135: The Palace

As we approached the palace we had to cross the Square of Martials. There was a crowd gathered on one side of the square, around a makeshift platform. And on the platform a striking umgi woman with long white hair, was addressing the crowd. She was Speaking out against Sigmarites, Altdorfers, and even Ulrican moderates.

She had attracted a bit of a crowd, who seemed to be wearing more primitive clothes than I would expect in a sophisticated city. I have met a few umgi in my travels, and visited a number of settlements, and I was led to believe that the inhabitants of the Empire’s great cities were wealthy and smart. But some of the crowd were wearing wolf skins and even wolf skulls. There were some watchmen keeping an eye on things, and Fred said there were more than he would expect, but they didn’t seem that interested.

‘The City of the White Wolf stomached the unseemly presence of one High Capitular of Sigmar, but we do not abide the presence of a second! Hindenstern must be sent back to Altdorf with his tail between his legs! Middenheim’s misguided citizens who venerate Sigmar, Hammer of the Elderly, are merely tolerated — not welcomed! We knew mewling Jarrick was unfit to bear the Hammer Axe of Skoll, as are all those who do not feel Ulric’s own blood rush through their veins! Now his brother has been granted his office. He may not have Ulric’s blood, but he could at least bear his teeth and rid us of this turbulent Capitular!’

Greta wasn’t very pleased about what she was saying. It occurred to me that I might have to be concerned, too, as Sigmar was a friend of the dwarfs, and anti-Sigmarite feeling might also lead to anti-dwarf feeling.

Baron Heinrich and Veiran looked a little confused by the demonstration, but continued on their way to the palace. Erina asked the Baron who the demonstrators were and he dismissed them as extremists.

‘The Sons of Ulric preach that only a person who can trace their ancestry to Ulric ought to be anointed as his High Priest. Of course, the official cult does not agree. Last thing I knew, they were banned from holding assembly in the city, obviously something has changed.’

She asked him why he thought the mood had changed, and he said he didn’t know but he intended to find out. Then Fred, who is a devout Ulrican, told the baron his opinion on the matter, that the Empire was stronger when united and the differences between the cults should be a source of strength and not schism. And the baron agreed.

And all this time I could see that Blume was looking at the baron intently. I imagined that she was weighting him up carefully to examine his character and to consider what schemes he might be part of, but I found out later, I am sorry to say, she was just wondering whether he was single.

We were shown into the palace, an impressive structure but not as good as some of the ones in Karaz Ankor, and we went straight to the graf’s inner chambers. We had to wait while the graf had a meeting with High Capitular Werner Stolz, who is the head of the Sigmarite cult in Middenheim. I noticed that someone had trodden a dirty footprint into his robes, which was surely a mark of disrespect.

And then the graf was ready to talk to my colleagues. He dismissed everyone except our party, and told Heinrich to wait on giving his report, while he spoke to us. Erina apologised for our appearance, but the graf apologised in turn for sending them on a mission that turned out to be more dangerous than he had thought. And he said he should have paid more heed to their warnings of an infestation of rat men. But now they had an infestation of Sigmarites. And I think this made Erina a bit angry, but then, so do most things. And she explained that the mission left Harry dead and Guido was still at the picket, and her sister had been tortured.

I could see that Baron Heinrich and Veiran were surprised at how informally the graf greeted them. And I can say I was just as surprised, this is not how we address our kings and the heads of our holds.

The graf told her that the authorities were currently working with the dwarfs of the city to find out the degree to which the rat men still inhabited the undercity. But he said the state of the Empire was so grave that the rat men must take a second place to the wider situation.

He explained that he was accepting a new High Capitular from Altdorf, but some people thought that by accepting this appointment he was showing weakness. And he asked Greta what she thought.

Greta bowed before the graf, and apologised for not curtseying, because she had an old wound. But I think perhaps she just prefers to bow than curtsey. And she said that the gods should coexist, and Sigmar and Ulric can coexist just as the Reikland and Middenland coexist. And that she was only a witch hunter and not a politician or a diplomat, but the graf could listen to the new High Capitular and hope that he brought an olive branch with him.

Then Fred reported on their mission to the picket, and said that rumours had preceded us that we were there to undermine the von Kaerzburdgers. And Emmiline von Kaerzburdger had treated us fairly, but he was concerned how the rumours could have reached the picket before us, considering how little notice we had had of the journey.

