Chapter 22

Zagłoba was in his element organising supplies, something he did very well indeed. Janina was sorting out the escaped serf women into sections as nurses, cooks, washerwomen and seamstresses, and those who took on the childcare of any who had jobs. Janina cuddled babies and small children, sighing for Basia and Janek. She issued some orders, and turned to see her husband's familiar rolling gait, rolling less than it had done before he had lost weight and put on more muscle. Her belly tightened, and she sashayed over to him.

"My lord has neglected one of his duties of late," she said.

"I have?" Zagłoba was startled. "I thought I was on top of it all."

"There is one matter you have not been sufficiently on top of, or underneath, or behind," said Janina, severely. "The matter of your own name and house, and the continuance of your line with more than two children should be a matter of paramount importance, Onufry."

He gasped, and then growled.

"Those damned tents are too compact," he said.

"Then we shall use the quartermaster's store tent," said Janina.

"What, here? Now? What if someone comes in?"

"They will soon go away again in embarrassment," said Janina. "There are furs which have been seized from boyars to keep us warm. And because I am certain that every bit of me has frozen, you will have to work very hard to thaw it out, and make sure it is in working order, from the tips of my toes to the tip of my nose."

"And some very interesting places in between..."

"Which will not thaw out until the rest of me is thoroughly warmed and screaming for you," said Janina.

Onufry Zagłoba knew he was the luckiest man in the world with his lovely wife who was complaining that they had not made love for almost twenty hours.

oOoOo

Aleksej was quickly picking up the mathematics of the engineering, behind the canal building.

"Look there are two men there I think could learn," he said. "But I don't think they're literate. A man known as Plato, and another called Vanya."

"I'll have them taught," said Jeremi. "I want you overseeing the boyars and the serfs working with them. I need you to assess who can be expected to have learned from the experience and who has not, I can't afford too much time on this, in case the Ottomans decide to take advantage of my absence. I get jumpy with them owning Moldovia and Wallachia, and enough of Hungary to be ranged along my borders."

"Yes, I can understand that," said Aleksej. "You sent Krystyna back to Sweden with winged hussars..."

"That was an object lesson to rebellious men in Sweden," said Jeremi. "The case is not the same. You can't rule with foreign troops. I will leave you a personal guard of former serfs, volunteers only, and some volunteers of younger sons and Cossacks as officers in expectation of lands and position as Russian boyars. The rest is up to you."

"I want to observe the boyars and officers you hold as captives, to see who I might place some trust in," said Aleksey.

"Good man! That's the main reason I plan to put you as a foreman to see them at work."

"It brings out the man in one," said Aleksej, dryly. "Which is to say, the real character."

"I am pleasantly surprised; your answer to my request for aid to restore Krystyna to the throne, in which you suggested carving up Sweden between us made me think of you as rather an arse."

Aleksej flushed.

"I... I asked someone to draft a suitable reply offering aid and just signed it," he said. "I'll read them all from now on."

"You do that, my lad," said Jeremi. "Another point in fact; I received a letter from my wife who was refusing to sign a treaty with France whereby we paid reparations to Sweden and gave them all kinds of concessions; she's just got the French Ambassador to sign a treaty paying us instead."

"Good God! Your wife is an asset!"

"She really is," said Jeremi, happily.

oOoOo

Gryzelda reported to the Sejm.

"I have the honour to report that the French ambassador has not managed to make me sign a treaty in which we pay four hundred thousand złoty a year to Sweden, promise never to ally with any Hapsburg owned countries, and to permit French military free rein in our country," she said. She waited for the uproar to cease, and smiled.

"What have you been up to?" demanded Lubomirski.

Gryzelda looked demure.

"The French ambassador might have signed a treaty which he thought was the one he brought, and he might find he needs protection when Mazarin finds out he is paying Poland four million livres a year, on a par with what he pays Sweden," she said.

There was a long silence, and then the Sejm erupted in laughter.

"He'll repudiate it," said Lubomirski.

"Of course he will," said Gryzelda. "And then we can blackmail him."

