Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

You hear the sound of a door creaking open, slowly. The telltale sign of light entering your room growing progressively stronger even through your closed eyelids.

But your half-conscious mind fights against it. Against the looming threat of having to wake up, and against the encroaching promise of another boring day with your boring tutors.

You just want to continue sleeping. Here. Together with your best friend, despite how much he snores while he sleeps.

"Good morning prince Mandred, shall we begin another productive day?"

But Alicia, as always, seems to have other plans for you.

You mumble and moan under your covers, trying and failing to both tell her to go away and to hide in the deeper recesses of your several pillows.

"Now now my young prince, you are already eight," she says out loud as you hear her footsteps making for the window. She opens the curtains with a practiced movement, and you audibly groan as your body is forced into fully awakening at the sudden glare of light, "and we can't have a prince who is tardy or who refuses to wake up like a good b-OH MY GOD, WHAT IS THAT BEAST DOING HERE?!"

You jump up in surprise at Alicia's sudden screaming, and the covers of your bed suddenly become a mass of thrashing as the two of you try to make it out of your bed. That Alicia has started to hit the two of you indiscriminately with a broom, that as always she seems to have summoned out of nowhere, only served to hasten your escape.

"Prince Mandred, I've already told you! That. You. Are. Not!" she says in between her broomstrikes, "to let this thing into your room!"

Wolf makes it out form underneath the covers before you do, and Alicia fearsomely chases it away from your room with her trusty broom.

He ran away, barking as he went, running between a handful of servants that were passing by. All of them, and the Greatswords by your door, were utterly unphased by this, of course.

This was, quite frankly, an usual sight to them.

"But Alicia," you speak up, jumping out of your bed, trying to look at her while squinting at the sunlight, "Wolf gets lonely at night!"

"I don't care how lonely you think your dog is at night my prince," she says back, cowing you into submission with a single glare, "you are the crown prince of the Empire, and I am not going to allow you to have these… barbaric habits!"

You try to say something, but her glare keeps you frozen in place. The two of you stay like that for a few more moments, Alicia with her arms crossed while she stares at you, until you finally give in and look towards the floor.

"Yes ma'am…" you say, dejectedly.

And her expression softens at that, letting out a sigh as she rubs her forehead in a defeated manner.

"Gods, I… please, my prince, at least just keep it to your free time, alright? Your actual free time," she speaks up, anticipating what you were about to say, "being well rested for your lessons is as important as the lessons themselves, so nighttime isn't free. That, and the Chamberlain will have my head if you get older and continue doing this."

"You say that, but mom doesn't seem to mind," you say innocently.

"It's called a test, dear, and we both know your mom is not the kind of person who doesn't say when she disapproves of something. Those things just tend to… disappear, before she ever has the chance and…" she says in a rather meaningful way, before stopping herself.

You tilt your head at that, not exactly sure what she meant by…

"You know what? Forget I said anything. Now chop-chop, we have etiquette lessons this morning, then breakfast for you to have the chance to apply what you learned. Now off those clothes with you, a prince is not supposed to go about his days in his pajamas!"

And with that, your busy day as a crown prince begins.



- - -



There may come a day when you are too large and heavy to do this sort of thing.

But that day is not today.

"Prince Mandred von Holswig, you come back here! Right! This! INSTANT!!!"

"Go Wolf! Go!"

The two of you dart through the corridors of the palace, with you holding on to Wolf's fur for dear life as he runs while carrying you on his back. For all his size and speed, he still is able to deftly maneuver around the several servants that are in your way, although many more of their number simply jump towards the sides of the corridor by sheer habit.

Alicia's shouts become distant, although no less loud, as you two gain distance from her. That is, until you start laughing at the sheer thrill of yet another successful escapade, and you start steering Wolf towards the path that will take you to the gardens.

After all, the garden is the place where you know it will take Alicia the longest to find you. Coincidentally, it is also the place where you and Wolf like playing the most.

"C'mon, let's see if we can catch any foxes today!" you say excitedly.

It may be called a garden, but it is more of a small forest. Not that you have ever seen much of a real forest. You have not yet been out of the castle that much with you father. Your mom says that's the sort of thing you will be doing when you are a bit older.

Wolf slows down as the two of you near the gardens. Although he makes a point of jumping on the small lake by its edge while you are still on his back.

