The Tale of Friedrich
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"Ahhh. Isn't this a beautiful morning Cecilia? Isn’t is so my dear?"
Cecilia looked in from the dining room.
"Yes, it certainly is Friedrich." , she replied with a smile.
Friedrich felt that he ought to spend the whole morning like that, looking out over the country estate ownings through the window, letting the morning sunlight warm him, and just enjoy life.
Suddenly, in the middle of his morning pleasure, a servant entered.
"Lord Friedrich von Pomerania?" , he asked.
"Yes Krister." replied Freidrich, slightly irritated by the fact that he had been disturbed.
"There is a man out here searching for you."
"A man? Is it the mayor?"
"No My Lord, he says that his name is von Eberholt something"
At once Friedrich woke up from the slight lethargy he had been in.
"What? von Eberholt?" . Damn, what is he doing here? Was his immediate thought.
"Yes My Lord, von Eberholt was his precise name, I remember now..."
"Show him upstairs immediately!"
Every single though seemed to pass in the mind of Friedrich at the moment, he could not focus. He had had it so good this last time, everything from his childhood seemed to been forgotten. His fathers contempt for him, his younger brother Sigismund being more liked by his father, the brilliance of Sigismund, everything. He had begun a whole new life, would that be destroyed now? A tear rolled down his cheeks. Damn he even cried, would they take that away from him? He dried the tear away with his hand. And dear Cecilia, dear Cecilia. He had found the love of his life, first he had thought it to be Elie, but she was too strict, and now when he had gotten away from the madness in Germany he could face the real Friedrich, and he then found Cecilia, and understood that she was made for him. Suddenly the door opened.
"Your Majesty, Duke Friedrich, I knee for you." it was the count von Eberholt entering the room, who kneed before Friedrich.
"Stand up Helmuth! What is it you want?" said Friedrich fast, and his voice was very irritated.
"Your Majesty, not so fast, I have some things to discuss with you."
"No, you have not! Tell me your interests and then leave!"
"I think you ought to listen to me your Majesty, tell me, would it not be sad if the Imperial forces looking for you found out where you are hiding?"
"You your... I will...!"
Friedrich walked towards the fireplace, over which two swords hang, quickly he picked one of them down.
"I will fill you with steel you Bastard! German steel!" , he approached Helmuth slowly, while Helmuth pressed himself deeper into a corner.
"Your Majesty, even if you kill me, your secret will be revealed. Do you really think I am that stupid that I come here to YOU without telling anyone of my plans?"
"Bastard!!!" , as fast as he possible could Friedrich ran against Count Helmuth and placed the sword in the wall, about two inches from Helmuth's head with an enormous power. Friedrich pressed himself against Helmuth and whispered in his ear with his teeth squeezed together,
"You shall slowly burn in hell for this" . He turned around and sat down in one if the chairs, breathing heavily.
Helmuth had been pretty scared during the scene, although he had prepared himself for it. With shaking steps, drying the sweat from his forehead, he sat down in another chair.
He took some moments trying to get himself together again before he begun to talk.
"You Majesty, we want you back on the throne again, we wishes to ma..."
"No" replied Friedrich fast, now calmly.
Helmuth sighed deeply, what would he now do? Would he dare to...
"Then I guess the Emperor can stop looking for you." Helmuth tried to give Friedrich a smile, but he did not manage very well, he was far to scared about the reactions that would come. He could slowly see the turning from a calm man, to a wild insane monster in Friedrich's face, never had he seen something even like that.
"You have destroyed me your bastard."
He raised from his chair, now he was really mad, mad with big letters. The fear in Helmuth's face grew bigger and bigger as Friedrich approached him. And when he was really close, he grasped him by the collar and threw him up from the chair, brutally throwing him on the floor.
"You scum!
He lifted him by the back of his suit, held him close to his mouth and whispered,
"Never shall you enter inside my ports again." , with a heavy push he threw him out by the window. Helmuth fell down the two floors to the ground, and landed with a heavy sound of flesh hitting stone. A scream could be heard a few seconds later when the female servant, curious about where the sound came from, found him...
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After that incident, that almost killed Count Helmuth although he managed to survive in some mysterious way. An angel, or a devil, must have guarded him. After that incident Friedrich became calmer. When thinking about the situation he realized that he could not run from this, he had to obey them, no matter how badly he wanted to stay, stay with his beloved. In his mind he wanted to kill them all, but for the first time in a very long time, he did not see the solution in a murder, but in obeying. He got another visit from the Eberholt's, not by Helmuth this time, but by his younger brother. The brother was rather shaky when arriving, but Friedrich made no unexpected, or maybe more like, no expected moves. He took it very easy, accepting that he now would have to fight for the crown, a crown he really did not want.
