And so, on the morning of May 15, 1199, our hero descended to the shore of ancient Attica. On its expanses, once in ancient times, great philosophers, sculptors, architects worked. Sorry, very sorry that their descendants do not remember about such wonderful things. However, digging into memory, he grinned - the guys and could not remember such things, because they were not descendants of the ancient Greeks. The fact is that in the 5th-7th centuries AD the Slavs came to these lands and, having mastered the new territory, interrupted the local ones. True, in the process, they have undergone a strong assimilation, but this does not change the essence of the matter. Genocide? Yes, it is he, since it is a traditional and natural form of interaction between ethnic groups - the strong destroys the weak, in order to liberate territory for himself. Do you think this is all a fiction? Look how the Peloponnesian peninsula called Morea began to be called after such an incident, which meant "Marine" in the southern outcrops of the Proto-Slavic language. A statue is generally a beauty. You put a modern Greek next to the antique statue. Are they full of surprise? That's the same thing. With the modern, even worse, as they were subjected to a strong cultural and genetic assimilation by the Turks, that is why they are generally quite something Eastern. Well, it's little things, let's get to the point. Immediately upon his arrival at the port, he sent Morrigan and Rudolph to search for their lodging, and, taking with him his brother Demeter Zinon, that he would develop a permanent trade and transportation point, he went to the Templar courtyard. Claude d'Amboise, the local commander, met our guys rather wary, but having checked his credentials, he left and became literally the soul of the campaign. So the three of them spent the evening until the evening in a pleasant, confidential conversation, however, quite efficient. The issues of security of financial operations of the trading company Demetra, local difficulties, market needs, the Templars' own needs were discussed. A special issue was the question of antiquities, which were to be stored in the courtyard from three to five years. When it was already dark, they returned to the port, where they were met by Antonio and led to the house chosen by the girl, who, by the way, had already been washed. You get used to a good business quickly, and therefore the entire staff of his small detachment was pleased to wash in. And now - in one of the rooms of the house they made an impromptu bathroom and in the order of their turn were washed after a heavy sea crossing. After washing, they sat down to supper, where Eric outlined a range of tasks for everyone. Morrigan was to collect information on the area of Antioch and Constantinople. Antonio had the task of establishing working relations and contacts with criminal gangs of the city. The task of these groups is to hold an impromptu "open day" in the future. Our hero was concerned with the preservation of the ancient values, which were represented by sculptures and various handicrafts. Before Rudolph was set no less difficult task - to drive all the children's free time in the tail and in the mane and prepare them for serious hostilities. The next stop place will imply active and combat operations of the detachment. The main areas of training: shooting from a crossbow and chopping. The shooting had to be learned both on foot and on horseback, including training a volatile volley to accumulate targets. Work with the sword was understood both in the ranks and with the horse. Simple things, but the unit must achieve coherence and adequacy in interaction. The educational process was aggravated by the fact that in the first days of October it will be necessary to depart for Antioch. Before Eric himself there was a whole range of tasks. Firstly, it is the production of new helmets for all of its soldiers, bringing their armor equipment to uniformity and solving the problem with increasing frontal reservation. As a basic helmet, he chose pothelm. As a supporting set of armor was chosen a full housekeeper complete with an aketon and a quilted helmet. With weapons, and so it was almost complete order - the basic set consisted of a sword type XII, a large triangular curved shield and a crossbow, which was cocked "goat's leg. " Nothing particularly outstanding, but quite functional. The question of strengthening armor was opened, but he was inclined to order six mirrors, which on leather straps would be attached to the chest over the chain mail. Secondly, to make military equipment for the girl, since she expressed a desire to follow him everywhere, even if it will cost her life. It will not be possible to get rid of it, but to lose by mistake is stupid. So it was decided to make her his personal standard-bearer. The main problem was that it is rather miniature and does not have a special power. After a moment's thought, they decided to stop at the chain-mail half-way from riveted rings, half from wide, carved rings, which was