The Wewelsburg
1st July RY154
"You know, Rikart," he said, turning to me as we transferred back to the Wewelsburg courtyard, after his less than productive first of the month conversation with the King of Sable, "there are times when my brother is a stubborn, ornery son of a bitch."
I looked at him for a moment in surprise, trying to figure out if he was expecting me to answer, and in the end came to the conclusion that he felt some kind of comment was in order.
"It seems that while he has had rather less to deal with than yourself recently, he isn't coping as well as you are, Herr Reichsführer."
"More diplomatically put than I would have managed," he replied, with a chuckle, but then his expression became more serious, "he had a point about the medication, though. Look into it. Report back to me."
"Of course, sir," I answered, "where will you be?"
"I'll be down in the Pattern chamber. Whether he helps me or not, I need to deal with that problem I mentioned over coffee, and I might as well get it over with."
"Please wait a moment while I get two of the others, sir," I answered, as we walked towards the North Tower, and called up Heinrike and Xavier on the comms link. They joined us a short while later, and took up their positions to protect the boss.
"Thank you Schultz..." he said, with a nod, "you know where you can find me when you're done."
"Yes, Herr Reichsführer," I answered, saluting, and then walked briskly across to the infirmary.
Fraulein Doktor Steinbrück was over to one side of the room, looking after one of her patients - of which there were still a fair few, after the mess on Summer Solstice - but she nodded as she noticed me and indicated a seat where I could wait. I made myself comfortable and waited for her to be free.
"You're looking well, Standartenführer Schultz," she commented as she joined me, about five minutes later, "no ill-effects from your injuries?"
"No, ma'am," I answered, "I feel as good as new."
"Glad to hear it...I was very concerned when you were first brought in. But it looks as though the RFSS did a good job." It obvious that she wasn't sure she approved of how he'd helped me back on the 17th, and then later before the Council meeting, but at least she couldn't deny that he is more than capable as a physician. "How can I help you?"
"I need to look at the infirmary duty log for May."
"Any particular reason?"
"Something came up in conversation this afternoon which the RFSS has asked me to check on his behalf," I replied, looking at her for her reaction, but she showed no signs of nervousness at my request...merely curiosity.
"Of course...wait here a moment."
"I also need to check the drugs cabinet."
"What's wrong?"
"Probably nothing," I answered, "but I want to cover various possibilities. Do you have any objections?"
She looked at me for a moment, obviously deciding between the fact that she could just say yes, or if she refused I could order her to do it anyway, given that I outranked her, then shrugged.
"Go ahead. Are you looking for anything in particular?"
"I'm not sure...I'll know if I see it."
"But you're not going to tell me what it is."
"As I said, it may be nothing. However, if it does turn out to be relevant, then I will inform you."
She seemed unconvinced at my assurances, and to be honest I couldn't blame her, but until I was sure that, if there really was a problem, she wasn't involved, I couldn't exactly go into too many details with her. However, at least she didn't actively oppose my request. Instead she indicated the supply room to the right of her office, then went to get the duty logs.
During the boss's illness, I had seen to it that a guard had been posted on the door to that room at all times, with orders to observe anyone going in or out, and to watch from the doorway whenever anyone was in the room. The trouble was, I had needed the Honour Guard and the Aurellians on the RF's private quarters, which meant I'd had to rely on garrison-supplied troops in the infirmary. I hadn't realised just how deep the rot had set into the garrison until after the boss had woken up, and had begun observing the conspirators, and since then, as he'd been showing no ill effects from his coma, I'd thought nothing more about it until the King of Sable had raised the unpleasant possibility that afternoon.
I walked into the supply room and looked around. The two side walls were neatly lined with glass-fronted cabinets full of medical supplies, and the drugs cabinet occupied the wall in front of me. The bottom third of it was a separate unit, temperature controlled using magic, so that anything which needed to be refrigerated could be kept in there. I crossed to the cabinet and checked it over, to make sure there was no sign that it had been broken into, and confirmed to my satisfaction that neither lock showed any signs of tampering.
Given that there was only the one entrance to the room, posting the guard should have prevented anything untoward, unless the guard himself was in on the plot to tamper with the boss's medication. Of course, the possibility obviously existed that nothing had been tampered with at all, but in my own mind I was certainly willing to accept that malice was more likely the cause of what King Robert claimed to have found than foolishness on the RF's part.
