Archive of Our Own

London, 1881

"You have been restless all day," said Crawford. "What is wrong?"

"I feel most queer," said Schuldig, shaking himself as if he felt a goose walking upon his grave. "I think we are being watched."

At once Crawford sat upright, all his attention upon his friend, his gaze as sharp as if he did not in truth require the aid of spectacles to improve his own weak vision. "Watched?" he cried. "By whom? For how long?"

"I cannot say," said Schuldig in annoyance directed more, it seemed, at himself than at the question. "Now I think on it, I have felt damned queer all day though at first I thought it was but the effects of feeling once more the gravitational forces acting fully upon me. Now, however, I know I feel – " he shrugged, a little moue of discontent pulling at his features. "- queerer."

"The police?" wondered Crawford.

"Bah!" ejaculated Schuldig. "Would you not have foreseen that? How could the soldiers on Mars have sent word ahead of us?" He crossed the room to sit by Crawford, resting his head upon his friend's shoulder, his eyes fixed distrustfully upon the window. "I don't like that," he said fretfully. "It's like a great dark eye, trained upon us." He raised his head sharply, realization crossing his face. "Crawford –" he whispered, indicating the window. As one, he and Crawford seized hold of their pistols, Crawford then moving carefully to extinguish the gaslight, before they each crept to one side of the dark window. Outside all seemed still. After some minutes had passed by Schuldig shook his head in frustration, sighing loudly. "I can feel nothing," he said. "Whoever was there has gone. Perhaps in truth there was no one there at all."

Crawford peered out into the darkness a while longer, willing himself to know where movement might occur. "I have always heeded your quick senses," he said, well knowing that such an admission from Schuldig told its own tale of too many weeks of hiding his true self and working to evade discovery.

"I have become dull and fat on the journey back to Earth," muttered Schuldig, although he in truth still bore the marks of hard work and carefully rationed food. "Why, the fellow must have been watching us all day, and I only see that now! You must think me a rare fool."

Crawford regarded him, the dim light of the gas lamps in the street below glinting upon his spectacles. "Such an observer," he said. "Would you not normally find them with ease?"

"Why, yes," said Schuldig. "Their concentration upon their task would make their mind stand out from the general lowing of the throng. It's only -" He paused, alarm written on his still too-thin features.

Crawford nodded, knowing even without the benefit of his supernatural abilities what he would say next. "It is only with those trained to erect walls in their mind that you might face difficulties," he said grimly.

Schuldig sat once more upon the bed, all thoughts of its ease and the pleasant company of his friend driven from his thoughts. "Have they found us so soon?" he asked.

"Let us hope not," said Crawford. "We must tell the others."

"I'll get them straight away," said Schuldig, matching his actions to his words and slipping from the room, heading at once to the pleasant chamber where Nagi, still shown to the eyes of the world as Crawford's son, slept the deep sleep of one so recently made ill by the voyage between the worlds. "Nagi," said Schuldig, laying a hand upon the boy's shoulder. "Wake up." He frowned at the slow drift of the lad's eyelids as he returned to the waking world; the medicine that Crawford had administered to him on the journey back to Earth had not, it seemed, completely left him. "Good lad," said Schuldig encouragingly, keeping his misgivings to himself. Crawford had not, he was sure, given the boy more than he could safely bear. "Get up now, we must all be alert."

"What is it?" asked Nagi sleepily, rubbing at his eyes.

"A watcher."

Sense came back into Nagi's face, the sleep replaced with a wary look as he clambered from his warm bed, clinging on to Schuldig for support.

"I am ready," he said, yawning hugely.

“Dress,” said Schuldig, brushing back the lad's unruly hair from his face. "I'll wake Farfarello and come back to make sure you haven't fallen asleep on your feet." He laughed at Nagi's half-hearted scowl, patting his cheek as he turned to go. Going down the corridor, he stopped outside the door of Farfarello's room, knowing better than to simply enter unannounced. "Farfarello," he called out to the young Irishman's mind. "It's me, I am coming in." He entered to find that young man wrapped snugly in a blanket, lying upon the floor of his room. "Wake up," said Schuldig aloud, stirring him with a foot as he rolled over, muttering about uninvited guests. "Why are you sleeping on the floor like a cat?"

Farfarello threw off the blankets, instantly alert, coming to his feet with a knife in his hands. “It is dogs that sleep upon the floor, not cats. If you are going to disturb me, I hope you have something to make it worth my while,” he said. “I am used to the floor's hardness after Mars. You know how badly I slept in the soft beds of the ship home, unlike you, pussy-kins.”

