Storm Clouds 1866 (Part IV)

The Hofburg, City of Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire, January 1866.

Marie Luise, shifted her stance to one of attention, when a door hissed open behind the throne on it's raised platform. An ornately decorated automaton, emerged. It's armoured body was covered in jet black plating decorated with elaborate gold and silver filigree and etchings and baroque decorations and the full coat of arms of the Imperial and Royal Court. A hiss of surprise slipped from her lips, it was the Grand Marshall of the Mechanicals, Constructs and Automata of the Imperial and Royal Court! This automaton had served the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, for generations being set in place within the court of Charles the Great, known as Charlemagne to later generations. It has watched over many generations of emperors and empresses and their families: the Carolingian, Franconian, Saxon, Salian, Hohenstaufen, the Separate Emperors, Luxemburg, Habsburg , Wittelsbach and Habsburg-Lorraine dynasties, and if any single being could be said to totally and completely embody the grandeur, prestige and living history of the Imperial and Royal Court, the Grand Marshall was it.

Even the human officials carried out it's merest instruction or order with a promptness bordering on sheer terror. Nothing that happened in the Imperial and Royal Court happened without the Grand Marshall, being made aware of it, no action could be taken on anything without it's carefully considered direction. An court official who dared challenge it, was ruthlessly dismissed, disgraced or removed, the Grand Marshall was omniscient, all knowing on all matters of court or ceremonial edict and protocol, and to be obeyed immediately without any question. Despite it's ominous reputation as the "eminence grise" of the Imperial and Royal Court, the Grand Marshall was actually universally esteemed and respected by the majority of the court staff and lower officials, who found the automaton to be courteous, and considered in thought and action. Only the higher human court officials, particularly the more stuffy and officious ones, who thought they were actually in charge, tended to run afoul of him, much to the rest of the court staff's gleeful if carefully concealed amusement.

Marie Luise had heard all this from Archduke Karl and Archduke Johann, over the years of their long friendship, but she always felt just a little off balance, even awed, when meeting the ancient automaton. "He" was in many ways the stuff of legend and the ages, as few living things could be in these times. The Grand Marshall, was eternal, as no mere human was, he would go on forever unless felled by some freak accident or malfunction, like some living avatar, as did his fellow court automatons.

"I bid you welcome to the Imperial and Royal Court, Your Serene Highness." His mechanical constructed voice was surprisingly soft but intensely clear, almost musical in tone. It was recorded that at least one attempt to assassinate an emperor in his present had been thwarted when, the Grand Marshall had screamed at him with such vehemence that the man's eardrums had explosively ruptured, allowing the emperor's attendants to seize the would be assassin.

Marie Luise, bowed deeply in respect. The Grand Marshall's glowing eyes, seemed to twinkle at her from their darkened slots, one of it's gauntlet like hands reached out and touched the ivory handle of her interimstab and spoke.

"There is no need for such ceremony, in private. We are equals here, you and I, Fürstin von Eggenberg. We are both dedicated servants of the Emperor."

Suddenly, the Grand Marshall, straightened and swerved to his right his eyes flashing in response to some internal alarm or message sent to him through the special communications system built into the very walls of the palace, that the automatons used to communicate, a door opened to the side of the audience room adjacent to the throne. Two automatons entered almost as ornately decorated in snarling scarlet, gold and black as the Grand Marshall. They were we part of the Imperial Trabant Guard, the bodyguards of the Imperial family.

A moment later, his Imperial, Royal and Apostolic Majesty Francis Joseph the First, Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, King of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria and Illyria, King of Venetia and Lombardia, King of Serbia and of Montenegro; King of Jerusalem etc., Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow, Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and of Bukovina; Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Oświęcim, Zator and Ćeszyn, Friuli, Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and Zara (Zadar); Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trent (Trento) and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc.; Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro (Kotor), and over the Windic march; Grand Voivode of the Voivodship of Serbia, entered the room alone save for two more of his automaton Trabant Guards.

Marie Luise, came to rigid attention beside the Grand Marshall, both bowed deeply to their master. Franz Josef, accepted their courtesy with quiet deliberation, then gestured for them to rise and join him.

A Changing of the Guard (Part I)

City of Vienna, Austrian Empire, October 1809.

Oberst Freiherr von Bach, looked on with carefully concealed agitation, as the battalions of Line Infantry Regiment Nr.45 assembled in the parade square. He had taken command of the regiment back in 1806, when it's inhabers had in succession been, Feldmarschalleutnant Franz Freiherr von Lattermann and Feldmarschalleutnant Thierry Freiherr de Vaux. Now the regiment had a new inhaber, appointed by the Hofkriegsrat, and Bach was extremely anxious that the regiment, should make a good showing and impress it's new colonel-proprietor with it's professionalism. This inhaber-investiture and inspection, would after all take place under the eyes of the Generalissimus, the Generalfeldmarschall Archduke Karl himself.

Four immaculately dressed and equipped infantry battalions, each of six fusilier companies were drawn up before him in the approved linear order formation, with the Leib-(demi) battalion of two companies of fusiliers and the regimental colour guard and band standing in the center of the line. With them also stood the entire regimental staff and the regimental gun company. The regimental companies of Grenadiers were drawn up on the right flank of the regiment, while the regiment's Freiwillige Jäger and Schützen companies were drawn up on the left. Behind these formations stood the regiment's two Reserve and two Ersatz battalions. Bach felt, despite his sense of apprehension, nothing but pride in his regiment, their wartime service and conduct had always been a credit to them and Bach for one felt fortunate to have command of them. That fact that this investiture would also save the regiment from the oblivion of being prematurely disbanded was another plus as far as he was concerned.

Infantry Regiment Nr.45 had originally called Lower Austrian it's home recruiting ground but over time it had been shifted to Styria. Many of the soldiers currently in regiment were native to the city of Graz or it's adjacent administrative districts, although there were still a great many Lower Austrians within the ranks. Before the Second Treaty of Schönbrunn had been settled it had been decided by the Hofkriegsrat to switch the regiment's recruiting ground to one of the Italian speaking provinces of the empire. The regiment had even received two drafts of Italian recruits from the Austrian Adriatic coastal possessions to make up for war casualties. The preliminaries articles of the treaty had put paid to that however and Regiment Nr.45 had been one of several infantry regiments slated to be disbanded for reasons of national economy. Then there had come an unexpected and very much last minute reprieve.

Von Bach ran his eyes over the serried ranks of his regiment again for the hundredth time looking for faults or imperfections. No, the men and women of the regiment had everything in order and had made a commendable effort to make sure not only their equipment and uniforms were smart and presentable but also their own persons. They looked splendid, von Bach thought approvingly. The only thing that put von Bach's and his regimental field officers teeth on edge was their soldiers headgear, or rather it's lack of uniformity. The fusiliers in the Leib-battalion, 1st and 2nd battalion still wore the 1789 pattern crested helmets, while the 3rd and 4th battalions wore the new 1806 pattern double peaked shakos. The reservists and pensioners of the reserve battalions wore the army's small, round fatigue cap with its double rows of piping and a yellow and black cockade on the front, while the regiment's two depot battalions still wore the pre-1798 Casquet! The grenadiers of course wore their tall and impressive bearskin mitre caps with engraved yellow metal front plates and the Jäger and Schützen had equipped themselves at their own expense with the new Korsehut, that had been prescribed to replace the green crested helmet or casquets for most light infantry units. Well, at least their appearance was uniform by companies and battalion, von Bach thought wryly.

At least the other details of their uniforms and kit conformed to army regulations, although as was usual in any army it had taken months and years to catch up to the authorized decrees, regulations and statutes. All buttons and lace was in yellow or gold as rank required, while the new rank stars with six points, set into the front edges of their collars were in white bone, metal or embroidered celluloid again depending on rank. Regiment Nr.45 had originally had poppy red collars and cuffs with yellow buttons when it had been originally formed but gradually Graf Sonder had from 1770 on wards had issued a series of instructions to harmonize the facing colours to conform to specific branch of service colours within the Holy Roman Empire's multitude of military contingents. These made sense from a standing point of ease of unit identification and economy of materials for uniforms. Many units had been stubborn about adopting the decrees and statutes of course, regimental traditions died hard as always. Graf Sonder had won out over the opposition by sheer persistence and pervasiveness, and had cannily allowed the various units within the Reich-Armee to design their own regimental or battalion badges that reflected their traditions and past unit colours or lace patterns and some variation of the collar facings was still allowed as well to reflect this. Like most Austrian infantry regiments, Regiment Nr.45 had adopted green as their base facing colour for their uniforms collars, cuff and piping.