Since he had been attacked by Andrew de Lacy, he'd been much more willing to have at least one of the Honour Guard nearby at all times, and while I had to admit that there were certain times when he was alone, one of us was usually just the other side of the door at those times. Moreover, all of us were observant enough to know if something was up with him, or spot anything out of place in his various sets of quarters, which were security swept regularly, and there hadn't been any signs. I was also well aware of the instance which the King of Sable has referred to in their conversation, as Marius and myself had been on duty at the time, but to my knowledge, the boss's answer had been a truthful one. It was the only time in some months that he had let his hair down, metaphorically speaking, to the extent he had a couple of evenings before.
"Is everything in order, Standartenführer Schultz?" Dr Steinbrück said as she joined me, a file in her hand, which she passed to me. I glanced inside, to see that it was the duty rosters I'd requested.
"It seems to be," I answered, "who has keys to the drugs cabinet?"
"Myself, my deputy..."
"That would be Dr Meisner...?"
"That's right, plus the three nurses and Obergruppenführer Gerlinde."
She obviously hadn't seen the memo that the boss had restored Gerlinde to his previous rank as a reward for his loyalty after Summer Solstice, but it didn't seem worth mentioning.
"Have you ever seen evidence that anyone else might have access?"
"Once or twice. For example, I found some morphine and one of the shape shift inhibitors missing a few months ago. Early January, if I remember correctly. Given what was taken, I actually wondered if it was Obergruppenführer Gerlinde, and he'd just forgotten to fill in the relevant paperwork, although he pretty much told me to mind my own business when I asked him."
"He was never the most approachable of individuals," I commented, and I could tell that while she agreed with what I'd said, she didn't want to come out and say it, "Was this incident reported?"
"Of course, sir," she replied, "and I was later informed that the matter was in hand."
"Any sign of a break-in on that occasion?"
"No, sir. The top cabinet appeared to have been opened with a key. However, I had both locks changed as a precaution, and there hasn't been any recurrence."
"And nothing else has struck you as odd?"
"Nothing, sir."
"Thank you for your help," I said, then indicated the files, "I'll get these back to you as soon as I can."
"Thank you, Herr Standartenführer."
After a last exchange of pleasantries, I walked out of the infirmary and headed for the garrison office. The boss had confirmed Gerhard Brandt as head of the garrison the previous week, separating the position of garrison commander more clearly from that of Kommandant of the Castle, which he had given to Sigmund Jakob, presumably to prevent a repeat of Sophia Lange's treachery. I knocked on the door of the outer room, which was opened by a pretty young Unterscharführer whose nametag read Eichel. I didn't recall having seen her around before, and wondered if she's come in from Sanguine with Brandt.
"Herr Standartenführer..." she said, politely.
"I need to see Standartenführer Brandt," I said, "is he in?"
"Yes, sir," she replied, and rang through to the inner office. Brandt opened the door a couple of moments later.
"Come on in."
I walked through to join him, then glanced around. The room starkly decorated, the only adornments on the grey walls being the obligatory pictures of the Kaiser and the boss, plus a very detailed map of the castle and its grounds. Other than that, there was a desk, with a comfortable chair on the business side of it, and two less comfortable wooden ones the other side, the only natural light coming from a small window high in the wall over the desk, and the rest of the walls were lined with filing cabinets.
"What can I do for you?"
"I need a favour," I replied, "I was hoping you could let me see the duty rosters for who was guarding the infirmary during May."
"Before my time."
"I'm well aware of that, but given the national obsession with filing systems, no doubt they're here somewhere. I could also do with the full list of casualties and garrison members who took part in Lange's attempted coup at Summer Solstice."
He rummaged on his desk and handed me a file.
"This is the list of participants in the coup: I've been checking the garrison personnel files to see if anyone who was posted here then can still be considered reliable...old duty files I'll need to check. What are you looking for, exactly?"
"Patterns...I'm trying to confirm if something was possible, and then, if it was, to work out who was responsible."
"Very mysterious," he said, with a wry smile, "I assume we're still mopping up the fallout from last month."
"And before," I answered, confident that Brandt, at least, wouldn't have been involved in what had happened, given that he'd been in Sanguine until Summer Solstice, and there had been no evidence that anyone from that world had been involved in the plotting, "it's possible that during May, there was an attempt to poison the RFSS. I need to confirm or deny it."
"Of course," he answered, then shouted "Mariele!"
Moments later, the young woman put her head around the door.
"Sir?"
"Where would I find the duty files for May?"
"Second cabinet on the left, top drawer," she replied promptly.
"Thank you," he answered, and crossed to the appropriate location. He opened the drawer, flicked through a few files, and then pulled one out.
"This looks like it," he said, handing it to me.
