Chapter 15
Róża was very tired and crept into Helena's arms to sleep overnight.
"You need to decide whether to ride, today, or go in the carriage," said Helena, getting dressed in her Cossack clothing.
"Ride; it hurts more but it's less nasty inside," said Róża.
"Brave girl," said Helena. "Let's go and do sabre drill with the Cossacks."
Róża was nothing loath, and they joined the Cossacks to drill.
"And do you join us for our steam bath?" asked Jurko.
Helena hesitated.
"I'll get a clean shift," she said. "I'll steam in this shift, which will wash it somewhat, and you can pass me in cold water to wash off and my shift to change into." Her eyes laughed at him. "I wouldn't mind massaging you with your nagajka though."
"Not until we're married, wench," said Jurko. "After Warszawa."
"How far is it to Warszawa?" asked Helena, slightly plaintively.
"Around five hundred miles."
"At five-and-twenty miles a day. Jurko, we shall be shaking with eld by the time we get there, that's three weeks."
He laughed.
"We'll be lucky to make it in three weeks, these coaches have a top speed of about fourteen staje an hour, and are inclined to break down. I'm expecting it to take a month or more." 1
"I'm definitely going to ride; a month inside slapping distance of Malwina is too tempting."
She followed him and his Cossacks and Jan into the bath house attached to the inn where they were staying, stripping as they went, and, blushing, stripped to her shift.
Róża clung to her.
"They won't touch me, will they?" she whispered.
"If anyone tries I'll kill him – if Jurko doesn't do so first," said Helena.
Róża also kept her shift on.
The thick steam was some protection from the gaze, but Helena was able to covertly admire Jurko's taut muscular body, and his flattering response to the way her shift clung to her curves.
"Princess! You should not be here with us!" said Jan, also responding, and panicking, covering himself with his hands.
"I need a bath; it is silly to try to have one for just Róża and me after drill," said Helena. "And I am blushing like a beetroot, but I hope I will become accustomed to it and not... not remain coy."
"It'll be fuel for that little bitch who said you were sleeping with all of us, if she finds out," said Kurylo. "Even if we swear we behave like fine upstanding members of your bodyguard."
"We are all fine upstanding members of her bodyguard, but our upstanding members promise to behave themselves," quipped another.
"Yes, we're too afraid of the ataman not to," said another.
"And our lady killed a Janissary, so we should be afraid of her too," said Ihor.
"Good point, lad," agreed Jurko before the boy's father could cuff him for speaking up.
The Cossacks went outside to splash under the pump and throw water at each other, and Jurko brought in a basin and ewer of water for Helena and Róża.
They finished their wash and dressed; Helena wearing the Cossack uniform, and she and Róża ate with the Cossacks, and helped curry the horses, check all their hoofs, and the traces and went foraging for fodder to carry with them, all before the Princess Gryzelda and her ladies were up. As well as the Cossack horses, riding horses for the ladies had been provided, and Michał's pony, and a couple of spares. The dozen winged hussars saw to their own mounts.
Jeremi happened upon them as they returned with full nets of hay, and raised an eyebrow.
"Being a Cossack, today, Helena?"
"It's more comfortable," said Helena. "And it stops me wanting to kill Malwina and shake Basieńka to see if she has any brains to run down her nose instead of just complaints."
"I would rather you wore a gown, my dear; we'll be staying with someone who owes me a favour tonight," he said.
Helena sighed.
"Yes, sire," she said.
She went to the room she shared with Róża, Lady Czeczeła, and Elżbieta and pulled on a gown over her shirt and trousers.
"Oh, my dear, you haven't been seen like that, have you?" asked her governess.
"Only by the Cossacks, who are used to me as Parysz," said Helena. "And they won't tell. It's the point of keeping my hair like this."
Lady Czeczeła sighed.
"Such a shame," she murmured. "But a high-spirited girl like you must find a coach trip very trying, especially with the troublemaking tongue of that wretched girl, Malwina."
"I loathe her," said Helena.
"My dear, I could ride with you a little, but I don't know if I could do so every day all day; I am accustomed to ride, my family has horses but no carriage."
Helena had been about to demur, but smiled.
"That would be lovely," she said.
It would be a break for her governess too, treated like an underling by the likes of Malwina. And Helena was fond of her.
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Helena sat back in the saddle, relaxed, one hand on hip, singing along with the other Cossacks.
"Oh dear," murmured Lady Czeczeła. "Not at all proper."
