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Queen Of Chaos

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Part 1 – episode 9.

The autumn came. I was back to work in Rambouillet. There was nervousness in the air. Somehow, the Charny had been regularly in the news the last weeks. They seemed to be good friends with the new English King Edmund. It made Benoît more and more nervous!. It was clear to him that the House of Charny tried to obtain a favorable position, by building up support from the English King. The meetings with Benoît became terrible. He was badly tempered, reacted angered on every word he did not wish to hear. He regularly scolded on his employees. He did not tolerate replies from anyone. He began to see enemies everywhere. The bad atmosphere spread through his staff in Rambouillet. Only Lisa remained undisturbed. According to her, the Charny House neither had a nubile candidate that would be accepted by the d’Archambaults, and the d’Archambaults were reluctant to an alliance with a bastard line either. According to her, Benoît focused too much on the wrong enemy, but it had even to her become difficult to convince him of that, she told me!

In December, something suddenly changed. Benoît had unexpectedly become calmer. He was back on speaking terms. He became very good tempered. At a reception in his offices in Paris, the week before Christmas, he held a very cheerful speech, even with spicy humor in it, definitely not his usual habit! He thanked everyone for the hard and good work during the past year. He was convinced that our hard work would pay off. Completely against his habit in, he even apologized, for his sometimes harsh and rude behavior during the previous months.
"You are a fantastic team, and together we will succeed and reach all our goals!" So he finished. During the reception he even came to me to thank me personally for my hard work and for the efforts that I had already made to the cause of the Artois. He thanked me for the 'two fantastic grandchildren' that I had given him, and for being such a devoted and good mother to them.

Remarkably, Lisa also had changed, but in the reverse sense. She spent more and longer time in Paris. On the Christmas reception I just mentioned, she seemed to avoid me and she neglected my attempts to contact her. In Rambouillet she avoided me either and she entrusted me less information than before. If we conversed, it remained mostly short and limited to essential business. I didn't know what was going on with Benoît, why he had become so optimistic, but I guessed that Lisa’s simultaneous bad mood change was rather a coincidence. It appeared to me as a typical behavior of a woman with a serious relationship problem. But, I barely knew anything about her private life. The day before Christmas, I tried to find out whether she had a relationship problem. She gave no straight answer, but suggested that it was indeed the case. I saw my suspicions confirmed, and I assumed it would pass eventually, as soon as she would have it settled.

The week between Christmas and New year, we spent in Cour-Cheverny. Together with Robert, his parents and the children. There, I saw Robert in one week time more than during the entire previous year. He and Benoît got most of the day at work, while I could be with the children, and I could take some rest. I avoided as much as possible the hustle and bustle of the work, and the visitors, who still came and went, even in Cour-Cheverny. I was especially with Lisa on my mind.

The day after New Year, Benoît and Robert left to Paris. I would stay in Cour-Cheverny until Sunday, and only then return to Rambouillet. In the course of Sunday, the nurses would already move to Rambouillet. I would follow with the children in the late afternoon or evening. But that Sunday morning, little Enguerrand was a little bit sick. It happened sometimes and I did not worry about it. During the day, I got a call from Lisa. She asked if I could pick her up in Vendôme, where she had stayed that weekend. She had already asked a few times (she never told what she did there and it was not my business). It meant that I would not take the autoroute, over Blois and Orléans, but the Routes Nationales over Blois, Vendôme, Châteaudun and Chartres, from where I would continue over the autoroute. It would be a little detour in time and in miles, but it were good, easy roads, with large stretches of dual carriageway in both directions. It would give Lisa and me the opportunity to talk undisturbed about things. It was certainly interesting, as Lisa would have to travel to Paris already the next day. I looked forward to it, because since her mood had changed, we did not had much opportunity to talk to each other.

But eventually, Enguerrand turned out to be really ill. He had fever. It was not worrying, but my mother in law and me decided to keep the children a week longer in Cour-Cheverny. The nurses had already postponed their departure to Rambouillet as a precaution. I would return to pick up the kids the next weekend. So, that evening, I would leave to Rambouillet alone. The meteo was expecting cold weather, clouded but calm and dry, with a possibility, however to icy roads, but only during the second part of the night. I could expect a relatively quiet drive. As I left it was already dark, what was normal that time of the year. As usual, I had to promise to my mother in law to call when I would arrive in Rambouillet.

In Vendôme, I picked up Lisa, at the usual location.
She got into the car.
"Oh! The children are not with you?"
She sounded quite surprised.
"No, Enguerrand is ill. He has fever. Therefore they both stay a week longer in Cour-Cheverny. My mother in law takes care of them. Why?"
"Oh, uh, ..; nothing, I had just looked forward to see them, therefore."

I took the road from Vendôme to Châteaudun. Our usual conversation stayed off, however. Lisa remained silent and she seemed rather nervous. Eventually I took the word myself.
"Lisa, is everything all right?"
"Why?"
"I told you already, you are so taciturn and standoffish to me, lately. Is something bothering you? "
"Oh, Yes, the hustle and bustle of work lately, ..."
"Anything else?"
"Well, I'm a bit troubled with myself, recently."
"Problems with a Monsieur Parfait?"
"Maybe. I am thinking. Wasn’t I better just married, and got kids? Will I ever have children? And with whom? Time keeps running, you know. And those dark days, while all those people cozily celebrate Christmas and new year with their family on their side, it makes my mind a little bit sad."
"This is why you crave that my kids would have been with me?"
"Something like that, Yes."

Then the conversation silenced. But she remained nervous.
"Lisa, do you have health problems?"
"No, absolutely not!"

We were silent again. I wanted to ask about that mysterious pronunciation of her actually several months ago, that ‘something would happen’. But suddenly she took the word herself.
"Aurore?"
"Yes?"
"Téméraire’, does that mean something to you?"
"Téméraire? Yes I have ever even seen that on a cover of a file, in Benoît’s office. I had asked him what that meant."
"And? What did he say?"
"He said Téméraire was part of the motto with which the Artois would defend their claims. It would be the motto of the Artois’ kingship: Téméraire-Hardi-Sans Peur ' ".
"Téméraire-Hardi-Sans Peur?"
"Yes, Benoît said people were working on it. Behind every word would be a vision that supported the claims of the Artois.”
“Did you read it? "
"No, I was not interested. I have just have told him that ' Téméraire ' and ' Hardi ' actually come pretty close in terms of meaning. But Benoît made it clear that they differ indeed. It was all still in concept, but he wanted it anyway as future motto. Why? "
"I just wondered."
"Lisa! Last summer, in Beaugency, remember, you told me that you had the premonition that something would happen. What did you mean that? "
Lisa appeared first to consider her words.
"That hunch, Yes. That I still have it, ... "
"But…?"
"I do not know ... You have surely heard, ' all will be well’, Benoît, said just before Christmas. He seems to be up to something, I think... "
"Lisa, I sometimes have the impression that I am not involved in many things. In the development of plans that anyway could strongly determine my life and that of my children."
"Me too, Aurore!"

I wondered what she meant by that? ‘Indeed, you are not involved in it’, or 'I also have the feeling that you are excluded from important things that concern you’?

We approached Châteaudun. It was quiet on the road. There was little traffic. It was something after eight pm, so I expected that at this rate, we would arrive around nine thirty in Rambouillet. I would have some time to relax afterwards. Open a bottle of wine or so.
There was only one car behind me. It had been following us several miles already. I had expected the driver would overhaul us, but he likely preferred to stay behind me. Probably the driver found it more comfortable to have a vehicle ahead of him, finding the way in the darkness on the unlighted road.

Suddenly I saw in my rear view mirror a flashing light. The car behind us also emitted a siren. "Police?" I said to myself.

In front of me, where the road widened on the approach of a roundabout, stood a policeman -or on closer view a member of the Gendarmerie Nationale - with a fluorescent jacket, waving a red torch lamp, indicating I had to stop in the side street on the right. There stood a Gendarmerie van with flashing lights too.

I followed his instructions and parked my car behind the van with the flashing light. The other police stopped behind me. A Gendarme came to the side window and I turned it open.
"The papers of your car, please, Madame?"
I gave him the papers. He looked at them with a torch. Meanwhile, there was also a Gendarme on the side of Lisa.
"Okay, can I now see your papers and your driving license please? And from the other lady as well?"
"Why?" asked Lisa.
"Just give them, Lisa!" I said.
I gave them our papers.
"Okay, ladies, can you now get off for an alcohol control please?"
"Me also?" asked Lisa.
"You too, Madame! You have a driver's license. If the driver would be under the influence, and you are not, then you can take over the wheel, after we have finished here. "

Lisa and I got off. They brought us to the van and asked us to get in along the side door of the cargo area. This cargo area turned out to be largely empty. Then the side door was closed behind us.
"You are both under arrest!"
"Under arrest? Why? "I asked surprised.
"For conspiracy against the King!"
"Conspiracy ... but?"
"Both of you, hands to the back please!"

It sounded compelling. They handcuffed both of us on the back.
"Go sit there! You are to be brought to a secure custody! "
Lisa and I sat down. By now the van started driving. Then we got both a blindfold.

The van apparently turned to the right, towards Châteaudun. Shortly afterwards we turned right again (they were bringing us to Paris?). But then we slowed down and turned right. We proceeded slowly and I had the impression we were driving in an area. My impression turned out to be correct, because we soon stopped. The side door was opened. We had to stand up and still blindfolded we were had to get out, walk over a tarmac-like surface and climb upstairs. Then we had to sit in a chair and we were clipped a safety belt around the waist. I suddenly realized that we were in an airplane. I wondered what it all had supposed to mean? A conspiracy against the King? One could interpret the claims of the Artois like that. But actually Benoît had never been trying to betray the King directly, or put up a conspiracy to take power. He was obviously doing a campaign concerning the legitimate claims of the Artois, but that was not directed against the person or the power of King Jacques himself. It had to do with a throne that would be vacant soon. But one never knew. Did the Artois get too dangerous for other pretenders, and had some of thm therefore fabricated a story of a conspiracy?

My suspicion that we were sitting in a plane, turned out to be correct. I heard on my right an engine startup, a turbo-prop judging from the sound. Then, an engine started on my left side. The aircraft started moving and shortly thereafter we took off. I wondered where they would bring me to it and what to expect.

And I wondered what was the meaning of the strange talking I heard around me.

(to be continued – end of part 1)

I hope the ordeals you have planned for these 5 lovely ladies (crucifixion, hanging, whipping, slavery or whatever you have in mind) are as well detailed as this first part, excellent story so far!!
 
“Benoît has repulsive plans!”

“He spied on his own bosses. That’s why he was put aside!”

For the first time, I felt like a real queen!

Another sharp pain in my belly. There was blood! I collapsed!

“You are one of us, Aurore!”

"Here, you only count when you have blood on your hands!"

"Have you forgotten about 'Téméraire', Aurore?'

“You cannot run away on such high heeled shoes!”
“I don’t expect to run far anyway!”

The dark still water of the grey misty lake drew me on. A real shroud inviting for suicide!

“Yes, Aurore, the cathedral bells are ringing! What makes you so upset about that?”
“Damn, Lisa! Do you know what they are ringing for!?”

Would I ever have committed that sacrifice for Robert?

Merde! Such an expensive accessory, but it does not open when it has to!