"Thank you. I owe you one."
"No problem. Let me know what you find out."
"I will," I replied, and with an exchange of salutes, I headed out, thanking Eichel on the way, and made my way back to my quarters. I had just put the files into the top drawer of my desk and locked it, when Heinrike buzzed me on the comms link.
"Sir, you need to get down here right away."
"What's up?"
"Something's wrong with the boss," she answered, and she sounded panicked. Given that 'down here' was likely to be the Pattern chamber, which opened up a number of unpleasant possibilities, I teleported myself down to the courtyard by the North Tower, and then headed down the steps to the Crypt. The stairs to the lower level stood open, with Xavier manning the entrance.
"Problem, sir?"
"Sounds like there might be," I answered, "maintain your position here, and await instructions."
"Sir."
Then I hotfooted it down the stairs as fast as I could safely manage. Once I got to the antechamber I opened the right hand door, and let myself into the chamber. Heinrike challenged me as I entered, but dropped her weapon as she recognised me, then gestured to the Pattern. On it, just after the First Veil if I remembered my one walk around the thing correctly, I could see a figure. He was barely moving and was almost doubled over, and looking at his body language, it was obvious that he was in pain. From everything I remembered of the day he'd brought me to walk the Pattern, stopping was supposed to be fatal, and even I could tell that he wasn't going to make it all the way round.
I quickly reviewed my options. I could start walking it myself, and hopefully help him along when I reached him, but I had to admit that given how hard it had been the first time, when I only had myself to worry about, I wasn't sure if I'd be helping him, or dooming the both of us. Equally, I could try to Trump the him, and see if I could pull him off the damned thing. But I had no idea if that was even possible. The third option, which was even less attractive, might be trying to contact the King of Sable and seeing if there was anything he could do to help. However, given his frosty reception to the boss's idea earlier...
As I watched as he took another step, but the effort left him gasping and unable to hold his shape. I pulled my Trump deck out of my pocket, found the boss's Trump and started to concentrate on it, but he didn't answer. Either he was in too much pain, or he didn't want to split his concentration. He also didn't have very long, by my guess. Trying to Trump out of the chamber was supposed to be impossible, but maybe with the entrance opened above, I had a chance of calling out from the antechamber. Failing that, it was down to judging whether I could get up the stairs and back before he stopped altogether, and I wasn't confident on that score.
I headed back out into the antechamber and searched through my deck for the Trump Robert of Sable had given me, back when the boss was first injured on Beltane. For some reason he'd never reclaimed it, for which I was heartily thankful just then. I found it quickly and began to activate it, but it was difficult. However, fired by the urgency of the situation, I pushed, and was eventually rewarded by a weak contact, which firmed up once the King was in the link.
"Your Majesty," I said, hoping that I wouldn't get a flat refusal, "he needs your help...please..."
"I can tell," came the rather unexpected answer, and he extended his hand to me. I took it and brought him through, noting his surprise at my location as he arrived. I also noted that he hadn't taken the time to call in one of his equivalent of the Honour Guard. Again. Still, I certainly didn't wish him harm, and maybe he realised that.
"This way," I said, and took him inside the Pattern chamber. Heinrike was surprised to see him, but accepted his presence once I'd vouched for him. Then he crossed to the start of the Pattern, and seemed to be concentrating.
I saw the boss trying to stand upright, but instead he all but fell to his knees, and moments later, the King of Sable set foot on the Pattern.
"What is he doing?" Heinrike asked, coming over to where I was standing.
"I don't know for sure...but I hope to Hell it's the right thing," I answered.
"But you trust him?"
"Right now, we don't have a lot of choice."
We stood together in silence, watching the drama unfolding in front of us. His Majesty took the first few steps with relative ease, but then it became obvious that he, too, was finding it hard going, and there was an intense look of concentration on his face. But at least he was making better going of it than the RF had, and soon he was passing through the First Veil. As he did, however, he moved more carefully, more gingerly, noticeably struggling, but at least he wasn't as obviously debilitated as the boss.
I held my breath, and then the King was making better headway. However, I was worried that the RF hadn't moved for a good few seconds, and I could see sparks from the Pattern rising higher around him. Then his brother was with him, and I detected forward progress once again, albeit mainly from watching the movement of the sparks. Finally, after a few minutes and a number of steps, the sparks began dying back, and I could see them both making their way towards the centre. It looked as if the King of Sable was supporting the boss and almost propelling him round the Pattern, and I was far from sure that he was even conscious.
"Why don't they jump clear?" Heinrike asked me, "I thought they could do that."
