Chapter 56: A Death in the Family

The Denayian ambassador was surprised to receive an urgent request to visit the castle. He had dined with the king only the evening before. The king had offered his apologies for the delay and then apologized again when he gave the news he was about to depart for several weeks.

Siegfried Mueller had met the king’s advisers and found them all to be very friendly. He hoped that the summons wasn’t because he was to be sent away to advance a coup attempt. King Olaf was firmly aligned with Azkoval (and, more importantly, its king). If Joseph’s advisers were to try to assume control, Olaf would support the sitting king. Certainly, if the majority of the king’s soldiers fell on the side of the plotters, Olaf’s support would mean little but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t send troops to aid Joseph.

It was with trepidation that Siegfried entered the castle and was immediately shown to a room where Lady Elena, Baron Jonathan and Choran waited for him.

“Thank you for coming so swiftly,” Elena said as she extended a hand in greeting.

Siegfried shook it and took his seat.

“I hope nothing problematic has occurred,” he said. He had found the king and his staff to be honest. He hoped they would appreciate the same from him. “The king has been gone for less than a day. I find it unusual to be summoned to a meeting when the throne is barely cold.”

“Actually, we hoped you might be able to tell us if something problematic is happening,” Jonathan said.

“Oh?” Siegfried wondered. “I don’t see how I would be able to help you ascertain anything like that.”

“I think you can,” Choran disagreed. “What can you tell us about a man named Ludwig von Schuman and his daughter, a girl about the age of our Lady Elizabeth?”

Siegfried’s face screwed up in a look of distaste.

“A man claiming to be Earl Ludwig von Schuman arrived in Tyrell this morning,” Elena said. “He brought with a woman he claimed was his daughter. He offered no parchment from your king but he claims to have urgent business with Joseph. You made no mention of his arrival last night.”

“I know nothing about King Olaf sending anyone else to Tyrell,” Siegfried declared. “If someone were to come, it would not be Ludwig von Schuman. Of that, I will wager my head. The man...”

Siegfried went silent and shook his head in disgust.

“He is a disgrace,” he concluded.

“And yet a man claiming to be this von Schuman has graced our shores,” Jonathan said. “We are an open society but we will not accept the refuse from other countries. Is he a criminal?”

“Of a sort,” Mueller answered. “He has never been charged or convicted of a crime. But if what I have heard of him is true then he is nothing short of a criminal.”

“You do not know this man?” Choran asked, picking up on the nuances of the man’s speech.

“I have not met him,” Mueller admitted. He frowned before he continued. “My king has told me that we have no secrets from our friends. I am under his instructions to form an alliance based upon not only mutual need but also upon trust. However, I do not believe he anticipated the need for me to divulge dirty family secrets.”

He closed his eyes and puffed out his cheeks.

“That said, if von Schuman is here then you deserve to know all I have heard,” he decided. “Let me say first: This is all rumor and hearsay. I did not witness any of the actions and I have not spoken of this matter to anyone that has. Still, it is a rumor that has not gone away so I suspect it has a basis in truth. Ludwig von Schuman is barred from entering our capital. He has been banned for almost... 20 years, I want to say. Perhaps not that long. It might be 15 years or so.”

“He was barred from entering your capital and now he has appeared in ours!” Jonathan said angrily.

“Just as Wilhelm could not stop your king from boarding a ship to our lands, King Olaf cannot watch every ship in every harbor,” Siegfried protested.

“True,” Jonathan agreed. “I apologize. Can you explain why he is no longer permitted in the capital?”

“That is where rumor comes in,” Siegfried told them. “First off, a bit of our history is in order. Your king is very knowledgeable about Denaya and its past. He probably knows of this but I doubt he has shared it with you. About 100 years ago, our monarch died without an heir. Our system is slightly different from yours. In our kingdom, one cannot designate his successor. There must be a blood tie to the throne. In this case, our king had two sisters. Until recently, as I understand it, a woman could not be designated as the leader of your country. King Olaf wishes to follow your king’s lead and remove that language but, now as with then, it poses a real problem for us.”

“I can see where that would be the case,” Elena said. “I’m glad your king wishes to follow ours. We’ve found giving young women rights and elevating them in status has made a great difference in their treatment.”

“As we have,” Siegfried admitted.

“Please, continue,” Choran said.

“The sisters each had a male child of about six or seven summers,” Siegfried said. “There were the designated stewards but each had the same claim and each had his own group of supporters. Our country was threatened with civil war and it would have been a bloody, fruitless affair. King Olaf’s grandfather, King Heinrich Muhlenberg, was one of the claimants. The other was Karl von Schuman, grandfather to Ludwig.”

