Tyranny of Steel

Deep within the heart of Catalonia, there was a young woman of Visigothic descent who dressed from head to toe in dark attire. The night had fallen over the sky of Collbato, and with it, the woman could finally get close to her target.

As the War for German Unification was underway, King Felipe of Spain took it as an opportunity to infiltrate Austria's suspicious mine deep within his Kingdom's territory. As part of the Treaty of Aquitaine that he had signed with Berengar and Hasan, the man had given over the mining rights of the area to the Austrian Crown.

As far as Felipe was aware, nothing of importance lied within the region, and despite that, Austria's mining companies seemed to move a suspicious amount of mysterious product from the area of Collbato to the shores of Gibraltar, where an Austrian Naval base currently existed.

Despite Felipe's best attempts, he could not discover just what was being mined in the area known as Collbato. Now that his enemy focused his attention elsewhere, the Spanish king could finally infiltrate the area. With this in mind, the King of Spain dispatched his greatest spy to the mines to uncover what secrets Austria was hiding from him.

The woman known by the name of Cecilia de Penafiel lied in wait for the precise moment that the Austrian guards would change their shift. Over the past week, she had examined the patrols from afar, and was now intimately familiar with their schedule. At exactly midnight, the guards on watch for the night packed up their things and brought in the newest patrol.

Thus, the woman took the chance to dash through the fields and into the entrance of the mine, where she ensured she remained unseen. Having successfully infiltrated the mine's entrance, the spy quickly descended its shafts, desperately searching for any sign of what treasure Austria had uncovered within the caverns.

Luckily, her dark attire blended in with the shadows. As the closer she reached the belly of the beast, the more internal patrols she came across. Seeing a light up ahead that was encroaching on her position, the woman quickly hid behind a stalagmite as the patrol slowly passed her by, completely unaware that a hostile agent had successfully infiltrated into the depths of the mine.

It was only after she was certain that they had rounded the corner did Cecilia sigh heavily before continuing on her journey. If she were spotted, then surely she would be a dead woman. Thus she kept this sentiment in mind as she burrowed deeper into the mine. The further she got, the more enamored she became with the Austrian mining equipment.

The interior of the mine shaft held a long rail track, where during the day miners used handcars to transport goods from the depths of the mine towards the surface. The rail track eventually led to an area where the Austrians had set up several steam powered conveyer belts for transferring the product towards the mining carts. This was not the only technological marvel which the woman witnessed. There were also steam pumps in place to prevent water inflow and even mechanized drills.

The woman gazed upon the marvels of the industrial era with shock. Such technology was well beyond her understanding. After all, as far as she was aware, her people operated mines via manual labor. They were dug by hand with iron picks, which proved to be a lengthy and dangerous process. It was almost as if she had walked into a subterranean civilization straight out of a fantasy.

She realized at this moment that no matter how she described what she had witnessed here on this day, it could never fully encapsulate the marvel of what she saw. Thus, she tore herself from her internal shock and continued deeper until she found what she was looking for.

Deep within the mine were several large deposits of saltpeter, a crucial substance in the manufacture of gunpowder. Currently, the Spanish were limited in their capacity to field firearms. This was because of the small amount of gunpowder they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, it was quite difficult to obtain such a valuable resource.

After all, as far as the Kingdom of Spain was aware, there were no natural deposits of saltpeter within Europe. This would be fine if they could purchase it from the east. However, the Byzantine Empire, through its alliance with Austria, dominated the trade with the eastern world, who had an abundant supply of saltpeter.

Because of this stranglehold over saltpeter, it had become incredibly difficult for Austria's enemies to get their hands on gunpowder, and thus, despite their ability to manufacture firearms, they could not field such weapons in large numbers.

However, it turned out there was a vast deposit of this strategic resource lying within her Kingdom's borders the entire time, and Austria had not only noticed its existence, but skillfully usurped the region's mining rights from its rightful owners. This enraged the woman to the core of her being.

It took her a few moments to calm her inner fury and collect her thoughts. What she needed to do now was escape the confines of this mine, and report what information she had collected to her King. If the King of Spain knew that such a vast quantity of saltpeter existed in his backyard, he would do whatever it took to gain control over it.

Thus, the woman instantly realized what she needed to do and climbed her way back to the surface. However, she did not get far, as the moment she turned around to make a strategic withdrawal, a patrol spotted her. The leader of the squad aimed down his rifle at the woman and shouted at her with her native tongue.

"Halt! You are not supposed to be here! Get on the ground and place your hands behind your back!"

After coming so far, the woman was not about to surrender without a fight. Thus, she covertly pulled out a small dagger and threw it towards the squad leader's neck. Before the man could react, the blade pierced his skin and severed his carotid artery, causing his blood to spew forth like a fountain.

The woman took advantage of the shock, to rush her opponents, grabbing hold of one of their rifles, and disarming them, before raising it towards the third sentry and pulling the trigger, sending a projectile straight into his heart, ending his life on the spot.

She quickly used the butt of her rifle to knock out the third opponent before tossing it on the ground. The echo of the gunshot would surely alert the entire facility to her presence, thus she quickly made a run for it towards the surface.

As she suspected, it did not take long for another unit to arrive at the scene of her crime, where they witnessed the deaths of their comrades. The squad leader quickly pulled out smelling salts and awoke the unconscious soldier where he interrogated him about what had transpired.

"What happened here!?!"

The soldier looked around in confusion before gathering his thoughts. After doing so, he quickly responded to the question.

"There was a woman. I did not see her face, as it was covered. However, she was down here in the mine and witnessed our operations! She has probably fled to the surface, quickly get to her before news of the saltpeter reaches Spain!"

A hint of worry flashed across the soldier's face as he heard these words. If a spy had infiltrated the mine and discovered its secrets, then they were all in grave danger. For the moment King Berengar heard about this incompetence, heads would surely roll. Thus, with a grave tone in his voice, the squad leader quickly issued his orders.

"Find her quickly! We cannot waste any more time!"

However, by the time the sentries could prepare a proper search party, the woman was already gone in the wind. They found not a single trace of her existence. Instead, she was already on her way to the Capital of the Kingdom of Spain.

When King Felipe finally found out that Berengar had cheated him out of a vast stockpile of saltpeter and had already mined a fair portion of it, he would become infuriated. For some time, the Catholic world had lagged behind the Kingdom of Austria and its technologically advanced military.

Now that they were finally taking a step forward in military advancements, the lack of gunpowder limited them in their ability to fight against Austria's growing dominance. To have such a substantial deposit of saltpeter stolen from beneath their grasp was a massive insult to not only the Kingdom of Spain but the Catholic World.

The consequences of this revelation had yet to be seen, but one thing was certain: there would be a great pressure on the Kingdom of Granada, and their Austrian allies into handing over the mine, and all that had been retrieved from it back to its Spanish masters. Whether Berengar and Hasan would listen to such an unreasonable request was another matter entirely.