Death strikes

Ilse awoke with a start, it wasn’t the trap at the top of the stairs that had caused her alert. It was the bell of the cathedral had just rung. Five minutes later it rang again and repeated this every five minutes, it could only mean one thing, the Duke had died. She had to act quickly and hoped that her arrangements would work for the next night. A short while later, as dawn broke, the city was in turmoil, the citizens were in animated discussion and couriers were obviously setting off for all the various capitals to pass on the news.