You love it when he does that, and today is a bit hotter than usual so it's all the better. Part of you can already hear Alicia's groaning from when she eventually finds you, seeing how soaked you are, but that is a problem for later.

Right now, you have far more important things to do!

"Let me know if you catch a whiff of anything!" you say, slightly twisting the edges of your clothes while Wolf finishes shaking himself down.

He answers you with a hearty bark, and the two of you make your way into the deeper parts of the garden.



Time flies, as you it usually does when you are having fun.

You have a sturdy twig on your hand (an important weapon for any warrior!) and several more scrapes and bruises than you had this morning. But most notably, the two of you struck a grievous blow against the bandit gang of foxes that has been terrorizing the Forest Kingdom!

"Splendid job, Ser Wolf. The birds will sleep safely yet again this night thanks to your trusty nose," you say, as you freely scratch Wolf's head, "why, I think the Order of Good Boys will not be able to deny you another medal after this!"

His tail wags all the harder at that, his face coming closer to yours as he begins to lick your cheeks in return.

You laugh at that, falling to the ground as he jumps on you, all the while continuing to lick you all over your face.

Wolf is your best friend. You like most of your nannies (even Alicia, despite all her nagging) and you look up to the Greatswords and whatnot. But really, of all the people who spend most of the time with you, Wolf is the one you like the most.

You love your mother, of course, and your father. And you really like some other people in particular. But everyone is very busy, just like how you know you will be busy when you grow up, so most of the time Wolf is the only source of friendship and fun that you have in the palace.

Your mother gave him to you when you were small, although you don't remember him being a pup, but he has been with you every day of your life. Your mom even tells you that you learned to ride him around before you began to walk. And you are very thankful for him.

He continues to lick you relentlessly while you try to wriggle your way from underneath his body, mockingly defending yourself with your twig as if he were some beast that was attacking you.

But suddenly, too suddenly, he stops. Wolf's ears perk up at something, his snout aiming upwards as he sniffs the air.

"What?" you ask curiously, "sniffing something? Alicia is coming for us already?"

You are not… exactly sure of how much time has passed. You know Alicia will eventually come for you, but she usually doesn't start searching this early.

You are in your free time after all. Maybe you skipped on the last few minutes of today's final class, but only because Wolf managed to sneak into the classroom while she had her back turned. But all things considered, it'd be weird if it was her. She usually only comes when it's around dinnertime, and most of the times you and Wolf go towards her when you hear her calling.

Well, there was that one time when you tried spending the night at the garden, but then she called the Greatswords to help her look and… You eventually learned that Wolf can find some pretty good hiding spots, but that you two can't hide from Huntsmen.

But anyways, it is a bit too early for Alicia to be calling…

You let go from Wolf, looking around and trying to find what it is that he might have noticed.

You think you hear… something? It seems like there are some bushes shaking ove-



"Found you."



"AH!"



Both you and Wolf jump and scream (or rather, bark) in surprise as a voice comes from right behind you, a hand resting on your head before you can react.

You spin, unsure if you should run or try to hit that person with your stick, until you finally realize who it is.

"Aunt Mathilde!"

Any fight-or-flight reaction you had is quickly forgotten as you turn around and see her, and you cover the small distance between the two of you before you know it, giving her a big hug.

"Mandred!" she says playfully, hugging you back.

Aunt Mathilde is, officially, your tutor. But she is usually away most of the time, so most of the tutoring is done by Alicia, who is her assistant on that sort of thing.

Besides, although this is a secret between the two of you, she already told you that she very much prefers to be your friend than she does being your tutor or anything. She even teaches you this and that about sneaking around the palace.

But she made you promise not to use what she taught you to try to sneak out of the palace.

Because she said she wants to be there the first time you try it, of course. She also says that, when that day comes, she will introduce you to a friend of hers and your mother's.

You really like her. And Wolf really likes her as well, and he doesn't open up to a lot of people apart from you, so you know you can trust her.

"Now young man, I can see that you are a bit on the drenched side," she says looking you from head to toe after you let go of her hug, "having a productive afternoon, are we?"

"Mhm!" you say, nodding at her, "me and Wolf were chasing the foxes! We even found a hole they were using as lair not far from here."

"Oh my, you two make quite the tracking team then. Foxes are usually pretty smart about their hiding places."

You beam with pride at that, your auntie giving the two of you a light scratch on the head while she speaks.

