Tuesday 29 March 2011

A fleeting visit

The Baron’s carriage drew up outside the Stadthaus in Stonew. The Baron would have preferred to have ridden, but the carriage allowed him time to study various papers while he was travelling and the Freistadt couldn’t be run just from his office. The door was promptly opened as he walked up the stairs and he was shown into Major Von Barner’s study, a fine room with a view over the Rhine. The Major was standing in anticipation.

“Please sit Major, this is purely a passing visit, and I’d like to pass on a bit of gossip”

“Really Sir, it must be more than that”

“Well it could be, you should be the judge. It was heard indirectly, but by reputable sources that the Duke of Pommaine has changed his Will. Unfortunately there is no other information on what might have happened”

“Interesting. I have also been investigating deeper into the affairs of the Ducal family. It appears that the Duke’s son Johann, Count Vladislav, and his current wife were all at Berbersdorf in Saxony nine years ago at the time of the scandalous surrender to the Austrians”

“You mean when Count Nauendorf surprised the Prussians a second time and took them all prisoner?”

“Yes, the Duke of Courland, who was in charge of the Prussian garrison, was later executed for the crime leaving his family destitute”

“and his daughter became the Duke of Pommaine’s wife, Intriguing”

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