Chapter 22

The Frankfurt of Michael O'Neill's Reality was a far cry from the sprawling modern city of Frankfurt that the O'Connells were aware of in their Reality.

However, both Frankfurts were located mainly on the North bank of the Main River on the outer edge of a soft bend in the river. Here was located the original ford which gave the city its name in both Realities. The Frankfurt area had known settlers and farmers from as far back as the neolithic era.

The Frankfurt of Michael O'Neill, Grand Master of the Union in 2151 AC (After Cingetori) more closely resembled the Frankfurt of the mid 1700's in our Reality. It consisted of the Altstadt or Old Town, a walled fortified area, which was the original settlement from the city's founding in around 794. This was a small area covering less than half a square kilometer. It was completely built up with the only open spaces being along the riverbank, the streets, the squares of which there were several, and backyards.

Next was what was called the Neustadt or New Town. This was an area outside of the Old Town walls and was already built up. It had started from a market to the north of the Old Town walls, and the market lent its name to the new street, the Zeil, which would eventually become Frankfurt's most famous street. This buildup continued all around the outside of the Old Town walls.

The official establishment of Neustadt began in 1333 when the then Grand Master approved an expansion which would provide three times the previous area of the town. Naturally the beginning of Neustadt was well before that, just as the start of Frankfurt was well before it was incorporated in 794.

In time the town erected new fortifications around the New Town area with five major towers that also served as gates: The Gallustor or Gallows Gate, the Bockenhimer Tor, The Escheneimer Tor, the Friedberger Tor, and the Allerheiligentor. It wasn't until around 1584 that all of the fortifications were completed.

The city had expanded considerably in all directions by then, and that expansion included an area on the south bank of the river known as Sachsenhausen, including the Apple Cider district. It was easily reached by the Alte Mainbriicke, a red sandstone structure of fourteen arches, 815 feet long that was completed in 1543 replacing a much older bridge.

Even in this Reality, Frankfurt was a busy and prosperous town. There were still many Trade Fairs held here even if the items traded were different from those in our Reality. Frankfurt was also the headquarters for many of the principal Guilds in the Union, as well as being the Capital of the Union, and contained many of the departments of its government, and the Palace of the Grand Master.

We instantly reappeared in the Main Audience Hall of Grandfather's Palace. If two of us appearing before, in a time of peace, had caused a reaction from the guards, thirty-three of us, many of whom were armed, appearing suddenly in the same place in a time of war caused a major reaction from the guards there. Also these were not the normal Palace Guards, but were members of Grandfather's own Elite Forces, and all of them had a medium level of Talent.

Our wards instantly snapped into existence, as the guards leveled weapons at us and began spells. The Eternal Flame was still with us, and Its flames danced and flashed above us in the high ceilinged room, as It called out "Hold!" in a deep baritone voice in the local dialect. Grandfather Michael and our Uncles, Seamus and Sean, were on their feet by now and staring at us in amazement.

"Relax, Guards," Grandfather ordered, and the guards returned to an alert watchfulness.

"Thank you, Flame, for bringing the reinforcements. I wasn't expecting quite so many though," Grandfather added.

"You're welcome, Michael. I will be available if needed," the Eternal Flame told him before It vanished.

"Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance," Uncle Seamus said with a grin on spotting Pat and me.

"It was only this morning that I asked the Eternal Flame for help," Grandfather said after that. "You certainly came quickly!"

"Actually, we were alerted yesterday, Michael," Grandfather Mark told him, as he advanced toward the thrones where the three of them were seated. There were also the usual advisers gathered near there, as well as a number of Military Officers who were in front of it. They had obviously been giving a report when we arrived.

"We prepared last night, and left this morning," Grandfather Mark finished.

"I keep forgetting that the Eternal Flame isn't constrained by time as we are," Michael said. "It's a difficult concept to grasp."

"There are so many of you. We were only expecting Patrick and Michael," Sean O'Neill said looking at us.

