
"Touching and making her touch. No worse; we were there in time," said Jurko. "I'm sorry now that I killed him cleanly."
Helena held out her arms, and with a glance at Jurko, Róża ran to them.
Helena wrapped her up in her embrace.
"I dared not cuddle her, lest she think me like that fellow," said Jurko.
"A quixotic choice of loot. You show great compassion, son," said Jeremi.
"Oh, Róża is the extra loot; your share is coming ashore now, and then we shall sell the ships," said Jurko. "She'll make a good little Cossack; very assiduous at sabre drill, she has people she wants to kill."
Jeremi laughed.
"Aiming to make her a field hetman of the Ukraine?" he asked.
Jurko gave him a sideways, upwards look.
"Perhaps, if you establish such a position, by the time you retire," he said.
Jeremi gasped.
"You think..."
"I think the king would like to rule the Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Rzeczpospolita," he said.
.
.
.
This time, merchants came to humbly beg to speak to Lord Bohun about ships for sale, and any other loot he might want to sell.
Jurko held up his hands.
"Now then!" he said. "You'll all have your chance; Moysz Abramowicz will be auctioning everything so the ships will be on display tomorrow, and the goods for sale in his warehouse, where he will hold the auction." It had never occurred previously to Jurko to hold auctions; but Abramowicz, grateful for being given first refusal on the previous vessel, had suggested tentatively that any other ships the Cossack brought in might be sold by this method, for maximum profit, and any goods as well, rather than relying on being taken for someone in a hurry to convert goods to cash, and losing out. Jurko had been much struck; he knew fine well that he and his men were unlikely to get more than half at best of the value of any exotic carpets or fabrics.
The things his father would value most had gone as his share, because he would appreciate them as works of art; and golden ornaments could be sold by the prince, if needed. The sale of the ships would return pure cash, as would those goods the Cossacks were willing to sell, most of them preferring money. Jurko himself selected some fabrics and jewellery, also deeming that a chest of the same should be dowry for Róża for her tribulations.
The jewellery he considered suitable for Helena he would lay at her feet in due course.
And he was on his way to being as rich as any szlachcic short of a magnate from his efforts.
.
.
.
Helena led Róża to her own chamber, sending maids to arrange a truckle bed for her, and to purchase more clothes suitable for a child of rank.
"It's like a fairytale!" breathed Róża, of Helena's room.
"Just how I felt when I first came here," said Helena. "I even made a face at that ornate mirror, in case it cracked in horror or told me off. It's just a mirror, of course, but it is intimidating, isn't it?"
"Oh, my lady, you feel as I do about it!"
"Róża, you should call me 'Helena' or 'Mama' if Jurko is your Papa now; for I hope to marry him," said Helena.
"Oh, but you are much kinder than a mother," said Róża. "Why, you haven't slapped me once, or called me useless; and Lord Jurko is not in the least like a father, for he is kind, too."
"Oh, my rosebud!" cried Helena, sweeping the child into a cuddle. "I do know. I lived many years with my aunt, and she used me as your former parents used you. But it is not proper. And I will be a Mama to you as a Mama should be; why, you do not think the Mother of God was unkind to Her Son, do you?"
"Oh, but He is our Lord," said Róża.
"Yes, but all children deserve to be loved and treated well by their parents. Our loving Father in Heaven, and the Mother of God are supposed to be the models for all parents to strive to copy."
"I want you to be my Mama," said Róża.
.
.
.
Jurko's fluting whistle sounded through the window, and Helena opened the casement.
"Jurko! I have Róża here, and the poor child has been ill used by her parents as well! Imagine, a mother slapping a child and calling her useless!"
"Helena, my sweet, such is my experience with my mother. I have gifts for you, and Róża's dower chest. How can I give them to you?"
"I'll send Jancia to bring you to my chamber," said Helena, "Unless you remember the way when you brought fabrics?"
"I remember," said Jurko. "I've a couple of Cossacks carrying her chest."
"Can you shave my head while you are here? I don't seem able to do it very well myself."
"What, my sweet Halszka, are you keeping the oseledets?"
"It seemed silly to get rid of it," said Helena.
"I'll be with you presently."
Shortly a pair of grinning Cossacks deposited a chest in Helena's room.
"You keep him well whipped, Princess, he's much doucer of temper these days," said one. "Enjoy your... shave."
"You keep your filthy thoughts to yourself," said Jurko, furiously. "Some of us have the continence to wait until we are married."
"Oh, Ataman, we are glad your virtue is unsullied," said the other.
"Bugger off, the pair of you," said Jurko, flushing.
They went, laughing.
Jurko poured a bag full of jewellery onto Helena's dresser.
"I picked these for you," he said.
"Why, Jurko! They are beautiful," said Helena.
"They will gain some lustre by being allowed to be displayed on your beauty," said Jurko.
"Now that's hyperbole," said Helena.
"Not from my viewpoint," said Jurko. "You need no jewels or makeup or fancy gowns; but they need you to be displayed on a setting which gives their moderate loveliness a deeper meaning. They can complement your looks, and I chose carefully those which would do so, or else it would be an insult to give you jewels which would not look as though they have some pretensions at being raised to equal your loveliness."
