Chapter 36 Chapter two

In this very same hall, at the table that evening sat old Siegfried de Lauf, who had been temporarily in charge of Schütternau after Dunwiert's death, and next to him was Rotgier. The mage, Jurand's former prisoner Chevalier de Begove, and two young nobles, novice monks, will soon don their white cloaks.The winter storm roared outside the window, shaking the leaden sashes; the torches burning in hoops flickered, and the wind now and then blew puffs of smoke from the fireplace into the hall.The mages, though gathered together, were silent; for they were waiting for Siegfried to speak, while he rested his elbows on the table, Touching his head, he sat there gloomily, with his face turned out of the firelight, and dark thoughts swirled in his mind.

"What are we going to discuss?" Master Rotjiai finally asked. Siegfried raised his head, looked at the speaker, woke up from his contemplation, and said: "We need to discuss this failure, estimate what the Grand Master and the priest will say, and discuss how our actions will not cause losses to the Knights." He stopped talking again, but after a while After a while, he looked around, closed his nostrils, and said, "There is still a smell of blood here." "No, 'Comto,'" replied Rotgier, "I have ordered them to mop the floor and smoke it with sulfur. It smells of sulfur."

Siegfried looked at the people present with a strange look, and said: "May God have mercy on the souls of the late Master Dunwiert and Master Godfried!" They all understood that the old man begged God to have mercy on their souls, because at the mention of brimstone he thought of hell; so they shuddered all over, and answered with one voice, "Amen! Amen! Amen!" After a while, I heard the wind howling again, and the rattling of the window frame. "Where are the remains of 'Comto' and Master Godfried?" asked the old man. "In the chapel, the priests are saying the litany for them."

"Have they been put in coffins?" "It was put in, but 'Komto' was still covered with a cloth because his skull and face were smashed." "Where are the rest of the bodies, where are the wounded?" "The rest of the bodies were lying in the snow, and while they were being frozen hard, coffins were being made for them, and the injured were sent to the hospital." Siegfried ran his hands through his hair again. "He alone has brought about such a situation! . . . God, may the Knights have your protection in the future war against this jackal-like nation!"

Hearing this, Rotgier raised his eyes, as if remembering something, and said: "I heard in Wilno that the Consul of Schambauds and his brother, the Grand Master, said so : 'If you don't start a big war and wipe them out and root them out, we and our people will suffer.'” "May God grant such a war to fight with them!" said a noble novice. Siegfried looked at him for a while, as if he wanted to say: "You can have a duel with one of their knights today." However, seeing the short and young figure of the novice monk, he remembered Although he himself was famous for his bravery, he was unwilling to show his face and invite destruction, so he held back and asked instead:

"Which of you saw Jurand?" "I," replied de Bergove. "Is he still alive?" "Alive. He's still lying in the same net we tripped him up in. When he woke up, the servants tried to kill him, but the priest refused." "You can't kill him. He is too famous in his country, and if he is killed, there will be an uproar in public opinion," Siegfried replied. "Neither can we hide what has happened, because there are too many witnesses" "So what shall we say and do?" asked Rotgier. Siegfried pondered for a while, then said:

"You, the noble Count de Bergove, have come to Marburg to see the Grand Master. You have suffered under Jurand's servitude, and you are now a guest of the Order; therefore in this capacity , and you don't have to speak well of the priests, they will believe you more. Go and tell what you saw, and say that Dunvelt rescued a girl from a band of brigands on the frontier, thinking she She is Jurand's daughter, so she notified Jurand, and Jurand has arrived in Shitno, and you know what happens next." "Forgive me, devout Comto," said de Bergoff. "I was a slave in Spyhof, and I suffered infinitely, and as your guest I am glad to testify to you; but for the peace of my soul, please tell me: whether Jurand's daughter is dying or not?" Has Dunwiert's treachery driven her father mad, Tenow?"

