Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
(that book has been translated into English)
...She walked toward the river and she saw him from some distance. It was him - wide shoulders, tall, fair hair. He was back, back in his homeworld from that medieval planet of his. When she got closer she saw his eyes. There was strange tiredness in them. And his hands, large powerful hands...but no...it was only strawberries...
He was taught fencing and all sorts of martial arts. He knew tricks and moves people on that planet would learn in next few centuries. He was trained to withstand any sort of psychological stress, to look with unblinking eyes at any aspect of life of medieval society. He was Observer, a secret envoy of society that had evolved from similar stages into one that gave up internal fighting centuries ago and went to stars. He had almost no right to interfere with life on that medieval planet.
It was as one can imagine medieval ages to be. Until he met Kira - a girl with ginger hair and piercing blue eyes. It was a miracle. In the midst of raging violence and brutality, intrigues and powerplays, she believed without a shadow of a doubt the secret stories about the world where humans were like gods, were there was no violence, no shortages, no darkness.
Then came the coup. It was Greys first - low level shopkeepers and others. Then came Monks, disciplined religious army. The house of Observer came under siege. Kira went to window and the crossbow bolt sank almost fully in her fragile body. Her eyes widened...
Only after dropping large quantities of tranquilizing gas on the city did they find him. It did not require any effort to establish where he had been...
