Chapter 47 Chapter Thirteen

When Jagienka realized the significance of Macko's message that she should stay in Spiehof, she was almost petrified.Sorrow and anger crippled her for a moment, and she stared wide-eyed at the Czech to show how unwelcome his news was for her.Therefore he said: "I would also like to tell you what we heard at Schitno. There is a lot of important news." "A message from Zbyszko?" "No, it's news from Schitno. You know..." "Let the servants unsaddle the saddles, and you come with me." He obeyed her orders, and they went to her room. "Why did Macko keep us here? Why did we have to stay in Spychov, why did you come back here?" she asked the Czech in a breathless voice.

"I'm coming back," Halava answered, "because the Knight of Macko wanted me to come back. I was going to fight, but an order is an order. The Knight of Macko told me thus: 'Go back and take care of Zgothrytri's. Wait for a message from me, miss. You may escort her to Zgotrilici, as it is inconvenient for her to go there alone.'" "For the love of God, tell me what happened? Did they find Jurand's daughter? Did Macko go there to find Zbyszko? Did you see her? Did you speak to her?" ? Why didn't you bring her with you? Where is she now?"

After hearing such a series of questions, the Czech gave the girl a deep bow and said: "I beg your lady not to mind if I do not answer all the questions at once, as it is impossible for me to do so, but if nothing else prevents me, I will try my best to answer them one by one in the order you have suggested." "Well, did they find her?" "No, but according to reliable sources, she was originally in Scittno, and may have been moved to a remote castle in the east." "Why must we stay in Spiehof?" "Ah! What if we find her? . . . Yes, your lady knows . . . there is no reason to stay here . . . "

Jagienka was silent, only her cheeks flushed.The Czech continued: "I was and still think there's no way we'll get her out alive from under the paws of these dogs. But it's in the hands of God. I have to tell you from the beginning. We're in Sztno. Well, Macko The knight showed Lichtenstein's letter to the assistant of 'comto'. He kissed the seal in front of our face and received us warmly. He didn't doubt us at all and fully trusted us. So if our men It would be easy to take the castle if we had some of our own. We visited the abbe, and there was no trouble. We talked for two nights; .”

"But the executioner is dumb." "He was mute, but the priest spoke to him with signs, and he understood them perfectly. The signs were nothing short of miraculous. It must have been by divine power. The executioner chopped off Jurand's hand, cut out his tongue, and dug out Lost his eyes. The executioner is such a man that you tell him to torture a man, he will do anything, even if you ask him to extract all the teeth of the victim; but when it comes to girls, he will He refused to kill them, and even asked him to help them torture the girls, but he refused. The reason why he refused to do so was because he also had an only daughter whom he loved very much, but she was kidnapped by the Crusader knights..."

Halava stopped at this point; he didn't know how to go on.Jagienka saw this, and said: "What does the executioner have to do with me?" "Because it's in order," replied the Czech. "Old 'comto' Siegfried went mad when our young master hacked the knight Rotgier to death. The people of Szüttno said Rotgier was the 'com To' son. The priest also testifies to this, and it is said that not even a father loves his own son so much as Siegfried loves Rotji; for he sold his soul to the devil in desire of vengeance. Yes. The executioner saw all this with his own eyes. The Komto talked to the dead Rotgi as I talked to you, and the corpse laughed, gnashed its teeth, and rejoiced in the coffin. had to lick his mouth with a blackened tongue, because old 'Komto' promised to give him Lord Zbyszko's head. But since he couldn't get Lord Zbyszko's head at that time, he ordered it to be killed. Jurand tortured, cut off Jurand's tongue and hands and put them in Rotgier's coffin, and Rotgier swallowed them..."

"How dreadful that sounds. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen!" said Jagienka, getting up and throwing a piece of wood on the fire, for it was already dark. "Yes!" Hlavar went on, "what will happen on the Last Judgment Day? For then everything that belongs to Jurand will be returned to him. But that is beyond the understanding of ordinary people. The executioner saw it with his own eyes. Seen all this. Feed the dead body with human flesh, and this old 'Comto' went to kill Jurand's daughter, because it seemed that the dead man whispered to him that after he had eaten human flesh, he wanted to drink some The blood of innocent people. But the executioner, I told you, would do anything but hurt or kill a girl, so he hid on the stairs... The priest said that the executioner is usually stupid but he was perfectly sane in that matter, and his tact, when necessary, was unmatched. He sat on the stairs and waited, and then the 'comto' came and listened He heard the hangman's breathing. He saw something shiny, and flinched back, thinking it was a devil. The hangman hit him on the neck with his fist, thinking that the blow had completely broken his bones, But 'Komto' did not die, but fell into a coma and became sick with fright. When he recovered, he would not dare to do such a murderous thing to Jurand's daughter again."

"But they took her away." "They took her and the executioner with her. 'Komto' didn't know that it was he who was protecting Jurand's daughter. He thought it was some magical power, good or evil. He took the executioner with him, and did not allow him to stay in Scijtno, for fear that he would testify; although he was mute, he could still tell everything by gesture through the priest in case of interrogation. Not only that, but the priest finally told Maczko, "Old Siegfried himself will not dare to harm Jurand's daughter, because he is afraid; if he orders others to harm her, Diedrich will live." , she'll be fine; he won't allow it, especially since he's already protected her once.'"

"Does the priest know where they have taken her?" "He didn't know the exact place, but he heard them talking about a place called Ragniecs, which was probably not far from the border of Lithuania or Zmud." "What did Macko say about that?" "Lord Maczko told me the next day: 'If this is the case, then I can and will find her, but I must go to Zbyszko at once, and don't let him do it for Miss Jurand. And fell into their trap, as they did Jurand.' They would only tell him that if he went himself they would give her to him, and he would go without hesitation; then old Siegfried Tet will find him to avenge the dead Rotgier, and make him suffer unheard of torture."

"Yes! Yes!" exclaimed Jagienka in surprise. "If that's what he's rushing to do, he's doing the right thing." But after a while she turned to Halava and said: "But he made a mistake in sending you here. We don't need guards here. Old Tolima can just as well. You're strong and brave, and you can do Zbyszko a lot." "But who's going to protect you in case you have to go to Zgotrilitri?" "If that's the case, let them send someone to send a letter, it's better to send you, then you can come and take us home first."

The Czech kissed her hand and asked emotionally: "Then who will protect you while you are here?" "God takes care of orphans! We stay here." "Aren't you bored? What are you doing here?" "I will pray to the Lord Jesus to return happiness to Zbyszko and good health to all of you." Then suddenly she burst into tears, and the attendant gave another deep bow and said: "You really are like an angel."