Nicolas was sleeping on a haystack when two French invaders entered the barn.
"Hey there! Get down, The King wants to see you!"
Nicolas shook his head, after yesterday's party it was working poorly. He couldn't answer, what king? There is no king in Brittany!
Under French escort, Nicolas was brought to the house of the village elder. At the table sat a rather affable fellow of about 20 years old. There was an older guy (about 30 old) standing nearby, dressed in a general's uniform.
"The headman said that you are the master of this village, are you?" asked the general.
"This is my stepfather's village, and where is the king? I was told that the king wants to see me."
The general flared up at such impudence and put his hand on his sword.
The affable fellow raised his hand in a sign of appeasement. "I am The King, I am The King of France," he said.
"As you understand, my troops are laying siege to your capital," said the king. "All the villages in the area are devastated, but à la guerre comme à la guerre," The king's face was distorted with regret at the suffering of the common people.
Nicolas listened without understanding what he had to do with it.
"Do you understand me?" the King asked Nicolas.
"Of course, sir," carefully answered Nicolas, "there is a war going on, the peasants are suffering, but no one has cancelled the sowing season, Duchess Anne is defending the capital, Your Majesty is besieging her."
"Absolutely right! You are a nobleman, aren't you?" asked general.
"My stepfather is baron Malestroit!" Nicolas answered proudly. "He promised to arrange for me to be the Duchess's page-boy next year."
"You are, you are exactly what we need," The General took a letter from the table, "The King wants you to deliver this letter personally into the hands of the Duchess."
"But with all due respect, I am not a vassal of the King of France, my lord is the Duchess of Brittany, and I don't know how she will take it that I serve as a messenger for her enemy."
The king stood up and walked towards Nicolas. "Listen, young nobleman. You are right, but this mad war will end soon. Negotiations are underway, but I do not trust these Breton scoundrels. They will intrigue, because the Duchess and I love each other and not everyone likes that. I hope for you to deliver my letter personally to the Duchess."
***
La Trimouille was a popular figure in the French army. While he and Nicolas were riding on horseback to Roazhon with the letter from the king, many officers took off their hats and waved them in greeting to the lieutenant-general.
"We wanna fight!" exclamations were heard.
But the closer to the siege line, the sadder it became. There were fewer and fewer soldiers, and officers were not visible at all. Somewhere already on the hills, where the city walls were visible, there was a cannon, and two ragged, half-drunk soldiers were loading it and shooting ... somewhere there.
"Well, young man, we will part here," La Trimouille said to Nicolas, "do you have a white flag? Wave it when you go to the gate, we will wave it from here too, so that they don't shoot at you."
He dismounted, "Please give the King's letter to your Duchess, it is very important for the future peace between us. The King will not forget you; everything will be fine!" and he slapped Nicolas' horse on the rump.
Nicolas galloped towards the gates of Roazhon waving a white flag.
***
"Who's that hick?" Nicolas heard it in the Duchess's reception room, and it was very unpleasant for him.
Finally, the Duchess's maid of honor came out to him, she looked very tired. "I was told that you have a letter for the Duchess, give it to me and I will give it to her," she said to him.
"His Majesty, the King of France, demanded that I deliver it directly into the hands of Her Highness."
A teenage girl came out of the Duchess's chambers and looked questioningly at the maid of honor and Nicolas, the Duchess Anne herself!
"Apparently, Malestroit's stepson here," maid of honor said to the Duchess, "with a letter for your highness from the king."
Nicolas hastened to bow politely to his sovereign and handed her the letter.
She opened, read it, tore it up and threw the letter into the fireplace.
"Anything else?" she looked at Nicolas.
"The baron asked several times to enlist his stepson as Your Highness's page-boy," maid of honor told carefully to the Duchess.
"Yes, of course, enroll him and give him with some task, for example, finally getting my bed out of the bedroom."
Nicolas bowed politely to the ladies. The peace had already been signed, and Duchess Anne was going to take her own bed to Paris.