The clatter of a great many iron shod hoofs on the pavement caused Oberst von Bach to swing around to see, the new arrivals. Archduke Karl, came through the parade ground's ornate stone and iron gates, flanked and trailed by his personal staff of generals, aides-de-camp, adjutants-generals and officer orderlies. Two mounted standard bearers rode close behind him, bearing the Archduke's ornate Generalissimus pattern command flag and his Arch ducal pattern House flag.

The new inhaber to be, the Fürstin von Eggenberg rode on a splendid black charger beside Archduke Karl, as they approached the Oberst at a swift canter. She was accompanied by an aide-de-camp, a standard bearer who carried a carefully sheathed unit standard (their new Leibfahne, which would bear the Eggenberg family's full coat-of-arms, he surmised) and an automaton attendent-postilion. She wore the white coat, with the ornate red and gold collar and cuffs of her newly appointed rank of feldzeugmeister, with her tunic decorated with the medals and decorations of past and present conflicts. Both Archduke Karl and the Fürstin wore the relatively plain but smart grey oberrock coats over their white uniforms. Von Bach, brought himself sternly to task, as they slowed to a stop before him and his deputy officer and his regimental adjutant and his senior Moniteur-Bureau officer. All four regimental officers saluted crisply the man who was their military commander-in-chief and the woman, who was very shortly to be come their honorary commander and colonel-proprietor.

Storm Clouds 1866 (Part III)

The Hofburg, City of Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Jan 1866.

Marie Luise, stood alone in the audience chamber of the Hofburg, the enormous collection of palace-residences, libraries, treasuries, chapels, theaters, ball rooms, barracks, offices, chanceries, and galleries, riding schools and mews which stood at the center of the city of Vienna, and formed the literal and figurative center of the Imperial and Royal Court. It had stood and grown with the centuries serving as the official capital and administrative center of the Holy Roman Empire, and it's successors the Austria and later Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was the official winter residence and workplace of her sovereign and master, the Kaiser Franz Josef I.

She wore the full dress tunic of a generalfeldmarshall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A long white tunic, trimmed at collar, cuff and lapels with scarlet facings and it's unique wavy patterned and oak leafed gold lace. Her lower torso and upper legs were sheathed in scarlet pants with broad gold zig-zag pattern lace Lampassen. Tall black riding boots, polished to a mirror like finish, covered her lower legs and feet. The Feldbinde -- the gold yellow and black sash -- of an Imperial and Royal officer surrounded her delicate waist.

A decoratively embellished military sword with and ornate semi-basket hilt hung at her left hip, while an interimstab of polished wood with a ivory handle , the everyday version of her more elaborate red velvet covered field marshal's baton, was clasped in her hands. It served as both a symbol of her high office and as a useful walking stick. The gold and black cords of a Habsburg officer's fist strap, used to secure the bearer's weapon to their wrist, were fixed to the base of the Ivory handle. To any onlooker she would have presented a striking figure.

Her tunic bore a colourful array of military orders and decorations from over a dozen countries, not just those of her native Austria-Hungary, for her service had been a long and distinguished one, although not devoid of controversy either in her personal life or her professional one. While Marie Luise, had had many friends, and not a few admirers, she had also acquired in her life, the typical legion of detractors, professional or mortal personal enemies, as well as self-serving hangers-on and sycophants that surrounded anyone who possessed either wealth, substantive political power or success in this life.

The Kaiser, had asked to see her privately through her friend, Baird de Auchmeddan, he wished to discuss the tense relations between Austria and Prussia and get her personal views directly, away from the interference of his various staffs, advisors and cabinets. He also wanted to question her about the possibility of taking a senior if not the most senior military command in the event, that the unstable situation within the German Confederation did actually come to a violent breech.

She had come to Vienna, shortly after receiving her guests in her palace in Graz, to gauge the situation for herself at the political and administrative center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. What she had discovered since arriving and taking part in the social and court life of the capital, had not left her particularly reassured. Marie Luise, chided herself sternly, pessimism was as much a part of Austrian national character as anything else these days.

Marie Luise, stifled the impulse, to tap her stick against the floor. Her other hand was preoccupied, with holding her green feather topped bicorne hat. Patience had never come to her easily at any stage in her long life. She however did not anticipate being kept waiting for long, Franz Josef, was one of the most courteous and punctual of monarchs, an amused smiled touched her lips, and he hated wasting time, even more then she did.

The Interregnum (Part III)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crown land of Styria, Austrian Empire, November 1810.

Marie Luise lay upon a comfortable reclining couch, her baby son wrapped in warm blankets in a crib at her elbow. Sonder sat beside her, while Eisen, kneeling beside the crib, amused the tiny but active occupant, with small but intricate movements of his great metal hands. Sonder regarded her for a long moment, then took a thermometer out of a small liquid filled glass on the table next to him, and put it into her mouth, beneath her tongue to hold it firmly in place while he checked her pulse.

"One, thermometer with just enough mercury on the inside to do it's job, and just enough alcohol on the outside to make it interesting." Sonder said flippantly as he checked her pulse against the seconds clicking by on the hands of his pocket watch. He nodded after a minute, then retrieved the thermometer, her temperature was still a tad high but not abnormal, particularly for a young woman still recovering from her first pregnancy. Her pulse was steady and strong, which reassured him as to her slow but stable recovery. The birth had been an extremely difficult one, and there had been a few moments during the procedure, where he, his assistants and the midwife had all been extremely worried they were going to lose one or both of them.

"The abdominal pains, have subsided, Marie Luise?" Sonder inquired. She nodded, he had warned her firmly and repeatedly not to over exert herself and especially not to go riding on horse back, no matter how well she felt until he judged her fully recovered. Her son had arrived in the world on schedule, he had not been too late nor had he been too early. He had been a good weight without being excessive in that regard and and looked to be thriving. Marie Luise was still acutely worried about him, which did not surprise Sonder, all first time parents (particularly the conscientious and diligent ones), were a just a little anxious when dealing with their first new born.

Marie Luise, had felt a bit trapped by all the attention that had been focused upon her by her own palace staff, her doctors, her friends and the people of Graz during the long months of her pregnancy. She had been bombarded by letters, particularly from Archduke Karl, and from Napoleon I. She had deeply appreciated it, but at times felt more then a bit uncomfortable and even suffocated by it. Sonder had taken her aside, when she had voiced this to him, and pointed out that people were worried about and for her, and that if she was inconsiderate enough to do something outstandingly stupid or worse try and die on them from some avoidable pregnancy related complication, they would all be extremely put out. On top of that Sonder commented with wry exasperation, the Archduke Karl would have his head, and rightly so if anything happened to his adored lady. What Emperor Napoleon would do, was of course another thing entirely, if Sonder somehow managed to lose both her expected child or her.

Since the child's birth, Marie Luise, had existed for nothing else but her son, she attended to him as he required, feed and bathed him and amused or engaged him as took both their fancy. Some of the doctors had demurred at this, it was not seemingly for a woman of her rank and station, that was the duties of wetnurses and nannies after all. Sonder and the midwife, Frau Anje Rieger, had taken Marie Luise's side in the debate however and beaten down the opposition. Frau Rieger had birthed and raised a dozen of her own children, all of whom had reached adulthood and gone one to have their own families, and had midwifed scores more over the years, Sonder was not prepared to accept that she did not know a thing or two about having and rearing children! In fact she had probably forgotten more then most male doctors would every know in their collective lifetimes.

"I understand, Marie Luise, you want your son, to be baptized in the Roman Catholic faith but that you are having some difficulty arranging it?" Sonder remarked casually as he placed his various articles of doctor's paraphernalia back into his black medical bag. Marie Luise looked up from her son, she was gently smiling as Eisen playfully tried to snatch his fingers away from the grasping hands of her son. He had a good grip and fast limbs so as often as not he was able to catch hold of a metal finger tip before it evaded him and hold fast.

"Yes, I have not been able to find a priest in Graz who is willing to do it." Marie Luise, sighed. "I expected there would be some trouble over, my son's illegitimate birth... but..."