“Aurore! Why didn’t you shoot her, then?”
“Lisa! She is a mother of four!”

“If you return to France, Aurore, you are dead!”

A thrust of a lance in my chest, or my skull split in two halves by a sword! Within a minute it could be so far, but I did not care!

“Wir sind verraten! We have been betrayed!”

"Can I help you?" a friendly lady stood behind me.

Coming up!:attention::attention::attention:

What happened to Aurore? Where is she brought to? What is 'Téméraire' about?:confused:

PART 2 of 'Queen of Chaos' will start soon!:popcorn:
 
What is 'Téméraire' about?:confused:
temeraire.jpg ?

PS Actually, I've just thought of one possible (historical) connection
among the words téméraire, hardi and sans peur... and Artois... but we'll see... ;)
 
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Part 2 – episode 10

"Lisa, you can finally explain what all this means?"

The flight had taken, I had estimated, at least two hours. My seat belt remained fastened. All the time I had to keep a blindfold on. The cuffs had been removed from my back to my front, but I got a pair on my ankles too. After landing, I was taken from the aircraft and put into a car. I had no idea where we were, no one wanted to answer to my questions. I only knew that it was ice cold outside at the place where we had landed and where they had brought me to.

My trip ended in a kind of a cell, where two men in the uniform of the French Gendarmerie finally released me from my blindfold and cuffs. It was a bare room with a bed and some bathroom fixtures. The two left without saying a word and the door got locked. Tired, and wrecked, I fell asleep.

The most surprising was that, already on the tarmac in Châteaudun, I had suddenly noticed people talking a foreign language. A foreign language that I had recognized, since I had heard it before. I recognized and understood snatches of sentences and then I had realized that it was Slovenian, the native language of my mother! And the strangest thing of all was that I thought to hear Lisa also talking that language.

Only the next day, they came to get me out. I was brought into a room with a large fireplace. On the walls hung ancient weapons, coats of arms and hunting trophies. I had more and more the impression that I was somewhere in an old castle. I was sitting at a big heavy wooden table. Then, Lisa entered. It became clear to me that she was involved in this kidnapping – because that was in fact what had happened to me. I wished to know immediately from her what all this had to mean. She sat down at the table too, and put down a pile of files on it.

"So, Aurore, I'm sorry that we had to deal with you so drastically, but we couldn't do otherwise."
"Can you explain me what this all means and what is your role in it?"
"That’s why I am here, Aurore. We had talked the previous evening about Téméraire, Hardi and Sans Peur, remember?"
"Yes!?" I wondered why she started about that.
"You don’t know really what these projects stand for?"
"I told you, it was part of a motto, Benoît said!"
"I think, Aurore, it is time for the truth."
"What truth?"
"Aurore, if it depended on your father-in-law, your husband would once be King of France, right?" "That’s what he dreams of, indeed."
"And later, normally, Robert junior would succeed him, right?"
"That is the plan, yes!?"
"What do you think about that?"
"I do not know?"
"You don’t know? It's about the future of you and your own children?"
"I don't know!" I replied annoyed. "I sometimes don’t like the idea!"
"Wouldn’t you rather want to give the kids a normal education, rather than having to share them constantly with all those higher family interests?"
"Sometimes, I do, but sometimes there are things one has to do. I have little choice!"
"Would you still be in favor of the plan, if the Artois would have innocent blood on the hands?"
"What do you mean?"
"As I said, time for the truth!" And she opened a file.
"What is that?"
" ‘That ', Aurore, is ' Sans Peur '! Let us start with that! "
"What is it about, you can summarize it?"
"Let us put it like this. Benoît is getting impatient, certainly after the events in England, and he has put up some repulsive plans to speed up things. ' Sans Peur ' is the code name of a part of a plan to deal with the Charny as with the Ratisbona. With the Charny, drastic measures will be taken. They are now on holiday at the Spanish coast. They travel back to England in ten days, by airplane. In that plane, there will be a bomb that will explode above the Bay of Biscaye. End of the Charny's, as it is intended that they all will be in the plane. And also of a hundred and fifty other passengers and crew of the plane, because the Charny intend to take a scheduled flight! "
"But, who does such a thing!?"
"The Artois! Your father-in-law! Of course with the help of elements from his entourage! "
"I cannot believe it! And what about the Ratisbona? Would they also be in that plane? "
"The Ratisbona, that is plan 'Hardi'. It is therefore essential to the plan that the plane would take off in Spain. It is intended that all the blame of the attack would point to the Ratisbona. They would be presented as the key figures of a Spanish conspiracy plot against the d’Archambaults. And who would then rise up as the great savior of the throne? Of course the Artois. 'Hardi' is actually a kind of seizure of power. Dozens of people in the Kingdom are now ready, waiting for instructions to get into action!"

I was speechless. I browsed through the files. It seemed to be correct what Lisa said. Incredible! Where was I in? Not something that I wanted to be involved with! And certainly not for my kids. It made me furious that they, so small and harmless, would be indirectly implicated in such crimes!
"Lisa! No one can stop that?"
"Actually! Yes it can!"
"Why isn’t it done ?"
"That’s also simple: raison d'état!"
"What do you mean?"
"In order to place a bomb in an airliner, you need a lot of security measures to be circumvented. Also setting up such a large organization for 'Hardi' is enormously complex. The Artois cannot do that without assistance."
"So?"
"So, they get help from their entourage. There were a quite a few people of doubtful reputation among them."
"I thought so, like those guys from ' Réaction Française’ for example."
"Or some of those so-called entrepreneurs and businessmen. However, actually there were criminal figures. That kind of people supports the Artois."
"And how are those able to get a bomb on an airplane?"
"Do you remember Gaëtan the Beauvesque?"
"Yes. A creepy man. Seemingly gentlemanlike, correct and polite, but clearly cunning and totally unreliable. I would not want to cooperate with him. "
"Actually Colonel de Beauvesque. He had a high post at the counter-espionage service. He wanted to become the head of it, but he was denied that promotion. He blamed a plot from Spaniards in the secret service against him. That is why he got himself into the entourage of the Artois. In reality he was pushed aside by the counter-espionage because he had become totally unreliable. He had set up within his department his own intelligence network, which actually worked more for himself than for his organization. He even spied on his own bosses, that’s why he was put aside. The remnants of this network are his contacts that will exploit the security flaws at the Spanish airport, to put the bomb in the Charny’s airliner."
"If people know, why are they not stopped?"
"Look, Aurore, after the dismissal of de Beauvesque, the counter-espionage considered it worthwhile to keep monitoring their former employee. So they followed his involvement with the Artois-clan. They have dropped an undercover agent in that entourage."
"Coincidently a female agent?"
"If you would think it is me, then you are wrong, Aurore!”
“And if you were, you would not tell me anyway, Lisa!”
"Is correct! But you will have already understood that internal security at the Artois is virtually non-existent. Just look at me. They clearly have not checked me, because otherwise I would never have been able to bring you here! About that, they are very nonchalant. Far too complacent, in fact. But that way was the network of the Artois. It is now completely scrutinized by the counter-espionage. "
"But why do they nothing?"
"They only will do something, listen carefully, following the attack on that plane!"
"Who says?"
"Because only then, they have something in their hands, a case! A proof of a real conspiracy. That stuff about the claims of the Artois was so far nothing more than what non-threatening scheming of a self-proclaimed pretender. It is not a crime, as long as the plans do not turn into real action against the Crown. But secret services monitor it anyway, because the Artois bring together so many suspicious people. The attack on the plane will give the security services a sound reason to intervene!”
“The Artois are more a threat than I thought!”
"That is the irony! The threat from the Artois is in itself not so great. Whatever the ego of your father-in-law would think about it. But there are all those others to eliminate at one stroke now! "
"Eliminate? "
"There will be lots of arrests. The Artois themselves, of course, since they are the hub of a conspiracy against the Crown. Benoît, Robert, everyone you know, they all will go behind bars. And even more a lot of suspects from that entourage. I can assure you, the King’s garrotes will run well over the next year. You and me would also have been there."
"The strangling pole? Me? Why? "
"You were too deep in it, and you worked actively with it. The best that you would stand, was a life sentence in the Bastille or, more likely, on Devil's Island. But more than likely you would have been executed with all the adult Artois. Actively involved or not. Be sure of that! "
My stomach turned. I imagined myself already being garroted.

"So, we had Sans Peur, there is Hardi, and..?"
"And Téméraire?"
"Right! Téméraire! And that is about you, Aurore! "
"About me? Comment..? "
"Benoît has meanwhile come to the conclusion that the successor of King Jacques II will have to marry or be married to the eldest daughter of King Jacques II. So, shortest way to bring the Artois on the throne would be by marrying either himself or Robert to Isabella."
"But both Benoît and Robert are already married. That is not possible? "
"No, unless ..."
"Unless what!?"
"The main obstacle between a marriage between Robert d’Artois and Isabelle de d’Archambault, that's you now, Aurore!" "But that means ..."
"This means, that the intention was that you would die. Not just die! As part of the plan, you would get killed in an assassination. Then the King would call the State of emergency, under pressure from Benoît, who would strengthen his power. Meanwhile, Robert could marry Isabella. Your father-in-law is quite a while betting on two horses, Aurore, and you would be sacrificed! "
"But, that is not acceptable. What about my children then? "
"They too would be killed! That would increase the dramatic effect! "
"What!? Incredible! The bastard! And Robert knows about it? "
"Sure! He fully agreed with that strategy! Great family, those Artois, no? Benoît sacrifices a few things. His personal ambition to become King, his rejection of an alliance with the d’Archambaults, and his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren. In return he achieves his main goal, an Artois on the throne of France, himself dictating the conditions!”.
“Unbelievable!”
“Actually, the most difficult part for Benoît is the sacrifice he has to bring himself. But he could not risk an election like in England, because he could not raise enough funding to bribe out his competitors. And getting the necessary support from the Iberian aristocracy would be difficult anyway, for obvious reasons! Benoît now stands for the difficult decision to give up his personal ambition to the throne, and pass it to his son. Coping with that has made him so bad tempered the last months. But once he was convinced it would work that way, he had accepted the consequences for himself!”
“The hypocrite!”

"And actually, Aurore, I have something else here that will interest you. "
Lisa gave me another file.
"Tell me, I shall read it afterwards."
"A few years ago,, Aurore, you have undergone a medical fertility examination, ordered by Benoît, remember?"
"Yes!"
"Something very peculiar came out of it."
"Then what?"
"That your farther, Enguerrand d’Artois, cannot be your biological father!"
"What? Impossible! "
"Without doubt! It is demonstrated by your genetic material. Interesting for Benoît to know, of course. "
"He knew this?"
"He must have suspected that there could have been such a thing. His own genetic material is compared with yours. There is absolutely no similarity!"
"But! Who is my biological father, then? "
"No idea! The only one to know, was your mother! "
"And what are the consequences for me, if this would be revealed?"
"The consequences are already there! You are married to an Artois and you have children from him."
"Of course! That's it! As Benoît already knew this in advance, then he could marry me to Robert without danger for genetic complications for our children. "
"Voilà!"