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Herrens Tag, Dresden
Meanwhile was Count Link and Gottfried plotting against him in Dresden, they had decided that they would be the ones to find him. Too much time had already passed since his escape, and there was time to catch him.
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Friedrich' travel to Gotland, where he had gotten really up among the nobility, as there really wasn't any, as the Lord of Pomerania. Everyone had though him to be a merchant from Pomerania when he arrived, so that was what he had become. When he had left Dresden after the attempt to kill him, he had set north, not because he liked cold, but because that was the simplest way out of the Empire. He had gone trough Brandenburg, past Berlin, continued into the lands of Pomerania and finally reached the small cities around Stettin. Oh how he had wanted to march into the City that day, to enter the Ducal Castle, and to brutally murder Joachim the Grief, but no. He understood that even though he wanted it so badly, he had to pass. An attempt to kill Joachim, would had cost him his life. Still he had to fight with himself to pass Stettin unnoticed. From there he boarded a ship, heading for Gotland. The conditions were perfect, a war was fought in Scandinavia, and Pomerania was involved, so a man from Pommern entering the City of Visby on Gotland would not be strange at all, he had to try.
And it worked, when Friedrich and his trusty servant Wolfgang entered the Danish soil, no one suspected anything, and with the money he had left he was able to live a healthy and rich life. He bought a country estate outside Visby and lived perfectly well. His madness was gone, this was the thing for him, this was what made him calm. He was not made for being a Duke, not shaped for the pressure, that was what had made him mad, but now it seemed to have disappeared. One of the servant girls, Cecilia, especially called Friedrich's attention, and after a time he married her. Everything seemed to be perfect, and it got even better when Cecilia gave birth to a son, who was named Wolfgang after the trusty servant of Friedrich who had been with him in the murder of the Duke of Bremen's brother and sister.
Friedrich had a lot of children now, Firstly he had Friedrich Tristan, who was the son of him and the farmer daughter Heidi, who Friedrich mistook for Meike, and also renamed her Meike. She died when she gave birth to the son, and because of the poor child’s loss of both the mother and father, Sigismund named him Friedrich Tristan. He was now three years old, and was playing around in the castle, not knowing who is father was.
Then Friedrich had two children, twins, with his real wife Elie, and the oldest was Karl Sigismund. He was actually the real heir to the Ducal Throne. Friedrich Tristan could be in question. He had a bit of a minus, as his mother was a peasant, although they did marry. But Karl Sigismund on the other hand had pure noble blood in himself. His father was the real Duke of Saxony, and his mother Princess of Wallachia. He was over a year now, and had never seen his mother or his brother Friedrich Tristan.
The twin sister of Karl Sigismund was Fredrika Eugénia, although she was only called Eugénia. She was, obviously as she was the twin sister of Karl Sigismund, also over a year now.
The fourth child was actually Vlad. Unknown to everyone. His mother was the wife of the Voivod of Wallachia, meaning that he was brother both to Karl Sigismund, Eugénia and their Mother Eli. Eli's mother had not spoke about which the father was yet, so everyone expected it to be the Voivod.
And now there was a fifth child, Wolfgang, newly born on Gotland. His mother was a peasant, but this was the child Friedrich loved the most. Actually the only one of them he had ever seen, the others were only spoken about, expect Vlad.
This, these five children spoke about a dark future for Saxony. The men having claims upon the throne would be many. Firstly Friedrich Tristan. The oldest son of Friedrich II, would have claims. So would his half brother Karl Sigismund who also had a noble mother. Vlad had a noble mother, but they she was not married to Freidrich, so that would be a bit weaker claim, but still they could be used as he actually was a few days older than Karl Sigismund. And then there was the youngest son, Wolfgang, the only one that actually spent time with his father, and this could give him claims, as he was the only one of the children that had been recognized by Friedrich himself as his son. Then would maybe the relatives of the Prince that now ruled Saxony, Prince Georg, have some claims, even though he did not had a child. And then of course would Albrecht and his children have claims upon the throne. And at last, in all confusion, would it not be strange if the fourth son of Duke Friedrich I, Karl Wilhelm, wakened his claims, as all his older brothers had been Dukes. No, a dark time was to bee seen twenty years forward in the future, when all these men had grown up.
