Фил Фоглио - Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg

“Yet,” Tarvek interjected.

Van waved a hand. “I was getting there.”

Tarvek realized he was being a bit of a pill and turned towards Krosp. “The Baron won’t let this stand, but at least it looks like we’ll all live to see what he sends next.”

“I’m just happy about the whole not being crushed part,” Violetta said.

Krosp stretched and rubbed the pads of his paws together. “The question is, will he send an envoy or a better army?”

Tarvek ran an eye over the defenses that seemed to be repairing themselves even as he watched. “It’ll have to be a crashing good one to take this place now. He’s more likely to use trickery somehow—try to catch us by surprise . . . ”

“SURPRISE!” called a voice from above. Everyone snapped their heads upwards in time to see Agatha being lowered down in the remnants of Gilgamesh’s pinnacle by a squad of Mechanicsburg Torchmen. “Tarvek!” When she saw him below, Agatha leapt the last meter or so and landed in his arms. “We did it,” she sang out. “We really did it! The Castle is fixed!”

“That I am,” the Castle spoke up, “And not a moment too soon! The state of architecture in this town is simply shocking! Hardly a proper venue for Mechanicsburg’s renaissance of terror! Might I suggest a giant statue of my dread mistress crushing the Baron under her heel?”

“No statue,” Agatha snapped.

“You’d be in a pretty dress,” the Castle wheedled.

“No!”

Van shrugged. “A pity. The tourists would’ve loved it.”

Vidonia gave him the side-eye. “I don’t think we’re going to have to cater to tourists for quite a while.”

Van stared at her and nodded slowly. “Oh. No, I suppose not.”

Meanwhile, Agatha huddled with Tarvek. “I saw Gil,” she told him.

“You did? Here? Where is he?”

“I’m . . . well I’m not sure.”

Tarvek studied her face. “What happened?”

“I . . . well . . . he was just being so completely insufferable, and . . . and I was being all mad and stuff and he kept trying to kidnap me and ordering me around and trying to stop me—”

“He what? After all we did to help you?”

“I know! He tried to sedate me! I got so angry—”

Tarvek stared at her. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“No!” Tarvek raised an eyebrow. “And I didn’t even try to! So I . . . I told Franz to get him out of my town.”

“Franz . . . the dragon?”

“I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t eat him.” And even if he tried, she thought, Gil wouldn’t have let him. “There was something wrong with him. It was like he was arguing with himself.”

“He was obviously compromised.” Tarvek swore. “The Baron must have done something to him.” He looked at Agatha and shook his head. “I can’t believe he was here, and you sent him away! We could have kept him a prisoner! Used him as a hostage! A bargaining chip!”

Violetta broke in. “You think so? I don’t. Guy like that? In my professional opinion, he’d have escaped and caused you even more trouble.”

Tarvek and Agatha looked at each other. There was the ring of truth in Violetta’s words, but— “But we should have tried,” Tarvek said helplessly. “We could have . . . we might have . . . ”

Agatha came up behind him and rested her head on his shoulder.

“We could have kept him safe,” they whispered together.

Tarvek reached back and took Agatha’s hand. “We’re just going to have to rely on his natural, annoying ability to come up smelling like a rose after every single stupid predicament he gets into.” He sighed. “I just wonder how’ll I’ll wind up looking like a fool when he’s done.”

Agatha turned him around and looked into his eyes. “Not to me, you won’t.”

Tarvek looked down into her eyes and for a moment wondered why his feet were no longer touching the ground. “So. Compromised, you say.”

Agatha nodded, “You know what’s wrong with him?”

A bit of Tarvek’s euphoria drained away. “I suspect he’s under some form of mind control.”

Agatha shuddered. She had very much wanted to be wrong. “You sai

d that there was only one wasp capable of infecting a spark. Surely there hasn’t been time to make another.”

“Right! And that’s good news for us. The Baron has been collecting and studying the work of conquered sparks for years. He must have access to lots of ways to enslave someone’s mind. He’ll have used one of those on Gil.

“But Lucrezia is a first-class megalomaniac (even for a spark), she’s convinced that her slaver wasps are better, and to be fair, she’s right! So at some point, they’ll reverse whatever process they have him under now, and she’ll wasp him. As soon as she can, I’m guessing.”

Agatha stared at him. “How can that possibly be good news?”

“Because once she thinks she has him securely under her control, he’ll be allowed more freedom. But Gil has my notes, which contain a formula that will make him immune to her wasps! If he’s half the sneak I think he is, he’ll dose himself, if he hasn’t already, and he’ll be able to fight her while operating right under her nose!” Tarvek’s grin faltered. “If . . . ”

“If what?”

“If he has time to make it. If he’ll take it. If he, well, if he trusts me.” He looked at Agatha. “There are a worrying number of ‘ifs.’ ”

Agatha took his hand in hers. “I trust you. I trust both of you. The Baron and Lucrezia may have him now, but they won’t keep him long.” She squeezed his hand. “We won’t let them.”

Tarvek took a deep breath. “Yeah.” He looked down at Agatha and the moment seemed perfect. He leaned forward to kiss her— and she shrieked in surprise. Tarvek recoiled. The swarm of creatures Agatha had seen scurrying towards them scrambled up his back, burrowed under his shirt, and squealed and nipped lovingly at his earlobes. Tarvek whooped and gyrated in place for several seconds before he realized what it was that he was covered in: “Wasp weasels!”

He looked up and saw Ruxula, the Vespiary Squad officer he’d rescued, limping towards him. She had been expertly taped up, but obviously needed the staff she leaned on while walking. When she saw Tarvek recognize her, she saluted him. Tarvek rushed over and all but kicked her feet out from under her in his effort to make her sit down. “You were horribly injured, you know.”

“Yep.” Ruxala leaned her head back against the cool stonework and closed her eyes. “Can’t be helped. The empire is trying to wipe us out. Stop our work. Someone had to check out this town you’ve brought us to as soon as possible. Had to see how infested it is.”

“Infested?” Van looked alarmed. “With what?”

“There’s a heretofore unknown type of revenant,” Tarvek explained. “It acts like a normal person and will do so for years. But if it’s given an order by Lucrezia, or one of the Other’s minions, it will obey them absolutely.”

Van shook his head in horror. “We don’t have any revenants here!”

Tarvek sighed. “No, the whole point is—”

“He’s right.” Everyone stopped and looked at Ruxula. She took a deep breath and sat up. “We’re still checking everybody, of course, but the only revenants we’ve found here are a couple of tourists. Everyone who lives here seems to be clean.”

Tarvek looked skeptical. “None of them? But how is that even possible? Statistically, the spread across the empire should be . . . ”

Ruxala nodded. “Yeah. It is weird. According to our calculations, at least ten-to-twenty percent of any given population should be infected. But here? Zero.” She looked at him quizzically. “We’d been impressed because we’d assumed that you knew.”