by Eric Flint
It was entirely proper that Albrecht and Mechthilde, with their sons and much of their household, had left Munich to attend his funeral and arrange for the transportation of his body to Pfreimd, where it would be interred in the family crypt. It would be a normal courtesy for Gustav Adolf's regent to permit the transport of the coffin through the Upper Palatinate to reach it.
It was not entirely appropriate that they had left Munich for Johann Franz Horwarth von Hohenberg's estate near Planegg a week ago and had not yet returned. Horwarth, the son of Dr. Donnersberger's predecessor as the Bavarian supreme court chancellor, had been, for some time now, the landgrave's rather unwilling host.
The Leuchtenberger, no matter what Mechtilde said, were the ones who had saddled him with the Grantville women. Possibly witch women. Certainly servants of the Swede.
Maximilian ordered the extension of questioning to those of his brother's servants who remained in Munich. Not, at first, strict questioning.
****
Even without strict questioning, one of the maids provided very troubling testimony. She stated that beginning the day of the archduchess' disappearance, she had been instructed to deliver food, clean towels, soap, and various other amenities to the unused rooms which had served as nurseries for Duke Albrecht's sons. This had continued until the day that the household left Munich, when she was told that they would no longer be needed.
"Surely," Dr. Richel said, "they cannot have been keeping the archduchess imprisoned."
The question returned to Duke Maximilian's mind. "Who would benefit most?"
He ordered one of the guards to bring the maid back. Under a repetition of questioning, still without torture, the maid stated that she had never seen the woman who was apparently staying in the rooms. Whenever she brought supplies, except for the first day, she had left them in the outer nursery. The woman must have been in the small room once used by the wet nurses.
"You are sure that it was a woman?" Father Forer asked.
"Yes, sir." She provided some explanation of the different types of supplies and food that gentlemen and ladies often used. At request, she made a list of everything she had delivered. And everything that she had removed.
"In the brushes, were there curly, black, hairs?"
"No sir. The only hairs that I saw were straight; some were black, others gray. Very long, even for a woman."
"Gray." Richel was thumbing through the list. "What are 'wraps'?"
"Strips of cloth, sir," the maid answered.
"Strips of cloth?"
The court physician leaned forward. "They are often used by people who have injuries or pain in their joints. Bad ankles. Bad knees. They provide some support. In the case of rheumatism or arthritis, they can reduce the swelling somewhat."
"Good God," Richel exclaimed. "Dona Mencia."
"But she was seen to escape," Father Forer exclaimed.
"An old woman dressed in black was seen to escape. No one has heard of her since." The Capuchin frowned.
"But what connection would there have been between Duke Albrecht and Dona Mencia?" Richel meant it as a hypothetical question.
Dekan Golla answered. "The English Ladies. Who stand in the shadow of the inquisition. Duchess Mechthilde was serving as their patron; the archduchess Maria Anna offered to become their patron. There must have been a taint of heresy in both households. And in Vienna, as well; it is widely known that Ferdinand II supports them."
Dr. Richel opened his mouth, then closed it again. This was not a suitable occasion to mention that Duke Maximilian himself and the late Duchess Elisabeth Renata had also supported them. Times had changed.
"Not to mention," the Dominican said, "that many of the families of Munich's patriciate-a class of which Dr. Donnersberger was a member-sent their daughters to the school that the English Ladies conducted. It may be desirable to widen the scope of your investigation."
The Capuchin suggested, on the basis of information received from the man who delivered produce to the English Ladies, that it might be prudent to question their cook.
****
The guard stood quietly behind the maid, listening to the entire conversation. They had forgotten to order him to take her from the room.
He completed his shift on duty and said to his sergeant that he thought he would drop by St. Peter's for vespers. It was something that he did regularly.
The sergeant waved him away.
He went to St. Peter's for vespers; then, on his way back to the barracks, stopped at his mother's house. Where he gave his brother a note and urged him to take it to Duke Albrecht in the country right away.
****
The English Ladies' cook could not be found. Neighbors stated that she and her family had not been seen for a week. The inquisition noted that as a suspicious circumstance.
Many of the families who had sent their daughters to the English Ladies' school could be found. They were questioned, as were their daughters.
They confirmed the reports of the inquisition's agents. Both Dona Mencia de Mendoza and Duchess Mechthilde had been visitors at the house of the English Ladies with some frequency. Upon several occasions, their visits had overlapped.
The inquisition began an extensive investigation of suspicion of heresy within many of the city's most influential families. It was expected to take some time. The affected families were placed under house arrest. This did not prevent four of them from admitting their guilt by fleeing from the city.
****
Duke Maximilian signed the charges against his brother and Mechthilde. Conspiracy to commit treason. That would suffice for the time being. Dekan Golla was preparing charges that would provide a basis for an investigation in regard to heresy and witchcraft.
He dispatched four full companies of troops to Freiherr Horwarth's residence near Planegg. That should be more than adequate; he was informed that they had taken only the usual complement of household guards when they left Munich.