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Friedrich rode with his men towards Saxony. The Counts of Eberholt had managed to gather an army at Brandenburg soil, not far from the Saxon boarder, and it was towards that they were heading. Friedrich felt sad, with him he had brought his family, which is his wife, as they had married, Cecilia, and the son Wolfgang. He was to afraid to leave them on Gotland. If the Imperial men found them, there might be a chance for them to kill. And his believe was that they by following him would be safer.
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Finsterwalde
Meanwhile were a number of armies our looking for Friedrich, still. It was the Imperial Army sent out by the Emperor, the Army of Saxony sent out by Prince Georg and the Saxon Council and there was the Private Army of different Saxon Nobles, commanded by Count Link from Gelre and General von Wallmi. Anyway was only one of them really active at the moment, and that was the private one. The other two had been out for years, and had given up all hope while the private one newly had gotten out on the field, and it was that army, the private one, that meet with Friedrich on a clear autumn noon.
Link had just commanded his men to take a break. They had made small fires for preparing food, and everything seemed calm. They were located a bit north of Dresden and the search had just begun. Suddenly they where all filled with surprise. A man came running towards Link and von Wallmi's tent.
"My Lords, we have a army head of us!"
"Great, is it the bearing the Imperial Flag?" asked Link, supposing that it was one of the other two armies searching for Friedrich.
"No Sir"
"The Saxon Flag?"
"No, Sir, it is bearing a flag with the sign of Wettin, crossed over with the text "My Father Iehova, be with me", and a F with two I's under it."
Count Link and von Wallmi stood up immediately.
"Oh God, Friedrich, it is Friedrich." said von Wallmi.
With fast steps Link left the tent, and in front of him he saw an unbelievable sight, a sight that almost scared him to death. On the top of the hill in front of them stood a line of Soldiers, so long, that you could not see the end of it. It did not move, and properly they were as surprised as them.
"All men, prepare yourselves, we have the enemy straight ahead." screamed Link as high as he could. And the sound of metal was heard everywhere. Saucepans falling of the fire as soldiers in a hurry throwing themselves at their equipment. Swords being pulled out of their sheaths. It was the sound of chaos.
As Link prepared himself for battle, he watched the men on the hill, and suddenly a man on a horse stood in front of them, probably their leader, probably Friedrich. From the moment when the man, the leader had emerged to the moment his troops begun to move was a short time, and Link's men was not yet ready. Filled of panic Link put the helmet on his head and through himself up on the horse.
"Attack! Attack!" , he screamed, but not many heard him, they were too distracted with trying to get their armours on, and to find a horse. So he rode back and forth with his sword raised, trying to get attention, trying to give courage to his soldiers, even though that was hard in that critical moment, when the enemy force kept moving closer. Finally Link had to leave the men that still had not found themselves a horse, the enemy was to close, and he had to save his own life. And with the feeling of lack of power in his hearth he left a part of the army to the slaughter, and a slaughter it would be.
With an unbelievable force the enemy army crushed themselves into the men left in the temporary camp. They did not do much of resistance, many of them were surprised, others had no swords. Heads rolled, the feet of the horses killed many, and after a few minutes, they were all dead.
On a hill stood Link, now together with General von Wallmi on his side, and there was nothing they could to, their army was yet not organized. Link now saw in what a place they had camped, the worst imaginable, in a depression, surrounded by hills. Hard to defend. But, who could have thought that they would meet Friedrich here? None. More and more soldiers gathered on the hill around Link, now the enemy was down there, and they were on the hill, they had to attack, quickly. And so they did. The screaming mass rode as fast as ever before, to revenge their fellow soldiers, to kill the oppression of Friedrich. But Friedrich's forces where prepared, and turned spears against Link and his men and forced them to try to go around them. The real battle had begun.
Link had tried to keep his eyes on the leader, even though it had been difficult. He was the one that had to be killed, Friedrich. He fought himself against him, and finally he was near enough and able to cut his head of from behind. Victory he thought to himself, finally I have taken out my revenge for Meike. He risked his life to get the head up, to see the man he hated so badly in the eyes. He stepped down from his horse, and lifted it by the hair. But no, that was not Friedrich.
"Damn"
Quickly he jumped upon a horse and rode back to General von Wallmi, killing a few men on his way.
"General, Friedrich is not here, but I suppose he is somewhere near, I will leave the command to you." , he screamed, and the General nodded to him.
Link turned to the hill, and ordered a few men on the way to follow him. And when he was on the hill where they first had seen the enemy, he could see a small camp out there. It consisted by two rather large tents, some horses and a carriage.
"There, it must be there he is. It seems to be unguarded, so you can leave this to me."
The soldiers nodded and returned to the battle.
