Hofburg Palace, Vienna
March 23rd, 1836
The report arrived just before noon.
The officer who carried it moved at a controlled pace, escorted through the palace as any other dispatch would be. The paper itself was sealed, marked with the insignia of the southern command.
Inside the council chamber, the atmosphere had already been strained long before the report arrived. Maps still covered the central table, though they no longer showed a stable line. Markers had been moved repeatedly over the past two days, each adjustnt pushing them further inward.
Closer to Austria.
Closer to Vienna.
Archduke Louis stood at the table, reviewing the last confird positions. tternich remained near the window, hands behind his back, his posture unchanged despite the steady flow of unfavorable reports. Count Kolowrat stood beside the door when the officer entered.
He did not need to ask what it was.
He took the dispatch, broke the seal, and read.
For a mont, he did not speak.
Then he handed it to Louis.
The Archduke read it once.
Then again.
"They’ve entered the city," he said.
tternich turned.
"How far?"
"Southern districts first," Louis replied. "But the line is broken. They’re pushing inward."
Kolowrat added quietly, "Artillery reached the interior before the outer defenses collapsed. Coordination failed."
A brief silence settled.
"The army?" tternich asked.
Louis exhaled slowly.
"Still fighting," he said. "But not as a unified line. Units are holding where they can. Others are already withdrawing."
"Withdrawn to where?"
"North. East. Anywhere they can regroup."
tternich nodded once.
So it had happened.
Emperor Ferdinand I was already seated when they entered.
He had been brought into the chamber earlier that morning, though it was unclear how much of the previous discussion he had followed. He sat in the sa position as before, one hand resting against the table, his gaze unfocused until the others took their places.
He looked up when Louis approached.
"Well?" Ferdinand asked.
Louis did not delay.
"Klagenfurt has been breached," he said. "French forces have entered the city."
Ferdinand blinked.
"Entered?"
"Yes."
He frowned slightly, as if trying to place the aning.
"They were supposed to hold it," he said again.
No one corrected him this ti.
"They held as long as they could," Louis replied.
Ferdinand’s gaze shifted between them.
"And now?"
Louis did not answer imdiately.
tternich stepped forward.
"Now the line in the south no longer exists as a continuous defense," he said.
Ferdinand stared at him.
"No line?" he repeated.
"Not one that can stop them," tternich clarified.
Ferdinand leaned back slightly.
For a mont, he said nothing.
"Then we send more n," he said.
The words ca quickly this ti, almost with relief.
"We have more," he continued. "You said so. We send them south and stop them there."
Louis glanced briefly at tternich before answering.
"We can send additional forces," he said. "But it will not restore what has already collapsed. And it’ll be too late. In a matter of days, the French forces will arrive in Vienna from the south. We don’t have ti to prepare."
Louis’s voice trailed off, but the aning remained clear in the room.
Ferdinand stared at him, the words settling slowly.
"Days?" he repeated.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Louis said. "At their current pace, they will not stop between Klagenfurt and the next major approach. They are not reorganizing. They are advancing."
Ferdinand’s fingers pressed against the edge of the table.
"They cannot move that fast," he said.
"They already have," Kolowrat replied quietly. "Their supply is holding. Their coordination has not broken. Every report confirms it."
Ferdinand looked from one man to another, as if expecting soone to contradict it.
No one did.
He leaned back again, his posture uneven.
"Then we gather everything," he said after a mont. "All of it. Every man we have. We put them in the south and stop them before they reach Vienna."
tternich stepped forward slightly.
"If we do that," he said, "we strip the rest of the Empire of its defense."
Ferdinand turned to him.
"There won’t be a rest of the Empire if they take the capital," he said.
"If those forces are defeated, we won’t have troops to maintain control of our empire. They could follow the footsteps of rebellion in the south," tternich let the words settle before continuing.
"...and if that happens," he said, "we lose more than territory. We lose control."
Ferdinand did not answer at once.
His gaze drifted toward the map again, though the markers no longer seed to hold the sa aning they had days ago. Lines that once marked positions now marked loss. Distance that once ant security now ant how far the enemy had already co.
"They are already taking it," he said quietly.
"Yes," tternich replied.
"And we are telling them where to stop."
"No," tternich said. "We are deciding where we can still hold sothing that matters."
Ferdinand’s fingers pressed again against the table, slower this ti.
"And if we speak to them," he said, "they will demand more and more like in the coalition wars!"
"They will," tternich agreed.
"Then why would we agree to it?"
"Because if we wait," tternich said, "they will take it without asking."
The distinction settled heavier than before.
Louis shifted slightly beside the table.
"We are not without leverage," he said. "The army is still intact in parts. The Empire still stands. This is not a collapse. It is a narrowing of options."
Kolowrat added, "And the longer we delay, the fewer of those options remain."
Ferdinand exhaled slowly.
His shoulders sank slightly into the chair.
"Then we prepare it," he said again, more quietly now. "But we do not show it."
"No," tternich said. "Not yet."
"We fight," Ferdinand continued, as if reaffirming it to himself. "We hold them where we can."
"Yes."
"And if that fails..."
He did not finish the sentence.
He didn’t need to.
tternich inclined his head.
"Then we act before there is nothing left to preserve."
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