"So I was given to understood, from my discussions with some of the city's junior intendants and the Hospital medical director. They informed me of the Bishop's refusal to allow your son's baptism to be done in the city cathedral or to allow it to be conducted by any of the parish or district priests. Not I understand a very popular decision amoung either some of the priests and certainly not amoung the Graz laity. I was given quite bluntly to understand, that the Bishop's standing in the community has fallen considerable as a result. The antics of one of his favourites -- who is not anyone else's favourite -- at the moment, has not helped him much. It seems his personal chaplain -- a Father Tobias Schowe -- made some very insulting and disparaging remarks about you during a religious service commenorating the siege and the city's gallant defenders in Graz's Innere Stadt. He managed to trigger off a full scale riot amoung the attending congregation. Father Schowe is I understand a new comer to Graz and was not even here during the siege, unlike the majority of the people who live here and lived through it. On top of that, he is a very young, extremely narrow minded, pompous, self-righteous, and insufferable bastard."

"Dear God! Was anyone hurt?!" Marie Luise asked in alarm. Eisen, turned from the crib, his eyes blazing with an angry crackling light. If Eisen had a soft spot for anyone in this world, Sonder noted, Marie Luise was that person. Insulting or abusing Marie Luise's name or person in his presence or hearing, was easily the fastest and messiest way anyone who knew Eisen, could think of to commit suicide. He had without any one even asking him to acted as an attendant to Marie Luise with great care, tact and quiet support, acting as a guardian or companion as needed over the long months, as she had struggled through the physical and emotional challenges of her pregnancy. The only time he had left her presence was when he left for a few weeks in January to aide a team of Austrian agents in a secretive and highly successful effort to rescue the Tyrolean rebel leader, Andreas Hofer, from a fortress prison in Mantua.

"Hm? No one of the slightest importance, according to the very outraged city elders I talked to. The Garrison and the City Gendarmes managed to contain things before the rioters got too out of hand. The only injured party was the numbskull priest, Schowe, who was just arrogant and stupid enough to refer to the people of the city's heroine, the 'Lioness of Graz', as a whore and her child as a god forsaken bastard, and think his clerical collar and black robe was going to provide him with the slightest protection. They, the congregation, simply exploded: all of them, man and woman, humble burgher, workman and artisan and gentle born alike, dragged him -- screaming blue murder by the way-- from the pulpit, beat him to a bloody pulp, then dragged him out into the street. Then some enterprising persons who remain unknown brought out the tar and feathers... ."

Marie Luise was absolutely appalled to hear this, although a secret part of her took a certain vindictive satisfaction nevertheless. Sonder shook his head, chucked softly at the remembered conversation with the city elders and city staff, then looked her squarely in the eyes before continuing. Marie Luise, had a lurking suspicion who the persons behind taring and feathering Father Schowe were, the men and officers of Infantry Regiments Nr.27 and Nr,45 were both stationed in Graz, the former had been the regiment that she had first elected to enlist in, back in 1794/95, and the later was the regiment that she was Inhaber to. They had already been involved in several altercations, and even a few duels, with her more vocal detractors in the city.

"Marie Luise, the people of Graz, regard you as one of their own. The von Eggenberg family have been a part of this city for a long time, since 1460 when they first started putting down roots in the area and laid the foundations of this palace. You are the last living representative of that illustrious Dynasty, the Augsburg, Radkersburg and Ehrenhausen lines are extinct, and you are the last of the Graz Line. You did not have to come back in the middle of a war, just to fight for this city, when far more important parts of the country where under threat. You did anyway because, you care about Graz and it's people. That mattered to them even if it mattered to no one else in this world."

Sonder lapsed into silence, and let his words sink into Marie Luise's mind and soul. Sonder was not one for idle or false flattery, he meant what he was saying with absolute honesty and fidelity. Her emotions were a confused torrent of feelings as she grappled with the high regard the people of Graz held f or her. Sonder tilted his masked head to one side and continued as he watched his words sink in.

"As to a baptism, I think I have found a man, who will do it, nor does he care a jot what the bishop will say about it. He is a older brother of one of my fellow Prussian officers. He's of an old Jacobin Austro-Irish family, one of the Wild Geese dispora that ended up in the Silesian duchies. The family has branches in both the Austrian and Prussian provinces of Silesia. Father Noel Bracken is his name, he runs a small foundlings and orphans hospice near Troppau. His is a priest who has lived in the world and knows its joys and cares as much as it's sorrows and regrets, despite which he still maintains a quiet sense of compassion and charity especially for those whom society and the church often deem troublesome or undesirable. Father Bracken regards himself in the business of saving and comforting souls, and damn all who get in his way of doing it!" Sonder laughed. "I have sent him a message via the optical telegraph, explaining your predicament, and asked him to come to Graz at his earliest convenience. He has responded, that 'he would be delighted to be of assistance and will come at once.'

"Have you decide on a name?" Eisen suddenly asked from his place beside Marie Luise. Marie Luise, looked thoughtful for a moment and consulted a note book she had jotted notes down in over her time in Graz.

"Yes, I want him to be christened as Ferdinand Ulrich." Marie Luise, said after a moments reflection, she continued. "To honour both Emperors, Ferdinand II and III, who gave my family it's opportunity to prosper and advance in their service and to honour, the greatest of the Eggenbergs, Hans Ulrich."

"I trust, both Eisen and I are included in the list of godparents?"

"Absolutely, my dear Sonder. Along with Archdukes Karl and Johann."

"Ah, then we are in good company then." Sonder remarked.

The Interregnum (Part II)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crown land of Styria, Austrian Empire, November 1810.

Gustav Johann Vizegraf von Blankenberg, the princess of Eggenberg's chief equerry passed down one of the private walks that lined the grounds of the Schloss Eggenberg. He was a man of moderate height, straight backed and straight limbed and a intensely fit build, as one would expect of man who had been born and raised in the Harz Mountains of Germany and spent his military career on the long and dangerous Austrian Military Frontier before being called to serve in the various coalition wars that dominated the 1790s and 1800s. He possessed a handsome aristocratic face, with clear sparkling grey eyes. His mouse grey hair was worn in the now dated fashion, of a long queue tied up at his neck with a black ribbon, with his hair in two double curls either side of his face, while an equally unfashionable but smartly trimmed goatee marked his chin. His style of dress was an understated but elegant grey coat with green velvet at collar, lapels and cuffs, with a black waistcoat, black pants and tall black ridding boots. He held a black, gold trimmed bicorne in his metal and gloved hands as he walked meditatively along the pathway. A walking stick was tucked absently under one of his arms, and a sword hung purposely from his hip, as he moved. His brisk tread did not conceal to any onlooker that not only was one of his hands an artificial construct but that both his legs were as well.

The district that the palace lay in was a quiet one, covered in heavy forests and surrounded by mountains and high hills dotted with several small peasant hamlets and villages, lordly manors and a bustling, populous market town all belonging to the Eggenberg family. The area's chief economic interests were dominated by agriculture and cultivating wineyards on the local hillsides. The only other industry of note, was the Reininghaus Brewery, which made various liquors, wines, ales and lagers from the products of the local farms and vineyards.

The Eggenbergs had established an elementary school and two high schools to tend to the education of local children, largely at their own expense and founded a pedagogical academy which provided training to teachers, administrators and clerics in the district and it's neighbours . An application had been made by the last three generations of Eggenberg princes for an imperial charter to covert the academy into a university, although nothing had so far come of it. They had also worked diligently to expand and upkeep various roads and bridges in the district with the consequent benefit to local travel and trade. As a rule, the Eggenbergs were well thought of by the people of the area for their good common sense, business savvy and charitable and philanthropic works. Marie Luise, was well neigh loved and respected by the locals of the district and by many of the people of Graz, which made Blankenberg acutely aware, that he would be measured accordingly by the people in area. Not that he did not have certain advantages in being the Fürstin von Eggenberg service, that might not attend another applicant.

Blankenberg had joined the palace staff, shortly after the conclusion of the 1809 War, he had lost a hand in the Seige of Graz and was facing a long recovery (he had already lost both his legs in Austria's previous wars against France and his health was increasingly erratic), without great prospects of active employment. His injuries had caused him to be put on an unpleasantly extended medical leave and he had consequently lost his post as commander of the 18th Grenzers. Fürstin Marie Luise von Eggenberg, whom he had served alongside in the siege, where they had developed a mutual admiration for each others skills and courage, on hearing of his predicament had immediately offered him the the vacant post of chief equerry on her palace staff. Blankenberg had been astonished and delighted at the offer, which effectively made him, the princess's senior aide-de-camp and private secretary, and had accepted it with alacrity.