Their first task was to secure the boys and bring them back to Munich. Bavaria still needed heirs; he had no others.
Chapter 47
Ad Extrema Descendere
Planegg, Bavaria
Duke Albrecht gave the guard's brother a reward. A substantial one.
Then he took the information to Mechthilde, whose first thought was that Maximilian would try to take her sons.
Albrecht started to protest; then agreed.
"It's so damned frustrating, Tilda. A lifetime of loyalty, erased as if it meant nothing! He hasn't even asked me if there might be some other explanation than the one Richel is giving him. Every order he issues just feeds into another. But even if he arrests all of us, there's no evidence that could lead to a conviction. None."
"There is my connection to the English Ladies." Mechthilde gestured to the note that the guard's brother had delivered. "They can build on that; will build on that."
"It's not enough."
"There are the two women from Grantville."
"He can't prove a connection."
Mechthilde lifted her chin. "I provided refuge in our apartments in the Residenz for Dona Mencia de Mendoza. From the night the archduchess' disappearance was discovered; she came that evening. I had a place prepared for her. She remained for some time."
Duke Albrecht choked.
"She remained until we came to my brother's funeral. She came with us. She is here."
He looked at her, frozen. Then, "It is far too late for turning her over to Duke Maximilian to do us any good now. The game is too far in play. Why in hell did you do it?"
"I didn't assist the archduchess to leave. But I knew that she planned to. I wanted her to." She gripped his wrist fiercely. "For the boys, Albrecht. For the boys."
****
He issued orders. Tomorrow, the ducal party would hunt. The day after, they would return to Munich.
The servants started packing.
He consulted with the chief huntsman. He wanted to take the boys along, he said, so he
would prefer small game. A reasonable number of beaters.
Guests?
"No, I don't think so. Not so soon after Landgrave Wilhelm Georg's death. Just a private family party. But a nice one. The duchess will accompany us. A picnic lunch, please. Plan on a full day."
The carriage for the duchess?
"No, she will be riding with us. But, yes, bring the small carriage. Some of the ladies in waiting may not wish to ride."
****
So it was decided. They were going. The question was, where? Which way? He sat down to figure that out.
Austria was not possible. Not only would it be hard to get there-most routes between Bavaria and Austria involved mountain passes at which Max's troops could cut them off-but also they would not be particularly welcome when they got there. Ferdinand II was not happy with Maximilian at the moment, but he wasn't particularly happy with any Bavarians.
Additionally, if they went into Austria, that would put Dona Mencia de Mendoza into the emperor's hands. They could not hide her forever. The simplest solution would be to have the old woman strangled, but he was incapable of ordering that.
Letting the old woman fall into Ferdinand II's hands would be equivalent to ordering her strangled. Except that Ferdinand, without doubt, would have her questioned first.
If he ordered her strangled, to be just, he would have to order Mechthilde strangled. She was far more culpable. And she was his wife.
The old woman, he was certain, knew what had happened. Where the archduchess had gone, and why. He had not asked her; it was something that he did not want to know. She knew that Mechthilde had been at least marginally involved. If they went to Austria and Ferdinand II had Dona Mencia questioned, it would have the same eventual effect as if he ordered Mechthilde strangled himself. Or as if they just stayed here and let Max arrest and imprison them.
Austria was impossible.
Tyrol was too far; same problem anyway-mountain passes. The same for Salzburg.
Passau, no good. First, Max's troops could cut them off at the choke point; second, the bishop was Ferdinand II's son.
****
To Dachau. Then over to the Isar, through Freising and Landshut. To the Danube. Across. Into that neck of the Upper Palatinate that reached down toward Passau. Across it; into Bohemia.
Wallenstein. The King of Bohemia. Right now, Wallenstein offered the only possible sanctuary. The only one within reach. There was no time to feel him out first; no time to make an offer and receive a counter offer.
He could only hope that Wallenstein would consider that having all of Bavaria's heirs within his control was a sufficiently important diplomatic edge that he would leave them alive.
Albrecht had no illusions. If Wallenstein did not consider it important enough, they might all die at the end of that route, too.
****
The hunting party rode out. A half hour later, all of Duke Albrecht's household guards rode out, as well. And waited.
Two hours later, the hunting party arrived where the guards were waiting. They had not yet reached the copse where the beaters had been setting up the hunt.
Albrecht looked at Landgrave Wilhelm Georg's head huntsman a little apologetically.
"I can't leave you and your men here. I'm sorry."
The huntsmen were completely unprepared; the guards made short work of the business.
"Leave their bodies here. Perhaps their deaths will spare their families back on the estate the attention of my brother's troops." He was not counting on that, though. Not at all.
They headed northeast, down the Isar. Bishop Gepeckh's men let them through. That saved a lot of time.
The hunting carriage, never built to take the punishment of traveling so far at so fast a rate, had to be left outside of Landshut. The guards commandeered a sturdy market cart with two good horses. It was better than nothing.