"Someone is watching us," said Schuldig, resisting the invitation to bicker. "Go to Crawford's room. I'll see if Nagi is really awake or not." He left, sure that Farfarello would go at once to Crawford, and reentered Nagi's room to find the lad dressed and making a vain attempt to brush his hair flat. Taking pity on the lad's pale and set face, and the way he swayed as if he felt still the engines of the ship reverberate through the metal plates of its floor, he took the brush and swiftly set Nagi's hair in order. "There now," he said. "You will excite no comment if anyone should see you. Are you all right?"

"Yes," said Nagi at once, hiding his exhaustion and the remnants of his travel sickness as best he could. “Shall we go?”

They gathered in Crawford's room, Farfarello leaning back against the wall and playing with a blade, and Nagi sinking down to sit upon the bed as Schuldig laid out the events of the evening.

"-And so," finished Schuldig, seating himself in the chair just vacated by Crawford and crossing his legs in an elegant manner, "While we have, it seems, been deserted by our watcher for the moment, I feel no doubt he will return. If he is indeed from the Schloß, he will not give up easily."

"If there's nothing more to be done tonight," said Farfarello in some disappointment, "I shall go back to sleep."

"Wait," said Crawford. "I don't want us separating, now we know of this watcher. Sleep here. We have shared close quarters before."

"Very well," said Farfarello, and without further discussion, made himself comfortable upon the rug by the fireplace.

Nagi kicked off his shoes and flung his jacket upon the end of the bed before burrowing with great glee beneath the covers, lying right in the middle of the bed. Crawford neatly folded the discarded garment, looking over then at Schuldig's expression, and biting back a smile at the tale it told.

"It is only for tonight," said Crawford silently in his mind, smiling openly as Schuldig feigned he could not hear. "We'll be alone soon enough."

"Soon enough for you, perhaps," replied Schuldig in like manner. "I should just sleep in this chair and be done with it." He rose, however, as Crawford held out a hand, and deigned to allow his cheek be stroked. "Paris," thought Schuldig firmly. "A room with a lock proof against Nagi." His point made, as he thought, with sufficient firmness, he undressed and took the space Nagi had left for him in the bed.

"Our friend is back," said Schuldig the next morning as they walked from the gentleman's outfitters where they had purchased clothing more suitable to the climes of Europe than those they had brought with them from Mars back to their hotel, his voice no more than a murmur in Crawford's mind. "Let us lay a trap."

"Yes," said Crawford in like manner. "Do it at once."

Schuldig smiled fondly down at Nagi, seeming to have no other thought than to express affection for the boy. "You must dress warmly," he said, wrapping his own new scarf of soft, mustard-yellow wool about the lad's neck. "We have become too used to the heat of our recent home." As he spoke he said silently into Nagi's mind, "When Crawford gives the signal, frighten the cab horses."

Nagi's little face glowed with excitement, but outwardly he merely nodded, as if agreeing with Schuldig's spoken injunction.

"Now," said Crawford, mildly and quietly.

At once the nearest horse started, as if something unseen had struck it sharply. It shied to the side where, although it did not quite touch a drover's cart, that cart rocked violently, spilling its load into the street. The horse reared up as a cabbage bounced in a manner more fitting to a child's ball and hit it squarely in the chest; with a loud neigh the horse came down hard and bolted suddenly. The drover's draft horse, alarmed by the tilting of its cart and seeing its erstwhile neighbour dash for safety, followed in the clear hope that it would be led away from such worries, the brief turn of speed of its fearful great hooves showing well the martial endeavours in which its ancestors had gloriously shone. Nagi clapped his hands in delight, grinning up at Crawford as that gentleman swiftly pulled him back out of the path of the frantic cab driver and drover as they sprinted after their horses, their intemperate threats only serving to furnish those creatures with further incentive to flee.

"Was that all right?" asked Nagi. "Oh! Where is Schuldig?"

"Shh," smiled Crawford. "He is gone hunting."

"He will bring us a little rabbit for you to play with," said Farfarello.

Nagi smiled, proud at the thought that he should aid in any questioning of their unseen pursuer. He thought then of the methods with which his friends had questioned a Martian who had pursued them, and his smile faltered. "Perhaps," he thought in treacherous hope, "Schuldig will not be able to find him."

