Third session, "Mystery of the Dying Clockwork"

Disruptions

From the diary of George Moriarty, footman in the household of Sir Cosmo Cowperthwaite

Tuesday, 7 September, 1875

The University Ball was not boring. The dancing does tend to go on and on. Wilhelmina was quite enjoying herself. Prince Stefan is hanging around her a bit more than some people would like -- mostly a rather lot of other young ladies. Perhaps someone should suggest they take courses in Natural Philosophy.

There was also the young man from the British embassy, Mr. Wetherby. Excuse, the Hon. Mr Vincent Wetherby (younger son of a viscount). He's a rather handsome fellow, but wasn't quite able to keep up when the conversation turned to ballistics and drag coefficients. The Vicomte de la Roche, on the other hand (from the French embassy), did keep Wilhelmina amused by discussing some articles written years about by Major General Cuthbert on the application of the calculus of variations to military logistics.

Vee's uncle was in attendance, again. Since human form is not his natural shape, one wonders if he is so very tall because he chooses to be, or if there's some limit on what the magic will do. Count von Freiheff was also there, and looked as if he might try to ask Wilhelmina for a dance, but Sir Cosmo whisked her off before he could. And Her Ladyship distracted the Count with a discussion about dragon politics. Then the Archduchess and Miss Pinker headed off his next two attempts.

The Woosters have an admirer! Herr Kuhlbert von Arondung (the son of Baron von Arondung, whose ill health was whispered about by many of the other attendees), wished to meet the "swords-woman who beat Count Rugin, twice!" and "the naval officer who stopped an invading Prussian army with an armed launch." He was very effusive in his praise, and wanted to discuss the more intricate points of swordsmanship with Mrs Wooster. His aura was odd. He's not a sorcerer, and he's not a werewolf, but there was a decidedly feline shape to his aura.

Lt Wooster was drawn away from the conversation with von Arondung by his own uncle, Admiral Whipple. It began with them simply trying to avoid the Duchess of Wolfenbuttel (who we know from previous encounters as Lady Sofia, wife of Count Wymms, the head of the Prussian Royal Police--except he's not just a Count now, he's been made a Duke). The Duchess is trying to save Bearded Gryphon Vulture from extinction, and since the Admiral is trying to train the same species of bird to use as messengers in war zones, they do not get along.

Baron von Fingendorf, who is the king's nephew, and another person in the line of succession (I believe he is below Prince Stefan, but above Prince Heinrich) engaged Sir Cosmo and Her Ladyship in a conversation about Mrs Gwytha (Nanny) Chigwidgeon and her place in Carpania's history. Even though we have seen newspaper articles about this event, and heard descriptions from the King, the Archduchess, and now the Baron, I'm still not sure what actually happened.

I suspect years from now when people tell stories about us it will be the same.

The Baron mentioned to Her Ladyship there is another painting of the Godmothers (Mrs Chigwidgeon, Miss Garlik, and Mistress Weatherwax) in the university library, and he offered to show it to Her Ladyship. So she, Sir Cosmo, Mr Salmalin, and all the guards that follow them everywhere headed out.

We remained in the main ballroom for some minutes, until I heard the distant sound of crashing furniture. Very possibly bookcases falling over. Before I had gotten Wilhelmina's attention, she and Mrs Wooster both heard the familiar sound of Her Ladyship calling out, "I'm so sorry!"

We made our way toward the libary. Once out of the ballroom, the sounds of more bookcases falling at regular intervals was unmistakeable.

The university grounds include an old castle as well as an abbey and a number of other buildings. The library is built inside a large round tower in the center of the main castle building. The bookcases are arranged in circles going up seven stories. There is an enormous open area in the center of the tower, leading to a stained glass ceiling which I suspect is very pretty in the daylight.

The bookcases falling over were on the third level. Her Ladyship, Sir Cosmo, the Baron, Mr Salmalin, and many of those cavlarymen were spread out along the rail overlooking the open space. Lady Cowperthwaite and Mr Salmalin seemed to be busy assisted the Duke of Florin and Count Rugin from underneath some of the bookcases.

I assumed that was why Mr Salmalin hadn't stopped the rest of the bookcases from falling, so I leapt up to the level and managed to save the last ten cases from falling over.

