“Well, I kind of hit her with a broom.”
Moloch interrupted. “A broom?”
“I…kind of hit her with a broom a lot.”
A different voice sounded above. “Thank God—it is you. Agatha…”
Agatha realized that she recognized the second voice. “Tarvek?”
“Okay, get ready to run!”
With a crash, Tarvek Sturmvoraus leaped from the shadows above and landed square on the back of the giant machine. He appeared to be wearing hastily wrapped sheets, and little else. “Run!” he yelled. Above them, the other voice shrieked in furious protest.
The automaton leapt into the air and gave a shrill mechanical roar. It then began a twisting set of gyrations, trying to dislodge its rider.
As Agatha and Moloch leapt to their feet, a girl dressed in deep shades of black and purple dropped to the floor beside them. She was staring at Tarvek with rage boiling off her. “What are you doing, you idiot?”
Tarvek, still hanging on to the monster, ignored her and called to Agatha, “The door! GO!”
The girl looked like she was about to leap straight into the fight. Both Agatha and Moloch grabbed her and began to drag her along with them towards the doors. “No!” she shrieked. “After all that trouble getting your useless butt out of that hospital, you are not going to commit suicide! Grandma will have me flayed!”
The automaton stopped its attempts to throw Tarvek off and lunged after the fleeing trio with a roar. Quickly, Tarvek threw his sheet over its eyes, and it stopped dead for a moment, as if puzzled. Then it shook itself like a dog and roared again, clawing at the fabric that hid its face.
Agatha shouted: “Everybody scatter!” If it doesn’t follow you, get the door open!”
The three ran in different directions as the device cleared the sheet from its eyes.
“Don’t follow me. Don’t follow me…” Moloch’s frantic voice could be heard as he pelted his way across the room. With a howl, the creature bounded off after him. “I knew it!”
Agatha forced herself to ignore Moloch’s scream of rage and ran for the door. “I made it!” she called out exultantly, and she gave the great door a tug. Nothing. “And it’s locked!”
“Oh, that’s just perfect!” Agatha realized the girl in purple was at her side. She pushed Agatha away. Dipping a hand into one of the pouches at her waist, she extracted a slim, hooked rod. “Move! Highly trained Smoke Knight comin’ through!”
The girl slid the rod into the keyhole and twirled it about. A look of surprise flitted across her face. “This isn’t locked.” Another twirl in the opposite direction. “This is jammed.”
Agatha closed her eyes. “Yes, that happens a lot around here, apparently.”
“Yeah, but I can’t do anything about that. I’m not a weight lifter. How am I supposed to deal with this?”
Agatha glanced behind, and saw the creature, with Tarvek still astride it, galloping towards them. “Really quickly!”
“Violetta,” Tarvek shouted. “Take her up!”
“You think? Idiot.” In a single movement, the girl produced a chubby little air-pistol, pointed it straight up, and fired, grabbing Agatha around the waist.
Agatha felt a jerk as she was hauled upwards, the reel on the device screaming in protest. Centimeters below her feet, the automaton’s jaws closed on empty air with a ringing snap.
A shove and a quick grab for support, and Agatha found herself hauled atop a thick wooden ceiling beam.
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.”