1636: The Viennese Waltz

CHAPTER 3

June 1634

Fortney Home, Grantville

“Howdy, Prince Karl.” Sonny Fortney held out his hand like the prince was just anyone. It was easy because, to Sonny, the prince was just anyone. He knew that a lot of down-timers and more than a few up-timers didn’t feel that way, but he did. He felt that way before the Ring of Fire, when titles like doctor and professor were bandied about, and he felt it even more now. “I hope you’ll excuse the mess. We’ve sold the house and there’s a lot of packing being done right now.”

“Guten Tag, Herr Fortney.” Prince Karl held out his own hand, which was a good sign. “Think nothing of it. I trust you got a good price?” After they shook hands, Prince Karl continued, “I would like to watch you test Prince Ferdinand that way.”

“Really? How’d you think he’d do?”

“Fairly well. He’d be surprised, but I think after he got over the shock, he’d be amused rather than offended. However, if my uncles were in the room, they would probably call for the headsman. So while I’d love to watch, I can’t really recommend that you do it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sonny said. He would keep both the opinion of Ferdinand and the opinion of the boy’s uncles in mind.

“Well, Uncle Gundaker would call the headsman,” Karl clarified. “I’m not sure about Uncle Maximilian. Still, most of the court would act more like Uncle Gundaker, so if you do try it, don’t do it in public. I would hate to have you beheaded before you managed to survey my railroad for me. Besides, Hayley is a nice girl and doesn’t deserve to lose her father.”

“Who is important at court, Your Serene Highness?” Sonny Fortney asked more seriously. “Who is likely to be a problem about the railroad?”

“That’s hard to say. I have been out of touch. His closest adviser and perhaps his closest friend is the Hungarian nobleman Janos Drugeth. But Drugeth’s expertise lies primarily in military and diplomatic affairs. He might not get involved in these issues at all. Reichsgraf Maximillian von Trautmannsdorf is another of Ferdinand II’s close counselors. I’m honestly not sure whether he would support the railroad or not. Pal Nadasdy is fairly conservative as well. Peter von Eisenberg isn’t on the privy council, but is a bright guy. You might be able to get him on your side, though he is a bit rank conscious. His grandparents weren’t noble. Not even as noble as mine.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, too,” Sonny told Karl in a more somber tone. “So, tell me about this railroad?”

“Possible railroad,” Karl corrected. “I have written letters suggesting it to my Aunt Beth and to the family back in Vienna. I hope to get their approval, because it would connect the Danube at Vienna to the Oder at Opole. The Oder is mostly navigable up to Opole, with some breaks, so a railroad between the Danube and the Oder would link a route from the Baltic to the Black Sea by two rivers and a railroad. Which, according to Mrs. Wendell, would produce a lot of trade and a lot of wealth.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” Sonny agreed. “You understand I am going to be working for Prince Ferdinand, so if you want me to try surveying the route for your railroad, you’d better write him a letter, too.”

“I shall. Never doubt it,” Prince Karl said. “Meanwhile, I took the liberty of having some maps copied from some of the up-time maps in the national library.” He opened up the map and pointed. “Here is what I was thinking would make a good route.”

Sonny looked over the route that the prince had in mind and made some suggestions that looked like they might make it easier. Karl agreed to some and disagreed with others for political reasons. Some of the landholders along the route were more likely to be reasonable about a railroad through their lands than others. Some liked his family, some disliked them, after harking back to actions taken by Prince Karl’s father, who Sonny already knew had been something of a hard case.

“I’ll do what I can, assuming that it doesn’t conflict with anything Prince Ferdinand wants. But two things. . one is I will have to look at the ground itself before any of this can be anything but tentative. Second thing is, this is going to be a lot of work. And I don’t work for free.”

Prince Karl smiled at Sonny and Sonny felt himself smiling back. “Do you want cash or shares?” the prince asked.

“I’m not sure,” Sonny said. “I probably need to ask my fourteen-year-old daughter.”

“Why not?” Prince Karl said. “That’s who I consult. . well, the Barbies in general, more than Hayley in particular.”

* * *

Sonny did ask Hayley, and Hayley asked the Barbies and Mrs. Wendell. The answer that came back was, “It depends on how much stock and how much cash, but the odds are that Sonny could get a better deal for stock.”

“Get a lot of stock, Dad,” Hayley told him, “or get the prince to pay you in cash. Railroads are great for the territory they go through, but not so much for the companies that build them.”

“So why not just insist on cash?” Sonny asked his daughter.

“Because you could end up with a lot of stock,” Hayley said. “A whole bunch.”

Duchess’ Palace, Cieszyn

Duchess Elisabeth Lukretia von Teschen laughed as she read the letter from little Karl. Not so little anymore, and always more reasonable than his uncles. He had apparently been impressed, and improved, by the Ring of Fire. “Pawel, bring writing instruments.” A railroad was probably a good idea, but she would write to King Albrecht about it first.

Liechtenstein House, Vienna

Gundaker von Liechtenstein didn’t laugh. Instead he threw the letter across the room, then picked it up and went to complain to his brother, Maximillian.

Maximillian was in the office section of the house, dealing with Johannes Koell, the family’s chief bookkeeper. The fussy little man took a few minutes to make his points, then Gundaker could get Maximillian into a private room to show him the crumpled letter.