****
"They weren't there. We arrived at the estate and they were gone. Hunting, the steward said. Horwarth isn't home, of course. He's been called to Ingolstadt to serve as one of the official witnesses to Farensbach's execution. Duke Albrecht's servants were packing their baggage, to come back to Munich the next day. At first, the captain thought it was routine enough. They'd ordered a picnic; the beaters had been called out. First, the captain just told us all to dismount and wait, so we did. It was when we went to take the horses to the stables that we noticed."
"Noticed what?"
"All the horses that Duke Albrecht's guards ride were gone. And so were the guards. The sergeant went to tell the captain. And they didn't come back."
Richel was having unusual difficulty in thinking clearly. "Didn't come back?"
"From the hunt. Not Duke Albrecht or his wife or his sons. They're gone. And some of their household, plus the guards."
****
When the beaters came in, the captain questioned them about the planned route of the hunting party. The next morning, they traced it out. Only to come upon a local Pfleggerichter and his men investigating six corpses. A local farmer's dog had given the alarm. Freiherr von Horwarth's huntsmen.
It was little comfort to Duke Maximilian's captain that everyone present except himself and his men-the Pfleggerichter, the village mayor, the local peasants-seemed to assume, without question, that a contingent of the duke's troops on their way to reinforce Ingolstadt had just happened to come across a group of lightly armed men out in the open, found them annoying in some way, and killed them for the hell of it. Because they could.
The mayor said, "They do it all the time. We're less than nothing to them, and this was just a little country estate, belonging to the Freiherr. They weren't in a fancy livery or anything, to show that they worked for someone powerful. Just countrymen."
Which provided no answer to the question of where the remainder of the hunting party might be. The captain sent a rider back to Munich.
The Pfleggerichter had suggested the possibility that hostile raiders, perhaps out of Regensburg, had kidnapped Duke Albrecht and his family and were taking them into the USE as hostages. The captain conscientiously reported this theory, but added that he did not think that this was the case. Although the ground was hard, there was no indication that there had been a large number of horses at the scene. Not more than would be accounted for by Duke Albrecht's household and guards.
Large numbers of horses, stopped in any one place for any length of time, left traces of their presence other than footprints.
****
Most of the local farmers were standing around looking at the corpses.
One young man, the oldest son of the village mayor, was making his way to Regensburg. The family had relatives there. They had not always been Catholic; some uncles had left rather than give in to the late Duke Wilhelm's conversion campaign. They kept in touch.
****
Munich, Bavaria
"Pursue them," Duke Maximilian ordered. "Prepare the men to ride as fast as possible, as little extra weight as possible on the horses. And bring me my armor."
"Your Grace," Richel exclaimed. "You cannot. What if…"
"Do you think that I have not ridden with my men before, Dr. Richel? Or that I am no longer capable of doing so?" The graying black eyebrow went up.
"Er, well, no, Your Grace, of course not, but…"
"But you are afraid that if I am killed, then you will have to face Duke Albrecht. Which you will. But there is one other thing that you need to think of, if you plan to keep the position into which you have clawed yourself."
"What?"
"There is only one person in Bavaria who outranks Albrecht. He is still the heir. He has not been indicted for any crime; we have merely lodged charges against him. Not tried; not convicted. Which means that if someone is going to countermand any order that Albrecht has given, I am the one who must do it."
Maximilian moved his arms so the valet could help him put the armor on. "Are you thinking, Richel?"
"Yes, Your Grace, most certainly."
"Then think that I am the only person in Bavaria who can order my brother's execution, if it should come to that. Remember that he can order yours. And ask yourself if you really want to dissuade me from riding after him."
****
Amberg, the Upper Palatinate
Duke Ernst looked at Eric Haakansson Hand. "What do you make of it?" The information that came into Regensburg had been relayed to them by Brick Bozarth, the UMWA man who was dealing with the city council there.
"By itself, not much. With all the other information that has been coming out of Bavaria, actually, I'm inclined to believe it. What Duke Maximilian has been doing is like a witch hunt that isn't a witch hunt. It's not impossible that it has expanded to take in his own brother's family and not impossible that they would be running, if they got wind of it in time."
"Witch hunt that isn't a witch hunt?"
"It's working the same way. That's how the persecutions go. They start with one or two little things, minor, a lot of the time. Then some local official decides that they are serious enough to merit an investigation, so he questions some witnesses and turns in some reports. Mostly, it never goes beyond that. But, sometimes, someone at a higher level picks it up. The witnesses and the accused are questioned again, under torture, until they name others. Accomplices, other witches. Then those are arrested and investigated and indicted and tortured. It can keep expanding and expanding until hundreds of people are involved. That's what seems to be happening in Munich, as far as I can follow it. Except, I think, that no one at all seriously believes that Veronica Dreeson is a witch, much less Mary Simpson. But it's growing the same way, and coming from the highest level, the duke himself. He's the one who is weaving all the separate threads together, seeing patterns. Or, perhaps, Richel or Forer or Golla, which amounts to the same thing. The impetus is coming down from the very highest level of the duchy's administration, so there's no one who can put a stop to it, no one who can call a halt. A witch hunt without witches."
