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bigasswritingmagnet · 3 days ago

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Blood Will Out Ch 15 - The Jägers Arrive

Summary: When Agatha Sannikova learns she is, in fact, Agatha Heterodyne, she inadvertently kicks off a series of events that reopens old wounds, drags secrets into the light, and brings war to the doorstep of the all but defenseless Mechanicsburg. Saturnus struggles to crush his enemies with a town almost as broken as his body; Agatha, determined to undo the chaos she's unleashed, plunges into the depths of Castle Heterodyne.

Raised by a literal saint and the devil incarnate, Agatha - with an unleashed mind, a burning spark, and a band of very unexpected allies - will fight to do the unthinkable: be a good Heterodyne and a good person.

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It had been a very stressful week for the generals.

First, an urgent communication had come from Sturmhalten, accusing Mechanicsburg of sending a young girl and a Jäger posing as a Wulfenbach officer to infiltrate Sturmhalten Castle under false pretenses. Despite the efforts of the Sturmhalten forces, the two kidnapped Master Tarvek Sturmvoraus and escaped.

This put the generals in the awkward position of having to admit that stealing away a suitable boy to serve as playmate and/or future groom for his beloved ward was not not something Lord Saturnus would do. However, they hastened to point out, Lady Teodora would never allow such a thing, and Saturnus was in no condition to be able to plot and execute such a plan without her noticing.

The next day, another, equally urgent communication was sent by the captain of the Mechanicsburg Security Division accusing Sturmhalten of attempting to kidnap a Mechanicsburg citizen – a young girl who had been in the process of running away from home – by using the Geisterdamen to prevent them from leaving Sturmhalten Castle. The note said nothing of Master Tarvek.

Klaus had not been able to give any justification for this scenario, other than Sturmvoraus would never do something so stupid . Unfortunately, Klaus did not accept such reasoning from his subordinates, let alone himself.

So he sent a questor to investigate.

Shortly after the questor left, another message was sent from Mechanicsburg, saying that the purportedly kidnapped Tarvek Sturmvoraus had arrived of his own free will to inform them that his purportedly outraged father was heading to Mechanicsburg, but with the intent of capturing and possibly killing Agatha Sannikova.

And he was doing it at the head of an army.

Messages requesting further clarification as to what the hell was going on received no response from Sturmhalten, Mechanicsburg, or indeed any communication center within twenty kilometers of the Valley of the Heterodynes.

That was when the generals informed Klaus that he would be sending the Jägers – all the Jägers – ahead of Castle Wulfenbach on his fastest airship, to ensure the Baron’s forces would be present to discourage any military escalation before his arrival.

Though there was no universe in which anyone would believe that the presence of Jägers near an army intent on attacking Mechanicsburg could result in less violence, Klaus had recognized the message. He could either play along, or watch the Jägers commandeer a ship and leave anyway.

Those onboard Castle Wulfenbach who saw the Jägers depart had been unnerved by the silence and grim solemnity with which they did so. There were no jovial cries of ve hunt , no playful jostling and roughhousing, no laughter, no flirtations with the female officers – not even with the ones who usually flirted back.

Not even with Von Pinn.

Mechanicsburg, for the first time since their creation, was under threat with no Jägers to protect her.

Zog had insisted on landing before getting within visual range of Mechanicsburg, and continuing their approach on foot. Khrizhan and Goomblast didn’t like it any better than the rest of the pack did, since it would delay them even further, but this was Zog’s area of expertise.

It had been worth it when the Jägers emerged from the landscape in a silent rush, nothing more than the rustle of grass to give them away before they smashed into the back of the Sturmhalten army.

Though they had been focused and serious – some would say unnaturally so – on the journey there, the moment the fight began, the Jägers began to regain their usual bonhomie. This, Khrizhan suspected, was only partly the release of tension and the gnawing feeling of helplessness.

It had been a long time since the Jägers had been greeted by the sound of cheering. A long time since they were this close to home .

Khrizhan nodded in approval as a group of Jägers swarmed up a large cannon tower and began to swing themselves in tandem, rocking it back and forth until it was teetering wildly, the occupants clinging to the cannon and screaming in terror. He and the other generals had not yet joined the fight, but watched from a copse of trees on a nearby hill, which gave them a decent view of the battlefield while keeping them out of sight.

“Dot iz Master Saturnus up on de vall, Hy tink,” Goomblast said.

