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Shall I set my house in order?; Ladislaus settles into his home
Topic Started: Aug 13 2015, 03:35 AM (65 Views)
Savasan
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Jacob's Main Guy

It seemed to be, in the days after the defeat of the Decapitan forces, the rains did not stop to fall on the city of Kaysersberg. The rain put out the fires, snuffed the life out of the town. Some of the mercenaries left, the river bore traces of sandwich papers and bottles, silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarettes ends, or other testimony of summer nights.

The rain had watered the palace gardens many times over, but the palace bore no traces of the old family who occupied it. Ladislaus now ruled over a shadow court, as most of the former court employees had fled the horrors when it suited them. Most were not willing to return to a foreigner King. The mercenaries he had hired were kind enough to leave the 200 or so volunteers who joined to fight for the Old Catholic Monarch had now found themselves with a new lord. Peasants, loyal servants, and various civil servants remained a formed the court – a paltry 90 survived the battle.

The old royal family were sheltered in some distant corner of the palace. Ladislaus had held off meeting them, and telling them of the news. He sent some 10 volunteers to watch over them, to provide for them, to see that they did not feel like prisoners.

Ladislaus figured that now, the family must have known that the old man was dead or taken prisoner. No word, no sight, no noise from the man. He sat in the study of the old monarch, and looked out onto streets. This was the palace in the middle of the city. He got up from the chair he sat in, and signaled to the volunteer guard who stood by the study door to follow him.

As they made their way down the hallway, Otto Smetana, the provisional Home Secretary approached from an intersecting hallway, appearing from the walking Ladislaus.

“Your Grace! Where are you going?”

Ladislaus did not stop to talk, but kept walking. “Has Dietrich moved the old Family yet?”

Otto moved up, past the trailing guard, to meet his Lord. “No, Your Grace. They are housed in the Queen’s Apartments.”

“How are they? Have you been giving them food, giving them new clothes, allowing them to bathe? Have they been in the Courtyards?”

Otto looked slighty surprised and humored. “Your Grace, you haven’t even been in your courtyard.”

“This won’t be fully mine for long, Otto. Have they been taken care of?”

“Yes, Your Grace."


The trio walked up into the third story of the palace, where the majority of the living quarters of the monarchs were. The final hallway appeared, and the walk down seemed to take longer. The portraits of past monarchs of Caturix sat on the walls, judging the poor wretch before them, the slayer of William III, their son and heir.

“Do they know, Otto?”

“Know what, Your Grace?”

“That Wilhelm is dead.”

“Yes.”


The tension rolled away, only to be replaced by another worry – the reaction of the sight of Ladislaus. The family would be enraged to see the sight of the man who killed their patriarch. Ladislaus sent the guard who followed him to tell the guards on the inside to announce his arrival simply as “General Ladislaus von Neumarkt, Archduke of Nemacia”, omitting the kingly title he had styled himself with.

The guards announced his arrival, with the humbled titles. Ladislaus walked in somewhat timidly, but tried not to give away his fear and worries. The family of Wilhelm looked up, and saw a man dressed in military combat garb. With a knot in his throat, Ladislaus made the attempt to bring the matter to a close.

“Ladies and Gentlemen.”

The room remained quiet.

“I am your new lord. Your King, Wilhelm passed in the woods outside the city of Kaysersberg, as you know.”

A woman broke out in tears. “Why are you here? Are you going to kill us like you killed my father?”

Ladislaus gulped, and said “No. To kill innocents would be savage.” He paused to recollect his thoughts. “I have no interest to see any of you dead. I have every desire to keep you alive. You are free to use the palace as you had before.”

The son of Wilhelm, the 20 something Frederick, stopped comforting his weeping sister and stood to ask Ladislaus, “Sir, what will happen to us after this war? Will we be handed over to the Alliance? If you do not kill us, who will?

“It does not appear that the Alliance is as bloodthirsty you think it is. I assure you, you and your family will be safe. As for what will happen after the war, I have a good need for allies in this strange land.”

Ladislaus turned and walked towards Otto. “Otto, the Prince of Caturix shall be known as the Duke of Sigmaringen and his seat of power will be in Schloss Sigmarinen.” He turned to the young prince, and said, “There is your assurance.”


Frederick did not thank Ladislaus, as he did not what to make of Ladislaus’s intentions. Frederick merely nodded in approval.
Ladislaus left the room in Frederick’s confusion, and took six of the ten guards with him. The state of the monarchy and Ladislaus’s life was tenuous. The thought racing through Ladislaus’s head was simply the question “Why?” Why was he here in Caturix in a possibly hostile land, Legantus? The Neumarkts were no close friends of the Silvanus Government. And yet, the door was left open for a Neumarkt dynast in the nation that was most set against Chairman Silvanus. Entering the courtyard, Ladislaus spoke out.

“Do you think that the Alliance armies will welcome me as a godsend, Otto?”

“I’m sorry, Your Grace?”

“You heard me”, said Ladislaus. “I pose a benign obstacle to Silvanus’s republican ideals. Nobility and republics do not go hand in hand.”

“Mr. Silvanus may be willing to compromise. Legantus finds itself rather bruised after this war. Anything to get the war to a close, even a monarch on the throne of Caturix, would please him and his government.”

Ladislaus abruptly stopped in his tracks. “Even a pariah such as myself, Otto? What does he accomplish by putting me on the throne? He knows of my closeness to the Emperor. He can bind me all he want, but eventually something will give way. We are opposed folk.”

“Do you expect to start another war, Your Grace?”


Ladislaus started at the floor, and then at some plants of the courtyard. “No, I can’t.” Ladislaus walked forward, towards the exit of the Palace. “But I am a puppet. Silvanus has international ambitions, and taking out a man who does march entirely in lockstep with his ideals, Do you see what I mean, Otto?”

Ladislaus wasn’t anymore the clearer to Otto, or the crowd of guards.
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