"As you love me in a boy's rough clothing, and my hair shaved, I know you mean that sincerely," said Helena, softly. "And they are beautiful!"
"I tried to pick colours to go with your gowns," said Jurko. "Emeralds of course, and good Baltic amber which has been set to the Ottoman taste, and other golden amber stones I don't know the name of. And look at this! It's an opal, but darker than those I've seen from Hungary, with such fire in it, and amber and green together against its darkness."
"Oh Jurko! How lovely!"
"It will be lovely, my sweet, hung from a simple pearl necklace at your bosom, where your breathing makes its fire flash," said Jurko.
"Oh, yes, and reminding you of what you may not touch, but which I may touch and think about you," said Helena.
Jurko growled deep in his throat.
"All that is yours on my body stands up to salute you," he said. "And more we cannot say before the child, and your maid is hovering too."
"We must go riding together to discuss what we cannot talk about," said Helena, demurely. "I will wear this always, to remind me of the fire in your eyes, brighter and more beautiful than any gem, and it will get to see what you may not yet look at, and will nestle where you may not yet be, and enjoy vicariously."
"You are perfection," groaned Jurko.
"Not yet; you have yet to shave me."
"Aye, that is touching I might be permitted," said Jurko. She sat on a stool for him to shave the stubble on her scalp, carding his fingers through the scalplock. Helena sat with eyes shut, purring like a cat.
Gryzelda knocked peremptorily and came in.
"What are you about?" she cried.
"I asked Jurko to shave me properly," said Helena. "I can't seem to do it myself without it ending up looking motheaten, or cutting myself."
"But Helena, there is no need to shave the hair as it grows back," wailed Gryzelda. "I do not know why you should do so, you do not have to pretend to be a Cossack anymore."
"I like it like this," said Helena.
Gryzelda gave up on the stubborn, wilful girl.
Some things were not worth fighting over.
She did stay, however, to escort Jurko out when he had finished.
"I hope you're not taking liberties," she said.
"I don't need to," said Jurko. "I gave her my heart when I took her away from the old woman. She keeps it safe for me."
Gryzelda sighed. It was so romantic!
"I am supposed to chaperone her," she sighed.
"Oh, a small child should be good at that," said Jurko.
.
.
.
They got some privacy early next morning. Lady Czeczeła had agreed to teach basic literacy and numeracy to Róża, and Helena had left the child to her lesson to sneak away to see Jurko. The weather was fine, and they walked out in the gardens, slipping into a pergola out of the wind. Helena was wearing her opal on a pearl string.
"How's Róża?" asked Jurko, noticing the strategic setting of the opal, which flashed as his lady breathed.
"Settling in; she is learning to read with Panna Czeczeła," said Helena. "I told her she would need to read orders and write reports for you when she was your page. That went down better than learning to be a lady."
Jurko laughed.
"I wager. She's a peasant child, I think; though with some szlachetka it's hard to know."
"Quite; so she might grow up to be anything she wants to be, with love and encouragement. Your father is relieved she is... only... a girl. She's sweet, and by the time she's grown up she will know enough to pass as a szlachcianka and nobody will ask questions. You aren't kissing me."
Jurko rapidly rectified that oversight, careful still to keep his kisses relatively chaste.
"I adore you, I missed you," he said.
"I missed you. And so did all the places forbidden to know you yet," said Helena.
"Halszka, my cuckoo... I dare not force my father's hand in taking you off to find a priest... he is determined that you should go to Warszawa..."
"And if we all go to Warszawa he will present you to the king, to put the case for the Cossacks... you did want to, did you not?"
"Aye; but I think my father might put it more cogently. I... I'm not sure he cares for the Cossack cause, but it could get him fame, wealth and position for him, and through that he would trust me. I... am I cynical to play on that? He has given me so much..."
"He has given you roots and a name of a banner, and I bless him for that," said Helena. "But I suspect you manipulate him less than he manipulates you. It is in his nature. You... you try to do something for other people, because your heart is big. And I admire that!"
"I am as I am, and I don't want to manipulate anyone, but if there's something for him as well... I... I think he holds me in affection, but I fear to lose it."
"Of course; it's so very new. But he speaks of you with pride."
"He does?" his sea-coloured eyes lit up. "I want to do what I can for him, and if I can help my brother Cossacks too, I wish to do so. But I should think if push came to shove, I must put family first."
"Yes, of course," said Helena. "Although I would not like to choose between the kindness I have been shown here and my cousins, for all that they are my blood."
"They never treated you like family," said Jurko. "And they only pretended with me. I will not be fooled again, and I will keep them at arms' length. They kept me from my father." He considered. "Kurylo knew, too, but I forgive him, for I feel sure he kept quiet for my safety, rather than keeping quiet so I did not betray what your aunt was up to, to make me more... tractable." He sneered.
"Oh, Jurko, think of more pleasant things; such a look twists your dear dimples and makes them look so jaded," said Helena.
This had him laughing at her.
"You are funny about my dimples," he said. "What man wants to admit to dimples?"
"They are adorable," said Helena, planting a kiss on each, and smoothing his moustaches. "Oh, Jurko, I am not looking forward to all the people in Warszawa, but you will be with me to keep me brave."
"I will be," said Jurko. "Always, whenever you need me."