“I see,” Jonathan said. “And King Heinrich’s faction won the civil war?”

“There was no war,” Siegfried countered. “King Heinrich’s father was ... well, he was unpleasant or so I’ve heard. Sadly, Karl von Schuman’s father was cut from the same cloth. They postured and preened, agitating their followers and pushing us closer to warfare. Finally, one said something to the other ... history is unclear about what was exactly said by whom. One challenged the other to a duel. Both men were exceedingly arrogant and each was certain he would win. At some point, during the preparations, they agreed that the winner’s son would become king. The loser’s son would become an earl ... which at the time was a prominent position in our society. King Heinrich’s father won the duel – although the von Schuman camp claimed he won by treachery. It produced a rather rocky period in Denayian history.”

“Indeed,” Choran agreed.

“But, there was a covenant in place and the von Schuman’s were somewhat content to hold an earldom,” Siegfried added. “Then, as time moves forward, so does society. The earldom has little significance these days. I fear King Olaf’s father did his best to minimize the von Schuman family. Perhaps he saw that he had gone too far or perhaps he had another reason. For whatever reason, he offered his daughter’s hand to Ludwig von Schuman.”

“So this man is King Olaf’s brother-in-law as well as a distant cousin,” Elena said with a sigh. Evicting him from the country would be as bad as sending Octavia’s brother away – perhaps worse since Marindar was far away and certainly not an ally.

“You said he was barred from the capital,” Jonathan noted.

“Yes,” Siegfried answered. “Please keep in mind this is simply innuendo but...”

Again, the man expelled air from his lungs noisily.

“Many years ago, perhaps 15 or maybe 20, when King Olaf had first assumed his throne, he made his sister’s husband a part of his government,” Siegfried told them. “It was a poor decision. The von Schumans had lived in relative isolation. Their manor is far to our north – about as far from the capital as one can be if I’m honest. I do not believe that was by accident. Ludwig was not adaptable to serving someone else. He quarreled constantly with the king. To make matters worse, he treated the king’s sister abominably. He acted as though she was his servant and not his bride. He certainly didn’t treat her as one would expect the king’s dear sister to be treated.”

Choran found himself nodding.

“To make matters worse, Ludwig is ... he has ... he is a reprobate. Word reached King Olaf that von Schuman had been caught ... having relations ... with a child of about 10 years.”

Jonathan’s fist slammed the table so hard that everyone else in the room jumped.

“Then by the gods, Olaf should have ensured he never saw another day!” the interior minister yelled.

“There was no proof of it,” Siegfried protested, holding up a placating hand. “There were rumors that he abused and then harmed children but no one admitted to seeing it firsthand. My king did what he could legally do. In fact, he strayed well beyond what he could do by law. He removed Ludwig from the capital and barred him from entering it again. When his sister decided to leave with her husband, King Olaf removed their young child from their care. He has raised the girl as his own since the day he evicted Ludwig and Sonya from his life. To the best of my knowledge, he has never said a single word to either of them since that day.”

“We are aware of the self-imposed limits a king tends to place upon himself,” Elena said. “We face the same situation here with our king. He tends to forget he is the final authority upon all laws and can do as he pleases.”

“I will admit that my reaction was similar to Baron Jonathan’s,” Siegfried said. “As you know, I have children and I would not still my hand if a man were to abuse them as it is said Ludwig did. That said, I think it better to live with a king that restricts himself than to live with one that does not. After all, I believe you lived through a decade with such a tyrant.”

“True,” Choran said with a frown. “So, the girl with this man is not his child?”

“It might be,” Siegfried admitted. “It is said that he and Sonya had children after their departure. I do not know if it is true. I can assure you that King Olaf will be distressed to learn that von Schuman has come here. I can also say without hesitation that the king will take no offense if you choose to expel him from your country.”

“We aren’t even certain he is who he says he is,” Elena lamented.

Jonathan looked hard at the man across the table.

“We have put the man under surveillance,” he said. “We will hold his fate in abeyance until he commits a crime on our soil. We will not extend to him the courtesy we’ve offered to you and your family. He will not be immune from our justice. Bear in mind, Herr Mueller, the abuse of a child is a capital offense in our country. If the people that witness it do not kill him outright then, we will hang him. He will not be expelled or evicted. I will pull the lever myself and then ship his body back across to Denaya with King Joseph’s compliments. Perhaps you should alert your king to the situation. By the time you get a reply, our king will be back.”

