68: Gotthard Wallenstein

Hi mum. We’re still at the party, remember. I spotted Willow leaving the maze with a rabbit in each hand, and I showed her the punch and the bottle I had stolen from Pavarotti. She gave it a detailed examination and decided it was Weirdroot (some people in the Mootland call it radish – Willow) powder. She said it was a powerful drug that caused feelings of wellbeing, but also hallucinations, and she said I should drink the punch (it gives you a nice buzz – Willow). I wasn’t very sure about that as Willow likes to consume lots of stuff that isn’t necessarily good for you, and I had to start work, soon, so I didn’t. And Willow poured it into a flask and said we could drink it later.

Then Bettie Greenhill ran by, towards the maze, with a carrot and said she was after the escaped rabbits. Willow had the rabbits, and so ran after her. But I’m not sure she realised that she would be sending the rabbits to their deaths.

Meanwhile Guido noticed that Albrecht Helseher (the head of the wizards’ guild, remember, mum) was trying to have a word with the graf. But the graf’s chamberlain intercepted him and guided him away, which clearly annoyed the wizard. As he flounced off Guido caught up with him and sympathised that the graf was difficult to get to talk to. Helseher said that the chamberlain, Hausmeister Breugal, was too fond of his job, and called him a jobsworth.

Guido mentioned the taxes, and Helseher said that was what he was trying to speak to the graf about. He said the taxes were unjust, but said that the last time he spoke to the graf about it, he seemed sympathetic to his point. Guido said that didn’t really add up as the graf had just enacted the law. But Helseher said it was easy to turn the graf’s head these days, if you could get to speak to him, because the graf wasn’t himself, due to his illness, his son’s illness, and his recently deceased wife.

Helseher said he intended to bring it to the graf at another time. Guido then thought to introduce himself and mentioned he was a Myrmidian and a Sigmarite. Helseher said it’s not often you meet a man of the cloth who was so enlightened. And Guido said that the gods are fickle and we all bend beneath their heavy breeze (I don’t know what it means, either, mum).

Meanwhile Willow was trying to catch up with Bettie and spotted her on the ground searching for the rabbits, but the two younger Jung sisters were talking to her. They said:

Bettie: ‘Ere, watch where you’re placin’ yer clogs, some of us is workin’ ‘ere.’ Ulrike: ‘Oh, I’m sorry. What are you doing down there?’ Bettie: ‘On the ‘unt for some stray bunnies ain’t I? And I ain’t talking about your Frauline Schlagen nor her naughty bad wolf neivver. Ha!’ Ulrike: ‘I’m sorry, we’re not well acquainted with the city. Who are you talking about?’ Bettie: ‘Ang me, draw me and quarter me for my loose lips. Never mind me dearie, more gob than sense at times.’ Ulrike: ‘Well… very well then.’

You can take a halfling out of the Mootland but you can’t take the Mootland out of a halfling, can you mum. Anyway, Willow was intrigued by the idea of Fraulein Schlagen and her bad wolf. (In the city of the white wolf, there are lots of wolves, but the biggest of them has to be Ar-Ulric – Willow).

Once the Jungs had gone, Willow showed Bettie that she had found the rabbits and handed two of them over, but kept the one she had originally put in her pocket. And Bettie told her to forget anything she had heard about bad wolves.

Meanwhile, I had bumped into Blume and I could see that she was a bit wide-eyed about everything, so I decided she must have been at the spiked punch. We were chatting about Middenheim being a bit nicer than Altdorf. And we saw a load of people leave, including Rallane, Genscher, and Klochmann. I think they wanted to catch the beginning of the opera.

I spotted Gotthard Wallenstein mingling. I said he was up and coming and Blume said she thought he might be good marriage material, even though he was only about twenty, and I had to remind her of when she tried to snare Albrecht Steinhaeger in Boegenhafen, and he was only seventeen.

I asked Blume if he reminded her of anyone and she said that he looked a bit like some of the portraits we saw under the signal tower, and some of the portraits that lined the entrance hallway of Castle Wittgenstein. Remember mum, they were remarkable for their high bushy eyebrows and aquiline noses. Wallenstein, Wittgenstein, it makes you think, doesn’t it, mum.

Wallenstein was talking to Isolde Begegnen who is the head of the cult of Shallya and we overheard her thanking him for his generous donation to the temple. But then Blume cut in and with no one to talk to Isolde had to wander off.

