The Masked Ball

Hardly any member of the aristocracy wasn't waiting on baited breath for an invitation to Baron Ludwig von Stoller's masked ball. An invitation to the Baron's castle was nearly as coveted as an invitation to the royal court of the Habsburgs in Vienna. From its lofty perch high above the city, its glistening white stone reflected the sun under its crown of blue sky overhead. At night, the castle was steeped in darkness as if it had disappeared as soon as the sun set.

Dukes, duchesses, marquises and marquessas all prepared for months in advance for the annual Grand Ball of Baron Stoller. The rush of finest fabrics hastened to seamstresses and tailors for the event. Stores of meats, fresh, hand picked vegetables and fruits would fill tables groaning from the weight of food. Wines brought in from Austria's royal vineyards would flow. The small army of merchants paraded their way, with wagons loaded with their goods, like a snake twisting upward to the castle sculleries.  The Baron chose the continent's best music, opera and ballet programs for his ball. The performers were among the most sought after artists in all of Europe.

The highlight of the Autumn Gala was deliberately extravagant. Baron von Stoller keenly understood the importance of creating the impression of excess. He also knew the intricacies of creating each event to be more impressive than the last. Though the Autumn Gala was originally intended as an effort of aristocratic appreciation to farmers and vintners, it graduated to exclude the common folk and instead, became a "by invitation of the Baron" only aristocracy soiree.

The Baron was unusually sly of character and interesting by ordinary standards. His features were at once severe and attractive. His near six feet three inches in height made his lanky body all the more prominent. Perhaps, it was his facial features that forced focus on him whenever he appeared in a group. His high forehead, sharp aquiline nose and thin lips accentuated his blue black hair, eyebrows and mustache. His face reminded one of a hand painted mask. Only his near black eyes communicated, when he chose to speak, his intentions.

The Baron was known widely for his reclusive lifestyle. Hidden behind his castle walls, even his staff bowed to his demand for total silence, broken only by the occasional, obligatory baronial galas.

He knew his duty to present the correct image of power and royalty could only be assuaged by what he considered unnecessary partying among the aristocracy. Few knew, even inside the castle, how he really spent his free time.

Though he kept a well stocked hunting store, replete with rifles and bows, they lay unused, except for the occasional request from the King or princes to retire to his castle to ride to the hunt. The Baron endured this, though it was a royal convenience he preferred to avoid.

All of the planning for the upcoming Autumn Ball was managed by the Baron's loyal assistant, Ricard Ronestadt, the illegitimate son of the Baron's brother, long since deceased.

The infamy of the von Stoller family was the illegitimate progeny of the Baron's father, Georgi and his brother, Friedrich. Neither von Stoller brother seemed able to control their desires when exposed to the proximity of feminine pulchritude. Vengefully, von Stoller wives refused to allow the family to be attached to any of their husbands'  "bastard" children.

Ludwig took pity on the plight of his half brother Ricard. The only son of his uncle Friedrich died in a battle of the Habsburgs and Ottomans. That left only two illegitimate half sisters, born to Friedrich and a common scullery maid who served in his country manor.

Ludwig felt it his duty to be generous to Cosima and Francesca, both said to be extraordinary beauties, one with fiery red hair and alabaster skin and the other, with hair the color of a raven's wing and eyes as black as coal.

Ludwig kept Uncle Friedrich's daughters in relative comfort in the country manor home where he allowed them to continue to reside. Although, Ludwig took full ownership of the land and all of its related holdings.

He thought about allowing Cosima and Francesca to visit his castle. He even considered inviting them to the upcoming masked Autumn ball. Then, he realized he could only invite them as spectators, never as guests.

He had an idea. He decided to turn the masked ball into a game. He rather enjoyed the idea of using human guests as game pieces.

The Baron worked out the game in the quiet of his conservatory a few days before the ball. He worked through the rules of the game: As each guest arrived, they'd be given a particular Tarot card symbol written on a small piece of parchment. When the names of guests were announced to the Baron, they would hold up their Tarot symbol.

Then, as the music in the huge, glass walled ballroom began to play, Ricard would hold a matching Tarot symbol of the Tarot card deck, aloft on a larger sheet of parchment. The guests with matching Tarot symbols would be escorted to the next level of the game in another room.

The last guest to reach the next level would earn the Baron's favor and, an as yet, unidentified reward. The intent of the game was to create a Tarot card reading that would portend their fate. Guests would naturally assume the Baron would favor them with more of his Baronial land or a family jewel.

When the lights of the Grand Ballroom of Castle von Stoller blazed from six foot tall tapers, candlelit chandeliers and wall sconces everywhere, upstairs in the quiet of his suite, the baron donned his mask and costume. The mask was of white silk and the costume consisted of a long, nearly floor-length, white silk cape beneath which he wore a white, ruffled silk shirt, topped by a white, hip-length doublet and matching tights, through which gold strands were threaded.

To this, he added his baronial jewelry, a ruby and gold collar set off in the center by a huge pendalette, with the family crest in pearls and a cabochon ruby. The effect was stunning.

The Baron waited until musicians completed their first program to descend the castle's grand staircase. The crowd in the ballroom hushed the minute his figure appeared on the crushed red velvet stairs. He paused to allow his guests to absorb the full effect. Then, he proceeded, with Ricard following, to his place in the Baronial throne chair at the top of the ballroom.

Ricard announced each of the guests who showed their Tarot symbol to the Baron, as they passed through the receiving line.

