Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty-Three

Before leaving for Chitternau, the four wizards and de Fauci went to the Duke and Duchess to say good-bye.It was not a friendly farewell; but the duke, unwilling to violate Polish custom by letting his guests go away empty-handed, gave each mage a set of presents: several beautiful ermine skins and a silver "grivin," which they were very fond of. He happily accepted the gift, and at the same time assured the duke: as mages of the Knights, they had made a solemn promise to live a hard life. They don't love money, but they want to give to the poor. Pray for the Duke's health, reputation and future salvation.

The Majurs laughed at such an assurance, for they all knew how greedy the Knights were, and especially that the Crusader knights were great liars.There are two sayings in Mazovia: "Weasel farts and crusaders lie." The duke just waved his hand after hearing this thank you.When they were out, he said, people would crawl as slowly as lobsters to Paradise, because the crusading knights were in the way. But before that, when they bid farewell to the duchess, Siegfried de Lauf kissed her hand, and Hugo von Dunwiert came up to Danusia and put his hand on her head and said: "Our holy law is to repay evil with virtue, and even to love our enemies; therefore I must send here a nun of the Order, and she will bring you healing ointment."

"Then how can I thank you?" asked Danusia. "Be friends with knights and priests." De Fauci heard this conversation, and was impressed by the beauty of the young girl; therefore, on the way to Scittno, he asked: "When you took leave of the Duchess, you were talking to that beautiful lady-in-waiting. Who is she?" "Daughter of Jurand!" replied the Crusader knight. M. de Fauci was taken aback. "Is that the girl you plan to grab?" "Yes. We have taken her, and Jurand is ours." "Obviously, Jurand's things are not bad. It's really worth watching such a female prisoner."

"Do you think it will be easier to fight her than Jurand?" "So, I think as you do. The father is the enemy of the Knights; and you speak sweetly to his daughter, and besides, you promise to send her ointment." Hugo von Dunwiert apparently felt compelled to defend himself against Siegfried de Lauf, who, though no better than others, ostensibly obeyed the order Strict precepts, and often scolded other mages. "I promised her ointment," said Hugo, "for her fiancé, the young knight, who was wounded by the buffalo. If the girl is taken away later, and they yell, then we can Tell them we didn't want to harm her at all, and the best proof is that, out of Catholic mercy, we gave her medicine."

"Very well," said de Lauve. "It's just that we must send someone we can trust." "I will send a pious woman who is completely loyal to the Knights. I will order her to observe the movement. When the people we sent pretending to be Jurand arrive, they will find that everything is in order." "It's hard to get people like that." "No! With us people speak the same language. In our town, bah, even among the 'Knehet' of the garrison, there are people who escaped from Masovia because They have broken the law; yes, they are thieves and robbers; but they fear no one, and are capable of anything. I will explain to those people that if they succeed, give them a large bonus; , a piece of rope."

"Bah! What if they betray us?" "They will not betray us, because in Masovia each of them should have been hanged. Only we must give them some decent clothes so that they can pretend to be Jurand's servants; Got the important stuff: a letter with Jurand's seal on it." "We have to anticipate everything," said Venerable Rotjière. "It is probable that Jurand will go to see the prince and confess his latest battle. If he gets to Ciechanov, he will go to see his daughter. It may be just when our men are planning to rob Jurand When I was a young lady, I met Jurand himself."

"The men I'm going to pick are capable men. They'll know that if they meet Jurand they'll be hanged. For their own lives it's better not to meet him." "But they may be captured." "At that time we denied that those people and the letter were our tricks. Who can prove that we sent them? Besides, if there is no accident, there will be no outcry. If the Majurs are killed Killed a few villains, no loss to the Knights." Master Godfried, the youngest of them all, said: "I do not understand your plan, nor why you are so afraid of being known that we have taken the girl. For if we do take her, we must send someone to Jurand and tell him:' Your daughter is with us; if you want to release her, exchange de Bergoff for yourself.' There is no other way, so that it will be known that we ordered the girl to be taken away. of."