"You Zamoyscy!" said Lubomirski.

Gryzelda smiled.

"As my brother has no other entertainments, since he is dismantling his private brothel... harem... I hope it might be the will of the Sejm that he take his men on manoeuvres towards Chochim, in order to watch out for the Ottomans getting ambitious whilst my husband is in Russia?" she said.

"So long as it is defensive," said one.

"Oh, naturally; we do not need a war with the Ottoman Empire while we are busy with Russia," said Gryzelda. "My brother is holding a reserve of troops, however, against the possibility of opportunistic incursions from the south, knowing that I am quite capable of dealing with the political rapacity of Mazarin. And he has shown the way in dismantling his harem, which, as keeping women in such a way contravenes our new laws on slavery, is something anyone else with such an... institution... should contemplate dismantling. My brother found himself constrained to act in plenty of time."

She smiled, grimly, to hear someone mutter, 'Christ's wounds, she's as ruthless as Jeremi, she's sent her brother to hold a siege as punishment.'

It was not entirely punishment, but Sobiepan had not been entirely willing.

He had also not dared to cross his sister as queen.

oOoOo

"How's it going, lads? Are you enjoying being Jurij's shovel masters?" Jurko asked his serf volunteers.

There was a resounding cheer.

"We're very happy, my lord prince," said Plato.

"So, what did you think of the lad named Leka?" asked Jurko.

"He's a funny little chap, all book learning," said Vanya. "But willing enough."

Jurko nodded. Vanya was a big man, cleverer than he looked, but still inclined to be wary of people with book learning.

"He recommended you and Plato to learn enough book learning to build roads and canals," said Jurko.

Vanya spat.

"I can't even read, my lord," he said.

"Would you work hard if someone was ready to teach you?" asked Jurko. "And any other volunteers."

"Aye," said Vanya.

"Now, something you all need to consider, my children, my brothers. My father has spoken much with the tsar, and finds that he has people who interpret his will for him, which he wants to stop, and he wants to do away with serfdom. But he will need an elite guard, and an elite guard who are Russians, not Cossacks or Poles. So, soon, my father will be asking for volunteers from those of you who have gladly learned from my Cossacks to be soldiers as well as ditch-diggers, dirt-movers and water-bringers. No decision needed right away; but you need to think on it, and discuss it amongst yourselves. And Leka will be teaching those who wish to learn how to read and write, and how to figure on paper as well as you do on tally-sticks."

"We could protect family we don't have with us if we did this," said Vanya.

"Aye, and help arrest boyars who do not comply," said Jurko.

oOoOo

Aleksej returned to the sleeping tent assigned to him after his customary meal with Jeremi, and was accosted by Vanya and several others.

"Leka! I hear you're willing to pass on your book learning to those of us who want to know more about building things," said Vanya.

"Yes, I have been asked to do so," said Aleksej. "I've never done anything like that before, but I'll do my best. I believe there are some professional teachers being sought to help as well, but Pan Zagłoba, who was doing the searching, felt that the morals and education of those who became sniffy when told their pupils would be serfs would be improved by... er, a biff on the hooter." He chewed his lip. "Some Cossacks are willing to teach, but they've adopted, on the whole, the Arabic script used by Poland and the west, but they have also learned it recently. They don't feel that using it destroys their national identity, so I suppose we should not do so, either."

"Does it matter so long as we can read what we have writ?" said Vanya.

"No, I supposed not," said Aleksej.

"The other thing we wanted to know," said Vanya, "Was whether you've ever seen or met the tsar when you were working at the palace."

"I... well, yes, why?" asked Aleksej.

"We have been asked to consider using what we have learned from the Cossacks to be his elite guard to help him force changes without using a foreign army," said Vanya. "And... well, we've been treated well by King Remi and Prince Jurij, and we want to be sure that we won't end up worse off than before. We want to love our Little Father, as we have learned from the church, but the church has told lies about having to submit with patience before our sufferings, so if our Little Father loves his people and cares about the serf, we might be willing. But we know where we're well off at the moment. And if he changes his mind..."

