1636_ The Saxon Uprising - Eric Flint [131]
The second reason was even simpler. Both men were also very big, although not as enormous as the bodyguard up front. That made the seat very cramped. On the other hand, good luck to anyone trying to hit Kristina in the middle of all that beefy flesh.
So, Ulrik was in a good mood even before they came into Magdeburg. It was always a pleasure to deal with skill and competence.
He would always remember three things afterward about their procession through the city.
The first were the banners. They seemed to be everywhere. On every tower, on every roof-top, hanging from every window and balcony, and waved by seemingly every hand along the streets and in the square in front of the royal palace.
The flags came in all sizes, from a gigantic one draped down the side of an entire building to a multitude of small ones that could be held in one hand. But with very few exceptions, they only came in four types.
The first and most common was the official flag of the USE, with its crossed black bars on a red field. Along the two bars were golden stars representing the provinces of the nation, and at the center was the Swedish royal insignia from the lesser national coat of arms, three coronets under a royal crown. The colors throughout were the traditional German red, black and gold.
The second flag was the simple red-black-gold tricolor that had been informally adopted by the Committees of Correspondence. Sometimes the bars were horizontal, sometimes vertical. There was no official pattern since it was not an official flag to begin with. But it had becomes the recognized national symbol for those who advocated an outright republic.
The third flag was one Ulrik had never seen before—indeed, had never heard of before. It was the tricolor, but with the Swedish royal insignia at the center.
There were a lot of those. Not as many as the official flag but quite a few more than the common tricolor.
Finally, there was a banner. As with the tricolor, there was no set pattern, since these were quite obviously handmade. But the most common design had a red field, a black border all the way around—sometimes these were just two stripes—and a simple inscription in the center, written in gold: Long Live Kristina! Sometimes, Long Live Our Kristina!
Those were the princess’ favorites, of course.
The second thing he would always remember was his first sight of the Marine guard when they drew up before the royal palace. The sight was startling enough to drive him to blasphemy.
“Good Lord! What have they got on their heads?”
“They’re called ‘shakos,’ Your Highness,” said Albert Bugenhagen. “Apparently it was a military design in the Americans’ universe. Rebecca Abrabanel had images of them in a book and had a hatmaker shop produce a few dozen of the things.”
The mayor of Hamburg smiled. “She says the admiral will probably have a fit when he sees them.”
The things were certainly impressive, although Ulrik couldn’t help but wonder how practical they’d be on a battlefield. For that matter, nothing the Marine guards were wearing looked all that practical. They were the most elaborate and heavily-decorated uniforms Ulrik had ever seen, outside of hussar uniforms—and those were not the uniforms hussars actually wore into battle.
They even had the ostrich plumes, sticking up from the shakos. No leopard skins, though.
As they got out of the automobile, Ulrik gave the guards a closer inspection. He was pleased—relieved, in fact—to see that the weapons the Marines were carrying looked a lot more functional than their uniforms. Good SRG muskets, with an up-time shotgun in the hands of the corporal in charge of this particular squad. The Marines held the weapons as if they knew how to use them, too.
Thankfully, there was not a halberd in sight. After the fracas in Stockholm, Ulrik would be perfectly happy never to see another halberd for the rest of his life.
The thought of Stockholm drew his hand to his waist, almost