Ricard explained the game to be played for the evening. The masked guests were thrilled to be allowed to be part of the Baron's game. The costumed guests were a profusion of colors of aubergine, turquoise, scarlet, emerald and topaz. There were colorful marionette, devil, angel, queen, king, prince and princess costumes waiting patiently to take their place on the dance floor.

He nodded to the musicians to play so guests might enjoy the latest reels and Baroque dances. The Baron was really more interested in proceedings with game he designed.

How very appropriate my guests costumes fit so many of the cards of the Tarot, the Baron thought.

The first Tarot symbol was held aloft. It was the Reine de Epees, the Queen of Swords. Ricard escorted Lady von Vosten out of the ballroom. When he returned, the next card symbol was raised aloft, the Roi de Baton, the King of Wands. The Earl of Arnsburg stepped forward. Like Lady von Vosten, he was led out of the ballroom by Ricard.

The third symbol was Le Mat, the Fool. Friedrich Marsten, a Salzburg Cavalier, was next to be led away. Two more symbols were called forward: La Mort and L'Hermite, Death and the Hermit.

The Hermit, the duke of Arlsburg stepped forward. He also was led away.

When Ricard returned, he called La Mort forth again, more officiously than before. There was no response. Guests looked at each other and waited.

Then, the Baron von Stoller stepped down from his chair.

"I am he, whom you are seeking," he announced.

The crowd in the ballroom whispered among themselves.

"What kind of game is this?" the Earl of Klagenforte asked, from the ballroom floor.

The Baron nodded for the music to resume. With a sweep of his cape, he left the ballroom. He was not seen again until the clock struck midnight.

When he entered the anteroom where the Queen of Swords, King of Wands, the Fool and the Hermit were waiting, they immediately bowed or curtsied.

"You will now begin the second level of this game," the Baron announced.

"Ricard, show these guests to the next room," he continued.

The obedient guests followed Ricard Ronestadt down a long, long hall. They whispered among themselves.

"Silence!" Ricard bellowed.

"Where are you taking us?" the Earl of Arlsburg demanded.

"What game is this?" the Earl of Arlsburg shouted.

When the reached the end of the long hall, these guests faced a heavy iron door with metal cross buckles and a large lock. Ricard opened the door with a key he had hidden beneath his doublet.

"Enter," Ricard said, sternly.

Not sure what lay ahead, Friedrich Marsten tried to run in the opposite direction.

"Fool! You cannot escape," Ricard said.

When all passed through the door, they saw the Baron von Stoller standing on a high platform across the room. Between the platform and the stairwell from which they'd entered was a large, deep pit.

"Each of you are here because you chose your own fate. You! Queen of Swords. You ordered one of your own to his death. Now, you will atone. And You! King of Wands, your habit of spending feudal earnings on gaming so freely, you also drew your own fate. You, Arlsburg, did you think you could hide from your evils? Those women you freely take to your bed. You sell them to slavers. Your fate is no different than the others?

The Fool, ah yes, the Fool! Marsten, your choices have driven your land into useless, barrenness. The soil of your land is poisoned and the water has turned sour. A fool and his choices deserve punishment," The Baron said, his voice echoing across the cavernous room.

"What do you plan to do with us?" The Earl of Arlsburg asked.

"I? I plan to do nothing with you. The hand of fate is the hand you dealt yourselves the moment you entered the ballroom," the Baron said.

"And what right have you to impose punishment on us?" Friedrich Marsten asked.

"By the right of my own fate. I am La Morte. I chose the Death symbol. So, shall I observe my duty to my fate. I take my leave of all of you. It is yours to choose your absolution," the Baron said.

The platform upon which the Baron stood receded into the entrance of a hidden door. As soon as his image was gone, the stair well above the deep pit also receded until the footing beneath which the four stood narrowed.

They groped at the closed door savagely to avoid falling into the pit until their fingernails bled. Then, they clawed at each other to avoid the inevitable.

It was the Queen of Swords who met her fate first. They watched as her body freely fell to the floor of the well.

The three men gasped in horror as four, raging lions tore into her body until only strands of her dark hair and her silver costume remained on the bloodied floor.

The next to meet his fate was the Hermit, followed by the King of Wands. Each time the lions clawed at each other before devouring the ready prey before them. The Fool was the last. In a matter of seconds, he too was tossed to and fro and then clawed until blood poured from grotesque wounds all over his body.

Baron von Stoller reappeared in the Ballroom to the slow, deep peal of the castle tower bell at midnight. Guests wondered what had become of the missing guests.

The sly Baron knew how quickly rumors could spread throughout the kingdom. He dismissed his guests one half hour after midnight.

Before he did, he announced that the missing guests were winners of his game. Their prize was a long trip to the Orient aboard the Baron's personal sailing vessel.

"Your friends are, at this moment, enjoying a sail on the Danube and will cross into Asia in due time," the Baron announced.

After the last guests departed the ball, Ricard tended to his duties to the Baron.

"Sire, how shall we answer questions about the missing guests when they do not return?" Ricard asked.

"Are there no raging storms at sea? Are there no passengers who fall overboard?"

"But sire..." Ricard began.

"Asia is a violent continent. No explanation is needed. These fools will assume the four were lost at sea or captured by the Ottomans," the Baron said.

Baron von Stoller began planning the next autumn ball. He studied the guest list.

If a Baron intends to acquire more power and might, he must acquire most land holdings of fools of the aristocracy, he thought.