The Palace staff had greeted him with some reserve at first, though they had quickly warmed to him, once he had commenced his duties with a dedication and integrity that impressed and reassured them. He quickly understood why they had been so reserved at first. The princess had landed in a proverbial if not literal bucket of hot water, when it was realized that she was pregnant out of wedlock. The rumours of who the father was, did absolutely nothing for the princess's reputation and standing with her peers and society in general.

The Imperial Court had all but shunned her, as soon as word of it reached Vienna, her relations with her Herberstein and Schwarzenberg relatives had chilled almost to the point of frigidity. Although from what, Blankenberg, had been able to gather both from the other members of the staff and the princess herself, that was not altogether such a hardship. Both these families had a vested interest in the division of the Eggenberg estates if anything happened to the last living member of the House of Eggenberg. Having first cut her off nearly completely, they suddenly realized that Marie Luise having a child would alter the division of her legacy, as illegitimate or not, a son or daughter would complicate matters. Particularly if she revised her will to leave her various possessions, estates and titles to her child.

At this point, Blankenberg, had noted with some contempt and not a little cynical amusement, something like panic had set in, particularly in Marie Luise's Aunt's family. A lawyer had come several times over the last few months before, the child had been born to harass the princess into keeping the provisions of her legal will and testament as had been previously set up by her late parents. That being her Inner Austrian lands and titles would go to her aunt and the Herbersteins, while her Bohemia lands and titles would go to the Schwarzenbergs. To be fair, the Schwarzenbergs had been more subtle, then either Marie Luise's aunt or Marie Luise's Herberstein relatives. Blankenberg figured for his part, that as they were court favourites of the Kaiser Franz I, they had to follow the official line but needed not go out of their way to blot their copy book with Marie Luise unnecessarily. Their thinking was probably along the lines, of condemn her - Marie Luise -- in public but support her in private, and the duchy of Krumlov, would fall into their hands eventually however the cards were dealt. Personally Blankenberg, thought this was a case of playing both sides against the middle, which was where the Schwarzenbergs, might just wind up -- in the middle -- and they would not enjoy it.

Eisen had, at length, become so irritated with these incessant legal visits -- and the disheartening effect they had on an increasingly pregnant Marie Luise -- that he had eventually put a stop to them, violently. He had grabbed the querulous (the staff and the princess had rapidly come to regard him as impossible, and that was only after the second visit!) lawyer in mid harangue and hurled him bodily the length of the drawing room and out of a second story bay window! Fortunately or unfortunately, he then fallen two stories to land unceremoniously in a passing manure cart that had been making it's way to the palace greenhouses. For the staff and Blankenberg's part, their horrified shock had turned to delight then absolute rapture, when Eisen had bolted out of the room and chased the manure covered and by now panic stricken lawyer the length of the palace grounds and out the gate, threatening to flog him if he ever presented himself there again.

The Graz authorities had refused to arrest Eisen on consequent charges of assault, the gendarmes who had arrived at the palace had only wished to take statements from the staff and the princess and Eisen. Blankenberg had found out on a trip to Graz a few days later, that the lawyer had been told to leave the area -- by both the commander of the city gendarmes and the city garrison commandant -- or they would arrest him on charges of harassment of the princess and disturbing the public peace! While Blankenberg had discovered, that the majority of the city and church officialdom had followed the Imperial Court's line on Fürstin von Eggenberg's unseemingly and scandalous conduct, the majority of the citizens of Graz did not care a jot and, were firmly in her camp.

The Interregnum (Part I)

The Hofkriegsrat, City of Vienna, Austrian Empire, November 1810.

Archduke Karl, sat in his office in the Hofkriegsrat, reading his way through a small mountain of military reports and documents that cluttered the top of his desk. War or peace, military administrations ran on paperwork, much of it necessary and pertinent if tedious, just as much of it was mind numbingly pedantic and superfluous in the extreme. If there was one thing, the Aulic War Council was certain to create with an absolute certainty, it was an excess of bureaucratic paperwork.

Karl, however hard he tried, could not concentrate on the papers before him. His attention was fixed upon, the portrait of a young, beautiful, blond haired and green eyed woman at his elbow. The portrait had been a birthday gift to him, some years ago and he treasured it as much as he treasured his love for the lady in it. It was an excellent likeness of the Fürstin Marie Luise von Eggenberg, catching both her beauty and charm but also her impulsive, fiery temperment.

The second Treaty of Schönbrunn, while not the disaster for Austria, that it had initially promised to be, due to some highly complicated political manipulations between the countries involved in negotiating it and several desperate last minute military victories pulled off by the Austrian Army and Navy that altered the strategic status quo. While Austria had to sacrifice some of it's territories in the west along the Italian and Bavarian borders, the wholesale loss of other territories elsewhere in the empire or it's overseas possessions had been avoided.

The indemnities, some eighty-five million thalers, that Austria had been forced to pay to France, Poland, Italy, Naples and the various German states of the Confederation of the Rhine, where galling but not impossible to cope with. With careful budgeting, Austria's finances would recover in good time, the damage to her pride notwithstanding. What was not so recoverable, was the damage done to Austria's political position in Europe, and it's military forces. The treaty had effectively shackled both to the Napoleonic French Empire and it's present and long term strategic considerations. Karl had been charged with re-organizing the Austrian armed forces as thoroughly as possible and as time and material allowed. It was a task that was absorbing all his -- and his subordinate generals -- time and considerable energies, much to his rather personal frustration.

Marie Luise, had during the 1809 war, played a gallant part in several battles but had entangled herself in a web of political and military intrigues, when she involved herself on her own incentive -- and practically against orders -- in the siege of Graz. Her part had been a very creditable one, cobbling together an 'Army of Graz' from the existing Graz Garrison Corps and a medley of regular army depot units, civic volunteer rifle and Landwehr units. Although her spirited and protracted defense of the city had not been successful in the long run, she had been forced to resort to some highly "personal" negotiations, involving herself and Emperor Napoleon in a desperate effort to save the city, it's fortifications and it's people with little or no help from her Kaiser, the Imperial Court or the forces commanded by the Hofkriegsrat. Those negotiations had succeeded in saving the city, although the consequences, for Marie Luise, had been drastic in more ways then one.

Only the corps of Ignaz Gyulai had been able to materially interfere in the siege and made several sorties to resupply and reinforce Graz, before being driven away by Marshal Marmont's corps after several hard battles. The Battle of Wagram, had potentially offered a temporary reprieve for the defenders of Graz, as the french troops besieging them had decamped to join Napoleon against the main Austrian army. The defeat that the Austrian Army had suffered there and in several subsequent battles had left the city cut off from immediate help, and a larger force directed by Napoleon himself had arrived and conducted a renewed siege with greater vigour and competency.

The painful situation in which, his lady Marie Luise, found herself months after the war had ended and she had been discovered to be pregnant was extreme. The Imperial Court and the Catholic Church had all but cut her off, partly due to the scandal of the princess having a child out of wedlock, but also because who the suspected father was. Which just added insult to injury as far as most of the courtiers around his imperial brother, Kaiser Franz I were concerned. The fact that Franz distrusted and all but practically hated, Marie Luise, only made the situation worse. Franz had decided he could use the scandal to his own ends and potentially destroy her with it. Marie Luise, however had not acted the way anyone had expected, which had bitterly amused both Karl and his brother Johann, no end.

Marie Luise, finding herself without prospects or friends at the Imperial Court, and left "awaiting orders" -- one of the most dreaded things that could happen to any officer -- with regards to her military career had retired without comment or fanfare to her estates. Franz had expected her to beg for his forgiveness, she had to his complete bafflement, treated him with an icy silence, refusing either to call upon him or to deal with any appointee of his. Marie Luise had never had much patience for Imperial Court politics and intrigues and she had never had much in the way of "friends" amoug the multitudinous throng of simpering courtiers, tiresome hangers on, and sycophantic parasites that surrounded his brother Franz, so she felt next to nothing at being cut off from them.

While the damage to her social position was immense, Marie Luise had enough genuine friends who had and would support her come hell or high water to at least cushion the blow. These people, were trying in their own ways and means to break the unbearable social isolation that Marie Luise had been condemned to. Even the common people, especially in her native Styria or in the lands where she had estates and possessions were coming to her support. They might not have been comfortable, with the scandal, and the fact that she had a child out of wedlock with Napoleon Bonaparte, but to many of them, she was one of Austria's heroines and that gave her a certain latitude in their eyes for the odd indiscretion -- especially if it was in the service of her emperor and country -- as far as they were concerned.