"Cheer up, my lady," said Jurko. "Who's to see? And if she's happy, she won't be planning ways to kill that wench who tried to get into my trousers. You don't have to worry that any of my men will either offer her insult, or let anyone else do so. We'll do as much as we can to preserve her reputation, by watching out to make sure that nasty little baggage has nothing to gossip about over Halszka doing sabre drill with us. And yes, she bathed with us, in her shift, with Róża, because that way we could keep her safe. She's too beautiful to be running around without an escort."
"It's true, my lady," said Jan. "And all the Cossacks ready to treat her like a brother, so she's safer with them all together than anywhere else, though I confess I was blushing."
"Such a sweet blush, like a maiden, and it goes all the way down," said Jurko.
"Stuff yourself with straw, you Cossack you," said Jan, blushing again. "You blushed as well. I didn't know you still could but if we're talking sweet..."
Jurko also coloured.
"Well, we both blushed then," he said. "But safety in numbers."
"I can't like it, but I do understand your point, in a public inn she is at risk," said Lady Czeczeła. "But the way she's sitting and... oh dear."
"She sits like that because I taught her to do so, and Jan is learning," said Jurko. "It's the way we spend long hours in the saddle, it's more relaxed than the formal way of riding. You could do worse than ride the same way; and riding like a man would have you able to spend longer in the saddle. Helena has plenty of salwar trousers, I'm sure she'd let you wear some under a gown."
"I... I'll think about it," said Lady Czeczeła.
"Jurij!" Jeremi reined in to look back. "Come and talk to me; leave er, Róża with Helena."
Jurko passed the little girl over to Helena and rode forward ahead of the column with his father.
"Father?" he asked.
"I was considering what we discussed," said Jeremi. "Now as far as I can see it, the biggest problem is going to be the Sejm. With the Liberum Veto it would only take one to protest the inclusion of the Ukraine into the Rzeczpospolita with hetmani and full rights. And there will be more than one."
"So we neutralise them," said Jurko.
"You said what?" said Jeremi.
"You make proposals to the king. He calls an extraordinary meeting of the Sejm to get approval. You are so happy to be at court you throw a huge dinner party and ball before the meeting. Anyone you think might vote against including Red Ruthenia, the Ukraine, into the Rzeczpospolita on the same terms as Lithuania, and indeed any parts of White Ruthenia not held by Lithuania, they get their mead well spiked with wódka. And plenty of it. And by the time the Sejm meet they'll agree to anything to be allowed to take their hangovers back to bed."
"Good God!" said Jeremi. "You can be quite devious, my son."
"I'm trying to live up to being involved in politics," said Jurko. "We do it more informally if there are disagreements in the Sich, by passing the hirilka, the wódka, around as a test of bravery and capacity. I know a few tricks to look as though you are tossing off a glass, and you actually pour it away as you supposedly toss it off, it's a sleight of hand. I'll teach you, so you can keep the mead flowing, and seem to get very merry, and tell them what you want them to know."
"How do we spike some mead but not other?" asked Jeremi.
"Put my lads in livery, point out who we want legless, and leave it to them," said Jurko.
"Damme, you're a son worth having. I thought you a good man, straightforward, loyal and true, good in battle, a staunch supporter, clever and shrewd... but you can be devious too. My son! I wish I could make you my heir. But you will see my appreciation."
"Father, to be wanted, to be able to help you is my greatest reward," said Jurko, meaning it. "If my actions can help prevent war, and aid those I respect in the Sich as well, then even better."
"If I rejected your ideas, or the king does and tells me to fight them, where would you stand?"
"Beside you, father, of course."
"Oh, my boy! Together, if the king is willing, we will make Radziwiłł grind his teeth at the power we wield and the wealth we gain in leading the Ukraine."
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Helena came face to face with Malwina when they stopped to eat, a couple of Cossacks having ridden ahead to arrange a meal.
"Where have you been? Surely you don't prefer the company of the maids?" said Malwina. "Or is that more the level of a little provincial like you?"
"The level of a warrior's daughter is to ride with the soldiery, and I have been riding," said Helena, serenely, able to face Malwina without losing her temper for not being confined with the girl.
"How improper! I shall tell Princess Gryzelda!"
"She knows," said Helena. "Lady Czeczeła, who also is not feeble, enjoyed our ride no end. To be out in the fresh air, not confined under a canopy with increasing degrees of overpowering stench from perfume and bad manners, was most pleasant. I think I will ride as much as I can."
