Part 127, Chapter 2147
Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Forty-Seven
17th June 1972
Wollin Island
The trees were close together with dense undergrowth. The tactical situation was poor because an entire army could be within a hundred meters, and you would be none the wiser until you stumbled across them. According to Wulfstan, the small community that his father led was in the northern portion of this island on the Pomeranian Coast living their own version of Germany’s Pre-Christian past. Christian would have preferred to make the walk from Misdroy at noon as opposed to late afternoon, but the train had been late. Not for the first time Christian wished that he had a car and didn’t have to depend upon others to get him places on time. It was almost enough to make Christian think that coming with Wulfstan to try talking his crazy father out of demanding that he quit the Heer wasn’t worth it.
“You are sure that this is where your family lives Wulf?” Christian asked, “Because there is nothing but forest out here.”
Wulfstan gave Christian a baneful look.
“There was talk of building a road that would go right past the village” Wulfstan said, “My father’s very existence threatened to make the project cost prohibitive.”
This wasn’t the first time that Wulfstan had mentioned something along those lines about his father. It sounded to Christian that the man was a religious zealot and a tyrant within his own household. Christian found it incredibly ironic that Wulf’s father had separated himself from the larger society ostensibly to be free of it but seemed to have recreated the worst aspects of it on his own. If Christian had to guess, Wulf’s father would have been just fine with the larger society if he just happened to be on the top of the heap. Just that fact that the likes of Wulfstan considered him the embarrassing relative spoke volumes.
Wulfstan was walking down the trail and every minute or so he would look over his shoulder in annoyance.
“Could you make more noise?” Wulfstan asked.
“Last I looked, we are not trying to sneak in” Christian replied.
“At least it isn’t dark” Wulfstan said, “You’d have an electric torch out and would be letting everyone for kilometers around see you.”
Looking down at the exposed tree roots across the trail, Christian could see that without being able to see them he would be stumbling around in the dark. If Wulfstan thought that he was making too much noise now…
A figure jumped down from one of the trees and landed between Christian and Wulfstan. To Christian’s surprise it hissed at him before Wulfstan shoved it away. The figure landed in the dirt of the trail with a squawk. Christian got a full view of the figure’s face was that of an adolescent girl with tangled blond hair and blue eyes that were full of anger.
“I’m telling Momma that you did that Wulf” She cried as she bound to her feet and Christian instantly knew who she was to Wulfstan.
“And I’ll tell her that you are scaring guests again” Wulfstan replied, “See how that works out for you.”
The girl stood there pouting as Christian followed Wulfstan.
“Who is this outsider?” The girl asked, “He walks like he is from the city.”
“Possibly because he is from the city and he is an actual guest” Wulfstan said, “Now please shut the fuck up Mathilda.”
Mathilda blew a raspberry at Wulfstan as she fell into step with them. It seemed that little sisters were the same no matter where they lived.
“You’re from the city?” Mathilda asked, “Which one?”
“Originally Brandenburg on the Havel” Christian replied, “Potsdam these days.”
“What’s it like?” Mathilda asked, “I understand that buildings go all the way up into the clouds.”
“In Berlin and Hamburg, they can” Christian answered, and Mathilda seemed genuinely amazed by that. He didn’t mind answering her questions. She reminded him a bit of Larissa, his own little sister who was around the same age. Both of them had probably spent their entire lives within a few kilometers of where they were born and tended to ask the same sort of questions.
“Were you in Argentina with Wulf?” Mathilda asked. The way she said Argentina suggested to Christian that it might as well be Narnia as far as she was concerned.
“We were in different outfits” Christian replied, “I was in 7th Reconnaissance while he was in the 49th Regiment of the 4th Panzer Division.”
Mathilda gave Christian a puzzled look. The concept of a Motorized Division would probably be completely foreign to her.
“Are you his Koryonos?” She asked.
It was an archaic term, basically a warband leader. When Christian had realized what he was dealing with he had gone to the library and looked up some books on the subject. It was mostly from the conjunctions of Historians and Archaeologists. It related to the practice of ritually chasing out young men from the communities so that they would take their destructive tendencies elsewhere, usually in the form of raiding neighboring tribes. It also related to the wolf cult that Wulfstan had reminded him of in the first place. It was a practice that had had driven exploration and conquest but had far reaching consequences in the form of entire civilizations burned to ashes and their remaining populations enslaved. In short, there was a reason why the prehistory was exactly that. Someone had burnt all the records.
“After a fashion” Christian replied, “I’m the Oberfeldwebel of your brother’s current Squad.”
“Oh” Mathilda said before skipping off as they entered a village that looked like something from a thousand years earlier.
