Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess

“For the moment, we must. But we will be back. And then they will—”

“You did it!” This declaration stopped all three of the women dead. They whirled in surprise to find Agatha standing tall.

But... they all hesitated. It... wasn’t Agatha. The body language was all wrong. The girl before them looked directly at them and they involuntarily stepped back. A fire burned in her eyes that sent a shock of recognition through Vrin.

Agatha’s face was set in a delighted grin as she jerkily examined her arms. “You did it,” she repeated in delight. “I can’t believe it! You actually found her!” The Lady Lucrezia twirled in place and hugged herself in glee. “I’m back!”

CHAPTER 9

A secret shared is a secret known to the Baron 

—Folk Wisdom

In a dark alley near the center of Balan’s Gap, a sewer cover lifted itself slightly. A guttural voice whispered, “Iz clear.” Without a sound, the cover was lifted all the way up and gently set to the side. Quickly, Dimo, Maxim and Ognian flowed upwards and assumed positions equidistant from each other. The town was quiet. The mist had continued to roll down from the surrounding mountains, blanketing the streets. Most of the buildings were dark, with only the occasional light. The streets were empty.

After a minute, Dimo quietly whispered. “Iz goot.”

A hand reached up from the sewer, clutching a stiff and unresponsive figure. Dimo grabbed it and examined it worriedly. It was Krosp. His limbs were stiff, his face set in a grimace of pain. He was filthy, and soaking wet. “Iz he any better?”

Lars levered himself up out of the manhole. “No.”

Maxim scratched his chin. “I dun underschtand vy he iz like dis. He hef no problem mit goingk into der sewer.”

Lars looked at the Jager and shrugged. “I don’t think he really understood what a sewer was.”

The purple Jaeger chuckled. “Ho! Vell Hy guess he know now! ’Specially ven he fall in!”

Lars nodded. “Yes, he seemed fine until then.”

Maxim corrected him. “No, he vas fine ’til hyu said dot he vould need a bath.”

Dimo interrupted them both. “No, it vos ven hyu said dot he could giff himself a bath.”

Maxim grinned. “Oh, jah! Dot vas it! Becawze he iz a kitty!”

At this, all four of them reevaluated the sodden, stinking mass Dimo held in one hand, imaginations running furiously. Krosp suddenly showed signs of life. One crazed eye rolled towards Dimo. “Kill me,” Krosp whispered.

“I can’t say I blame him,” Lars conceded.

Dimo nodded. “True enough, but ve needs him.” With that he strode over to a water barrel and plunged Krosp in fully and agitated his hand thoroughly. In less than a minute, a bedraggled Krosp clawed his way out of the barrel. He shook himself and glared at the others. “Never speak of this again,” he hissed. “Or you will all die.”

During this, Maxim and Ognian had vanished. They reappeared now from opposite ends of the alley. Both looked troubled. “Zumting is wrong,” Maxim stated flatly.

Oggie agreed. “Jah. De streets iz deserted.”

Dimo looked at Lars. “Iz dot normal dese days?”

Lars shook his head. “Of course not. This is a major caravan town. The Night Market is famous for its late night specials, and the Red Quarter never closes. We were supposed to come up right between them, so we could blend in with the crowds.”

The group looked around. There certainly were no crowds now. Dimo scowled. “We moof qvick den.”

Lars looked at a set of enameled street signs riveted onto the walls at the nearest corner. He nodded. “The castle should be this way.”

Oggie grinned. “Hah. Ve valk in, ve valk out. Vill be piece of piroshky!”

It wasn’t, of course. The castle sat tall and forbidding in its crater. For the first ten decameters, the sheer stone walls were bereft of windows, decorations, or indeed, handy projections of any kind. The massive drawbridge was up. But the final straw was the seething, crackling lacework of energy that surrounded the base of the structure.

Ognian slumped against the nearest railing. “Hy’m chust gunna shot op now,” he muttered.

Krosp patted his arm. “Thanks.”

“A lightning moat,” Lars marveled. “I’ve never really seen one.”

Maxim nodded sagely. “Yah. Iz hard to gets de insurance.”

Suddenly a voice from behind caused them all to start. “About time you boys got here.”

Sitting in an embrasure was Zeetha. She continued. “Krosp, I expected. The Jaegers are...” she looked at them and nodded. “—Not much of a surprise. But you, Lars—” Here her grin widened. “What are you doing here?”

Lars looked away. “Why? Well she is a member of the show. I... we... we just couldn’t leave her.”

Zeetha looked at him fondly. “I see.” She leapt down beside them. “Well I guess there isn’t much danger—” She clapped Lars on the back. “Not if you’re here, hm?”

Then she frowned. The muscles under her hand were tight with tension. When Lars turned towards her, she was forcibly struck by the rigidly controlled fear she saw in his eyes. “Zeetha—” Lars said quietly, “I have never felt a town as dangerous as this. Something is very, very wrong here. Do you know anything?” He gestured at the empty streets. “What is going on here?”

Zeetha’s grin vanished. “Prince Aaronev is dead. A lab accident, they say, though there’s a general feeling that there must be more to it. The town is officially in mourning. No one is allowed on the streets after dark. It’s expected that the Prince’s son, Tarvek, will be the new Prince, once the Baron’s Questor is satisfied.”

Lars looked intrigued. “A Questor? Here?”

Krosp nodded. “Balan’s Gap is an important trade city because of the pass. Plus, The House of Sturmvarous is a major player amongst the Fifty Families[53]. The Baron has to be able to demonstrate that the succession here is legal and legitimate.”

Zeetha nodded. “A messenger has already been sent off to the Baron. Because of the city’s status, the Questor is expected to be here in time for the funeral. That should be in about three days. The bureaucracy is in a panic.” She indicated a large, ornate building which was doubly noticeable because most of its lights were still burning and if the evidence of its chimneys was to be believed, every fireplace in the building was going full blast. “Apparently there’re a lot of files that need to be ‘updated.’”

She continued with a grin. “The city is also supposed to be sealed. No one in, no one out, until the funeral. That’s the local tradition whenever one of the Royal Family dies.”

Dimo considered this. “Vot do dey say about Miz Agatha?”

At this Zeetha got serious. “Nothing.” Dimo started to shrug, but Zeetha interrupted him. “No, you don’t understand. Everyone is talking about everything because they’re worried. I can tell you a whole lot of gossip about the Royal Family. The guards, the servants, who’s looking after the royal horses—But about a young actress who was visiting the Royal Family when the Prince died? Nothing. Not a word. Not a whisper. It’s as if she were never there at all.”

Lucrezia’s movements were already more sure and graceful. Shurdlu and Eotain knelt before her, weeping