The graf seemed pleased about Emmiline and told us that she had recently arrived back in Middenheim and asked whether it was worth inviting her to meet the new High Capitular. And Fred said that it would be and said she could help with inter-cult interaction as she had already pursued intense relations with the cult of Myrmidia.

And Blume added that the graf shouldn’t sit back, and that the various factions were like little children and they needed a firm hand, which I think made Baron Heinrich look askance at her over familiarity, and he rubbed his temples. And so Blume said that she had some tea that would be good for his headache and she invited him round to her house, which she called Hausnung, for tea.

And Fred went over the details of what had happened at Karak Skygg, which I have already mentioned. But he left out an account of our journey by dirigible which he felt was for the baron to report. And when the baron mentioned the attack with the Helstorm Rockets the graf looked grave.

He asked why we did not investigate who had fired the rockets, and Erina quickly said it was because Heinrich had insisted we continue to Middenheim, which, sounded like she was throwing him under the coach-and-four. And then the graf dismissed us so he could get Heinrich’s and Veiran’s report.

Erina went to her sister’s and Fred and Blume went to report to their commanding officer at KITUM. Fred knew that Schutzmann was a Sigmarite, and so he would probably be especially concerned at what was happening in the city. He was not the sort to display his religion, like Greta, but he would be feeling increasingly politically friendless.

And Schutzmann was looking quite anxious when they got there, and thanked Sigmar they were safe. But then they told him about Harry, and Guido. Schutzmann said they were rolling up the purple hand, and they had heard a lot of talk about Kastelle Lieberung, and asked whether Fred or Blume knew anything about her. They shared what they knew, except for the bit about Blume’s close encounters with them. They did say that they thought Blume looked a bit like Kastelle, and had used that fact to gather information.

Schutzmann told them that he understood that Kastelle was expected to deliver a large amount of money to the cult in Middenheim and he asked if they had any idea of what might have happened to it. And they told him that they understood that the money had never existed and was part of a trap laid by a now-deceased bounty hunter in Boegenhafen.

Schutzmann said that Kastelle had supposedly been trying to restructure the cult, and the money was to sponsor ‘Nine Eyes’ and a ‘Champion in the Shadows.’ And he asked whether they had heard of those. But they hadn’t. Schutzmann said that the cult was split into many cells with little communication between all the various parts, and that Kastelle Lieberung was the only name that seemed to be widely known across the cult as a whole.

Then Fred handed in his armour to be repaired but Blume decided that her more fashionable outfit needed an independent armourer, because she didn’t want to look just like everyone else. And then they had to go to Willow’s to tell her about Harry. And Blume wanted to give her flowers, but the only ones around were in Willow’s window box so she stole some of those.

They said Willow had been her usual self, but they had to break the sad news to her. And they emphasised what a hero Harry had been sacrificing himself so that everyone else would live, instead of an idiot who didn’t know how long to make a fuse.

Willow asked if they had brought the body back with them, but they said that they didn’t have time to pick up any of the pieces. And Blume said it was what he would have wanted as he always wanted to go out a bang. And Willow said she would have to say a special prayer to Esmeralda and Josias for him.

And then Blume complained that it was much harder on her than anyone else because Harry was her best friend, or at least someone she used to not feel so lonely. And Blume making it all about her made everyone feel a bit better. And then Blume remembered the boat in Altdorf, and concluded, if they ever got it back, it would belong entirely to her.

And when Blume left, Fred apologised to Willow about her, and said she should probably write to Harry’s mum, because he had read Blume’s letter. And Willow told Fred to tell Blume not to worry too much about it, which was nice of her.

Meanwhile, Greta went to Hausnung and introduced herself to Nanny, and got her to run a nice bath in Blume’s en suite. And I suppose after all that time in the wilderness, she deserved it. And everyone ended up back at the house and Blume invited Greta and me to stay there, while we were in Middenheim. This was very generous of her (although Fred said something about it not actually being her house) especially as the city was so rammed with refugees it would be difficult to find somewhere else to stay.

And Greta began mending some of her clothes and she opened up a big wooden box and fished out a needle and thread. But I had a quick look in the box and I don’t think it’s just for sewing. She had lots of needles in it, but also an array of pincers, pliers, and knives, and a hammer.

And then a messenger came with invitations to the palace to meet the new High Capitular’s delegation. And so Blume decided that meant we all had to get new outfits. I’m not really sure what people wear to such occasions but Blume assured me that she knew best. Both Erina and Fred insisted they were going to wear what they had on, which should have been a warning. And Greta was equally unsure of the idea. I think we would both rather be half way up a mountain with a big coat on.

