Transparent tape, wriggling in the most bizarre ways, ran forward, and its edges pulsed with poisonous green. Around her was a vast darkness, and silence filled her ears. He, as ghostly as this tape was walking along it unhurried gait. He was filled with emptiness and tranquility. How much did he spend here? According to his feelings - for ages! He always walked this road and will always go. The realization of tranquility and harmony lulled him and absorbed him so that there was nothing more to be desired. Suddenly a dark beam was torn by a beam of bright light and struck a transparent cloth, or it shuddered and set in waves. The state of equilibrium was violated with a wild, irresistible speed and filled with rage. He ran forward, his whole being dispersed and filled with energy as a locomotive. Under his pressure, the road quickly straightened, issuing a terrible screeching sounds, almost groaning. Each step literally tormented her, brought unbearable pain and made the darkness brighter. And there, in the distance is already visible a small ball of bright white color. Feeling the approach of an angry man, the ball, as if frightened, and began to fly away from him. But that unthinkable speed with which our shimmering ghost ran forward, did its job - he caught up and flew into it so that the balloon shattered, filling everything around with light, cold, pain and some kind of voice:

"Mister de Ree, tell me, will he survive? " Asked a familiar female voice.

- I think so. The fever falls, he is young and strong.

Eric slightly opens his eyes, but the picture is very blurry. A little further away are two some silhouette.

- Who you are? - in a quiet, weakened voice, the Baron tries to take the initiative.

Here it is a bad accident. Who would have thought that the enemy arrow would fall into a small loophole in the dark. One successful shot and our hero spent unconscious for six days, and only on the seventh came to himself. So I want to joke about the resurrection. If we return to that ill-fated day, after the loss of consciousness by her master Morrigan not only continued to shoot back from the bandits and was able to lay three more, so even the Templars did not let her into the house, making more than one hole in their shields. You ask, where did the Templars come from? But here there is no mysticism, everything is very simple. The city is small, but because when the night post of the courtyard heard nearby battle noise, then immediately woke the commander. Jean de RИ, without thinking twice, took a dozen sergeants, out of security, and led them to the sound of battle. Literally two blocks later, they found an enchanting picture of the storming of a small house by a mob of bandits. In a couple of minutes it was over. But help until dawn could not enter the house. The girl so perenervnichala that she shot, not wanting to listen to anything and no one, in everything that moved. When it finally dawned, we understood that the gang of Guillaume the Red had attacked the house, which had long been sought for by Friedrich I of Bamberg, the Duke of Austria. For him, even a silver reward was awarded to anyone who could capture or kill him. The gang of this scoundrel terrorized the district and robbed passers-by merchants. They were not ashamed to attack even the Crusaders when they were in a vulnerable position. When Jean broke the remaining bandits, their leader was still alive, but badly wounded, the bolt hit him in the right side of his chest. Therefore Friedrich did not become particularly embarrassed and ordered the wounded Guillaume to be hung on the gates of Vienna already at noon on the same day, and transferred the stamp of silver to the Templar who took over the protection of Erik's girl and property, as well as his treatment. Moreover, the duke was so impressed with the courage of this couple that he had seen the patient a couple of times, and his Morrigan, as a token of attention and respect, presented a cut of beautiful, dark green silk.

Alas, but a wounded hand for a few months completely knocked out the baron from the rut - he could not, nor work in the smithy, nor train, even on horseback riding and those, at first, it was impossible to leave. The only thing he could afford was conversations with Jean de Rais, politics in Byzantium and the Crusader states, exercises in languages, walks and visits to two libraries: the courtyard and the duke. The libraries were, alas, completely wretched, since they contained almost exclusively religious texts and were suitable only for studying the graphics of the letter. Only on the second week there was an interesting event - Arab merchants from Vienna returned to Constantinople, returning from the lower German lands. Seeing the situation in terms of the level of technology and the total inability to weld good steel with the condition of preserving the secret, Eric decided to negotiate and buy a few damask bullions. They cost, of course, exorbitant, but there was no choice, so in 8 months he waited for guests who were supposed to bring 30 kg of Syrian bulat in bars. Here it is worth mentioning that his interest in blacksmithing was due to a completely pragmatic goal - he needed a normal set of armor. But the problem was not only in the complexity of manufacturing due to the almost complete lack of equipment and at least some adequate tools. The main problem was in the material - it was not. It so happened that the development of technology of those times in Europe was directly related to the formation of the institute of shops, the specialization of labor and the general development of cities as craft centers. By the 12th century in the Germanic countries, this process is just beginning to make its first, timid steps. In the countryside, of course, there used to be intelligent blacksmiths and other artisans, but the overall level of their craftsmanship and scope of work was very low, since they could not only specialize in some kind of profile of their craft, but also in the craft in general. The natural economy forced them to engage in, say, blacksmithing, exclusively in their spare time from field work. Miracles do not happen, and the quality of products was very low, and the production itself is very primitive. If to make comparisons, the production of iron by the end of the 12th century in Europe did not exceed 200-250 grams per person, and not in a year, but in general - for his whole life, while during the heyday of the Roman Empire this figure was about 3 kg in year. You understand, the iron was very small, and it was in price. Specialists in its processing, too, was few, and experts were only conditional, since they often lacked experience. This information is particularly vividly included in the dissonance with most historians who described the Crusades. In their understanding, these were some invasions of many thousands armies, encased in armor, which went to the East in a fit of religious fanaticism with high regularity, on average once every 10-20 years. I want to clarify - given the volume of iron mining, chain mail in those days, could afford only one person per thousand, and even not every one. In this vein, tales of forty-thousand crusader corps, skipping sometimes, then historians, writers, then directors, seem absolutely fantastic. The fact is that by the 12th century the institution of the militia in Western and Central Europe was completely eliminated, that is, the bet was made solely on the professional army, which, you understand, needs to be equipped and equipped better than a half-naked herd of peasants with wooden slingshots. And the militia, at that level of technological development, would not be better equipped. Just imagine the cost of equipping such armies! Yes, with such frequency! Where in Europe in general could take in those days such titanic means? Oh well, volume by volume, but in terms of quality everything was not well. At the time described, steel as such in Europe was not manufactured and not used, only occasionally were imported damask products from the East. That is, almost all the products were made from either iron or steel iron (which was obtained, for example, by aging in the ground). Alas, but until the time when the European armourers will start making the best armor in the world for more than two centuries. But what to say about armor, in much simpler things and then specialization was practically not there. In the same Russia, already a century later, there were on average no more than 40 different craft trades, and this is at the junction of cultures. That is, almost all that was needed on the farm, the peasants themselves did. In Europe, the situation was even worse. About science, you can not even stutter at all - theology and philosophy, that's the whole science that was engaged only in the fact that it was debating about how space ships plow large and small theaters. Well, the maximum is still the study of languages, which went, as a rule, optional and unsystematic. There are practically no measuring instruments, the records are kept by units and not extensively. Alas, and ah, in such a wonderful and colorful time, our hero had to solve the problem of tools and materials, in order to acquire intelligent equipment. Needless to say, that still situation - the desired armor has nothing and nothing to do. Lepota!