Chapter 18
The note from Carl came at dawn. They would meet in the woods, halfway up the mountain near an abandoned shack, not the hunter's cabin. It was located five miles from the inn.
Erasmus and Phileas took horses most of the way and walked the rest, getting there early. Together the brothers circled the area, checking for danger and before settling inside the frozen rotted shack to wait.
Carl showed up on time. He also came by horseback, nervously looking around as the two watched his progress.
Carl couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched. He had circled and back tracked to make sure it wasn't so. Yet, there was no shaking it off.
What I am about to do is treason. I could get killed if anyone reports this. Eric would do it himself if he finds out. Thankfully, he is too busy making a name for himself.
A canny one, Eric… Always has been. He saw from the start where his claim to fame would be. Princess Vicky needs support badly, and Eric made himself her newest friend the moment he walked into the palace. Eric will win her over to the traditional Prussian way. I have no doubts. The silver-tongued devil can do anything.
I admire him so much, even while scared of him.
Carl brought himself back to the present, scanning the rolling snow-covered hills again.
Yes, Eric will win over the princess, or have her eliminated. It froze my blood to hear such a threat against a royal family member. I can't go directly to Erasmus's brother. That will be expected. I must warn someone to keep the princess safe.
Erasmus watched Carl's horse come up the path. "I will go meet him. You stay here and keep watch."
Phileas caught his brother's shoulder. "I thought you said you weren't taking over." He looked back at Carl, felt his ill ease. "Something is very wrong here. He's scared."
Erasmus agreed. Carl was looking over his shoulder far too often. "I haven't heard anything but his horse," Erasmus scanned the woods again. "Everything is so quiet when it snows. Would we hear anything? Please, stay here."
"No." Phileas gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze and let go. "We go together. I don't see it, but he thinks he's being followed. Keep your eyes open and moving."
They approached; Carl stepped down from his horse.
Over a rise in the woods farther up the mountain, Herr Baron, Colonel Eric Wilhelm Von Hohenbergen Von Kessler looked through the bare forest, watching as his stepbrother meet with two English agents.
His father's bid for comfort in his old age had tied him to a mouse of a woman, willing to play nursemaid. At least that had been the way it had looked. Then, he doted on her son, raising his position, affording him prestigious soft duties in easy places. Carl only spent a month a year with his regiment.
I could almost admire her for it, if her son had not turned into a political weasel easily led by foreign notions. Now she is packed away, awaiting her own dotage.
And Carl…
I would have taken him under my wing, fixed the damage soft duty had done. But then… then my miserable stepbrother made friends with the enemy. Carl has always supported the King. For that, I patiently explained how the English were out to weaken Prussia's place as the backbone of the German States. "They want to turn the monarchy into a watered-down figurehead with the masses ruling themselves through Parliament. Tradition and the divine ordinance of the aristocracy would be stamped out." I told him the English were scheming, told him his new friend was a spy. That should have been enough. He promised to mend his ways, then sent a message to England. Now, he has proved his disloyalty.
Eric looked away. A slight pang of unusual guilt struck him.
I think I know what he will tell. He will say I threatened the princess. I didn't. The princess will be shown that uniting Germany under a strong ruler is the better way. If she refuses to see that, she will be gotten rid of. I will convince the Regent to find some remote castle for her to grow old in where her English views will no longer be a threat.
What that fool down there thinks… If he tells them I will harm the princess, with my reputation what it is… it will be believed. Phileas Fogg will believe it. He knows me well; knows I don't flinch from doing what must be done. He does not know me well enough not to believe I would attempt to assassinate a Prussian Crowned head, English born or not.
A diplomatic nightmare will come of this… I can't afford it. Better the messenger and the spies disappear before I am accused of treason.
"Soldier," Von Kessler whispered to the man beside him.
The Army marksman came smartly to attention.
"The lone man walking toward that pair of English spies is a traitor." Von Kessler said. "Deal with him accordingly, before he speaks with them."
The marksman moved to a tree to follow that order. He squatted down. Braced himself and took aim.
Von Kessler turned to the cavalry officer in charge of the detachment he had brought. "Lieutenant, when the traitor is killed, deal with the spies. Kill them both."
After giving those orders, Von Kessler mounted his horse and headed back to the main camp.
Less than a minute later, he heard the shot that killed his stepbrother. He heard several other shots as the marksman took aim at the English spies. Eric supposed the Lieutenant had given that order. Eric rode over a ridge. The sound of shots and hooves beating through the snow-covered mountains pursuing the Fogg brothers faded away.