Chapter Text
‘Use hyu noses,’ Dimo ordered and they did, trying to find the scent he had caught. The smells of the town; people, grass, fresh bread from a baker’s shop, the horses that came with the circus. Heterodyne. Maxim blinked his eyes open, trying to follow it, murmuring along with the other two as they did the same, and there. She was turned away, talking to one of the other circus folk. She didn’t look like Euphrosynia, which was a ridiculous thought — two hundred years and not a direct descendent and it wasn’t like any of the Heterodynes resembled each other that strongly to begin with. But until now Euphrosynia was the only girl.
Her reaction when she noticed them was dismay. Because they were there or because they were being hanged? Maxim stared, drinking her in, her movements, her reactions. The way wide eyed shock gave way to a more subdued concern — uncertain, innocent in a way Euphrosynia had never been. Not sure whether to be afraid of them or for them, not theirs and not yet aware they were already hers. The Sergeant butting in gave her the impetus to decide that they were not her concern, to accept that they were the monsters the townsfolk said, and their own staring pushed her into moving away. They stayed silent, their position giving them a front row seat to her fortune telling, her show (she had Lucrezia’s voice run through with the dynamics of a Heterodyne, all charisma and madness when she was on stage) and her confrontation with Othar afterwards.
“I can’t survive as a Heterodyne. I can’t even survive as a Spark. So I won’t. I’m done with all of that. Finished.’
Ognian whined sharp and high in the back of his throat. Maxim turned away from where he’d been staring at the tent as if he might be able to see through it if he tried hard enough (or as if she might vanish if he stopped looking). She didn’t want them, then.
Füst’s roar split the air and Maxim’s head snapped up, we’re in so much trouble running through his head before he was sure whether he was thinking they’d be in trouble with Jenka or with their Heterodyne for Jenka attacking people she was with. Not that Jenka was really trying to attack; she knew how precarious the situation was, that people would just shoot them if they thought they had nothing to lose. Jenka was trying to convince them that they did have something to lose, that as long as they freed her subordinates she would leave them alive.
The sharp fizzle and zap of a death ray caught their ears and white after images left them blinking. The Heterodyne was standing there, gun still held up, her own eyes as dazzled as theirs for the one moment it took to lose Jenka completely. Then Jenka was holding her, furious now, crunching the death ray underfoot and bending one finger back. The air smelled of blood and smoke, the Heterodyne scent was almost lost beneath it even to Maxim who knew what he was trying to smell, and Jenka was wearing her scarf. Othar kicked Jenka away from the Heterodyne, but her expression said she knew Othar wasn’t an ally, then a cat leapt at Füst, yelled at her to run, and she turned to run blindly, running towards them to fetch up almost against their legs and once again stare up at them in dismay.
‘Problems?’ asked Dimo.
Maxim smiled down at her, satisfaction curving his lips. She was a strong Spark but not a warrior, she’d lost her weapon after one shot, she couldn’t take on Jenka alone. She didn’t want them, but right now she needed them.
Her spine stiffened and her eyes narrowed at them, fear subsumed by a mix of calculation and command. ‘Someone’s attacking the town. I’ll cut you down. You get her out of here before you escape.’
‘Yes.’ Maxim smiled at her. The right orders, to the point, getting all of them out of this safely. ‘Good vun.’
‘And you’ll leave the townspeople alone.’
‘Yes…’ said Ognian, fierce and approving as she hemmed them in. ‘Schmott girl.’
‘Swear. Swear on your loyalty to the house of Heterodyne.’
‘Heh,’ said Dimo, responding to the dodge that was. Demanding they swear to the house, not to her, even though she knew exactly what she was asking and why she could ask it. ‘Ve so svear — Mistress.’
‘I’d better be right about you.’ But even as she said it she was shearing the ropes. Maxim dropped, landing on his feet, looking around for his hat and his weapon already.
‘Too late to vorry about dot now, Sveethot,’ Dimo shouted cheerfully as his own feet hit the ground.
