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." He paused andgrinned."Even with the friends I have in America, and they are powerfulfriends, if I kill a bunch of ragheads there will be questions and problems ""And here we have shovels," Father Kulcyanov said, then choked and laughed."And here we have shovels," Mike said with a nod."And it is a reason for meto get a backhoe.Be joyous.""It is good there is a Kildar again," Father Ferani said, considering himcarefully but smiling."And you are a good Kildar for us.Better than you canknow.""We should bring you to each of the houses if you will, Kildar," FatherShaynav said."I understand you have a taste for beer.You should try eachFamily's brew and decide which is best.""I don't think my first day on the job I should get hammered," Mike pointedout."But I'll try a bit.""We shall start here," Father Kulcyanov said, raising his voice in Georgian.The meeting had been held in the main room of the house with everyone chivviedout except the elders.Now the rest of the Kulcyanov family began pouring in from the back roomswhere they must have been packed in like sardines."Bring food and drink for the Kildar," Father Kulcyanov said in Russian.Histones were formal and for once he managed to not wheeze, sitting straight inhis chair, his face firm.It gave him a trace of what he must have once beenand Mike was sorry he'd never met that man."We greet our new Kildar.Let himbe proud of the peoples he now leads.And let us give thanks to the Father ofAll that a true Kildar has returned."The women began to prepare food as the younger men of the household lined upto be introduced.Mike had a hard time keeping up with all the names but hefigured he'd learn them in time.There were four married men in the household,some of them old enough that their sons were of marriageable age.One of theyounger ones, Oleg Kulcyanov, hadn't fallen far from the tree.He was amonster, at least six foot six and broad in proportion, heavily muscled andblond with clear blue eyes.A couple of others had the same general build andlook.The meal was simple and light, bread, cheese and a little sava, which seemed to be the local equivalent of a hamburger, probably becauseeveryone knew he was going to be visiting the other families.And he was givena small tankard of beer to sample.He thought it would be much the same as thebeer in the village, but when he tried it he was amazed.He'd thought the beerin the tavern was good until he tried this stuff."That's great," Mike said, setting down the tankard carefully.The beer was atrifle more bitter than that in the village, but excellent.And, again, with ahint of something he couldn't quite place."Do you all brew your own beer?""The women of the Families brew the beer," Father Kulcyanov answered."Eachfamily has its own recipe.Every spring they have a contest to see who has thebest."Page 173ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I can't imagine any of them being better than that," Mike said, shaking hishead."Who is the brewer?""I am," one of the older women said, curtseying."I am Mother Kulcyanov.""You have an excellent house, Mother Kulcyanov," Mike said."And a fine brew.""Thank you, Kildar," the woman replied, curtseying again."But I know that Ido not make the best beer in the valley," she added, sighing."That would beMother Lenka.The witch.""If Mother Lenka's beer is better than this, she must be a witch," Mike said,shaking his head.Through the rest of the day Mike was taken from house to house.In each he hada small meal and tested the beer.After the first two he realized he was nevergoing to be able to tell which was better.He just praised them all to theheavens.He met dozens of men and a few of the women.In the latter case, hewas introduced to married women only, generally the family "Mother." It wasapparent that the Families were more like small clans.He wasn't sure what thetotal population of the valley was, but there were enough young men to make upat least a company of infantry.The last house they visited was the Devlich household, the one that he'd cometo in the blizzard.FatherDevlich seemed the most unsure about him but Mike could handle that.He was seated at the end of the table while the women served and was handedthe usual glass of beer.He was a bit tipsy by that point, but he tried it cautiously.And then heshook his head."This must be the house of Mother Lenka," he said, grinning."I'd been warnedthat Mother Lenka's brew could make an alcoholic of any man." The beer wasflat out fantastic.Strong, full and rich it was truly "liquid bread.""Hah, you've heard of me already!" one of the older women said with a cackle.She still had a trace of great beauty buried in a mass of wrinkles, and herhair was still black with only a trace of gray."Of your amazing beer and great beauty," Mike said."Also that you're a meekand kind individual.""Who has been lying about me?" the woman said.Her Russian was excellent; heknew enough to detect a trace of a Leningrad accent, and Mike suspected shewas not from the Families originally.When he was finished with the meal and beer at the Devlich house, Mike andGenadi stumbled out to the Mercedes and made their way up to the caravanserai.While he'd been being introduced, a group of the Keldara had already headedfor the castle and when Mike arrived, wanting nothing more than to have abrief nap, the house and grounds were full of bustle with the courtyard filledwith colorfully painted wagons."Kildar," a woman said as he entered, "I am Mother Savina.If you accept myservices, I will be your housekeeper." Mother Savina was a short woman withblack hair gone mostly gray and a strong face."Mother Griffina would be your cook.She is in the kitchen, cleaning.Wouldyou like to meet her as well?""Not at the moment," Mike admitted."Right now, I'd just like to lie down andsleep off the food and beer.And what beer!""I will ensure that there is beer in the house," Mother Savina said with asmile."Will you be wanting dinner?""The way I'm feeling now the answer is no," Mike said."Maybe something light.Are there any beds available?""The master suite has already been cleaned and the linens changed," MotherSavina said, nodding."Please rest.We will try to keep the noise down."Back NextPage 174ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html|ContentsFramedBack Next|ContentsCHAPTER SIXWhen Mike woke up he just lay in bed for a moment, thinking and working hisjoints.He'd taken some ibuprofen and drunk a bottle of water before lyingdown and that helped with the hangover.But it didn't help, much, with thejoints and they were frozen as usual.Between his time in the SEALs and someof the stuff afterwards, he had massive damage to his body; he couldn't justroll out of bed anymore.But what kept him in bed at the moment was the situation.There were a billionthings to do, both from the point of view of making the caravanserai livableand to getting the farms prepared for the spring planting.He wasn't sure whatyou did for that, but he knew that if you were going to do it right, it wouldrequire equipment [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]