"Only from the middle," I answered, "before then, they're pretty much stuck with having to walk round."
"But surely they could break the rules?"
"I don't know," I answered, although having seen the ease with which they both seemed to be able to jump around the universe almost at will, using the Pattern for transport, I will admit that Heinrike had a point. But they were showing no sign of doing anything of the sort, and I wondered if perhaps neither of them was willing to spare the concentration needed to do it.
I'd seen the RF walk the Pattern before, and even work with it - for example, when the Exclusion Zone was set up - but that half hour felt like the longest I'd spent in my entire life. Heinrike and I watched in silence, completely helpless, as they made painfully slow progress, the whole process presumably not helped by the fact that neither of them were successfully avoiding shifting as they walked. I thanked the gods that Gerlinde had seen fit to legitimise the boss's abilities in that regard, so that Heinrike wouldn't be too freaked out by it. Moreover, helping his brother was obviously stopping Robert of Sable from moving at the pace he wanted.
And then we both let out a sigh of relief as they made it to the middle, where the boss finally dropped to his knees.
"We'll be in his quarters," Robert called across to us, and they disappeared.
"You go - I'll lock up here," my deputy said to me, and no sooner were the words out of her mouth, than I was sprinting up the stairs. I probably set a new record for climbing four hundred feet, albeit I was breathing more heavily than normal as I emerged into the Crypt.
"Sir?" Xavier asked as he saw me.
"Heinrike will be up shortly," I replied, "she'll brief you."
And then I was making my way to ground level and running across the courtyard and up the stairs to the Knights' wing. I barrelled in past Leon, who was guarding the boss's quarters, and found them both in the bedroom. The boss was lying on his side on the bed, curled up in a foetal position to try to ease the obvious pain he was in. I could see marks on his face and his clothing was scorched. His brother, meanwhile, was sitting opposite him on the chair of the dressing table, leaning heavily forward on his thighs, looking decidedly unwell.
"What the Hell just happened, sirs?" I said, as I looked at them, ignoring the fact that protocol should have dictated a rather more respectful tone towards the two most powerful beings in the Sable universe.
"We've just discovered another of the disadvantages of our current situation," the King of Sable said to me, looking up. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken, and I could hear pain in his voice.
"I should get Doktor Steinbrück," I said, but he shook his head.
"Give us a few more minutes for the analgesic spells to work," he answered, then added, "you did the right thing to bring me in, Colonel Schultz."
"Will he be alright? I've never seen..."
"He should be," he answered.
"And you?"
He seemed surprised to be asked, but shrugged in my direction.
"If I can figure out what the Hell just happened," he said, quietly, then lapsed into silence.
"Sir, what's going on," Leon asked from behind me, "is the boss alright?"
"Nothing to worry about," I replied, turning but maintaining my position in the doorway, "hold by the door. I'll call you if I need you."
"If you're sure..."
"I'm sure," I answered, "although if you could call down to the kitchen for a large quantity of food, preferably rare steak, that would be useful."
"Yes sir," he replied, and I left him to it.
Heinrike checked in with me a short while later, saying that the lower level had been secured, and I told her and Xavier to stand down and await further instructions. Then I turned my attention back to the bedroom. I waited nervously for several minutes, until the boss began to uncurl and managed to get himself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. He concentrated for a few minutes, and the burns disappeared, leaving him looking tired and pale, but at least he was more alert than he had been.
"Well, that was enlightening," he said, looking at his brother, "apparently there are more differences between these two bodies than we'd realised. Thank you for coming to get me."
"Thank Schultz...he called me."
The boss turned to me and nodded an acknowledgement, then turned his attention back to his brother. I took up my accustomed position by the doorway and waited quietly as they talked.
"I could have done without you forcing me to do what you couldn't," the King continued, a distinct chill in his tone.
"I didn't," the boss replied, "I'd set the ritual going, but it seems that in my current condition I'm incapable of channelling the required energy, and therefore it was trying to burn me out...as you discovered. My guess is that as it was already running, it latched onto you when it became obvious that you were who it needed, rather than me. So on the bright side..."
"Depending on your point of view..."
"...on the bright side," he repeated, firmly, "the Maniran corruption is no longer in the Black Pattern. But on the darker side..."
"...I'm carrying it around inside me. Not, I suspect, what you wanted. And sure as Hell not what I want. How did you cope with this when you brought it from Manira? I can feel it working on every cell of my body."
"One to remember, Mein Bruder. When channelling energy, sometimes the only way to achieve a desired effect is to use yourself as a magical transformer, but it hurts like a bitch. That was where the morphine came in"
"I'll stick with spells rather than drugs, thank you very much."
