Eric

- I want a rather unusual thing. I need you to allow the opening of a Templar courtyard in Edessa, which would deal exclusively with commercial matters there.

- Are you joking?

No. I need their bank, and I want to be sure of their absolute loyalty, because I trust them with large sums. I have enough money. I need the loyalty of those people to whom I am entrusting my affairs.

" How can we control them? "And then, they are our enemies.

- Let us conclude in writing a contract in which the number of armed and unarmed Templars will be indicated, which may be in the city. It will be exclusively a trading enterprise. You are aware of how they make a living. And the question of war can be solved by specifying in the contract that the farmstead will exist until the Templar troops begin military operations against the troops of Edessa.

- And what are the restrictions?

" Let's say ten armed men and thirty unarmed men. "I think this is enough for all financial and trading operations.

Ok. Let the representative of the Templars come to visit, we will sign a contract and find a place where they can open their branch.

Excellent! Now let's move on to more pressing matters. I took fifteen hundred horses, they do not need me. A maximum of one hundred for the convoy. I do not have any desire to drive them to Antioch. Maybe among you there are people willing to buy such goods?

" I'll take it," said Emir Homes, "I have people who want to buy them. "Good Arabian horses have never been superfluous to anyone. But why only one and a half thousand?

- The others fled, and to collect them on the sand, I did not have enough people. Yes, and this morning counterattack.

- And what happened there?

- Someone from the noble could gather in the desert to half a thousand people ru

Of course.

Next was a small, short conversation on some kind of little understood abracadabra.

" Dear Baron, this woman is the daughter of the Sultan you killed, her name is Rayhan. "He took it with him, because he feared that the brother claiming the throne could kill her. She, alas, was his only child.

"And, as I understand it, the uncle will not pay the ransom for it? "

Of course. And if she somehow gets to it in hands, long will not live.

Rudolph, do you think she will like your son? Well, do not stretch that face. I would offer you, but you're sick old. We will get to Constantinople, where it will be baptized and under the crown. Do not disappear to such a thoroughbred cub.

" I I do not even know. "Your offer is very unexpected.

" Your son has become a bit hardened in battle. "Soon we will settle in a permanent place. Such brides are not lying on the road. Well? What are you? In the dowry she put five marks of silver. Oh! How did you immediately brighten up! The old grasp will not drink! Yes, you are not so red. Untie the daughter-in-law's hands. And you, amiable emir, could not translate our beauty, that she will not only live, but she will also marry a son of a worthy person. It's not easy, but with a dowry.

Ok.

With happiness, the poor girl again fainted. Rudolph brought his son, who was also delighted. But then they hit the bull's-eye. Raikhan liked him and did not like his dowry, because he was in his taste. This evening the vigil was over. Eric sent the messenger to the Templars, checked the sentries, placed the other fighters and went to sleep. The day was very hard.

In the seized train, and indeed in the camp there was a lot of such property that was absolutely not suitable for sending to the trading floors in Europe, and therefore he decided to sit a little in Edessa, the good that the attacker invited him to stay. Accustomed to combine useful with pleasant, he decided to work in parallel several tasks. Firstly, it is, of course, the rest of the fighters who were on the verge of their capabilities, after that bloody morning. They need to give rest and a little pumping in terms of the stability of the psyche. Secondly, you need to make sure that everything is properly organized for the Templars, although everything should go very smoothly, because it is very profitable for Atabek and the commercial circles of Edessa. He noticed how his eyes glistened. This is a direct and official trade and financial cha