I was completely overwhelmed.
"I want time to think about it all!"
"Take your time. Take those reports with you. Then you can read them and see for yourself."
“Lisa, where am I?”
“In Slovenia! That’s all you are supposed to know, Aurore!”
“Slovenia?”
“Yes, Aurore, in the native country of your mother. The country of your real roots!”
"What happens to me?"
"You just stay here until further notice! Remember! If you return to France, you are dead! In all options!”
"But ... and my children then?"
"I'm sorry, Aurore. We had expected that you would have taken them with you to Rambouillet. When I joined you in Vendôme, we could not stop it anymore. Everything was arranged: the Gendarmerie patrol, the plane, ... "
"I didn't know there was an airport in Châteaudun."
"There is a military airfield. But there is no active flying unit on. It is a reserve field, used for training and logistics by the military and the Gendarmerie. There is a logistical unit that recovers the still usable parts from discarded aircraft as spare parts and the rest is demolished. It is an automated airport, usually without manned control tower. The runway is used mainly for training purposes, also on Saturday and Sunday, and the Gendarmerie sometimes uses it to fly over prisoners, so our presence had nothing suspicious."
"But my disappearance cannot have remained unnoticed? What is the reaction? "
"We don’t know yet.. "
"And what will actually happen? "
"What do you mean?"
"Sans Peur, will that still go on?"
"I fear it will."
"But all those people in that plane?"
"It is not in my hands, how bad it is. I'll be honest: we had hoped that, by getting you and the kids out of there, a delay would come. "
"But you know it! You can still stop it! "
"For security reason I can currently do nothing that might draw attention to me or you. I'm sorry. "
"But Lisa!"

(to be continued)
 
PS Actually, I've just thought of one possible (historical) connection
among the words téméraire, hardi and sans peur... and Artois... but we'll see... ;)
Well, just lifting a clue. The names of the projects Hardi, Sans Peur and Téméraire are derived from (left to right):
Philipe le Hardi (Philip the Bold), Duke of Burgundy 1384-1403.
Jean Sans Peur (John the Fearless), Duke of Burgundy 1403-1417.
Charles le Téméraire (Charles the Bold), Duke of Burgundy 1467-1477.
 

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Well, just lifting a clue. The names of the projects Hardi, Sans Peur and Téméraire are derived from (left to right):
Philipe le Hardi (Philip the Bold), Duke of Burgundy 1384-1403.
Jean Sans Peur (John the Fearless), Duke of Burgundy 1403-1417.
Charles le Téméraire (Charles the Bold), Duke of Burgundy 1467-1477.

So you are saying your story would go well with a nice Burgundy? I concur...
 
Part 2 – episode 11.

I was locked up again. Once in my cell, I got in a rage! You probably understand. I had received copies from the files, but first, I refused to read them! But when I got calmed down, I became curious and opened them. After all, they were about me! Honestly, these were all convincing reports, with a strong, unbiased content. It became clear to me that I had got involved in a ruthless conspiracy, in which Benoît and Robert would have used all means to achieve their goals, bringing themselves to power. With the help of some of those villains among their followers. The targets of the Artois were worth terror and numerous killings. Actually, one of their victims would have been me, and most likely both my little children too! Robert would have sacrificed his own sons, in order to get the Crown of France on his head!

The alternative would not have been better. The part about the infiltration of the secret service into the Artois network contained gaps and uncertainties, but it was clear enough to show that a big sweep was at hand. One ‘coup de main’ would eliminate the Artois clan and their followers. There was a list of suspects in the file, distinguishing between ‘high traitors’ and ‘accomplices’. The first group was destined to be eliminated. Benoît and Robert were on it, together with others of the staff and followers, and with two women on the list : Lisa and me! It was clear Benoît had become very sloppy with his security, probably being too much self-confident. Although I wondered how Lisa got that information. Apparently, the security services had some leaks too!

I wondered what would happen next. But I did not hear anything. Going between anger about my imprisonment and relief that I had escaped something terrible, I waited for news. News from France, news about my disappearance, news about my children.

They kept me locked up for nearly two weeks. I was not treated badly, on the contrary, I was treated very well, but anyway, I was a prisoner. The guards, as I could call them, behaved correctly, but they understood neither French, nor Spanish, German or Italian, only Slovenian. My knowledge of Slovenian was insufficient for a conversation with them, and so, all my questions remained unanswered. After a few days of imprisonment, I was allowed to leave my cell for a simple diner, and for a walk outside as long as I wanted, in a small enclosed courtyard. But only when it was already dark, so the only thing I could see were the stars above my head in the cold winter night sky. There were no reference points to make me find out where I was. The only thing I noticed was, that it was freezing cold during those evenings. Considering the rather Mediterranean climate in Slovenia, even during the winter, I must have been in a mountainous area.

During those days, Lisa never showed up. I became irritated and unruly, because my imprisonment took so long, and because I got deprived from any news from France. Then, Lisa was back. She looked very sad. I could not think anything but that the attack on the plane had taken place, with all its consequences.

Lisa had good and bad news. The good news was that the attack on the plane had not been allowed to happen. Security had waited to intervene until the bomb was in the plane. The bomb itself was more than convincing evidence, and plenty of traces and testimonies had led to the Artois and their entourage. Apparently, the counter-espionage had concluded that it was politically too risky to let proceed deliberately an attack with dozens of deaths. It would have raised too many questions and would have brought too much officials into trouble if it had been revealed that security forces had known it in advance. Now they were the saviors of flight Air Iberica 314, and they could act without having blood on their hands. Our disappearance would also have been crucial in changing their mind. Security forces thought Lisa and me have fled, in order to escape being indicted for complicity to the bombing of the plane.

The bad news was that she and me could not return to France. Hundreds of people had been rounded up after the failed bombing. There had been summary justice on a massive scale. Some of the ‘little fish’ had talked, in exchange for leniency. The burden of proof of conspiracy with the aim to commit a terrorist attack and high treason against the King was overwhelming. Numerous death sentences and lifetime or long time detentions had already been pronounced. The fate of Benoît and Robert was unknown, but they had been sentenced to death in absentia. The same for Lisa and me. Instead, a civil verdict had declared our 'civil death '. This meant that, in the areas that were controlled by the French King (France itself, Iberia and the overseas departments), as well as in England (according to an old treaty), we were legally considered as dead. We were thus void of all the rights of a living person. All my properties were confiscated. I had no more on money or property right –even not to the clothes I would be wearing. If I would be in one these territories where the sentence was in vigor, then everyone was free to arrest me and deliver me to the authorities. If I would accede to private property, the owner had the right to seize all my possessions and even to kill me without risking prosecution. In addition, I had lost all my rights and duties towards my children. I would never be allowed to see or approach them anymore.

It was of course a huge mental blow. A week long, I refused to leave my cell, I barely wanted to eat, I hardly slept. Then Lisa came up to me. She apologized for having brought me by force from France and for locking me up here all the time. She said it had been the best for me, regardless how hard it all was for me. Lisa suggested to see it positively: according to two scenarios I would probably have died. Now I still lived, and there could be hope that maybe I could ever return and see my children back. But if I would return to France now, I would be dead!

I had stopped resisting to my situation. Actually, I realized she had a point, and finally, I admitted it to her. She proposed to give me more freedom, now that the events in France had taken place, but I still would have to stay in the castle. I would not be able to walk far, anyway, because I had no papers, no money, nothing. But still I wanted to know one thing: who and why had I been brought here? Just because my mother came from here?
"We did it, because you are one of us, Aurore!"
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"Welcome to Illyria, Aurore!" she said.

(to be continued)
 
Well, just lifting a clue. The names of the projects Hardi, Sans Peur and Téméraire are derived from (left to right):
Philipe le Hardi (Philip the Bold), Duke of Burgundy 1384-1403.
Jean Sans Peur (John the Fearless), Duke of Burgundy 1403-1417.
Charles le Téméraire (Charles the Bold), Duke of Burgundy 1467-1477.
Indeed - and we know now (if I've followed things right) what plans Hardi and Sans Peur were,
but what about Téméraire?
(and didn't he come to a sticky end? ;) )

220px-MULO-Charles_the_Bold_corpse.jpg
 
Indeed - and we know now (if I've followed things right) what plans Hardi and Sans Peur were,
but what about Téméraire?

It was in episode 10 :
"So, we had Sans Peur, there is Hardi, and..?"
"And Téméraire?"
"Right! Téméraire! And that is about you, Aurore! "
"About me? Comment..? "
"Benoît has meanwhile come to the conclusion that the successor of King Jacques II will have to marry or be married to the eldest daughter of King Jacques II. So, shortest way to bring the Artois on the throne would be by marrying either himself or Robert to Isabella."
"But both Benoît and Robert are already married. That is not possible? "
"No, unless ..."
"Unless what!?"
"The main obstacle between a marriage between Robert d’Artois and Isabelle de d’Archambault, that's you now, Aurore!" "But that means ..."
"This means, that the intention was that you would die. Not just die! As part of the plan, you would get killed in an assassination. Then the King would call the State of emergency, under pressure from Benoît, who would strengthen his power. Meanwhile, Robert could marry Isabella. Your father-in-law is quite a while betting on two horses, Aurore, and you would be sacrificed! "


(and didn't he come to a sticky end? ;) )

Yes, Charles the Bold was killed in the Battle of Nancy, on January 5th 1477. His army was defeated by Swiss and Lorraine troops. Charles was mortally wounded. A few days later, his body was found on the battlefield, half eaten by wolves. The defeat allowed the French King Louis XI to confiscate the Duchy of Burgundy.
 
Part 2 – Episode 12

Illyria? Never heard of! I thought this was Slovenia. In fact it was. But Illyria was no country. Illyria was an ideal. The ideal of a free country along the Adriatic Sea. From the Isonzo to the Vardar. From Trieste to Thessaloniki. Illyria would be the fatherland of all the Slavic people in that region, people that were now, so it was said, enslaved by foreign rulers. The Slovenes and the Dalmatians by the Hohenburgs. The Albanians by Naples-Sicily. And the Macedonians by – wait a minute, those were independent, but their country still was a kind of client state of the major powers.

Gradually it became clear to me where I was : in a castle on a top in the mountains not far from Marburg. Since I was allowed now to leave my cell at daytime, and I got more area to move, I got more view of the surroundings. The castle lay in a rather deserted mountainous area. The climate was fairly bleak and cold. But in February, some days were sunny. The view from the castle during good weather was tremendous. In the distance I could see the majestic Alps, with their snowy peaks brightly shining on the horizon. They were eighty miles away, but it was as if I could touch them. It was a beautiful sight, but watching them reminded me that these mountains were as much out of reach, as my own life was. Looking out over the mountains haunted me both for their beauty as for my feelings of despair, nostalgia, resignation and hope.

In the castle, three staff members were apparently in charge of caring for me. But there was little real communication with them. But there was one strange inhabitant in the castle. It was a certain Josip. I estimated him about sixty years old. Josip sat in a wheelchair and he only had access to the ground level floors. He lived in a private apartment and he had his own staff in the living quarters of the castle. From his conduct I concluded he was the lord of the castle. But Josip spoke only Slovenian and some German, so that the communication with him went rather bad. At least in the beginning.

