Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle

The girl examined the smoking device, then, with a curse, she tossed it towards the ground. The automaton leapt again, and snapped the little device out of the air, crushing it in shining metal jaws. Tarvek was still hanging on as the automaton dashed about, but his sheets were becoming more tattered and disheveled by the minute. He really wasn’t wearing anything else underneath. Agatha tried hard not to notice. Instead, she concentrated on the question of what he was doing here, in Castle Heterodyne, and what she should do about it.

On the one hand, his family was mixed up with a shadowy plot to overthrow the Empire, and they had been working with Lucrezia—the Other—to do it. The Other’s creatures and devices had been all over their castle. Tarvek himself had been working with Lucrezia and her servants—and had actively thwarted Agatha’s efforts to warn the Baron about the Other’s return.

On the other hand, Tarvek had rebelled—had tried to get Agatha away from Sturmhalten Castle before the Other’s servants could catch her. When Agatha had been caught anyway, and it looked as if Lucrezia’s presence in her mind would extinguish her altogether, he had helped her fight back. She was still alive because of him.

Plus—and there was no denying it—she had found him very attractive. Different than Gil, there was no question of that, but still…

It was all very frustrating, she thought. Definitely the sort of thing a girl needs to sort out…over time…with the aid of knowledgeable friends, a good wine, and several kilograms of good chocolate. None of which were now present.

“Okay,” Violetta muttered. “So here I am, back where we started.” She gave Agatha a sour look. “Without, I might add, the fool I’m supposed to keep alive. Great plan, my Lady.”

Agatha tore her gaze from Tarvek. “Wait! Where’s von Zinzer?”

“Over here.” They looked up in surprise, to see Moloch sitting astride another beam. He waved at them amiably, and the tone of his voice conveyed a pleased surprise. “Thanks for asking.”

Violetta stared at him in astonishment. Then glanced back down at the floor, which was easily five meters below. “You’ve trained in the way of the Smoke?”

Moloch shrugged and waved a hand. “Nah. My mother always said that stuff would kill you.”

Agatha ignored them and looked around. Below them, the creature had changed tactics. It was by turns freezing in place and then suddenly shaking itself violently. Tarvek was managing to hold on, but Agatha knew it was only a matter of time. She had to try something.

The beam she was on was filthy. Encrusted with centuries worth of dust, grime, and cooking smoke. Luckily, it was also enormous, hewn centuries ago from some primeval oak tree, and was easily a meter wide. Agatha gingerly swung her legs up and eased herself onto her hands and knees. She eyed the doors she had spotted at the other end of the room and started forward.

“What are you doing?” Violetta asked from behind her.

“I’m wondering what’s through that other door.”

There was a soft whoosh through the air and the lightest of thumps, and Violetta was now standing before Agatha. “There’s three more of those monsters on the other side. That’s the way we came in,” Violetta said wearily.

“Ah.” Agatha thought about this. “Is there any other way out?”

Violetta shook her head. “No.”

Agatha glanced about. The upper reaches of the vast room were shrouded in darkness. “How can you be so sure? It’s pretty dark up here.”

Violetta reached up to her brow. A strap ran across her forehead, with a small device attached. She snapped it on and an intense red beam blinked into existence. “Only got my hunting light, don’t I?” She slowly began to pivot in place. “Let’s have a look around.”

The light drifted up, revealing a small square of darker black. “Air vent of some sort up there, but even if we could get you up to it, that hole is too small even for me.” The light moved to the left and Agatha gasped as hundreds of small bright dots gleamed in the darkness. “But I guess it’s big enough for those bloodbats.⁴⁹ The moon’s coming up, so I figure they’re almost ready to fly. We’d better get out of here soon.”

The light now skittered up along the beam they were on. “Oh, and it’s a good thing you didn’t crawl much further.” The light revealed a delicate lattice of threads. Dark shapes scurried away as they were illuminated. “If you had, you’d’ve got caught in that spiderroach web.⁵⁰ Once they know you’re helpless, they’ll pour out and strip the flesh from your bones.”

Agatha slowly backed up, but stopped when she heard a meaty “thunk” near her left foot. Looking behind her, she saw a small creature squirming furiously, pinned by a slim black blade.

“Look at that,” said Violetta with a touch of surprise. “Venomous Rafter Toad.⁵¹ I didn’t know they were active at this time of the year.”

Agatha tried to pull herself into the smallest amount of space possible.

Violetta sighed and sat down beside her, turning off her light. “See? Nothing up here that’s of any use to us at all.”