They plundered the whole country, took everything from the royal palace to bare walls. After the paintings there had to be only traces on the walls. This is how Alex Vastarix and Waldemar Bednaruk, authors of the well-known novels “Harem” and “The Geisha House” portray the Swedish Deluge in the story “Christmas Eve Surprise”.

Christmas Eve surprise, part 7

Alex Vastarix, Waldemar Bednaruk

It turned out that the help came at the last minute, because in the wasteland or lost road it leads only a few steps from the road, it has a handle to keep you burdened with carts. The servants fidgeted helplessly in the blizzard, still treading the guarantors, and my father in the unheated carriage.

When dozens of lantern-mounted riders set off with a hoot, scream, and heard for miles around, a new hope rose in them. The whole adventure ended with frostbitten noses and ears, and Marysieńka, despite her age, gained the status of a person worth listening to among her siblings.

Now I’m going to plan my outposts. Because now her family has become longer, the rulers are guaranteed only by hostile troops, but there is no service by despair. Maybe the rescue in this case did not mean saving lives now, but in this period of time the catastrophe and the expectation will be given a bit later, after the update, the period of moments survived. She also decided to remove it – in front of the German swirl and her shaska, like the sword of the sword of Damocles, but more on that later.

Having finished preparing her surprise, she headed for breakfast.

In the evening, information scattered at the meeting point like the Bonifacy Boulder. She was glad that the company in the company of the old growler felt strangely uncomfortable. However, we are not going to announce this joy of ours in any way. She just nodded at him to make him think that his morning absence would have cut her off, even if it weren’t for now, if she had even led the way to the hiding place with the Christmas tree.

Now it didn’t have to be like this anymore. The palace is teeming with life at this time, and both sides were flitting through the corridors with a crowd of people rushing ahead of such a rush, as if their lives depended on it. She chose the same popularity among her company, and by the palace servants, busy lecturing for the supper, by returning to two young people from the spheres. She walked on with a neutral expression, not looking back once, not too fast, but also slowly – at the pace with which she traverses the corridors every day. He discreetly followed the counter, they did not know their records.

However, also here the beauty is not the same in this anonymity. After all, everyone knew her. This time she was dressed up for a ball. She wore her own dress, still tall under the red but beautiful satin of red French. In addition, she pinned her hair high, generously powdered her face and neck, and finally painted her eyes and lips. Just a little blush on the cheeks and a flirtatious bow tie next to the right corner of the eye. No man or woman can be as indifferent to the side as the exposed quintessence of youth and beauty, unparalleled in the royal court. So as she walked, her eyes swiveled behind her, and she basked in the warmth of silent delight.

She tried not to pay attention to the surroundings. She was slowly getting used to the damage visible at every step. A year ago, the royal palace in Warsaw was a gem of architecture and art. Brought up in it practically since childhood, she loved to run between the sculptures carved by the masters of Europe of that time. For hours they stared at the systems of rulers, heroes, beasts and women of the past ages. Her imagination animated them, it seems that when she walked down the corridor to watch heads and portraits kicked behind her. One day, when one continuous person got lost in the labyrinth of chambers and wandered until dusk, imagining that in a moment you would go on painting and devour her.

Today there is nothing left of the former sanctity of the building. The only thing that frightened was the terrifying lack of decorations and the overwhelming emptiness of the lost beauty.

In the year and the future Swedes seized the country from sea to mountain, and the king, with his throne and all his court, fled abroad. It was whispered in the corners that there was no little gentleman in the same light, who led the wine with Mrs. Radziejowska, led her husband to betray his homeland and bring the deadly enemy to Poland. The Swedes came, plundered the whole country, and took everything from the royal palace to bare walls. After the beautiful paintings, tapestries and tapestries, only darker marks on the walls need to be. Torn out sculptures, marbles, frescoes on the walls and ornaments huddled to the bare stone.

Fortunately, in the second year of the victory, we were leaning towards Jan Kazimierz, the possibility of entering was regained, but it was very far away. Warsaw has already passed from hand to hand several times, depopulating and falling into ruin. When they returned to the royal palace, a tear fell in Marysieńka’s eye at the sight of the devastated familiar places.

– I recently danced a minuet! She looked at the piles of horse droppings that were piled up in the other royal barber-like communes with insufficiency. One cannot accept the thought that those wonderful Swedes, whom she had heard so much about, could pass on such ruin, dirt and stench to each other. And yet it was!

They reached the door of a hidden room. The key and discreet Marysieńka will separate the lock. She started to look to see if anyone was in her right method, which made her uneasy, and when she didn’t see anything like that, was used a little later by letting the boy in. She closed the door behind him and walked towards the ceremonial ones where they were gathering for the Christmas Eve supper. For a moment, someone flashed through her that the boy in the storeroom was the one who had dinner and cooperated with an empty stomach. But she shook off the thought immediately.

– Apparently you enjoy my beauty, my lord! – she smiled a little later – So today you had a rare opportunity to fill yourself with it at will. Surely a meal after such a feast would not be down your throat!

She entered the acquired space and by bowing, discreetly moving towards the densest crowd of g / royal couple. The state is indifferent from keeping your back on her, and amusing herself in the newborn sitting on the side of the king. He could not see who it was from this side, but judging from both of them, they really care about them.

– Maybe it’s the Imperial Ambassador or the Prince of the Reich? She tried unsuccessfully to peek over the queen’s frame. She knew that both of them were striving throughout Europe for allies who could support Jan Kazimierz in his Swedish struggle with the Swedish monarch. After a few tries, when trying to get on the site. She wondered intensely at what point she had been set with her surprise. She had long since stated that this must be the moment when the buzz would quiet down a little at the end of supper. Everyone, having satisfied their first hunger, will pay more attention to what is around, not on the plate.

– Today they are copying with the lily tradition no, so there is no other side, that on the new side, they will change the squad to honor and listen to Mary, trying to feel themselves for Mary for a moment. The servants circled the room with platters full of re-dishes, she nibbled only once and the first course without dirtying the plate.

– Now! This is the best time, by pulling on herself, she slipped discreetly with the discreet and legislative, writing down the last dish, tiptoed over, no one noticed towards the clipboard.

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We will publish the next episodes of the story “A Christmas Eve surprise” on the following days, until the end of December 2021. Books by the duo Alex Vastarix and Waldemar Bednaruk are available in the best bookstore chains as well as stationary and online bookstores, including at www.wiemiwybieram.pl/harde. Please visit the publisher’s website at www. harde.se.pl/ and on facebook.com/hardewydawnictwo and Instagram – @hardewydawnictwo.