Place: Royal Palace in Greifenburg
Date: 29.8.461 (of God’s Mandation)
Recently, a messenger had arrived. He had brought news from Olemar, very bad news. As a result, a crown council was convened. A number of ministers walked along the corridors towards the meeting room. At the same time the maids were cleaning the huge paintings that lined the corridors. The door opened and closed, opened and closed until everyone had finally arrived. Our Highnesses the King and Queen were also present. "My lords and ladies, please take a seat," the king requested. His wife, Queen Katharina with her flowing, long hair, was sitting to his left. In stark contrast to her, the royal advisor Gabriela, with her ever-pale face and calculating manner, was sitting to his right.
Apparently, only five ministers had been invited. More people weren’t privy to today's topic. "Well then, gentlemen!" His Majesty began his explications. "Something very worrying has come up regarding the person in Olemar. I assume that you can still remember what we are talking about here. Two of those present nodded. The Minister of the Interior had to think for a moment, but then also gave a sign of confirmation. The king continued: "It seems that he has escaped." This statement now seemed to be received relatively calmly by all but one person. Upon hearing this, there was great surprise on the queen's face. Her husband, although usually better at hiding his feelings, also showed clear signs of being embarrassed by the situation. Apparently, His Highness had already been informed of the news, but had not yet informed his wife.
"Escaped? How is that meant to be understood, Your Highness?" Katharina addressed her husband. He replied as plainly and unemotionally as he could: "Exactly as it is formulated in the report. He’s gone. His current whereabouts are unknown. It seems that the child forcibly got rid of his brother and then fled. An investigation is already underway." She looked at Maximilian I intensely and with a worried expression as he spoke. Instead of her, however, the royal advisor raised her voice: "If I may speak? I have something I would like to highlight, something that is very important." Everyone looked at her. "Well, this information is only known to Our Highnesses, but I must emphasise the importance of securing the 'item'." The king's sharp gaze fell on her. She added: "May I ask Your Majesty's permission to share the information with the ministers present? I think that the threat to state security is an appropriate reason for this.
The sovereign gave her a look that signalled understanding. He moved closer to his wife and the two of them had a silent conversation for a minute. Then he returned to Gabriela and said: "You have our permission." - "Thank you, Your Majesty!" The lady then began to inform all those gathered about the pendant. Five out of five ministers were clearly shocked by these revelations. Consequently, it was jointly decided, that a THOUROUGH investigation into the incidents be launched, for which a special team would be dispatched. All those involved would be questioned and a search for the boy would begin. What the crown council did not realise was that this was already far too late.
After the meeting, everyone went back to their duties. The king seemed calm, but as he left the meeting room, there was clearly worry on the queen's face, although she tried to hide it. She plucked at her husband's robes and the two began to talk quietly as they made their way to their chambers. The advisor rushed straight into her study. Gabriela sat down on the table and began to draw up the necessary documents and orders that the situation demanded. Behind her, however, the door suddenly opened slowly with a creak. The woman was startled for a moment, but when she turned around she saw that it was only her son. He had just entered without knocking. "Lucius, mommy's busy right now. Please don't disturb me." The boy replied: "I've already finished my stuff for today, mother. Can I go and play ball in the garden?" - "Yes, you can." - "And can I have some sweets, too? I won't eat too many, I promise." The mother looked into her son's childlike eyes. He really wasn't THAT young anymore, but in her eyes he would always be the little child she had given birth to. She couldn't say no. "Okay, but really not much." - "Okay, thank you, mum!" And he was gone again.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
That night, Gabriela went to a different place. She made sure, that no one saw or recognised her and went through a secret door in the palace's private library. Here she alone walked down a narrow, dark staircase with a candle in her hand. The passage ended at a door somewhere in the basement of the palace. She unlocked it with a large, ancient key and stepped in. The room she entered had no windows. However, there were long curtains on the walls, bookshelves and a table with stacks of books and glasses on it. The woman walked towards one of the shelves and took something from one of the lower rows. It wasn’t a book, but a small doll the size of a hand. The lady carried it over to the desk and started looking for a particular book. It was the fourth one in the right-hand pile. Having finally found it, she opened it and leafed through it until she found the page she needed.
Then she began to read aloud from it in a strange, ancient language. At the same time, she took the hairpins she had brought with her and pierced them through the doll. Having completed this ritual, she didn’t stop there. She rummaged around for another book, which she found quite quickly. Then she picked up quill and ink and began to draw what appeared to be a magic circle on a large sheet of parchment. When she had finished it, she placed the doll in the centre of the circle she had drawn and began to read something aloud again. After that she took the candle and lit the parchment with it, which also set the doll on fire, albeit only briefly. Sceptically she looked at the slightly burnt doll, which immediately went out again. "Failure," it escaped her.
Finally, the woman went over to the corner of the room and pulled aside the curtain. Hidden behind it was a small altar, almost like a house altar. Why one would need to hide other things in an already secret room is left to one's own interpretation. Nevertheless, it was no ordinary altar. The small figure standing on it wasn’t just a saint or anything like that, but a depiction of an anthropomorphic beast with horns. Gabriela lit two candles to the left and right of it and said a short silent prayer. With her hands folded in front of her, she could be heard whispering, "Lord Voland, destroy the enemies of mankind." Then she put things back the way they were before. She glanced over at the candle standing on the table, illuminating the cold, rough stones of the vaulted ceiling.
"Everything will go according to plan. Don't worry, Gabriela," she began her soliloquy. "None of them have the knowledge they would need to bring back the old. And they never will! I'll make sure of that. Things may have gone off the rails a little, but the possibility of that was always there." She sat down on the armchair and puffed intensely. But then something began to build up inside her. She clenched her hands into fists and clenched her teeth until they were grinding. In a fit of rage, the lady then hit the table and almost knocked over the candle! Having realised this, she then went to the nearest shelf and, while screaming, hit it instead. Yet, she soon regained her composure and then stared back in the direction of the ritual, the remains of which were still lying on the floor.
"I... We'll find the people involved. And I....we'll know how to use them. If we can't touch him, there are other ways to exert control." Then she began to remove these traces as well. As she did so, her soliloquising continued unabated. "Only Elisabeth mustn’t be found. That would be a big problem. A very big one, in fact. Could one perhaps....No, we can't take her somewhere else. Unfortunately, that's just not possible."
When she had finished with everything, she took her candle and left the secret underground room again. She closed the old door behind her and climbed back up the dark staircase. At this point, she hadn't realised that the boy was already with the revolutionaries. The thought of that happening had occurred to her, of course, but she thought it too unlikely due to the circumstances. This wouldn’t turn out to have been the smartest attitude.
