The Amber Room by
H D Evans
Published by Pipeline
Š Hugh Evans 01 November 2011 & 20 August 2012
3
Chapter 7
Charlottenburg Palace
WINTER
Winter Solstice: December 21st 1715
�������� ���������� “I'm not so sure..” “Karl, Karl, listen to me, listen to me, we can't trust the Russians, we can't, Uncle Peter will turn against us, like before. Konrad, come on you tell him,” Joseph slurred, lurched and grabbed Konrad's cloak at his shoulder. “Tell him what Brother Sepp, tell him what?” Konrad laughed and pulled Joseph across the carriage. “Tell him to be serious, grow up. Hey Karl be serious, Bubba Karl you can't trust a wolf. A-whoool A-A-whool,” Joseph howled whilst shaking his stocking foot in the air. They all laughed, they had a great time tonight at the festive board, they had all drank, laughed and sang so much. “You have to trust...” Karl's head was spinning despite his hand holding his forehead. He pushed his glasses back up his nose after all the jostling and smiled. He enjoyed his friends immensely. They had argued all night, all week, all month, at the ministries, at the lodge, at their homes. “You can't trust and you can't mistrust, there is only our duty,” the forth man blurted. “Oh, Max you are so serious,” Joseph complained and took his hat from him. Konrad looked out of the carriage window; they were slowing as they approached his townhouse. The streetlights lit his home as large snowflakes fell slowly, the air was still, the cloud low and a foot of snow had fallen whilst they had been in their lodge. Fresh snow crunched quietly under the the horses hooves and the carriage wheels, no bright cobble clatter to announce his arrival, nonetheless Konrad could see the front door open and a person come out onto the pavement as their carriage stopped. “See you tomorrow Konrad,” Karl slapped him on the back as he stood up and Sepp slipped onto the floor, they all laughed again. Their tricorn hats fell into the middle. Konrad picked up a hat and put it on but it was obviously too big, so he swapped it with another hat and they all laughed again. “Yes, see you tomorrow, you will have a terrible headache my friend,” Konrad teased as he stumbled out of the carriage. “Bye Konrad.” “See you Brother,” came more goodbyes from his friends.
4 The carriage pulled off again and someone leant out the window yelling and waving his hat. Konrad waved his hat back and then staggered a few steps towards his front door. “Good evening Sir,” beamed the young footman. “Yes, thanks Ulrich, very good evening,” with that Konrad entered his home. “Good evening Sir.” “Good evening Walter,” Konrad handed over his hat and long overcloak, embroidered white undercloak and case, to the frock-coated butler. Konrad climbed the marble stairs under the serious portrait gaze of uniformed ancestors and entered the drawing room. His beautiful wife Mae with their two eldest daughters were there by the fire, dressed in long, cream silk dresses, his son had already been put to bed by their nanny. His wife came over and kissed him on the cheek, “Hello darling, nice to have you back in the warm, it's getting very bad outside,” and talked about a few incidentals; he had only been out a few hours, it wasn't too late. Konrad smiled, “Lovely to be back in the warm. I have to be at the Charlottenburg Palace tomorrow at 10:00 for the meeting in the Bernstienzimmer.” “Is the King going to be there?” “Yes, and all the ministers.” “Must be important then,” she tapped him on the chin playfully with her finger. He smiled and kissed her again. These were the final meetings about the alliance with Russia which would potentially double the size of the Kingdom of Prussia at the expense of their Swedish Empire enemies: the culmination of 100 years of war. . . . at the end of the Chapter . . Within forty years, The King's son, Frederick II, would be at war with the Russians who had invaded and laid siege in Pommerania. Victorious against the Russians, another twenty years later the Prussians would have Silesia added to Pommerania and the Königsberg Duchy of Old Prussia, another ten years and all the lands inbetween were added from the partition of Poland; Frederick II the Great would assume the title King of Prussia, the feudal Duchy being elevated to a Kingdom. War, treaty, and marriage continued their increase of power and influence over Central Europe: this was the big game. Protestantism was sweeping Northern Europe, kings and serfs wanted to be free of the power of the Pope. By the end of the century, the Holy Roman
5 Emperor was a title propped up by the Prussian House of Hohenzollern. The Emperor proved himself useless against Napoleon and it was the Prussians at Waterloo, with the brilliant Englishman Arthur Wellesley, the Iron Duke of Wellington that stopped another Frankish Charlemagne Empire across Europe. By the end of the 1800's the Holy Roman Empire, the First Reich had been transformed by Bismarck into the German Empire, the Second Reich, ruled by Emperor William II of the Prussian House of Hohenzollern and by the infernal mechanisation of modern warfare.