Wilhelmina, Prince Stefan, and half the staff of the library rushed to begin salvaging books. So I was distracted and did not hear what was happening out in the corridor right away.

Mrs Wooster, Wilhelmina, and von Arondung heard it, and Lt Wooster was in the middle of it, so it was all sorted.

Apparently when Wooster and the Admiral slipped away from the dance, they had taken refuge in one of the professor's offices nearby, where they found Count Schswarzhaupt von Schwarzhaupt napping. The Count is a distant cousin of the king, and another person in the line of succession (four below Prince Stefan and five above Lord Greyminster, I believe). The Count was tired of being followed everywhere by a group of calvalrymen, and had slipped away for a bit of peace and quiet.

The Count, the Admiral, and Wooster were sharing some brandy and having a pleasant conversation when they heard the commotion in the library. They were trying to find the source of the sound when they were confronted by two men armed with a rifle. The men were trying to take the Count prisoner.

When they were confronted by Mrs Wooster and von Arondung, the man with the rifle yelled something in German about death. Wilhelmina thinks he was shouting a political slogan. He didn't live to the end of the sentence, because Lt Wooster, the Admiral, Mrs Wooster, and von Arondung all attached him at once.

His companion ran.

Mrs Wooster and von Arondung gave chase. Lt Wooster shoot the man, hitting his left thigh. Mrs Wooster, meanwhile, had thrown a knife into his right calf. He survived and was taken into custody.

The accents and clothing of the men (not to mention the calluses on the gunman's hands), indicate they are labourers. We assume they are connected with yesterday's rocket battery attack.

Mrs Wooster was telling everyone to keep an eye out for a ghost tiger. She is quite certain she heard a tiger growling out in the hallway. We found no sign of a tiger, unless one counts von Arondung's aura. Which may well be the culprit, for all we know. Mrs Cuthbert hasn't seen him yet. I will be quite interested in her opinion.

Her Ladyship, meanwhile, had been trying to figure out why the Duke of Florin and Count Rugin were in the library during the ball, whispering about rockets. She didn't find out, but I suspect we will learn why eventually.

Wednesday, 8 September

The household was up quite early. Most of us were going on the Groom's Hunt. Ladies do not normally participate, but the king's invitation very pointedly included Her Ladyship, Mrs Wooster, and "other ladies of the household."

Sir Spencer has been looking forward to this for weeks, as he and the king haven't been hunting together in over forty years, back when Sir Spencer was simply Mr Cuthbert, and His Majesty was Prince Kristoff, younger son or a younger son of a king, and never expected to inherit the throne.

Lord Greyminster, meanwhile, was going to take Galen and the other children on a longer horse ride. In the opposite direction as the hunt, so that Master Galen wouldn't spoil things by warning the animals in The Voice.

The Inspector and Mr Clerk Sgt Major Frazer accompanied them. And they were escorted by the Honour Guard for Lord Greyminster and Master Galen, so we foolishly thought they would have a quiet day of it.

I should have known that wouldn't be the case.

We were escorted to the Royal Hunting Lodge by our own Honour Guard and Prince Stefan's cavalry unit. The hunters were spread along a line in small groups, each group separated by a couple hundred yards, and we proceeded along the lightly wooded plains. In theory our quarry was stag. One of the lodge staff gave us a little lecture about how the Carpanian Stag is one of the largest species of deer in the world. It was during this lecture that we learned that while much of the rest of the world pronounces both the deer and the mountains that give it its names "karpaten" from the German, the local Czech dialect pronounces it more like "karpiani," which is how the Kingdom got its name.

We were told chamois, boar, partridge, quail, capercaille, wood grouse, were also fair game, which made Mrs Wooster happy. She got a rather large number of game birds with her bow and arrow while everyone else was after the big game.

The hunters were moving on foot. Most of us servants were also on foot, following along to assist as needed. Several riders with horses were behind us, some assistances to the huntsmen, and of course all the Honour Guards and the Royal Guards.

We had not been moving long when we heard thunder way off to the east, though there were not clouds to speak of. About a half hour later, I heard a disturbance to the east again, followed a moment later howling. A group of about eight wolves were running toward us. Except they weren't ordinary wolves. They all had werewolf auras.