As Nagi thought in this manner, Schuldig crept silently along, following the sudden bright trail of interest he could see in his mind as a thin, silver thread. Whoever watched them saw them from above, he realized, and from the left. He entered a haberdasher's, stilling the protests of the clerk before he could properly register Schuldig's presence, and ran swiftly up the stairs to the rooms above. Even as he entered the room he felt the spike of alarm as the watcher realized he could see but three of the people he observed. A slender form turned in haste from the window, reaching into his coat. Schuldig had but the impression of a young man dressed in a dark jacket and cap before he leapt with his uncanny swiftness from the spot where the youth's pistol was suddenly aimed. Schuldig struck out, his mind pouring anguish into that of his opponent who, he saw, had some defences in that regard. He saw, as it were, the youth cowering behind walls and knew of a surety they had both been students in the Schloß. Overcome with fury, Schuldig bent the force of his will upon his foe, whose grasp upon the pistol wavered and loosened.

"Who are you?" gasped the youth, his face wracked with pain and dampened with perspiration.

"I don't have a name," said Schuldig, relishing the horrified fear that crossed the youth's face. The last of the young man's defences crumbled as he cried out as Schuldig's mind overwhelmed him, Schuldig following up his unnatural assault with a strong blow to the youth's jaw. The young man's eyes rolled up to show the whites and he collapsed to the ground. Schuldig bent to retrieve the dropped pistol.

"I should kill you now and save us all some time," he said conversationally to the unconscious form at his feet. He paused, frowning. His foe’s thoughts had had at the last an odd tinge to them, a panic that something would be revealed – Schuldig laughed shortly, his frown clearing. The youth's voice had been low and soft, yet still too high for all but the youngest of men or – Schuldig rolled the form onto its back and looked down at the face now unobscured by the cap – a woman.

"Huh," he ejaculated. "Such unladylike behaviour. Well, come on, my dear. There are other gentlemen equally eager to make your acquaintance."

"Our friend," said Schuldig, dropping the limp form of the young woman unceremoniously upon the floor of Crawford's room. "We are become so slow and trusting on Mars that even girls can now it seems track us with ease."

"No point in letting her wake," said Farfarello, kneeling by her and setting the point of a blade beneath her eye. "A pity I did not take the grapefruit knife at breakfast for such work," he muttered to himself.

"Hold," said Crawford. "Let us find what she knows before killing her." He looked sidelong at Nagi's set and fascinated face, adding, "Nagi, perhaps you could keep watch in the corridor for us? We don't want to be disturbed."

"Oh!" cried Nagi. "You are trying to baby me! I'm as much a man as any of you!"

"He could be, if you wanted to put her to such ends," said Farfarello mildly.

"No," said Crawford with great firmness. "Nagi, we really do need a watch kept. Go on." So saying, he shooed the reluctant lad from the room.

"I'll see to him in a little," said Schuldig, taking off his jacket and rolling up his shirtsleeves. "To work, then. She fought my assault off as best she could, and knew what I was. She is definitely a creature of the Schloß. I suppose," he continued, an unpleasant smile upon his narrow features, "That she thinks she will hold out against our more physical encouragements also."

Crawford knelt by the woman, turning her face this way and that, a deep frown upon his brow. At last he sat back upon his heels, sure of his conclusions. The last time he had seen her face it had been younger by a decade, her now-short hair had been drawn back in a long plait that he supposed her friend or a more poetic man might have described as being russet in colour, though it had always seemed to him light brown at best. "I know this woman," he said, and watched Schuldig and Farfarello exchange a quick look of resignation. Not sentiment concerning his past again, it seemed to say and, Well, let us persuade him from any folly.

"Who is she?" asked Schuldig.

"Ellen Williams," said Crawford. "In my final year in the Schloß she was the lieutenant of the leader of the girls. She can make fire."

"Another such," murmured Farfarello. "And I had thought such powers rare."

"Until Micah - " started Crawford. Making himself meet their eyes he said, "She was the only one I knew of, until Micah joined us."

"Old friends are bad news, Crawford," said Schuldig. "Let's just slit her throat. A quick and easy death, for old time's sake."

"She was an ally," said Crawford. "She truly was, Schuldig. She fought for me."

"When you were a boy," interjected Farfarello. "And she a girl." He prodded her side ungently with a booted foot. "Neither of you are children any more. She seems even to have given up resembling a woman."

"You're right," said Crawford, and with more conviction, "You're right. Let's see what she knows. Schuldig, wake her up." He drew a pistol and aimed it unswervingly at the woman's face.

Schuldig closed his eyes briefly, and then stared at her in concentration. Her eyelids fluttered and opened, revealing eyes of pale blue that focused at once on Crawford's weapon.

"Do you know me?" he asked quietly.

