Rumble... rumble...

The coach bearing Lady Isolde rode over the broken dirt paths of the Swabian lands, moving at a crawl.

The lands of Sir Hildebrand were a picture of ruin and poor rule.

The fields lay in disarray, the peasants starved, and the beasts were kept poorly, lacking the ordered pastures of the von Frundsberg lands.

When the coach finally halted before Hildebrand’s crumbling manor, the knight was greatly troubled. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Sir Hildebrand had pledged his sword to the Bishop of Augsburg’s league. Yet, here was the master of Konrad’s spies, coming without a company of footmen onto his lands!

Hildebrand received her in his hall. He was a man used to the old ways of armored charges and knightly pride. Faced with the master of Konrad’s spies, his face showed great fear.

"Lady Isolde," Hildebrand stated, "Your coming goes against the laws of courtesy. Why does Lord Konrad’s chief spy come to my hall?"

"..." Isolde did not answer at once.

She judged the room, noting the crumbling stone. She stepped forward.

Hildebrand, trying to show a host’s grace, gestured to a table.

He poured Rhenish wine into a goblet. "Drink. The roads from the forges are notoriously hard."

Isolde looked at the wine, then pushed the goblet away with a small motion.

"The drinking of wine brings harm to my present state," she stated flatly.

She placed a gentle hand over her womb. "I am bearing the von Frundsberg heir. The drinking of spirits is a great folly."

"This...?!" Hildebrand stared at her, the weight of her words sinking into his slow mind.

The truth that the former Duchess was carrying the dread lord’s blood changed the balance of power in the room! His face flushed red, showing his deep shame.

"The Lord Regent holds a seat of great power," Hildebrand ground out, his jaw clenched in anger.

Isolde saw his envy. He despised the fact that Fugger coin and water-mills had made his old sword useless.

"Your words are true," Isolde replied, beginning her cunning snare. "But Lord Konrad holds a seat of great power... I am told you are weighing your oaths to the Bishop’s league."

Hildebrand’s eyes darted toward the doors, fearful that Konrad’s gunners were already at the gates!

"I am a man of the Church," he said clumsily. "I must heed the Church’s laws upon... devilish arms."

Isolde did not weep, nor did she feign distress to move the knight. Such ways were useless. Instead, she offered a false weakness in the von Frundsberg stores to twist his fear of death.

"Lord Konrad has already plotted your doom, Sir Hildebrand," Isolde stated, "He means to use the new great guns to turn this manor to dust from four hundred paces, merely to show the might of his cannons to the Emperor’s court."

Gasp...

Hildebrand’s breath hitched. The blood drained entirely from his face.

"However," Isolde continued smoothly, opening a small satchel, "the needs of the child within me, and the keeping of the workmen, demand a great store of meat. Lord Konrad’s plans forget the hunger of our men. I require your cattle roads to feed the men-at-arms who guard my unborn child."

She drew out a stack of ciphered tally books and placed them squarely on the table.

"These books contain the exact tallies of your hidden silver and your unpaid Imperial dues over the past three years," Isolde explained, laying out his ruin clearly. "If you stand with the Bishop of Augsburg, I will lay these books before the Church courts. You will be cast out of the Church and stripped of your lands for treason of coin before the inquisitors even march."

"..." Hildebrand stared at the ledgers.

He was caught between the fiery ruin of Konrad’s cannons and the swift doom brought by Isolde’s spies.

"What are your terms?" Hildebrand whispered.

"You will break all oaths and trade with the old lords," Isolde commanded. "You will send all your cattle to the von Frundsberg mills. In turn, you will be brought into our Fugger-backed trade, and your sins of coin will be wiped from the ledgers.

Furthermore, you will swear to bear witness against the Bishop’s plot to raise an unlawful holy war."

"..."

"I yield to your terms," Hildebrand conceded, "The cattle will be driven by nightfall."

Isolde required a sign of fealty to seal the pact. She held out her right hand, bearing the iron ring of her office.

Hildebrand knew the old gesture.

Clank... He sank to one knee. He bowed his head and kissed the iron ring.

She withdrew her hand instantly. "The time is short. I must return to the forges to record your oath in the master book. Any breaking of these terms will bring swift death."

Without waiting for his bow, Isolde turned and left the cold hall. She boarded her coach, bidding the driver ride with all haste despite the broken roads.

Hours later, the coach passed the walls and entered the loud heart of the von Frundsberg lands. The sky was thick with the smoke of the great forges.

Isolde walked straight to the main study.

Konrad was standing over a great table, a charcoal stick in hand, plotting the paths for the bursting shot. He did not look up as she entered.

"The cattle roads held by Hildebrand have been taken, my Lord," Isolde reported, her back straight. "The knight has sworn to bear witness against the Bishop’s league."

Konrad gave no smile, nor did he praise her deed.

"The meat will feed the men through the coming winter," Konrad stated, turning his eyes upon her. "This lengthens our strength greatly."

He returned to his cannon plans. "Write the new stores of meat into the master of stores’ book. The growth of the forges demands our eyes."

Isolde offered a deep curtsy to the back of the lord.

She quietly left the dark room to do his strict bidding. As she walked down the hall, she rested a warm hand upon her growing child with deep pride.