Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle

Krosp nodded, “A rebellion against the Empire, eh? Depending on who wins—”

Carson slammed his hand down on the stonework. “To hell with who wins! They’ll come here to fight! Mechanicsburg will be caught in the middle. Our only chance to even have a town left at the end of this is to be a player instead of just the terrain. For that, we need the Castle up and running and a Heterodyne in charge of it.” He looked Agatha in the eye. “Not just some fake who’s playing her own game with the Empire. A genuine Heterodyne who cares about this town. If you are a Heterodyne, the best thing you can do is get the Castle repaired and running again—and as soon as possible.”

Agatha absorbed this and nodded once. “All right.” She turned to Herr Diamant. “Let’s go.”

Zeetha looked surprised. She pointed towards the battlefield. “What about your boyfriend?”

Agatha looked at her. She’s testing me, she thought. “He’s not my boyfriend.” She held up a hand to forestall any argument. “Yes, I worked with him for a little while, and yes, we got along all right, and yes, I’ll admit there’s an attraction, all right?” The memory of a kiss warmed her face. “But that was before he knew I was a Heterodyne. Before I knew I was a Heterodyne. That changes everything.

“That…that Jäger back in the coffee shop? He may have been a Jäger, but he was wearing a Wulfenbach uniform and he tried to kill me. Was he sent by the Baron? Was he sent by Gil? Or by someone further down the chain of command? I just don’t know.

“When it comes down to it, I don’t really know him. I don’t know if anyone does.”

Agatha looked out at the devastated walkers and sighed. “But I do know that he can be dangerous. So I think it would be smarter to deal with the Empire—and him—from a position of strength.” She looked back at Carson. “And being a Heterodyne and holding the Castle, well, that’s the strongest position I can think of right now.”

She sighed and waved a hand at the town below the wall. “If I am a Heterodyne, then this is my family’s home. I have to fight for it, or at least do my best to keep it safe, because it’s the only place where a Heterodyne can expect to be safe.”

Zeetha punched Agatha lightly on the arm. “By Gwangi, I’ll make a warrior princess out of you yet!”

Agatha slumped slightly. “Any time.” Then she looked at Zeetha again. “Actually—” She looked slightly embarrassed and lowered her voice. “I mean, even if he does turn out to be a vicious madman out to pickle me, I… well, I’m still kind of worried about him. While I’m in the Castle, could you find him and make sure he’s okay?”

Zeetha looked surprised. “Me?”

Agatha dipped her head. “The Kolee asks this of her Zumil.”³²

Zeetha snorted. “Well, I was going to sit around in a café worrying about you, but—sure. I can take care of him.”

Maxim and Oggie proved remarkably effective at herding the captured soldiers off the field and towards the gates—where the Wulfenbach troops waited to deal with them.

Dimo and Jenka kept Gil on his feet between them, without it appearing that they were propping him up. Gil acknowledged the Wulfenbach Captain’s salute and waved him off to do his job.

“Hokay,” Dimo said, a grin plastered across his face. “Now traditionally, hyu should stride triumphantly out uv de smoke and thru de city gates. But ve dun vant hyu spoilin’ tings by passink out, hey?”

Gil looked at him with a frown that would have been more effective if the Jäger’s face wasn’t slowly receding. “I’m… I’m fine,” he insisted.

“Hyu iz not, keedo,” Jenka said quietly, “Hyu iz hit. Ve ken schmell der blood. But Hy dun tink hyu iz hit too bad.”

Maxim strolled back. “Hyu poppa’s troops vill finish op tings here. Hyu’d better come vit us.”

Gil took a wobbly step. The Jägers looked at each other and gently raised him slightly off the ground and carried him towards the base of the city wall. “Wearing armor,” he said with exaggerated clearness. “Not…totally insane.”

Dimo kept his opinion to himself. “Hy dun see nottink on hyu head.”

“She…they…needed to see that it was me.”

Dimo considered this. “Vat hyu need is a big hat vit hyu name on it.”

This statement caused Gil to focus on his rescuers fully. “Really? Wait… you…you’re not Wulfenbach Jägers.”

“Nope. Ve iz der goot lookink vuns.”

Gil didn’t even try to examine this. “Are you kidnapping me?”

Jenka laughed. “Nah! Ve iz on hyu side.”

“That’s good,” Gil conceded. “Why?”

Dimo rolled his eyes. Alarmingly, he did it in different directions. “Hmf. An Hy vas tolt hyu vas schmot.” He waved his free hand at Mechanicsburg. “Hyu iz defendink our town. Hyu fallink down in front of efferybody ain’t goot for der town, or for Mizz Agatha.”

That got through to Gil and he made an effort to straighten up. “Agatha? Is she here? Can’t fall down in front of Agatha, no.” It was only Jenka’s grip that kept him from, in fact, falling.

“He’s losin’ it, Dimo.”