"Well, it's coming on to rain so you won't manage that," said Malwina, spitefully.
"Rain? What of it?" said Helena. "I am not some subtlety made of sugar to display on the table."
Malwina flounced off.
"I am not sure if I can ride in the rain, my dear," said Lady Czeczeła.
"Suppose I found you some trousers to wear under your skirts, and a good waterproof cloak, and a man's saddle..." said Helena.
"Why, then, I will try!" said Lady Czeczeła.
"You are good to me," said Helena.
"I also dislike the Szyszkówna girl," said Lady Czeczela. "My dear, would you call me Asieńka? My name is Joanna, but that is the form my family always used."
"I would be honoured, Asieńka," said Helena.
Newly accoutred, and on a man's saddle, Asieńka watched how the Cossacks and Helena rode, and tried to copy it. It was, indeed, for a fast walk, very comfortable.
"Isn't it painful to trot like this?" asked Asieńka.
"Cossack horses have a sort of loping gait which is more like a slow canter rather than trotting," said Helena. "Horse and rider can go at that pace for a long time."
"And I have a Cossack horse for my use?"
"Yes, it seemed the best," said Helena. "I picked you a nice steady mare; do you like her?"
"I do," said Asieńka. "Oh, look at them!"
Jurko and one of his men had ridden ahead, to go through a sizeable village performing riding stunts, standing on the saddle, hanging from it with heads perilously close to the ground, and swinging backwards and forwards again.
"What was that about?" asked Jeremi, not entirely pleased, as his son dropped back beside him.
"Now we don't have to worry about the men who are lined up behind the hedges we are passing who will not shoot at people giving a display, not coming arrayed for war," said Jurko. "I saw the flash of weaponry as we approached, and it seemed quicker than stopping to explain, and moreover easier to diffuse a situation rather than potentially have some nervous man fire and perhaps wound one of the ladies, or kill one of us and have our own men turn on them in revenge."
"I see," said Jeremi. "And there was no real time to tell me about it. Good, I like that you can act with initiative and have the confidence to do so. It was an impressive display."
"Oh, we'll put on a display of fancy tricks for people in Warszawa, and be affable, genial, and just slightly clownish, so you can hide how dangerous we are," said Jurko.
"The better I know you, the more I love you," said Jeremi.
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The rain was a light drizzle, but the cloaks Helena and Asieńka were wearing had deep hoods, and kept most of it off. And the green smell of freshly washed earth was, thought Helena, more pleasant than the most intoxicating of perfumes. Certainly more so than the heavy, seductive perfume full of deep, musky notes that Malwina favoured.
"If they could only bottle the scent of fresh grass after rain, I wager it would be more popular than all the scents the East can invent," said Helena.
"I suspect it would be too redolent of simple pleasures for most people," said Asieńka, dryly.
"Perhaps you are right," said Helena. "And wet horse in the mix is less pleasing."
"Horse is not the most enjoyable of scents," said Asieńka. "Oh, look, my love; a rainbow."
They had breasted a rise, and a shaft of sunlight shone down into the valley ahead, and above it, a double bow lay against the dark clouds.
Jurko dropped back.
"I arranged it just for you, of course, my lady," he said.
"Fool," said Helena. "It is lovely. Should we tell the other ladies?"
"Do you think they will appreciate it?" said Jurko.
"Probably not," said Helena.
"I like it, P... Papa," said Róża.
"Ah, and do you believe I arranged it just for you and Halszka?" asked Jurko.
"No, Papa; only God can make rainbows," said Róża.
"Ah, you have your head on straight, little one, not fooled by the sweet-talk of unscrupulous men," said Jurko. "Yes, I tease you a little, as I do all my friends."
"It's a pretty rainbow, and you would have got me out of the coach to see it if I had been there, wouldn't you?" asked Róża.
"I would. And I'll see if Michał would like to see it and ride with me for a while," said Jurko.
He cantered back with Michał before him shortly thereafter.
"It isn't that I can't ride on my own, you know," said Michał. "But your horse doesn't tire as quickly."
Jurko nodded gravely. He suspected that Gryzelda was glad for the boy to be out of the women's carriage, but was torn, worrying about him riding on his own.
He might be passed around the Cossacks and would learn a lot from it.
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1 A staja is about half a mile, about 0.9km. They varied in length through history.