Agatha H. and the Airship City (33 page)

A friendly hand dropped onto her shoulder. Von Pinn spun and found Bangladesh at her side with a sympathetic look sitting incongruously on her face. “Kids, huh? What are you gonna do?” She patted the construct’s leather-clad shoulder. “Let me take care of this.”

“You must not—”

Bangladesh raised a hand in reassurance. “Relax. I ain’t gonna hurt her. I’ll just get her out of the way.” With that she strode forward, a gleaming cutlass weaving idle figures in the air. “Hi, girlie, let’s play!”

Zulenna brought her sword up, but clearly was unsure how to handle DuPree’s casual advance. “I’m warning you—”

Bangladesh smiled. “Say, that’s mighty nice of you.” Her cutlass flicked out and Zulenna barely intercepted it in time. Bangladesh continued to walk forward, casually engaging the girl in a lightning fast series of moves. She spoke conversationally. “And really, a lot of people would consider you pretty good.” With that, she brought her sword down from above. Zulenna raised her arm to block it, allowing Bangladesh to step forward and deftly sink a slim dagger into the girl’s breast with her other hand.

Zulenna froze and stared at the spreading patch of red on her shirt. DuPree sighed and patted her shoulder. “But you know, I’m a Pirate Queen. I do this for a living. Adios, kid.” With that, Zulenna’s eyes rolled up into her head and she slumped to the ground. Bangladesh pirouetted around her as she fell, and grinned back at Von Pinn. “See? She never felt a thing. Now let’s get the rest of them. This is fun!”

Von Pinn screamed and launched herself forward, claws extended.

For a fraction of a second, a look of surprise crossed Bangladesh’s face, then she fell back laughing. “Oh yeah! Better and better!” Moving like a dancer, she swiveled and cut at the enraged construct as Von Pinn roared past her. The sword cut through the leather and a deep gash appeared. “So big and scary,” DuPree taunted. “But you’ve got no teeth when it comes to the kids, hey? Well that’ll make it even more fun when I catch ‘em.”

Von Pinn snarled in pain, spun to a halt and examined the wound. A tiny part of DuPree’s brain offered up the observation that Von Pinn seemed more annoyed about the damage to her outfit than the large cut into her flesh. “Aw, does that hurt?”

Von Pinn swiveled her head towards Bangladesh, and the captain felt her smile falter. “Pain does not bother me.” She slowly swayed forward and extended a hand toward Bangladesh. “I live with it.”

Bangladesh raised her cutlass. Von Pinn continued to reach forward. She jabbed towards the construct’s hand. With a sudden move, Von Pinn impaled her own hand upon the sword. DuPree was shocked and froze as Von Pinn drove her hand down the length of the sword until she could grasp the guard. “I use pain. Cultivate it.” Effortlessly she squeezed and the sword guard crumpled, trapping DuPree’s hand within. “Shape it.” Delicate bones snapped within DuPree’s hand and she screamed. A leather-clad claw slapped over her nose and mouth, cutting off her breathing. She found herself face to face with a toothily grinning Von Pinn, who drew her close. “Ah-ah-ah—” she whispered. “Time for a lesson. A
final
lesson.” She began to tighten the hand covering the struggling captain’s face, and suddenly became aware of the slim dagger that DuPree was desperately trying to slide past the belts and buckles of her outfit and between her ribs. She grinned, but then both women were distracted by a small object arcing through the air and landing at their feet. They just had time to recognize the C-Gas canister for what it was when it went off, belching forth a cloud of thick gas that caused the two combatants to fall over unconscious.

The gas cleared quickly, and a shape loomed in the corridor. It was a combat clank. Its eyes broken by Adam’s rivet attack. In its arms it carried Baron Wulfenbach. Leg bandaged, and wearing a small facemask. A lapful of similar canisters clunked whenever the big clank moved. Klaus looked down at the three women and sighed in exasperation. “I’ll deal with you idiots later.” He addressed the clank carrying him. “Continue forward.”

The machine continued down the corridor. Behind the Baron, he heard running footsteps and a Lackya appeared at his elbow. “Herr Baron!” he inquired. “Are you—”

Klaus interrupted him. “I am fine. Scout ahead and—” A thought struck him. “No—wait. Back there with Von Pinn and DuPree—There was someone else.”

The Lackya nodded. “Ah. The Princess Zulenna. I checked them all, Herr Baron, and I regret to say that the princess appears to be dead.”