"I see. Well, I can understand that," said Aleksej. "I believe the tsar would be pleased and proud if you chose to use what you have learned to be his bodyguard."

"Have you ever spoken with him?" Vanya was awed.

Aleksej coloured.

"Not exactly. I... I have been much in his company, as you might say, and heard what he has said."

"Poor Leka, in the shade of the loud and expensive, eh?" said Vanya. "Does he know who you are?"

"I... yes," said Aleksej. "I have spoken with the Tsarina."

"Tell us about her!" they were hungry for crumbs of knowledge of their rulers, even having rejected them.

"She's beautiful," said Aleksej, who yearned for a sight of his wife. "And she is a kind, compassionate woman, she visits the poor and the sick because it is her pleasure to do what she can, not just for duty. I... I cannot think she has any idea how much any of you have suffered, or how bad things are, or she would move heaven and earth to make things better."

"You poor sod, you're in love with her," said Vanya, giving him an awkward sympathetic embrace.

"Well... yes," agreed Aleksej. "Can we change the subject?"

"Of course," said Vanya. "You will be seeing more of the tsar as the Polish intermediate?"

"I... suppose so," said Aleksej. "I... Vanya, my friend, I feel very overwhelmed at the moment... and to you, I want to confide more about what, in general, I shall be expected to do, for I value your friendship and kindness. But... not yet?"

"Of course, little brother," said Vanya. "Now you shall go to your bed and dream of the tsarina, but not too loudly, I beg you!"

Aleksej blushed and took refuge in going to bed, reflecting that the rough camp bed he had resented at first was identical to the one Jeremi slept in.

The task ahead of him was daunting.

OOoOo

Aleksej woke early, and found Vanya already up.

"Walk with me, Vanya," he said.

"You had a restless night, and grunted a lot, and it was not lust," said Vanya. "What are you worrying about?"

"I have a daunting task ahead of me, and I need friends who will not abandon me when they know more about me," said Aleksej. "And today I am to be moved to oversee the captive boyars and to see who might be useful in reforming the country, since as a Russian I will see more than Jeremi can see. And then I have to form an administration which effectively forces the boyars to obey the law, more in line with the Polish way. My son will be reared by Prince Jurij, and I will not see much of him, and I am missing my wife. And I am suffering still the shock of the difference between my beliefs and the reality, and that Nikon is not the good and holy man I believed and... And I wish I was an ordinary man with no such heavy responsibilities."

Vanya, who had almost made a quip, suddenly stared.

"Little Father!" he knelt.

"Vanya, please don't. Be my brother, my friend. Give me support, love, friendship, and loyalty, more than fealty."

"Willingly, my tsar. But I must speak to you properly around others..."

"Why not call me 'my lord brother' as all the Poles do, when it is official?" said Aleksej, with a whimsical smile. "You will be a lord in my administration so I have someone I can trust to get things done, but I do need you to be literate."

"I will work as hard as I have to," said Vanya, sombrely. "It is a mighty task. You will not make us wear western clothing? I have heard it is very silly."

"It is very silly," said Aleksej. "No, we will keep our religion, our dress, our customs, but we will benefit from improved farming techniques, and from roads and canals, and we will sell furs, leathers, wax, potash, caviar, and hemp through Poland, and channel Persian silks and grain likewise. And we shall continue to send pitch, tar, whale oil, and hemp through Archangelsk, as well as furs and hides, pig bristles, tallow, and so on, via the Baltic. We seem likely to lose Novgorod to the Swedes mostly as reparations for a stupid letter sent out in my name. But perhaps I may negotiate a free state of Novgorod with ties to Sweden, Russia, and the Rzeczpospolita. That would make me happier. And still I need negotiate through not being assassinated for permitting change."

"Leka, if it is your will that I advise you as a brother, I say to you, do not touch religion, and do not make people change the way they dress, and you will have fewer problems with anything else."

"Then I shall gladly take such advice."