THE RINGSTETTEN SAGA XV: A FAUSTIAN PACT

Previously on The Ringstetten Saga:
Life has gone on in the shire without any trouble except that. Christina von Ringstetten has become a lonely and thoughtful child, with the maids and Etienne van der Heide, the foundry owner's ten year older only son, for playmates. Though the green-eyed and strawberry blond little girl, educated by the local Reverend, also likes reading books, especially myths and war chronicles.
In the 1670s, catastrophes pile upon each other: royal officials scour the estate to give three quarters of the clan's lands to the Crown, and the King himself is coming to Värmland for a moose hunt (Charles XI having started an absolutist regime); Etienne has left for Uppsala University, leaving Christina on her own with her books; large patches of heartsease that cover the plains predict that it will be an unusually dry summer for that part of Sweden; and Eleonora, who happens to be expecting her third child and hopes that it will be a blond male (after her red-haired daughters, Christina and Ilse) to appease her stern mother-in-law... develops an unexpected craving for wild strawberries. 
An agreement with the Sidhe, the spirit of the woods, will solve all those issues... or not?
The Sidhe looks like a young lady with dark green hair, snake eyes, webbed hands and feet, and a vixen's tail. She wears a moss gown and jewelry made from dewdrops.
 Other Swedish folk figures that appear are trolls (related to the Sidhe); tomts, household gnomes (the Ringstetten estate has a whole family of tomts, while commoners' cottages have only one); Lyckan the church-cat, the ghost of the lucky cat walled in the local church to ward off evil spirits; and the Nix (otherwise known as Kelpie), a freshwater spirit in the form of a dashing young violinist, who lures maidens into rivers and lakes to feed upon their blood (though he can also transform into a wild stallion).
So, Hermann and Eleonora meet the Sidhe in the woods, in late summer/early autumn, and expose all their issues. They reach a pact: the area will remain protected by Sidhe magic if they give her the freedom of their unborn child.
A tough decision that can't be revoked, but they have no other choice.
After the pact is made, the little strawberry bush at the edge of the French garden starts yielding strawberries again. It will yield berries all year round, even in autumn and winter.
A fortnight later, a large mossy rock, invisible to adults but not to children, appears like out of the blue on the French garden lawn. 
And a fortnight after that, the rock moves into the hall.
The rock turns out to be the Sidhe, that hibernates just like the trolls do. She will hibernate in the estate hall every winter from on now.
A fortnight before Christmas, Eleonora's third child is born. To tangle up the plot...  it is the long-awaited male heir! Not only that: Black Maya, who was called for as a midwife, reveals that this newborn was a great war hero and freedom fighter in his past life, now reincarnated as the grandson of his loyal followers...
Now they've got a name for this lad: Gustavus Adolphus (or Gustav Adolf, as it would be in Swedish and German)! When they take him to church for christening, the Sidhe awakens and clings to the horse-drawn sleigh to claim her prize. Christina and Ilse spot her and trick her: their little brother can't be captured before he has received a name. However, the fairy-like spirit yields to the cold and to the sacred ground of the churchyard, protected by the ghost of a lucky black cat called Lyckan (see explanations for more information). But she stays alive, though rather weakened, helping the Ringstettens with all their issues as the three cute-looking children grow into young adults...

• The heartsease/drought issue: the winter snow and moister summers help the Ringstetten lands to recover. The clan at Vänersvik is also rewarded with a dozen lake cows (cattle of the freshwater folk), that yield seven times more milk than land cattle.
• The Etienne issue: the young Walloon returns from university, to marry a sixteen-year-old Christina (his betrothed!), who had been raising the traditional myrtle plant for her bridal wreath in his absence, and return home to inherit the steel mill with a lovely wife by his side.
• The absolutism issue: a dragonfly sent by the Sidhe one autumn day distracts the youngest pony rider in the royal entourage one autumn day. Which leads Charles XI to follow after his son and heir deeper into the woods, until the dragonfly stops next to a spring whose waters the Sidhe has enchanted in advance, to make the drinker forget what he was going to do next. Then, we see Kronprins Charles, a cute-looking lad in a blue uniform, showing his highborn father how he has caught the dragonfly with his own hands... to subsequently pull its wings off and behead it (that gives a clue about what kind of ruler he'll be when he comes of age!). As Charles XI in his huntsman's suit, watching this display of skill and sadism, bends over the spring to quench his thirst and feels a sharp sting in the chest as he swallows the first sip. He forgets about his plans to take the nobles' lands and leaves the Ringstettens to mind their own business.