To pass the time, because boredom struck fast, I had decided to study a Slovenian language tutorial. On paper I soon managed to read and write some Slovenian sentences that made sense. But there remained a language barrier, because I had trouble with the pronunciation. For the same reason, the conversations around me were still hard to understand. Then one day, as I tried to decipher a Slovenian text, I drew the attention of Josip. He suggested to help me out. From then on, I was regularly invited in his apartment. He was a sternly looking, but paternal man. He had a massive, robust, shaven head, with a determined look. He received me in a courteous, pleasant manner, with coffee, delicious local pastries and the equally delicious Illyrian plums schnapps. So we spent many afternoons during which he taught me the secrets of the Slovenian language. He made me understand the rules of its grammar, and the vocabulary and how to pronounce it all correctly. Soon we made conversations in Slovenian, and we practiced by letting me tell about my life so far. I told him about my childhood in Courtrai and Rome, about my father, about my mother especially, for which he showed particular interest, probably because she was also of Slovenian origin. I told him about my studies in Paris, and about the tragedy of the earthquake and how I got involved in the conspiracy of the Artois.

Josip on the other hand revealed little about himself. He was apparently a former officer in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire. He got partly paralyzed due to what he called ' ein Unglück‘, an accident, and he now lived retired in this castle. Had he ever been married? Had he ever had children? He remained very silent about that. On the other hand, he talked a lot of his vision on Illyria. He really dreamed of a large independent state, a Kingdom that would unify all South Slavic peoples, living in peace with each other, freed from their foreign overlords. All under the inspiring leadership of Slovenia. Slovenia, where old noble families stood ready to take charge and realize the Illyrian dream. His family, as was my mother’s too, he told me, were ancient Slovenian aristocracy. His family made no claims on kinghood of Illyria, but was willing to take her responsibility, if asked. But who was that family? His name was Josip Vegaj, or Von Vetcha in German. With my increasing knowledge of Slovene, I had meanwhile learned that Josip was referred and spoken to by the staff as 'Prince'.

It was now the end of May, but I discovered that it still could freeze here in that period of the year. The ‘douceur Angevine' from the Loire region I was used to in May, was far away. One evening, I was with Josip in his apartment. He had arranged that I no longer had to return at ten o'clock to my cell, but that I could walk around the whole night if I wanted, as long I would not (on my word of honour) enter the gatehouse. That evening he had invited me for dinner. The fire in the fireplace was burning and that was not an unnecessary luxury, due to the icy wind that was blowing outside. We had finished eating. The table was cleared, apart from the coffee, sweets and a bottle of plum schnapps. The servants had been dismissed. We were alone. He turned off the light. Only the fire in the big fireplace lit up the room now. We took a seat near the fireplace. He poured us another glass of schnapps.

I watched him, his nearly bold, weathered head, reflecting in the fire. He was in a wheelchair, but that had not affected his character He was a man of ideals, a man with a strong will, a leader, a stern, determined, but compassionate man.
“Also, mein Kind, du hättest Königin von Frankreich werden können!?”
His start of the conversation, in German, awaking me of my thoughts.
“Me, Queen of France? It was not my choice, my family wanted it from me.”
“I understand! ‘Noblesse oblige’, as the Fransozen say?”
“Indeed. ‘Verdammte Pflicht’, in Deutsch!”
“Wouldn’t you have liked to be Queen of France?”
“In France, ‘Queen’ is just the title of the King’s wife.”
“That Lex Salica, mmh? Here in Illyria, we have no Lex Salica.”
“Really?”
“Women can inherit the crown here!”
“Is it?”
“In case all the siblings of a king have died, even a bastard child can succeed on the throne.”
“Remarkable!”
“This area has seen hard times, Aurore. Murder! Clan wars! Treason! So, it often happened that all legitimate siblings of a ruling king had died. So,.. The laws of nature! Only the strong survive! And sometimes, the strongest turned out to be a bastard child, or a woman.”
“Is there a King now in Illyria, or a Queen?”
“No, there isn’t now.”
“No one is claiming it?”
“Not openly. The Emperor wants to rule alone, do you understand? No more principalities, like before the Thirty Years War. That’s only asking for trouble! But there are many noble families in Slovenia….”
“Like yours?”
“I told you already: in case I would be asked for…”
“Will you say yes, then? You? Or are there other candidates in your family?”
“Maybe… it could be asked to you, Aurore?”
“Me? But?”
“As I said, your mother was also of ancient Illyrian nobility!”
“But, my father…”
“I know the story, Aurore!.”
“But, how…”
“Well, ..mhh.. Jazna told me about it!”
“Jazna? Who is Jazna?”
“That’s Lisa’s real name! She! Yes! She told me you are no natural child from the Artois!”
“Do you know my real father, Josip?”

He sighed. “Keine Ahnung! No idea! Wouldn’t you be interested, Aurore? To become Queen of Illyria?”
“Queen of Illyria? Me? Are you kidding, Josip?”
“You really look like a Queen!”
“Really?”
“Sure! I can imagine. Your mother must have been a special woman! A beautiful woman! A woman of valor and quality!”
“She was a beautiful and a special woman!”
“And you, Aurore, I imagine! You, with the regalia of Illyria! That would be wonderful! More than wonderful! You are a real queen. You have it all to become a real queen! You have all the qualities for it!”
“But, no! I…”
“You are very beautiful, Aurore! And very special!”
The way he looked at me! There was real fire in his eyes! Fire as bright as the fire in the fireplace.
“Come here!”

I came closer to him. All the place was bright fire and intense dark shadow. So was Josip too, as he put his hands around my waist.
“Queen of Illyria!”

Little was said afterwards. Without words, I surrendered. Me, the Queen of Illyria, willingly gave myself to Josip, whose regalia were still in good working order, despite his paralysis. It was a strange, intense experience. Totally different from the ‘verdammte Pflicht’ I used to be forced to with Robert, in Rambouillet. Both of us naked, close to the fire, that created an intense atmosphere. Gently, I rode his scepter, while he softly caressed my breasts. Josip enchanted me, tenderly but intense. Slowly, we both took our time. We seemed to go on eternally. For the first time in my life, a man made me feel like a real, splendid queen, culminating it all with a glorious coronation march.
(to be continued)
 
Part 2 – episode 13

The castle stood on a steep mountain and was surrounded on three sides by high and steep rock faces, ideal for its defense. Only on the side of the gatehouse was a plateau. In front of the drawbridge of the castle, an extra reinforcement had been built with its own outside gate and drawbridge. This old fortress had been largely demolished and turned into a little park, landscaped with trees, statues and benches. As the good summer weather had come, I was allowed to walk around there during the day too.

Lisa (I will continue to call her like that), which I had not seen for a while, had given me a good reason not to venture outside the castle. I might have been declared an outlaw in France. Being declared a civil death did not automatically mean being forgotten. Lisa showed me a poster from France with my picture on it. She and me were declared civil death. Nevertheless, there was also a price on our heads. With 'us' I mean a number of people from the entourage of Benoît who apparently had escaped, including Benoît, Robert, Gaëtan de Beauvesque , and for instance also the lawyer who, in the beginning of my 'career' in the service of Benoît, had arranged everything. And although there were no treaties on the extradition of wanted persons between the Holy Roman Empire and France, I still had to consider the possibility that I would get picked up and delivered to justice in France, just for the bounty. Staying in the castle was very strongly recommended. I also asked Lisa if she had any news about my children, but that was not the case.

I then took the opportunity to ask her how she actually got all that information, about Téméraire and other actions. Her answer was straightforward :
"By sleeping with the right people!"
Now I got curious!
“With Benoît? With others? "
"With Benoît, Yes."
"With Robert?"
Lisa hesitated for a moment.
"With Robert too, Yes, I'm sorry"
"No problem. Robert, I have turned that page. That was only business between him and me."
"Glad you take it like that."
"And that information about the counter-espionage? How did you get that?"
"That was definitely something more difficult, but yet not impossible. They used the same method to retrieve information from me, but it went in two ways, okay? "
"Yes."
"You see, you should always be careful with whom you start something, Aurore. Always be very careful! You never know quite sure with whom you are sleeping. Do you understand, what I mean, Aurore?"

In the meantime she left me in the dark about what actually would happen with me. I could not stay forever in that castle, after all? But meanwhile, I had to. As Queen of Illyria. Queen of a Kingdom with a radius of about one hundred feet. With the sole consolation, the thought that, as Queen of France, I probably would not have had more space. And no prince who would please me as Josip did!

Then, sometime in November, my stay in the castle suddenly came to an end. In the middle of the night I was awakened by Lisa. I had to dress and get all my things together. There was a huge activity in the castle. Fires were burning in all places, to burn documents. In the courtyard stood several light trucks and a van. Josip was helped with his wheelchair into the van. Suitcases were loaded, the staff got into the van too and they left. More bags, and bins with food, were loaded into the cargo hold of the vehicles. One after one they left. I had to take place, along with Lisa, in the driver's cab of one of the light trucks. The driver was a man in a camouflage uniform, and I noticed that he carried an automatic rifle.

It was the start of a journey of at least three hours through the dark, often on winding roads. Sometimes we apparently had to hide. At one point we met a military column, which, so I could infer from the conversation between Lisa and the driver, most probably had hostile intentions to us. We were clearly on the run! Eventually, around five in the morning, we arrived at a kind of hut. It was still dark and cold, but first we unloaded the vehicles. Finally I could get a few hours of difficult sleep, in a sleeping bag, in a cold and humid place.

The hut was rather primitive. The sleeping facilities consisted of two levels of boards, attached between walls of concrete blocks. On each board was room for three people. Showers and sanitary were in French style. There was rarely hot water. Eventually I learned that we were in Hungary, near Zala. We were on the run from a raid of the Imperial gendarmerie. The Emperor was clearly not very pleased with the idea of an independent Illyria, and he had got some suspicious groups rounded up. So, the group of Josip also got targeted. Hence our hasty flight.

Luckily we did not stay for long in that hut. After ten days we moved to a small estate near Lake Balaton. In Hungary, we would be safe. The King of Hungary and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire quarreled from time to time. The Emperor dreamed of a personal union with Hungary, in order to get more grip on the Danube valley. On the other hand, the King of Hungary found its borders with the Holy Roman Empire rather too long and felt surrounded by his imperial neighbor. For these reasons, the King of Hungary encouraged the movements for independence in Bohemia north of his country, and of Illyria south of it. His politics were not without self-interest, because he had territorial claims on parts of the North-East of Illyria, between the Hungarian border and the Danube. Claims that could bring about conflict with the Illyrian movement. But for the time being Hungary and Illyria had a common enemy, so we were safe. However, it was finished with the undisturbed quiet existence of Josip and me. There were always people in his neighborhood. He behaved here suddenly as a real leader, the undisputed head of the group.

