138: The Sons of Ulric

Blume thought back to when she had rescued Elvyra. Elvyra had refused to explain why she had been kidnapped, and Blume remembered she had not seemed very grateful at all for being rescued. And she had also come to the conclusion that she might not know that much about pharmacy and could well have been a charlatan. So she told us Elvyra was not to be trusted.

Erina had the idea that the Knights Panther might be behind the general unrest and uprisings against the Sigmarites. She said that they had the power and influence to make it happen, and she also suspected Veiran of having ulterior motives for wanting to go back and investigative the rockets, when we were attacked on the dirigible.

So Erina went to talk to Veiran but found him chatting to Elvyra and overheard them. Elvyra said she hadn’t been at court long, but it was not like you would expect. She said that she understood delegation, but they seemed to act like the Emperor wasn’t there. And she said they didn’t respect the hammer, making a fuss of it in front of outsiders, but when it was just Altdorfers around, it may as well have been a glorified paperweight.

Later Greta said that the hammer was Ghal Maraz, Sigmar's ancient dwarf rune weapon and symbol of Sigmarite power. I suggested that the hammer on show might just be an ornamental copy and the genuine one locked away safely.

Then Erina interrupted them and asked Elvyra why they disrespected the Emperor and the hammer, and she said she did not know. She asked whether the Grand Theogonist was like this too, and Elvyra said that no, he was quite respectful.

Then she asked Veiran whether the Knights Panther could be behind the unrest. Veiran was obviously surprised to hear this, being the first knight of the Knights Panther in Middenheim. But he admitted that they had the influence and the resources, and asked Erina if she was implying that they were. She said she wasn’t but that it was worth discussing the possibility. And he replied that it was rather like the wizard colleges and guilds who had even more influence and resources, and were even more secretive, and he brought up the cultist Wasmeier, and Erina had to admit he had a point.

And Veiran gave her his opinion that the schism in the Empire was not down to religion, or the people, or to dark cults, but more about the powers that be in Altdorf being malicious.

Then Elvyra mentioned that the High Capitular had been pelted with wolf shit in the Warrenburg. And the miscreants had made their escape through the warren of shanties that gave the area its name. And that got the Knights of the Fiery Heart extremely peeved.

Then Erina asked Elvyra what she did for the Grand Theogonist. She said she was his pharmacist but couldn’t be any more specific for matters of patient confidentiality. And she asked her if she did the same for the Emperor, but she did not. When asked if he was well, she said he was but she just didn’t see him calling the shots. And she asked about Crown Prince Wolfgang and Elvyra said he was a fine, well-read, young man, and told her not to believe everything you hear.

Meanwhile, Fred was wandering the camp getting a feel for the attitudes of the various groups of solders. He was aware there were a lot more Altdorfers here than Middenheimers, but that made sense because the Altdorfers had travelled here in two separate groups. And there didn’t seem to be much tension between the two factions.

Then he overheard two Knights of the White Wolf talking. One told the other that he would be coming too if he had any sense, and that he would sooner wrestle with Horros than be here tomorrow. The other said that they had sworn to protect Ar-Ulric, but the first said that was not true because he bares his throat to the Grand Theogonist. The second said he wouldn’t tell anyone if the other left, but he would be staying. And a bit later, he saw the knight riding out of the camp.

We set up our tents, near the Middenheim contingent. While we did, Blume told us what had happened to her in Boegenhafen. She has certainly had a very busy last few months. She told us all about posing as Kastelle Lieberung, and that she had found a letter signed by Q.F. which talked about Lieberung and Kuftsos, a bounty hunter who had tried to kill her. And she wondered whether this Q.F. might be Quintus Fassbinder of the Altdorf delegation, who we had met a couple of days before at the palace.

