Joke of the Doers

Chapter three. Wedding.

I was late for work, and Edda gave me a huge bag of tubers, very prickly and small, which no one liked to clean, and it was always done by those who were late.

I silently accepted my fate and began to peel the tubers of tremach, which tastes so similar to our sweet potato. The girls standing nearby cleaned the fish, at first in silence, but then they started talking. They were already getting used to me, and I heard that both of them were going to marry their soldiers, to whom they ran in the evenings.

It turned out that the duke had lifted his ban on the wedding of the beautiful Ostalia, and she was marrying her marquis in a few days. The girls will also get married on the same day. And it is considered a good omen to get married immediately to a rich and noble bride in the same Temple and with the same minister. This servant has already been invited by Duke Kolfenoy Tomarik to Fort Haney.

The girls debunked my idea of them as young libertines. It turned out that they had known for a long time that they were tennies for their young people, just waiting for the right occasion for the wedding.

- And you, the widow, will you go to the ceremony? They say my Lady Ostalia Benderik ordered a dress embroidered with gold and pearls, like the queen herself! Loya, the youngest girl in the kitchen, spoke breathlessly. - I want to see it so much! After all, it's good that the wedding will take place here in our fort, otherwise we would never have seen such beauty!

Girls have always raved about beautiful outfits and jewelry. I used to, too. I didn't really want to go to someone else's wedding, especially to the wedding of that beautiful, but thoroughly deceitful person. But curiosity overcame my doubt, and I decided to go to the Temple. With that, I decided to congratulate the girls and tie them on an openwork kerchief.

Fortunately, I had silk threads: white and pink. I could crochet a small silk scarf in one evening, but for this I needed to save my fingers, which I have almost pricked now. By the evening they could swell up, and I went to the cook.

- Mrs. Edda!

"What do you want, Thibault?" - the woman adjusted her strict headdress with a careless gesture, something between a scarf and a cap with an elastic band, under which her hair was removed.

- Give me the gloves, please... I realized everything! I won't be late anymore!

Edda glared at me with displeasure, but said nothing. Gloves for difficult work were given out only by her every morning, and, of course, this was denied to me. I had to get into it and correct myself.

- Mrs. Edda! - I called her again. I needed to get my way. Let me remove the traces of the day's work in the evening with the help of herbal lotions, but I can't do anything! And there are a few days left before the wedding.

- What are you clinging to... Step back, you're in the way! - Edda grabbed a huge vat of boiling water and moved it from the stove to the work table, catching me on purpose with her shoulder.

I finally understood why the merchants called her fat Edda: the muscles of her arms got excited and pulled the fabric of her dress, adding to her formidable, unladylike strength and appearance.

- Well, please... Punish me after the wedding, and I'll tie the girls' scarves as a gift! I blurted out.

- You say you'll tie me up? Can you?

- I can, all women in our family can do it...

- If so, then let's go...

and she gave me thick canvas gloves. I may not have earned the trust of the hostess of the kitchen yet, but the first steps I have taken to this have been done. I needed information that no one was in a hurry to share with me!

"You'll get your punishment after the wedding," Edda said after me as I hurried to my bag of tremachs.

- Good! Thanks! - I smiled back at her.

In the evening I got to work and managed to knit a pink scarf before nightfall. The next day, having received an easier job than before, she quickly got free and hurried to her room.

- Where are you in a hurry, Thibault? - Edda appeared in front of me unexpectedly, blocking the passage.

- I'm in a hurry to wash and tie a second silk scarf...

- Have I already tied one?

- Yes, the first one is ready...

- Come on, show me! cook ordered me. I realized she didn't believe me.

When we entered my cubicle, Edda stared in surprise at the patchwork bedspread and patchwork curtain.

I didn

't want to explain to her that I was just going crazy with boredom and homesickness, and I shrugged my shoulders.

- Show me the scarf...

I took out the kerchief and handed it to the woman. She looked at the lace patterns of the canvas as a miracle!

- Only the Queen's own craftswomen can knit this way...

- Thank you, Mrs. Edda...

- Listen, when you finish with the gifts for the brides, will you knit me a large handkerchief with the same pattern after the wedding? I'll pay you handsomely!

- So, you need threads...

- You will need threads, Thibault... Just tie me a handkerchief, like the queen herself! Thirty pieces of silver will be your pay for your work!

I was a little surprised at such a huge amount: I took only fifty from Adania, half of which I had already spent! Is Edda really that rich? Or is this a test of my greed?

- Mrs. Edda, ten silver pieces will be enough for me, and such a payment will take me only a few evenings...