Karl, expected one of the reasons he was stuck in Vienna and swamped with paperwork and inspection duties was, that his brother Franz, did not want him seeing the woman he called in private, "that whore". He had called her that since the day, Marie Luise had taken his side, in an intrigue that Franz had set up against him, with Marie Luise positioned as Franz's unofficial spy in Karl's headquarters. He had actually called her that once aloud, in Karl and Johann's presence in private, only they and the Grand Marshall of the Imperial Court had been present. Franz had almost immediately regretted it, when Karl -- seething with rage, he was not ashamed to admit -- had promptly moved to slap him across the face. The Grand Marshall and the Trabants had stopped him abruptly, of course. The resultant self-satisfied and imperious smirk on Franz's face disappeared a moment later, when the Grand Marshall suddenly turned on his heel and with stunning force boxed Franz's ears! None of them should have been surprised really, the Grand Marshall had overseen generations of imperial monarchs and their families and relations and had little or no tolerance for improper behaviour or intemperate language, especially by emperors or princes who were supposed to be virtuous and temperate guardians to their subjects.

Karl turned in his chair, when he heard the door of the antechamber of his office open and close. Archduke Johann his younger brother walked into the room, nonchalantly. Karl, felt a quiet sense of cheer rising in him, which at this moment he rather badly needed. Johann, had traveled a great deal, keep his eyes and mind open, and had a fund of engaging hobbies, good sense and humour and interesting stories when needed and refused to take things without real substance, especially their Imperial brother Franz, seriously.

A Time of Congresses and Reflections (Part I)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crownland of Styria, Empire of Austria, September 1814.

Marie Luise and Archduke Karl, sat together upon a luxurious velvet covered couch, in one of the spacious drawing rooms of the palace. They had been able to enjoy -- just the two of them -- a quiet, luxuriant and restful bliss since he had arrived a fortnight ago from Vienna. They had settled comfortably into the couch facing the sun lit windows after an excellent lunch, and sat quietly enjoying coffee together. Both were in understated elegant and comfortable civilian attire, rather then their more customary military uniforms they usually wore, having spent much of the morning either riding in the countryside or shopping in the city of Graz itself.

Karl filled Marie Luise in on the developments of the great ongoing congress in Vienna. There had never been anything quite like it before and perhaps never would again. The series of face to face meetings of political leaders and states in one city, had finally settled all the details of what was hoped to be a lasting peace in Europe, after nearly twenty-three years of continuous warfare. They had been at it for months, since the day of Napoleon's abdication with the Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814. Not, of course, without a great deal of intense discussion, often furious and divisive argument and not a few near crisis moments between the states which often had vastly different and conflicting political and territorial objectives.

Joseph Bonaparte had managed to retain his throne in Kingdom of Naples, where he was genuinely popular and the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was not. They would have to be satisfied with retaining their throne in the Kingdom of Sicily. While Joachim Murat had retained his claim to the Grand Duchy of Kleve-Berg. Neither developments were welcomed by the many members of the Congress, but were accepted as a necessary concession to settle the affairs of Europe as peacefully as possible. The Kingdom of Holland had been returned to the rule of the House of Orange-Nassau, and it's seven Dutch provinces had been linked together with Flemish Flanders and Limburg. France, once again a kingdom under the leadership of a Bourbon king, had received French speaking Walloonia in exchange for this as well as many but not all it's former overseas colonial possessions, though they were allowed to retain the island of Corsica. Spain also had regained it's independence and was once again under the rule of the House of Bourbon. Sweden had gained Norway and it's island dependencies from Denmark but had to accept Russia's permanent annexation of Finland and the Aland islands. Sweden declared itself the Empire of Scandinavia (after unifying the thrones of Sweden and Norway) in consequence and it's king was now an emperor. Which was accepted by the other powers at the congress, although albeit reluctantly.

The Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy had been broken up once again into the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont (consisting of the island of Sardinia, and the Duchies of Savoy and Piedmont, and the Republic of Genoa), the Kingdom of Venetia-Lombardia, the Papal States, the Serene Republic of San Marino, the Grand Duchy of Parma, the Grand Duchy of Modena, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily respectively. Austria had effectively annexed Venetia-Lombardia, Parma, Modena and Tuscany to it's empire. The principality of Monaco, had been elevated to the status of kingdom, with the addition of some adjacent french territory and the whole of the previously Italian Duchy of Nice. The moribund Confederation of the Rhine had been repurposed into the German Confederation, which included practically all the German states: the Kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg, the Electorate of Hessen-Kassel, the Grand Duchies of Luxembourg, Oldenberg, Nassau, Kleve-Berg, Baden, Anhalt, and Brunswick, the Duchies of Saxe-Lauenburg and Holstein, the Grand Principalities of Waldeck, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Detmold,, the Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Luebeck and Hamburg, and the City-state of Frankfurt-am-Main. Only the Duchy of Schleswig was not formally included, as it had been joined in personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark. The Grand Principality of Hohenzollern (the principalities of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Haigerloch) had been reconstituted largely to please Prussia, out of the formally annexed territories of Baden and Württemberg. Much to their irritation, although they acquiesced to it with much ill grace. The Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt now renamed Hessen und bei Rhein, had lost all of it's lands north of Frankfurt-am-Main to Hessen-Kassel but had received in compensation the formally Bavarian Rhenish Palatinate to amalgamate itself into a more coherent state.

Switzerland and Andorra had their territorial borders and permanent neutrality statues conferred by the Congress, though not without a little argument in the case of Switzerland, which lost portions of it's eastern and southern cantons, the St Gall and Ticino, to augment the territory to the Austrian crownlands of Liechtenstein and Venetia-Lombardia. It also lost the Basle Canton and virtually the entire Schaffhausen Canton to Baden. By way of compensation, the formally independent and French allied canton of Neuchâtel was added to the Swiss Confederation.

The German island of Heligoland in the German Bight had nearly caused a war between Great Britain and the German Confederation, as Britain claimed it, although they had singularly failed to occupy it despite several attempts when it had been part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 on wards. It was decided again after a great deal of heated argument and discussion to give it to either Prussia or Oldenburg, although the actually details of occupation had yet to be worked out. Saxony had lost nearly half it's northern territory, to the Prussians as the price for it's loyalty to Napoleon, although the intervention of several of the Great Powers had prevented it's total annexation by Prussia. Since Prussia had received virtually the entire former Kingdom of Westphalia as well as other territories in Western Germany, everyone felt that Prussia had more then enough territory as it was! In compensation, Saxony's previous annexation of the former Thuringian states was agreed to. The titular dynastic link between the Kingdom of Saxony and Kingdom of Poland was however to be permanently severed.

Poland had re-emerged as an independent state under King Stanisław II August, largely due to the political machinations of France, Sweden and some of the other European states. It had nearly triggered another war between the Great Powers, as Russia had been determined to annex Poland outright, which had been opposed by nearly everyone at the Congress. A compromise that satisfied no one involved had been hammered out after much argument. The once again independent kingdom -- under a temporay regency headed by Prince Józef Antoni Poniatowski -- was reduced to it's Grand Duchy of Warsaw borders, minus, the Grand Duchy of Poznań, which was re-annexed to Prussia as the province of Posen and much of the Suwałki and Narew pan handle, which was divided between Prussia and Russia. Otherwise, Great Britain had been the greatest benefactor of the Congress's deliberations, retaining much of it's overseas conquests and expanding it's immense economic strength, as well as it's voice in international affairs.

"So much for the great events and political tribulations of nations great and small." Karl remarked dryly after he had finished explained all this. Marie Luise was quite happy that she had had very little to do with the congress, after peace had been declared in 1814 between France and the powers of the Sixth Coalition. She had promptly retired to what she hoped, after so many years of intense activity, was a quiet life in Graz and planned to concentrate her whole attention on he beloved four year old son, Ferdinand Ulrich, and the management of her considerable and diverse estates and properties.

The House of Eggenberg had made it's considerable fortune through diversified commerce, manorial farms, brewery and vineyard ownership, banking and coin-minting operations over the centuries since the Counter-Reformation. The family, which at one time had consisted of some four branches or cadet lines: Radkersburg, Augsburg, Graz, and Ehrenhausen and, possessed business holdings, manorial estates and the titles of baron, count, prince and duke in Bavaria, Bohemia, the Austrian Littoral, Styria, Carniola, and Carinthia. They had even held title over the Princely County of Gradisca since it had been purchased by the Eggenbergs from Emperor Ferdinand III in 1647, until the death of her father. At which point the Princely Count title, and the seat in the Holy Roman Empire's Parliament that went with it, to which she could not inherit, although not all the land holdings attached to it, entailed back to the Habsburgs.