By the time they’d got their wrists untied and grabbed their hats and weapons, Jenka looked like she was about to strangle Othar. Maxim really wished he could let her — Othar wasn’t actually one of the townspeople, right? — but only the Castle got to play with orders like that and it wasn’t as if Maxim wanted to take his cues from that pile of rubble anyway. He grinned. They already knew the square was a good place for a show and this time he got to play the hero. The look on Jenka’s face when he stepped forward and shouted his line was priceless.
Later, after they’d chased Jenka into the woods and lost her and found her again, they told her about the Heterodyne they’d found. They were still sharp and giddy with joy, ready to take on the whole world to keep her. She was real, they’d done it, they’d found her. But Jenka was distant, wanting instructions, seeming unsure and not sharing their happiness. ‘Keep her alive.’ As if they wouldn’t!
*
For a few weeks they followed the circus from a slight distance, watching their Heterodyne when she emerged to do chores or rehearse. Or train, which was a surprise. She was being trained by a very enthusiastic green haired girl and said training seemed to involve a lot of running around in a very skimpy costume, a view all three of them appreciated. The warrior training shouldn’t really have been a surprise; most Heterodynes learned to fight after all. Euphrosynia never had, prefering to rely on her bodyguards and keep them close, but… Maxim shook his head. It was a good thing this Heterodyne was learning to fight.
All the same they shadowed them closely when the green haired girl — Zeetha — arranged for them to be left behind in the wilderness. So it wasn’t until the girls caught up with the caravan, the Jägers lurking a little behind, that they realised something was wrong. The people were worried. The Jägers crept closer, although not as close as they would have liked. The open clearing right before the bridge left little in the way of cover.
A sudden furore made them prick up their ears, the scouts had been spotted returning. Caravans were being turned, weapons were being pulled out. Then the smell hit them. Almost human, not quite, unhealthy, sickly sweet undertones. Something about it was almost familiar, not precisely frightening but sending prickles down Maxim’s spine all the same. Agatha stepped out, holding something that was almost certainly a death ray, and ran to join the others on the bridge. Ognian growled softly, pulling out his weapon. Maxim caught him with a claw at the back of his collar and tilted his head towards Dimo, who shook his head in response but pulled out a knife all the same. Maxim nodded and let go of Ognian to draw his own sword. She wouldn’t want anyone to know she was being followed by Jägers, they’d intervene only if her life was in danger. Which meant waiting until they could see the threat.
There was tense conversation on the bridge, the cat was saying something, gesturing. Agatha nodded and lifted the death ray, firing it into the shadows and revealing white creatures, all ribs, stretched and wrong looking. If they’d been human once their transformation had done nothing good for them. There were dozens of them, clinging under the bridge, they didn’t look too tough individually but the circus was about to get overwhelmed. The three Jägers looked at each other and Dimo nodded. They sprang forward, bounding up onto the nearest caravan.
‘Perhaps we die. But we fight to give the wagons time to get away,’ Zeetha was saying grimly.
The Jägers laughed, causing heads to turn towards them. Maxim grinned down at them, full of fierce joy. They had someone to protect and they were going to fight.
‘Now vot’s de fun of dot?’ Ognian called down. The three Jägers launched themselves downward, moving perfectly together. ‘Ve fights to keel!’
They threw themselves into it, dispatching monsters swiftly. It wasn’t difficult, the monsters were single-minded but not particularly tough and they had no strategy at all. Maxim joined Ognian in shouting encouragement to the humans, who were starting to realise how easy to kill these enemies were and get into the fight properly. Master Payne shouted for people not to shoot them, which was thoughtful of him. The three Jägers fell into a pattern easily, switching off regularly on who stayed near Agatha and who killed off monsters advancing too far from the gorge. They were being pushed back, though; however easy the monsters were to kill they kept coming.
Maxim was falling into his place by Agatha when he heard someone say something about getting cut off and then Agatha gasped, ‘Lars!’ He looked up at the pain in her voice. She must mean one of the scouts, they were good fighters and had been having their own battle on the bridge — oh, maybe that was a bit much for two humans.
‘Ho, hyu vant him?’ He smiled at her. Anything she wanted. ‘Ve go get him!’ He raised his voice, yelling for Ognian and Dimo. ‘To de bridge!’