- Good, Widow Thibault, good... I just thought that you would refuse to work for a smaller amount, but if so... she looked at me approvingly, and we parted, pleased with each other.

So the day of weddings has come.

Two days before it, we lost our feet, preparing a festive dinner for the soldiers. The gentlemen ate from another kitchen located in the so-called manor house. There was a real foreign chef preparing a table for the Duke, the Marquis and his bride, the commandant and their invited guests.

It was not clear to me why the wedding was being held in the fort, but the girls whispered that the duke himself wanted to attend the wedding and did not let the Marquis and his tennie go home. It seemed to me akin to picking at your bleeding wounds, but no one asked my opinion, as no one explained how a girl determines whether she is for her man or not.

It was very dangerous to ask such a question: I was still afraid of exposure. What was clear to everyone in the Venzos, for me, remained a secret knowledge, which everyone seems to be talking about, but they don't say anything concrete!

Putting on my best "widow's" dress and twisting my hair into a tight bun under a scarf, I went with a flock of girls and women to the Temple, which stands right there on the territory of the fortress, only in another courtyard, next to the parade ground, where soldiers trained to march every morning.

The local Temple was outwardly a very modest structure made of gray stone, not like ours. Even though ours were small, they were decorated with bas-reliefs and statues of Ada, images of her deeds.

The Temple of Vienna was ascetic and strict. Inside, the large room was delimited by high columns to the ceiling, dividing it into several parts. Opposite the entrance, at the opposite wall, there was a raised platform on which I saw a large bowl with a fire burning in it.

Next to him stood a man in a luxurious robe of bright red color and the same round cap. And only then did I notice behind his back either a statue or a bas-relief of the beautiful naked god Vena, on whose loins a small piece of cloth was shyly placed, and the muscles of the arms and legs were so finely honed that it seemed that the deity was about to descend to us!

"This is the oldest temple in Vienna," one of the workers whispered in my ear. - Getting married here is very honorable and right... To a happy life with her husband... Especially if you're his kashani...

I heard that word again, but I smiled back at the employee, pretending to agree with her words.

All of us, ordinary women and several dozen young and not so young warriors, stood almost at the door. In front, in front of the dais, there were several rows of benches with backs made of wood, on which the distinguished guests sat.

Their dresses and ornaments shimmered in the rays of the sun penetrating through the high arrow-shaped windows of the Temple.

And then the attendant began to hum something, at first quietly, almost whispering words in an unfamiliar language. My stone translator at first refused to translate it, but then he still snatched out individual words about the purpose of each other, about fate, children and the sanctity of bonds.

Then his voice became louder and louder until it reached everyone, and it seemed that every word entered the body and resonated with the walls of the Temple, pushing off from them and rolling in a booming wave!

That was greatness! A real ceremony! The ceremony in the Temple of Ada, in comparison with this, was very modest. I was imbued with the joy of the moment! But one thing confused me: not a single word of the minister was translated as love, loyalty, devotion. Only official: duty, respect, heritage and support. But I thought that this society might have other guidelines, and it was not for me to condemn them.

After the couple Ostalia and her Marquis left the Temple amid the noise of congratulations, two couples went to the minister, for whom I came here. These were our workers with their grooms. The benches were almost all empty, and we quickly moved to them.

I was surprised to see the Duke sitting in front with his back straight, and the commandant next to him. Okay, the commandant can also attend the wedding of his subordinates, but the duke? Although, the soldiers were definitely his!

The attendant repeated the rite, only without excessive loud pathos, faster. And I saw that the young, already husband and wife, were holding their palms over the fire in the bowl for some reason. The palm of the spouse at the same time lies on the back of the wife's hand.

Writing it off to local traditions, I hardly waited until everyone moved away from the young ones to congratulate myself. And then the hem of the dress caught on a chip of a not very smoothly trimmed bench and I bent down to pull the fabric out of the grip of the tree.

- Useless thing! The Duke's voice rang out almost above me. Then I heard a thin ringing and the sounds of a small object jumping on the stone floor.

- Mr. Tomarik! It's a family heirloom! How can you do that!

- Friend Trengan... Don't worry so much about this stupid subject! It's not worth it!

- But how...

and the men began to walk away down the aisle. My workers were also already hanging around the doors, and I hurried to the exit, realizing that there would soon be no one left except the attendant and me.

And then something flashed under one of the last benches. I would have passed by, but I bent down and saw a large bright yellow crystal attached to a gold chain. After a second of thinking, I was already picking it up, clutching it in my hand.

- Mr. Duke! Mr. Commandant! I shouted, catching up with the men, thank the Great, who had not gone far. - Take it! You dropped it...