"So, any bright ideas how to get it out of me?" the King asked.
"I've never tried to put something like that into anything other than myself for transport or a Pattern for incorporation. But seeing as the whole point of this process was to reverse the latter, I would suggest we need to store it in something with a Jewel-like matrix capable of holding raw Power, but not necessarily a full-blown version."
"Something like the crystals we used to build the filtration system on Earth?"
"Exactly. The trouble is, they don't exactly grow on trees."
Occasionally it's very enlightening to be treated as part of the furniture in their regular - and irregular - meetings, and that's especially true when they start discussing universal mechanics. They connect on a level they don't normally achieve, and when both their interests are piqued, they can manage to put aside their differences, even if relations between them are far from cordial, as they are currently. And while quite a lot of it goes straight over my head, it doesn't make trying to understand any less interesting.
"In the case of those crystals," the King supplied, "I worked with Gaia to create them."
"Not an option open to us here."
"No. However, I imagine a similar process to that which I used to manifest the Sable Jewel could be used to create a lesser item with a similar power storage matrix. The only problem being..."
"Which of us would be able to do that just now, given what just happened," the boss finished.
"Quite. I imagine the answer to that depends on whether creating a Jewel is part of the soul, or part of the physical body. If the former, then...
"...you should still be the one who can do it, and perhaps you can manifest the Maniran corruption out of yourself into it as you do so, thereby killing two birds with one Jewel. But if it's related to the physical body..."
"...then it's going to be down to you."
As he said that, the King didn't look impressed with that idea. In fact, he looked decidedly nervous at the prospect.
"Only one way to find out," the boss said, with a shrug, "what do you need?"
"First, I have to recharge some."
"I've ordered some food to be brought up, Your Majesty," I supplied.
"Good thinking, Rikart," the RF answered, then looked at his brother, "so we wait for a bit. Of course, you probably don't want to wait too long."
"Thank you for stating the bloody obvious, Rupert," the King answered, icily, eliciting a chuckle from the boss which probably annoyed him more than the original comment.
They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, until there was a knock at the door about five minutes later.
"Sir..." came Leon's voice, and I opened the door to him, "dinner's here."
"Thank you," I replied, and informed them, and they both got to their feet - the King with noticeably more difficulty than the boss - and walked through to the living area. The orderly had laid a large platter of food out on the table, including several slabs of lightly cooked steak, and my charges began tucking in with gusto. Leon and I retreated to the open doorway, him outside, me inside.
"What the Hell's going on, sir?" Leon asked, sotto voce.
"Long story," I answered, "short version...I needed to bring in King Robert to stop the boss dying."
"That seems to be happening rather too frequently for my liking. He used to be more predictable...less inclined to overstretch himself...it was easier to keep him safe."
"Tell me about it," I replied, with a sigh, "I just hope that things soon settle back to normal. This last couple of months have been...difficult."
"He'll listen to you if you talk to him about it."
"I think you overestimate the influence I have over him."
"With respect, sir," he answered, his tone surprisingly confident, "I think that perhaps you underestimate it. He trusts you. And there's currently a far shorter list of people for whom that's true than there was a month ago."
"We'll see...I certainly need to try. But let's get this crisis out of the way first."
"Yes, sir."
We lapsed into silence, and about twenty minutes later, they had polished off the last of the food. The boss poured them both a glass of whisky, and they moved across to occupy a pair of armchairs.
"Rikart, shut the door would you," the boss asked, and I did as I was bid, leaving Leon to watch the corridor, while he turned his attention back to his brother, "So what happens now?"
"Is there any chance you have some kind of sharp knife I could use as an athame which isn't an SS dagger?"
"I have just the thing," the boss replied, standing and crossing over to a display shelf, where there was small, ornate wooden chest, which if I remembered rightly, he had received it as a gift at some point in the past.
He brought it down, and carried it over to the table between him and his brother, then flipped it open. Resting in a bed of red silk was a double-edged blade, made of a dark metal which might have been meteoric iron, with a silver pommel and guard. I could make out a stylised version of the symbol on our national flag on the pommel.
Needless to say, Robert of Sable regarded it suspiciously.
"Not an SS dagger," the boss commented, "and as you can no doubt feel, the only rituals I've used it for have been related to my aspect of Protection. Nothing darker. Nothing to offend your lilywhite sensibilities. Although no doubt you'll still want to do some kind of cleansing ritual on it first."
