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She turned back and gently patted Selnikov on the cheek. “It’s a lovely plan, uncle. We should be able to smooth everything over before the Baron’s people get here.”

CHAPTER 11

The Storm King united all the land 

He gathered the Sparks beneath his hand 

He tamed the lightning and held the line 

But then he met the Heterodyne—

—A Ballad of the Storm King (Unknown. Possibly Montcriffe of Tours. Then again, maybe not.)

A dramatic light flared in the darkness. Music, strange, unearthly music swelled. Suddenly, there was Agatha. Her face was tired, but determined. When she spoke, her voice was firm and compelling.

“I am Agatha Heterodyne. Daughter of Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish. I have discovered that my mother was... is—The Other. Her servants have captured me. They’ve done something to me, and as a result, her mind is trying to take over my body. I can’t fight her off for much longer.

“Her forces have taken the castle at Sturmhalten. Prince Tarvek is helping me. Tell Baron Wulfenbach. Tell everyone. Someone needs to stop her. Please, I—” her eyes lowered and Agatha realized that she was still wearing nothing but the few scraps of clothing that Lucrezia had donned as a sop to Tarvek’s sensibilities.

She gave a squeal and vainly tried to cover herself. “You could have said something!” she said hotly.

Tarvek sighed, and turned off the recording equipment. “I thought you said you wanted to get everyone’s attention,” he said weakly.

Agatha glared at him. “Gi—I mean, everyone’s going to see this. Get me something decent to wear! Please!”

Tarvek nodded. “Of course.” He thought for a moment. “I think I know what we need. Wait here.” He took off. Agatha waited a few seconds after he had left, and then dropped her shielding hands.

“Quickly! We don’t have much time!” From the swarm of small clanks, four moved forward from the rest. Agatha addressed them. “Did you record that?” A series of green lights flashed.

“Good. Prince Tarvek says that there’s no way for us to contact the outside world. That seems... suspicious to me. I’m sure he isn’t telling me everything. But even if he’s lying to me, this message has to get to Gilgamesh.” She realized what she had just said, and blushed. “And the Baron, of course,” she hastily amended. “You’ll leave town. Find any airship coming in this direction. Play the recording. I don’t know how long you can remain airborne, but I’m sure at least one of you will make it. You’re my backup, in case something goes wrong here.”

She swung open the window. With a final flash of green, the four devices lifted off and flew out the window. “Good luck,” Agatha called after them. “I don’t know what’s out there, so try to stay out of sight.”

She saw a final glint of moonlight reflected from a lens, and then they vanished into the night. Quickly she shut and bolted the window and scurried back to the center of the room just as Tarvek returned, bearing a bundle in his arms.

“Here you go! This should be decent and look quite good for the message!”

Agatha smiled at him. “Oh, thank you, Tarvek! I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Outside, up on the roof, a pair of Geisterdamen were huddled around a brazier, when their nighthunter, a shaggy bird-like creature, startled them by shrieking suddenly and launching itself from its roost. It had glimpsed a small flock of objects flying by. Time to hunt.

High overhead, a small airship of peculiar design droned through the sky. The pilot, one Ardsley Wooster, agent of British Intelligence, was hunched over the controls. Even after hours of flight, he couldn’t help frequently glancing upwards, and suffering a quick stab of panic every time he failed to see the reassuring bulk of an overhead gasbag. The airship was an experimental heavier-than-air contraption put together by Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, and was held up by nothing but aerodynamics and its own engine. Wooster found piloting it one of the more nerve-wracking experiences of his career.

However he couldn’t complain about the craft’s performance. His map and instruments confirmed that he was indeed over Balan’s Gap, hours faster than the quickest dirigible in the Wulfenbach fleet could have made the trip. He was already planning on trying to bring the craft along with Agatha and himself to Britain, where the Queen’s Sparks could begin to tease out its secrets.

He banked the craft slightly, trying to ignore the heart-stopping aspects of the maneuver, and surveyed the town below. Definitely Balan’s Gap, there was the squat immensity of Sturmhalten Castle, but it seemed awfully quiet. A flickering blue light caught his attention and he flew over the center of the town. He stared down at the roiling energies of the lightning moat. Something was definitely up.

For the hundredth time he wished Gilgamesh had given him time to do a little more research on what kind of situation he might be dropping into.

He did know that he wouldn’t have much time. This aircraft was faster, but not that much faster than the oncoming fleet. He had gained no more than six hours on them, by his calculations. Not much time at all.

He began trying to find a level place to land, which was almost impossible in the dark. Luckily, there was just enough moonlight to illuminate the more unsuitable bits of terrain.

Suddenly, another set of glows from the ground caught his eye. Wagons. Camp fires. He realized that these must be the caravan staging areas. Most of them appeared to be unoccupied. This would be a perfect place to land. He swooped around once or twice before selecting his approach. As he did, he began to note the manner of wagons below him. There was a circus of some sort, he realized. Was it the circus that had aided Agatha? The laws of probability made the prospect likely.

With a more tangible line of inquiry before him, Ardsley began to bring the craft down.

But he had been seen.

Back inside the castle, Agatha dropped her hands and took a deep breath. She turned to Tarvek, who finished the shut-down sequence with a pleased look on his face.

“How was that?” she asked.

“I think that’ll be perfect,” Tarvek said with satisfaction. “Let’s see how it looks.”

“No!” Agatha stopped him. “Some of the connections are delicate. I don’t know how many times it’ll work.”

Tarvek frowned. “True, you did slap it together pretty fast. But we should have time to go in and—”

A door slammed open and Vrin appeared. She was now clad in the traditional Geisterdamen raiment. When she saw the two of them, she bowed in Agatha’s direction. “Mistress! The sentries have sighted an airship!”

Tarvek sucked in a breath with a hiss and checked his watch. “Blue fire! The Baron’s man made very good time.”

Vrin continued. “They said that it looked like it was coming down on the southeast side of the town.”

Tarvek nodded. “Caravan field. Fire and oil! The circus is still there.”

Agatha looked surprised. “I’d thought they were gone by now.”

Vrin continued. “It was a strange airship as well. Small and very fast. It looked like a giant bird!”

Instantly an image of Gilgamesh’s flying machine flashed through Agatha’s head, and her heart skipped a beat. A shiver of anticipation ran through her.

She patted her device. “We’ve got to move this onto the roof now.”

When the man before her didn’t respond, she touched his arm. “Tarvek, it’s time.”

He turned towards her and she was surprised to see that he looked slightly ill. He fished a small device from an inner pocket and looked at her sadly. “Yes,” he muttered. “I’m afraid it is.”