As matters sat, while a knight had the legal fight to force a young woman to have sex with him, in fact rape in the usual sense almost never happened. There were more volunteers than an ordinary man could handle! But with knights outnumbering unmarried wenches, the situation could get ugly.
"Sir Conrad, I don't feel like doing any arithmetic and I don't believe that even you can have every man in the country under arms. Anyway, if that many men are out there making the beast with two backs, there'll be a new crop of wenches coming out shortly."
"But my lord…"
"No 'buts' about it! I tell you that I won't have the privilege removed!"
"Yes, my lord. What would you think if I formed a special order of knighthood, for my own knights only. Then I could have certain rules of the order that would help alleviate the problem."
"Just what rules did you have in mind?"
"Well, for one, I would restrict the rights to wenches to those knights who are already married. That way they could get most of their sex from their wives and the wives would stop most serious abuses from occurring."
"I suppose that I could go along with that. Married men make better fighters, anyway. They're steadier."
"And I don't like this business of getting girls pregnant and then pawning them off on the peasants. I don't think it's fair to the girls. I think that the relationship should be a fairly permanent one, and with the wife's permission."
"That smacks of bigamy, Sir Conrad."
"Maybe so, my lord, but I think it would be far less cruel than the present system."
"Perhaps. Well, I won't bother forbidding it because the Church will do that for me. Set your order up any way you will, Sir Conrad. What I want to talk about is our arrangements on your new barony. I have been buying materials from you to build my new castle, and I am now considerably in your debt. I want that debt canceled."
"Done, my lord."
"And I want all future materials needed for it and for Eagle Nest to be given me free of charge."
"Very well, my lord."
"And that armor you're wearing. You gave the duke and his son each a set and now I even see Piotr wearing it. I want some for myself."
"You shall have it, my lord. Two sets, now that we have it in mass production. We can even make one set gold-plated if you want."
"Gold-plated? What's that?"
"My jeweler and I have come up with a method of putting a thin layer of gold over good steel, my lord. It looks like solid gold but it's as strong as steel. It doesn't rust, either."
"Then I'll take it! Lastly, my old arrangement with Baron Stefan had it that he was to provide me with twenty knights a year, each for three months. You should do the same."
"If you wish, my lord. But I had hoped to use those knights otherwise, at the Warrior's school. What say that in place of that service, I equip each of your knights with a set of plate armor. And in a year, we'll be set up to produce horse armor, and I'll give each of them a set of that as well."
"That seems generous, Sir Conrad. Throw in two sets of this horse armor for me, and one of them in this plate gold, and we'll call it done."
"Then done it is, my lord."
"Good. We'll swear our oaths at sunrise tomorrow. For now, I think supper should be ready."
FROM THE DIARY OF PIOTR KULCZYNSKI
My father was astounded at my good fortune, and soon took me around to all his friends in the town to show me off. My old playmates looked at me with awe and two of the town bullies, who had once made my young life miserable now fairly groveled before me.
My mother, however, was much less than pleased.
She much preferred me as an accountant than as a knight and cried for a long while as though I was going off immediately to die in battle. This got my parents into an argument and I was happy to have the excuse of the count's supper to get out of there. Already I was beginning to realize that these good people were now far below me.
Supper was served formally at the castle, with attractive wenches bringing our food and drink to us. Fortunately, this situation was well covered in the lessons that Lady Richeza taught us, so I committed no gaucherie.
All of the wenches, or more properly, "ladies-in-waiting" were anxious for my attention, all smiling and winking at me. Perhaps I should have expected this, for I had heard many stories of the vast privileges of one of Count Lambert's knights, yet I had somehow never dared dream of myself being the recipient of these feminine favors.
In truth, I didn't know how one went about accepting their offers, for it was a topic that Lady Richeza had never mentioned! But I had heard that when in doubt, it was always wise to ask direction from one's liege lord, so I asked Sir Conrad.
"Well, personally, I've always let the girls decide that for themselves, and so far I've never been disappointed. But if there's one that you particularly favor, you have but to ask her. In fact, you have the right to order any unmarried peasant woman in Count Lambert's domains to your bed, but I wouldn't do that sort of thing too often. It might cause hard feelings. You won't have to do any ordering, because you'll be hard enough pressed just taking care of the volunteers!"
I had of course been studying the serving girls who waited on us, and there was one blond girl who strongly resembled my love Krystyana. When next she came by, I softly said, "Tonight?"
"Thank you, Sir Piotr! I'd love to!"
From that point on, the meal went both too fast and too slow. On the one hand, I was most eager for the favors of my intended bed partner. On the other, well, the truth was that I was a virgin. I had only the foggiest of notions as to what precisely I was to do with the girl. Such was my love for Krystyana that I had never thought to pursue any other woman, and, of course, most of the women that I had met were either friends of hers or were waitresses at my lord's inns, who must needs retain their own virginity or lose their jobs.
I pondered the problem through the three removes of the feast, and decided that honesty was the only answer. I would confess my ignorance to the lady and trust to her courtesy to educate me as to what I should do.
With the meal over, another of the wenches showed me the way to the room given me for my own use. I sat down on a chest, suddenly very nervous. Was I supposed to go for her? Should I have brought a gift? Minutes seemed like hours, but in fact in what was really a very short time, she came.
"My lady, you see, I've never… I mean…"
She smiled and said calmly, "I know, my lord. They told me. There's nothing to worry about."
"But what should I do? I mean. . "
"Well, you might start by kissing me. Just put your arms around me… that's better… relax! Soften your lips, like this. That's better, mmmm… much better. Now we have to get all this armor off you…"
She was wonderful, as beautiful in mind as she was in body. Slowly, careful of my easily shattered confidence, she led me through a night of marvelous pleasure and wondrous delight. Her skin was so incredibly smooth and soft and yielding, yet there was a strength about her that seemed equal to my own. She was at once my earnest teacher and my willing slave.
I shall be forever grateful to that lady, yet after she kissed me good-bye in the gray dawn and had left, I realized that I had committed the greatest of wrongs to her. I had never asked her name.
When I joined the others, I was vastly tired, having gotten little sleep the night before. Yet there were oaths to be taken, Baron Conrad's to Count Lambert and my own as a knight to Baron Conrad. Then we had to return to Baron Conrad's lands, for much needed doing. Yet I asked my lord if I might have three days leave, on account of my wound, and he granted it, winking at me, for he knew my thoughts.
"Go to her, boy!"
At Three Walls, I spoke first to Yawalda at the stables, explaining to her my new knighthood and how I meant to use it. She agreed to take care of Krystyana's three children while I went to Krystyana!