"Where did it come from?" the King replied, lifting it from the silk and examining it closely, both on a mundane and an arcane level, unless I missed my guess.
"It was given to me by an ally...will it serve your purpose?"
"I would have preferred it not to have a Thulist symbol on it. However, given your ritual proclivities, this is better than most things you could have provided," he answered, replacing it in the chest, "so yes, it'll do."
"Glad to hear it. What happens next?"
"I imagine there's no point asking you if you have a working space I could use which isn't dedicated to your Lodge?"
"Not really...however, I'm sure we could find a quiet spot here in the castle which could be guarded so you wouldn't be disturbed, or failing that there's a Universal Church chapel at Schloss Bremen."
"You surprise me."
"For my loyal subjects...I rarely use the place, unless I need to show myself in my capacity as Herzog von Bremen. But while I doubt it's ideal for your purposes, I imagine you'd rather not go home in your current state."
"I'm not sure that would be wise...and avoiding Terra Magica seems even more sensible. So Bremen it is."
"Sobeit," the boss answered, and turned to me, "Rikart, send some of the Guard to make sure the place is unoccupied and secure. Hauptsturmführer Kolb should be around the castle somewhere for transport...he knows the relevant marker stone."
"Of course, sir," I answered, and issued the commands into my comms link. Heinrike confirmed that they would look for Kolb, and promised to contact me when she was happy that the Bremen site was secure.
"And you, Mein Bruder, should get some rest. I'm guessing this is going to be difficult."
"Whether I CAN rest is one of those questions."
"I'll have you shown to some quarters...perhaps you'll be lucky."
"Forgive me if I'm not inspired by the idea of going to sleep here at the Wewelsburg."
"You have my word that you won't be harmed," the boss answered, "either here, or once we get to work."
The King of Sable looked at him, obviously trying to decide if he could trust his word, perhaps not realising that even doubting his sincerity was actually an insult to his honour. But common sense prevailed, and he eventually nodded.
"Rikart," said the RF to me, "go with him...use one of the empty sets of quarters on this floor...and protect him as you would me."
"Sir," I acknowledged with a salute, then turned to the King of Sable, "if you'll come this way, Your Majesty."
Rather surprised, he got to his feet and joined me. As we left, I contacted Juliana and asked her to back Leon up, then we headed down the corridor to the quarters which had been Kessler's for so long. Of course, every trapping of his occupation, from his arms on the door to the personal possessions we all accumulated, had been removed after the funeral, and given to his daughter, leaving a comfortable, even luxurious but completely impersonal suite. I showed the King in, indicated the bedroom and then gave it the once over for trouble before being satisfied that it was safe.
"Thank you, Colonel," he said, as I showed him into the bedroom, and pointed out where the bathroom was, in case he wanted to freshen up, "tell me, would you be willing to answer a question for me?"
"That rather depends on the question, Your Majesty."
"Why? Why do you work for him...why are you willing to die for him?"
"I'm sorry, sir," I answered, truly puzzled, "I'm not sure I understand what you're asking."
"Come on, Schultz. You're intelligent, competent, and even association with the Black Lodge doesn't seem to have significantly affected your general air of decency. What is it about my brother that inspires your loyalty, even unto death, the way it does?"
"He's the RFSS and I'm sworn to his service." I replied, almost insulted that he needed to ask, before remembering that our counterparts within Sable weren't held in quite the same regard by their principal as the boss held the Honour Guard, "It is my honour to protect him, especially at times when he forgets, or is unable, to protect himself. Would you question the motivations of Colonel de Lyon, sir?"
"That wouldn't be in my interests," he admitted.
"Of course it wouldn't," I answered, a little more sharply than I had intended, then added more quietly, "it would be just as meaningless to ask you why you remain King of Sable."
He looked at me, curious, waiting for me to continue.
"You obviously don't need to be. After all, the Pater Deorum doesn't run the Empire...and you must find it very frustrating when your people abuse the democracy you've given them to act in ways you might not prefer. For example, I can't imagine this business with General de Lacy and the succession was of your choosing."
"No, but it's important to me that they have the right to make that decision. In answer to your question, I remain King of Sable because I love my country and its people, and want to protect both them and the world I created, and because it's my duty."
"Then our motivations are much the same," I replied, "if nothing else, this last couple of months has proved why the health and wellbeing of the RFSS is important to the security and stability of the Fatherland."
I paused a moment, then decided it was time to change the subject.
"I imagine things in Bremen will be ready in an hour or so. And if you need me in the meantime, I'll be just outside the door."