Siegfried de Lauf hesitated for a moment without answering; he was born with a deep hatred for the Polish nation; he was more cruel than Dunwiert; , the more proud and covetous, but he does not like deceit.The most painful and sad thing in his life is that because of the lawlessness and domineering of the Knights of the Crusaders, intrigue has become the most common and inevitable phenomenon in the life of the Knights.That was why de Bergove's question touched him sorely, and after a long silence he said: "Dunwiert has gone to God, and God will judge him. As for you, count, if they ask your opinion, answer it as you please. If they ask what you have seen, you will Say, before we caught this savage in a net, you saw not only many men wounded, but nine dead bodies lying on the ground, among them Dunwilt, Master Godfried, Von Boe Lacht, Hughes, and the two noble youths...may God grant them eternal rest. Amen!"

"Amen! Amen!" repeated the two novices. "Furthermore," Siegfried added, "Although Dunwiert wanted to subdue this enemy of the Knights, none of us had ever used force against Jurand first." "I speak only of what I saw with my own eyes," replied de Bergove. "Please be at the chapel by midnight; we're going there to pray for the spirits of the dead," Siegfried said. He extended his hand to de Begove as a token of thanks and farewell; he wished to stay and have another consultation alone with the Master Rotgier, whom he loved and trusted.After de Bergove had resigned, he sent two novices on the pretext that they were going to oversee the coffins of the ordinary servants Jurand had killed.As soon as they had gone out and the door was shut, he turned to Rotgier, briskly, and said:

"Listen, there is only one way now: it must not be known that Jurand's real daughter is with us." "That's easy," replied Rotgier, "for no one knows she's here except Dunveld, Godfried, the two of us, and the servants who keep her. Dunville Tate had already ordered those who brought her here to be poisoned and hanged. Some in the garrison had some doubts about this, but they couldn't figure it out, and they don't know now. Is it our fault, or some wizard really changed Jurand's daughter." "That's fine," Siegfried said. "I just thought again, noble Comto, since Dunwiert is dead, can we simply put all the crimes on him..."