Klaus pounded his fist on his leg. “Damnation!” he snarled. “You will take the princess to my medical lab and place her in the cold room.”

The Lackya looked distressed. “You—The Baron would
revive
her? But she is—was a
Royal
. The Fifty Families expressly
forbid
—”

Klaus cut him off furiously. “The Fifty Families haven’t got the authority or the power to forbid me from doing
anything
. Zulenna was under my protection, and I don’t give a
damn
about their ridiculous games of succession.”

“But Herr Baron—The princess
will.”

“That is her privilege. But she is the one who will choose her fate.”

The Lackya opened his mouth, and Klaus roared, “GO! You’re wasting time!”

The Lackya bowed, but could not resist adding, “I go, Herr Baron, but while the Royals have little
obvious
power, that which they do have, they use with deadly finesse. Beware.” With that, he swiveled about and set off at great speed.

The Baron frowned. “The Lackya are getting… argumentative.” He sighed and settled back into the arms of the clank. “It’s always something.”

“Herr Baron.” Klaus raised his eyebrows in surprise as a group of students appeared from around the edge of a doorway where they had been hiding. Sleipnir stepped forward. “Thank you for taking care of Zulenna, sir.”

Klaus looked uncomfortable. “Not a word about her revivification. We shall talk about this later. Now stand aside. I have—”

“No, Herr Baron.” It was Hezekiah who spoke up. He was sweating profusely, but stood tall. “You’re trying to capture

Agatha,  yes?”

Sun Ming chimed in. “Please, just let her go.”

Hezekiah nodded. “She’s a good person, sir. She won’t cause trouble.”

“She didn’t even know she was a Spark.”

“Or a Heterodyne.”

Z looked at the Baron’s face. “But you aren’t going to let her go. Why?”

Klaus sighed. “Because you hardly know her and still you rally to her side, even in defiance of me. If all of you—who have studied under me for so long, and have the best chance of understanding what it is that I have built and how terribly fragile it is—will do so, imagine what the populace at large will do?”

The group of students looked at each other uncertainly, which was when Klaus slipped the mask over his face and activated a new canister of C-Gas. They dropped to the floor and the great clank delicately stepped over them.

“I think it time you all returned home,” he sighed. “Your use to me is ended. I can only hope you’ve learned your lessons.”

Agatha and Theo followed Krosp. Theo suddenly called out, “This isn’t the way to the docking bays! We’ve gotten turned around!”

Krosp paused. “No. I know where we are, but there’s someone we have to bring with us!” Again he took off, leaving Agatha and Theo no choice but to follow. Everywhere there were signs that things were not going well aboard the great airship. In every corridor, lights were flashing orange, and swarms of people were rushing about in a surprisingly orderly fashion.

“Krosp,” Agatha called out, “where are we going?”

“It’s Monday! He’ll be in the chemical locker,” Krosp replied unhelpfully. They reached a large door marked “CHEMICAL STORAGE & DISPOSAL LOCKER 55.”Krosp motioned to Theo. “Open it.”

Theo did. Inside were racks and racks of metal shelves, holding endless canisters and glass tubes. Halfway down the second aisle, the large, hulking figure of Dr. Dim pushed a small cart and delicately wielded a feather duster.

“Papa!” Krosp cried as he ran up and leapt up onto Dim’s cart. The man smiled at the sight of him, and patted his head.

“Hello, Krosp. Are you hungry?” He saw Agatha and DuMedd, and a guilty look crossed his face. “This is a good cat,” he said defensively.

Krosp patted his hand. “It’s all right, Papa. They’re friends. They are here to help us. It’s time for us to leave Castle Wulfenbach.”

Dimitri looked confused. “Leave? I don’t think we can do that.”

“Yes we can. I have a ship, I have a crew, and the Baron is distracted. We have to take this opportunity to escape.”

Dimitri took a step away from his cart and then stopped. Conflicting emotions played across his face. “But, I haven’t finished dusting.”

Krosp stared at him. “Forget the dusting, Papa. It’s not important. We’ve got to—”

The man slammed a hand down on the cart. “You forget yourself, cat.” His face was filled with a cold arrogance that Agatha had seen on any number of Sparks when their knowledge or competence had been questioned. “I am Dr. Dimitri Vapnoople!”

At this declaration, DuMedd started, and looked from the large man to Krosp, and Agatha could see connections being made.

