The Fire of Freedom: The Revolutionary Journey of Leopold and His Rebels

The sun had been up for a few hours, but Wilhelm’s bedroom was still dark. He slept late, as he often did.

He was woken by the gentle shaking of his shoulder. “Your majesty, please wake up. There is an urgent matter in the parlour.”

Wilhelm sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. “What is it? Who is there?” he said through nearly closed lips.

“It is… It is Herr Leopold Blaufrosch. And six other men I have never seen before. They say they must speak with you at once.” The valet knew better than to question the group of thugs that had shown up on his master’s doorstep, but he wanted to know why they were here.

Wilhelm walked over to a mirror on the wall and began to tidy his hair and straighten his collar. He didn’t know what would happen when those men arrived, but he had to look presentable at least. His wife Angela was still asleep in their bed behind him, so he wasn’t worried about her judging him for what he was about to do. She never judged him for anything since she had no power or authority whatsoever over him as his wife or queen; it was well known that she had no interest in politics whatsoever, which made her a perfect fit for the role of empress consort of Germany.

Wilhelm took several deep breaths as he made his way down the hall towards the parlour where Blaufrosch and his associates were waiting for him. He entered the room hoping that none of them noticed that he hadn’t brushed his teeth yet this morning, or that he looked like he hadn’t slept at all last night – despite having spent hours tossing and turning in bed without closing his eyes the entire night long. He wasn’t going to let these seven men know how intimidating they really were to him – not even Blaufrosch himself, who stood tall at 6'6" and weighed nearly 300 pounds with solarium-brown skin and a shaved head to match – with muscles that looked like they could crush concrete with ease, if they were ever inflamed enough to do such a thing.

Wilhelm sat down at the end of the table facing Blaufrosch and his associates across from him, taking care not to show any weakness or fear by allowing himself to sit too close to them so soon after arriving in their presence; it wouldn't do for them to see that they intimidated him from a distance of less than 8 feet away from them! But now was time for them to see who was truly in charge around here! Now was time for them to see that he would be even more ruthless than them if he needed to be! He cleared his throat and spoke loudly: “Now then… Why are you all here? Were you sent here by someone? Is someone trying to overthrow me? At this time? In this day? This era? This century?! I am surrounded by enemies everywhere I turn! Everywhere! What do you want? Speak! What do you want?! DO YOU NOT SEE THAT THE TIME IS NOT RIGHT FOR ANOTHER REVOLUTION?! I AM THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY FOR CHRISTSAKE!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”