Chapter 16
January 18th, 1663.
The Baron was sitting at his desk, staring at the ceiling and drinking his favorite brandy. He was worried about how things were progressing. He wasn’t entirely sure if he had done enough work to prepare his people for war.
What if they disapprove? What will I do then?
He heard his door open and his head shot down to look. A servant came in, closing the door gently so as to make as little noise as possible. The Baron subtly moved his hand over to a knife sitting on his desk.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, sir? Does my son need something?”
The voice that came from the servant was deep, and contained a slight Russian accent.
“Baron, it is me. Brusilov.”
His face shimmered and vibrated for a few seconds before settling on the face of Spymaster Brusilov.
“Then I’ll ask again, to what do I-”
“I have been ‘let go’ by the Empress. Her spymaster is now Abbot Adol, and they both think I am dead.”
The Baron blinked at Brusilov as he tried to absorb his words.
“Wait so…they think you’re dead? Did they make an attempt on your life?”
Brusilov nodded.
“Да, in the middle of the night my residence got blown up, completely reduced to splinters and cinders. If that was actually where I stayed at night I would have been dead.”
He shook his head.
“I believe I have lost my favorite prostitute in the blast as well.”
“Well I didn’t need to know that.”
“The important thing is that I need to go into hiding here.”
“Of course, what’s mine is yours.”
Brusilov nodded.
“As long as I operate as your Spymaster?”
The Baron nodded.
“Yes, sharp as always. Do you still have control of your men?”
“Yes, they are loyal to me, not the Empress.”
The Baron stood from his chair.
“Excellent. Tell them to congregate here, Castle Bickenstadt is your new base of operations.”
The Baron made to leave but Brusilov grabbed his arm.
“I do not trust that priest you have, Adolf. He is working for Abbot Adol.”
“I’m aware.”
“I would like to deal with him.”
The Baron shook his head.
“No. Not yet. You can do that when we start this damned war.”
“And when exactly is that?”
The Baron smiled and extracted his arm from Brusilov’s grasp.
“As soon as the Empress rejects my ultimatum. Until then, I will increase security around castle Bickenstadt, and I suggest you have your men follow Adolf. If he starts acting out of sorts, if he discovers something, you can put him down.”
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January 27th, 1663.
Krysia leaned over a table with a model of Holenstadt province on it. It captured the terrain near perfectly, and had accurate positionings of the various forts and fortresses along their border. She scanned the topology and mountains and forests, slowly creating an image in her head of where she needed everything.
She grabbed a unit marker and placed it on a fortress which demarcated the border between Grössenstadt and Holenstadt, in a mountain pass surrounded by terrain so rough single people could barely cross, let alone companies made up of hundreds of men.
Is they could control the forts and fortresses in and around the few larger mountain passes which made it possible to cross the border with any number of men and supplies, they could hopefully keep Grössenstadt troops out of Holenstadt for the possible years that the Baron would take conquering Leibenstadt.
She moved another piece to a fort overlooking a ravine. There were two forts along the ravine, one on either side of the border. She grabbed a small flag with a fire decal on it and placed it on the Grössenstadt side.
Her current strategy was to take what they could, and destroy everything they couldn’t hold onto. This, paired with the hundreds of thousands of Bszerci who knew the forests of the Dunkwald like the back of their hand, would keep Grössenstadt at bay for as long as they needed.
She took a deep breath and sighed.
“I hope this works out better than the late prince’s work.”
She spent hours fretting over the map before she was ready to send out more orders, stamping them with the Badeni family crest and sending them to the Holenstadt Homeguard’s various different companies and battalions.
Krysia sat in her most comfortable chair and sipped from her drink, a mixture of vodka, ginger, lemon, and carbonated water.
“Teraz nadchodzi trudniejsza część.”
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February 2nd, 1663.
The Empress was sitting in her private chambers, reading over a letter that she received from Bickenstadt, physically shaking with rage.
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Empress,
Our differences seem to be irreconcilable, however, I will attempt to reconcile them with this ultimatum.
If you wish for relations to normalize further, you will need to do just three things: Apologize publicly for your handling of the abolitionist protests of January 10th-12th. Make it easier for the citizens of the Empire to protest, as a protest is the voice of the masses. And, most importantly, you MUST agree to the abolition of Elven slavery. Whether that be immediate or over the course of years, so long as you agree to it I will be satisfied.
If you do not accept all three conditions, then I will declare that our negotiations have broken down, and I will refuse to speak with you further. I eagerly await your response.
Baron.
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She took in a deep breath and set the letter down. She grabbed a nearby letter opener and held it by the blade. She shouted in anger as she threw the letter opener as hard as he could, embedding it in the stone walls of Castle Grössenburg.
She shook with rage and ground her teeth in frustration. She couldn’t believe what she was reading.
“Does he even know the fit the nobles and merchants would throw if I tried that? What am I saying-of course he does.”
She grunted in frustration.
“He wants war. I know it.”
She immediately threw on her clothes and nearly ran to her Sending Stone room, picking up the one connected to the garrison commander of Bergzitadelle Freiderick.
“Dietrich, come in. Dietrich, come in now.”