I would not remain a passive spectator any more. I learned that when Lisa wanted a word with me.
"Aurore, we need you!"
"Who are 'we'?"
"I will rephrase it: Illyria needs you!"
"Why me?"
"Your mother originates from Illyria! You are one of us, Aurore, from now on, always remember that! And we can use all hands! Consider Illyria as your new cause to serve! "
"What do you want from me?"
"First! You can handle this?" She put a pistol on the table.
"No!? Why? "
"Then we'll teach you! Secondly, we ask you to put your knowledge and your experience that you have gained at the Artois, for serving our cause. "
"I have a choice?"
"Actually not! Josip agrees with it."
"Listen, Lisa! Officially, I still am Aurore d’Artois, born in France, daughter of Enguerrand d'Artois. You claim that I am one of yours, but the only thing that has been demonstrated, is that he was not my biological father. I think I have the right to know whom it was? "
"Ask Josip. Maybe he knows! Anyway, your mother came from here! There is no doubt about that!"
"He claims not to know. I had already asked him."
"Perhaps he thought it was not the right time to tell it."
"But he knows, then?"
"Could be. That's all. "

So, under pressure, I learned to handle a firearm, and I started working for the Illyrian cause. I had to help designing a workable state structure, in which all the Illyrian peoples could find themselves ‘at home’. That turned out to be not an easy task, because there was a lot of diversity among the population of Illyria. That became clear when I attended meetings of the various Illyrian people's communities. At least, only a part of them. We, the Slovenians were there, and the North Dalmatians, talking Croatian and the South Dalmatians, talking Serbian. The Albanian and the Macedonian population were even not represented. During those discussions, the points that separated them, became clear. The Slovenes claimed the leadership on the future Illyria because their country was the economic power of it. The economy of Slovenia was twice as large as that of the remaining Illyria. The South Dalmatians demanded the leadership, because they considered themselves as the historical heartland of Illyria, that had brought the most sacrifices to preserve the independence and the traditions, while the other peoples had got themselves too easily be enslaved by foreign rulers. The North Dalmatians clearly could not agree with the other two and disputed all claims of leadership. They all had only one thing in common: they all looked down upon the Macedonians and the Albanians. And most of all on the Muslim communities that had stayed behind, after the Ottomans had been expelled from the Illyrian territory a century ago. I actually wondered why they wanted to include the Macedonians and the Albanians into Illyria, unless to oppress them. Apparently it was purely a matter of territorial ambitions. The Illyrian cause seemed to me more and more driven by negative feelings, against the Holy Roman Empire, against undesired populations, and eventually against each other. As if they wanted their own territory just to fight each other undisturbedly. Only a very strong, authoritarian, respected leadership would hold that gang together. An absolute monarchy or something like that. But would I like to contribute to that? Let alone join in, as I felt the growing pressure on me? This sometimes led to tensions, especially as we still lived on the estate with a large group of people close to each other. Just like back in Compiègne and Rambouillet I started to feel more and more like an outsider in my own life. I felt forced to operate in a system that was not my choice. The feeling of being in a prison without bars, was always present. Fortunately, there was also a lot of opportunity to be alone on and around the estate. The climate at the Lake was milder than in the mountains. But still, I knew it, I could not go away.

It became clear to me that Hungary was very supportive for the Illyrian cause. Hungary was in a difficult relationship with is big neigbour, the Holy Roman Empire. The more divided the HRE, the safer Hungary felt. And secretly, France also supported the cause, since a weaker Empire meant a stronger France. These ties with the French intelligence, had once facilitated my extradition from Châteaudun. It made me feel uneasy anyway.

Meanwhile, Josip was much less accessible. There were always people around him. I longed for those times that we had been alone together in the castle. I never got the opportunity to ask him the question that burned on my lips. In the end I got the impression that I was kept away from him on purpose. Then, Josip disappeared to an unknown destination and soon thereafter, Lisa disappeared for several months too.

This life went on during one and a half years. That long, I would reside there, locked up, but oddly enough treated with much regard – as in Rambouillet. Was there some rumor running about that hassle of ‘Queen of Illyria’? Locked in a country estate with open gates. Oh, Yes, I could get outside. Walking along the Lake, or in the hills. For hours, all days, when my work allowed me to do. By times I was almost going mad. Remaining without news about Josip, or about Lisa. Without news about France, about the children. Without information on what the real purpose of all this was about. Sometimes I felt a strong compulsion to pack and return to France on my own, regardless of what would happen to me there. Just to see my kids just one more time. But I lacked the courage to do it. So I stayed hanging around where I was. I did what they asked me to do, and otherwise, I tried to be alone. Alone and lonely. However, a loneliness that seemed to become an addiction, especially in the surroundings of the estate. The grey Lake Balaton, a dark, still water, which, in the spring and the autumn was often hidden in mist, and frozen in winter, was an ideal place to grow and nurture depressive feelings. I only had to look through a window to the grey lake, to get seduced by dark thoughts. As if somewhere in the fog, a voice called me: 'come, Aurore, come to here and immerse yourself into gloomy feelings '. Immerse yourself into these dark grey waters! Into that dark shroud, inviting to suicide! And rarely I could resist the temptation to have myself drawn into depression. Working, I did when it was dark. Sometimes all night long. I had developed a fear for the darkness. If I wanted to sleep, and I turned off the light, it seemed as if suddenly, dark, pitch-black clouds came up to me. I endured no darkness anymore. I was afraid these dark clouds would really draw me into the lake. My rhythm of life slipped through the day and night cycle. And no one who asked questions. When I had finished something, I put it with the outbound documents at the appropriate place. I was only occasionally drafted for a meeting. In case that disturbed my life rhythm, I hardly could keep my attention to it. And I missed Josip.

Suddenly, Josip was back. Even more, he had time for me. For several weeks he gave me a new spring in my life. Then, Lisa showed up again. She arrived with a bus full of a rugged company of Illyrians from all over the territory. It was suddenly very busy in the estate and Josip had it soon once more too busy for me. Two days later, the whole staff, including Lisa and me, were taken to an unknown destination, somewhere in the surrounding mountains. We ended up in a camp, where we got all sorts of instructions, both theory and practice, of dealing with weapons of all kinds. We learned to use a knife in combat. To my disguise, I was explained how to cut someone’s throat! We crawled through the mud and we learned hiding in the countryside. Then we crossed a dozen days in the mountains. During the day we mostly hiked from one place to another, carrying arms and a backpack, always ensuring that we remained unnoticed. Sleeping, we did in caves, in tents, in stables, ... or just under the stars. It was fatiguing, and the whole time it was cold and damp. But protesting had no sense. The training, in guerilla tactics, would take a month, after which we returned to the estate, and I was glad to be sleeping in a real bed again.

But meanwhile, Josip had left again, and again no one knew where he was. His absence made me down. I was again the prisoner of the mists of Lake Balaton. I started to isolate myself again from my forced environment. It was in that state of mind that, one evening, I got the feeling of a being ill. My health had felt poor the previous times. Headache, severe fatigue, poor digestion, my whole bodily rhythm was completely shattered. I blamed it to the long and exhausting military exercise, which had wrecked me. That day I had already had a headache all day. I also had a remarkable sensitivity to all kinds of odors, which annoyed me a lot. I wanted to go hiking along the Lake, hoping that fresh air would do me well. But I returned back soon. My body didn't want to cooperate and opposed with all its might against the effort. And then there was suddenly that incredibly sharp pain in my lower abdomen. I thought I would die. With my last remaining powers, I tried to cry for help. Again a stabbing pain in my belly. There was blood. I fell on my knees. I collapsed.

(to be continued)
 
The Slovenes claimed the leadership on the future Illyria because their country was the economic power of it. The economy of Slovenia was twice as large as that of the remaining Illyria. The South Dalmatians demanded the leadership, because they considered themselves as the historical heartland of Illyria, that had brought the most sacrifices to preserve the independence and the traditions, while the other peoples had got themselves too easily be enslaved by foreign rulers. The North Dalmatians clearly could not agree with the other two and disputed all claims of leadership. They all had only one thing in common: they all looked down upon the Macedonians and the Albanians. And most of all on the Muslim communities that had stayed behind, after the Ottomans had been expelled from the Illyrian territory a century ago.

I don't know how accurately this reflects the modern states in the region, but it makes sense to me. It has always been difficult for someone living in a relatively stable 'united' (Hah?) country to understand the conflicts in the Balkans, the apparent hatred between neighbours.

Again a stabbing pain in my belly. There was blood. I fell on my knees. I collapsed.

Another unexpected turn, this story is now a "must read".
 
Part 2 – episode 14

When I woke up, Lisa told me that I must have had a severe abdominal infection. I had crept through the eye of the needle, she said. I had been brought to a hospital, where the doctors fortunately did not ask too many questions. I had been presented as a French tourist who suddenly had become ill.

Lisa stayed a few more days in the estate. When she wanted to leave again after a few days, I had a couple of questions for her anyway. But her answer was very brief. How long will we stay here and what are the plans for the future? Secret! Where are you going, Lisa? Secret! Where is Josip? Secret! And so I stayed behind. The company I had to live with, had meanwhile changed. Formerly, there were only Slovenians, relatively civilized Slovenians. But now there were also people from Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, etc…. Rugged fellows, cold, primitive, violent. I recognized the kind of characters from the time with Benoît. Criminals, criminals who gave themselves credibility by adhering to 'a cause '. And these people were worse than those in France. These were real ruthless murderers. I often felt less at ease than before. When I was going somewhere, I always looked back twice, to check if I was not followed. I avoided risky situations. Even though they were polite and even respectful towards me, I did not trust them for an inch! I knew by then enough from the history of Illyria to be aware what was going on. One day, someone is respected as Queen of Illyria, the next day, the same who respected you, brutally stab you in the back. It is a centuries old tradition in Illyria. It is 'Téméraire', squared!

Then Lisa returned. She took me separately, because she had something important to say. She needed me, for the sake of the 'cause'. I did not need anything more to burst out in anger. I threw her into the face that I actually did not give a damn about that ‘cause' of her, and that I wondered why I got involved in it anyway. I reminded her that she had taken me out of France and had separated me from my children, because the ‘cause' of Benoît d’Artois would have killed me, and possibly a number of innocent people! But now I was wondering how many deaths, and innocent killings the Illyrian cause was worth for her and the rest of the gang!? Because it was clear and obvious, that Illyria was not a political project, but a military too. And that they would not hesitate to deploy violence and murder to achieve their targets!

It was quiet for a moment. Lisa said that she only carried out but what she had been ordered to do. She would have to bring me to a secret place, and Josip would give more explanation. That was all she had to say. That same evening we left for an unknown destination.

Josip gave more explanation, although no specific information. Lisa had clearly informed him about my anger. I was told we had to go to Laibach. In the interest of Illyria. In Laibach, I would learn more. For the sake of secrecy, Josip simply could not reveal anything more yet. He only said he would appreciate my cooperation in the mission, he stood behind it. Except for having been told I had to go to Laibach, I had learned really nothing more. But I was glad I could be together with him again, for one night!

For security reasons, we would cross the border at night, along a secret path. It was a silent, scary walk, ten miles long in the moonlight. We hid in a hut until it got day. Everything was well prepared. At dawn we took bicycles and drove to an assigned place. From there we took the bus. In the late afternoon we arrived in Laibach, where we stayed in a hotel opposite to the railway station. The next day we visited the historical center, near the Saint-Nicolas Church, the Town Hall, the Franciskaner Church. The old center had the typical cosines of a province town dominated by Baroque style. A combination of authenticity and modernity. It struck me that there was plenty of decoration in the streets, a lot of crush barriers were ready to be deployed. There was quite many police around, a lot than one would expect for just the capital of a Duchy. In addition, the access road to the Medieval Castle, high on the hill above the old town, had been closed.

