"Frankowski, Leo - Stargard 3 - The Radiant Warrior" - читать интересную книгу автора (Frankowski Leo)

Yes.

“Well, what do you think, Kotcha? Do you want the job?”

“Yes!”

“Good. Does a penny a week sound all right to both of you?”

Yes and “Yes.”

“Then the two of you have a deal, and you might as well start now. Give Anna a good rubdown. If you need anything, I’ll be at the castle. Remember that you're in my household now, Kotcha. You can always come to me with problems.”

Giving her something to do was probably the best thing for the kid. Physical activity is usually the best therapy for someone whose problems have no real solution. Nothing in the world could bring her family back, and the best thing to do was to forget.

At the same time, it was sort of funny. Lord! It was strange enough when my handmaids got handmaids. Now my mount had a private rubdown girl!

Back at the castle, I asked Count Lambert if I could take off early, since there wasn’t much for me to do.

He had other ideas. He handed me a cup of wine and sat me down. “Sir Conrad, last summer you talked of various flying machines, and how most of them were too complicated for us to assay to build. But my mind has been turning over that ’hot air balloon' you mentioned. I see no reason why we couldn't make one.”

“I have bolts of good linen cloth, plenty of rope, and most of that barrel of linseed oil left. There is a pile of wicker for the basket you mentioned, and I’ve a big, light brass serving-tray that would do to hold the fire. My wife bought it but I never use it. What say you?”

Lord. Another fad coming up. I could see it. Now that every knight in Poland was flying kites, Count Lambert had to upstage them all with a hot air balloon. But kites at least were safe. There’s no telling where a balloon will come down. A man could drown, if he didn't fall out.

“My lord, this sort of thing is dangerous. You can’t control a hot air balloon. You go wherever the winds blow you, and the winds up there can be pretty fierce! You could end up in the Baltic Sea!”

“Well, what of it? You’re the one who's been taking all the chances lately. Didn't we decide that last month?”

“Count Lambert, your support has meant everything to me and my projects. Without it, I might never get things going well enough to fight the Mongols in eight years.”

“That’s touching but no longer true. It might have been, a year ago, but now you have the support of Duke Henryk. I suspect that if I died, he just might give all my lands to you, and let my wife go hang in our lands in Hungary. Isn't it enough for me to say that I want this balloon?”

I exhaled. When Count Lambert wanted something, he got it. To try going against him was pissing into the wind. “As you wish, my lord. You want me to design a hot air balloon?”

“Of course! What have I been saying? Just a small one, enough to take me alone high above the hills and trees!”

“Even that will be quite large, my lord.”

“What of it? You’ll find I've had a drawing board of the sort you favor built and set up in your old room, along with a supply of parchment, pens, lamps, and that sort of thing. I'll send a wench to call you to supper. Pick one to your liking for tonight, but you might want to try out Natasha. She's nicely skilled. Well? Be off with you!”

I went to my room and got to work. I obviously wouldn’t be allowed to leave Okoitz until I had completed a set of drawings.

I spent a few hours doing arithmetic and decided that if I could heat a sphere of air fourteen yards in diameter to fifty degrees warmer than ambient, I could lift about five hundred pounds. Was it reasonable to expect a warming of fifty degrees Celsius? Would Count Lambert plus an undefined balloon made with unspecified and unweighed materials weigh less than five hundred pounds? I hadn’t the foggiest idea. I wasn't even certain about the specific gravity of air. Nobody had ever asked me to design a balloon before.

All I could do was to make a number of reasonable-sounding engineering approximations, which my colorful American friends called WAGs: Wild Ass Guesses.

I was called to supper by an attractive and cheerful young lady who announced that she was Natasha. Again bowing to the inevitable, I asked her to join me for supper.

Once seated with Count Lambert and another lady, I was told that Kotcha was in the kitchen, and what did I want done with her?