you?” He took off his visor and wiped his eyes. “You ran straight at the danger without even thinking. That is who and what you are.” Suddenly, the big man’s voice was grave, his manner serious. “You say you want a normal life.” He sighed deeply, “We all say that at one time or another. You certainly deserve your chance at it.” He stepped back and looked her up and down.
“I’ll find you in about three months,” he told her. “And we’ll see how ‘normal’ your life is.” Then he leaned down, and to Agatha’s astonishment, gave her a soft peck on the cheek. His blue eyes were bright and warm.
He grinned and replaced his visor. “But sincerely—Good luck.” And with that, he walked back to the tavern, and the admiring crowd who was waiting to hear his tales of adventure and buy him drinks.
Agatha watched him go, her hand gently touching the spot where he’d kissed her.
Krosp materialized at her elbow. “How can someone so stupid be so smart?” he groused.
Agatha dropped her hand and turned away. “He only sees what he wants to see,” she growled. “Which is why he’s completely wrong about
Krosp’s eyes narrowed as he stared at her. His whiskers twitched. “Ah. Right.” He sighed, “Of course.”
From the eaves of the forest outside town, the Jager woman listened to the celebratory noise spilling out into the night. As she turned her back to the lights of the town, a huge black shape detached itself from the shadows and lumbered toward her. Even in the darkness, she instinctively found the great bear’s moist nose leather and gave it a fond pat. “Ah, Fust. Who iz a goot bear?”
Fust snorted happily and nuzzled her hand. Without turning, she addressed the air. “Hokay—Hy know hyu eediots iz dere. Come on out.”
From the deep gloom under the trees, the other three Jagers appeared—smug grins on their faces. The Jager woman looked them over. “Maxim, Ognian und Dimo. Vot vas dot all about? Iz hyu seriously telling me—”
“Dot ve found a Heterodyne? Ho, yaz!” Maxim’s purple eyes shone in the darkness.
Ognian’s toothy grin seemed to reach to both ears. “It’z a gurl. But de schmell, de voice...” He thumped his halberd on the ground—“She iz uf de bloodline!” he declared.
Dimo nodded quietly, but with certainty. “Dere iz no mistake, Jenka,” he agreed.
“A gurl?” The others nodded. Jenka abruptly sat down. The three stepped forward in concern, but she waved a hand in reassurance. “Dot iz... sooprizink.” She sat still a moment, and then, with a single graceful bound, leapt astride her bear. She pointed at the other three. “Hyu three vill stay vit her.”
Dimo was surprised. “Iz dot all?”
Jenka took a deep breath. “Our task vas to find a Heterodyne. This ve haff done.” She sat back. “Now de qvestion iz—vot iz to be
The three looked at each other in surprise. “Hyu gots to ask?” Maxim was puzzled.
Jenka consulted the stars and began steering her bear between the trees. “It haz been too long. Hy vant... instructions.” She waved a hand at them. “Until den, just keep her alive.”
And with that, bear and rider vanished into the night.
CHAPTER 5
Passholdt Fried Creme “Tings”
Preparation Time: 35 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
80 g (3/8 cup) sugar
80 g (2/3 cup) unbleached flour
4 eggs
500 ml (1 pint) fresh whole milk, brought to a boil and allowed to cool
The zest of half a lemon, in strips
1 Tablespoon mild fruit liqueur
Salt
Unsalted butter, for frying
A piece of stick cinnamon
Breadcrumbs
Preparation:
In a bowl, beat two whole eggs and two yolks (reserve the whites) with 4 tablespoons of cold milk, the sugar, and the flour.
In the meantime, put the remaining milk in a pot with the lemon zest, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt, and bring it to a boil. Remove it from the fire and slowly add it, in a thin stream, to the flour mixture, beating the mixture steadily with a small whisk to keep lumps from forming.
When you have finished adding the milk, pour everything back into the pot in which you boiled the milk, return the pot to the fire, and cook over a gentle flame, stirring constantly and gently, until the cream thickens. Though an occasional bubble is all right, you do not want it to boil hard, or it will curdle. Continue cooking and stirring for 5 minutes, and then remove the pot from the fire. Remove and discard the zest and cinnamon, and stir in the liqueur.
Turn the cream out into an ample, fairly deep dish, spread it to a thickness of about 2 cm (3/4 of an inch), and let it cool completely.
Cut the cream into diamonds. Lightly beat the remaining egg whites, dredge the rhombs of cream in them, and then in breadcrumbs, and fry them in butter until golden. Drain them on absorbent paper and serve at once.
The circus wagons had been parked for hours, and the players were growing bored. People were strolling about, although none ventured very far, peering over the edge of the chasm, sitting atop their wagons reading, playing games, or watching the sunset.
It was a breathtaking chasm, surrounded as it was by magnificent mountains, which were washed purple and orange by the light of the setting sun. A fierce river could be heard roaring by somewhere in the shadows below, the sound booming upwards from between the sheer rock walls.
A poet would have taken one look at it all and dashed off something about the stark grandeur of nature, the quality of the light, the glory of all things, and still had time for dinner.
Luckily, around fifteen hundred years ago, a Roman engineer had taken a look at it and decided that it would be a good spot for a bridge. He had been a good engineer, and the bridge was still there.
A few of the circus members were stationed strategically, keeping a wary eye out on the surrounding countryside. They were the ones who first saw the two small figures rounding the turn of the road they had come up, and trotting (unsteadily in one case) up the slope towards them. But as things were pretty boring, the two were soon the center of attention.
When they reached the near end of the bridge, they stopped. Zeetha clapped her hands once in dismissal, and Agatha slid to her knees, panting.
Pix strolled over. “So, you two finally caught up.”
Agatha glared up at her. “You left without us!”
Pix raised her eyebrows. “Zeetha said you’d catch up.”
Zeetha laughed and tousled Agatha’s hair. “That’s right! Nothing spurs a good run like fear!”
Pix’s mouth quirked upwards. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Zeetha grinned. “Oh yeah.”
Agatha climbed to her feet and vainly attempted to pull the hem of her small outfit further down her thighs.