"What of Napoleon?" She asked after a moment.

"Exiled to the Tuscan island of Elba, for life. Whether they can keep him there, remains to be seen of course. He has been granted a generous pension of three million francs a year drawn from France and complete control of the island. Empress Marie Louise, gets one million francs a year by the way. Brother Franz was not at all happy about that. Marie Louise absconding right out from under his nose in Vienna with their son, Napoleon II, to join her husband on Elba caught him totally off guard. Johann and I thought Franz was going to have an apoplexy when we got that bit of news."

Marie Luise enjoyed Karl's amused smile at what must have been as unpleasant as it was unexpected shock to Kaiser Franz I of Austria.

"Does Ferdinand Ulrich, still stand to inherit the Elba principality, under Napoleon's previous will? Assuming of course, the great powers of Europe bother to allow it." Karl asked after a thoughtful moment.

"I am making inquiries about that. No one I have talked to -- in the Foreign Office, or the Imperial Court, the Aulic Council or the Reichskammergericht -- so far, is quite sure. Though, I have not heard anything to the contrary. The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand III expressed himself to me personally, that he is unbothered by that particular dynastic arrangement and only asked that my son, actually reside in Elba for at least some part of the year when he came into the inheritance. Which is a fair request, as Ferdinand Ulrich will hold aristocratic titles in both Austria and Tuscany. Ferdinand Ulrich does still stand to inherit an special pension from Napoleon, when he reaches his majority. It amounts to about one million francs a year drawn from Napoleon's own family coffers. There is already four millions francs plus accumulated interest deposited in the pension's account." Marie Luise said between sips of coffee.

Karl pursed his lips in surprise and did a few quick speculative sums in his head. It would be a handsome inheritance, when the boy reached his eighteenth year let alone his official legal majority which was twenty-one. Marie Luise watched the wheels turning in Karl's head and nodded.

"The pension has a legal proviso, however that if Napoleon dies before, Ferdinand Ulrich reaches his majority, he will receive whatever has up to that point accumulated in the account, immediately."

"Well at least that part of your son's future estate is settled." Karl remarked blandly. Karl reflected grimly on the legal tribulations that Marie Luise had had to put up with involving Ferdinand Ulrich's inheritance. When he had been born in 1810, she had written a secret codicil which had affected the interpretation of her previous family will. In it she left the entirety of her titles, estates and possessions and all her wealth and businesses to Ferdinand Ulrich, legitimating him as her legal and sole heir. When she had all but killed at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, and reported as such --prematurely as it turned out, the Herbersteins and Schwarzenbergs, had moved to have her will probated. Only to discover the codicil which invalidated their previously assumed inheritance of her estates. They had been furious of course and immediately worked to declare the codicil invalid. The fact that she had augmented the codicil with a new formal will on her deathbed dictated to Graf Sonder and witness by himself, his brother Johann, Eisen and Father Haspringer added still more fuel to the resultant fire. The furious legal uproar this had caused had driven Marie Luise nearly to distraction, and which was saying something considered the original legal troubles she had suffered with them during her pregnancy with Ferdinand Ulrich back in 1810! That legal furor was still rumbling on even now, although it had been greatly tempered somewhat by Eisen angrily threatening to throw the whole of the Herberstein and Schwarzenberg families involved, that he could lay hands on into the Danube! Since he had already thrown, Regimius von Dorzapf, the lawyer of Marie Luise's aunt from a second story window of the Schloss Eggenberg in a fit of rage, and then chased him the length of the estate back in 1810, this was not an idle threat.

Marie Luise nodded, then briefly looked away from Karl before remarking. She hated bringing this up and spoiling what has so far been an enjoyable afternoon.

"I understand, that was not the only thing that has been settled recently."

Karl, looked at her over the rim of his coffee cup. His face absolutely expressionless and still. She had heard then, not surprising, it had been in all the papers and Franz had been only too pleased to make the announcement before the entire Imperial Court in Vienna. He put the cup down and wordlessly, opened his arms, Marie Luise immediately shifted closer and leaned into his embrace, now uncontrolled tears glittering in her beautiful green eyes.

Marie Luise had been absolutely heartbroken and had spent tormented days and sleepless nights fretting, worrying and not infrequently crying when she had received the news. She knew that reasons of state and dynasty, however legitimate they might be in this case, were not the real reason Kaiser Franz had pushed for his brother Karl's marriage. It was Franz's revenge against her, and to some extent also against Karl, and both she and Karl knew it. Karl was for his part, nearly as glum, although he had through long practice controlled his anger, grief and unhappiness, perhaps a little better at least in both public and private, when Franz had sprung that unpleasant surprise on him. Not that Franz, had not received a few unpleasant surprises all is own, Karl thought absently.

Marie Luise wanted to hold onto Karl forever, but the best things in life, the ones that really mattered, did not last forever. Like a dance or beautiful music they could only be enjoyed when and as they happened.

"What...is she... like..." Marie Luise asked after a long moment, her hand entwined tightly in his. Karl, just hugged her close, leaning his head on her's for a long moment, before answering her question.

"Princess Henrietta Alexandrine Friederike Wilhelmine of Nassau-Weilburg, the daughter of Prince Frederick William of Nassau-Weilburg, is young, she's seventeen as of this year, so the actual wedding has been put off til next year. She's a little shorter then I am, which is to say that she is not very tall." They both chuckled softly at that whimsical self-deprecating remark. While both were of slender, fit builds, which caused them to look taller, then either were it was only when they stood in the presence of other people that their lack of height became obvious.

"She has black hair and very light brown eyes. She wears spectacles for reading, of which she does a great deal on a wide number of subjects. She's interested in various charities and nursing associations. She's very pretty, charming and well mannered. Dear God... I am beginning to sound like a catalogue.... " Karl murmured apologetically.

"Oh and she's a Protestant." Karl remarked suddenly. Marie Luise jerked upright in his arms. A Protestant marrying into the staunchly Roman Catholic Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty?! Impossible!

"A Calvinist, to be exact." Karl continued. "She made that pretty plain, after our engagement had been announced some minutes earlier to the assembled court, Franz commented to her in passing about herchanging her religion as if it were already a settled matter. She commented that she would do nothing of the kind."

"She told Franz, myself and Johann, very firmly and with infinite courteousness that while she would marry me, and do so gladly for her own sake and benefit of the Grand Duchy of Nassau and the House of Nassau-Weilburg. She would not abjure the faith that she had been born and raised to for anything, not even an arch ducal crown."

"The Grand Marshall, who was standing next to us, did not help things by commenting that the Habsburg House Laws only stated that the emperor, his wife and children were required by custom to be of the Roman Catholic faith. There being no such requirement for the wife of an archduke and certainly not at all for the heir of the Duke of Saxe-Teschen."

"Johann, of course, really did not help matters by bursting into peals of laughter!" Karl chuckled aloud himself as he remembered the scene. Franz's barely concealed bafflement, then consternation and then impotent rage, as his plans partially unraveled upon him was a something that Karl would treasure. It did not make parting with Marie Luise any easier but at least it would give him and her a certain grim satisfaction in the years to come.

Unconsciously Marie Luise found herself liking this young princess, she had spirit that was clear, and not a little courage, and evidently already quite liked Karl. The match might not be a love match but it looked like it would at least be a friendly, happy one.

"Franz, can not do much about it, even if he wanted to and he does. The marriage contract required a great deal of complicated personal and diplomatic negotiation and is needed to mend political fences, between Austria and Nassau. so Franz can not back out of it, now without causing an uproar in the Confederation." Karl remarked with an expression of mild and amused cynicism.

Storm Clouds 1866 (Part II)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crownland of Styria, Austia-Hungary, January 1866.

Ferdinand Ulrich Fürst von Eggenberg, emerged from his study in the Schloss Eggenberg, and made his way towards the Great Library of the palace. His mother was entertaining several guests this evening, and Ferdinand Ulrich had excused himself after they had finished an excellent dinner, prepared by the palace staff, to deal with some personal letters that had arrived with the evening post. His wife and children were away in Vienna visiting relations and friends over the remainder of the new year, while he had lingered in Graz at attend to family estate affairs and discuss with his mother, their plans for the coming year. In all it had been a pleasant, contented and quiet yuletide season, although prospects for the new year of 1866, seemed a bit disheartening, due to the ongoing conflicts and arguments between Austria and Prussia within the German Confederation.

