I Am Louis XIV

  Chapter 9 The new world revealed by witches

It was spring, not a good season for hunting, but their original intention was not to hunt. The king and his party rode leisurely on a sun-drenched path through the outer edge of the forest, towards the Seine. Going, Mary was on her pony, and the king and the others were all grown-up horses, and after a while, the king saw that the little witch obviously wanted to talk, and asked her to come to him, and after a while Let her ride with you.

The forest in the eyes of the witch is completely different from the forest in the eyes of mortals - Mary pointed to the king to see a clump of mushrooms growing around the trees, and whispered to him that this was the "dance circle" of the fairies in the forest, and mortals could not damage or It is stepping in. If someone does this, Lin Xian will give him a punch, and he will definitely die when he returns, but sometimes, if the person who comes is young and handsome, Lin Xian will dance with him until dawn, or It is death that comes. Witches collect the mushrooms, dry them and grind them into medicinal powders, which can be used to heal broken bones and confuse people.

When they passed the hazel tree, Mary took the opportunity to break a branch, because for a witch, if a hazel tree branch can be planted at the full moon, and when it grows over her shoulders, she can go to it Make a wish.

The sporadic gray marks on the trail are black dog demons, yes, not werewolves, the marks left, they are monsters that even wizards hate, they are said to come from hell, their eyes are red like coals of fire, The place where the soles of the feet are stepped on is also like being burned.

   When we reached the swamp, a reed was broken by the ground, and the twigs and leaves were floating on the water. Mary said that it was because a water monster or a washerwoman passed by here.

  When he saw mints beside the horseshoes, Mary put them in the palm of his hand and smashed them, attracting a group of wild geese who fed themselves with new reed sprouts and small fish.

   "Quick!" Just when Louis thought she was just trying to be naughty, she pulled the king's shoulder strap and urged, "We have roast goose for dinner tonight!"

In fact, she didn't need to remind her, the king's attendants had raised their muskets, and after a loud shot, the hounds shouted excitedly, and burrowed among the reeds and calamus, constantly fetching back prey for their masters - they were still startled A flock of colourful pheasants, the pheasants screaming and running in panic, but still dying at the mouth of the hounds, all piled up on Mary's pony, looked like they were blooming on horseback A clump of black, blue and red washtails.

The unexpected harvest made people very excited. Just as they were discussing whether they should go deeper and look for deer and wild boars, an attendant next to the bishop came panting and brought a message from Bishop Mazarin, I implore the king to return to the Castle of Enlai immediately, because the Prince Condé, whom they have been looking forward to, has returned to France from Flanders, and is now at the side of the Queen Mother and the bishop, waiting for the king's holy ride.

  Louis was a little surprised, because he had not heard any relevant information before, he asked some attendants to take care of the prey and Mary, and returned as soon as possible with the others.

  ———

The Prince of Condé had only inherited his father's title two years earlier. Until then, he had been Duke of Enghien and joined the army in this capacity. He was only twenty years old when he fought the Spanish in northern France, 1644. By 1645, he was at war with Moses, the commander of the Holy Roman Empire, and not long before he followed Gaston, Duke of Orleans, to fight in Flanders.

Compared to the king who was still a child, the young Prince Condé was more like a flamboyant ruler, but given that the original Prince Condé, the cousin of Henry IV, although in 1601 Louis X There may be no reason to say that San was the first heir to the throne before he was born, but it is precisely because the Queen Mother Anne and Cardinal Mazarin were wary of him, and this Prince Condé also lacked loyalty to the king and for the sake of trust.

   But on the surface, he was still very kind to Louis. He saluted the king, then kissed the latter's hands intimately, and couldn't wait for him to see a precious gift he brought.

   A Serbian werewolf skin.

Louis knew at a glance why Queen Mary of England, his cousin Henriette, and his younger brother Philip were not here. Obviously, they were not qualified to know about the inner world, or in other words, England also has the inner world. , but that's not a good reason to let foreigners look for intelligence.

   Just seeing this familiar grey-black wolf skin, Louis really wondered if this was a provocation. Did this Prince Condé not know that he was attacked by a Serbian werewolf not long ago? Or did Gaston, Duke of Orleans, do something deliberately, to take the opportunity to provoke their relationship with the Prince of Condé? But no matter which one it is, the king, the queen mother, and the bishop of Mazarin will not have any objection, after all, they have to rely on the Prince of Condé to suppress the mob in Paris.

The Prince of Condé lived in the castle of Enlai, but he was obviously unwilling to perform this difficult task. The mob in Paris is said to have numbered nearly 100,000, and he was only surrounded by people from Flanders. of two hundred cavalry.

In the end, it was the Queen Mother Anne who managed to sell the last bit of jewelry (even took off the diamonds on the crown), hired 600 soldiers for Prince Condé's army, replaced muskets, and replenished supplies, and Prince Condé reluctantly agreed to go to Paris .

   (end of this chapter)