"I know you," she said, her low voice seeming as calm as if she had met an old acquaintance at some polite gathering.

"Don't try to escape," said Crawford. "Speak truthfully and you'll not face torture. We shall know," he said, gesturing to Schuldig, "If you lie."

"He's really nameless?" she asked, sitting up with crossed legs, looking for all the world like a boy at his ease.

"He prefers not to be spoken of as if he is not present," said Schuldig tartly. "He may decide he has been insulted, and who knows what might happen then? Everyone knows mind readers are so impetuous." He allowed an unpleasant smile to cross his face at the cast her expression took on.

"I won't lie," she said. "I mean you no harm."

"You were watching us," said Crawford. "Why?"

"I always watch ships going to and from Mars, if I am free to do so," she said. "I like them, I like to think I might one day be on one myself. It was chance I saw you – I did not recognize you at first, with that beard, Crawford," she continued. "But then you smiled down at the lad with you and I all at once saw you as a boy yourself, looking down at whatever little fellow was your favourite of the hour." Schuldig's fast step forward and faster blow to her face rocked her back.

"Schuldig," said Crawford. "If you break her teeth she'll be harder to understand."

"Did you not hear what she said of you and Nagi?" demanded Schuldig.

"Is this jealousy?" said Williams, spitting blood to the side. "Or are you simply sad you couldn't find a friend yourself in the Schloß?"

"One word more on the subject," said Schuldig, "And I will strip your mind piece by piece till all that is left is a shivering thing huddled in the dark. You may believe you have withstood horrors, but none have faced true horror till they deal with such as me." He did not turn away, even as Crawford put a hand on his shoulder and found it taut with the fury that ran all through the young man's frame.

"Hush," said Crawford in his mind, "She is provoking you. You know perfectly well that the only opinion we have ever need to heed is our own."

"She insults you as well as me," thought Schuldig in petulance.

"Mere words. Small return for your blow," thought Crawford consolingly, squeezing Schuldig's shoulder. "Let her speak now." Turning again to Williams he said, "Having recognized me, why did you follow us?"

"I wanted to see if you were a danger to me," she said wearily. "You were always such a good pupil, Crawford. I knew your presence in London had to be for no small task. If your mission was large enough, no doubt you would seek out others of our kind." she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, looking down at the blood from her split lip dispassionately, as if all womanly feeling had indeed been similarly wiped away during her schooldays. "I wanted to think what I would do in such a case."

"In such a case you would of course obey directives from our people," said Crawford.

"Of course," she said quickly.

"Even if it disrupted the pleasant life you have made for yourself here?" said Schuldig. "Stop trying to hide your thoughts, woman. You don't want me to exert myself."

"You are overly angry," said Williams evenly. "You can tell the truth of what I say – why are you so annoyed?"

"I am in the mood for no more school reunions," said Schuldig. "Especially with fire starters. I should just kill you now."

"My death throes shall cause such a conflagration as to destroy this building and all in it," she said. "So kill me, if you will."

"Such bravado," said Schuldig, crouching down to put their faces on a level. "Maybe we will keep you alive a while for our amusement first. Trust me," he said, reaching out and ruffling her short-cut hair, "I will be able to keep you docile and very compliant. Ah!" he ejaculated, "What a great scurrying your mind makes at the thought. That's the problem with locking you girls away so much," he went on conversationally. "You are left with a shyness that needs a lot of help to be overcome."

"If he may indulge himself in the forms of torture he enjoys, why may not I?" muttered Farfarello in annoyance to Crawford.

"Enough, both of you," said Crawford.

"Oh, she can take a joke, I'm sure," said Schuldig. "We all know fire starters enjoy such jests."

"She's not Micah," thought Crawford as Williams muttered, "What should you know of the preferences of such as I?" She looked up at Crawford in appeal, continuing, "He can tell you I'm not a threat to you, that I never intended even to speak with you, if it could be avoided. Are we not the same, Crawford? There are so few of us in the world – if you take such as I out of it, will not the Schloß be angry?"

″What is it they have you doing here?″ asked Crawford.

"At first they sought to use me as they do so many of the girls," said Williams. "I proved, however, to have less aptitude for charming stupid men than was thought needful. I have always been too tall to be seen as the dainty toy such high placed fools prefer. Now I am engaged in more masculine a role, that of espionage. I spy on those I am told to observe, I steal their secrets through burglary. I kill those I am directed to kill. Old houses," she said with a little smile, "Are so full of old, dry wood. They burn so easily."