"That's very true!" said Monsieur de Fauci, who did not like the trap. "Things will always be revealed, what's the use of concealing?" But Hugo von Dunwiert laughed, and turning to Master Godfried, he asked: "How long have you been wearing this white cloak?" "It will be six years on the first Sunday after Holy Trinity." "When you wear it for another six years, you'll know better about the affairs of the Order. Jurand knows us better than you. We'll tell him: 'Your daughter is under the watch of the mage Shombe; if you say anything, remember What will happen to Witout's children!'"

"and then?" "Then de Bergoff will be released, and the Knights will be free from Jurand's scourge." "No!" cried Rotgier, "every detail is so well planned, God should bless our cause." "God blesses all deeds that benefit the Order," said Siegfried de Lauf darkly. So they rode in silence, and their squires walked ahead of them to open the way, because of the heavy snow one night, the road was covered up.It was cloudy, but warm; so the horses were sweating.Flocks of crows flew from the forest to the surrounding villages, and the sky was filled with mournful cries.

Mr. de Fauci landed a little behind the crusaders, sitting on his horse thinking.He had been a guest of the Order for several years, and had taken part in an expedition against the Zemuds, where he had shown himself to be a man of gallantry.He was entertained everywhere, for the Knights of the Crusaders knew how to receive knights from distant countries; he liked them very much, and, as he was not rich, intended to join their ranks.During this period he either lived at Marlborough, or visited various commanders, seeking amusement and adventure along the way.He had come to Lupova with the rich de Begove, and when he heard about Jurand, he was very eager to fight this man whom everyone feared.The arrival of the victorious Meenger facilitated the campaign.Lupova's "Commut" provided manpower for this campaign, and at the same time, he told them a lot, not only about Jurand's cruelty, but also about his cunning and treachery, so when Jurand When Lund asked them to evacuate their soldiers, they refused to do so, lest they would be surrounded, wiped out, or taken prisoner in the dungeons of Spyhof.Then Jurand, thinking that they were coming not for a chivalrous battle but for a robbery, attacked them, and defeated them.De Fauci saw de Bergoff thrown to the ground with his horse; he saw the point of the spear go into Meinger's stomach, he saw the men cry for life in vain.He escaped with great difficulty and wandered in the forest for several days. If he hadn't come to Cuichanov by chance and found the two mages Godfried and Rotjiai, he would have been killed by the forest, even if he hadn't starved to death. The beast killed him.After this campaign, he felt a sense of humiliation and shame, and a desire for revenge. He yearned for his good friend Begov.So when the crusading knights demanded the punishment of the Polish knight and the release of his unfortunate companion, he wholeheartedly supported their complaint.But in the end the accusation was invalid, and he was at first in favor of revenge on Jurand, and any plan of revenge he was in favor of.But now, doubts arose in his heart.He could not help being amazed at what the priests had to say, especially what Hugo von Dunwiert had said.Indeed, he had gotten to know the Crusaders so well over the years that he knew they were not what the Germans and Westerners said they were.However, in Marburg, he knew that there were some honest and noble knights who often accused the priests of corruption, accusing them of immorality and corruption of discipline; Discipline, therefore, does not criticize them for these faults, especially since all Crusader knights atone for them by bravery.He had seen them face to face with the Polish knights at Wilno, had seen them conquer castles defended by the tenacious, superhuman Polish garrison; he had seen them in great battle or in duels. Died under the chop of a knife and axe.They were ruthless towards Lithuania, but at the same time they were as brave as lions.