"Well, I don't want to cut your adventure short, but want to head back to the palace? There's this trick I want to show you to get back in unnoticed, and I think Alicia will be far more confused than she will be happy if you are suddenly found strolling around the halls all bathed and dressed," she says, giving you a mischievous wink.

You and Wolf nod at that, following behind her.

For all that she is Alicia's boss, auntie Mathilde is by far the one who helps you the most to run circles around your nanny!

"Oh, for how long will you be staying auntie?"

"Well, that depends on your mother. But I'll try to hang around as long as I can, as usual."

You frown a little bit at that. She always says that, but she also every now and then just up and disappears. Sometimes for more than a month!

"Oh, don't give me that look. I told you, I'll always be right there when you need me," she says, absent-mindedly patting Wolf's head as she does.

And you brighten up a little bit at that, joining in with her on patting Wolf's head as the two of you make your way back to the palace.





- - -

- - -

- - -





Heidi's eyes are centered on the fireplace, watching as its flames dance and tremble. She has been staring at the fires for a long time now, perhaps even a few hours. But despite all her appeared attention, she wouldn't even notice if they were to fade away and finally go out, so concentrated that she is on her own thoughts.

Her mind, her focus, is everywhere but here right now.

She is thinking about the past, trying to figure out where exactly things went so wrong. She is searching for who or what could have been able to make such a glaring gap in their armor. She is trying to think about how they even managed to do that to begin with, this being the sign of a plan that had been far too long in the making. The sort of thing that they were supposed to notice, that she was supposed to have noticed.

And most of all, although she would not admit that to anyone but her closest friends, she is silently dreading about how things could have ended so dreadfully wrong… had it not been for their contingencies.

She checked, and He answered. This night ended how it did thanks to mortal foresight, not divine providence. This had been… real luck, and not His luck.

A knock comes from the door, snapping her out of her thoughts. She made it abundantly clear that only a select number of people were supposed to disturb her. One of them is currently sleeping with his head on her lap, and all the others, save one, are either too busy or too far away to have possibly arrived this soon.

Which only leaves…

"My Empress," the Grey Wizard enters the study, receiving a nod from one of the Greatswords by the door. Wolf comes in as well, following right behind her, and at times the large canine seems to disappear in her shadows for a few moments.

Both of them make their way towards Heidi. Mathilde sits next to her by the fireplace, and Wolf quickly sniffs the boy that is sleeping on her lap, before settling down by Mathilde's… by her owner's feet.

All this time… all these years… you sometimes forget that Wolf is actually hers.

She continues to look at the mage as she takes off her hat, the shadows flickering around her far more than they naturally should with every movement she makes. You usually find it rather ironic, and sometimes purposefully offensive, that she wears a witch hunter's hat.

But this night… the symbolism feels rather justified. Fitting, even.

Heidi stays quiet as her partner settles down. But she is not entirely able to hide the expectation from her eyes.

"Inner palace has been scoured," the grey magician finally says, not even making an effort to hide the sigh that follows. "Every last room, every last corner, every single piece of clothing Mandred wore, touched or saw these last two weeks. Everything was checked. Everything is clean. I set the hounds to begin scouring the outer parts of the palace, and so far quarantine has only been breached by the Porter, as he sneaked into the palace to join in on the searches. But…"

She trails off, not even needing to finish her sentence for Heidi to know what the results are.

And that is because both of them know they will not find anything. Alicia had been working directly for them, with Mandred, for years now, and had been in service of the Chamberlain for decades. This… treachery, is the sort of thing that runs far deeper than what a mere search or a few questions would ever be able to detect. Even if they decide to keep the palace locked up for an entire month and to check every last strand of hair of every servant.

Still, they have to try looking for something. Both for the show of it, since whoever did this is surely watching them, and in case they somehow luck out and stumble upon anything that might be helpful.

Although she has no illusions that…

"I see. Thank you, Mathilde."

The two remain like that for a few more minutes, both of them quiet and absorbed in their own thoughts.

Until Heidi finally speaks up.

"Wolf was supposed to be the last line of defense," she says. Not as a threat, not with a tone of criticism.

But merely as a statement of facts of how utterly… close, tonight was.

"And he was," Mathilde answers, her tone as thoughtful as Heidi's, "and he still is."

"Yes, but he was supposed to guard him against other things… magic and curses, poison and… and damned shapeshifters, or god knows what else… Not this."