“Hy heard dot he vuz doing better,” Khrizhan said. “Din’t realize it vuz dot much better.”

Zog glanced at the runner on his right, who was practically vibrating with the effort of not taking off down the hill to join in. He’d managed to hold out for nearly ten minutes, and although they did not say so, the generals were impressed. If he made it to twenty minutes, they’d consider him officer material.

“Jurgen, go down until tell Master Saturnus to meet me at de Monster Gate. Hy vish to discuss de situation vit him.”

The Jäger saluted Khrizhan.

“Yessir.”

“Und ven hyu is done,” Zog said, not taking his eyes off the battlefield, “go help hyu brodders.”

“Yessir!” But Jurgen hesitated. “If Master Saturnus iz back,” he said, cautiously, “doz dot mean…?”

Khrizhan winced internally. Jurgen would not be the only Jäger to think it, once word got around. But even if Saturnus had recovered his full strength and reclaimed his title as Heterodyne, there was still no heir. It would buy them a decade, maybe two, before they’d be right back where they started.

Khrizhan settled for honesty.

“Hy dun know.”

The Jäger didn’t argue or look disappointed, merely nodded and ran off. The generals put another point in his favor.

“Maybe if he is vell enough to fix der kestle,” Goomblast said, in a carefully conversational tone of voice. “ Vitout killing himself, dis time.”

“Sure,” Zog said bitterly. “Den ve get to choose betveen neffer being able to go home, or neffer being able to go more den two leagues from de gates.”

“Zumting brought dem here,” Goomblast said, nodding to the army. “Zumting so important dey risk bringing de Baron down on deir heads.”

“If dere vuz a new Heterodyne in Mechanicsburg, Gkika vould haff told us,” Khrizhan said.

“Unless Gkika did not know,” Goomblast pointed out.

“ Der Baron can sqveeze der vy’s und verefor’s out of der prince’s brain ven ve is done,” Zog snapped. “Right now, ve defend de town. Tell Saturnus Hy vant vord from Gkika, und runners from de town.”

Khrizhan slipped away through the trees, moving with remarkable stealth for a large creature in a bright red uniform. The Refuge of Storms had managed to stretch its army around the south side of the town, but they had not had a chance to dig in deep, and the Jägers had easily and eagerly chased them right back out again. There was no one to stop Khrizhan from approaching the Monster Gate.

“Khrizhan!” The voice came from above. Khrizhan looked up and saw Saturnus peering over the edge at him.

“Iz dot really hyu up dere?” Khrizhan asked, only half joking. “Hy heard hyu vere dead.”

“If the devil wants me back, he can come and get me himself! Where the hell have you been?”

“Ve vuz being sneaky!” Khrizhan said.

“There’s a first,” Saturnus said, and disappeared.

Khrizhan tucked himself into the shadow of the gate’s opening and waited. Normally the negotiating doors were used to speak with outsiders frantically pleading surrender, without having to let anyone inside or lower any defences.

Khrizhan had never been on this side of it before.

There came the distinct sound of steel bars being drawn back, and a small door within the great gate swung inwards, although the portcullis remained down. Instead of Saturnus, there was a frazzled looking young man that Khrizhan did not recognize.

“Hello, general,” he said, hurriedly. “Lord Saturnus is in the middle of an important conversation, but he’ll be right with you.”

The young man did not quite shut the door all the way as he hurried off. Khrizhan hesitated, then reached through the gaps in the portcullis bars and pushed the door open a little further.

He could see down a road he knew by heart, every brick and paving stone. Some of the shops had changed, but the buildings were as they had been for hundreds of years, and over them was a skyline he had known all his life.

But he was looking at it on the wrong side of the door, through iron bars. It felt… metaphorical.

He was dragged from his thoughts by the sound of an approaching argument. Even before he could make out the words, he recognized – from many encounters with it – Saturnus’ I know you’re right and I’m annoyed about it so I’m being difficult on purpose voice. It had not changed since the old man was a little boy.

Abruptly, the door was jerked open all the way, revealing Saturnus Heterodyne, once-Lord and master of Mechanicsburg.

The last time Khrizhan had seen Saturnus, it had been after the heart attack, but before the two strokes that had nearly finished the job, and Khrizhan could see the damage they had done. Always a big man in every sense of the word, Saturnus now seemed small in a way that had nothing to do with being seated. The flowing mane of beard and hair were gone, the latter cut short and the former shorn entirely. He was far from skeletal, but his body bore the scars of having been so, in bony hands and a face sharp in ways it had never been before.