① The Shimuds are a tribe of the Lithuanians who lived in the Lower Niemen area from the ninth to the eleventh centuries.The history of the Shimu Germans is a history of struggle against Germanic aggression. But now Monsieur de Fauci felt that any knight's soul would tremble with disgust at the proposal proposed by Hugo von Dunwiert, while the other three wizards, instead of being angry with him, agreed with his words.His amazement therefore grew greater and greater; at last he began to reflect, and to consider carefully whether he should take part in this trick. If it were only a question of taking the girl and exchanging her for Bergov, he might have agreed, though his heart had already been moved by Danusia's beauty.But these crusader knights obviously had other plans.They wanted to use her to capture Jurand, and then to kill him, and in order to eliminate the evidence of that fraud, they must also murder the girl.They had already uttered the threat that if Jurand dared to complain, she would suffer the same fate as Witout's children. "They have no intention of fulfilling their promise, but of defrauding and murdering two men at the same time," thought de Fauci, "though they wear crosses and should guard their honor more than anyone else." He was growing more and more angry at such baseness, and he determined to confirm his suspicions; whereupon he rode up to Dunwiert and asked: "Would you let the girl go if Jurand came to you herself?" "If we let her go, the whole world will immediately say we got them both," Dunwiert replied. "Then what do you want to do with her?" Dunwiert bent over the knight at this, and smiled so much that a decayed tooth showed from under his thick lips. "What do you mean to do with her? Do you mean before Jurand arrives or after?" But de Fauci, having guessed the end he wanted to know, was silent; for a moment de Fauci seemed to be wrestling with an inner struggle; then he got up on the stable and said aloud the following passage words, so that all four priests could hear: "The devout mage Ulrich von Jungingen, a shining example of chivalry, once said to me: 'Among the old knights of Marburg one can still find noble crusaders. Knights; but those who rule near the borders, only bring disgrace to the Knights.'” ①The brother of the grand master of the Knights of the Crusaders, who was later elected as the grand master. "We are all sinful, but we serve the Saviour," Hugo replied. "Where is the honor of your chivalry? One cannot serve the Savior with shameful deeds. You must know that I will have no hand in such a scandal, and I will stop you." "What are you trying to stop?" "Stop that ruse, that perfidious treachery, that baseness!" "How could you do it? In the battle with Jurand you lost your squire and your carriage. You have to live on the generosity of the Knights, and if we don't give you a piece of bread you will starve; and , you are a bachelor, there are four of us—how can you stop us?" "How can I stop you?" de Fauci repeated. "I can go back to the Duke's Palace and inform the Duke; I can announce your plan to the world." At this time, the four mages of the Knights looked at each other, and their faces changed in the blink of an eye.Hugo von Dunwiert in particular looked inquiringly into the eyes of Siegfried de Lauf, then turned to M. de Fauci and said: "Your ancestors have always served the Knights, and you also want to join the Knights, but we do not accept traitors." "And I don't want to get involved with traitors." "Ah! Your threats cannot be fulfilled. The Knights not only know how to punish priests—" Enraged by these words, M. de Fauci drew his sword, grasped the blade with his left hand, pressed the hilt with his right, and said: "With this cross-shaped hilt, with the head of my patron Saint Denis, and with the honor of my knighthood, I swear that I will tell the Duke of Masovia and the Grand Master in advance." Hugo von Dunwiert looked inquiringly at Siegfried de Lauf again, who closed his eyelids as if in agreement. Then Dunwiert said in a strangely low, altered voice: "Saint Denis was able to hold his severed head after he was beheaded, but as soon as your head fell to the ground—" "Are you threatening me?" de Fauci interrupted him. "Not to threaten you, but to kill you!" Dunwiert replied.At the same time, he stabbed the knife sharply into De Fauci's waist, the edge of the knife went in completely, and only the hilt was exposed.With a terrified shriek, de Fauci struggled for a moment, trying to grasp with his right hand the sword which he held in his left, but it fell to the ground; while the other three priests stabbed him mercilessly. On his neck, on his back, and on his chest, all the way to the point where he fell off his horse. Then there was silence.Bleeding horribly from several wounds, de Fauci convulsed in the snow.Under the leaden sky came the crowing of a few crows, which were flying from the dreary wilderness to the inhabited place. And so began a hurried conversation among the four murderers: "Did no one see it!" gasped Dunwiert. "No one. The squires are all ahead, and their shadows cannot be seen," replied de Lauve. "Listen: we have new grounds for indictment. We're going to announce that the knights of Masovia attacked us and killed our companion. We're going to make a loud noise—let Marburg's People heard us—we threatened the duke and even ordered his guests to be murdered. Listen! We must say