At three o’clock, Ar Ulric and the Grand Theogonist met at the boulder for prayers. Everyone else went to watch. But I said that no one wants to watch two mournfangs rutting, as is the expression among the dwarfs, but they didn’t seem to know what that meant. And having thought about it a bit more, neither do I. And then they agreed to spend the night in vigil at the shrine together. And some of the Knights of the White Wolf grumbled about Ar Ulric kowtowing to the Grand Theogonist.

We decided that we would watch the shrine from outside, during the vigil, just in case. Greta said it would be terrible if anything were to happen. And so she took the first watch, and it was pretty quiet. Then during the second watch, Fred heard some fighting noises coming from across the camp. He woke Greta, who woke the rest of us, and he found a bunch of half naked White Wolves and Fiery Hearts fighting. But he could tell they were pulling their punches and this was more of a contest than a real battle. Greta got a bit annoyed and urged Fred to tell the baron, but Fred decided it was just some harmless fun. And Erina decided to watch for a bit to support the Ulricans. But Greta warned it was only harmless fun until someone got their head chopped off.

And when the play fights had stopped everyone went back to bed, leaving Erina on watch. During her shift she went for a wander round the camp. And she heard a rustle in the undergrowth and demanded ‘who goes there.’ She didn’t get a reply and so quickly sent a fiery dart into the bushes and burned a swathe through them. And out came a couple of Knights of the White Wolf followed by a disgruntled Ar Ulric rearranging his robes.

Ar Ulric angrily wondered whether he could have a quiet shit without being disturbed, but Erina stood up for herself and said she had asked who they were, but they had not replied. But they said that she hadn’t used the correct signal. A signal we had not been told. And Ar Ulric went back to the shrine in a huff.

Then it was my turn to watch. And in the early hours I heard the sound of battle coming from around the boulder so I went to have a look. I thought it might be more play fights or something like that so didn’t bother waking anyone else.

And I found a bunch of Sons of Ulric daubing the boulder with paint. I’m not sure it’s really my place to intervene, and I do not understand this umgi obsession with arguing about which god did what. This sort of discussion, like who has the longest beard, Grimnir or Grungni (it’s Grungni) doesn’t make sense to dwarfs. We honour all the ancestors and we don’t need to compare them.

But I think the rest of my colleagues would have acted and so I chose to do so on their behalf. So I told them that they were honouring their god by disgracing themselves. Among us dwarfs this is a heinous insult, but I’m not sure it translates that well to umgi. In any case, one of the umgi shouted, ‘fuck you, short arse,’ which is also a heinous insult among my people.

So I lifted my axe and walked towards him. And by now a number of other guards had been alerted and they were making their way towards us. And the six Sons of Ulric ran back into the forest. We followed, but when I reached the bounds of the camp, I stopped. The other guards were more keen to get at the interlopers and pursued them into the forest.

And then I could hear a bigger disturbance coming from the other side of the camp. The rest of us had woken up and were preparing to fight. Greta managed to find a big hairy target in the gloom and got a good hit on him. And Blume shot another of them.

Fred saw the graf and the baron heading for the Sigmarite camp, to help them, and so he rallied some of the confused knights and got them to head that way, too. And Veiran was there, too, ready to protect his graf. And the rest of us ranked up around the graf and the baron. And I began to make my way back towards them.

And then Fred spotted the White Wolf who he had overheard the day before, and who had left the camp. And now he was fighting on the side of the Sons of Ulric.

It was all very confusing, in the dark, and we could hear lots of shouting and horns being blown, but it looked like the main attack was to be on the Altdorf section, and perhaps the ones I had seen off, had just been a diversion.

One of the Sons of Ulric charged in and hit Erina with an axe blow. Fred retaliated against him. And Erina cast some magic, making him drop his weapon. Then he punched Erina back and made her drop her staff.

And then we saw that the High Capitular got hit in the head, and some knights supported him and pulled him away from the front line. Greta fired a second shot at her target, and surprisingly, the Son of Ulric stayed in the fight. I think they were in a state of some battle lust.