I was expecting this to go wrong, because Blume doesn’t really know how to act in company like this, but surprisingly she managed to talk politely with Wallenstein and it looked just like she was the gentlelady she lies about being. While Blume was being all charming I asked Wallenstein if he wanted some punch, then went off to get some from the bowl I saw Pavarotti spiking, as I thought it might loosen his tongue a bit. Although as I was walking away Blume grabbed me like she desperately didn’t want me to leave, which was a bit strange.

Blume introduced herself and told Wallenstein about her family’s business, and he said that he had heard of the Hoffnung trading company. She said that business was booming but her parents called it Bluming. She asked whether he had had the pleasure of talking to the princess Katarina yet and Wallenstein admitted that they moved in different circles. But then she pushed him about being a friend of the graf’s late wife, and Wallenstein said he was barely a friend and more of a fortuitous acquaintance. Blume said that she was sure he had many stories to tell (they aren’t stories, they’re adventures – Willow) and he agreed, then after I had delivered the punch Blume told Wallenstein that he looked familiar and asked where she could have known him from. He just said he was sure he would have remembered a face like Blume’s.

Anyway mum they talked about lots of things and Blume really seemed to come across as a proper lady for a change. They talked about his fine clothing and his chain of office, and Blume mentioned Boegenhafen and the signal tower. But he didn’t say anything about that. And Blume even mentioned wanting to get married. In the end Wallenstein said that they should meet again and he would show her some of the more interesting sights of the city. And Blume agreed although she had to admit that she was staying at the Templar’s so he might contact her again. When they finally parted Blume looked back to see if Wallenstein was looking back to see if she was looking back at him, but he wasn’t. He went straight back to mingling with the ladies.

Dreamy was still hanging out with Allavandrel. He noticed that Prunkvoll had dropped Klochmann and was in the scrum of lads wanting to catch the eye of Katarina, but he didn’t get anywhere, and soon he sloped off on his own, and left the party altogether. Dreamy asked Allavandrel about it and he said that Prunkvoll had been trying to court Katarina for ages but with no success, which wasn’t really surprising.

Then the heralds trumpeted seven o’clock, and Ar-Ulric arrived with three priests and a couple of Knights of the White Wolf in tow. He got barely a nod of acknowledgement from the graf which he was plainly not very happy about.

While he was mingling Willow noticed that Ar-Ulric exchanged a glance with Emmanuelle Schlagen which seemed genuinely romantic (I think that must be her bad wolf – Willow).

Meanwhile Guido overheard one of the serving boys talking with a serving girl about Blume. He said that he had seen her before but didn’t know where. So Guido grabbed him and bribed him with a penny to think harder about where he might have seen her. And he said that maybe her picture was on a piece of paper, somewhere. Maybe a pamphlet or a poster. Guido showed him one of Blume’s pamphlets, and the boy said it definitely wasn’t that. It might have been in one of the market squares or the street with all the speakers on. Guido told the boy that if he remembered any more he should make sure to let him know. And Guido decided that we had never seen any pictures of Kastelle so if anyone was handing out pictures of her it was probably related to nefarious cultist activity.

Blume was in full flow now, being a lady with all the nobs and acting like she belonged among the highest of them. I’m not sure whether it was months of painstaking practice, dedication, and aspiration, or the drugs.

She joined Emmeline Helstein, a local noblewoman, discussing recent events with Abu Tawb, a diplomatic envoy from the spice port of Copher. He raised the topic of a Vizier Bahr, who he said was a sorcerer and fugitive from the Sultan’s justice.

‘You say the trail leads you to Middenheim? We harbour no witches here, and we’ll be sure to let you know if we catch a whiff. Don’t trouble the Graf with this. He is unwell and, if I may say so, ill-advised of late. How so? Well these taxes for a start. Verena only knows what’s gotten into the chancellor and the Law Lords, why they would draft such inflammatory legislation baffles me. It’s entirely out of character. No one seems able to talk sense to Boris about it though.’

Then she spoke to Rudolph Helstein and Henricus von Kaerzburdger, two elderly local noblemen, gossiping about who does and does not have the ear of the Graf.

‘If you want to get your voice heard in the Middenpalaz these days you could do worse than befriending that Tilean fellow, Pavarotti. The Graf thinks he’s been a miracle worker with Stefan and respects him a lot. Of course, Boris is besotted with his daughter too, trusts her instincts even if she isn’t exactly what one would call a prodigy. The marshals? For sure he trusts their strategic insights, but they don’t understand politics.’