“Actually, it’s a fairly reasonable position,” Maximillian said after looking over the letter. “Both for us and for the lenders. Should the emperor win and the lands be restored to us, the debt is good. Should Wallenstein win, Karl can be sued to make good the loan. It gets the emperor the money he wants from us-at least part of it. And keeps Karl in the good graces of Wallenstein because he isn’t giving the money to the emperor, just authorizing us to borrow money on his lands to support the family. It’s not his fault what we do with it.”

“And the faith, brother? What of the faith?”

“Gundaker, Karl is living in a miracle,” Maximillian said.

“Possibly a miracle,” Gundaker corrected. “It could well be something less benign.”

“Agreed. I don’t know what it means and apparently Holy Mother Church hasn’t decided yet. Though, considering that the pope has made the up-timer priest a cardinal, it is leaning toward approval. In any case, as to God’s will, Karl is, quite possibly, sitting right next to it. We must trust him, for now at least.”

In the years after the Ring of Fire, the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire had a great deal to adjust to. First, of course, was the Ring of Fire and the up-timers and their support of Gustav II Adolf. Then there was King Albrecht Wallenstein-who was assassinated in the original timeline. In the new timeline, he avoided assassination and carved a great big chunk out of the Holy Roman Empire to make his own kingdom. Specifically, he took Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Before King Albrecht, the Bohemian crown was held by Ferdinand II, who still claimed that crown. This put a whole lot of nobles in a somewhat touchy political position. A position made even touchier by the fact that a number of those nobles were residing in Vienna under the eyes of one claimant, while their lands were under the guns of the other claimant.

Royal Chambers, Prague, Bohemia

“It seems a perfectly reasonable proposal to me,” Morris Roth said, looking up from the letter. He handed the letter back to the clerk.

“It seems an excellent way to move massive numbers of Austrian troops and their supplies into Silesia to attack us from the east,” said Pappenheim.

King Albrecht, propped up with pillows, wasn’t so sure. He knew that the railroads had been used in future wars to move men and materials at incredible speeds, but he also realized that they were a weak point in any transport system. Something about Sherman’s Bowties. “What were ‘Sherman’s Bowties’?” he asked.

Morris Roth looked blank for a minute. “Oh, yes. It was the American Civil War. Sherman, a Union general, would heat rails on a bonfire till they were red hot, then wrap them around a tree like a bow tie.” He paused for a moment. “I don’t want to get sidetracked into a discussion of up-time fashions, especially since I think the bow tie is perhaps the silliest piece of male attire ever invented.”

“Worse than the cod piece?” King Albrecht felt a smile crease his face as he recalled some of the French codpieces he had seen.

“Well, maybe the cod piece has them beat, but then again, maybe not. But, never mind that. Heating and bending the rails around a tree made them useless.”

“But these proposed rails are to be wooden?” Pappenheim asked.

“So you use them in the bonfire,” Morris said. “They can’t run a train on ash any more than on Sherman’s Bowties.”

“If you realize what’s happening in time,” Pappenheim said. “I don’t doubt that railroads can be disabled, but at the same time I can readily see them making the initial blow in a war decisive.”

King Albrecht looked over to Morris, who shrugged. “I am not a military expert, Your Majesty. But, financially, such a rail system would be of great benefit to Bohemia.”

“All of Bohemia or just Silesia?”

“There would be some benefit to the rest of the kingdom, but mostly to Silesia,” Morris acknowledged. “But if the railroads follow a consistent gauge, then a rail line from Prague to Opole would let us trade with the Danube and the Baltic with much of the expense being borne by Liechtenstein.”

“And us paying Liechtenstein fares on every pound,” Pappenheim said. “That family is famous for the advantage they take.”

King Albrecht considered. He had been both friends and enemies with the Liechtenstein family over the years. And what Pappenheim said was as true of him as it was of them, even more so. He had, after all, gained a kingdom. But perhaps it was time to be friends with them again, or at least with young Karl.

For now. But not for free.

“I think I’ll insist that young Karl come to talk over the project personally,” King Albrecht said. “And while he is here, he can swear fealty to me. I think we have let the boy sit on the fence long enough.”

The Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria

Prince Ferdinand was even less sure than King Albrecht. Having a couple of up-timers to take care of his car and consult on matters of up-time techniques was one thing. Having one wandering around the kingdom making maps was something else. But he figured there were enough down-time spies running around that one or two up-time ones wouldn’t matter. More importantly, he was unsure how the railroad would pan out in terms of generating wealth. Would it make Austria richer or Wallenstein richer? Both, he was advised, was the most likely answer, but he didn’t find that overly helpful.

He managed to keep Karl’s letter from coming to the attention of his dying father. He had no desire to explain to his emperor that he was recruiting up-timers. And he really didn’t want to discuss with his father how the Sanderlins and Fortneys had been recruited by his agents in the first place, with Karl Liechtenstein grafting his job onto the group. The emperor, his father, didn’t need his thoughts troubled and Prince Ferdinand didn’t need the argument.

* * *

But it took a few weeks for all the mail to make its way across Europe. And in the meantime, Judy the Younger Wendell had moved into the Higgins Hotel and her parents and sister were getting ready to move to Magdeburg.