They charged onto the bridge, knocking monsters out of their way, to find the humans fighting and arguing at the same time. They were, as Maxim told them slightly giddily, funny guys. He didn’t have time to say anything else because the order, ‘CLEAR THE BRIDGE!’ rang out in full command voice and if Maxim knew anything about Heterodynes it was that you shouldn’t stay anywhere they’d just told you to clear. He and Dimo grabbed a human each and Ognian grabbed a horse and they ran, grinning widely, making it off the bridge before the command to ‘Get down!’ was followed by a properly spectacular explosion.
Afterwards — and after Ognian had neatly solved the problem of Lars being hysterical by knocking him out — they heard the whole story. Agatha demonstrated she took after Bill and Barry, which would normally mean boring but under the circumstances was almost anything but. While the circus folk went about arguing her out of it the Jägers slipped out of sight to have their own whispered conversation.
‘Dis gun happen often?’ Maxim asked.
Dimo shrugged, claws spread. ‘No goot if ve keep showing op out ov novhere.’
‘Yah. Suspicious,’ Ognian agreed. ‘Mebbe ve ken stay?’
Maxim thought about that and nodded. ‘Pipple join de circus, yah?’
‘Ve ken try,’ said Dimo. He leant back against the caravan. ‘Effen if dey let uz…ve better stay sottle.’
Maxim nodded. People didn’t like Jägers, keeping their distance would both make it more likely the circus wouldn’t try to drive them out and keep them safe if anyone got any other ideas about ways to remove them. Travelling outside the pack and without the protection of either a Heterodyne or the Baron was an education in things that could happen to Jägers. The circus might be grateful now, and they’d seemed nice enough to be bothered by Jägers being left to hang, but no point taking chances.
The conversation between the circus folk seemed to be winding down, with Agatha having been thoroughly outvoted. Ognian nodded to the other two, ‘Hokay. Here goes.’
*
Even after being accepted they travelled more alongside the circus than with it. They didn’t hide their presence now and sometimes drifted in for food or to stumble through conversations that usually left both sides puzzled. Mostly they killed off any monsters that got too close and watched over Agatha, much as they had done before.
Agatha’s training was going well and she was starting to show more interest in it, or at least in where it might be going, instead of treating it as a chore. Although she wasn’t precisely enthusiastic about endless runs and one morning finally asked, ‘When do I get to learn to use a sword?’
‘You’re not ready to even touch a Quata’ara yet,’ Zeetha answered.
Agatha sighed and picked up the anvil she was supposed to be carrying around the camp. Zeetha had her back to where the Jägers were watching from, but Agatha must have seen some kind of disappointment in her expression because she gave her a sardonic look. ‘Oh wait. Let me guess. This was where I was supposed to insist you let me wield a Quata’ara, even though you, my Kolee, have told me I’m not ready. Possibly I’m supposed to harbor some day-dream that I have a magical affinity for these swords, which will allow me to side-step all this tedious training.
‘No doubt this would have led to some hilarious, but painful lesson reaffirming that I am, in fact, not yet ready to touch the swords. I’ll skip that, if I may.’
Whatever Agatha saw in Zeetha’s expression after that was enough for her to swallow her next words. With a wide eyed look she snatched up the anvil and fled. Maxim winced and when he looked at Dimo his ears were flattened. Zeetha frightening Agatha into early morning runs was nothing new, but this was a different kind of fear and Zeetha was acting out of real anger.
‘Dot’s not goot,’ Ognian said.
‘Ve follow,’ Dimo told them.
They did follow, watching Agatha as closely as they could, making sure one of them was always close to her, as she became more and more exhausted and miserable. Maxim met her eyes as she paused for a moment, gasping sharply for breath. They couldn’t interfere, her life wasn’t in danger, it would give too much away for them to be seen to care and she didn’t want that. If she wanted that she could ask, they were staying close, he was right there. Agatha looked away and stumbled back into a run.
He looked ahead to see Dimo waiting for her a little further on. She wavered before she could reach him, falling forward, and Dimo darted over to catch her and set her very gently back on her feet. He caught Maxim’s eyes and nodded to him, Ognian was further along still and they could leave Agatha to him for a moment. Maxim sighed in relief. ‘Ve stopping dis?’ he asked.
