Chapter 180: 179: The Fall of Vienna

As Conrad and Elma escaped into the Night, Gautbehrt was currently fighting a losing battle, as he defied Duke Dietger's army with every fiber of his being. However, the longer he defended his family's castle, the more of his men fell to the meat grinder. As such corpses had begun to stack within the halls of the castle of Vienna, their blood flowing onto its cold stone floors. With every loss, Gautbehrt and his allies found themselves closer to the precipice. The young duke desperately swung at one of Dietger's knights with his longsword in his hands, however, he immediately felt a blunt object slam into the back of his helmet, which knocked him out cold. When he finally regained consciousness, he found himself sitting in the Great Hall, gathered together and bound among his siblings. Due to the impact on his skull, he did not initially realize that Conrad was missing from the group. 

Duke Dietger quickly entered the scene, and when he saw that Gautbehrt was bound and tied alongside his family, a wicked smile appeared on his face as he began to mock the man before him.

"I must say your struggle was brave, yet foolish. You should have just surrendered your home and title to me the moment your father died in battle!"

Gautbehrt glared at Dietger with disgust; his only response to the man's provocation was spitting in his general direction, which caused a great sense of outrage to dwell within the Duke of Bavaria. In response to this insult Dietger quickly snapped his fingers, and as he did so, one of his men at arms struck Gautbehrt with his steel-clad fist, knocking several of the young man's teeth loose. However, all that managed to accomplish was provoke a greater stare of enmity from Gautbehrt, who continued to defy Diterger. Thus Dietger once more tried to insult the young Duke, who had only recently inherited his father's position.

"You and your family belong to me; if you do not submit, I will exterminate the male line from your bloodline and marry your sisters off to my sons and grandsons. Your Dynasty will forever perish from this world."

Though Gautbehrt was at first resilient to Dietger's threats, when he heard that his family line would be extinguished forever, he grimaced as he began to contemplate his actions; Dietger was every bit as ruthless as the rumors had presented him. However, what came next was out of either of the two men's expectations. One of Dietger's knights approached the scene and proclaimed news that shocked not only Dietger but everyone present.

"Your Grace, Wilmar's youngest son, has escaped the confines of the Castle. We have no idea where he is at the moment."

Hearing this piece of information, Gautbehrt grinned at Dietger with a mocking expression and began to taunt the man who had conquered his home.

"Conrad must be long gone; you will never find him; even if you execute me and those of my brothers who are present, you will never be the legitimate ruler of Austria so long as my youngest brother still draws breath! Go ahead and do your worst, but one day Austria will be independent and ruled by the Habsburgs once more!"

This insult stung Dietger like a thousand wasps. As a result, the Duke of Bavaria furiously backhanded the bascinet of the Knight who had informed him of such a thing; of course, he was not wearing his gauntlets and nearly broke his hand from the impact, which put a painful expression on the man's face thus causing Gautbehrt to laugh at the man's misery—seeing Gautbehrt's mocking expression Duke Dietger finally snapped and gave his men an order.

"Drag this bastard and his brothers out to the Courtyard and behead them; as for Conrad, I want a search party sent out to find him. I fail to believe that he has escaped beyond the city's gates!"

Despite these orders, Gautbehrt showed no sign of dismay. Instead, he accepted his fate, knowing that there was still one heir left to his Dynasty. Though the boy was a spoiled brat and still quite naive, he had plenty of years to grow into a great man, and as such, Gautbehrt died with a smile on his face believing that Conrad would one day avenge him and their family. As for Dietger, he spent the remainder of the night searching every corner of the city for Conrad; however, when the dawn finally rose, he came to the realization that the boy was nowhere to be found in the city and had secretly escaped. Seeing that this was the case, Dietger flew into a fit of fury and demanded to find the culprit who had been lax on their duties and allowed such a vital pawn to escape the city unnoticed. 

Eventually, the guards who Elma had tricked were brought before Dietgar bound and chained, where they were deeply confused about what they had done wrong. As such, Dietger made it abundantly clear as he asked them for the truth as to what had transpired several hours before.

"Did you allow anyone to exit the gates you were entrusted to protect?"

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Not knowing the trouble he had caused, the man at arms who had given the order to open the gates quickly nodded his head and told the man of the information that he knew.

"One of Siegmund's spies requested to leave; she had a young boy in tow with her who she said was her little brother!"

Dietger immediately became suspicious of this news and inquired about it further.

"This woman, how do you know she was one of Siegmund's spies?"

The guard quickly coughed up the details of what had happened.

"She bore a letter with his seal, which informed me of her identity; in the letter, it stated that she was acting under your orders!"

Dietger was so thoroughly enraged by this news that he could feel his brain was about to explode; as such, he forced himself to calm down. After a few death breaths, he ordered his knights to take care of the men who had failed their duties.

"Behead these men and place their heads on spikes so that all may remember the price of failing to fulfill their orders. As for Siegmund, I will take care of him when I get the chance."

Dietger was already suspicious of Siegmund's loyalty, especially after his inactivity at the Tyrolean border and his constant request for reinforcements. He had already planned to punish the man for failing to fulfill his orders to advance into Tyrol, however now it would appear that the man had schemed against him. This was simply intolerable. Thus Berengar had inadvertently shifted the blame for Conrad's escape onto the man who was currently besieging his borders. Though Berengar was crafty, he never expected Dietger actually to believe the excuse he came up with himself. 

With time being of the essence, Dietger quickly gave orders to several of his knights.

"Hunt down that bastard who has escaped and bring me his head. He is heading to Siegmund's territory! Go now!"

Dietger had given the orders to follow a trail that did not exist; as such several of his Knights would be sent on a wild goose chase in their attempts to track down Conrad and bring back his skull, thus allowing him and Berengar's agents to successfully exfiltrate back to Tyrol. When Dietger finally found out that Conrad had made it to the safety of the borders of Tyrol and into Berengar's clutches, he would lose his mind over the issue. However, for now, he suspected Siegmund was the culprit and was so enraged he could not even piece together who the real mastermind was. 

As for Conrad and the others, their wagon had successfully joined up with a trade caravan headed towards Kufstein's direction. After all, the area had become the center of trade within Southern Germany, even during this time of widespread warfare. As such, they seamlessly blended in with the other merchants, who had no way of knowing they were harboring the target which the Duke of Bavaria and their armies were pursuing. Thus, Conrad, Elma, and the other Agent were able to enjoy the journey to Kufstein peacefully; after all, any trade which intended to enter Berengar's lands was protected sufficiently with proper caravan guards, but also with the understanding that if they were to be attacked, Berengar would bring the full might of his army on anyone who was foolish enough to do such a thing, a fear that was burned into the minds of any would-be profiteers after the war with Kitzbühel.

Thus Berengar's plans for the future were in full effect; with Conrad rescued and the remainder of the male line of the Habsburg Dynasty executed, there was nothing to block his ascension as he fought for power within Austria. All that remained was to convince Conrad to name Berengar regent and retake the Duchy with fire and fury. Both of which Berengar was fully capable of accomplishing.

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