19 Cold Winter

After a long reflection, I decided that somehow I had to get out of the meeting with Radziwiłł, in a few months he would fall out of favor with Sigismund III Vasa, ... and I am too small to meddle in the affairs of the great magnate and king at the moment. Some time later, Aleksander Gosiewski came to my tent.

"The Field Hetman of Lithuania invites us to his residence." (Aleksander Gosiewski)

"Us or you? Because I doubt if he knows about my existence." (MC)

"Even if he doesn't know, he'll find out, and your experience with the Swedes will definitely help him." (Aleksander Gosiewski)

"I thought about it for a long time and my time in Livonia is over, I'm taking my soldiers and leaving." (MC)

"Are you sure about it? Radziwiłł is a powerful man, he could help you in many ways, it's good to have such an ally, but you will do as you want. You return to Jazłowiec?" (Aleksander Gosiewski)

"A man is not recognized by who his friend is, but by who his enemies are... Enemy or friend, I have more important things on my mind, first I have to win a lady's heart, so first Gdanśk, and then Jazłowiec." (MC)

Gosiewski was a bit surprised by my answer, especially what I said about winning a lady's heart, but he didn't ask for details, and I couldn't reveal them to him either.

"The Slavic God Weles sends me on a mission to recover Jurata's heart."... He would consider me a madman or a heretic.

Weles didn't say much about this task, but he didn't have to either. I knew that Jurata was the Queen of Mermaids and the Goddess of the Baltic. She fell in love with a fisherman, Perun the Thunder God found out ... and their romance ended. The fisherman is dead, Jurata is dead, and at the end Perun has destroyed her palace. Knowing the legend, I had a starting point, I also knew what Jurata's heart was, so the task seemed simple enough.

After the conversation with Gosiewski was over, I ordered my soldiers to prepare for departure. The farewell was short and without any special dragging. I was sure that I would meet him more than once.

We had to travel 600 kilometers to reach Gdańsk, it was not an easy task, especially in winter... cold, snowfall and blizzards do not promise a pleasant road. If we are lucky, we will get there in twenty days, but a month was more realistic.

"Lord, why are we going to Gdańsk?" (ensign Olszewski)

"You, to spend some Swedish gold and silver, and I have private matters to do there, and then we return to Jazłowiec." (MC)

On the occasion of the assignment for Weles, I wanted to settle two private matters in Gdańsk. The first of them was to establish cooperation with the Ferber family, and the other to meet Jan Heweliusz, but I had to give up both of them. Jan Heweliusz was still a child, not a recognized astronomer, and at present I had nothing to offer to the Ferber family.

It took us forty days to get there. My butt hurt from sitting in the saddle, I was tired, pissed and cold. As soon as the opportunity arose, we rested in various taverns, but apart from a short-term rest and inquiring about news, there was no other use for this, and our journey only became longer. After arriving in the city in mid-February, all I wanted to do was finish this task as soon as possible... I gave my soldier free and forbade them to start fights and brawls, if they were stopped by the city guards, I could not help much.

When they stayed in the city, I went north to the Hel Peninsula, luckily the bay was covered with a thick layer of ice and I could cross it without any problems... There were winters when the Baltic Sea was so chilled with ice that on its surface small temporary settlements were established, taverns and markets were opened. In 1548, it was possible to travel by horse-drawn sleigh to Rostock from Denmark ... and now it was also one of such winters.

On the Hel Peninsula, there was a small fishing village, which in future will be called Jurata ... I was not 100% sure that it was the right place, but I had a good feeling, especially that this area was famous for a large amount of amber... I got there before the evening, the settlement was not big. Seven houses, twenty people no more ... and unfortunately none of them spoke any language that I knew, I understood single words and phrases, but I never learned Kashub in this or my previous life.

"Show me your jantôr, I'll pay you a good dëtczi. Have you ever heard miono Kastytis?" (MC)

Trying to communicate with them slowly exhausted my patience, I did not want to use violence ... at least for now, there will always be a time for violence if other methods fail... Not having too much choice, I got on my horse and drove 20 kilometers to the settlement of Sroczé Gniôzdo (Jastarnia), as the locals called it. The settlement was three times larger and I was hoping that I would find someone to communicate with here, there must be a village head or other administrator who is responsible for the law and taxes.

I asked a few residents to show me the direction to the house of village head and after a few minutes I got there ... I knocked on the door, an older woman opened it ... it turned out that her husband is not here and he will be back tomorrow ... my luck.

It was already late, there was no point in returning to Gdańsk, and there was no inn in the settlement. All I could do was light a fire in the forest and wait until morning. It's good that it was going to be a warm night, it wasn't more than minus 25 degrees Celsius.