‘Yez,’ said Dimo, word sharp and bitten off.
When Zeetha ran around the same corner Agatha had, eyes still bright with anger, she found the two of them staring at her. Dimo stepped forward. ‘Hyu iz hurting Meez Agatha,’ he said.
‘She’s my zumil,’ Zeetha retorted.
‘Hyu tink hurting her meks hyu a good teacher?’ Maxim asked, showing his teeth.
Dimo put a claw on her arm. ‘Hyu tell her dot she is released for de day. Und den ve…tok.’
She glared back at them defiantly, not intimidated, but willing to turn her anger on them instead of Agatha. ‘Fine. I’ll tell her and then we can talk about why it’s any of your business.’
She marched straight back after sending Agatha away, Ognian following her, and let the three of them herd her away from the caravans into a clearing. Now that Agatha was resting, hopefully, Maxim felt a bit more sympathy for her. She was the easiest person in the camp to understand in many ways. A warrior to the core, but barely more than a child herself. (He had been younger than that when he took the Jägerdraught. Euphrosynia had been younger still when she gave it to him. Perhaps there was no such thing as too young to take shaping another person’s life into your hands.)
‘Sit down,’ Dimo said. Zeetha did, back straight and hands resting on her knees, still scowling. The Jägers sat in a triangle around her, slouching.
Ognian tilted his head at her. ‘Vot vas dot about?’
‘We all pick up the sword before we’re ready! What makes her so special?’ The girl was angry, hurt and miserable, and there were too many answers to that, none of them relevant. But she needed something.
‘Vaz not her dream,’ Maxim offered.
‘Yah,’ Ognian chimed in, picking up where his thoughts were going. ‘Sparks blow demselves up all der time.’
‘But not over a nize weapon,’ Dimo finished, with a nod to Zeetha’s sword.
Zeetha’s shoulders relaxed slightly out of her defensive posture. ‘Back home even the Sparks wanted to be warriors.’ None of them pointed out that things were different here; she already knew that. She was a long way from home, from the world she had grown up in and which made sense to her, looking desparately for a way back. Agatha had been able to offer a little hope, but no more than that. They could offer nothing but sympathy. ‘I shouldn’t have…’ Zeetha’s face crumpled again, this time into less angry lines.
‘Vill be okeh,’ Ognian said, patting her shoulder.
‘Tok to her,’ Maxim suggested. ‘Tell her dot.’
Zeetha nodded. ‘Yeah, I should,’ she mumbled. She stood up, brushing back her hair, and strode towards the edge of the clearing.
‘Sveethot?’ Dimo called after her. ‘Iz not her dream, but she needs to know.’ He didn’t thank her, that would have given too much away. She nodded curtly, brow furrowed, before walking out of the clearing.
With her gone Maxim dug the claws of his left hand into the ground, raking furrows through the leaf litter there. ‘Vould be easier if ve could tok to her.’
‘She din’t say not to,’ Ognian said.
Dimo frowned at him. ‘She is hidink. She dun’t vant uz making it harder.’
Maxim snorted, jabbing harder at the ground. ‘She dun’t like uz.’
‘She iz our Heterodyne,’ said Ognian.
‘That dun’t mean she ken’t leave uz behind,’ Maxim snapped.
‘She ken’t yet, anyvay,’ said Dimo levelly. ‘Ve haff orders.’
‘So long as ve dun’t come to her attenshun enough for her to countermand dem,’ Maxim answered.
Ognian looked at him wide eyed. ‘Vould she?’
Maxim shrugged. ‘Mebbe dot’s vy Jenka vanted uz to jest keep her alive. Vitout getting close.’
‘Und ve is keeping her alive jest fine,’ said Dimo, standing up. ‘Zo let’s carry on vit dot and go patrol.’
Ognian jumped up, apparently distracted, and Maxim followed more slowly. She hadn’t objected to their presence yet, but she hadn’t tried to talk to them either. He wondered how long this balance could last.
*
Spring became summer and things continued as they had been. Agatha and Zeetha had made up almost instantly and were now closer than ever. Something was possibly going on between Agatha and Lars, but no one seemed sure of what, least of all Agatha or Lars. Sturmhalten was getting closer every day.
