"Leo Frankowski - Stargard 6 - Conrad's Quest for Rubber" - читать интересную книгу автора (Frankowski Leo)

That was when Sir Conrad arrived, and all the men of the town were soon out chopping down trees
with which to build a huge windmill, the likes of which no one but Sir Conrad had ever seen. A big
cloth factory went up, and a lot of girls came to work there, and then they made a second huge
windmill, until everyone said that if they kept on building, there wouldn't be any room left in the
town for the people!
But soon they started on Lambert's new castle, which when completed turned out to be three
times bigger than the whole rest of the town, and much taller, besides, so they had to make it outside
of the walls themselves. It was four years in the making, and long before it was done, my family and
even the bakery was moved inside it.
All of this civic growth was good for my father's business. He was forced to take on apprentices and
even journeymen from outside of our family to satisfy the needs of his growing number of customers.
When a second baker came to town with Count Lambert's permission, my father wasn't worried
about the competition, but instead they immediately formed a guild in the manner of the big city guilds,
to do proper charity work and see to it that there was employment and plenty for all.
With father now a guildmaster, our family prospered. My sisters began to receive substantial
dowries when they were married. My brother and I soon realized that one day there would be a
considerable inheritance for us and a respected place in the community. He liked the thought of all
this, but I was of mixed mind about it.
Oh, I was pleased that my family prospered, but it was obvious that to do well, a baker had to stay in
one place. All of my life, the interesting people I saw and occasionally was able to meet were those
who traveled, who went to strange places and saw strange things. I heard magic, faraway names like
Cracow and Paris and Sandomierz, and I wanted to see these mystical places. I yearned to go with
those far travelers, to join with the caravans of merchants, soldiers, and priests who were always
coming and going from our gates.
I wanted adventure.
And my father, whom I loved and wanted to obey, would not even discuss the matter. We were
bakers, we always had been bakers, and we would always be bakers. Nothing more could be said.
 Chapter Two
From the Journal of Josip Sobieski

WRITTEN JANUARY 17, 1249, CONCERNING OCTOBER 10, 1240

IN THE fall of 1240, the call went out. It was time to prepare for war. Together with my brother and
my father, and the last fifty-five other sound men from Okoitz, I made the day-long walk to Baron
Conrad's Warrior's School, commonly known as Hell.
I had long wanted to make the trip. All of the other boys of my age from Okoitz had joined the army
the year before, as soon as they turned fourteen. Their letters to me bragged about how they would be
knighted by the time I got there and how I would have to serve under them, do their bidding, and
polish their boots!
I had begged my father's permission to go with them when they were leaving, and my brother had
been begging for two years, but while father had always been so generous with us in so many ways, on
this subject he was absolutely unshakable.
We were a family of bakers, he said, not warriors. We fed people. We did not kill them. In time of
war, if our country and our liege lord needed our help, we would of course go, but only when we were
absolutely needed.
Ironically, my mother and sisters had been issued weapons and armor over two years before, and
they trained for one day of every week to defend Okoitz when we men finally went out to face the
enemy.
To me, it had seemed strange and unfitting that my youngest sister, only two years older than me,
should be war-trained when I was not, or that my mother should wear a sword over her broad left