17th June 1972
Wollin Island
The trees were close together with dense undergrowth. The tactical situation was poor because an entire army could be within a hundred meters, and you would be none the wiser until you stumbled across them. According to Wulfstan, the small community that his father led was in the northern portion of this island on the Pomeranian Coast living their own version of Germany’s Pre-Christian past. Christian would have preferred to make the walk from Misdroy at noon as opposed to late afternoon, but the train had been late. Not for the first time Christian wished that he had a car and didn’t have to depend upon others to get him places on time. It was almost enough to make Christian think that coming with Wulfstan to try talking his crazy father out of demanding that he quit the Heer wasn’t worth it.
“You are sure that this is where your family lives Wulf?” Christian asked, “Because there is nothing but forest out here.”
Wulfstan gave Christian a baneful look.
“There was talk of building a road that would go right past the village” Wulfstan said, “My father’s very existence threatened to make the project cost prohibitive.”
This wasn’t the first time that Wulfstan had mentioned something along those lines about his father. It sounded to Christian that the man was a religious zealot and a tyrant within his own household. Christian found it incredibly ironic that Wulf’s father had separated himself from the larger society ostensibly to be free of it but seemed to have recreated the worst aspects of it on his own. If Christian had to guess, Wulf’s father would have been just fine with the larger society if he just happened to be on the top of the heap. Just that fact that the likes of Wulfstan considered him the embarrassing relative spoke volumes.
Wulfstan was walking down the trail and every minute or so he would look over his shoulder in annoyance.
“Could you make more noise?” Wulfstan asked.
“Last I looked, we are not trying to sneak in” Christian replied.
“At least it isn’t dark” Wulfstan said, “You’d have an electric torch out and would be letting everyone for kilometers around see you.”
Looking down at the exposed tree roots across the trail, Christian could see that without being able to see them he would be stumbling around in the dark. If Wulfstan thought that he was making too much noise now…
A figure jumped down from one of the trees and landed between Christian and Wulfstan. To Christian’s surprise it hissed at him before Wulfstan shoved it away. The figure landed in the dirt of the trail with a squawk. Christian got a full view of the figure’s face was that of an adolescent girl with tangled blond hair and blue eyes that were full of anger.
“I’m telling Momma that you did that Wulf” She cried as she bound to her feet and Christian instantly knew who she was to Wulfstan.
“And I’ll tell her that you are scaring guests again” Wulfstan replied, “See how that works out for you.”
The girl stood there pouting as Christian followed Wulfstan.
“Who is this outsider?” The girl asked, “He walks like he is from the city.”
“Possibly because he is from the city and he is an actual guest” Wulfstan said, “Now please shut the fuck up Mathilda.”
Mathilda blew a raspberry at Wulfstan as she fell into step with them. It seemed that little sisters were the same no matter where they lived.
“You’re from the city?” Mathilda asked, “Which one?”
“Originally Brandenburg on the Havel” Christian replied, “Potsdam these days.”
“What’s it like?” Mathilda asked, “I understand that buildings go all the way up into the clouds.”
“In Berlin and Hamburg, they can” Christian answered, and Mathilda seemed genuinely amazed by that. He didn’t mind answering her questions. She reminded him a bit of Larissa, his own little sister who was around the same age. Both of them had probably spent their entire lives within a few kilometers of where they were born and tended to ask the same sort of questions.
“Were you in Argentina with Wulf?” Mathilda asked. The way she said Argentina suggested to Christian that it might as well be Narnia as far as she was concerned.
“We were in different outfits” Christian replied, “I was in 7th Reconnaissance while he was in the 49th Regiment of the 4th Panzer Division.”
Mathilda gave Christian a puzzled look. The concept of a Motorized Division would probably be completely foreign to her.
“Are you his Koryonos?” She asked.
It was an archaic term, basically a warband leader. When Christian had realized what he was dealing with he had gone to the library and looked up some books on the subject. It was mostly from the conjunctions of Historians and Archaeologists. It related to the practice of ritually chasing out young men from the communities so that they would take their destructive tendencies elsewhere, usually in the form of raiding neighboring tribes. It also related to the wolf cult that Wulfstan had reminded him of in the first place. It was a practice that had had driven exploration and conquest but had far reaching consequences in the form of entire civilizations burned to ashes and their remaining populations enslaved. In short, there was a reason why the prehistory was exactly that. Someone had burnt all the records.
“After a fashion” Christian replied, “I’m the Oberfeldwebel of your brother’s current Squad.”
“Oh” Mathilda said before skipping off as they entered a village that looked like something from a thousand years earlier.
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