"Wouldn't that be tantamount to admitting to the world that while we live in perfect harmony with the Prince of Masovia, we have snatched from his court the adopted daughter of the Duchess and her beloved maid of honor? No, Absolutely not! Never!... We have been seen at the duke's court with Dunwiert; and the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller is a relation of his, and knows that we always do things together... If we put the blame on Dunwiert, he's going to clear his name behind him..." ① Knights of the Hospital Department - the religious knights organized in Palestine during the 18th Crusade, also known as the Knights of John. "Then we must discuss what to do," said Rotgier. "A good deal must be worked out, or we are doomed! If we release Jurand's daughter, she will say to herself that we did not take her from robbers, but he who took her from her." Brought her straight to Schttno." "This is for sure." "It's not just about responsibility. God has shown that I don't care if I'm alone. The problem is: the dukes will appeal to the King of Poland, and their representatives will go to court everywhere to tell of our atrocities, our injustices and our Only God knows how much the Knights will suffer from this! If the Grand Master himself knew the truth, he would have ordered us to hide this girl." "Even so, if the girl disappeared, wouldn't they accuse us?" asked Rotgier. "No! Master Dunwiert is a very cunning man. Don't you remember, he forced Jurand to accept such a condition: that he should not only come to Szytno in person, but also announce it to everyone in advance and write The letter told the duke that he was going to ransom his daughter from robbers, and that he knew that her daughter was not with us." "Yes! But having said that, how can we justify what happened in Shitno?" "We may say that we knew that Jurand was looking for his daughter, and that we had captured a girl from robbers, and not knowing who she was, informed Jurand, thinking that the girl might well be his. Daughter; who would have thought that when he came here, when he saw her, he would go mad as if possessed by a demon, causing many innocent people to bleed, and I am afraid that he would not shed so much blood in a single battle." "Indeed," replied Rotgier, "you are speaking the best words of experience. If we blame Dunwiert for all the crimes, his crimes will always fall on the Knights, and therefore equal to It fell on all of us, on the Order of the Priests and on the Grand Master himself; so we must show our innocence, we must blame everything on Jurand and the Poles, their confederacy with the devil . . . " "At that time, whoever wants to judge us, let him judge; whether it is the pope or the Roman emperor!" "Yes!" After a while of silence, Master Rotjiai asked: "Then what shall we do with Jurand's daughter?" "Let's discuss and discuss." "Give her to me." Siegfried looked at him and replied: "No! Listen, young mage! Never trust any man or woman, nor yourself, when it comes to the Order. Dunwiert was punished by God because he not only wanted to serve the Order To avenge his grievances, but also to take the opportunity to satisfy his own selfish desires." "You've misjudged me!" Rotgier argued. "Don't be too confident," Siegfried interrupted him, "for your body and soul will soften, and that mighty race will one day press its knee so hard on your chest that you I can't even stand." And for the third time he put his head in his hands gloomily, evidently absorbed in talking to his own conscience and thinking only of himself, for after a while he said again: "I also feel very heavy in my heart because of too much bloodshed, too much pain, too many tears... When the problem involves the Knights, when I see that mere force will not succeed, I will Do not hesitate to seek other means; but when I stand before Almighty God to be judged, I will tell him: 'I did it for the Order, and for myself - whatever.' " After saying this, he stretched his hands to his chest, and unbuttoned his black cloth robe, revealing a sackcloth.Then, pressing his temples with both hands again, he raised his head, raised his eyes, and cried out: "Stop debauchery, and train your body and mind, because even now I see the white feathers of the eagle in the sky, and see its claws stained with Teutonic blood!  …" ①The military flag of the Kingdom of Poland is a large flag with a white eagle on a red background.Achael also wore the emblem of an eagle, and the eagle here refers to the Kingdom of Poland. Unexpectedly, what he was about to say was interrupted by a violent knock on the door, and a window on the corridor was knocked open with a bang, and the whole hall was filled with the howling and whistling of the storm with snow flakes. "In the name of God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! What an ominous night it is," said the old Teuton. "A night of the devil," replied Rotgier. "Is there a priest keeping Dunwiert's vigil?" "Yes...he died without repentance...may God have mercy on him!" So neither of them spoke.Then Rotgier called for some servants, and ordered them to shut the windows and light the torches; and when they had gone, he asked again: "What are you going to do with Jurand's daughter? Are you going to take her from here to Jansberg?" "I will take her to Jansberg, and I will dispose of her according to the interests of the Order." "Then what do I do?" "Do you have the courage?" "What have I done to make you doubt my courage?" "I don't doubt it, because I know you well, and it is because of your courage that I love you as my own son. Then go to the court of the Duke of Masovia and explain what happened here according to the Tell them the results of our discussions." "Can I invite my own death?" "You should go, if your death will bring glory to the Holy Cross and the Knights. No! You will not bring death. They will never do harm to a guest: unless someone challenges you, like the young knight to We all have the same challenge... unless it's him, or someone else, but it's not scary..." "God bless! But they'll catch me anyway and put me in a dungeon." "They won't do that. Remember, Jurand has a letter to the duke, and you're going to sue Jurand. You tell everything he did in Schitno, and they Will believe you... We were the first to inform him of such a girl; we asked him to come and see her first, and he came, went mad, and killed Comto, and killed many of us. If you say so, what can they tell you? Dunwiert's death will inevitably spread throughout Masovia. So they can't press charges. Of course they want to find Jurand's daughter, but since Jurand Lund himself has written that she is not with us, so they will not suspect that we have taken her. They must be confronted and silenced, because they will think so: If we really have Wrong, none of us would dare to go to them." "That's right! I'll start when Dunwiert is buried." "God bless you, my dear child! If you do everything right, they will not only not detain you, but they will also give up Jurand, lest we say: 'Look, this is what they did to us. !'” "We also have to appeal to all courts." "The Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller will do this for the benefit of the Knights, not to mention that he is a relative of Dunwirt." "But what if the devil of Spychoff survives and is free again? . . . " With a vicious look in Siegfried's eyes, he replied slowly and emphatically: "Even if he is free, he will never be allowed to utter a single word to accuse the Knights." He then began advising Rotgier on what to say and what to ask at the court in Masovia.