To protect Gustav Adolf when strolling in the woods, he has been given a cross-shaped pendant that his brother-in-law has made of iron nails, since magical creatures dread cold iron (+ steel) and religious objects. The heir of Ringstetten grows up with war stories by Homer, Ovid, Lucan, and his own grandsire (recall the handwritten Memoirs of a Prussian Lieutenant). In a cottage near the church, a soldier in a blue coat is lodged by royal decree. He's a heavy-set and stalwart Northlander who has fought in the Polish Wars, assigned to Ilse and Gustav Adolf as their tutor, making that another influence for the blond and steel-blue-eyed young noble's penchant for the military.
However, love may prove far more powerful than elemental magic. For soon, Ilse and Gustav Adolf have become a beautiful maiden and a dashing youth. He can't wait to join the ranks, while she has grown attracted to a violinist whose itinerant clan (not Roma, but still stateless performers) visits the shire every Harvest Festival, Christmas, and Midsummer.
However, her parents would prefer one of the other suitors from among the local gentry and wealthy landowners.
Ilse's heart, no matter what, will always beat for Andreas, her Orpheus, who saved her from drowning in Lake Vänern when lured by the Nix (or Kelpie), by stabbing the pond with his knife (cold steel and cross-shaped), when both were children, as she tied herself to a nearby linden tree (with unplugged ears) to be able to hear the Kelpie play the fiddle. Their friendship has grown into something more, as he's always been telling her folktales and she's replied with classical myths.
Charles XI is already good and deceased, succeeded by his son and namesake, an emotionally cold young ruler who wants to find excitement and pleasure on the battlefield.
On Midsummer Night 1701, a sixteen-year-old Ilse disappears, leaving behind what appears to be a suicide letter in her own bedchamber. She has actually joined Andreas and his troupe, to live the life of an itinerant performer. But she is pronounced dead (thought to have drowned in the lake) by her family, leaving Gustav Adolf on his own. And what does her brother do in spring the next year, if not enlist in the Swedish Army and leave for the war on Czar Peter the Great (Actually, any competent commander should know that getting involved in a land war in Russia is not such a good idea. But, alas, young King Charles is merely concerned with glory and reputation) and Elector Augustus the Strong that is being fought in Eastern Europe?
The farewell to the dashing blond ensign knows no equal within this story arc when it comes to heartwarming: his mother and sister burst into tears, Annika has made some cakes, Etienne gives Gustav Adolf a steel crucifix to replace the one made from nails, which is missing.  Lying about his age to enlist in the army (he is actually fourteen, but he says he is sixteen!), he is soon made a lieutenant, and everything seems to indicate that his only officer friend is that dashing drunken freethinker and resident outcast of the regiment's surgeon, the closeted male-whore Jamie Fitzwilliam, that Gustav Adolf is closely knit with his men (a motley crew of Swedish, French, British, stateless… soldiers), but indifferent to his liege and to his general, Rehnskiöld. For the Carolean army has developed a culture strictly based on masculinity: every Swedish military man serving Charles XII must always steel his heart and mind, not caring for pain, love, elation, or any other feeling, positive or negative, and restrain every form of emotional expression. And not marry unless the King himself has found a wife (Charles is only concerned with warfare, and determined never to wed).
In 1701-1702, the Swedish Army is garrisoned for the winter at the Kurland chateau of Würgen and its picturesque environs. Drinking Riesling and playing cards is not enough for Gustav Adolf (now turned a freethinker), who soon learns from his fellow officers of the existence of the one who will be his first love. 
Rumour has it that a beautiful noblewoman, tall as a goddess, beautiful as a fairy, proud and dressed as the Queen of France, and as learned as she is good-looking (speaks several languages, plays string instruments, composes love songs, and writes poetry as easily as you please)... has arrived all the way from the court of Saxony to pay the estate a visit. Countess Aurora von Königsmarck, Elector Augustus's mistress herself. She's the talk of the Swedish camp! They say the Elector has sent her to seduce King Charles... but is this true? What may have brought her to this backwater hinterland, and into the enemy ranks?
This beautiful lady resides currently at the château, while the Swedes are encamped and garrisoned near the village below. Her lavish baroque carriage goes back and forth between the hall and the King's tent. Why not visit Würgen and see what she's like?
The password to enter the hall is "Kungsör"...
That starry winter night, the young lieutenant leaves the camp to climb up the hill, to the estate, where light is shining... curious about such a clever and beautiful lady and eager to make her acquaintance.
"Kungsör!" The password is said out loud. But the château gate is guarded by Swedish soldiers! And they let him in so easily! In the gardens and in the courtyard, he hears the distinct sound of a harp playing. Can it be Königsmarck? His heart is throbbing with impatience!
