142: The Nine Eyes

Before we retired we spoke together about the political situation, especially who was to gain from this marriage. We decided that marrying Wolfgang and Katarina was probably very good for both their families and it made Wolfgang a clear choice for the next Emperor.

We wondered what other alliances Wolfgang could have forged by marriage and we thought about Emmanuelle of Nuln, while much too old for him would work well diplomatically. And Marlene von Alptraum of Averland who might benefit from such a marriage, but would focus power further south.

And we talked about where Katarina's marriage might leave her brothers. And although Heinrich was clear he was more interested in fighting and action than politicking, he would be left out in the cold, as he would probably not inherit his father’s titles. And the same could be said for his brother Stefan, although Katarina taking his place in the family might be a good thing all round. As part of the graf’s crisis had been caused by the stress of his son’s illness, this marriage might help put his mind at rest, too.

And then we thought about Wolfgang wearing a purple hat although that could have just been a coincidence. We were also reminded of something Schutzmann had managed to uncover, and had warned Fred about. Kastelle Lieberung of the Purple Hand had been looking to finance ‘Nine Eyes’ and to create a ‘Champion in the Shadows.’ We wondered whether we had encountered one of the eyes in Boegenhafen, and then we looked around at the five of us, with Fred having lost an eye at the Picket, it made us wonder whether we were the nine eyes!

And we spoke about Fassbinder, and Greta said she was very keen to meet him, but I think she meant to torture him, as she said the ivory tower culture of academia led to a propensity for secret cults and corruption. And as we were soon to be heading back to Altdorf we agreed we would try to find Fassbinder there. But I think we should have a civilised talk with him before handing him over to Greta.

And while we were talking, as promised by Wolfgang, a messenger arrived with Fassbinder’s book. After Erina had skimmed it she said that the scholar, Kathe Ruttmann, had been right about it being a bit navel-gaze-y, and that it asked more questions than it answered. But Greta said that the idea that the hammer left behind by Sigmar was not Ghal Maraz made sense in the light of what Elvyra had said about how it was treated at the Emperor’s court.

But I think, for a witch hunter, Greta was treading rather close to heresy herself with that idea. In any case, we know that any number of Emperors have used that hammer in battle over the millennia and it was plainly a powerful magical artefact (dwarf made!). So I think that settled the matter, but Greta said she was just asking questions, and that she was just repeating the theory and not her actual views.

We talked about Veiran and decided that he was probably to be trusted as he had been a good source of courtly anecdotes and had done well in the fight at the Shining Rock. But, to be frank, if I were a secret cultist, I would behave similarly so as not to be suspected of being a secret cultist.

And we talked about Wolfgang and Erina said he was a big old faker and too good to be true, and I don’t think any of us disagreed with that. I mentioned that his correspondence with High King Thorgrim had looked genuine and they were exchanging earnest ideas on beneficial strategies for the two nations. But that still sounded too good to be true. Erina wondered about all Wolfgang’s tutors and decided to go and find Kathe Ruttmann.

Erina wandered aimlessly around the fortress for a while, but eventually came across the library and found Ruttmann there. Erina apologised that she had disturbed the lesson with the crown prince and asked her about his many lessons. Ruttman said that he had a good number of lessons on the go and he was open to members of the public approaching him.

Erina asked about cults and Ruttman said they were destabilising at best and a gateway to much worse. Then she asked whether Fassbinder might be a member of a cult, but Ruttmann said that she doubted it as his stuff was so banal and a cultist would be more strident.

Erina told her we had come across cults in Middenheim and they seemed to be well organised. Ruttmann said that it was best to guard against them as they delivered a lot less than they promised and that is what she tried to teach the crown prince.

Then Erina asked whether she had heard of the Purple Hand or the Jade Sceptre and Ruttman said she was not familiar with either of them. And she asked whether the crown prince could be involved in cults and Ruttmann said he didn’t have time. She said he had lots of tutors, and she said there were ‘nine of us’ each with their own specialism. And Erina remembered what Schutzmann had said about the nine eyes. She asked for a list of the tutors and their specialisms and Ruttmann was pleased to comply.