worn on a rigidly quilted aketon. Dimensions of armored armor were far from full body covering, and therefore she covered only the body to the middle of the thigh and arms to the elbow. The weight of such equipment was about five kilograms, which was tolerable for the girl. Yes, and protection, somehow, but it worked. The helmet was chosen as a "pilot", equipped with such a barmitsey, which left only the eyes open. From the weapon they chose a neat, almost miniature saber weighing not more than eight hundred grams. The main task of our neophyte-standard-bearer was to follow Eric everywhere and carry his standard. The question of the standard was decided especially long. The fact is that I did not want to use the standard coat of arms of the Lenzburg background, and to use something as trite as a cross was too ordinary. It was necessary to stand out from the general crowd of crusaders and bring into battle their own, unique coat of arms, the standard and the colors of the cottages. Hardly, but that same night he decided what exactly his personal coat of arms would be - the field of the triangular Norman shield was divided vertically in half. The left part was black, right - scarlet. In the center of the shield was an attacking silver lion. The standard was decided to be made rectangular, and the cats that put all of its fighters on top of the armor will be white and red to the waist, and red and white below the waistband, on their chests and backs they will have a sewn coat of arms, and in the upper right corner - a small cross Red. In general, they discussed the technical issues of the latest preparations and distributed them almost until midnight, then, having cleared the table, went to rest. Tomorrow they were waited by a whole shaft of work.
Two weeks passed. Life boiled like a steep boiling water. The guys slept for 3-4 hours a day, devoting all their time to achieving the set goal - preparing for a big campaign in the Holy Land. Eric spent a lot of time in the smithy, which he rented from a local blacksmith, and in the evenings he listened to reports and drew a coat of arms. The main problem was that the local children drew in some kind of children's styles, when all the animals turned out to be funny rather than formidable, and he himself was not an artist. He painted with coal powder on the egg base on a white lime primer that was applied to a small wooden shield. The colors, for starters, had to withstand unimportantly, since the right silhouette of the lion was needed. In general, by the beginning of the third week, he, with grief in half and his obscene songs, mastered the coat of arms, and therefore the problem of his qualitative copying to shields and cloth was acute. To solve this rather nontrivial task, he left for a day work in the smithy and went for a walk around the city's workshops. But everything went as usual - with a lot of surprises. Literally near the main frontal place, he met his old acquaintance - Ulrich, who was an apprentice to the Viennese forge of Gottfried, who stood near two guys in the shoes and talked to them about something. He looked sad and worried. Eric went up to him, put his hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear - go, have a bite, at the same time tell everything. And then, without turning around, he went ahead to the nearest tavern, where he sat down in a corner and ordered a meal for two. The guy did not keep you waiting. For dinner he threw himself greedily, as it later became clear, he had not eaten anything for three days. After an hour and a half conversation, it turned out that after returning home from school, our German found only the ashes. He walked around the surrounding lands and found four relatives, two brothers and two cousins. I learned from them that the elder of the village did not share something with a passing nobleman. A month later he returned, and only they could be saved. Even the name of the killer could not be found out. Well, what was I to do? No cola, no yard. Yes, in the pockets of the wind walking. They made fun of their truncheons and went to the big road, looking for food. And we got to the environs of Athens. And then there was no luck - the detachment of the stratigraph of the Peloponnesian meme caught them. Ulf managed to escape, and his associates, won - on the square in the pads keep. Yes, hang one by one each morning, so that those two do not stay long. Next, Eric probed the soil under the desire of our blacksmith and his relatives to serve him. It proved to be very solid, you can say - stony, and in general, it turned out that he was their last hope. So they decided to beat the captives, so that the three of them entered his service, taking the oath of loyalty. The operation for pulling out of captivity their new people, our hero appointed at midnight. In the meantime, he led a grief-robber to his house and returned to his occupation to find an adequate artist, more precisely two, because one had to draw, and the second - to embroider the picture on the fabric. He sought in a specific way - all those who took up the proposed work, he asked on the ground with a twig to draw a lion, which he was depicted on the shield. Unfortunately, most of the great artists who lived in Athens of that time perfectly suited the phrase of Ostap Bender: "Kisa, I want to ask you how an artist artist - you can paint? ". And now, already completely despaired, he finally decided to turn not to masters in the market, but to ask poor people whether they know little. Those for the silver obol told a lot of different information, most of which was completely useless, but the rest helped, and very solid. It turns out that in the port area lived poor fisherman Makarios with his wife Marina. They were quite young - only about twenty years old, but among the poor they were respected, since Marina always helped with embroidery on clothes, and Makariy with drawing. Sometimes, and a cheap jug so draws, that the eye does not rejoice. They had a talent for art, but, alas, their origin and success did not allow them to realize it. Eric went to them. Do not deceive him poor. Macarius not only was able to copy the drawing very accurately and very quickly, but he made very efficient suggestions on its harmonization. In general - it was decided - they will carry out his order. Leaving them as a sign of a good disposition of denarius, our hero asked to count how much and what they need to perform 10 drawings on the billboards and 60 fabric stripes, and already tomorrow at noon to come to visit him for payment and shields. With that and Closer to the evening of the same day, three men in dark gray, inconspicuous clothes came out of our hero's house and went to a small snack bar that stood a few minutes walk from the square. It waited at midnight for this company quietly and peacefully sitting at a table and eating wine, by itself, creating the appearance of an abundant libation, since drinking them was very undesirable. And so, judging by the state of local alcoholics, it was midnight or something very similar. Quietly leaving, the inconspicuous strangers walked almost silently along the arc along the square, they had an important task - to examine the disposition. Everything was quite trivial - two guards quietly chatted and basked at a small fire, which at the same time served as a lighting function. Next to them in the pads in the half-faint condition were the objects sought, behind which stood a gallows, built, including for them. Also, a small patrol of five people was seen that passed through the square. They decided to wait, as it was necessary to avoid meeting with superfluous witnesses - at all it would not be desirable to arrange mass night slaughter. We had to wait a long time, but closer to dawn, when we wanted to start, a patrol appeared. Having greeted that, the guards, guarding the robbers, went back to sleep, that is, vigilantly to serve. Then everything was fast. Eric and Ostroneg went in each of their own way and chose the guard. Rudolph insured them with a crossbow in his hands, but he was not needed, since a good knife against sleeping guards is much more reliable. Even the prisoners, and they did not wake up in the process of removing the guard. The roles were clearly painted, so that everything went on as smoothly as possible: the prisoners were woken, they took off their pads, gave them dark gray tunics and raincoats, removed purses from their guards, opened their belts and quietly disappeared. In the morning in the city, by itself. there was a noise. To pull out the robbers from the hands of the stratigue is a very big impudence. The governor of the Peloponessus, in a fit of fury because of what happened, personally cut down the head of the chief of city guard, for careless service. His successor, who has an acute desire to keep his own life longer, literally nosed the ground with his nose. All the guards and a significant part of the troops of the meme were raised and involved in the operation to catch the criminals. All the suburbs were combed to the distance to the day's transition, everything was checked from small ditches and bushes to sheds with hay and cellars. In the city of the guard, every house ransacked from the cellar to the attic. Even came to our baron, but the cache with the fugitives was safely hidden, so everything turned out. After everything had settled down, the released comrades Hartwin and Hagan - the brothers Ulrich - were instructed in terms of their future fate, as well as their behavior for the near future. They were strictly forbidden to leave the boundaries of the house, they could only go out into the courtyard for lessons only in armor, and they were given the first two sweats to hide their face. . But they were happy - it happened almost a fairy tale, because instead of the gallows they got a place in the squad of the noble lord. And now they are fed, armed, trained. True, the tale was very exhausting - Rudolf drove the guys especially hard, since the physical state of these was somewhat neglected, and with weapons they generally communicated exclusively to "you. "