‘Ve iz going to reach Mechanicsburg before ve hear from Jenka,’ Maxim said to the other two. ‘Hyu know ve ken’t follow her in.’
‘Vorry about dot vhen ve get there,’ Dimo answered.
Maxim did his best with that and things were going well enough in the present that there didn’t seem to be anything more immediate that needed worrying about. At least until one day, after the smell of food (which turned out to be glue, but they hadn’t let that stop them) had drawn him and Ognian in for yet another awkward conversation, music started playing. It was beautiful and also…familiar, in a way that had nothing to do with having heard it before. They drifted over to find most of the circus standing, enraptured, around Agatha playing the silverodeon.
‘Kom vit me,’ Dimo said, from behind them, as they stood on the edge of the crowd. They followed him outside the ring of caravans that marked the edge of the circus. ‘Hy jest had an interesting conversation mit Meester Payne,’ he said. Behind them the music stopped. ‘Found out vy he let uz join der circus.’ A soft chime sounded into the silence. ‘Turns out dey got a Muse.’
‘Vat?’ It had been a long time since Maxim even thought about the Muses. Otilia was long gone, probably buried by the Castle, and he’d only met the others once. They’d said something about caravans then, hadn’t they? He frowned, it was too long ago and he hadn’t been listening anyway. ‘Vhich?’
‘Moxana. Hyu know vhich dot is?’
Maxim shook his head.
‘Yah, me neither. Dey used to haff two, but vun ov dem got took by der Prince ov Sturmhalten. Dey is afraid Moxana vill be too,’ said Dimo. ‘Dey vant uz to dress op as Wulfenbach Jägers. Caravans vit Jägers get sent through fast.’
Ognian grinned, teeth flashing in the dark. ‘Sounds like fon.’
‘But ve gots to ask,’ Dimo said, nodding towards Agatha’s, currently dark, caravan.
Maxim swallowed. They hadn’t pushed it until now. She hadn’t technically given them orders, they hadn’t technically obeyed her. There had been a bargain, their freedom for an oath sworn on their loyalty to the house of Heterodyne. There had been them choosing to help without orders or acknowledgement. They knew and she knew, but would she be willing to admit to that? What would happen to them if she didn’t? If she chose what she’d claimed to want, a life as neither a Spark nor a Heterodyne?
They waited until the light in Agatha’s caravan went on and then walked back into the circus and through her door. She was terrorising a cute little clank with a large screwdriver, which at least answered the question of her living as a Spark.
‘Ve must tok,’ Dimo told her.
She put the clank down and looked at them, annoyed at being interrupted. ‘You’ve been avoiding me ever since you joined up, but now we must talk? Why? What’s happened?’
They hadn’t been avoiding her — well, they had, but only because she’d seemed to want them to. Had she been offended? Maxim attempted his most charming grin and swept his hair back, leaning in towards her. ‘Who vouldn’t vants to tok to a preety gurl like hyu?’
‘Maxim! No!’ said Dimo, alarmed. ‘She iz still in de madness place! She’ll —’
What she actually did was knock off Maxim’s hat. Compared to what a Heterodyne in the Madness Place could do to someone who displeased them it was very mild, and if Maxim hadn’t already been on edge he might not have reacted by raising his claws and snarling at her, ‘Dot vas my hat!’
Agatha responded with icy fury. ‘What. Do. You. Want.’
It was enough to stop him dead. In a way it was reassuring; she wasn’t scared of him, she was taking charge, and an angry Heterodyne acting like a Heterodyne was something he knew how to respond to. He smiled and dropped gracefully to one knee, hand pressed to his chest. ‘Forgiff me…Mistress.’
‘And that’s quite enough of that,’ she said firmly. ‘These people do not know who I am.’
Maxim obediently got to his feet, picking up his hat as he did so. ‘Ve understand, Lady.’
‘Oh?’ she said skeptically. So they told her. They recounted all that they’d managed to learn of what she was running from and where she was going, then what they knew about the Muse and that Master Payne had a plan but they needed her permission to help.
‘You all seem remarkably on top of this,’ she said. ‘Are you sure you’re Jägerkin?’