Bismarck had caused a major political fuss in the Bundsrat, by trying to bar Denmark from formally entering the Confederation, a move welcoming by almost all the member states, Prussia included. He had been furious of course, when he had been over ruled by the Bundsrat and his own sovereign. So he had gone out of his way to increase the friction between Austria and Prussia over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The diplomatic discussions with Denmark and the Confederation were however ongoing and Bismarck found he could not derail them, they would probably wind up sometime in later in the year or early spring of 1867. Evidently King Wilhelm I, had put his foot down, hard, and Bismarck had had a most unpleasant interview over the matter.

Ferdinand Ulrich, was worried, there was talk throughout the member states of the possibility that the conflict between Austria and the states allied to it and Prussia and it's allies would combust into open conflict, perhaps even outright war. That same worry was in all the papers, the cities and countryside. Everyone hoped it would not be so of course, and the belief that cooler and sensible heads would prevail as it had in the past. Ferdinand Ulrich was not sure that would be the case, he sensed trouble in the wind. Bismarck signing political treaties with both the Kingdoms of Italy and Poland, signaled warning bells in his mind, about the Prussians intentions.

Ferdinand Ulrich rubbed absently at his long, dark brown sideburns as he walked. His childhood had been an unsettled one, he had been born in 1810, one of the rare moments of peace during the ongoing Napoleonic Wars. His birth had caused something of a scandal at the time, and still caused him and his mother trouble from time to time thereafter. That fact that his mother, was unmarried had been part of the scandal, the other part had been caused by who his father was. His mother was of a fresh light complexion with beautiful green eyes. His own eyes, were of a cast of equal parts blue and green, a professional artist would have called them cyan. They sparkled like a bright summer sky. His colouring was darker then his mother's, almost swarthy. This was not all that surprising, given that his father was Napoleone di Buonaparte, also known to posterity as Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. The same straight, ever so slightly bent nose, marked his face, as did the same somber and serious expression. There had been no mistaking his parentage as Ferdinand Ulrich had grown up, his resemblence to his half-brother, the Herzog von Reichstadt, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, and head of the Habsburg cadet house, of Habsburg-Bonaparte, or Habsburg -Korsika as it was called, was painfully obvious to all who looked upon him.

Despite the scandal, Ferdinand Ulrich had been loved and adored by his mother, thorough out his childhood. He had nearly become an orphan, in 1813, when his mother had impulsively joined in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Fortunately his mother had survived what was deemed a mortal chest wound by the intervention of two friends, the Prussian general , Graf Sonder and the fellow Styrian, General Eisen. Who had pulled her from the battlefield and managed to save her life. Both men, were to put it bluntly, some of the odds people in the world, let alone the German Confederation! Graf Sonder had been born in th 1600s, had trained as an alchemist and made a number of useful scientific observations and inventions. However he had suffered a catastrophic accident when a chemical experiment he ha been conduction, exploded in his face, leaving his badly injured and blind. He had directed his assistants in rebuilding his ruined face, body and limbs with exotic metals, leathers and woods and strange elixirs. Graf Sonder was now more construct then human, but lived on and his skills and knowledge grew with each passing year. He had served the Kingdom of Prussia for the better part of two centuries now, having achieved a strange sort of immortality through his accident. He was currently the Inspector General of the Federal Army of the German Confederation and had done much serious work in developing a common tactical doctrine, equipment and organization for the Federal Army. His statutes written at various time up to 1864, were the order of things within the various states, although he had suffered some frustrations particularly with regards small arms and artillery establishments. While he had managed to get common agreement on calibers and weights, he had not been able to get a common weapons design into service, three rifles and their carbine and short rifle derivatives were in service. so while their ammunition had been to some extent, at 11-mm cartridges, the ones in Bavaria and Austria, used metallic copper cartridges, the Prussians used paper ones. On top of that three rifle designs were in co-current use: the Prussians and several German States use the Dreyse or Dreyse-Sunder rifles, the Bavarians used the Blitzgewehr rifles, the Austrians and most of the other southern states used the Wanzel or Werndl-Holub rifles. Further the Prussian artillery establishment was the most backward of the German States, due to Bismarck's and Roon's opposition, consequently the Prussians had fewer rifled guns and too many smoothbores, compared to the other artillery establishements, and the Austrian establishment was the most modern of any of them.

Eisen was a mystery in his own right, he had been born in Styria at some time in the past, although he himself was unaware of where, when or the attendant circumstances or even who his parents or creator where. He towered over normal men, being some seven feet and two inches in height, with a long heavily muscled torso, with a metal covered head and metal limbs. He was possessed of immense, almost supernatural strength and stamina. Mother had told him stories of seeing him hurl heavy bronze cannon and supply wagons out of his way, seemingly without an effort at the battle of Aspern-Essling. A 12 pdr cannon ball had struck him in the same battle and had only succeeded in enraging the towering giant. Eisen had served the House of Austria in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars since he had walked out a wood in the 1790s to join an Austrian regiment that was fighting the French, armed only with a old hunting musket and a massive woodsman's axe. Eventually he had become a general officer in Austria's service, but retained a mind of his own, and often took his own course in the wars. He had joined the Tyrolean Insurrectionists against their Franco-Bavarian oppressors and later played a critical role in rescuing Andreas Hofer after his capture by the French and Bavarians. There was a rumour, that Eisen had told Kaiser Franz I to go to hell, when he had re-demonstrated Eisen for taken part in the affair against his orders. Eisen had remarked something to the effect "that sovereigns looked after their vassals, as the vassals looked after their sovereigns.". Ferdinand Ulrich had heard this from his two informal "uncles", the Archdukes Karl and Johann. Both knew his mother extremely well, and were both warm friends and almost an adoptive family to both his mother and himself. His mother had named Archduke Karl and Johann, as legal guardians for Ferdinand Ulrich, following her near death at Leipzig in the event that anything happened to her before he reached his legal majority. Consequently, Ferdinand Ulrich grew up alongside the children of Archduke Karl and the Archduke Johann. Ferdinand Ulrich enjoyed a close friendship with many of them, in particular Karl's eldest son, Albrecht, who had risen to corps command in the Army. Several of the letters he had been reading moments ago, came from Albrecht and the news was unsettling. Albrecht felt that war if is came would be soon and might go badly, he had entreated his "brother" Ferdinand Ulrich to come to his assistance as he had been placed in command of the forming Army of Bohemia (based in Prague) , which would Austria's principal army if it came to a fight. Albrecht assumed that some higher ranking officer, who enjoyed the Imperial and Royal Court's confidence would be named to formal command, soon and he would be slotted into command of one of the Army of Bohemia's infantry corps. He wanted Ferdinand Ulrich with him, in that event.

Ferdinand Ulrich was somewhat wary of the request, he had been in semi-retirement for some time, more interested in scholarship and scientific studies, then serious military duties. Still, he was an accomplished military engineer and artilleryman with a record of competence in peace and war alike, since he's started his military service in 1831 and if both his monarch and his surrogate "brother" needed him, he could not in good conscience turn down the request to serve.

The Library door was ajar when he finally reached it, lost momentarily in his own thoughts.

The angry vocal blast that issued from the half open doors of the Library, jarred him back into sudden awareness of his surroundings. Even the metal construct servitor standing by the doors, jumped in surprise at the Furstin von Eggenberg's outburst. Ferdinand Ulrich steeled himself to knock at the door, to announce himself. Sudden he felt like a young cadet presenting himself for an important inspection, not the accomplished and seasoned man of fifty-six that he was now. A rueful smile touched his lips for a moment. His mother, possessed a smoldering hot temper that had always been charitably described as "fiery" even by her friends. Something that had just been said in the Library had obviously enraged her beyond endurance.

As he entered the Library and joined the people grouped around the fire place, his mother was swearing in a decidedly unladylike manner, using the sort of language generally monopolized by officers grooms in the privacy of the stables or the drivers of a supply wagon train stuck in the mud or a river crossing. Well, mother had been in the Army since 1795, and had learned to swear like a trooper as readily as anyone else, and the Austrian army had plenty of languages to chose from! Ferdinand Ulrich just managed to repress a laugh, when he saw the expression of Feldzeugmeister Graf Baird de Auchmeddan, his dark eyebrows had shot up his forehead in mild surprise and not a little bemused reproof. Which made little difference to his mother as she stood next to the fireplace, pacing back and forth in what seemed a raging fury.

Baird de Auchmeddan, looked up at him briefly from his armchair, and quietly but humourously remarked.