He also had company.

“��going to kill yourself—!” Dr Sun was in the middle of protesting.

“Dr Sun, you grow increasingly repetitive. Understand that I do hear you, I do comprehend the risk, and am choosing to ignore you. Now, do you mind? I have a conversation to have here,” Saturnus said. Sun threw his hands up.

“ Fine! I give up.” He tossed a vial into Saturnus’ lap. “There. If your heart starts to go into arrhythmia again, use that and maybe you won’t die.”

He swept away.

“Damn good timing,” Saturnus said to Khrizhan, conversationally, tucking the vial into a shirt pocket. “Even if it was cutting it a little close.”

“Hyu dun look as bad as Hy heard.”

“You should have seen me five years ago,” Saturnus said. “And I’ll be doing even better now I’ve got this .”

He patted the arm of the chair, and Khrizhan noticed for the first time that it was not at all a normal wheelchair.

“Isn’t that something?” Saturnus said, fairly bursting with pride. “Agatha – you’ve heard of her, haven’t you? My girl – well, Teodora’s ward if you want to get technical about it – she designed it. Does all the work itself so I don’t need some minder wheeling me around.”

Khrizhan dismissed his initial evaluation of Saturnus. Yes, the man had lost size and strength, but the old fire burned in his eyes. He was a far cry from the sullen, ashen-faced man who had not even been able to look at them as they explained their deal with Klaus.

“Now,” Saturnus said, “not that I don’t think you boys can handle the situation yourselves…”

“Der Baron is on his vay,” Khrizhan confirmed. “Ve took scouting ships ahead – ve lost some time on foot, but ve did not vant Sturmvoraus to shoot us down.”

“We’ll be able to hold our own now, at least, with you. We just lost a good third of our remaining defensive and offensive capabilities.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Agatha killed the castle.”

“ Killed der—?”

“She got this damn fool idea in her head that if she turned off and on again, she could…” He glanced at Khrizhan and waved a hand. “That it would fix the consciousness, even if we couldn’t fix the structure. And whatever she did killed it. Once this is over, I’ll have to go in and see if I can bring it back, but…”

“ How could she kill der kestle? She is a young girl! Und Hy heard she—”

“I know what you heard!” Saturnus snarled. He visibly forced himself to calm down. “Never mind the castle. You focus on the army. There are still a few Geisterdamen inside the town. We’ll do our best to drive them out, you make sure if they set foot outside the wall, they die.”

“Dey vuz trying to take a child vit dem. Vuz dot hyu Mizz Agatha?”

“No, it wasn’t. Agatha’s probably still inside the castle. I think the Geisterdamen don’t know what she actually looks like – probably just saw blonde hair and thought better safe than spare parts.”

“Vy duz de prince of Sturmhalten vant dis girl so badly he vill come to Mechanicsburg to get her?”

To Khrizhan’s surprise, Saturnus answered – but it wasn’t any of the answers Khrizhan expected.

“He thinks she’s Lucrezia’s daughter.” He raised a finger. “Not that she’s Bill’s . That she’s Lucrezia’s daughter.”

Which was not the same as saying she wasn’t the child of Master Bill. While Khrizhan could admit it was not out of the realm of possibility for Lucrezia to have used the attack as cover to run off and find herself a new man, it was also not impossible for her to have run off while already pregnant.

Khrizhan did not ask. If Saturnus had wanted him to know, he would have said it. Logically, he knew if this Agatha was the Heterodyne, it was the right thing for Saturnus to do. Keeping a Heterodyne secret in Mechanicsburg would be a monstrous feat, and every person that knew was another risk.

But some small and petty part of him wondered if it wasn’t a punishment. How could I ask you to protect her? You weren’t even here. You had a new master to attend to.

Saturnus told him the story – the relevant parts, at least – including the part where Vole went off to rescue the girl.

Twice.

Vole was the last man Khrizhan would ever choose to send on a rescue mission even before he was banished. That Vole had not killed her, despite how easy it would have been to pin it on bandits or the prince – or even to simply hide the body and said he could not find her – was strong evidence against the girl being a Heterodyne.

But perhaps he would obey an order not to kill a Heterodyne, if it came from Saturnus.

