Road to the Crown

9th November 1574

The road from the outpost area which is how I started to name the spread out mass of small places where the development was taking place, back to the Krakow was easier than ever. While the sudden change to the situation at the eastern front caused a huge delay to any form of official acknowledgement of the new situation by the parliament, there was only so much time that those great and small nobles alike could waste on their meaningless discussions.

To be quite frank, if I were to use the levelling method to grade the level of advancement of specific technologies, then it would be the low level of the train of mine that saved not only me but all of my people and lands at the same time a lot of problems. 

Back in my days as a child, I happened to travel by train with my family. It was your typical trip for the parents and kids to a nearby aquapark, yet during a nearly half-an-hour long journey, I got curious about one thing.

Why there is always this funny and repetitive sound that always accompanied anyone that travelled with this mean of communication. Given how it was even before the time when more modern and comfortable trains were bought and implemented in the network, instead of the feeling of just gliding through the air that they offered, one could feel every single bump on the tracks right on one's own butt. 

"That's because the metal tracks contract while it's cold and expand while it's hot. If not for the slight empty spaces between each track, then they would deteriorate into the state where it would be impossible to actually use them!"

That was the answer that my father provided to me at that time. Ever since then, I never bothered to think about it anymore, as more modern solutions that were implemented all over the country soon after got rid of this problem to a certain degree. 

But right now, instead of bothering with the hot temperatures that could destroy the tracks if not for said small spaces between each track piece, I had to think about the complete opposite - harsh weather of the winter!

While the period of time that I was currently in was often considered to be a small ice age, turning this part of the world so cold that during winters one could even cross the entire baltic sea that separated the mainland from the Scandinavian peninsula! But despite that, the weather so far was rather kind both to me and to all the enemies of the commonwealth.

Thinking about it as I watched the snowy landscape pass on the other side of the window as the train that I was sitting in slowly continued to tread forward, I realised that instead of my words influencing muscovites actions, it could very well be a perfectly devised strategic plan.

What if the entire war wasn't about destroying the Commonwealth in one sweep? What if it wasn't a war that aimed at the invading country receiving some benefits be it in form of land, tribute or even glory? What if all this war was about was destroying huge swaths of land on Commonwealth's borderlands?

Recalling the map of the current state of the country and the last marked positions of the muscovite forces from my memory, I noticed with terror that this simple guess of mine actually perfectly fitted into the way in which the war moved!

Being someone who grew up used to Poland being just a tiny fraction of what it used to be during its entire history, it didn't pain me all that much to realise that muscovite troops actually overran five and a half damned provinces!

Looking back in history, this would be the first war of this kind ever since the fall of the ancient Roman Empire! From the very moment, feudal countries happened to be a thing, all that the wars were about steemed from either the wish to grow one's land or from personal vendettas and conflicts. Yet if my random guess were to be true, then this entire war would turn out to be nothing more than just a prelude to what was coming once the country would once again see the warm light of the sun!

What if, everything that happened so far was nothing more but a prelude to a great war that would erupt once nature would remove the barriers it was setting with every piece of snow falling right now?

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Sitting right beside me and cuddling into my arm, Elia busied herself with caressing my hand that was placed under her skirt, right on her bulging belly. Given how attentive she was, she has to notice the state of my mind a long time ago, but only now decided to ask about it in order to let me sort out my thoughts by myself.

"Don't worry about it, just some defeatists ideas…"

Smiling to my dearest wife, I started moving my hand over her belly again, as if that could calm her down. The problematic thing was that she was calm in the first place, so my actions had a pretty obvious meaning of attempting to avoid the topic!

"Come on, do you trust me? It's not like I will judge you basing on your thoughts alone. Or rather…"

Suddenly springing into action, Elia moved from the seat beside me right on my lap, instantly casting away the coldness of the interior of the train. Given how most of its structure was made out of wood and the overall design had still a lot to ask for, implementing some kind of small fireplace would be the peak of irresponsibility. 

That's why, due to how used I was to wearing mostly light clothes so far, I lacked any robes that could keep my entire body properly warm. Yet Elia, as if lead by some greater power, managed to counteract even this little thing!

"It's not like I don't trust you. I just don't want to burden you with things that could turn out to be nothing more than just my panic thoughts."

Using my free hand to touch Elia's cheek and caress it for a moment, I could not only watch but also feel how her face relaxed a bit as her lips curved up in a light smile.

"If I'm not here to listen to the things that are troubling you, who else will?"

Leaning forward a bit and placing a gentle peck on top of my lips, Elia quickly threw her arms around my neck before bringing my head right into her bust that continued to grow as her pregnancy entered further stages. Surrounded by the pleasant warmth and softness that was limited only due to the layer of material that blocked my head from resting on Elia's breasts directly, I could feel all the worries that I had just a moment ago disappearing in this soft heaven.

"You know… I don't think it will hurt our child if…"

Looking at Elia's lips, I could see her glib tongue sweeping the moisture from them, with no visible effect. With her intense stare directed right into my eyes, it was obvious what she had on her mind even without spelling it out loud.

"If you insist…"