"Frankowski,.Leo.-.Conrad.Starguard.3.-.Radiant.Warrior" - читать интересную книгу автора (Frankowski Leo)

she went to this task willingly. Yet I was consoled, for it is the
custom of that lord, once one of his ladies was with child, to marry
her to one of the commoners of his village. My father promised to
talk to Count Lambert and to Krystyana's parents when the time
was right, and I thought that one day within the year I would have
my love by my side.

But then Sir Conrad came to Okoitz. He came from someplace to
the east, though from exactly where is a mystery, for a priest laid a
geas on him that he may not speak of his origins.

I was among those to whom he taught mathematics, and he paid
the priest to teach us our letters. He gave me a responsible
position, keeping the books of his inn, his brass works, and now
the city he was building at Three Walls. This made me a man of
some substance, which bolstered my claim to Krystyana's hand.

Then Count Lambert sent my love, along with four others, with Sir
Conrad to the vast lands awarded him.

Sir Conrad gave all five ladies positions of considerable
importance, and it is his custom that no woman may be forced into
marriage, nor even strongly encouraged, but that each may marry
the man of her own choosing, or even not marry at all.

My love Krystyana has never looked kindly on me. Even when our
positions force us to work together-for she manages the kitchens
that feed Sir Conrad's nine hundred people, and I must account for
every penny spent-she treats me coldly.

Long have I been convinced that could she but lay by my side for a
single night, her love would come to me. Yet I see no way that this
could happen.

Today at Count Lambert's town of Okoitz, Annastashia-one of Sir
Conrad's five ladies-was married to that fine young knight Sir
Vladimir. It was a beautiful ceremony, with Sir Conrad giving the
bride away and all the ladies crying. But Krystyana's thoughts were
plain on her face, and I knew that she would not be content to
marry anyone less than a true belted knight, and that knight, Sir
Conrad.

So I wait while hope dwindles.

FROM THE DIARY OF CONRAD SCHWARTZ

The evening after my Trial by Combat, I was annoyed to discover
that my loyal carpenters were so convinced that I would lose and
be killed that they had made a beautiful coffin for me, and that my
loving masons had cut me a fine tombstone. Now they wanted me