"The Eternal Flame told us that the entire family was needed," Grandfather Mark answered.

"And all of you are Magic users?" Seamus asked, uncertainly.

"Yes, certainly! Everyone in our family has a strong Talent. Perhaps some introductions are in order," Grandfather Mark stated with a smile at their startled reaction to his answer.

"That would be a good idea, as I don't believe that I have met most of your family," Grandfather Michael answered unflustered. We were interrupted then by the arrival of Grandmother Laura, but with only two of her women.

"We heard that there were visitors, but we hardly expected so many," Grandmother Laura said, as she spied her Daughters near the periphery of the crowd in front of the throne.

"Anna, Sara!" she called on recognizing them.

"Hello, Mother," the twin Sisters answered.

"Won't you join me up here, my Dear, so you can meet everyone?" Grandfather Michael asked his Wife. Grandmother Laura pulled her Daughters out of the family circle and took them toward the thrones.

"Come meet your Brothers," she said to them. Uncles Seamus and Sean rose as their Mother approached. They were staring at the two beautiful auburn haired women with her.

"Boys, these are your Sisters, Anna and Sara. They are married to two of the O'Connell boys, who I am sure you will be introduced to shortly," Grandmother Laura told her Sons. Our Uncles were stunned at how cute their Sisters, our Mothers, were, but seemed reluctant to touch them.

"Go ahead, Mark," Grandfather Michael said to break the silence.

"I believe that you met my Wives, Katie and Margie, when you returned for Laura," Grandfather Mark said, as our Grandmothers curtsied to the Grand Master.

"Next are our four older Daughters: Edana, Gale, Tara, and Muriel, and their Husbands Ed and Bill," Grandfather said, as the six of them bowed to the Grand Master.

"Following them are our older Sons, Aengus and Sean, who are married to your Daughters, of course." Our Dads bowed to the Grand Master.

"Finally, there are our younger children, who were born after your visit, Gaelan and Grace." Our younger Aunt and Uncle bowed to the Grand Master.

"You know Mike and Pat and their fiancees of course," Grandfather said next, and we all bowed to the Grand Master.

"Following them are your Granddaughters: Laura, Katie, Gail, and Margie." Our Sisters bowed to their Grandfather and Grandmother.

"Next are our four Granddaughters: Amber, Brigid, Meegan and Myrna." Our four female Cousins bowed to the Grand Master, but only had eyes for his two Sons, our Uncles.

"Finally there are our four Grandsons: Brian, Cornor, Donal, and Evan," Grandfather finished, as our male Cousins bowed to the Grand Master.

"My, there certainly are a lot of you!" Grandfather Michael observed before continuing on a more sober subject. "I was receiving a report from some of my Senior Military Officers when you arrived. I believe it would be wise to start the briefing over, so you can have a sense of the situation that we find ourselves in at present."

"Perhaps somewhere more comfortable, where everyone didn't have to stand would be better, Michael," Grandmother Laura suggested.

"Yes, my Dear. Perhaps the large conference room would be best. Everyone could probably use a little refreshment, too," Grandfather Michael agreed.

"You all go on. I'll arrange for the refreshments and for rooms for everyone," Grandmother Laura told us. Grandfather led us down a hall to the conference room that he had mentioned.

As we started to move, our four female Cousins quickly made their way over to our Mothers and their twin Brothers, Seamus and Sean. Pat and I had seen the look in their eyes. It was the look that hungry sharks get when food is near.

The older members of the family sat in chairs around the long conference table facing Grandfather Michael. Ed and Bill had deposited their long Bo staffs in a corner on entering the room, but the swords, knives, and the Bata sticks were all placed on the table. We younger members of the family sat in chairs against the walls of the room.

Grandfather Michael was at the head of the table with his Officers behind him. Seamus was seated on his right and Sean was on his left. Our four female Cousins were seated by the wall each behind the Son that they had decided to adopt, but were obviously unhappy that they couldn't sit beside our Uncles, as our Moms, their Sisters, were doing.

