Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle

The Jäger looked indignant. “Dere vos a lot uv dead guys und busted machines to dig through! Dot’s not as much fun az it sounds like!

“Plus, Hy took some time to tok to sum uf de guards. Az Hy suspected, both of de Heterodyne gurls iz now in de Kessle.” He paused, and his next words were slower. “De second gurl, de vun Hy vas sent to get, she iz der real ting. Hy ken tell,” he said defensively, although Klaus had said nothing. “De Kessle vill listen to her, if it vill listen to ennyboddy.”

“That’s not good, Captain.” The idea of Lucrezia in possession of an even marginally functional Castle Heterodyne? Klaus grimaced. “No, I don’t like that at all.” He leaned forward, “Now enough of your evasions, where is my son?”

“He iz at Mamma Gkika’s, Herr Baron.”

Klaus rolled his eyes. “I have got to get that boy married,” he muttered. “But it could be worse. He’ll be distracted for the moment.” He leaned back down. “I have orders for you to deliver and I think it would be best if he doesn’t hear about them. However, I will want him safely removed from Mechanicsburg before things get under way.”

Vole saluted crisply. “Hy vill drag him avay from here, after Hy beat him senseless, sir.”

Klaus stared at Vole for several seconds. “That might work,” he admitted.

Back in Mamma Gkika’s, Gil shuffled through the papers before him, his mind sorting and calculating automatically. Vanamonde and Krosp watched him silently. Zeetha was happily gnawing away at what appeared to be a turkey leg almost the size of her arm.

The orders concerned a lot of the sort of thing one would expect in a town that was both hosting the Baron and expecting civic disturbances⁴³: the movement of road crews, paymasters, fire fighters, extra troops, quartermasters, emergency communication systems—

Gil paused, and suddenly shuffled back several sheets. His gaze sharpened. He checked a few names—

When he looked at Van, his face was aghast. “He’s going to destroy Castle Heterodyne,” he whispered.

“How?” Krosp asked with professional interest. “The town is legendary for never being conquered.”

Van looked worried, “Yes, the old Heterodynes chose this spot for a reason.”

Gil slapped the papers down onto the table. “Sure, if the defenses were working, an army couldn’t even get up the pass.” He leaned in. “But the defenses aren’t working. My father is already in control of the town. He can walk the necessary machines right up to the castle walls if he wants to.”

He pulled a paper from the stack. “Road crews. It’s true, these days we mostly use the Rumbletoys as earthmovers. But their subsonic wave throwers could liquefy the rock the castle sits on!”

Another paper. “Firefighters? The Ninth Ætheric Vapor Squad usually fights fires in cities and forests, but kick their gas condensers up a notch or two and you could spray the castle with liquid Nitrogen and then crack it open with a hammer.”

Another. “Emergency Communications System. The Heliolux Airship Fleet. If we order it, their mirror and lens arrays could melt this entire town off the map.” He thought about selecting another but instead just tossed the entire pile in front of Vanamonde.

“I’m sure you get the idea. For almost twenty years my father has been collecting Sparks and their tools, repurposing them for peaceful uses within the Empire. But rest assured, he always remembers that they were initially built as war machines, and he knows how to use them.”

Everyone stared at the pile of paper. Van took a deep swallow of coffee. “This is…not perfect,” he muttered.

Zeetha swallowed. “He’s bringing all that just to get at Agatha?”

Gil sat back and snorted. “No, he’s bringing a hell of a lot more than that. According to the time signatures, this was the work of ten minutes. I assure you that for the Other, he’ll bring in everything in a hundred kilometer radius, if not more.”

Now everyone stared at him. Gil shrugged. “He believes he has cause.” He leaned forward and stared back at them. “And let’s be honest here, he does have cause.”

Van’s eyes narrowed. “So you think we should just let him—”

“You still don’t understand,” Gil interrupted. “It’s not a case of you letting him do anything. If all you’ve seen are the official reports about what happened at Balan’s Gap—” Van was flustered enough that he allowed himself to look guilty, confirming another of Gil’s suspicions. “—you don’t know a tenth of what’s happening there. If Agatha doesn’t surrender herself peacefully, the Empire is going to come in and cauterize this place.” Gil sat back and took a sip of coffee. “Frankly? The best thing you can do is evacuate the town.”

Vanamonde drew himself up. “We serve the House of Heterodyne. We will not desert her.”

Gil frowned. “The Heterodynes have been gone for years. You can’t tell me…” His eye was caught by Mamma striding out onto the stage. “What’s this?”