And she also overheard Petra Liebkosen and Janna Eberhauer talking: Janna: ‘So you were saying the same thing happened to you?’ Petra: ‘I couldn’t believe it, I thought the man was passionate about money and only money, but there he was making the sort of proposition I’d expect from Gotthard Wallenstein.’ Janna: ‘Who?’ Petra: ‘Ah, you don’t want to know. Some bigwig trader. A favourite of Anika-Elise’s who is still hanging about like a bad smell.’ Janna: ‘Are you going to complain then?’ Petra: ‘About what?’ Janna: ‘The Chancellor.’ Petra: ‘Oh Janna, he’s an embarrassment, but he is not without means, you know.

Guido saw Ar Ulric and his retinue bump into Werner Stolz and his initiates. They stared at each other for a bit and it got quite tense, but then they gave each other a vaguely courteous nod and moved away, but their followers didn’t move away immediately and Guido could see the Knights of the White Wolf would have been happy with some violence. But it all went peacefully in the end.

Meanwhile Dreamy spotted Wallenstein trying to put his arm round Bertha Jung, but she slapped him. He then left the party with a band of what looked like young merchants and it looked like they were going to be continuing the party elsewhere.

And at eight o'clock precisely the trumpets sounded the end of the party. The graf got up and, surrounded by his courtiers, and with Katarina, Emmanuelle, and Zimperlich, retired to the palace. Willow noticed that the graf cast an affectionate glance at Emmanuelle and she returned it but it looked a bit forced, and then she looked at Ar Ulric. But Guido thought that Ar Ulric’s look was one of affection mixed with pain. And he heaved a sigh and headed for the exit.

And, as usual, mum, the servants were left to clean the whole mess up. Willow saw Bettie overseeing it, and offered to help. And before Bettie could stop her she had grabbed some plates and walked into the palace.

Guido went on with Dieter and some of his mates to the Laughing Jackass which was an upmarket hostelry. He invited Natasha Sinnlich to join him, but she said she had other commitments.

Willow noticed that Pavarotti was one of the last to leave the party, and was going around emptying glasses and seeing if there were any wine bottles for him to take. Willow asked him if he had any more Weirdroot and he was happy enough to give her some.

And then Willow helped clean up listening to all the gossip the servants might have. Briefly, the Marienburger was boring, someone should tell Wallenstein to leave people alone, the blue wizard had the hots for Allavandrel, Ulrican priests aren’t allowed to do it or they are allowed, Stefan seems calmer since Pavarotti arrived.

Blume found some urchins and paid them some silver coins to hand out her pamphlets. I can’t remember exactly how much she paid them, mum, but I’m sure they ripped her off.

When we all met up at the Templar’s we chatted about the party and decided that Emmanuelle Schlagen had her fingers in a lot of pies, and that we wanted to get Willow’s urchins to find out where Wallenstein hangs out and to follow him a bit.

We also talked about the tax and Dreamy explained the figures to us a bit better and we realised that the taxes were even worse than we thought and looked destined to get people to leave the town and to stop others coming, and even Blume started to think they might not be a good idea.

And we thought about looking for the poster of Blume that that servant had mentioned. Guido has his big fight in the morning but said he would like to talk to Abu Tawb about any witches in town.

Willow and Dreamy said they wanted to talk to the dwarfs at the Komission, and also find Glugnur at the Pit, and talk to Pavarotti again, and maybe see if they can find Emmanuelle.

Blume bought another night in her room and went up there to write the next issue of her pamphlet and gave instructions that if any letters from Wallenstein arrived they should be sent straight up to her. And I think Willow followed her up and stole her duvet.

Don’t forget I have to go to work tonight, And don’t worry mum, if I haven’t mentioned Boy Bloomer this whole letter. He was asleep in my pocket the whole time. I’d forgotten about him myself, for a while, until he weed again. Anyway he probably needs his sleep because he has to go to work with me, though I’m pretty sure he’s too small to take on any rats, especially of the size I am hoping to find, so I’ll probably just keep him in my pocket.

And Willow gave me a lucky bunny to take on my first day of work, too, so I will have my pockets full of animals. I will let you know how my first day goes, and whether the lucky bunny brings me any luck or not.