“Or, we will have already taken care of the man ourselves,” Choran stated. “I agree with Jonathan. There will be a trial, of course, but I will ensure the outcome before we select a jury. If we believe he has harmed a child, we will not exile him to the farthest reaches of Denaya. We will send him home for burial.”

“And if we find he plots against King Joseph, there will not even be a trial,” Elena said with assurance. “We will order him cut down in the street if we even suspect him of attempting to overthrow our king by force or by guile. We do not wish hard feelings with Denaya. As you know, our king feels an abiding love for the homeland that adopted him and nurtured him. He credits his life in your country – under your king – with teaching the value of respecting all people. We follow him loyally and we extend that respect to all of our citizens. We will protect them from this man.”

Siegfried nodded. There was nothing else he could do.

“Thank you for coming to visit,” Elena said. She concluded the visit by standing and gesturing to the door. As Siegfried departed, she wondered if they had just done irreparable harm to the relationship Joseph had forged with Azkoval’s neighbor.

“Truly?” Elizabeth asked when she saw the way the camp was arranged. The king’s bedroll had been placed in the center of a group of soldiers.

“Truly,” Joseph confirmed. “We have people with us that not a party to the games we might play. The soldiers feel my security must be maintained and Genrico concurs.”

“You spoil a number of plans we’ve made,” Elizabeth informed him.

“I am sorry to hear that,” Joseph said. “But you should have known things would be this way. We are not alone. We have soldiers with us. Rucar, Alexander and Amelia are with us. Lydia’s family is nearby. We also have a 13-year-old child present. You should have considered your plans a bit more carefully.”

“Do you plan to segregate Lydia from her husband on the return trip?” Elizabeth asked angrily. She was irked that Joseph had put his foot down on something. It was rare but she knew he was intractable on this issue.

“Lydia and Yerrick will not return with us,” Joseph said casually. “So I will not need to make that decision. You may place your bedrolls where you choose. I have not decided where you may sleep. I only determined where I will sleep and who will sleep nearest to me.”

“Fine,” Elizabeth grumbled. She immediately went looking for reinforcements. Joseph might stand solid against her but he couldn’t very well fight them all.

“You will eventually have to give in or face a revolt,” Rucar said knowingly.

“I do not have to give in,” Joseph said firmly. “Perhaps if we did not have others about, I would consider it. But under these circumstances, they will simply have to be angry with me. I have just recently made amends with Amelia. I will not risk her ire by allowing things to get out of hand. Lydia’s parents lived in terror for a decade because a king did as he pleased. I will not have that again.”

“I understand your rationale even if I don’t necessary believe it sound,” Rucar admitted with a laugh. “Besides, you need not worry about Amelia. I believe she has set her cap for Alexander of Burbridge. You will notice that she did not protest when Victoria set her roll down next to Genrico’s.”

“And what of the Hulett children?” Joseph shot back. “Their father is never going to be my friend. He knows he is on the thinnest of ice and he will look for anything to undermine me.”

“He will never hear of it from those two,” Rucar said. Then he said something Joseph was certain he might never hear from Rucar of Dunvil. “I trust them.”

Joseph wasn’t positive Rucar trusted anyone completely so the words caused his mouth to open but no words to come out.

“The sister already wishes she was older so she could join in the games these ladies play,” Rucar said. “She will never – never – betray you and certainly never to her parents. The boy is the same. When you humiliated his brother, you fulfilled every fantasy in his life. Oh, certainly, the ladies have given him other fantasies to consider but if he knew Annette to be safe, he could die tomorrow and consider his life well lived. He would sooner choke on his own tongue than allow an unkind word about you to pass his lips.”

“So you believe I should... , “ Joseph said but Rucar cut him off.

“I believe you are faced with a battle you cannot win,” the spy said. “You once told me you were smart enough to retreat from unwinnable fights.”

“And where to you propose I fall back to?” Joseph asked bitterly.

“There is no fallback position,” Rucar admitted. “You are outmanned and outmaneuvered. Your only choice in this matter is to surrender to the inevitable or continue bashing your head against a stone wall. Oh, to be sure, you can send them away. I suppose, if you were to demand it of me, I could ... no. Actually, I couldn’t. When you gave me a new lease on life, I vowed I would follow your every command. Now I find I was incorrect. They are no threat to you as king so I could not obey that. I find that realization a bit stunning to me.”