Vapnoople continued: “The Baron assured me that I would continue to do
important work
. Work worthy of my genius! And I have done my work and I have heard no complaint! The Baron’s secretary saw me in the corridor last week, and do you know what he said to me? Do you? He said, ‘You are doing a good job.’ That’s what he said! To me!” At this, Vapnoople hunched over, grinned, and whispered, “And he still does not know that I continue my real work! Here! In the very heart of his own castle!”

Krosp glanced at Agatha and DuMedd and looked distressed.

“Yes, Papa, we know. But now we have to—”

“I have been constructing my armies! Here! Out of sight! And I have learned! I have learned from the Baron’s own books and laboratories! I have improved my work! Each creature I build is better! Much better than the last!”

Throughout this tirade, DuMedd had gotten more and more nervous. “Dr. Vapnoople was famous for creating intelligent animals,” he whispered to Agatha. “His armies of wolf/men controlled hundreds of square kilometers. It took the Baron almost three years to defeat him and capture them all.”

“And Wulfenbach killed them!” Vapnoople roared. “He absorbs all sorts of half-finished trash into his service, but my creations he said weren’t good enough! They had to die!”

“I believe, Herr Doctor,” Theo said carefully, “that the Baron judged them as being… too good at what they did. Plus he was unable to break their loyalty to you. They couldn’t accept a place in the Baron’s forces.”

A tear ran down Vapnoople’s face. “Yes. I always did know how to build in the loyalty, eh Krosp?” He ruffled the top of Krosp’s head. The cat’s ears were flattened, but he still leaned into the big man’s hand. “But I learned. Even at the beginning, when Wulfenbach was first engaging my glorious creations, I saw how it would go. I saw that I would have to do better the
next
time, and I
have!
BEHOLD!” With that he whipped open a small door in the cart and displayed a small patchwork bear made from rags. “My beautiful bears,” he crooned. He picked it up, and holding its little paws, made slashing and growling noises before putting it back in the cart. “They will overrun Wulfenbach and send his oversized castle crashing to the ground! And you—” He patted a slumped Krosp on the head. “You will lead them to glory!” He pointed to Agatha. “I remember her. She said she would help.”

Krosp and Agatha looked at each other.

Vapnoople picked up his duster. “And so you see why I cannot leave. Now, I must get back to my important work, so that the Baron does not suspect.” So saying, he turned away and, cackling occasionally, returned to cleaning.

Agatha gently put a hand on Krosp’s shoulder and whispered, “We have to go.”

Krosp addressed Vapnoople’s broad back. “I’ll come back for you, Papa. I’ll take you and… your bears and we’ll go somewhere safe. I promise you.”

Dr. Dimitri waved a hand without looking around. “I’ll save you a fish.”

Krosp was quiet. Several times DuMedd had to prod him to get him to tell them the correct turn to take, but quickly enough they opened a large door and found themselves in one of the hundreds of airship docks that peppered the sides of the vast dirigible. This one had bays for over a dozen mid-size ships, and from the debris that littered the deck, it was obvious that there had been a great deal of activity a short time ago. The only ship in evidence was a tiny two-engine pinnace. The three headed towards it, but stopped dead when they found a half-dozen Wulfenbach crewmen, unconscious and neatly lined up next to a fuel barrel. A faint whistling was heard, and to Agatha’s amazement, a cheerful Othar straightened up from behind the ship where he was coiling some rope. He spotted them and his face broke into an easy grin. “Ah! Excellent! You made it!”

“Othar!” Agatha exclaimed. “You’re alive!”

“As always!” he replied.

Theo’s eyes widened. “That’s really him? You know a talking cat AND Othar Tryggvassen?”

“But… he… Gilgamesh…”

Othar waved this off with obvious disdain. “I knew you’d choose the side of good in the end.”

This snapped Agatha out of her confusion. “I’m not here for
you—
!”

She was cut short by Krosp shoving her towards Othar. “No time! Come
on!”

“Yes!” Othar agreed. “Come on! It’s time for adventure!”

Agatha looked at him levelly. “Get on the airship.”

Othar looked surprised. “Don’t you want to hear the exciting tale of my escape?”

Agatha was now on the ship and at Krosp’s direction was untying ropes. Othar quickly clambered aboard. “Casting off!” she called out.

Theo came up. “Good luck.”

Agatha looked surprised. “You’re not coming?”

Theo shook his head. “I was, but now that I know you’ll be traveling with Herr Tryggvassen, I know you’ll be safe. I’ve got to see how the others are doing, I’ll bet some of them will want to come along. We’ll catch up to you in Mechanicsburg!”