The reason of all these preparations, Lisa told me, was the same we were in Laibach for. I hardly could believe it, when she revealed why we got there. Over two days, she told me, none less than Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Wittelstein genannt von Maierhoff, Archduke of Dalmatia, -his long name being suitable for the man who was third highest in rank of the hierarchy of the Holy Roman Empire -, would visit Laibach. It was the plan to assassinate him. I was stunned by her disclosure. Was I supposed to take part in it? That turned out to be true. There would be a total number of eight people ready for the attack. Lisa, me and six others. Those six would carry a hand grenade and a pistol. Lisa and me just got a gun. It was intended that the two of us would only act if the others would not have succeeded in their intent. Otherwise, our main task was to organize the escape.

That’s what it was about! An assassination attempt! To what purpose? What were they thinking to achieve with it? There was no purpose, as it turned out, it was the act itself that mattered, in order to let the world know that we existed, and what we stood for. To let the world know that Illyria existed!

On my obvious question – why me? – she had an answer ready: because I was one of them. On my question, whether I didn't actually had the right to decide about my participation myself, I got told I had no right to do so. It was clear: I was not authorized to decide about my own identity. Someone else did that for me, either the Artois, or Illyria. That thought made me feel angry and powerless at the same time. Identity, that is something important about yourself, something you create yourself? Something so important that you don't let others decide about it!?

Lisa surprised me even more, by stating that it actually was important to have ever taken part in such an action, because otherwise one is not considered as a full member of the Illyrian community. That’s how the Illyrian community, 'my' community, apparently worked. Only that way one could earn respect, by taking part in a violent action during which one could get killed or severely hurt. Or could end up in a wheelchair, like Josip, I presumed.

I was supposed to do my duty for Illyria, at the risk of my own life. If I would not, I actually condemned myself to death. ‘ Verdammte Pflicht’, that’s what it was all about! Lisa tried to convince me even more. I would gain enormous respect from the Illyrian community by taking part in the operation. Then, the road would maybe be open to the ultimate reward : becoming Queen of Illyria.
"Just kidding, I assume, Lisa?"
"No; Aurore, I am dead serious! Because of your official French origin, you could become the ideal reconciler, that every party of the Illyrian community could trust and support. Josip thinks so too!"
"Josip thinks like that? Why?"
"Ask him yourself, Aurore!"
“I expect you people would come up with the gisant stuff too, to convince me, if necessary?”
“Gisant stuff? What do you mean by that?”
"Listen, Lisa, I've been once in a situation in which I would be made Queen of France. I'm glad I didn't. Particularly because some people would not have hesitated to murder dozens of innocents. Do you really think I want to belong to a world where one only counts when he or she has murdered? Let alone I would like to be their queen! Keep it a bit seriously, will you? "
"Let us not discuss further, Aurore, soon we draw undesired attention!"

The next day we further explored the city around the Franciskaner Church, the Town Hall and the Saint-Nicolas Church. I learned that the Archduke would arrive by plane at the airport of Unterfernig. He would inaugurate the new high speed train link between the airport and the almost twenty miles distant Laibach. He would make an inaugural train ride to the station of Laibach. There he would take an open car to the Town Hall, where he would be welcomed by the Mayor, followed by a short prayer service in the Saint-Nicolas Church. He would make a walk to the Jubileumsbrücke, crossing the river there and return to the Franciskaner Church, which he also would visit. He would take the car again and drive to the castle for a dinner with the local civil, religious and military dignitaries. That was the program of the visit.

‘Ours’ would await him between the railway station and the Franciskaner Church, in three groups of two, standing about four hundred to five hundred feet apart. Each of them was armed with a grenade and a pistol. One would throw a grenade to the Archduke’s car, in order to bring him at least to halt. They would then run to the car and finish their work with their pistols and the other grenade. The two other groups would use their grenades, against the other vehicles of the Archduke’s motorcade. Hence, they would create the necessary chaos, in order to cover their retreat, for which they would also use their guns if necessary.

I was very reluctant, because that tactic would without doubt make a lot of innocent victims. I definitely would not like to be in the neighborhood, exposed to shrapnel and stray bullets flying around. But it was not intended that Lisa and me would be around. Our position was on the square in front of the Franciskaner Church. We would have a good view on the long and straight street between the railway station and the church, where the attack would happen. As soon as hell would erupt, we would each go to a designated place. Lisa would go to an assigned meeting point, to lead survivors to the getaway car. It was intended that I would go directly to the getaway car, and ensure that we could leave immediately. Both Lisa and myself had a car key. We walked along the route to follow, to the Beethovenstrasse, where the car had already been parked.

If the attack would yet go wrong, what was considered unlikely, since the motorcade of the Archduke should have to run the gauntlet between the bombers, Lisa and I, only armed with a gun, would try to carry out the assassination. However, in that case, everything would have to happen by improvisation.

At the end of our exploration, we walked through a shopping street near the city hall. Along the way we passed along some fashion stores. I realized that it had been years ago since I had done such a fun strolling in a shopping street, watching the store windows.
"Lisa, look!" In the Matija Copstrasse my eye suddenly caught a dress I absolutely fell in love with. It was blue with a pattern of elongated green, grey and ochre spots.
"Yeah, not bad. Let’s go now" Lisa said.
"Lisa! I want that!"
"Later, Aurore, now we have other things to do. And it does not become you! "
"I am sure it will fit me well! And I want it now! And I want to wear shoes like that mannequin is wearing! "
"Are you gone totally crazy!?" she whispered compelling. "With such high heel shoes you never get away!"
"First," I whispered just as compelling as her, "I do not expect to run far anyway! There is a chance I will not survive tomorrow, and then I want to wear what I want! And don't worry, I have worn such shoes before, I can make a good pace with them. In addition, they will find me less suspicious, dressed like that! Right?! You manage the budget of the operation, so you buy that dress for me, and the matching shoes, and some lingerie, and what perfume. And that cute Nothon handbag I just showed you in the other shop!”
“Are you gone completely nuts, Aurore!? That handbag costs two months of salary of an average Illyrian worker!?”
“Et alors!? I am not an Illyrian worker! Tomorrow I want to look like a Queen! That is the intention, right? And I need something to put in all the stuff in tomorrow!"
Lisa grunted, annoyed.
"And after we have fitted me out, we go to a coffee house, and you treat me on a delicious Sachertorte and a Café Viennoise. And then I'll be all set for tomorrow! "
"Yes, Yes, all right, all right!"

(to be continued)
 
Part 2 – Episode 15

The next morning, after a rather sleepless night, Lisa and me were up early. We took breakfast and had ourselves prepared. When I got dressed, Lisa looked at me and said :
"You were right, Aurore, that dress fits you very well!"
"I told you!"
"Here is a passport! In case there would be control. The police will probably leave nothing to chance!"

I looked on the identity document. Apparently I was called ...
"Luisa Schneider? Who is that? "
"That's you on this occasion! A neutral name! "
"And what would be your name today, Lisa?"
"Me? Just: Lisa Kellermann, also a tourist from France. It’s you who should better not walk around here as Aurore d'Artois! Would you like to be arrested?"
"No! Obviously not! Just, that picture on the passport, does it look like me?"
"The difference is small. It resembles you enough to trick any Polizist doing a random control. Here! Your weapon! You have meanwhile learned how it works! Put it into your handbag! " Lisa gave me the last instructions.
"One! Stay calm at all times! Two! Do not draw the weapon, before you are absolutely sure that you have a pretty clear field of fire. Three! Stay on this side of the river, unless we agree otherwise! Four! Count your shots and if possible, keep the last bullet for yourself,! Five, ... otherwise, use this!"
"What is that?" I asked when she handed over a small cardboard holder.
"A cyanide capsule! Bite on it and you're dead! Please do not let yourself be captured alive! The torture chambers of the Imperial police are terrible! "
"Thank you for the advice" I replied cynically.

We still had time. The plane of the Archduke would land around ten hours in the morning. The ceremonies of reception and the opening of the railway line would take about an hour, followed by the train ride to Laibach. It was estimated that the Archduke would leave the station at half past eleven.

Around a quarter to eleven we left the hotel. I would first go, along the Slovenien Allee a broad street running parallel to that the motorcade would take. Underway, I would put our suitcases into the getaway car. Lisa would leave a dozen minutes later, and follow the route of the motorcade to check whether everyone was on battle stations. Then we would come together at a point where we would have a good view on the Von Miklosich Strasse, which the motorcade would take, so that we would quickly see when hell would erupt.

Around the station it was already busy. There were a lot of soldiers and police around. The exit of the station was decorated with flags and flowers. The red carpet was rolled out. There was some movement of crowd into the direction of the station. Especially German speakers, so I noticed, carrying flags of the Duchy of Krain. Children with flags. I shivered. I was hoping that those bombers would have a bit of attention for the safety of the innocent bystanders. Most of all, I had liked to see the attack would be canceled, and I suddenly realized that I had that in my own hands. All I had to was to address someone from the police. But, for one reason or another (self-protection?), I did not act.

Although there were barriers along the streets, I could pass along easily. I still was allowed to cross at the zebra crossings, where the gates were still open. Apparently a lot of streets in the area had been closed for traffic, but still, I easily got to the car, I put our suitcases into it and went to our rendez-vous point.

It was already around eleven twenty. Near the corner of the Grand Hotel I saw Lisa, who more or less ignored me, but discretely signaled that everything was all right. The square in front of the Franciskanerkerk was full of people, as were the two outer bridges of the triple bridge over the Laibach River. The square and the street to City Hall on the other side of the river also looked fairly crowded. I looked back into the direction of the railway station and waited anxiously. The Archduke would about now leave the station and he would start his – fatal?-ride to the City Hall.

Minutes long I stared into the Von Miklosich Strasse. It was a long street running straight to the Bahnhofplatz. It was a completely straight and flat street. Looking from the direction of station, one could see the salmon-colored Franciskanerkerk and its eastern tower from afar, the place where we stood. Any movement along the street would immediately be visible for me. But nothing moved in the street. In the distance it looked like people were still allowed to cross the street. Then suddenly, a motorcade turned into the street. They came from the left. First a group of an escort of lancers, on horses, then cars. I understood, that they had shifted a part of the planned route to the Slovenien Allee, running parallel with the announced route along the Von Miklosich Strasse. They came nearer. The lancers of the escort squadron wore a traditional regimental sky blue uniform, but their lances, ornamented with little flags, were real, just like their pistol and their short sword they carried. The motorcade, five cars long, was followed by another squadron of lancers, but there was also a row of them who flanked the cars on each side. Good thinking! Altering the route and flanking the high guests with cavalry. That would made it difficult to intrude into the motorcade. They were more cunning than Lisa thought they were!

Moreover, by taking an alternative route, the column had not passed along the assassins, who had been waiting further in the Von Miklosich Strasse! I noticed Lisa’s annoyed look, on the other side of the street. The Archduke drove along us. He was sitting in the third car, and he was recognizable by his helmet ornamented with white feathers. And.. horror! His wife sat next to him! Very unusual that she accompanied him! That increased the difficulty. Problems! Would that unexpected fact make me relieved, or annoyed? I saw Lisa looking nervously, on the front row the other side. Was she waiting for an opportunity to strike? But for hitting, she had to jump over the fences, in front of the approaching lancers. Before she would have climbed over, she would already have been blocked by one of them! She would not stand a chance. She let them pass along, as I did. I had made up my mind not to take initiative. The Archduke was anyway too far away for a successful attempt!

