THE RINGSTETTEN SAGA VIII: THE LEIPZIG-FRIEDLAND WINTER

Previously on the Ringstetten Saga:

The late king's lifeless body is discovered, bloodstained and covered in gunshot and stab wounds, amidst a heap of slain Croatians. Liselotte finds an unconscious and freezing Gerhard, whom she takes to the surgeon and tends to herself. A nice draught of brandy (both to quench his thirst and ease his pain) down the lieutenant's throat almost brings him back from a state of near-death, but he will have to rest in bed all winter long, speaking and moving as little as possible, if he wants to survive: the bullet is lodged so deeply in his chest that it can't be taken out. The Leipzig Christmas wedding which Liselotte and he had dreamt of will have to be cancelled: they will marry in spring in the Swedish camp, if the wounded lieutenant survives.

Alois, however, has not been found, dead or alive. For one good reason: he strayed in the fog as well, was struck in the nape of his neck with a sword and suffers from amnesia, and thus he has joined Wallenstein's army as he was swept in the Friedlander's pell-mell retreat. After a brief stay in Leipzig before its fall, the amnesiac sergeant has followed the Wallenstein entourage eastward, into Friedland (the Wallensteins' shire, located in between Saxony and Bohemia). He has learned to know Isabella and Thekla von Wallenstein, His Lordship's wife and child (promoted to heiress after her brother's death), the former a blond and elegant Viennese noblewoman, the latter a raven-haired and reserved damsel who has lived in the shade of her father and brother... and is nowadays disturbed by her many suitors. Once in Friedland, Wallenstein has had the local gallows prepared for executing four colonels and nine subaltern officers for cowardice, as scapegoats for the Lützen-Leipzig debacle. Alois, now raised to the rank of generalissimo's aide-de-camp's orderly (pretty high, isn't it?), has become aware that disobedient peasants and servants, officers, privates, and vassals, are bound to wear a hemp necklace at the pettiest offence (even stealing fruit, or not wearing the Wallensteinian colours, which are scarlet and black). 
The Schloss Friedland chapel and those closest to it have got no bells, whose knell provokes His Lordship, but eunuchs calling from the church towers... Though very few people there are deeply religious. To start with, the Wallensteins and their associates are freethinkers.
However, Friedland is a peaceful shire with public schools in the smallest villages, manufactures (early modern industries), and medical care for the meanest subjects. The currency is a golden coin made in Friedland itself with Wallenstein's profile on it. Everything seems to betray that Wallenstein will take all this to imperial scale once he has dethroned the Kaiser: he is convinced that his reign will be remembered for its goodness and emphasis on welfare. Think of that, of an Enlightened despot born a century ahead of his times!

 In a glass case in a parish church (in Weissenfels, Saxony), the hero of freedom is mourned for by officers, privates, and a heartbroken Queen Eleanor (perchance the saddest of them all).
Eleanor (Desperate): Oh, Gustavus! Darling! Without you, I'm so alone! I wither, helpless, on my own!

With the enbalmed form of her late spouse and with his wounded steed, she invites Hedwig and Liselotte to follow the funeral procession to the royal palace in Nyköping. The blond girl, trying in vain to comfort her queen, declines such a tempting offer: she will follow the Swedish ranks, sure that her beloved Alois is still alive somewhere and that they are destined to meet each other again.
Liselotte declines as well, worried about Gerhard's state of health and having already decided to tend to his wounds. And also because she feels at home on the war front, not being that fond of courtly life.

Gerhard and other few Protestant survivors from the Battle of Lützen spend the winter in Leipzig's famous Auerbach Tavern. Our young lieutenant shares a room with his sister and fiancée, before moving into the estate of Breitenfeld for a quicker recovery (and less scuffles with university students). 
There he mostly spends the days sleeping until the week before Christmas Eve, when he starts reading books and making lace, that both girls sell at the local Christmas Market in Leipzig for profit. He draws the inspiration from the ice crystals on his windowpane, and he also notices that, having drunk too much brandy, his lace patterns resemble his first "cobwebs" of yore... let that be a temperance lesson!

The December celebrations of this trio are modest and cozy (that typically Germanic Gemütlichkeit!): Liselotte and Gerhard receive each a wedding ring and a medal of Gustavus Adolphus for their respective chain necklaces, while the convalescent lieutenant makes wonderful and special lace patterns, laden with love, for their dresses. After New Year, the lace made in that inn room is especially produced upon request of well-to-do Leipzig bourgeois for their tables and decoration.

At Schloss Friedland, the celebrations are far more lavish and baroque, crossing the limits of decency. Alois happens to have made friends with Thekla, though merely like siblings... but they must keep the distances, for His Lordship, drunk on success as he is, is rather protective of his wife's faithfulness and of his daughter's innocence. Thekla is courted by many suitors, three of which are actually a fifth column sent by the Kaiser from Vienna to watch the Duke of Friedland and inform the central government of his moves (though the would-be in-laws are unaware of the youths' agenda). Alois gets promoted to generalissimo's aide-de-camp's ensign, having to share entourage with Ladies Neubrunn and Brandeiss. He also gets to admire Wallenstein, and to learn of the duke's plans to team up with the Swedish regency for overthrowing the German Empire with a meticulously planned coup d'état!

Winter changes into spring once more, and both armies take to the field. But Sweden has lost power since the King's untimely death: the Regent reveals himself as a much worse leader, and Banér, now free once more, has started to drink to drown his sorrows after his beloved liege lord's death at Lützen. Thus, a long and bloody losing streak ensues. Gerhard and Liselotte marry in the woods in spring, while more officers defect to Wallenstein's army following each lost confrontation...