"And you live your daily life," said Crawford, indicating her manner of dress, "As a man?"

"It's easier," she shrugged. "More effective."

"How simple to dress up one's own desires as being effective for one's work," sneered Schuldig, as if he himself did not look forward to the day his hair would be long once more. With an air of having saved the best and fatal blow for last he added, "Tell me, Fräulein Williams, who is Maria?"

She came up off the floor at him, a knife suddenly in her hand. As Crawford yelled the alarm, she bore the still-crouching Schuldig over and stabbed down, only his unnatural swiftness allowing him to roll out of the way of the blow. Farfarello leapt in, kicking the knife from her hand and seizing her by the throat.

"I will make you last," he said with pleasure, drawing the blade of his own knife down her arm as she struggled wildly.

"Be still, you little fool!" Schuldig yelled, his eyes wide at the thought of how close to death he had come. He struck out with his mind to reinforce his words and watched her shudder and go limp in Farfarello's grasp. "Hold up, Farfarello," said Schuldig as the young Irishman cut away her shirt, the better to begin his deadly work. "Wait, I say! Crawford!" he cried. "She just gave up. All this time she resisted me, and provoked me, and now she does her best simply to die? She wanted us to kill her before she reveals any details of this person. We shouldn't kill her until we find out why." He returned Farfarello's look of incredulous disgust. "Do you think I like saying that?" he snapped.

All three of them looked round as Nagi peeped in the door. "What is going on?" he said. "May I come in, now?"

"No," chorused Crawford and Schuldig.

"You are missing nothing, Nagi," said Farfarello in disgust. "It seems there is to be more talking." He looked approvingly at the raised burns on his hands and arms where Williams had tried to break his grip, admiring how they took the shape of her fingers. "She can fight, at least," he said.

"Crawford," said Schuldig, "There was more honesty there than we have had from her before. All her prevarication and provocations were to distract me from this person, I see this now. She wanted to keep this person's existence from me; she is afraid for her, and determined that neither the Schloß nor we should have her. She hates the Schloß, Crawford, with every bone in her body."

"Waste no more time," said Crawford. "Take what she's been hiding."

"I will leave her no secrets," said Schuldig, adding, "There won't be blood, Nagi may as well stop pretending he has forgotten to leave the room."

Crawford beckoned Nagi, who rushed over to his side, beaming happily. Crawford stepped back with him, positioning them both where Williams would be able to see neither. There was no point in risking the lad, he thought, should Williams attempt to burn up something he valued. Schuldig could, no doubt, take care of himself, he told himself, little liking the images that rose to his mind. Schuldig smiled at him briefly, then hauled the unconscious Williams to a chair where he sat comfortably, placing her back against his legs, and putting a hand upon her brow, the other resting at the back of her skull.

"Wake up," he said, and her eyes flew open. Before she could make any slight movement, Schuldig's fingers tightened as he closed his eyes in concentration. Williams' eyes rolled up and her body arched in pain. Remembering the one brief moment when Schuldig had touched his mind so, Nagi winced in sympathy, unable to look away as the minutes dragged on. Little flames sprang up to flicker here and there about Williams' writhing form, to be stamped out in contempt by Farfarello. At last Schuldig sat back, looking both satisfied and weary.

"It has been," he said with deep satisfaction, "Too long since I had the chance to do that. Our little friend is a naughty girl, Crawford. She has found someone in whom the Schloß would be most interested, and yet she has not reported this person's presence." He grinned at the weak movments Williams attempted at this statement.

"Really?" said Crawford. "What can this person do, this "Maria", is it?"

"A mind reader," said Schuldig. "Not like me, of course," he added quickly. "A lesser mind reader such as one more commonly finds. The kind that whose power in women is put down to feminine intuition. She is most fond of this person, and seems to think the Schloß would be injurious to her."

"Fascinating," said Farfarello. "May I kill her now?" Schuldig and Crawford exchanged looks, and Farfarello cast his eye towards the heaven he proclaimed to disdain. "Am I never to have sport?" he asked plaintively.

"I think we could make better use of her alive," said Schuldig. "Come now, Farfarello, don't look at me so! I have been in her mind, I know her better than any of you. She is one of us in temperament – as we wish to live free and undisturbed, so does she. As we wish our happy find to be untainted by the Schloß, so does she. We hold the power here – we are four, she is but one. She has not trained her little mind reader in more than how to make her happy, and she will be very afraid of what we can do to this person. Love is such a trap," he said smiling fondly at his friends.

"Can she still think?" asked Crawford.

