Лео Франковски - Conrad's Last Campaign

“It is true, your grace.”

I found that I believed this man .

I said to my bodyguards in Polish, “Ladies, I want these rejects escorted to the palace prison. We’ll sort this out later.”

Then, in Aramaic, I said to those who had been rejected by the Big People, “Something is very wrong here. I’m placing you in detention until we can resolve this matter. My bodyguards here will escort you. If you are innocent, you will be well paid for your time, and you will be well fed in any event.”

Ahmed said, “These pretty little girls are your bodyguards? Surely, your grace, this is madness!”

“Appearances can be deceiving,” I said.

The girls went to the rejects, put their hands on the men’s upper arms, and started to lead them away. Then one man, apparently the leader of the group, shook himself free. He shouted something to the other men, drew his sword, and swung it at Terry.

This was the wrong thing to do!

Faster than a human eye could follow, she stepped inside of his swing, drew her knife, and slashed his throat from ear to ear!

His men saw their leader’s sword out and swinging, and quickly drew their own swords. The battle involved seventeen adult men, armed with swords, against eight naked and apparently adolescent girls, armed only with small knives.

It wasn’t a fight, it was a massacre. I didn’t even bother going for my own sword. I knew that I’d never get it out in time.

Beautiful, naked girls are not usually perceived of as a threat to a man, and there is no instinctive reaction to keep them back. My bodyguards took full advantage of this. They got in close, and they killed.

My deadly ladies went for the throat whenever possible, because there was always the chance that their victim was wearing armor beneath his clothes, and armor could ruin a good knife.

Before the first man’s body hit the ground, all seventeen of the others had their throats slashed, with every artery squirting bright red.

None of my bodyguards were injured, but all were splashed with blood.

“As I said, Ahmed, appearances can be deceiving.”

“Indeed, your grace,” he replied quietly as he stared at the still twitching bodies. “Be assured that never will I try to trick you.”

I switched to Polish and said, “Terry, have housekeeping notified about the mess out here. Leave me two guards, but the rest of you should go and wash up. You ladies did a very nice job, incidentally.”

As most of my bloody bodyguards left, I handed Ahmed a bag of coins. Still staring open-mouthed at the dead bodies on the paving stones, it was a minute before he noticed the money, and accepted the bag .

I said, “This is an advance on your salary. This afternoon, make arrangements for whatever horses, clothing, arms, armor, and other property that you may have. Sell them or store them, it is up to you. See that all of your debts are paid before this evening. Take your men to a public bath house tonight. Get your hair cut short, and get shaved. It may be a while before you can get clean again. And in the morning, leave whatever lodgings you are using. Come back here with your men at dawn. Someone will meet you and take you to a place where you and your men will be equipped with the finest clothing, arms and armor that you have ever seen. You, and the six men of your choice, will get golden armor, incidentally, the same as mine. Your Big People will all get new saddles, but not bridles. They don’t need them. Spurs and whips are not permitted. Tomorrow night, we’ll find room for you in the palace.”

“I shall do these things, your grace.”

“Good,” I said. “We need your help, but there is much that you and your men will have to learn quickly. Our Big People cannot speak, but they are very intelligent, and they understand Polish. It is a difficult language to learn, but we have a very simplified version called Pigeon, which will let you communicate with Polish speaking people, and most of my army, as well as with your Big People. It is possible to learn it in a few weeks. Many of our weapons will be new to you. We will do our best to train you in their use while we head north, although in fact, you have not been hired to fight, but rather to guide us. One of my battalions is from Central Africa, and all of them speak Aramaic. You will be assigned to that battalion, and they will assign a man to you and to each of your men, to act as an instructor.”

“This would seem to be a very wise program, your grace.”

“I hope so. Well, I will see you later. For now, we both have much to do.”

I went back to my office to see how things were going. Two blood splattered nude girls walked behind me, and eighteen bodies were lying dead on the ground behind us.

From the Secret Journal of Su Song, Part Two

The compound we were assigned was once a military post surrounded by small farms. The brick outer walls enclose an area of about two acres with barracks, offices, stables, repair shops, and warehouses. The stables were cavernous buildings ideal for holding our new mechanisms and the adjoining repair shops were perfect for our craftsmen.

At first, our footsteps echoed in the empty rooms, but they were soon filled with the sounds of workmen and women.

The compound has turned into a virtual city in a very short time. In addition to my original five assistants and two secretaries, we have added metal smiths, blacksmiths, and artists of several types, five more secretaries, an archivist, wood workers, and shop managers. Most brought families as this will be a long project.

Most of the staff live in apartments on the grounds and we now have food stores, clothing stores, two restaurants, a school, and, of course, a tea house because even dedicated scientists need a place for quiet cup of tea or sake away from the eyes and voices of the wives we love so dearly.

I assigned each of my assistants one of the major artifacts and gave him a team of artists and a secretary. For the first week, they just sketched, measured and examined each of the artifacts as much as possible without major disassembly. As they completed their tasks, they were rotated to other artifacts, so that each was examined and documented by at least two teams.

During that first week, I demanded and got visits from warriors who had seen, or claimed to have seen the artifacts in operation. It turned out that we were completely wrong in our assessment of some items and had to start over with them.

The chief of the artillery noyan that had recovered the water mechanism was very uncomfortable at first. The Mongols had few ranks and honorifics. Everyone below the khan and above a common soldier was chief , whether you were the commander of a thousand man noyan or a million man army, you were chief , until you were khan. Honorifics were not needed for vassal people any more than they were for dogs. Pig was a polite way to address a subject person, and he was not certain how to address a vassal people who obviously had such power and favor from the khan.

In spite of his expensive Chinese clothes, Chief Gan was obviously a Mongol. His skin was lighter than Chinese and if his round eyes didn’t give him away, his mild odor would. I broke the ice by bowing, not too deeply, and opening the conversation. “Chief Gan, do you mind if my assistant translates your words as we talk? Several of our people speak only Chinese, but what you have to say is very important to them.”

“I don’t mind. ”

“I have been told that you were the one who brought back the biggest and most impressive artifacts to the khan. It must have been a journey such as few men have seen. Please tell us how you did it.”

“It was a great adventure. This stuff was on the damndest boat you can imagine. We took it out with two trebuchet shots, and it was only one that we got much off of because we had to burn most of them stop ’em and the Poles tried to burn any boat they abandoned.