After a few seconds she got a response.
“...yes ma’am, I am here.”
“Prepare the citadel for war. The Baron is absolutely going to do something drastic. He just sent me an ultimatum.”
She heard nothing over the stone for a few seconds.
“...yes ma’am. I will work on that immediately.”
The Empress nodded.
“Good. I will keep this stone on my person, I suggest you do the same. We have a dark period coming.”
Dietrich acknowledged her words and hung up. She slipped the stone into her pocket and grabbed another.
“Klaus, come in. Klaus, come in.
After a few seconds a gruff and monotone voice came from the stone.
“...klaus here, ma’am.”
“Redeploy troops to Weinstadt and Ebenenstadt, especially along the border forts of Waffenstadt and Caprae Loco. And training is to be expanded. We are going to need as many men as possible coming up.”
“...I’ll get right on that, ma’am. Are we going to prioritize speed or quality? We can only have one.”
“Quality, but make it as speedy as you can.”
“...yes ma’am.”
“And before you go, I suggest you keep this stone on your person.”
“...already do, ma’am.”
The Empress smiled.
“Excellent. I’m counting on you to keep our eastern half safe. You have full command of the eastern army.”
“...understood, ma’am. They won’t make it to Plantageburg so long as I draw breath.”
“Excellent. Get on it, we have a lot of work to do.”
The Empress slipped this stone into her pocket and immediately rushed out of the room, practically sprinting down to her war room, grabbing any of her important staff both civilian and military on the way, immediately leaning over her war table and moving around models on the Holenstadt-Grössenstadt border.
“Those ungrateful mutts. I gave them their culture back and they’re still siding with the Baron. Unbelievable.”
She grabbed three models and placed them in a major fort along the border.
“We’re strengthening the garrisons. We need to move quickly, so spread the word. The first through third battalions are to move west immediately. I want every fort and fortress overflowing with men yesterday!”
The generals she brought with her saluted and immediately ran off to carry out her orders.
“Send eighteenth company sent down to Bickenstadt, I want to see how they react. They are ostensibly moving to Bergzitadelle Freiderick.”
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Klaus von Erstorte was an officer in the Grand Imperial Army, as well as an Imperial nobleman. He was leading his company from Grössenstadt to Leibenstadt to garrison the mountain citadel which protected the Empire from the desert nomads and the Assai’id beyond.
Even from a mile out Klaus could tell there was something different about Die Süß Fähre. Namely, that it was covered in the flags of Bickenstadt. He turned to his men and yelled.
“Keep those muskets at half-cock boys!”
They approached and a group of soldiers came to meet them, all wearing the blue and orange colors of Bickenstadt on their puff and slash and all wielding muskets, bayonets attached.
“The ferries are closed until further notice by order of Wolfgang von Bickenstadt.”
Klaus frowned.
“This is the Grössenburg side.”
The Bickenstadt officer stared at Klaus dead on, resolve clear in his eyes.
“We’re aware. Die Süß Fähre is a Bickenstadt company.”
“This can’t be legal, this is our territory and we are being sent south by order of the Empress!”
The Bickenstadt officer shrugged.
“I don’t believe I asked whose land this is, I told you the ferries are closed until further notice by order of Wolfgang von Bickenstadt.”
“The Empress is above Wolfgang von Bickenstadt, he’s not a baron.”
“His son has the Baron’s approval, this order is functionally from him.”
Klaus furrowed his brow in annoyance.
“Fine, then we’ll go elsewhere, and inform the Empress of this.”
The Bickenstadt officer smirked.
“All ferries along Der Grösser Teilanderfluss are closed by order of Wolfgang von Bickenstadt. You and your slavers are not going to cross this threshold.”
“This is ridiculous-I own no slaves.”
“You fight on behalf of slavers, you are functionally slavers, and Bickenstadt does not welcome their kind to sully our beautiful province. So go back to Grössenburg and tell the Empress that her men are not welcome here.”
Klaus was shocked. He didn’t think things would devolve like this.
The Empress must hear of this. It’s a clear escalation!
“Fine, have it your way. The Empress will be hearing of this.”
The Bickenstadt officer’s grin widened.
“Good.”
Klaus nearly shuddered as he watched the man smile.
“You realize this could mean war.”
The officer’s face dropped, looking far more serious.
“Then it comes down to war.”
“Is that a declaration from Wolfgang von Bickenstadt as well?”
The officer shook his head.
“No, just my personal opinion.”
Klaus shook his head and turned towards his men.
“We’re heading back home! Bickenstadt won’t allow us to pass!”
He glanced back at the Bickenstadt soldiers.
“The Empress must hear this!”
The men acknowledged his orders and turned on their heels. They began to march, and Klaus began to fully process what this meant.
“They want war. They’re going to start a war over some fucking elves!”
His knees felt weak and a knot developed in his stomach, but he did not allow it to show to his men. He must look confident and in control at all times.
“Keep those muskets well maintained boys, you might be needing them soon!”
His men yelled to acknowledge his words. The march back was dead silent, not a single joke or story was told around the campfire. The men all knew that soon enough, many of them were fated to die.