And I immediately fell silent when I saw the expression on the Duke's and the commandant's faces. if the commandant looked at me very strangely, as if I were some kind of miracle, then the duke looked at me with outright dislike, even hatred. And this hatred applied to me and the crystal in my hand!

The crystal glowed, and not just glowed, but played with all the colors that exist under the sun! Red turned to pink, pink to beige, beige to yellow! And so on endlessly changing colors and shades and illuminating everything within a radius of three meters around!

- Terenggan, close the doors!

- Yes, Mr. Tomarik! and the elderly commandant quickly escorted the last girls and soldiers out, leaving two soldiers to guard the door.

- Who are you, Aunt? The duke asked me with a terrible expression on his face, taking a step towards me. I stepped back.

- Thibault's widow... What's going on here?

- You are the kashani of Duke Kolfenoy Tomarik, the younger brother of our King Winzer the Fifth, the glorious ruler of Greldia!

That red-faced servant of the local deity of Vienna appeared over my shoulder.

"Is there any way we can hide this fact, Father?" The Duke turned to him. I also looked at the attendant in horror. For some reason, I felt dizzy.

- And that schismatic lied to you, sir! He said that there would be no happiness for you in this world! There is no your kashani here! Not born! - suddenly the commandant who came up to us spoke. - That's a liar!

My head began to spin even more, and I grabbed the back of the bench with my free hand.

- what? Here? What's going on? - I found the strength to ask the men standing in front of me.

- We decide which is easier: to kill you to hide IT, or should I still marry you ... - the duke spoke, and then I realized that I was losing consciousness.

- Take the crystal from her! - the man shouted, and someone abruptly tore the jewelry from my hand, peeling the skin on my arm.

I did not have time to completely lose consciousness, and water was sprayed on my head, pouring it over the collar of my dress.

- Everything... everything... it's easier for me...

- Women should not touch the ancestral crystal for a long time. He draws energy from them... - the attendant explained, - did you really not know about this?

- no... I shook my head, trying to figure out what the Duke was up to. Am I going to be killed now? Am I going to die because some stupid piece of jewelry decided to assign me to a man's property?

I tried to get up, but the attendant told me:

- Lie down... Now your mier will come, and we will perform the ceremony... There is no time to prepare the ceremony, but it is not important for kashani. You will have a different connection with Meer: spiritual and energetic!

The minister of Vienna rolled his eyes, I shuddered with horror: no one was going to ask my opinion! I had to run.

I tried to get up again, despite the protests of krasnoshapochny. But my head was very dizzy, and I could only take three steps when two footsteps rang out.

- And where are you going, Aunt?

- I... don't want...

- Do you think I want? - they hissed right in my face. - There was a beauty...

the Duke laughed angrily.

- What's your name? Full name..." the attendant asked.

- Thibaut Gunn... arik... I squeezed out of myself, not understanding how I could be in such a stupid situation. What would it cost me to pass by and not pick up this bright trinket that so strangely decided my fate?

- If you have children? Or are you infertile?

- There is... - I answered, as in a dream, the questions of men.

- She will give birth to my son, and I will send her somewhere far away... Let's get started! Otherwise, our absence from the wedding feast may seem suspicious!

The Duke grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me towards the bowl. I was walking as if to an execution. Then the attendant began to sing again.

Now I was shaking not from the splendor of the ceremony, but from the realization that I was now getting married to a man I didn't know, not very pleasant in character and hating me from the bottom of my heart!

The fog was thickening in front of me again, but the Duke's icy palm prevented me from fainting. At the end of the ceremony, the man put his palm on my hand, slightly grabbed it and held it over the fire in the bowl.

There was no pain. It was a strange fire, from which my blood began to run faster through my veins, my heart began to pound. His breathing began to falter.

"Take her to me, Trengan. Make sure that no one sees you... I'll come back a little later.

While I was trying to catch my breath, the commandant took me by the hand and led me through another exit to the street, and from there to the courtyard of the fortress, where there was a huge house for gentlemen. It was twice as tall and wider than that room, even together with the kitchen, where the workers lived. I've never been there yet, but I didn't feel any anticipation, only annoyance and a strange excitement that ignited in me after the ceremony.

- The bath is behind the screen... And then go straight to bed, wait for the Duke... Don't open the door to anyone, he'll be here soon...

The commandant clearly gave me military orders that any decent woman would be ashamed of, but that was the limit for me. I sank down on the huge bed without strength, not intending not to wash, not to undress. My head kept spinning, and I just lay down right on the bedspread. I would have left, but I just didn't have the strength to try. I soon fell asleep, thinking finally that I had not given the girls scarves.