"I'm not a butcher," said Schuldig. "I'm more of a surgeon. She will be well enough, though the pain may make her wish for death."

"We're not going to kill her?" asked Nagi, doing his best to sound as if he did not care one way or the other.

Schuldig smiled, and, propping Williams against the edge of the chair, unfolded himself from his seated position to go to the lad's side and sweep him into a quick embrace. "No," he said. "Not if Crawford thinks that best."

"Bah!" ejaculated Farfarello.

"I'll talk to her now," said Crawford, "Let me just fetch her something for the pain." So saying, he went to fill a glass with brandy, then went down on one knee beside Williams' limp form. Schuldig patted Nagi's cheek and all but skipped to Crawford's side.

"Come now, Liebling, we know you can hear us," he crooned, and Williams' eyes fixed upon him slowly, their expression shadowed and ill.

"Here, now," said Crawford, holding the glass to her lips. "It is but brandy, Williams. That's it –" He tipped a little of the dark golden liquid into her mouth, and waited courteously as she coughed and sputtered. "Can you hold the glass?" he asked, handing it to her at her curt nod. "We know everything," he said as she drank. "There is no point more in prevarication."

"Don't take her to the Schloß," said Williams in a thin and ragged voice. "She's too old, she's no use. Kill her. Kill me too, don't give me to them."

"Ellen," said Crawford, signaling for the bottle of brandy to be brought to him. "We're not going to tell them."

"Are we such friends, now?" said Williams.

"May I not speak familiarly to a school friend?" said Crawford, smiling. "We truly will not tell. Nagi, come here!" He beckoned Nagi to his side, gesturing up at him as the boy stared curiously at Williams. "We found Nagi in Japan, and haven't said a word about him to the Schloß. We won't say anything about your Maria either."

"The Schloß is a bad place, I know," said Nagi. "Crawford and Schuldig have promised I shan't go there."

Williams gave a little sob that, it seemed, was of laughter. "What a child he is," she said. "Does he really trust the promise of anyone who was there?"

"Ellen – Williams, then, if you prefer – I have found something better than the promises of the Schloß," said Crawford. "They promised power, and dominion over the world in time. Power for themselves! I have found freedom and love to be more wholesome things."

"Freedom!" scoffed Williams. "What freedom? We can but live a year or two mostly forgotten, till they turn their eye upon us once more. And love - of all people, I never thought to hear such a word from your lips!"

"They stamped out friendships, where they could," said Crawford. "You girls, being rarer, had more leniency in that regard. They wanted us only to use, to exert our power over those weaker. I have friends, now. I have family. I will not give up those I love." He gestured at the others, saying, "We all think this. We all want to live free of them. As do you. What would you give, to be truly free?"

Williams said nothing, but Crawford looked over her shoulder at Schuldig's little smile and was satisfied. He stood up, reaching down to help her to her feet. Farfarello sighed in misery and looked as if he had been denied a great treat. Schuldig crossed the room, cheerful and gay.

"I can help with the pain, if you like," he said.

"Leave me alone," muttered Williams, turning from him. "You, boy, what is it you can do?"

Nagi looked from Schuldig to Crawford, then said, "I can move things with my mind."

"And you did not tell them?" cried Williams.

"No," said Crawford. "You see, we have committed the same crime as you. None of us would wish to draw attention on that score."

"You always had strange ideas," said Williams. "Kar- we all thought so." She looked around, then picked up her jacket from where it had been carelessly flung. "May I go?"

"A moment," said Crawford. "We were allies in the Schloß, let us be allies still. I will take your word you will not report us, and we will not report you."

"How you have treated me would not be seen as loving, even there," she said with heavy irony.

Crawford looked over at Schuldig, who shrugged, then went to bring one of his own new shirts to her. "Here," he said. "The shoulders will be too broad, but I am the nearest in size to you."

Wordlessly, and with none of the modesty or shyness that so characterize the female sex, Williams unbuttoned her own torn and filthy shirt, casting it from her. She ignored their gazes, Nagi's eyes widening at the broad bandages about her chest that rendered her form as slender as a boy's, and donned the offered shirt, buttoning it up, and rolling the sleeves up to her wrists.

"Are you in contact with Karin Andersson?" asked Crawford.

"No," she said curtly.

"You were such friends in the Schloß."

"You were friendly with Franz Scherer, yet I see you have replaced him," she said, glancing up at Schuldig.

"I was not such a friend to him as you and Andersson were. Tell me," said Crawford carefully, "Is there anything I should know of her?"

"Why?"