Dimo chuckled. ‘Dot iz a goot qvestion. Sometimes ve vonder.’ As far as Maxim was concerned it was a baffling question. What else would they be? And Dimo wasn’t helping make it make any more sense. ‘Haff all dose guys mit der Baron gone soft offer der years? Or haff ve become…sharper because ve leaf der group und haff to learn how to tink better?’ Maybe that made sense. Maxim knew for a fact that there were other Jägers cleverer than him, but living outside the pack had made him…if not sharper then certainly warier. You couldn’t trust that your superiors knew what was going on (although he still tended to trust that Dimo knew what was going on), you had to think for yourself because there was no one to think for you. ‘Hy tink mebbe both,’ Dimo concluded.
‘Why did you leave the group?’ She put a hand on Dimo’s shoulder. Now that she was out of the Madness Place her gaze was sympathetic, but Maxim was still taken aback. She didn’t know? How could she not know? What did she think they were doing here? Why did she think they’d been apart from the pack? Why did she think they’d followed her? She knew, at least, that they were loyal to the Heterodynes, she had trusted in that. But knowing that how could she miss the rest?
‘It vos — iz — de hardest ting ever for a Jäger to do,’ said Dimo, solemnly. ‘But it haff to be done.’
Maxim nodded and started talking, telling her that when the Baron had offered employment they’d had to take it, that they’d needed his protection. He didn’t tell her about the slow realisation that surviving the Other war had been the easy part. Mechanicsburg had been able to shut its gates and man its guns against wasps and revenants, but afterwards, when those who still had the means started to spread, to both rebuild and attack those less fortunate, everyone had had their eyes on Mechanicsburg. Everyone had known the Jägers had survived, had been starting to think in terms of attacking before the Jägers attacked them. The Castle was down, the dormant torchmen could offer no protection against attack from the air, and by the time they got the offer they’d been forced to realise how vulnerable their once impregnable town was; how vulnerable they were making it.
He told her that they’d had to look for Heterodynes and that they’d suspected it wouldn’t be a high priority for the Baron, but not that it would have been if Klaus had had any hope that Bill or Barry were still alive. He remembered Klaus laughing, towelling himself off after a sparring session with the Jägerkin, delighted at finding partners he didn’t have to worry about hurting. Not one of the pack, but someone else who loved their Heterodynes, a bond that still echoed now. The Jägers had gone with him for reasons beyond the practical.
Dimo took over, saying bluntly that it had been a suicide mission, that they’d taken it knowing all the Heterodynes were gone and that they would never be able to return to the group. Maxim thought of volunteering, the feeling that in a way he ought to; that hopeless searches for lost Heterodynes were his problem, or at least something he could spare someone else. Half the volunteers had broken down as soon as the airships were out of sight. Breaking up into smaller groups had been even worse, being left adrift without the comforting presence of other Jägers all around him. Nor did Dimo say that for some of the other volunteers it had already proved a suicide mission.
Ognian took his turn with a grin, in contrast to Dimo’s folded ears and grim expression, explaining that because of them the Jägerkin could stay with the Baron and be safe while still being able to say they had not abandoned their masters. ‘Und now here hyu show op,’ he added, ‘und spoil all our plenz!’ His face fell and he blinked as it started to hit him, after their explanation of why they couldn’t return, what had changed. Maxim was starting to realise too — all he’d thought of since finding her was following her, protecting her, but her presence meant more than that. ‘’Cause now ve gets to go beck,’ Ognian said, sniffling, his words echoing Maxim’s thoughts. ‘Und I neffer — I neffer thot —’ He threw himself forward suddenly, awkwardly, winding up kneeling with his arms around Agatha’s waist, his head buried against her neck. ‘Ve haff missed hyu,' he choked out. 'Please, please be real!’
Agatha wrapped her arms around him, one hand cupping the back of his head. ‘Shh,’ she said gently. ‘I…I am.’
It was a promise, not just that she was real but that she cared that she was real. That she wouldn’t deny her nature as a Heterodyne or deny them. Maxim watched, smiling, as Ognian was comforted. They were hers and now she was willing to be theirs.