But I suppose I couldn’t really go to the palace (again) with the rags I had been using in infiltrate the Karak Skygg slave pens. In the end Blume got me a white and blue coat which will be useful camouflage in the snow, so hopefully it will snow soon. And she got Greta some black and red robes which evoked fire and death. And then she complained that it cost her half her money.

And so we all made our way up to the palace. Blume wanted to be fashionably late, but this was an official engagement and not a party, which meant we had to be there right on time. We went into the dining room, which had been cleared to allow for mingling. The graf was there surrounded by his bodyguard of Knights Panther. And so was Heinrich and Veiran, and Katarina. And we saw Emmiline Kaerzburdger. And there was the new Ar-Ulric, Emil Valgeir, who didn’t look very happy about things.

And when Blume saw Baron Heinrich she went up to him and did a very long awkward curtsey and instead of bowing her head she refused to look away, and I’m not sure how long she spent staring at him, but it seemed like an extremely long time. I am finding some of these umgi customs to be very strange indeed.

And then the Altdorf delegation arrived. There was the new High Capitular, Volkmar von Hindenstern, who seemed quite serious and monosyllabic. Then came Graf Liepmund Holzkrug, strutting in. Then Quintus Fassbinder, Yann Zuntermein, Gravina Luciana von Ekstein, and Baron Ewald von Laue.

My colleagues didn’t seem to know who many of these people were, but Blume said that Holzkrug was a member of the Reikland Council and from a very old Imperial dynasty. But she said that the other figures were a bit minor, and that seemed odd. Although, Blume seems to think that everyone is minor compared to her and Baron Heinrich.

During the mingling, Blume was approached by Fassbinder and he wondered aloud whether she could be her, and then decided that she wasn’t. Blume assumed he meant Kastelle Lieberung, and so she said she was. But Fassbinder said she really couldn’t be and that she had less bushy eyebrows. And he said he was told that she had perished.

Blume said that she had perished but as she had come back to life again, it was reasonable that she looked a little bit different. In the end he said he knew she was not her, but promised to talk with her again later. Fred overheard all that and made a point of keeping an eye on Fassbinder for the rest of the evening.

Greta then introduced herself to Volkmar and was quite fawning, predicting he would go far, which isn’t much of a prediction for someone who is already a High Capitular. Although, maybe he has an even more illustrious future ahead of him. And Greta told him he was currently preparing a report for the High Inquisitor, and hoped that Volkmar’s mission in Middenheim would succeed as tensions were running a bit high.

And Fassbinder introduced himself to Erina, who told him she was there representing her sister who would have been representing the Guild of Wizards. He explained that he was from the University of Altdorf, and specialised in proscribed cults. Erina wondered how he could study such groups without joining them, but as we say in Karaz Ankor, you don’t have to be a goat to climb a mountain.

And he asked Erina if she had ever come across such groups and she said she was just interested. Then Fassbinder admitted he didn’t really know what he was doing here, but said as they were travelling south together they could continue the conversation at some other time. And Erina was surprised to know that we were due to travel south with them, but he said he assumed they were as it only made sense to have the second half of the talks in Altdorf. And after the conversation Erina said that perhaps Fassbinder was less suspicious than he first appeared.

And they spotted a halfling among the wait staff, who they said was Bettie Greenhill, and a relative of several other Greenhills they had met in Middenheim, and related to the Sauerapfel Greenhill chutney dynasty. But I think with no more halflings among their number they weren’t that bothered to say hello to her.

But we saw as the graf moved around the room, he nearly bumped into Bettie. She was just about able to avoid him, but in doing so she collided with the Gravina von Ekstein and spilled several drinks down her light blue taffeta dress.

And immediately the gravina became incensed. She called Bettie a noxious little pipsqueak, in an Estalian accent, and said she should be skinned alive. Bettie offered to pay for the dress and Heinrich told her there was no need for retribution but the gravina said there would be war between the two cities. As a dwarf I can attest to a number of minor incidents that have escalated to war, but this struck even me as unnecessary escalation.

Then Blume stepped in and told the gravina her dress would get justice by her firm hand and guided Bettie towards the servants quarters. And when they were back there Blume tried to pump Bettie for information. But small talk is not Blume’s forte, and she didn’t get very far. And so she threatened to send Bettie back out into the hall, and that made her cry.

And then Blume apologised to Bettie, and said she had been under a lot of stress, with Harry dying, and things. And she asked Bettie if she had a love potion or something she could put in the baron’s drink. But I think Bettie was more into chutney.