Someone called out that it was "the baron's son and his gang." Which caused the hunters nearby to shrug and turn back to the hunt. A number of the guards, including some of Prince Stefan's men, rode out trying to wave the wolves off. I didn't find out until later which baron it was---there are far too many Counts and Barons attending these events to be sure.

The wolves overran the furthest outrider, knocking the soldier off his horse.

Which is when both Her Ladyship and Wilhelmina decided to get involved. They both claimed that they were intending to shoot over the heads of all involved. Just a warning shot. Her Ladyship succeeded. Wilhelmina grazed one wolf on the shoulder.

All but one of the wolves scattered.

He rose up on his hind legs, firmly fixed his gaze on Wilhelmina. Besides the weird shapeshifter aura, he had unusual markings. The fur around his head was a golden blond color, with a silver blaze across his right brow. The main body fur was a more typical grey. As his glare met Wilhelmina's eyes, his aura grew. Not just his aura, as he ran forward--much faster--his body grew until he was at least the size of a stallion.

Guards and cavalrymen were converging toward him, waving him off. But he kept coming.

Wilhelmina had handed me her rifle and had pulled out her rocket gun.

Everyone was yelling. Half of them telling people not to shoot, half telling the wolf to stop.

I assumed, since this wolf was obviously the leader of his little pack, that he was the baron's son that had been mentioned. I knew if he got too close, Wilhelmina and Her Ladyship and Sir Spencer would all shoot him. And either Her Ladyship's gun and Sir Spencer's usual gun were likely to leave little more than some bloody tufts of fur. And depending on which rocket Wilhelmina had loaded, even that might have been destroyed.

Which seemed to me might cause a diplomatic incident.

So I pulled out the etheric pulse gun--Wilhelmina's new, non-fatal design--and I fired.

Sir Cosmo, it turned out, had the same train of thought, and had down the same thing.

The wolf went down.

By that point the King had gotten on a horse and ridden over with more of the guards.

The wolf shrank back down to a smaller size, but he didn't revert to human form. The King took one look, and then instructed some of the soldiers to take him to the Potsdorf jail, and that someone should take a message to the Baroness that she needed to bail out her son, again.

While this was going on, several of the soldiers, including Prince Stefan's right-hand man, plus Sir Spencer, the Duke of Florin, and Count Rugin, had all spread out looking for the rest of the wolves. Sir Spencer said he saw only one, watching from a distance copse of trees, and that one ran toward the northwest when he realized he'd been spotted.

A chalet belonging to the Baron von Ebersbach, father of the werewolf we had just shot, lies in that direction.

At the king's insistence, we all resumed the hunting, though I kept an eye out for more wolves.

Wilhelmina shot a stag. Not just any stag, she got a big seven-pointer, the largest of the day. Her Ladyship also got a stag, though there was a short dispute when it appeared that perhaps the Duke of Florin had shot it. But the bullet hole was obviously too large for the smaller rifle he was using.

Sir Spencer and the King each got a stag. They also got a boar. The King's guards were a bit embarrassed that the king was charged by the boar and got it with his spear. But no one was injured, so I guess that worked out.

We reached another hunting lodge, belonging to yet another Count (and another person in the line of succession; below Baron Fingendorf, but above Prince Heinrich, I believe--I don't know how Mr Graves keeps it all straight!), we learned that there had been an incident with the children.

A pack of wolves had rushed at the horses, spooking several of them. Frazer and MacGreggor got most of the horses under control, but Caroline's bolted. Lord Greyminster and Master Galen were the first to catch up with her. Before His Lordship had gotten hold of the reigns, Galen used The Voice. He was probably getting scared, certainly was excited. When the Voice told the horse to stop, it did. Rather quickly.

Caroline had managed to hold on while the horse was running, but she was thrown by the sudden stop. And she broke a leg.

The wolves were almost certainly the same ones that tried to break up the hunting party. One of them called insults in a human voice as they ran through. Frazer and MacGreggor both described the talking wolf as having goldish-fur on his head, with a white or silver mark on over his right eye. Once they had disrupted the riding party, the wolves had ran west -- toward our location.

We were about five or six miles away at the time of Caroline's accident. I presume that the thunder we heard was actually Galen using The Voice.

Unfortunately there was not a lot of time to discuss things, as we have to get to the King's Reception. We stopped at the lodge long enough for the ladies to change. They're supposed to wear their uniforms tonight...

Proceed to Searching in the dark

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