Upon entering the bedchamber, led by the guards and a few maids, he is struck with awe and paralyzed by all that elegance: in this stunning baroque chamber... a tall, dark-haired Venus in a flowing gown of golden brocade is writing in the light of two pink alabaster lamps, reclining on her dressing table.
As she hears the clomping of heavy military boots, she coquettely says:
"Is that you, my dear Törnflycht? Come in, my lad!"
For she has a young Swedish lieutenant, a born courtier, for a pageboy. And Ringstetten is the spitting image of Törnflycht. What may come out of this? 
The young lieutenant, in spite of being a provincial without any knowledge of courtly culture, decides to carry on the deception, while his heart is throbbing and his cheeks are ablaze:
"I am. Why did you call for me?"
Thus, Aurora turns around and looks at him with wistful hazel eyes, praising the way he looks in a blue uniform and his "tall, blond, and handsome" physique. She appears to have a plan in which the young officer will be involved. His heartbeat intensifies, and he can't take his eyes away from hers.
The maids and butler leave the chamber, leaving the dazzling countess and the dazzled lieutenant for a tête-à-tête, at her beck and call. She shows him to a chair and invites him to sit down, to subsequently confess her feelings for the one she really loves:
"Your king is a hero! I have taken the liberty to write a little ode to him...". Taking forth a little sheet of pink paper, she recites a baroque poem, which she has entirely penned herself, in praise of King Charles XII, comparing him to several gods and demigods of the classical world.
"A court lady like her can only have royalty", Gustav Adolf thinks, dejected and crushed, feeling out of her league. Dazzled by the light of her eyes, he is forced to look down into the soft pavement.
In the end, he is about to take his leave, when she softly pulls the tail of his coat:
"Pardon me if tonight's poem has proved a little tiresome. Please listen to what I have to say. I am, after all, a prisoner in your lands. You Swedes are the ones who have the power here. I only have prayers. And I pray, Herr Lieutenant..."
"If I can..."
"You speak as if I were a traitor! Ever heard of a Königsmarck who failed to keep a promise? I assume you haven't forgotten the plight of House Königsmarck. Since the Thirty Years' War, we served our new motherland of Sweden with blood and honour, confiding in the great fortune that Good Queen Christina had given us. My lord father was Governor of Pomerania. Or that’s what my brother Philipp always said. The late King, Charles XI... he took all the wealth we had, except our ancestral hall back in Saxony. So we left Sweden in dire straits, betrayed by the Crown. We quickly became orphans, my siblings and me..., and then, my brothers fell on the battlefield, in the prime of their lives... except Count Philipp Christoph, who had an affair with our childhood friend Sophie Dorothea, the Electoress of Braunschweig, an unhappily married lady, and vanished at her palace into thin air. I was left alone with my sister Amalie: even our retainers had left our hall. But I was not satisfied with our plight of obscurity... and thus, I left for the Zwinger with my sister, both of us eager to lead the good courtly life once more, with the excuse that His Highness help us find Count Philipp, our missing brother. Et voilà! Auguste, that new Zeus, fell for the young upstart! And we were the talk of the court! But I couldn't forget or forgive what Charles XI had done to me. And I still hope the father's wrongs will be righted by the son. Even though Charles XII doesn't give me a chance! The King doesn't know what it means to be a Königsmarck. He must listen to me come what may! And I love him with all my heart!"
She takes the young lieutenant's hand and looks at him with sparkles in her hazel eyes:
"Every day, after supper, the King has some spare time, for writing letters to his sister. You show me the way. I will come at twilight, dressed in a Swedish officer's uniform. I don't fear the wrath of your Liege. For I know how to put rulers in check. Perchance King Charles will meet me alarmed, but he will part from me redeemed."
The lieutenant gives a cold, hard reply:
"Your Ladyship said that no Königsmarck betrays her promises. You're asking me to commit high treason. I'll never betray my liege lord. You ask me as a lady, and I reply as a warrior. And our whole camp would give you the same answer!", Then he runs away, casting a last glance at an incensed Lady Aurora, who is breaking her fan as she bursts into tears.
Nevertheless, the next day at dusk, a Venus in a plumed tricorn and blue overcoat heads for the Swedish encampment. The King is returning from the estate on horseback as he encounters Aurora. Charles only takes off his hat and gives her a death glare, as he spurs his steed on to the camp. She turns back in tears, rending her coat, carrying the proud certainty that she's the only mortal ever dreaded by Charles XII.