So, an opportunity had gone. The motorcade and its escort crossed the Laibach and proceeded towards the City Hall. Lisa and me were trying to get together. Once the barriers were opened, she crossed the street. Meanwhile, I saw in the distance the column moving further away. The rear squadron, the riders with their right up lances, were still clearly visible. Lisa arrived, a little annoyed.
"Missed?" I asked laconically.
"Yes, we were lined up along the Von Miklosich park and further towards the station. So, our men would have had a chance to get away through the park."
"And then, they come from right the other side! Frustrating, I guess?"
“It was not foreseen, right!?”
“Remember, Lisa, what they told during that guerilla training : be unpredictable! The Empire knows that too!”
Lisa did not react on my irony.
"I'm going there, to find out if the men are still around, and look for another location. You stay here, Aurore! "

There was no option but to wait. In the meantime, the Archduke had to have arrived at the Town Hall. The Mayor would welcome him about that moment. His speech would be audible to the square in front of the Franciskaner Church, by means of loudspeakers hung up along the main streets. I was curious what would happen next!

It would start soon. The call of a bugle sounded through the loudspeakers.
“That means ‘stand in attention’ for the soldiers!” a man next to me said to his little son.
The bugle called again.
“The arrival of the Archduke is announced!”
Military orders sounded through the loudspeakers. Then a longer bugle sound was heard.
“They are saluting the flag!” the man said, while he stood in attention too.

The Mayor then began his welcoming speech.
“Herzlich wilkommen, in Laibach, Ihre Hochkeit!”

"We are pleased, Your Highness, that You honor our city with your visit. A visit that is not only on the occasion of the opening of the new railway line from Laibach to the city’s airport, but particularly to celebrate the completion of the reconstruction of our beloved city, after the terrible earthquake that hit us a few years ago, on the 3rd of July 1989. We have come a long way since then, to restore our city in her former glory and grandeur. We want express our thanks to the entire population of Laibach and of the Duchy of Krain, for their efforts and sacrifices in contributing to the reconstruction of the devastated lands. Our thanks also go to His Majesty the Emperor, to Your Highness, and to all others who have contributed to this immense effort, by their material, financial or moral support. But our thoughts go of course also still out to the countless victims that fell during that terrible disaster !"

With increasing surprise I listened to the speech. The reconstruction of the damage from the earthquake of 1989! I cursed inside. It was about that? Was that the reason of the Archduke’s visit!?

"In a moment the City Council and I invite Your Highness on a walk through the restored historic center of the city. We will show Your Highness that it is back in its original state. First, I invite Your Highness to the St. Nicholas Cathedral, which is also back in its original grandeur, and where His Eminence the Archbishop will lead a short memorial service for the victims that fell on that black day in the history of our Duchy and our Town."

This could not be true!!

A bomb of anger exploded inside me!

"Finally, I invite Your Highness for a dinner in the Castle, offered by the City Council, the Castle from where Your Highness will be able to see how the rest of the city rose from its ashes."

I got completely upset! Inside me, anger was raging! The remaining of the speech did not interest me anymore. The reply speech of the Archduke, I missed that completely. I wanted to get out of here. I left the square into the direction of the car. To hell with Lisa’s instructions! To hell with their Illyria! Then, I reconsidered. I wanted to go to that cathedral. It was there I belonged at that moment, not on that square, with a gun in my handbag, to help carrying out some idiot murder plot. But I could not cross the Laibach bridge. Too many people were in the way. Eventually I went in the Wolfstrasse, sitting on a bench, waiting.

"Ah here you are! Aurore!? Is something wrong? I was looking for you on the square where we…"
"What do you think is wrong, Lisa!?"
“What’s the matter, Aurore? Calm down, you look upset, you…”
"Do you hear that, Lisa?"
"What do you mean?"
"The church bells, Lisa, do you hear them? The church bells of the cathedral!"
"Right! Those are the bells of the Cathedral that are ringing? So what? "
"So what!? So what!? So what!? Listen, Lisa! The Archduke, and his wife, are in that Cathedral! They are now, at this very moment, remembering those who died in the earthquake of 1989! My parents got killed then, remember? My brothers! All my family! All swept away! Destroyed! Raptured by this wretched country here, where you apparently only count if you have blood on your hands! A country that kills its own people just like that! A country where the Earth swallows its own residents! The country that has destroyed my family! And all my life too! You people could have had a little thought about my feelings, before sending me up here with you loony plan!" While I spoke, tears rolled in torrents from my eyes.

Nothing could stop my anger!
"Aurore! Calm down! You know very well that you don't .... You're also from here! You are one of us!"
"Lisa, I am Aurore d'Artois, from France. What counts is where I really grew up!"
"You belong to us, Aurore!"
"That Illyria of yours, Lisa that is a murderous and bloodthirsty monster! Its soil gobbles up people, it destroys lives. Even more! It turns its own people into murderers. Those Serbs and Croats and all the others, they are scum, bandits! Killers they are, just that! Dumb, insane, uncivilized killers! Actually they earn no better than having to live under the tyranny of the Emperor! And worse, you people cannot do anything else! It is all a mess you are making of it! All incompetence when it would come to real governance! Let that Illyria of yours exist for just one year, and you start butchering each other, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Albanese, as if it were the most normal thing in the world! But I, Lisa, once more, I don’t want to belong to that world where one only counts if he has proven to be a savage assassin!"
"Calm down, Aurore, or we attract the attention! Keep yourself together now, will you? We will talk about it later! When this will be over! And besides, you have forgotten ' Téméraire ' already? Come on, it's almost over! "
"What are you up to, Lisa?"
"They are now walking along the between the Jubileumsbrücke and here. But there are barriers on one side, and on the other side of the water there are buildings, so the risk of collateral damage is minimal along the river. Within half an hour it's done. You will stay here, and as soon as you hear tumult, you go to the car. You wait there for me, understand? I now go to the other side, before they shut down everything again! And if you must cool down your anger, cool it on the Archduke! But be careful! "

The bells of the cathedral had stopped ringing. The Archduke and his entourage were on their walk of the Cathedral to the Jubileumsbrücke, which had collapsed in the earthquake and now was also rebuilt. Maybe, I thought, we better let that Archduke live, and we show him all the residential towers, which had completely collapsed in the earthquake. From some of them, the rubble was still not cleared, with the bodies of the dead still under it! They would better show him all those towers which stand empty and evacuated, because they were too badly damaged, while after so many years, their former residents still live in tents or barracks. I wondered if the Archduke would ever got to see that!

In the meantime the cars returned to this square. Also the Lancers had arrived. They put themselves in line for the time being, awaiting the return of the Archduke, who would inspect the Franciskaner Church and then drive to the castle. Lisa had bought us a Viennese sandwich and coffee at a food stall before she went. Nervously I looked forward to what would happen next. After some time there was a sudden movement, across the street from the triple bridge. And then came the Archduke and his entourage walking over the middle bridge, hailed by the bystanders on the two parallel bridges. They must have visited the Jubileumsbrücke but they had not crossed it. They had returned the other side of the river bank, the way they had come. And so they apparently had escaped the assassins again. Empire – Illyria two-zero! The Archduke made a tour of the square in front of the Franciskanerkerk. He greeted bystanders, spoke to old men in uniform,.. Then he was informed about the Church, of which the façade had been heavily damaged during the earthquake. After a short look inside, they returned to their cars, while the lancer’s squadrons took their position immediately. The ride to the castle would also take place under the protection of an escort. The options were as good as exhausted. Not that I felt sorry about that, certainly not here, amidst this crowd.

Commands sounded over the square and the motorcade prepared for moving on. The Archduke was looking around. He and his wife waved to bystanders. Crazy, I thought! In a moment they would pass in front of me. While I stood against the barrier. But it would be madness. Anyone who would commit an attack here, had no chance to get away. I noticed that the horse from the nearest Lancer was positioned in such a way, that he would drastically restrict my firing field, strongly reducing the chances of a hit (at least on the right person). It would have made no sense, even though if I had wanted to do it.

But then suddenly the procession came to a halt. The horse positioned between the front and the second car suddenly became nervous and started to twist around between the two cars. It then started bucking, and the rider tried to calm him. Right in front of me stood the next horse, blocking my view on the Archduke now. But it also got on his nerves, clawing with his front right foot on the pavement. The other horse just kept dancing around. The nearest bystanders moved backward from the fence, putting some pressure on the crowd, which pushed me forward. Luckily they had moved backward, because suddenly the horse kicked with his hind legs, giving a blow against the crush barriers. Because they were hooked together, several on a row fell backward. At a certain point between the kicking horse and me, they got detached, so that I still had a fence standing upright in front of me. I felt the pressure of the crowd behind me, and I hoped they would not panic.

The other horse, nearly right in front of me, still stood restlessly clawing. I felt no more at ease, because it stood so close to me. The first horse meanwhile danced on into the direction of the crowd, pranced, and gave another blow with his hind legs, this time hitting nothing. For the horse that stood in front of me, this was apparently the sign for running away galloping, right into the open space of the Preseren Platz. The restless horses caused more pressure on the anxious crowd, that kept pushing forward. I was pushed against the fence! I got scared! The pressure made more fences fall over, this time into the direction of the square. I was then pushed forward and I stumbled with my feet between the bars of the fallen fence in front of me. Luckily there was still space on the Preseren Platz and in the Copstrasse, so that the crowd could disperse, avoiding a stampede.

I righted myself. I stood with my feet stuck between the bars of the fallen section of a crush barrier, frightened for the horse and for possible panic behind me. Because the crowd had somewhat dispersed, I stood rather isolated forward, with my ankles stuck between those rods. Carefully I tried to pull them free. The one horse was still twisting around, the other one galloped over the square. The onlookers were occupied with their own safety or drawn by the spectacle of the runaway horses. Unexpectedly, those horses had created a huge double breech in the defense line of the Archduke: the procession had come to a stop and their flank was now unprotected. And the car of the Archduke stood still in front of me. The occupants of the car, the Archduke and his wife, the driver and two high ranked officers, one next to the Archduke and another one sitting in front of him, looked amused to the runaway horses. As did the lancers! No one, absolutely no one, was aware of me! Trembling on my feet, dazzled from overdoses of adrenaline, still excited by the panic of the crowd, with a relived anger about the earthquake and the fate it had brought me, I suddenly decided to do what I never had wanted to do! I had a straight view, a clean line of fire towards the Archduke. If necessary, I judged, I would have to make a few steps forward, after kicking out my shoes! I would see about that! Anyway, the surprise would be completely on my side!

I had decided I did not care anymore! Within a minute, I would likely be dead, either by a thrust of a lance into my chest, or my skull being split in half by the blow of a sword! Well, so let it be! I grabbed my handbag and I pulled the zipper of the pouch where my pistol was in!

(to be continued!)
 
Part 2 – episode 16

I pulled the zipper of my handbag, but I got the wrong one! It was just an empty, shallow pocket. It must have been at the other side! I found out that the shoulder strap was twisted! Then I found right the zipper, but it wouldn't open! New handbags! Always the same! I pulled with both hands to open it! It seemed to last an eternity! It costs two months of income of an average Illyrian worker, but the damn zipper is stuck! Finally I got it open. I put my hand inside and I grabbed for the grip of the gun. But I found the barrel. That gun was apparently backwards and upside down, and it was moreover stuck, somewhere, inside that bag, by a strap only God knows for what was meant for. First I pulled on the barrel, but something told me that pulling an upward pointing loaded gun by the barrel, could be a very bad idea. So, I tried to release it from below! I fumbled around, trying to get the gun free. Finally, I got the grip. I looked around again. All the attention still went into the incident with the horses. In the car they were all still distracted by it. All, except,..