Kathe Ruttmann, History and politics.
Per Haldestaake, Trade secrets and technical expertise.
Wilhelmina Novak, Magic.
Wolfie Jessner, Rural affairs and the North.
Ingrid Rademakers, Natural history and fencing.
Wulfrum Ahlquist, Society and Human nature.
Gustav Klaus, Non-Human species.
Gislind Ursin, Culture and philosophy.
Vatheck Fulci, Geography and foreign affairs.

When Erina had finished talking to Ruttmann she grabbed a random book, a cookery book about savoury jelly, and made her way back to our rooms. But she bumped into a couple of Reiksguard Knights on her way. They demanded to know what she was doing. They told her there was a curfew and threatened to throw her out of the castle. She managed to convince them to let her stay, but she was rude to them and annoyed that no one had told her about the curfew. But they seemed to think that having a curfew in a castle containing the crown prince was a blindingly obvious precaution, and they escorted her back to our rooms.

And when she got back she told us off for not telling her about the curfew. Veiran said it should have been obvious there would be a curfew, and so she snapped at him to shut up. And then she sort of apologised and said the anti-magic ward hanging over the castle might be putting her in a bad mood.

Then we had a chat about Kathe Ruttmann and we decided that we might take an opportunity en route to Altdorf to question her more intently about the nine eyes. And we wondered how she had reacted to seeing Blume for the first time, but none of us could recall. And she wasn’t wearing purple.

In the morning Erina had a go at one of the servants for not informing her about the curfew, even though this servant had not been there the previous night. But she still insisted it was his fault. Erina certainly seems to react very badly to being told off. I don’t think she was told ‘no’ enough as a child.

We had a delicious breakfast, and Fred arranged for us to hold a presentation for the crown prince before we set off for Altdorf. He had decided that this was a good time to present the enchanted banner we had been given for his wedding present.

The crown prince was eating with a table of foreign diplomats, and Fred interrupted to give a short speech,and then he unwrapped the banner from the shirt he had been using to keep it clean.

We all suspected that the present was a bit more controversial than we had been led to believe and we were all intently watching the crown prince as he realised it was the Carroburg banner. And after barely missing a beat, Wolfgang said he thanked us heartily for the gift. He said to ‘thank your master the graf for this very timely gift as we seek to heal the rift between the two religions.’

Fred said that as it belonged to him it was only right we should return it to him, and it was his duty to do so. That was certainly true, and Fred said it as earnestly as he could, and I imagine the crown prince knew that we were only the messengers. But Veiran was looking a bit mischievous, and some of the watching Reiksguard Knights were quite annoyed.

Back in our rooms Veiran was quite amused, and he asked Fred if he had seen the crown prince's face. Fred told him well played, but I think he would rather not have had to have played. And Fred later said that many more strident Ulricans would not have agreed with giving back such a hard won artefact. So it cut both ways. But there was no doubt that the crown prince had accepted it very graciously.

All this playing with flags seemed a bit childish to me, and I told everyone so. The only way to get even for a lost battle where a thousand lives were lost is of course to win a battle where two thousand lives are lost.

And as the crown prince’s entourage was preparing to leave the castle Fred went to find out which of the tutors would be accompanying us. And it turned out that all three who were in the castle, Ruttmann, Haldestaake, and Rademakers, would be staying there, but there were three other tutors currently in Altdorf, Novak, Ahlquist, and Ursin.

We discovered that the scholars had been tutoring the crown prince for over eight years. And we wondered how that tallied with what we knew about Kastelle Lieberung trying to finance them. We decided that perhaps they had been doing so for that long, and that their need for more money was ongoing.

We learned that they we called the nine eyes quite commonly by the crown prince’s entourage. And if that was so then it seemed strange that Schutzmann should only have learned about them recently from an interrogated captive. And we wondered that perhaps this could mean that the tutoring was entirely innocent and had been a misdirection from the Purple Hand aimed at undermining the crown prince’s integrity.