“Welllllll . . .” Karl said in a tone of exaggerated musing. “Unless I invite King Albrecht. He is my liege lord, you know. And I understand that General Stearns is going to be visiting him.”
“You know, Mrs. Sanderlin, if I were to just shoot Karl it would solve all the wedding problems.”
St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna
“They are going to endorse Urban,” Father Lamormaini told Father Montilla. “It’s confirmed. I still have connections in the Hofburg.” The last part of the statement was true, and he was almost sure that the first part was true as well. The decision hadn’t been made yet, but if things continued as they were now, Lamormaini didn’t see any other outcome. “They have to be stopped before they make the public announcement, which will be shortly after the wedding of Prince Karl Eusebius and the Wendell peasant girl.”
“It is a hard thing you ask, Father,” said Montilla, but his tone didn’t bear him out. There was an excited light in the chubby little Spanish Jesuit’s eyes and the quaver in his voice was of excitement, not doubt.
“You saw the documents,” Lamormaini said. “The Omen clearly documents that the Antichrist had already arrived in that other history, before the Sphere of Fire transported the seed of evil into our world. The vile satanic rites that Friedrich Babbel sent us, confirming the evil that they allowed under the guise of secularism. Rosemary’s Baby. Left Behind. The Satanic Bible. The truth of the up-timers is there in their libraries. They tried to hide it, but a careful study of their archives proves it beyond doubt. The ‘force’ from their movie Star Wars that we have seen right here in Vienna. Trying to make God into a mere field of energy. We talked about all this. You have seen the proofs.”
“Yes, Father Lamormaini, and I would willingly burn every up-timer at the stake! But the Holy Roman Emperor—”
“He has rejected that duty. Quailed from it like a startled rabbit running from a fox.”
“Very well. I will need some equipment. I don’t want to use a slow fuse. It is too likely to be smelled. Besides, there is a certain justice to using Satan’s tools against his minions.”
“What do you need?”
“I will need wires. Insulated copper wires. A battery. It can be lead acid, zinc-carbon or really anything that will produce the juice. And a spark generator. Or, if you can get one, one of the blasting caps. If you can’t get me a blasting cap, get me some light bulbs and I can rig something from them.”
“From a light bulb.”
“They make light though heat. Remove the glass container, surround the filament with gunpowder, and when the electricity flows, it heats the filament, which burns. That’s all you need.”
“I’ll get them for you.”
“Just make sure your man can send them to us before the wedding.”
Dressmaker, Race Track City
It was white silk, a bow to the up-timer custom. Floor length, with gold-embroidered lace cap sleeves, a low sweetheart neckline, a full skirt with gold-embroidered lace insets.
“That’s about the most princessy dress I’ve ever seen,” Judy remarked airily. “Too bad it’s wasted on you.”
Sarah stuck out her tongue.
“Ahh, the the true Platonic form of ladylike maturity,” offered Imperial Princess Cecilia Renata, giggling. Cecilia had declared herself a probational Barbie during the negotiations and nobody had objected. All the Barbies liked her.
Judy’s dress was the same style, but in emerald green with gold embroidery. Cecilia Renata’s was grass green with gold, Susan’s was dark blue with silver embroidery. Millicent was in red with silver. The rest of the girls had similar dresses in all the colors of the rainbow, even Gabrielle and Trudi. Of course, none of them had quite as much gold embroidery as Sarah’s. It was her day, after all. And Judy, as much as she might tease, wouldn’t allow any of the rest to outshine Sarah on her wedding day.
Instead of a veil, Sarah would wear her tiara, which was gold with green jewels.
* * *
The next couple of weeks were caught up in wedding preparations and Christmas celebrations. However, during that time Moses managed to propose and Susan accepted. When Susan told Judy, Judy suggested that they have a double wedding with Sarah and Karl.
“No!” Susan said. “First, I want a quiet ceremony, and second, I am not going to be a part of your political machinations.”
“Oh. You spotted that, did you?” Judy said.
“I agree that having the wedding of a Jew attended by half the crowned heads of Europe would be a good thing in the long run. It’s just not going to be mine.”