Link stepped down from his horse, and slowly he crept closer and closer to the tents. The excitement raised to an enormous level, would this be it? He approached the carriage, and after a while he was right next to it, he could hear that someone was in it, but not a word was spoken. The door was open, and only a drapery covered the entrance, he laid his left hand on the carriage while he with the right one slowly moved the drapery aside, and in there he saw a women with a chil...
*chop*
Link turned around screaming, he focused his sight on the left hand, even though what he saw was unclear according to the chock, he could see that his three middle fingers had been chopped of, and they were now as long as the smallest finger. In fear he turned around even more and then he saw the man who had made it, it was Friedrich, all by himself.
”Don’t you dare to hurt my family!” he shouted.
”It is me you want, take me.”
Link, who never had had a thought on killing Friedrich’s family pulled his sword and made himself ready for combat in a moment. He was still dizzy from the chopped of fingers, and he did not yet see properly. No blood had yet left the hand, only something white that he didn’t really know what it was. Friedrich prepared himself too, a duel was to come.
”So, will you fight or run?” said Friedrich smiling. Link had no power to waste on an answer, so he didn’t give one. He just raised his sword. He felt that this was not good, he was not in the best fighting conditions, still dizzy from the chock after having had his fingers made shorter.
Friedrich was the first to make a move, but Link stopped the sword with his and made a counterattack, but missed.
”Tell me, Link, isn’t it so? Link, why are you putting yourself through this? Don’t you see? With those fingers you will have no chance? You will be united with Meike in heaven. Would not that be the best thing? I would not join you, my destiny is to go to hell, that is the cost for my madness.” it was with sorrow he expressed the last sentence.
Only the mention of Meike’s name had given Link strength, and when he saw the sorrow in Friedrich’s eyes, when he saw that he lost control, he raised his sword. And it was so close that it would have been a hit, but Friedrich managed to move himself in the very last moment.
But then something strange happened, Friedrich dropped his sword on the ground, fell down on his knees, looked Link in the eyes and held out his arms.
”Stop my suffering!” he said.
Link was very surprised by this drastic move, and he didn’t really know what to do, should he kill him now when he had the chance, or spare his life? Friedrich saw the doubt of Link, and it surprised him, but he did not want to be spared, he wanted to die, or his life would once again become as miserable as it was before he reached Gotland.
”You should have heard Meike when I killed her, what a beautiful soun…”
It worked as Friedrich had hoped, the steel ran though his flesh, and came out in his back.
”Thank you……Link…..may God……be……………with you. Make sure…that….my family…….gets a…good…life….and watch….over…………………..Wolfgang.” He managed to say. These were his very last words, the end of his life.
Link fell down on his knees in front of Friedrich, and saw him fall down as the blood streamed out of his stomach. Finally he had done it, finally he had taken out his revenge on Meike, finally he had killed Friedrich. Now he felt the pain in the left hand, and when he looked at it he could see that the blood had begun to exit his body. Quickly he took a bit of Friedrich’s coat and wired it around the hand, to stop the blood. He understood that he could not stay there long, he was needed in the battle. He managed to stand up again, and he was no longer as dizzy as before, even though he now had a huge pain in the hand. He went towards the carriage and looked inside it, and there sat a scared young woman with a little child. Link took her hand and spoke to her.
”Don’t be afraid my dear, everything will be alright.” , but she didn’t seem to be any calmer by that.
Link jumped up on his horse and rode back to the battle, and what he saw when he was on the top of the hill was not a pretty sight, it was a disaster. Friedrich’s men had almost won, they were superior. Damn, thought Link to himself, would they have to lose this battle, would Friedrich’s men, although he now was dead, have to chance to siege Dresden? It looked dark. No matter how the situation was, he had to go down there, he had to participate in the battle with his men, even if it meant a secured death. He begun to ride fast, but halfway it was like the Lord himself had sent him a sign. Over the hill on the other side a huge army occurred. Link stopped, he could not believe his eyes, was he dizzy again? Was this really true? Yes, it was. Link had, when the men gathered at the hill hand prepared for battle, sent a man to get help, and apparently h had found a whole army. On the flags he could see that is was the Imperial one. A miracle.
Never had he been that happy before, and it was a calm Link that set off down again as he saw that the Imperial army attacked. They would win the battle, they could not lose now.
And how right he was, Friedrich’s army was defeated. It cost much, almost Link’s whole army and a lot of lives from the Imperial one. Still the victory was great, the threat from Friedrich’s return was forever gone. Saxony was free from him, he was free from Saxony.
