Such a bold and successful maneuver could not avoid close attention, it was too unusual. So, a couple of days later, Pierre somehow accidentally decided to probe him a little. He did not know that the legend and the move itself had been thought out beforehand, and so Eric quite calmly reacted to the tricky question and gave out to him quite a slender legend about how he beat off the old hooligans who was a wandering musician. The payment for food, shelter, treatment and protection offered a variety of rare songs and interesting stories. Alas, he would have learned more, but in the spring the old man said goodbye, thanked for help and went on traveling further. In general, de Chamond was satisfied with the answer, since there were quite a lot of such strange old people in Europe at that time. But back to our Mary. Another couple of meetings and conversations have finished her completely, for her our baron became something of an idol, who was allowed to do with her whatever he wanted. So many years of complete misunderstanding from men and suddenly such a bright and striking phenomenon. In order to move on to the next stage of subordination, it was necessary to resolve the issue of hygiene, which was traditionally launched. Here it should be said that this situation with body care was stimulated by the Roman Catholic Church with all its might. It reached a completely incomprehensible delirium, for example, washing more than twice a year was considered a sin and no small. But in this case, the lady's will was akin to a plasticine, and therefore a couple of stories related to the wash, told with some erotic overtones, did their job. And so, on December 18, 1198, at another meeting with Maria, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the voice of reason is not alien to her, and she not only washed herself of all kinds of filth, but also put on fresh, clean clothes. The smell from her sharply became much more pleasant, and so he did not pull and on the same day they retired for a more intimate conversation about modern poetry. Strange they turned out a couple of lovers - an adult woman of 24 years and a young guy of 16 years. But for all her strangeness, after a month Eric had all the information about the Capetians' house, because through her fragile hands there was all the correspondence of her father and her husband. And now, far from their native possessions, this gave a lot of useful information. As for Philip's interests, everything turned out to be quite primitive, and to the point of ridiculous. It turns out that he was interested in the one in whose interests our baron acts. Our gallant king somehow decided that they were digging under him, wishing to destroy the influence in southern Germany and northern Italy. Stupid, stupid and not professional. Such a volume of the most curious information and such an indistinct conclusion! Apparently our hero overestimated the analytical abilities of the "big brother", which he decided to follow. Too primitive, we need to double-check, since they can deliberately disinform it, noticing, through whom he decided to probes them.
The first days of March of 1199 were in progress. The novel with Maria received a small extension in the form of her pregnancy. Therefore, it was necessary to do something in order to avoid scandal. After thinking over the situation with the lady, they decided to provoke her husband, so that he had to return to his direct duties. So the next two weeks Eric at general meetings played a trick on Baldwin in such a way that there was nothing to answer. At the same time, the young baron was only retelling rumors that the servants were dismissing that this or that servant had suffered from the count. But he did not just retell, but reworked literally, adding tales of reluctance to have normal children, because of greed, since if he has new daughters, the amount of the necessary dowry will greatly increase. Well, all in that vein. These rude jokes with the implication of Thibaut were perceived as helping his own daughter, who, using her good attitude to the young baron, asked him to help. At least, that was the legend that was poured out to Maria's father. He also took a lively part in the fate of his daughter, and therefore supported the jokes of Eric and was amply rejoiced. In general, after two weeks of methodical dumb and jokes, Baldwin could not stand and visited his wife's bedroom in the evening. And anyway, I began to do it from time to time, because he liked a well-groomed, pleasantly smelling woman, even if not in his taste. And the affairs of our hero in Venice were finally settled. The information was confirmed, and in the house of the Banks, it turned out to be the same. The latter he learned again through his mistress, through whose hands passed a curious letter, in which the duke was interested in Tibo success in preparing the campaign and, as if by accident, asked about what forces on the campaign is ready to put the suzerain Eric. In general - a kindergarten, pants on the straps. So, having said goodbye to Maria, he arranged with Pierre and, on March 22, on his birthday, departed Venice to the island of Corfu. Where I wanted to stay for a while.
Chapter 4
Sail on the Adriatic Sea was on a very poor pelvis, which was an early form of the nave. The ship was absolutely clumsy and very wobbly on the wave, evoking memories of the once-received unforgettable sensations during a walk in tow on the high seas. Fortunately, our hero did not have seasickness, and he just quietly left in the sediment from his vehicle. Long it was 25 meters, width of 7 meters, the draft was unclear to him, but it was as if a large, surface board towered a meter and a half to two meters high. The speed was such that Eric wanted to jump into the water and push this awkward trough. Fortunately, apart from the crew of the people there was not much, and therefore it was possible to lie down all those almost six days that they sailed to the island of Corfu. When the port of Kerkyra appeared on the horizon, our baron simply had an itch at his feet, so he rushed to rush along the deck, worried that they were sailing so slowly. His problem was solved by Morrigan, having planted on a barrel and having started to massage a neck and shoulders. The massage was very beneficial, and he calmed down.
On the shore, they did not expect anything special - an ordinary medieval town, moreover poor. The only serious visual difference from Vienna and Venice was in the style of architecture. Unfortunately, the ship did not go any further and after the unloading was returning, so it was necessary to wait another couple of weeks for another loch, which should come from Athens. We went around a couple of inns - full of horror. I had to rent a small house to fit comfortably. So it was led, but the requirements to the level of housing he had very solid - everything should be modest, but clean, sound and accurate. For that period, it was available only at the expense of their own efforts. Therefore, the first two days were spent on cleaning up a muddy house and establishing a normal comfort zone there. The ruins of ancient buildings were covered with earth and garbage, there were no sights in the city, except for the churches. But they already tired of him, after a long life in Vienna and Venice. In general, soon the fighting, and solid, so that he spent the remaining time preparing the guys. Of course, he did not have much of them, but this is already a combat detachment, which for efficiency of efficiency should work together. In addition to the girls in his squad were Ostroneg, Valentino, Vincento, Rudolph with his son George and Antonio. The simplest drill training, combat training in a circular defense, well-coordinated shooting from crossbows and so on. Of course, pulling up for such a time does not work, but it was necessary to begin. The work quickly flew by, but, alas, after two weeks, the ship from Athens did not arrive. By the end of the third week, another one had come from Cyprus and had brought a few sailors that he had picked up in the sea at the site of the shipwreck. Well, and at the same time it turned out that the expected pelvis will not be, as it is on the bottom. Uncertainty is not at all pleasing, and therefore it was decided to contact your favorite bank and find out when they will send the next transport, but already to Athens. Pierre responded fairly quickly - his answer came about two weeks later. News was not encouraging - the ship was scheduled only in the early days of May. To engage in monotonous and tiresome training was not a desire, especially since Rudolph himself could drive the guys. So he decided to take a little distraction and went on a small horse ride with Morrigan to the mountain ridge that was going on in the northern part of the island. Less daylight, but still nice.