The Lady Magister nods at that, although her lips slowly begin to turn into a frown.

And her voice is far heavier when she begins to speak.

"Alicia had been… vetted, for her job," she begins to say, slowly.

Heidi raises an eyebrow at that. She knows what Mathilde is talking about, she read up about the selection process Mathilde came up with, years ago, and she approved of it. Key members of the staff that would take care of her son were screened as rigorously as officials who were about to assume a crucial position within the Empire.

"Yes, I know. They all were… but?"

She already knows that, but for Mathilde to be bringing that up means that…

"But Alicia had that particular issue, remember?" she says, slowly building up her own thoughts as she goes, "Celestials couldn't get a hold clear picture of her, so we also had her screened by the White College as well…"

Heidi's eyes narrow a bit further at that. Yes, she remembers it… and she also remembers that…

"Yes, and… didn't their head push really hard for a specific mage of theirs to do the screening…? I think the name was…"

"Leopold something," Mathilde says with a nod, "I'll have to check up on his name. But I remember the Patriarch pushing really hard for the one I recommended you to not be the one who did the screening."

Heidi frowns at that. The White College has been giving her… a lot of trouble, these past few years. Nothing glaringly obvious, nothing that couldn't just look like political intrigue or mere saber rattling, but now that this particular piece of the puzzle has been added to the equation… things suddenly started to look a lot more grim.

"You suspect foul play? Of this level?" she asks, although with not as much disbelief in her voice as she would have hoped. "This is basically treason. And no offence, but this is the kind of move that I would expect the Greys to do, if they were trying to go against the Emperor…"

Mathilde nods at that, as well. Her face making it clear that she is also trying to make sense out of this.

"Well, I certainly don't suspect fair play," she says, "too much deniability at play. Too much of a long game for us to be certain of anything."

Heidi clicks her tongue at that, trying to think at least of how they might avoid something similar from happening in the future.

"Regardless, and I know this is not the sort of thing even Luitpold can do without a good deal of maneuvering… but perhaps it is time for us to… arrange a new head, for the White College? Someone we can trust?"

Mathilde begins to drum her ears against the side of the lavish seat. This is certainly not a conversation to be had lightly, and most certainly not something that she would want to get into without an overwhelming amount of evidence and backing. Backing on the level of the Supreme Patriarch, mind you.

And Heidi realizes that.

"Don't worry Weber, this is not the kind of thing I'd even consider without first doing… well, everything else. And I certainly won't ask you to do anything on that front. Trust me," she says, noticing her friend's clear reaction, "but still… speaking only on hypotheticals… What was the name of that Lord Magister you had recommended that you trust? The one you wanted to have screen Alicia to begin with?"

Mathilde stays silent for a few moments, as if pondering if she should even answer that question or not.

But eventually, she takes a deep breath. And for better of for worse, she says the name of a Light Wizard she at least knows she can trust.

"Egrimm van Horstmann," she says. To which Heidi gives a deep nod.

The two of them remain on that room for a lot longer. Until the sun comes up, and another knock comes to the door.

But when Heidi looks up, to nod the Greatsword to let whoever it is in, she realizes that Mathilde is no longer there.

Only Wolf.





Karl Franz had Deathclaw. Can Mandred have Wolf?

Anyways. Wolf is a good boy, and I really enjoyed the idea that Mathilde basically gave him to Mandred as a way to "always be there".

I also assume that it is not exactly broadcasted that he is her familiar. With her being a Grey Wizard it is very easy to assume that any such rumors could be seen as intentional paranoia or gossiping from the servants. But I like to think that at least Mandred would not know, and would piously believe Wolf is a good and smart boy with whom he is best friends.

The problem about Tzeentch is that he is not the guy who you are playing chess against, he is the guy who is making very obtuse money bets that this and that piece will survive until the end of the match. On both sides. While everyone but him is playing. Only way for him to lose is for the board to be empty by the end of the match, and no one really wants that.

Auntie Mathilde is never late, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to. And bonus points if Wolf somehow summoned Branulhune and went all Dark Souls Sif to defend Mandred.

All in all, written for fun. Not trying to finnagle votes or anything. And I know you must have heard this a few hundred times, but thank you BoneyM for this wonderful quest! SV has stopped to hold its breath while this vote is going on, and it's not for nothing!