The wife of the Archduke! She had noticed me! And I saw in her eyes that she knew what I was up to! And both for her and me it was clear that everybody else was not paying attention to me! There was no time anymore for her to warn one of the four men in the car for the imminent danger. While she kept watching me, I saw her look change from concern to determination. She righted herself a little bit, she put her left hand on the back of the seat in front of her and she bent forward while she continued to look straight at me. In a flash I realized what she had in mind!

She had made my field of firing very small, unless I would…

Suddenly I hesitated. I realized that I could not do it! I released the grip of the gun and pulled out my hand. Step by step I tried to get my feet out of the bars of the fallen barrier, trying not to stumble. Then, the horse that had been on the run, returned, and stopped at its original position, between me and the Archduke’s car. As quickly as possible, I tried to vanish into the crowd. Empire-Illyria three-zero!

"Aurore! What was the matter with you? You stood there right in front of him! Why didn’t you shoot!? "
"That damn handbag did not open!"
"You know the zipper of a new handbag must always be treated with candle wax first! Otherwise you get misery! "
"I know! Furthermore, ..! "
"What?"
"That wife of the Archduke had seen me! And she had figured out what I was up to! "
"So what? The only thing that you had to do was to shoot!? No one else was watching you! "
"Lisa! Do you know what she did? She offered herself as a living shield to her husband! I would first have her shot! To eliminate her as an obstacle! I would have had no more chance to hit him. "
"Had at least tried, then!"
"Are you completely mad, Lisa!? She has four children! Do you people really think everyone can be murdered, just for the cause? Yes, you do, I know! But I keep thinking at ‘Téméraire’? "

She said nothing more, except:
"Go to the car and prepare it for driving away. It is all failed. I'm going to collect the others and I'll be right there!"
She did not have to ask me twice. I quickly left that square and I went to the car, as fast I could. As soon my new shoes permitted it, by the way, because they ran not so easy. If I had really shot, then I would not have gone far, at least if I would have had time to get out of the bars of the barriers. If I had drawn that gun, I had been dead by now!

I reached the car and got in without any problems. I just had to wait for Lisa and the others. Sitting behind the wheel, I could finally scrub off some stress. What a situation I was in! I almost had shot as well. What took me? And I had to think constantly to the Archduke’s wife, how she had offered herself as a living shield for her husband! Suppose! Suppose I ever would have been Queen of France, would I have done that for Robert, would I have committed the same sacrifice for him, would the same circumstances have occurred?

“Aurore! Aufwachen!”
I woke up! Someone was ticking at the side window of the car. Still sleepy, I tried to pull my mind together. It became clear to me that I was still sitting in the getaway car in the Beethovenstrasse. I was here on request by Lisa, who had said she would come soon. I had got into the car and I had waited. But no one came, and I must have fallen asleep. Meanwhile, it was dark – and cold. Next to the car stood a van. Josip, in his wheelchair, sat in the passenger compartment.
“Aurore, komm, Schnell! Marko will follow with the car!”
Marko, the man who had waken me up, took over the getaway car, while I got into the van with Josip.
“What happened, Josip? Where is Lisa?”
“Keine Ahnung? I have absolutely no idea! Do you know?”
“No, she had said she would be here soon…!”
“She had signaled that the operation had failed. Afterwards, I haven’t heard from her neither!”
“Is she arrested?”
“Not that I know! She has simply vanished!”
“Where are we going?”
“Nach Hause, Aurore!”

It all looked bad. Josip said nothing more underway. Then, after about an hour's drive on dark roads we arrived at a familiar place: the castle I had spent months in the past. We got out. Josip was still taciturn.
"Geh schlafen, Aurore!"

I went to sleep as Josip had ordered. The next morning, he was up early. He was clearly annoyed. It was still not clear what had happened to Lisa and the others. But there was clearly something going on.

“It was all betrayed! Those damned Serbs did it! They provided us with all wrong information. I am sure they wanted to shoot Friedrich Wilhelm themselves and they were even prepared to betray their own comrades! Their own Illyrian people! You were right, Aurore! Maybe Illyria is a myth! It will not work yet! We still have to go a long way before all the people of Illyria shall be able to live together!”
“I was very close! But I could not do it, Josip! The Archduke’s wife was prepared to protect her husband with her own life!”
“I heard what happened from Lisa’s latest message! You were right not to shoot! The world would not have forgiven us if we had killed her! You have nothing to blame yourself!”
“And now!?”
“I am afraid, you have to go now, Aurore!”
“To go, but;..?”
“We better get you out of all this, for your own safety!”
“To go!? Where?”
“It is all over! Soon, I will retreat to Hungary again! I have papers and some money for you! Here is a car key. You will drive to Macedonia!”
“To Macedonia?”
“To Thessaloniki. Here is an address. Go there! Someone there will help you further!”
“But, Josip…?”
“Go, Aurore, go now, and don’t look back. It is all over! Go, as long as it is still possible!”
He sounded authoritative. Too authoritative to ignore! Clearly, he would not accept a refusal.
“Auf wiedersehen, Josip!”
“Farewell, Aurore! Geh jetzt, und leb wohl, du kühnes, herliches Kind!”
“What did you say, Josip!?”
“Nothing, Aurore! Go now! It is for your own good!”

Confused I got into the car. It was a small model, but obviously enough to drive away. The gas tank was full. There was a road map inside. I also had some food, enough for two days. I started the engine and drove away.

It was a more than five hundred miles ride to the Macedonian border. Over Zagreb, Belgrade, Pristina and Skopje. It was already dark when I arrived at the border with Macedonia. During the night the border crossing was closed, so I slept in my car. The next morning I crossed the border without problems. Shortly after noon I arrived in Thessaloniki, and I went to the address Josip had given me. It was a carpet shop somewhere in a narrow street. I showed the man the card that Josip had given me. He looked at me and nodded. With my imperfect Slovenian I understood that I could park the car and I could spend the night in it. The following day he would help me further.

And indeed, the next day he brought me to the port, where I got a ticket for a ferry, ready to sail. It was the ferry to the island of Chaos. He gave me an address, and some good advice: stay on that island. Don't go away! You will be nowhere else safe in Europe! It was a good advice from Josip himself.

After a passage of nearly a day, the ferry arrived at the port of Chaos City. It was evening, a delicious warm summer evening, as I stood on the quays. Around me there was the busy hustle and bustle of a port: fishermen, boaters, hikers, sailors. Further, along the port, tourists enjoyed eating and drinking on the terraces. I would never forget the day of my arrival. It was the first of July of the year 1998. Almost a month earlier I got thirty-two. Here I stood, on the run for both the King of France and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Practically without a penny, dirty and wrecked after a long trip in the car and two nights sleeping in that car. Without any prospect, my sole possession being the clothes and shoes I wore, those I had bought in Laibach to commit a murder, some money Josip had given me, and a few more things in the suitcase I had taken to Laibach for the stay in the hotel. According to my passport, I was Luisa Schneider, born in Saverne in France, and according to my photo on the passport, I was most probably Lisa. But right, we seemed to resemble each other, after all. I looked around and I was wondering where I had to go. And what would be the future here? Who knows, would someone also suggest me here to become a Queen? Queen in a prison without bars? Queen of Chaos this time? I was used to it!

“Can I help you?”
Behind me stood a small, friendly smiling red haired lady that addressed me. In English. I had to search for words. I hardly knew English. That language was nowhere taught on the schools. English was regarded throughout Europe as a simple Island language, full of barbaric sounds. A language without the inflections and cases, in which all nouns were simply neuter. But I had to face the fact. I was now myself on an island and I would better put aside my bias and accept the helping hand that was offered, regardless in what language it was.

The woman was called Judith, as it turned out. She helped me to the address that the man in Thessaloniki had given me. But she also gave her own contacts, because she knew people who could help me here. Because she had quickly understood that I had come to Chaos for a reason other than a touristic journey, and that I would not leave soon.

My contact on the island lived in an apartment in a small street just outside the St. George’s Gate. He could give me accommodation for a few days, and meanwhile he looked for a summer job for me, as a dishwasher in a restaurant. In the tourist season, there was always plenty of demand for such helping hands. He presented it as a starting job, a temporary solution that would earn money immediately. In the meantime I could look forward to private accommodation and a better job. Like the man in Thessaloniki, he asked no questions. Referring to 'Josip ' was apparently enough to get help.

I also decided to use the help Judith had offered me. She helped me to a find a place to stay. The one we found was not large. It was located in one of the many narrow streets near the Saint-Nicolas’ Gate. It was on the second floor of an old, small building, above a souvenir shop, but outside of the busiest tourist destinations. It was a called a ‘studio', although it was basically just one room of about twenty feet by eight feet. On one side there was a ‘bathroom’ of approximately six feet, behind a curtain. So, at least there was water, and electricity. In the main part was a bed, a large wardrobe, a table and two chairs. There was one window, five feet long and two feet high, with a view on a side wall of an adjacent house, about nine feet away, and on the blue sky. In the afternoon, during about one and a half hour, sunshine fell through the window.

At first I was rather reluctant to take it, because I preferred the area just outside the Saint George’s Gate, with its white apartment blocks and its wide streets with trees on the sidewalk. At a first glance, it felt more pleasant to live there. But Judith insisted to take the studio, for several reasons. First, she said, I had to take into consideration that appearances are deceiving. My contact was living in one of the better streets of the Saint-George’s Gate Quarter, but that supposedly neat and fresh quarter hid a lot of poverty. In some streets and in some apartment buildings, there was crime, even true anarchy. As a single woman it would even be harder to live there, because the poverty went hand in hand with a very conservative moral. A woman was supposed to have a man, otherwise she was regarded as a whore. Furthermore, despite my qualifications, which she knew already, I would never manage to find a job at any level, because the inhabitants of the St. George’s Gate Quarter have the stigma of being low-skilled, lazy and unreliable. Living In the St. Marcus or in the St. Nicolas quarter would mean a social upgrade despite the housing being much smaller. So she urged me to take the little studio she had proposed. After all, it would be a temporary solution. So, I followed Judith's advice. Shortly afterwards she arranged for me a part-time and temporary employment in the English fleet base. Not at the quays, actually. It had to do something with the administration of the officer's mess, which was located in the Diplomat’s Quarter. The mess was regularly visited by invited civilians too, and the contacts I made there and the help of Judith, allowed me to get part-time jobs elsewhere. After about a year I had gathered enough part-time office jobs, so I could give up doing dishes. I earned enough money to afford the expensive life on Chaos (because many goods had to be imported). Only local fruits and wine were cheap.

About then, Maryszkà arrived too, and she also got helped by Judith. Olga would appear some three years after my arrival, Smyrna only eight years after me. All were helped by Judith and by us, to get settled on the island. That way we forged a band, like Judith called it, that shared joy and sorrow and that made the Saint-Nicolas Quarter ‘unsafe’. We, the Queens of Chaos.

End of Part 2 (to be continued)
 
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