Swiss Arms 82 (Patreon)

Swiss Arms

Chapter 82

-VB-

Isabella von Fluelaberg

It’s been a week since the start of the festival, and she had to say that it had proceeded and ended without a hitch.

Her husband’s diplomatic endeavors during the festivities had also paid off and they were now in contact with like-minded peers of the empire.

Her cousin, Duke Henry IV of Tyrol, Carniola, and Carinthia; her husband, Hans von Fluelaberg the de facto ruler of the Compact; Prince-Bishop Siegfried of Chur, the de facto spiritual leader of the Compact; Prince-Bishop Emicho of Freising, an ally of the Habsburg; Lord Mayor of Memmingen Albert von Lorsmich; and Duke Rudolf of Wittelsbach, the fooled and foolish dethroned ruler of Upper Bavaria.

They now sat around a table in a room with thick walls and doors with trusted guards outside keeping anyone from listening in.

Their purpose today?

Bringing down Louis IV of the Wittelbachs, the self-declared sole ruler of the Duchy of Upper Bavaria.

… Well, they would have gone with it right away had it not been for an unexpected visit from an uninvited guest: Otto.

The lands of Tyrol, Carinthia, and Carniola were, similarly like that of the Upper Bavaria, ruled together by her cousins: Otto III, Albert II, Louis of Gorizia, and, last but not least, Henry IV, the youngest of the four. Despite being the youngest, Henry was the one who had been most active internationally while Otto was focused more on low-key diplomatic development. Unlike Louis of Wittelbachs and Rudolf, these four brothers did not fight over the inherited lands because they trusted each other, and she knew they trusted each other because they often trusted one of their own to speak on behalf of them all.

It was the truest example of sibling love that she knew of… but some things could not be left to a single representative, which was why, two days into the festivities, Otto had “crashed the party” as her husband put it.

Isabella snuck a glance at her cousins and couldn’t help but make the same comparison she always made when they met them together.

Where Henry was tall and thin, Otto was stocky and muscular. Henry’s sandy blonde hair contrasted sharply with Otto’s jet black hair (and she understood that color name now since she came across multiple jet rocks). Henry looked sharp like a hawk but Otto looked more like a bull. Henry was cautious with his finances. Otto… was not. That last particular comparison could be seen in how they dressed. She knew because she’s been to her late uncle’s castle often as a child. Henry was wearing his father’s most prized silk-woven cape that hung loosely while Otto’s more form-fitting and latest fashion from Italian city-states… whatever it was called. It also had gold buttons studded along the side.

There was a reason why Otto’s court was struggling financially but had the highest approval of his vassals while Henry’s court grumbled about the lack of tourneys, festivities, and grand gatherings but had a strong financial foundation that has weathered multiple crises.

There was also another person waiting to be allowed into this meeting, and he was someone that the Habsburgs had sent as their representative.

Everyone at the table looked around and her husband finally raised her voice.

“Let her in.”

The thick wooden doors pulled outwards, and there she stood, briefly pausing to let them all see her, and then she stepped in.

Elizabeth of Carinthia. Her cousin and the empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire.

-VB-

Elizabeth of Carinthia

Elizabeth looked around the room after stepping into it, and she had to say that there was a bit of mystique here that was hard to find in any of the courts that she had been to. Despite having a sizable town in the valley, the baron that her own husband had given the noble title to had instead chosen one of the unused mining tunnels and refurbished it for this meeting.

She thought it was a show of resourcefulness and wealth. The entire tunnel had been smoothed out with bricks laid out across the floor to serve as the floor. The amount of bricks in her one-minute walk was already a sizable investment, but what truly caught her was the impossibly smooth walls.

It must have taken thousands of days - no, tens of thousands of days of worth of work. That meant that the baron had either employed many people for a short amount of time or a small number of people for a long period. Either way, he had to pay a lot of money for what could be the start of a mountain fortress.

“Duke Wittelbachs,” she smiled as she greeted the current enemy of her house. “I must say that fortunes have not shined on you lately.”

Wisely, the older of the Upper Bavarian ducal brothers held his tongue. Instead, he stood up, walked up to her, kissed her ring, and then walked back to his seat. All without saying anything.

Rude.

Then she turned to her younger brothers, Otto and Henry.

“How have you two been doing? It’s been such a long time since we saw each other!” she smiled. Her two brothers stood up and walked up to her, and she each gave them a hug which they returned.

This time, she turned to look at the two bishops.

“Your Graces,” she nodded, and when the two elderly statesmen of the Lord stood up, it was she who kissed their rings and they who bowed afterward.

Finally. Finally, it was time to greet the enigma and the main player in all of this.

Baron Hans von Fluelaberg.

Oh, and her cousin Little Red Isabella.

(Not so little anymore).

“Fashionably late, I presume?” the baron asked her.

The others gawked at his audacity but Elizabeth just chuckled, even though she wanted to laugh out loud.

“A lady is never late, dear baron. However, I suppose that there is a certain flair to showing up late and drawing all of the eyes.”

Which was exactly what she had done by arriving on the third day of the festivities.

Yes, it had been a surprise visit, mostly one that she had initiated herself, leaving her husband behind to deal with the feud between the Margrave of Brandenberg and the Duke of Saxony as well as the issue of the Bohemians trying to place one of their own on the Hungarian throne.

“Indeed,” he smiled.

“Empress Elizabeth,” Isabella spoke up from the baron’s side.

Elizabeth smiled. “Oh, come now, Issie! You don’t have to call me empress when we’re in private!”

Isabella glanced at the three non-family members in attendance at the meeting. “Perhaps when we are more in private then,” she smiled sweetly and a little nervously.

After that, she greeted the Lord Mayor of Memmingen, and the meeting commenced.

“So, little baron,” she turned back to the man who took her cousin as his wife. “How do you intend to bring down the Duke of Upper Bavaria?”

-VB-

A/N 1: I did not think I would be reading scholarly articles on historical events to write my story, but here I am, doing exactly that.