And without waiting for further comment, I stepped outside, leaving the doorway open a crack so I could hear if anything untoward happened. Thankfully, as it turned out, all remained quiet. I looked in on him once or twice, to be sure, but he seemed to be out cold, possibly some kind of magical power nap. And about when I would have expected, I felt an incoming Trump call. I opened up to it to see Heinrike.
"All clear?" I asked.
"Looks like it. The site is secure and we won't be disturbed. Do I want to know what's going on?"
"Probably not...and even if I told you, I'm not sure it would make any sense, as I only understand about half of it. I'll let the boss know, and we'll be with you in twenty minutes."
"Yes, sir," she answered, and broke the link.
I knocked on the door, and was rewarded by seeing our guest stir.
"Is it time?" he said, groggily, and I could still hear pain underlying his voice.
"It is, Your Majesty."
"Give me five minutes."
"Of course, sir," I replied, and then crossed to the phone and rang through to the boss's quarters. Juliana answered, and assured me that she'd let the RF know that we would be ready shortly. That done, pretty much all I could do was wait for our guest. In the end, it was nearer to ten minutes than five until he emerged, but he'd obviously freshened up and had found a change of clothing from somewhere. The boss, Juliana and Leon joined us a couple of minutes later, Leon carrying the chest. I noted that the RF still looked pale, and was moving rather gingerly, but at least he was in a better state than he had been.
"Feeling better, Mein Bruder?" he asked, as he looked at the King.
"To a degree...it'll be better still once this is over with."
"Then we should get going," the boss replied, and without further ado, he began to concentrated on the Pattern. Moments later we transferred through to the doorway of the chapel in Bremen, Heinrike, Hans and Niklaus lowering their weapons as they saw us.
"Evening, Herr Reichsführer...Your Majesty," Heinrike said, saluting smartly, and opened the door for us to enter.
The chapel itself was laid out in the usual manner for a Universal Church worship space, with the chairs facing towards the centre, from where the services were conducted. The building itself was light and airy, warmed by the summer sun, with high windows patterned with stained glass, and the smell of pine and incense in the air. It felt calm and welcoming.
"Will this do?" the boss said to his brother.
The latter concentrated for a few moments, and then nodded.
"Let's get to work," he replied, "hopefully what I'm going to do isn't going to offend the great Universal Deity, or profane this space."
"I feel sure it won't," the boss answered, with a knowing smile, as if he was making a private joke, and he gestured towards the central area, "Radulf, Stuckart, kindly clear some space by the altar."
"That shouldn't be necessary," the King suggested, "if you could clear away a few of the chairs here near the door, that should be sufficient."
The boss nodded, and Hans and Niklaus did as they were bid, clearing an area about ten feet square. Then the King grabbed a handful of kneelers, laid them in the centre of the space, sat down and made himself comfortable, placing the chest on the ground in front of him.
"Anything I can do, Mein Bruder?" the RF asked.
"Hopefully not. However, you're going to need to be in here with me just in case this goes wrong."
The King indicated for him to sit opposite him, and then I heard him begin to mutter a few words, and felt a warding circle come into being around them. The boss replied with an incantation of his own, and the wards gained strength. I gestured to Hans and Niklaus to join Juliana outside, to maintain the perimeter, then placed myself, Heinrike and Leon equidistant around the participants, and once that was done, all we could do was watch and stay alert.
"What exactly do you need to do?" the boss asked, his words comprehensible, if slightly distorted by the wards.
"I need to manifest out a part of myself through my abilities as creator, using blood as a focus, and then coalesce the two elements into solid form, hopefully drawing out the Maniran corruption with them."
"You know, Mein Bruder, I understood every word of that, and yet I can't visualise what you meant."
"If it turns out that you have to take point on this, I'll talk you through it. But my guess is manifesting this kind of storage matrix, even without the full power of a Jewel, is a creator ability, rather than a counterpart one."
"No doubt we'll see."
Once he was settled, the King began to work. Initially he took the knife, and performed what I recognised as a cleansing ritual on it. Then, once he was satisfied, he changed his tone and focus and began a second ritual. Something rather different...more fundamental. I could occasionally hear him muttering in what sounded like Latin, and it was obvious that he was concentrating on both the knife, and on what he was doing. And even through the wards, I could feel power gathering around him, as if he was messing with the fundamental stuff of the universe. I was more than a little concerned for the boss, but when I caught his eye he just nodded reassuringly.
