What Mikhail Ratnikov could not foresee was that a frightened Christian boy from across the swamp would plant such a pig on him. Well, or on the contrary, it will turn out to be a gift of fate - it depends on how you look at it. However, at first, no one in the fortress could even imagine what kind of “unknown animal” the scouts had brought from the forest. A wet, hungry little orphan - what’s wrong with him? And in general, it’s unprecedented - Christians fleeing from pagan lands, albeit artisans from a distant settlement. Grandfather was killed by a wild boar, you can’t ask him, the boy is not even old enough to become an apprentice, and he doesn’t know anything - how can he? No danger, no benefit yet. They didn’t kick me out of pity, and I’m grateful for that. That’s why Timka never got to talk to Mishka. At first, the boyar was simply not interested in him, and then - almost immediately - the Poles attacked Ratnoye, and Mikhail Ratnikov had to go on a campaign, never knowing what kind of delayed-action mine was left in his fortress because of the swamp. And how it will “explode” without proper supervision. And it fell to the elder Aristarchus to sort it all out, which in itself promised the boyar an additional headache after his return - to answer difficult questions and unravel intricate knots, which, with Timkin’s active participation, would certainly become entangled in the brains and destinies of the inhabitants of the fortress.