The Knight´s Legacy

The Teuton Knight

LAKE PEIPUS

 BORDER BETWEEN ESTONIA AND RUSSIA

SPRING OF 1242

Konrad von Sternberg spurred his horse to put away with his pursuers, knowing that if they reached him he could not expect mercy of them. Elated with their victory the Russians wanted to erase all traces of their hated Germanic oppressors. Therefore if he really was reached the young man would have no alternative but to attack singly his pursuers until he finally fell down to Earth where he would be undoubtedly killed and beheaded. His combat wounds hurt more and more, the eyesight was blurred at times and the night added the cold of the early spring to his sufferings. He knew he had no chance to reach the rearguard line of the Teutonic Knights where he could receive relief and cure for his wounds. He realized that he did not even know in what direction to steer and was really wandering at random. Moments of consciousness alternated with those of unconsciousness, and the first were turning increasingly shorter. In a moment of lucidity he thought he had seen a dark detail in the immensity of the flat and empty steppe.

“A hut, perhaps?”  Anyway his foggy mind reminded him that he was in hostile territory and no relief could be expected. The horse headed “without another guide than its own instinct” to the blurred vision, and Konrad von Sternberg collapsed from his horse with all his cumbersome armor. A few dogs barked away, as the night progressed rapidly

The Order of the Teutonic Knights (Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum Ierosolimitanorum, or Order of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem) was founded in 1198 during the First Crusade, after the fall of Jerusalem, when there were still several Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land. German merchants from Lübeck and Bremen had promoted its creation to give care to the German soldiers wounded during the siege of Acre, and afterwards to provide containment to pilgrims from that source. They settled in Montfort, near Acre, one of the main Christian cities and fortresses and built their castle there. They created a military monastic order, of the type of the Hospitallers and the Knights Templar, which however the German Order never matched in power and influence. Its first Grand Master was Hermann von Salza, powerful man in his time.

After the defeat of the Crusaders in Palestine the Order transferred its activities to Europe erecting another castle named Marienburg in Malbork, Poland to host it. The Order participated for centuries in numerous European contests including that one in Hungary where they intended to form a kingdom under the protection of the Pope. They then fought in Prussia to impose Christianity by blood and fire on the then Prussian Pagans, and also in Poland and Lithuania. They were finally defeated by a Polish-Lithuanian army.

As the Order subjugated Russia the citizens of the Republic of Novgorod called Alexander Nevsky to combat them. This military leader faced the Teuton knights led by Hermann von Buxhoeveden first in the frozen surface of Lake Chudskoye and on April 5, 1242 defeated them in a battle on the shores of Lake Peipus, on the current border between Estonia and Russia.

Although the number of defeated Teutonic Knights was probably much lower than that reported in the Slavic narratives, this battle had a great political and psychological impact among Russians, who strengthened their self-esteem and drive to subdue the powerful armored horsemen fighting them with infantry soldiers, at a time without firearms when riders with armors were considered invincible. This confidence would help them in their long war against the Mongol invaders that was being carried out for a long time. From this battle on Lake Peipus is withdrawing our character defeated, exhausted and wounded,

Konrad woke up in the darkness, with the nebulous awareness that it was accompanied. A strong rancid stench reached his nose; he opened his eyes and glimpsed what at first sight seemed a blurred mass which gradually outlined as a solid female figure.

Flashing he could clarify his view and then glimpse the face of the woman, who surprised him by her flattened traits, her oblique eyes and the dark tone of her skin. He had never being in contact with members of the Mongolian race which had occupied vast areas of Russia and made vassals their Lords and inhabitants imposing on them a hard yoke. Indeed few Mongolians had come so far North at that time, since they lived dispersed in the huge Russian steppe. Konrad had heard about the ferocity of the Tartars, so a sense of fear and helplessness caused him a chill.

However the warrior hardened in a thousand battles resumed his self-control and managed to calm his spirit.

After a few moments, Konrad could discern that he was in a kind of tent, perhaps of made of leather, lying on a few skins probably sheep, which despite its hardiness, constituted the first bed in which he lay in more than half a year. After another short period of time, another slender female figure more came into the dwelling and spoke with the first woman in an incomprehensible and guttural language. The man became suddenly aware of his own nakedness and simultaneously had the perception that the person who had just entered was a young woman. He wanted to move but his body just responded with painful mobility, so he dropped his shame. The young woman slipped her fingers on Konrad`s skin. The soft texture of the feminine finger contact was pleasant and even caused him a brief erection, which he had no way to hide; the girl blushed and let loose a giggle. Konrad tried to talk to them asking where he was but the voice failed him and could not utter any sound; anyway he noticed that he did not know a language that they could understand.

Several days had already passed from the moment in which Konrad had regained consciousness, although he was still bedridden now in a straw bed, alternating between periods of lucidity and new fainting. His wounds hurt more, but were already not bleeding, and he estimated that they were in the process of healing. He had been fed with an invigorating diet of sour milk and some pieces of mutton, y, and generally felt with more forces. The eldest Mongolian matron was who had fed him in his mouth at the beginning while she spoke to him words in her incomprehensible dialect.

The young woman appeared at times staying in the background, watching him in silence and without denoting any emotions; in these brief appearances he was able to visualize her voluptuous forms and her agile path. The figure was setting in his mind, although he attributed it at the beginning to the long time that had passed since he had been with a woman.