that Janusi would not listen to our complaint against Jurand, but instead ordered the murder of the accuser." Meanwhile de Fauci lay on his back in a final convulsion, and then lay motionless, with a foam of blood on his mouth, and his eyes, wide and vacant, looked terribly wide.Rotji's mage looked at him and said: "Look, devout mages, God will not relax the punishment even for ten people who try to rebel in their minds." "We're all doing this for the good of the Order," Godefried replied. "Glory to those—" But he stopped, for just then, behind them, at the bend of the snow-covered road, a man on horseback came galloping.Seeing the man, Hugo von Dunwiert exclaimed: "No matter who this person is, he will be punished." Although De Lauf is the oldest among these mages, he has the best eyesight. He said: "I know him; it's the squire who killed the buffalo with an axe. Yes, that's him!" "Hide your knives so he doesn't get surprised," Dunvelt said. "I'll attack him first, and you follow me." Seeing that the Czech arrived, he reined in the horse at a distance of about eight or ten paces.He saw the corpse lying in a pool of blood and a horse of the Yuan Lord, and his face showed surprise; but in an instant, the surprise disappeared.After a while, as if he saw nothing, he turned to the priests and said: "I salute you, brave knights!" "We know you," Dunwiert replied, approaching slowly. "What do you want us to do?" "I am squire of Knight Zbyszko of Bogdaniec, who sent me because he was wounded by a buffalo and could not come himself." "What does your master want us to do?" "My lord orders me to tell you that because you have dishonored Jurand of Spychof's knighthood by falsely accusing him, and that you are not acting like decent knights, but are barking like a pack of dogs; if you Whoever among them feels insulted by these words, my master challenges him to a duel, on horseback or on foot, to the death; and when God has blessed him from his present ailment, he will be ready to fight any time." "Tell your lord, we four crusading knights bear this insult patiently for the sake of the Savior; we cannot duel unless we have the permission of the Grand Master and Grand Marshal; we are about to write to Marlborough Ask for permission." The Czech looked again at de Fauci's body, for he had been specially sent to inform the knight.Zbyszko knew that priests could not fight each other face to face; but he had heard that there was a lay knight with them, and he challenged him especially, because he thought that this would win Jurand's favor.But the knight lay on the ground and was slaughtered like a cow by the four crusading knights. True, the Czech had no idea what was going on, but being used to all kinds of dangers from childhood, he suspected something was wrong.He was also surprised to see Dunwiert approaching him continually while he was talking to him; the other three priests were also riding up to him on either side, as if to surround him.He was therefore wary, especially since he left in a hurry and without any weapon. After a while, Dunwiert had come up to him and said: "I promised to bring some healing ointment to your master;" he went on, "but he returned my kindness with malice. But it is not surprising, as is often the case with Poles. But since he was wounded very Seriously, maybe you're going to see God soon, then tell him—" Having said this, he put his left hand on the Czech's shoulder. "Then tell him that I—well—that's what I answered!—" Having said this, he swung the knife at the squire's throat; but before he could stab it, the Czech, who had been watching him closely, seized Dunwiert's right hand, and with his own pair of iron-like The hand twisted it so violently that the bones in Dunwiert's hand snapped; and as soon as the priest uttered a horrific cry of pain, he kicked the horse's belly, before the other three mages had time. When he stopped him, he rushed out like an arrow. Two mages, Rotgiel and Godfried, pursued him, but were frightened and rushed back at once when they heard Dunwiert's terrible howl.De Lauve put his shoulders against him; he barked so loudly that the squires who were escorting the carriage at a considerable distance ahead reined in their horses. "What's the matter with you?" asked the two mages. De Lauve ordered them to ride hastily to get a carriage, for Dunwiert could not sit still in the saddle.After a while, a burst of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he passed out. They got a carriage, put him in a straw-covered cart, and hurried to the frontier.De Lauve urged them to go, for he knew that after such an incident there was no time to be wasted in helping Dunwiert, so he got into the carriage himself, sat down beside him, and kept mopping the ground with snow. his face; but he could not revive him.Near the border at last, Dunwiert opened his eyes and looked around. "What do you think?" asked De Lauve. "I don't feel any pain anymore, it's as if my hand is gone," Dunwiert replied. "Because your hand is already stiff, you don't feel pain. It will hurt again when you are in a warm room. For now, even if you breathe a sigh of relief, you have to thank God." Rotgier and Godfried rode up to the carriage. "How unfortunate!" said the former. "What shall we do now?" "We declare," said Dunwiert in a weak tone, "that the squire murdered de Fauci." "This is their latest crime, and the perpetrator is named!" Rotgier added.