"Interest, that is all. And a desire to take what's mine."

Williams went very still, looking at him. "What is yours?" she said. "No doubt you all feel you were badly treated there. You have very little idea of what it was to be a girl within those walls. Ah!" she cried as Schuldig smiled. "Don't look at me like that, as if you know everything, you horrid creature!"

"I do know everything," said Schuldig. "And I know you don't despise mind readers as much as you pretend. You are fond enough of your one."

"Leave Andersson alone," said Williams heavily. "You have caused her enough pain, Crawford."

"We only did as we were told," he said. "Do you care so much? I thought you and she no longer spoke?"

"We are not enemies," said Williams. "It's just –" she sighed. "Well, I suppose your friend will delight in tormenting me if I do not say. It is hard to keep up friendships, when one person is in one country, and the other is in another. We are well disposed enough. Leave her be, Crawford. She does as she is told by the Schloß, do not despise her for it."

"Where is she?" asked Crawford.

After a moment, Williams said, even as Schuldig whispered it, "Paris."

"Oh!" said Nagi, then fell silent in embarrassment as Schuldig looked sternly at him. Williams looked at him quickly, then at Crawford.

"So, that is your next destination? What do you want from her? What do you want from me?"

"Just your silence for now," said Crawford, sighing as Nagi's blush deepened. "We want our freedom, you want yours. Perhaps we can be of help to each other at a later point."

"Perhaps I should run for Mars," said Williams.

"It's not that big a place to hide out in," said Farfarello, "Unless you head into the desert."

"Do I need to ask Schuldig to ensure your silence?" asked Crawford.

"No," said Williams. "I will say nothing - you used to use persuasion and logic as well as threats. I see you are different as a man from how you were as a boy."

"It has not been an easy year," said Crawford. "Yet I will say this: do right by me and I will be your ally now as much as I was then."

She nodded. "I heard Scherer was somewhere in Germany," she said. "I don't know where."

"Thank you," said Crawford. "You may go."

With careful dignity, she pulled on her jacket, wincing a little as it settled on her shoulders, and put her cap upon her head. Instantly she was transformed to a youth once more. With looks of misgiving, she went out the door, no one stopping her.

"Schuldig," said Crawford. "You will be able to follow her?"

"Oh, yes, why we are intimates now!" laughed Schuldig. "I'll give her ten minutes, then set out."

"Just observe," said Crawford. "I'll arrange our passage on the boat train. We'll be in Paris by morning, ahead of any warning she might send."

"I have the address, safe and sound," said Schuldig, tapping his head. He poured himself a glass of water, spent a moment or two letting Nagi see that no one was annoyed that he had revealed to Williams where they intended to go, and finally slipped out the door. It was easy, he found, to follow her path. She tried to elude pursuit, heading down busy streets, doubling back, and then seeming to vanish from ordinary view by climbing swiftly to the roof tops, where she made her precarious way along to emerge in another street entirely. "Ah," thought Schuldig, "Your friend must be precious to you indeed, to risk such a thing when you have been beaten and are in pain!" It all availed his prey nothing, and soon Schuldig stood in the shadows, watching as Williams walked as straight and easily as she could towards a small house in a poor district, nodding to men who must be her neighbours. As she approached the door it flew open and a young woman, dark-haired and no more than eighteen, rushed out to fling her arms about her. Schuldig watched Williams hurry her back inside, then crept to the window to peer in as she kissed her young friend's face again and again, eager with relief and suppressed fear. Smiling at such girlish behaviour, Schuldig carefully insinuated the thought that it was more important to reassure her friend than to write any warning letter that evening. Then he crept away, back to his own friends, happily sure of their safety.

Paris, 1881

By the next morning they had secured a hotel in Paris, and – to Nagi's disgust – bought more clothes, the better to help them be unremarkable in their surroundings. Schuldig sought out the address he had ripped from Williams' mind, and returned with the news that Andersson was to attend a ball that night.

"Let us strike while the iron is hot," said Crawford.

"Why do we need to speak with these people at all?" asked Farfarello.

"I am thinking of the use they may be to us," said Crawford, pleased to see Farfarello accept this, even with ill grace.

"Are we going to need evening clothes?" asked Schuldig, and as Crawford nodded, laughed in delight, ignoring the despair on both Nagi and Farfarello's faces. He chivvied them out the door and towards the nearest tailors he could quickly find. He was less pleased, however, to realise it would not be possible to have bespoke clothing readied for them all in just a few hours. "I don't want to wear something prepared for another and altered to my size!" he complained.