"Are you aware of the conspiracy that Michael and Patrick uncovered while they were here?" Grandfather Michael asked to start things.

"Yes. The boys gave the family a detailed report shortly after they returned," Grandfather Mark replied.

"Good. That will make things a little easier," Grandfather Michael answered. "As you no doubt gathered from their report, there are a considerable number of Factions and Governments involved in this. I sent my Sons to the French and the Swiss authorities to coordinate our response, while I worked with my people here on the actions needed to take into custody those in the various Factions who were involved.

"Needless to say, someone jumped ahead of the schedule and ruined everything," Grandfather finished gloomily.

"It was the French!" Seamus said in disgust. "They had promised to wait, so we could all move on them at the same time, but they lost patience, and marched on Burgundy early, alerting all of the others involved before we were ready to move against them."

"The Swiss were so angry that they attacked the French forces. You have never seen such a mess. In the turmoil that created, the Duke and at least one of his Wizards escaped. It was a total disaster," Uncle Sean told us also disgusted.

"With the Factions alerted by this disaster, they were able to move against us before we were ready. There has been fighting all around the Union, as the various Factions vie for control, or to take over their neighbors.

"Several of the strongest Factions have sent forces against us here in Frankfurt. We have a number of Army units here to defend the Capital, we have closed off shipping on the Main River, and have blocked it both up and down stream to prevent them from using it to enter the city," Grandfather Michael finished. "We'll now hear from the Senior Officers on the current situation."

"Grand Master, Masters and Ladies," one of the Officers, with much braid and many medals and ribbons on his uniform, began. "Unfortunately the situation has deteriorated further." He went on then to explain what Factions were now investing (besieging) the city, what their approximate strengths were, and what siege equipment was being assembled along with what trenching and mining operations were in progress.

He was followed by another Officer who reported on the number of Army Units that were on hand to defend the city, their strength, and equipment, as well as the food supplies that were on hand in the city. It sounded like they were reasonably well prepared. Of course the actual fighting hadn't started here yet, except for some light skirmishes outside the city.

Much of the information on the various Factions was of little use to, as we had no understanding of their merits. It was obvious, however, that the rebels had assembled a large force to attack the city. The siege weapons and other activities were of much more interest to us.

The last Officer was a member of the Intelligence Corps. His report was much more damaging than the others.

"Grand Master, we have reports from the various Rhine River ports of the arrival of a large number of Persian vessels loaded with troops and Wizards. They are currently sailing up the Rhine, and are expected to be here in another two days. It is a very strong force, and has been estimated at over nine hundred men accompanied by a dozen or so powerful Wizards in addition to the normal compliment of Wizards that are assigned to Infantry units," this last officer reported.

"Two days isn't much time," Grandfather Mark started, but was interrupted by the arrival of Grandmother Laura with carts of food and drink. The carts were being pushed by a number of very cute girls.

"I hope I haven't interrupted anything important," Grandmother Laura said, as the young women began setting out the food and drinks for each of those sitting at the conference table.

"We were just finished the reports, my Dear. I think that a short pause to eat while we consider what we have heard is appropriate," Grandfather Michael told his wife.

After finishing with everyone at the table, the girls began passing out food and drinks to those of us sitting along the walls. Pat and I recognized several of them, but were disappointed when we didn't see Gretchen or Petra among them. My Mother turned to Pat and me, as the girls and the carts were leaving.

"I can see why you were so easy to get into bed. Those girls are very pretty. Certainly pretty enough to tempt young men," she told us with a smile.

"We will discuss that later, Anna," Grandmother Laura told her Daughter before she followed the departing girls. There was silence for the next several minutes, as we all ate.

"As I was saying before, two days isn't much time to deal with that siege equipment. I propose that we start tonight after we get a look at the areas where they are located," Grandfather Mark proposed after everyone was finished eating.