27: The Opera

And as the interval began dozens of aspiring citizens had already begun lining up outside the antechamber hoping for a few quick words with the great and the good (the countess and the gravin). Marband left, telling us that she would send some of her men up to collect Gustav’s body. but the gravin and countess would be coming out of their box at any moment and we were sure it was not considered polite to leave a mutated corpse on the floor for them. Gulgad’s instinct was to throw the body out of the window, but there was a public street below, so he opted to wrap it in a rug and stick it behind the chaise longue and hope no one would notice.

Otto went down to check on his prisoner now he realised he must be one of Marband’s men and opened the door to the seamstress’ room although the bloke was still unconscious.

Everyone left the antechamber, except for Kurtis accompanying the gravin. The first couple of guests to meet her didn’t notice Gustav’s body but then Kurtis did and tried to kick it further behind the chair. The gravin wondered what he was up to, but Kurtis told her he had just seen a rat, which served to embarrass her, and she had to explain to her guests that her simple champion had no idea about court etiquette and polite company, but at least she didn’t see the body.

Then, at last, Marband and her men turned up to fetch the body. Marband tried to barge into the antechamber but Kurtis, mostly oblivious to proceedings, stopped her. He asked the gravin what to do about Marband but the gravin just told him to ask Gustav. Meanwhile Erhardt and Otto came in and got the body and carried it off, then handed it over the Marband’s men. Erhardt seemed to be getting spooked by the long arm of the witch hunter getting closer and closer to the gravin and talked to Solvej about the possibility of them leaving town in a hurry, and about making plans for such a, seemingly inevitable, eventuality.

We all got together and had a chat about what to do for the second half of the opera. I decided that I wanted to see some of it. I’m not saying I’m not cultured but growing up in the slums of Ubersreik meant that I had never seen an opera before (even though I know more about them than Kurtis) and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to watch one, now. Everyone else seemed to think they were able to protect the Gravin. I felt like they didn’t need me and, in any case, how many attempts on one person’s life can there be in a single evening?

I asked Solvej about what had happened in the first half of the play, but she didn’t seem too knowledgeable, even though she had watched it, and I wondered whether she had been paying attention, or she just didn’t understand it, which would make sense, because she is from Nordland.

Otto went back to the seamstresses’ room where his prisoner was now conscious and he cut his bonds while pretending that he had never seen him before, which was a terrible ruse but the sort of thing that Otto thought might be clever. He then went to the costume room hoping to find a prop gun which he could use to frighten people but all he could find was a wooden sword.

People around me in the gallery were mocking the lad who fell from the balcony, obviously trying to antagonise his side, and four yobs grabbed one of the lad’s allies and tries to carry him off to throw him out the window. I have to say that the opera-going public of Nuln are not as civilised or cultured as I had been led to believe. As they carried their victim out, I managed to appeal to the conscience of one of them but the other three continued. Solvej managed to convince them to take him outside the slower way, however. Then she saw two men carrying a suspicious bag up the stairs. It turned out to be some of the fireworks gang from before. They had a bit of a tussle but Solvej called for  Gulgad’s help and before long they had managed to confiscate the fireworks.

Then strangely Ursula Kopfgeld, who we suspected of the murder of Josef the agitator at the Three Feathers, got on stage carrying a large sack. It looked to me like she was about to perform in the operetta, and it seemed to be quite incredible that a singer might have a part-time gig as a murderous criminal, but then I remembered Kurtis’ track record. It turned out she wasn’t part of the show but there to announce that she had killed Josef on behalf of Gerhardt Urteil who was in the audience. And to complain that he had not been forthcoming with the payment, so now she had kidnapped his daughter and had her in the bag. She told the audience he wouldn’t get her back until the payment had been made. She gave instructions for the money to be left in an oak tree outside town.

I don’t know whether it was driven by a desire to see Kopfgeld again (I suspect it was) but Solvej was exceptionally keen to follow this up and went to talk to Urteil and found out he owed Kopfgeld ten crowns. Solvej promised to get his daughter back for twenty crowns, ten now and ten later.

Anyway, I just watched the rest of the opera. It was ok, better than Kurtis’ singing. After it was over a line formed outside of those hoping to meet the countess and gravin who hadn’t managed to meet them during the interval. One of those was Baron Pfeifraucher, the uncle of the lad who had fallen from the balcony, I think. He had a few words with the gravin, but as he did so, Kurtis noticed a glint of blade behind him. Kurtis made a grab for the knifeman, but not before he had cut Pfeifraucher’s breeches and his trousers had fallen down in front of the gravin. Honestly, these Nulners are a lot less sophisticated than I had been led to believe.

Kurtis managed to grab the knifeman who explained it was only a joke and it looked like it really had been only a joke. The gravin, who already had a number of reasons to be cross with Kurtis during the evening told him off once more for causing a disturbance.

Then witch hunter Marband turned up with four of her watchmen and in front of the gathered crowd gravely announced that the gravin must halt in the name of the watch and formally accused her of witchcraft and heresy. Kurtis quickly advised the gravin to get in the coach and barred Marband’s way. Even Erhardt, who had been all matey (and possibly lovey) with Marband, sided with the gravin, and Gulgad backed them up.

But the crowd were already getting rowdy and a few people called for the gravin to face justice. It looked like it might turn nasty, but Kurtis climbed on to the top of the graivn’s coach and calmly addressed the crowd. He told them that the gravin was a good woman and that law and order should prevail, and that they should all calm down and let due process occur.

It was actually a very good speech. I’m not sure how Kurtis managed it. No doubt the sort of experience he gets by standing on stage and singing stupid songs to drunks stood him in good stead for this. And the crowd sloped, off placated by his words. And the gravin seemed genuinely thankful to Kurtis, again.

Marband told Erhardt to ensure the gravin should make herself available for an interview with her. Erhardt agreed he would advise the gravin to meet her and told Marband to come to the palace tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Solvej was out by the oak tree where Geldkopf had demanded the ransom be paid. And was about to put the ten crowns in the purse hanging from the tree but Geldkopf revealed herself. She asked for the money but Solvej demanded she get the daughter first. There was a bit of a stand-off and Geldkopf told her that Urteil actually owed her fifteen crowns. Solvej took her at her word and handed over five crowns of her own money, too.

So, she headed back to town with Urteil’s daughter. But the girl was too young to know where she lived. So, it was lucky that I had wandered out to look for Solvej, and had the plan to get a cab, as the Urteil’s were probably well known enough that the average cabbie would know where they lived. And so we turned up on the Urteil doorstep and Solvej managed to persuade Gerhardt to part with fifteen more crowns for his daughter, and a shilling for the taxi fare.

Solvej offered to donate a couple of crowns to the orphans’ fund, but I didn’t accept it. It seemed to me that she had done a good thing to reunite the girl with her parents and so deserved to keep all the money. But I told her that Shallya wouldn’t approve of her actions. I fear that she is being increasingly reckless and so I do not want to encourage any more of this sort of behaviour, especially as she is already too close to the edge, I think.