And then, to my surprise, I saw the King of Sable touch the dagger to his left wrist, and cut down the vein, tilting his arm downwards so the blood could flow. Even the boss looked surprised, but the look of concentration on the King's face became if anything more intense. As I watched, I saw the blood pooling from his wrist into his left hand, although he was obviously using his shifting to control the blood flow, so it didn't become dangerous to him. Then, once the wound was merely oozing sluggishly, he covered his left hand with his right, and seemed to push the two against each other. As he did so, I felt as much as heard a thrumming of power building up, if anything akin to what I'd felt in the ritual at Beltane, albeit less 'dark', for want of a better word. Then I felt a burst of energy from him, and silence fell. He sat there motionless for a few minutes, breathing deeply to centre and obviously trying to regain his strength, and then he opened his hand. In it was a blood red ruby, maybe three centimetres by two in size, which glowed with a warm, inner light.
"I guess that answers that question," the boss said, quietly, "are you alright? You look like Hell."
"Better for having got that out of me, that's for sure," the King answered, weakly, "although I feel like I need to sleep for a month."
I saw him heal the wound on his wrist as they spoke. If anything, he looked more exhausted than he had back in the castle, and I must confess to being concerned for his wellbeing.
"Any bright ideas what we do with it now?" the RF asked.
"I think I'll keep it until we can think of something useful to do with it."
The boss looked as if he was going to protest, but then changed his mind and shrugged.
"Perhaps that's for the best...this whole thing wasn't one of my better ideas."
"No it wasn't," the King answered, slipping the stone in his pocket. Then he took the knife and cleansed it of blood and other traces, before putting it back in the chest. Once that was done, he began concentrating again, and I felt him closing down the working space, and thanking the Universal Deity for allowing him to use its chapel.
"Finished?" said the boss, finally.
"I think so," came the answer, and the King tried to stand, but the effort was too much for him and he dropped back down to a sitting position, looking weary beyond belief. The boss stood smoothly and offered him his hand, then pulled him to his feet.
"Thank you," the King said, quietly, and the boss shrugged.
"You're welcome," he replied, "if nothing else, Mein Bruder, this afternoon has persuaded me that I need to engage with the idea of rectifying our current situation. Do you need any help returning to Sable?"
"That won't be necessary," came the answer, "but I don't feel up to hanging around and being sociable just now, so I'll make my own way. Until the next time, Rupert."
"Indeed. Let's hope it doesn't involve another crisis."
And with that, I felt the King of Sable bring up the Pattern, and a short while later he was gone...no doubt to collapse into a comfortable bed to recover. The boss paused for a moment, watching the space he had recently vacated, his expression thoughtful, and then turned to us.
"Good work today, all of you," he said, with a slight smile, "and now we should get back as well. Rikart..."
I contacted the others, as well as letting Peter Kolb know that he was free to make his own way back to the Wewelsburg, and once they had joined us inside, the boss brought up the Pattern and jumped us back to the castle courtyard.
"Schultz, with me," he ordered, and I fell into step beside him, Leon and Juliana following at a polite distance, "how did you know something was wrong?"
"Heinrike realised that all was not well fairly soon after you started walking. She called me and I confirmed it when I got to the Pattern chamber."
"What made you call Robert?"
"It was either that, or I tried to pull you off myself, sir, and I wasn't sure I had the skills to do that."
"Good call," he said, with a smile, "presumably the attempt to Trump me was you as well."
"It was worth a try."
"And sometimes it might even work...but it wouldn't have done today, alas. I couldn't have afforded the concentration to answer. However, I can see that I need to improve your education in matters Pattern, just in case. Not that I ever want to be in that situation again."
"If you think it might be of use in the future, sir."
"No harm putting a backup plan in place, eh Rikart?" he said, with a smile, then added almost as an afterthought, "Oh, and I'd like to bring you into the Church of Protection, if you're willing."
"What would that entail?"
"Nothing too drastic, but my chief protector being a member of the church would seem to make sense."
"Isn't that cheating?" I asked.
"What?"
"The Great Protector being protected by the rites of his own church."
"I don't see why," he answered, with a wry smile, "many bodyguards in the Empire pray to me, as well as defensive mages and garrison troops. Why should that be different for you?"
"I suppose..."
"No need for you to make a decision now," he said, with a shrug, "let me know over the next few days."
We reached the door to his suite and he turned to me.
"Thank you...I owe you my life."
"I live to serve, Herr Reichsführer," I answered, promptly.
"Sometimes, you should also live to live," he said, quietly, "now, get Kolb to take you back to the Village, so you can spend some time with Carina, and I'll see you in the morning."
"Yes, sir," I answered, and with that I turned and headed for the courtyard, from whence I could pick up transport home to my wife.