THE IMPERIAL STARS by E. E. Doc Smith

Author:E. E. Doc Smith [Smith, E. E. Doc]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-05-01T18:18:03+00:00

CHAPTER NINE - STORMING THE CASTLE

Along with the proliferation of titles came the elaborate system of court etiquette and rules that are the hallmark of upper classes. Rules of succession were most important. Empress Stanley Three, in an attempt to avoid as many struggles as possible, decreed that strict primogeniture be observed in all inheritances - and, being a woman herself, insisted that the primogeniture be carried out with no distinction as to sex. The heir to a title was, by courtesy, addressed by the next lowest title - the oldest child of an earl, for instance, would be a count or countess until inheriting the full title. Younger children of noble families bore the honorific titles of ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’, without anything more specific, and were treated with deference. Marriage laws, too, were more relaxed than under previous oligarchical systems. Nobles could marry either commoners or nobles of higher or lower rank, and the lower-born of the pair would automatically be raised to the rank of the spouse.

(Stanhope, Elements of Empire, Reel 2, slot 409.)

Leaving their involuntary guests trussed up and helpless in their country mansion, the d’Alemberts proceeded to drive to Osberg and, in particular, to Kraftig Castle, some two hundred and fifty kilometers away. As he drove, Jules could not help but shake his head when he thought of what they’d learned. ‘I knew our friends, whoever they are, wouldn’t stay out of a caper with this kind of money involved. But a noble getting in on the act! Who would have thought the boss would be the Baron of Osberg?’

‘You for one, brother dear,’ supplied Yvette. ‘And maybe me for another. At least we knew the boss traitor had to be somebody in a position of power. And we’d better get used to the thought of picking on the nobility; I’ll bet whoever is masterminding this conspiracy has a pretty high listing in the Peerage. Banion, when we find him, will either be posing as a noble or else have the protection and patronage of one. Either way we’ll have to go slow.’

The Baron’s castle was three kilometers outside the city of Osberg itself. Jules parked their car a good kilometer down the road and they walked in from there. Each carried a stunner taken from their ambushers and, in addition, Yvette carried her hypo kit containing enough nitrobarb to question a regiment.

They approached the stronghold cautiously, taking great care not to be seen or heard. Two phantoms in the night, they made their way to the outside of the castle walls. Kraftig Castle was an imposing edifice, four stories high and set on a steep slope. Its five hectares of ground were encircled by a reinforced concrete wall four and a half meters high that was surmounted by interlaced strands of charged barbed wire.

Jules and Yvette walked partway around the wall, sizing it up. There were two gates, front and rear, each built of five-centimeter-square bar steel and topped with more of the charged barbed wire.

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