Our young lieutenant regrets having treated his first love so rashly as the army marches southward into Poland: in the summer of 1702... Warsaw, Kliszów, Kraków fall. And the Swedes then head for Saxony, their old land of victories, and they spend the winters in Leipzig...
Our lieutenant is not only excited by the prospect of visiting the places known from history lessons, but also by the prospect of being able to see Aurora von Königsmarck and ask for her pardon.
And his liege lord is even more excited by the idea of visiting the lands where his famous ancestor fought and died for freedom's sake... Charles XII, in Saxony, feels as excited as a child in a huge sweet shop.
Though at first there is friction between Charles and the locals due to the dialect barrier, as he asks for directions to Breitenfeld once and they stand puzzled… then he realizes that they say “Breydenfeelde...” The Saxon dialect is pretty hard to understand.
The King is shown the spot where Gustavus Adolphus fell at Lützen. He's heard whisper: "I have tried to live like him, perchance I will even die such a beautiful death..."
Gustav Adolf, on the other hand, gets déjà vu when a skirmish takes place near Lützen and he is wounded in the shoulder, on the same spot where his royal namesake fell.
Charles XII meets Augustus the Strong von Wettin in Günthersdorf, in between Lützen and Leipzig, in 1706. The Elector is a heavy-set epicurean who behaves kindly and heartily towards his enemy (though his heart is full of rage and disappointment after defeat). A courtier and a warrior have had an interesting parley during the peace conference. And Augustus even offered Charles a few tokens of gratitude, like fruit and a medal with both their portraits. But the peace will only prove a truce...
In early 1707, a Leipzig-based (in Auerbach Tavern) Gustav Adolf is still looking for Aurora von Königsmarck to ask for her pardon... 

Charles has also met Gottfried Leibniz, home to his birthplace from the Prussian court. But, in spite of both of them being such great mathematicians, the chat is nothing about numbers. The philosopher, drunk on Rhenish, tells the young ruler about his meeting with the Czar in the Low Countries and how often he (the Czar) wenched a peasant woman in the marsh reeds. Leibniz has made a strong impression on Charles, who has taken note of all that the learned Leipziger has said about passions and how emotional passions surpass the physical ones.

In February, at the chateau of Liebenwerda, a short distance east of Leipzig, the Elector of Saxony is hosting a big-game hunt when a group of Swedish officers step into the picture. Everyone gets drunk that evening at the great hall. Romances with señoritas and mademoiselles in Augustus's young Mediterranean years are passionately discussed. The half-drunken ruler takes up some iron horseshoes and breaks them with his bare hands. And all the glasses are raised to the invincible Elector and Lord of Saxony, who breaks hearts like he breaks iron and steel... and even his enemies' swords, including that of the Swedish brat!
Thus he says, loudly, and confidently, as he breaks a rapier, with his bare hands as well.
The lieutenant learns that Aurora, after falling from grace, has been banished (or rather banished herself) from court to her ancestral seat of Quedlinburg, across the electorate. 
For Augustus has found himself a new mistress, an Austrian court lady he met at a ball hosted by the Kaiser in Vienna, and the Countess of Königsmarck has not been able to bear the ascendancy of her rival, returning with Maurice, the son Augustus gave her, to Quedlinburg. The reveal sends Gustav Adolf von Ringstetten into a state of shock.
He'd rather go westward to see her, but the call of duty shows him the way eastward, into the rising sun. King Charles has set his eyes on Russia, and he won't be satisfied or stop until the Swedish flag flies from the Kremlin's highest tower.
Thus, when Charles XII and Rehnskiöld have Russian prisoners of war beheaded, our lieutenant is left not to express his own conflicting feelings under death penalty, as he swings the rapier that signals the firing squad to fire their guns.
Yet those unfortunate Cossacks will soon be avenged by Fate on the 8th of July 1709, after a ruthless winter has already decimated the Carolean host.
Gustav Adolf is also made cupbearer to his liege lord and general, becoming, a tad against his will, their mutual catamite in the Royal Swedish Ménage à Trois.
En route to the war front at the fortress of Poltava, a white hare crosses the Swedish Army's path. The pathfinder warns the leaders that it's a not so good omen. Though Charles and his generals don't believe in the sign.
Already in early July, they have taken Poltava and broken the bridge across the Vorskla, when suddenly, after a few days of waiting, the enemy host repairs the bridge, crosses the stream, and encamps. The Swedes, excited, leave the fortress and encamp across the Vorskla, facing the encampment of flags white, blue, and red, and green-coated enemies...
A fortnight later, a messenger in uniform reaches the Ringstetten estate with an important message for His Lordship and Her Ladyship: something has befallen their only son on the battlefield...