6 The Amber Room Synopsis 30 chapters in five periods. 1 Present day, 2-6 Roman, 7 Europe 1750, 8-14 WW2, 15-30 Present Day. Roman: [SPRING] Roman officer, ordered by Nero, goes in search of Amber, meets mysterious forest woman. Modern Roman civilisation and the barbarian German tribes, their different beliefs, their mutual conflicts and the ancient routes of the amber trade. Feasting, fighting, fornicating, murder, mystery, mayhem, ends with a major battle whilst crossing the Rhine. Europe 1750: [WINTER] The inception and construction of The Amber Room set against the rise of the Prussian Empire and the battles in Europe over the Holy Roman Empire. WW2: [SUMMER] German Wehrmacht intelligence officer, ordered by Goebbels, goes off to Operation Barbarossa. Female Russian Museum Curator visits the Amber Room, Leningrad, surviving an air attack. The Officer captures the Amber Room and the Curator, and they return to Konigsberg, where they make a family. The tide of war turns, Lancasters bomb Konigsberg, the Russians advance, the family is scattered tragically, the Amber Room is lost. Present Day: [AUTUMN] US researcher meets female publisher in New York with new evidence about the location of the Amber Room. Under threat, they travel to Berlin and visit the old Nazi buildings to find the Amber Room. Now monitored by British Intelligence, they go to east finding a trail of clues left for them. They are split by a battle involving the German Police, British Agents and mysterious dark forces who abduct the female publisher and the Amber Room clues. The US researcher goes in search of the her, another battle occurs in Dresden with US special forces support and the lead characters are reunited but on the run from various groups and chasing the Amber Room in Germany. They visit locations, castles and the chase intensifies at each stage. They are attacked, survive, develop their relationship and find the location of The Amber Room. They go to the location which is the centre of a global meeting where powerful people are deciding the fate of the modern world. The Amber Room is being demonstrated as the main feature of the meeting but a small group try to use it to control the world and all the sovereign debts of nation states. It does not go to plan and the Amber Room opens the way for the evil ethereal forces to once again overtake the forces of good. The heroes are able to stop this happening and the world is saved. Prehistory (Epilogue): The eternal battle between good and evil, order and chaos, light and dark, procreation and destruction.
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7 Reviews
""The Amber Room" is an extraordinary achievement for a first-time author. From its primordial, primeval beginning, the novel races through time and space to a dramatic and almost apocalyptic conclusion. Heroes Mark and Ema battle against giant forces of Man and of Nature herself to reveal the truth about The Amber Room and its properties. But do they? May this reviewer beg the reader not to skip pages, but to wait for the last line which "explains" it all. An exciting, difficult and dangerous book that will keep you turning the pages."
Hugh Evans, the author of this well-researched story, takes us through a fascinating kaleidoscope of historical events surrounding the construction and subsequent disappearance of the Amber Room, cleverly intermingling fact and fiction from the beginnings of time to the present day. The pace of his tale is fast moving and it is with some regret that one has to leave the atmospheric intrigues of the various time periods and move on to the next. However the thread of the powerful connections with the main male and female characters echoing through the ages, compels and intrigues and pulls the reader along urgently, eager to see where this epic tale leads. Evans picks up the fictional trail of the Amber Room mystery in the present time, crafting tension and intrigue with surprising twists and turns in his story, culminating in an explosive clash of good versus evil, driven by the mysterious and powerful energy of the Amber Room. How it ‘ends’ is up to the reader to decide, but this is an allegorical tale containing all the elements of a ‘good read’ that will appeal to both men and women. A superb debut novel designed to entertain but also to challenge emotional and intellectual inertia - if you let it. Patricia Abercromby PGCE Freelance journalist and Co-Author of: Seated Acupressure Therapy