And there was another thing he had not been expecting.

"Three Jägers, they were…" Saturnus' brow furrowed in concentration. "Ognian, Dimo, and…" He snapped his fingers a few times. "Ah! Maxim."

"No," Khrizhan said. "Ve haff not seen dem."

Saturnus frowned.

"Well, I hope they get here sooner rather than later. We'll need that evidence she sent them after, when this is over."

"Dey followed her order?"

"She asked them for a favor," Saturnus corrected. "Believe me, when she turns the big pleading eyes on you, ha, the devil himself couldn't say no."

No, you can't, can you? Khrizhan thought. She's got you wrapped around her little finger worse than Teodora ever did.

Something on the battlefield exploded, and there was a cheer from the crowd on the walls.

“It vill be dark soon,” Khrizhan said. “Dey vill retreat for de night, if dey iz smart, und Zog vill let dem. Ve vill set up camp nearby, und ve vill keep an eye on dem. Ven dey attack again, ve vill be ready.”

“If any of the boys are wounded, send them Gkika’s way.”

“Ve need runners from der town. De Jägerkin must fight. Zog vants a report from Gkika, who she has und who can fight.”

“I’ll send word.” A sly glint appeared in his eye, and he added, innocently, “And do you want anything from the general?”

“Not at dis time,” Khrizhan said, voice and face as neutral as possible.

“I’ll just tell her you said hello ,” Saturnus said, with a wickedly helpful smile.

#girl genius #saturnus heterodyne #alexi khrizhan #general zog #general goomblast #jaegermonsters #grandfather saturnus au

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chalkrevelations · 2 months ago

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Solstice vigil starting in about 15 minutes - gonna bring back the sun!

I've lost track of how many times I've held vigil over the longest night, waiting up to welcome the dawn - this was something I started doing on my own, not long out of college, before i even met spouse. We still host it every year, beginning at sundown, sharp, and making our last offering at sunrise the next morning to Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun.

Tips for successful vigil:

Do not plan any big project overnight, during vigil. You'll be tempted to say, if I'm going to be up all night, I can get something done, like clean out the spare room, or make pepper jelly and can it, or paint the kitchen. No, this is the forces of chaos talking. You're going to feel great and energized when you start the evening, but there will be an utterly grim period sometime between 3:30-5:30 a.m. when you will feel the existential despair of your forebears wondering if the sun would ever return. Conserve your energy!

Do something, even though it's not big projects. We usually start out with guests who are coven members and/or collaborators in other witchy/community/activist projects, so after dinner, we spend some time planning for the upcoming year, getting big rocks on the calendar for the full year and going into more detail for at least the first quarter-to-half of the year's activities. We also will watch holiday episodes of teevee, and sometimes holiday movies, later in the night.

Ritualize the entire experience. Vigil got easier when I stole another group's idea of planning an invocation and offering at the top of every hour, to mark the passing of time during the night. Now, we open ritual space at sundown, call in ancestors and deities and spirits, then make an offering to Saturnus, since we're overlapping Saturnalia. That usually happens by about 5:30, then we leave ritual space open and finish prepping dinner. (We don't work in a circle for this one - the bounds of the magical space are the house, itself.) From 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., we have a whole cycle of deities and spirits - seasonal and/or personal - assigned to each hour, and at the top of the hour, we break from whatever else everyone is doing and come back to the altar space to make an offering for the deity/spirit/ancestor of that hour.

Eat! We usually will have dinner after the 6 p.m. offering, some light tapas or snacky things (at the table, so it feels like a meal) after the midnight ritual, and breakfast after the 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. ritual, depending on how we're feeling. Sometimes, you have to get up and get moving around again after the 5 a.m. offering or you're done for.

Prep. If at all possible, make dinner soup the day before, so all you have to do is heat it up on the night. Clean at least a day or two beforehand, and set up your ritual space as much as possible the day before. On the day of, sleep in, then take yourself out for brunch, then take a nap - ideally by 1 p.m.-ish, early enough to get a couple of good hours of nap in but still be up and moving and ready before the early sunset of the shortest day.

Don't worry if you don't make it the entire night. There are plenty of us - sometimes taking it in shifts - waiting for the sun to come back. You will not be responsible for eternal darkness.

Oh hey, there's the first knock on the door. Catch you guys on the flip, after the long dark!

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