One day it was the young woman who brought him food, limited to leave the dish at his fingertips. However as she moved two steps away her hand slightly touched Konrad´s. This underwent an intense blush, product of the desire for the dark and tender flesh he tried in vain to conceal. After eating he incorporated to continue looking at the girl, who went to what possibly was her place in the wide tent shared by several families of the clan. An idea darkly began to form in his mind.

The night came quickly; the knight got asleep as usual but he woke up in the middle of the gloom with a strange agitation. He stood up painfully, as he did when he had to satisfy his physiological needs and in the midst of darkness went to the site where he had seen the girl going. Stumbling between straw mattresses and junk but with stealth Konrad reached to the site he was looking for, knelt and groped in the darkness while his temples pulsed hastily; soon his hands touched a small foot, belonging without a doubt to the girl. Excited he ascended with his fingers along the soft skin of the calf, and arriving at the knee it became apparent that the young woman had awakened. This was a turning point, since if the woman shouted the tribe is would throw over him and surely it would destroy him. But she just issued a few weak whispers and growls; her thighs were opened to his hands and lips, the smell of leather and sour milk that emanated from her body instead of repelling him excited his senses even more. He finally arrived at the crotch and felt the girl s*x who twisted of pleasure. Her tacit acceptance and the female skin contact produced him a strong erection and since that time he completely lost control of his actions. The man penetrated into the young woman repeatedly while their bodies moved vigorously and rhythmically, but in silence. Konrad realized that despite the external cold sweat covered them. Exhausted he tried to move away, but her hands grasped him and her thighs twisted around his body. Thrilled by the signal of acceptance he felt a soft shiver running down his spine. The man toured the breasts of the girl with his hands and lips, and stopped facing a strange dark mark on her skin, obviously a birth mark shaped as a diamond that the dim light of the rising dawn filtering through the tent door let him glimpse. He would later learn that it was a hereditary characteristic of some members of the girl´s clan.

The young woman -named Narantsetseg, Tartar name meaning sunflower- was exultant. Since the moment the outsider had showed up she had set her eyes on him and had decided that he would belong to her. Now that she had introduced him in her bed she would not him go away, whatever the reactions of her family and other members of the camp were on the following day.

Khongordzol, the girl´s mother sleeping nearby had heard the rumors of her daughter´s bed; what her ears did not record her instinct told her. She really did not understand that had her daughter seen in that tall, skinny and gaunt stranger, but she understood that the decision to seize what they wanted was not exclusive of Mongolian men and decided not to fight against the will of her daughter.

A Mongolian rider arrived at full speed to the small village alternating some tents with precarious huts, given the nomadic nature of the Tartars.

The news was serious. Although the Prince Alexander Nevsky had no rejected the relationship of vassalage with the Mongols, other armies commanded by several Russian princes had begun a campaign of extermination and expulsion of the hated Tatars oppressors of that territory that the East Slavs began to consider the mother Russia. The Slavs were approaching, killing, r****g and burning, and it was already time to migrate again, returning to the eastern lands still subject to the declining power of the Golden Horde.

Konrad gathered his small family, comprising Narantsetseg, their young daughter Odval - whose name means chrysanthemum- and his mother-in-law Khongordzol.

“The members of the tribe are going eastward.” He told them.“ But they will be attacked and wiped out by the Russians before can meet the remnants of the Horde. Even if they could get to Mongolian territory there are only years of struggles and permanent withdrawals ahead.”

He looked at his family, and saw that they looked down understanding the danger and admitting the future that awaited them. After five years he knew all the  Mongolian codes, including  verbal and body language of meaningful silences.

“This is not what I want for my family. I already can't fight because of the wounds I have received, Odval is very little and Narantsetseg is pregnant again. We cannot endure a long flight through the steppe in the middle of the approaching winter.”  Konrad spoke with difficulty the language of Turkish origin of the Mongols, learned in the years since his arrival.

“I propose taking the opposite path. To the Southwest are the lands of my family and my people. In them I am a respected noble and we will have support and peace of mind. The trip is very long and there will be risks because there are still pagan tribes along the way, but I am confident that we can negotiate the passage through their lands with them.”

Khongordzol face overshadowed and after a few moments of reflection replied.

“I am glad that my daughter and grandson may have a better destination, although I don't know how they will be received among strangers. But there is nothing for me among your people; I was born and I have always lived as a Mongolian, wandering the Plains along with my people and our animals, and so I want to continue living. I cannot understand how you can live always in one place and take root as the plants.”

Konrad asked Narantsetseg about their desires. He knew in advance that, given the nature of the woman  she would be the one who made the final decision

“You are my husband and I must think about our children. I will follow you to your land and your people.”

The silence stretched between them. Narantsetseg began to cry silently, aware of the crossroads that took her to choose between her mother and her own family.

Tartar families traveled long distances in their wagons, but the nomadic life produced in the long run these painful separations. For this reason, Narantsetseg sought to calm her spirit and improve her outward appearance, although a thorn was tearing her guts.

The Mongols had already departed to the East with their carts drawn by oxen, their riders and their flocks. Konrad and his family, possessing only a small and ramshackle two-wheel cart and the now aging war horse Konrad had brought upon his arrival to the camp placed their few possessions in the cart and began their march in the opposite direction in the midst of the silence of the steppe, now powered by their mood.

After several hours of slow crossing they arrived at a high point in their path, Konrad looked back eastward. There he saw a long column of smoke and immediately knew which was their source. His heart squeezed. Those were the people who had healed him when he was wounded and had housed him all that time. He decided to avoid at any cost that his wife and daughter saw the scene, forcing him to incite his horse to get away as quickly as possible of that place.