"Eisen, did call her Prinzessin Höllenfeuer (Princess Hellfire), when they first met." A moments pause. "He was not wrong."

Ferdinand Ulrich, felt a pang of sadness at this, neither he or his mother had seen much of Eisen in the past years, he had retreated into the Syrian mountains and forests he loved best and they only heard from him very infrequently in letters he posts to them. The last two years he had been utterly silent, which worried both of them beyond words. There was a distinct possibility that the strange, part mechanical part human Eisen had finally died. Ferdinand Ulrich felt he and his mother owed Eisen a great deal, certainly more then could ever be easily repaid even if one had a life time to do it. He had been a close friend and guardian to his mother and to him after his birth. He had protected them both from danger, and been a quiet confident and friend when they needed in times of stress or trouble. Eisen had never asked anything in return for this, which said much about his generosity of heart and his value of their friendship.

Storm Clouds 1866 (Part I)

Schloss Eggenberg, City of Graz, Crownland of Styria, Austia-Hungary, January 1866.

Fürstin Marie Luise von Eggenberg, gazed into the flicking and twisting flames of the cavernous fireplace set into the wall of the great library. Winter had not yet released the Styrian countryside from it's grip and the warmth of the roaring fire was most welcome. The glittering lights in the darken room, bathed her in flickering shadows and golden red hues. She wore surprisingly simple garments for one of her rank and wealth, a short grey jacket with grey embroidery, and a high standing green velvet collar. The short jacket merged with an long skirt of jewel toned green, embroidered at the hem with black and silver lace. A frilled, white shirt, was visible at her throat, which was decorated with a black silk stock, and a broach that bore the Eggenberg family's full coat of arms in decorative enamel. Soft beige gloves, encased her hands where they emerged from the jacket's green velvet cuffs.

Marie Luise's green eyes sparkled with the flame light. Her hair, formally a lovely blond, now softened by age into a pleasant blend of silver white and gold tresses was held in place by a mix of braids and a gold, engraved tiara. One of her hands, rested upon the mantle piece, as she continued her silent contemplation of the news that had been brought to her attention tonight.

Three guests sat around the fireplace, with her, either in chairs or upon a nearby settee. Two wore the uniforms of officers of the Imperial and Royal Army, while the third wore the uniform of the Moniteur-Bureau . The two soldiers were Oberstleutnant Friedrich Graf von Beck-Rzikowsky, and Feldzeugmeister Matthias David Graf Baird de Auchmeddan. The third person, a young woman, sat upon the settee silently smoked a cheroot set into a metal and enameled cigar holder, was Dana Ritterin Timková von Krönungsschild.

Marie Luise tapped the stone mantle piece with her gloved fingers several times meditatively, before looking up from the fire place and addressing herself to her guests.

"You think it will come to war, Matthias?" Marie Luise finally said into the quiet that surrounded the small gathering. Matthias looked up from the cup of coffee he was sipping, and considered the question for a long moment. He nodded soberly and silently, his dark brown eyes intensely thoughtful then began speaking in that dry, matter of fact tone that she had learned to expect from him. Matthias Graf Baird de Auchmeddan, came from a very old Anglo-Scottish-Irish family of mercenaries who could be found all over Europe, where various branches of the Baird de Auchmeddan family had gone in previous centuries seeking service. Matthias was nearly fifty years of age, had been born in Austria (like several generations of his forebearers) and had served the House of Habsburg loyally and with courage and quiet competence for all his adult life in it's various wars, insurrections and border disturbances. He had also risen to his current high rank, almost completely on merit, as he had few patrons within the power structures of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was less exceptional then it might have been in other nations, because the Habsburgs (both past and present) often had an eye for talent and were less concerned about where a person was from and what their social background was, then they were concerned about a person's competence and loyalty.

Matthias, wore his dark brown, almost chestnut black hair unfashionable but practically short. His one concession to current fashion was his thick side burns and mutton chop whiskers, which were the same dark colour, although fringed in places with touches of silver. Otherwise, his face was clean shaven and neat of profile marked by a strong jaw and a pleasant mouth more given to smiling then frowning. Gold rimmed glasses rested on his patrician nose. He possesses a high, broad forehead which gave a hint of his keen brain and powers of concentration, his hair line show signs of receding to which he was ruefully indifferent.

"Bismarck, is hounding the cabinet into a corner - has been since the War in '64 - with his 'issues' about the condominium that currently governs and administers the duchies of Holstein and Schleswig. The ability of the government to find a peaceful solution to the crisis he is busy creating is being sharply reduced with each passing day. What's really at stake, is not the two duchies, but who dominates the German Confederation. Austria or Prussia."

"The cabinet, believes it has found a way to side step, Bismarck, and force a final agreement over the duchies. Although I do not think their plan will satisfy Bismarck, in fact I think it will enrage or fluster him into doing something drastic and something he probably does not want to do."

"How so, Matthias?"

"Bismarck I think is gambling on pressuring us, to lay down leadership of the German Confederation, voluntarily so Prussia can take the role. A political or diplomatic victory that gives him both that and possession of the two duchies is what he is after, as I see it. A war amoung the states of the German Confederation is probably the last thing he actually wants, particularly as he will have to take a backseat to the Prussian military and the Prussian king, once the shooting starts."

"I'm afraid, that is more or less also the view within his Majesty's Military Chancellery, the Hofskriegsrat, the Ministry of War and the Cabinet." Beck suddenly said from his nearby chair.

Friedrich Graf von Beck-Rzikowsky, was a much younger man then his companion, being only thirty-six, his family was from the Grand Duchy of Baden rather then Austria proper, but his devotion and competence was just as proven. Beck had served in every conflict or operation undertaken by the Austrian Army since 1848 in a mixture of staff, troop, mapping and geographical expeditions. Beck had also been badly wounded a number of times in his service. Like Baird, he wore his hair short and trim, was good looking in mild, affable way, and wore fashionable side whiskers and a smart moustache. He also possessed one of the most reforming, cunning and calculating minds within the Austro-Hungarian General Staff Corps. Not surprising given he had passed out of the Kriegsschule near the top of his class in 1854.

"What is the cabinet's solution to this?" Marie Luise, asked after she had considered these comments. Baird, nodded to Beck, who looks like he wanted to speak.

"The government is going to throw the matter of the disputed duchies before the Confederation council and the High Court, at the next meeting of the Bundsrat in Frankfurt-am-Main, this coming February. Putting the matter before the member states of the Confederation will put the whole affair outside of Prussia's hands, and ours too." Beck remarked ruefully. "It might not produce a political result we desire but it will definitely create one we can live with, although the Prussians will likely be less happy about it."

"I think, they are wrong, on this being a solution everyone can live with." Timková, finally remarked from the settee. Marie Luise, turned her gaze on the young woman. Like, Beck she was young, although her age was hard to judge, given her finely chiseled, beautiful slavic looks, set off by dark black hair and sparkling amber coloured eyes. Her family was of Austro-German and Slovakian origins. Her service had not been as long or as varied as either Baird's or Beck's but it had been distinguished, both by steady competence and quiet courage. Timková belong not to the regular military branches of the K.u.K Wehrmacht, but to the Moniteur-Bureau. An organization that had overseen and overwatched the Austrian military since it had been formed during the revolutionary and napoleonic wars under the aegis of the Hofskriegsrat.

"The Confederation is split, fractured if you like, on two lines. Those that support us, and those that support Prussia. On our side is the states of the South: Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and the Free city of Frankfurt-am-Main. In the West and North we have, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Schaumburg-Lippe, and Saxe-Lauenburg. In the Center and East, we have Saxony and Ruritania. The rest of the north German states are firmly in Prussia's camp: Anhalt, Oldenburg, Lippe-Detmold, The Hansa towns, Waldeck, the Mecklenburg Grand duchies, and Brunswick. They also have the lone south German state of Hohenzollern on their side to complicate things. It is anyone's guess who the disputed duchies will support if it comes to a trial of strength. The same can be said of Luxembourg."

"What ever the diplomatic manoveurings of either of Austria or Prussia, this issue is going to come down to a fight, a nasty one and it will be soon."

"How can you be sure?"

"The Prussians have signed an diplomatic agreements with the Kingdoms of Italy and Poland, and I do not have to be a mind reader to guess what that agreement is for and what provisions it contains, particularly the secret provisions."

"She's right, I am afraid." said a voice from the library doorway. A major wearing the uniform insignia of the Imperial and Royal Evidenz-Bureau remarked softy.