"Hush," said Crawford with a smile. "Just be glad these people have defaulting customers who cannot pay the bill and so must leave their suit here for us to use. Farfarello, take Nagi and go to another tailor to see what they have that might be quickly altered. It might be best," he added, "If you could find something Nagi might wear during the day as well. I think it might prove difficult to find an opera cloak to properly fit his frame."

"All right," sighed Farfarello. "Come on, Nagi. At least we won't have to listen to Schuldig's complaints." He towed the lad away, followed first by a stream of abuse from Schuldig's lips, and then, once they were out of earshot, by the same complaints dripped into their minds till Schuldig, it seemed, was distracted by the sight of a cummerbund that met with his approval.

When they met again, some hours later, Schuldig's mood had improved. He sat in a café, smiling genially upon the world, and heaping cakes onto Nagi's plate. "You are too thin!" he cried. "We must fatten you up, Kaninchen!"

"How many treats did you have to promise him?" asked Farfarello, sipping the tea he had been brought.

"Schuldig's not a child, to be so easily placated," said Crawford easily, as Schuldig said in tones of victory,

"More than you will ever get, you drab crow. Did you find something to make you presentable tonight?"

"Yes," said Farfarello. "You will all be astonished by my masculine beauty. It'll stand in contrast to our little bright-haired popinjay here."

"Jealousy," said Schuldig, "Is most unattractive in a man. Model yourself on me, you have much to learn. I could teach you all a great deal."

"Do not make the response you wish to," said Crawford as Farfarello opened his mouth. "Let us not start arguing. Nagi, you will be ill if you keep eating those."

"I'm very hungry," said Nagi plaintively, but obediently put his plate a little distance from him. "They're very tasty."

"Yes, but too much cream does not agree with you," said Crawford. "And if Schuldig feels he needs to smuggle you more cakes, Schuldig can deal with the consequences of your upset stomach." He nodded as Schuldig sheepishly produced the plate of éclairs he had tried to pass to Nagi under the table. "Months of plain food on Mars, his illness on the etherflyer, and you think rich cakes are a good idea?" asked Crawford. "Your kindness is misplaced."

"He just looked so pitiful," said Schuldig. He brightened, continuing, "After tonight we will have time to do as we wish. I hope you are all prepared to accompany me on shopping expeditions?" He laughed heartlessly as Nagi and Farfarello groaned. "You'll come with me, at least?" he said to Crawford.

"I shall come with you as often as I can," said Crawford fondly. "Now, if we are finished?" He beckoned the waiter, and requested the bill. Having paid, he stood, shaking his head at the sight of Nagi attempting surreptitiously to eat one last cake. "Let us go and make Schuldig beautiful," said Crawford.

"What has the world come to if you too tease me?" said Schuldig lightly. "Do you think they will have finished altering the suits by now?"

"Let us give them a little more time. Come, I'll buy you some cologne," said Crawford, striding off, sure in the knowledge that he would be followed. Schuldig caught up to him in three strides, cheerfully linking their arms together and laughing up at Crawford's amusement.

"Schuldig must have made himself very pleasant company this afternoon," said Farfarello glumly. "Well, come along, Nagi, let us go and meet our sweet scented doom."

"Perhaps he shall like the first cologne he smells," said Nagi hopefully. He met Farfarello's gaze and sighed.

They walked with heavy tread after their friends.

The house was brightly lit, gay music clearly audible from the street. The cab drew up before the door and Schuldig leapt from it eagerly, his impatience barely restrained as Crawford paid the driver and the others disembarked.

"Come along." said Schuldig, "The sooner we go in, the sooner Crawford will be freed of his compulsion to seek out his school friends, and the sooner we can go to a fashionable restaurant."

"You are unfairly favoured," muttered Farfarello. "You get your restaurants and theatre outings, and yet everyone frowns on my simple pleasures." He glared as Schuldig turned the very brightest of smiles his way. "Enjoy your triumph," he said. "I'll think of some way to express my thoughts at a later time."

Nagi tugged at the cuffs of his jacket in displeasure, the grim mood he had felt ever since collecting his altered suit growing and turning more unpleasant. "Oh, how silly they are," he thought. "As soon as we have returned to Earth they have returned to their silly teasing and bickering. Oh, I think these sleeves are indeed too short! Blast it, how can I have grown since this afternoon? Farfarello is no good at buying clothing!" Keeping the unwelcome thought that he was indeed no longer the child they had discovered in Japan hidden deep within him, Nagi bent all his annoyance with his clothes, the evening and indeed the natural passage of time that inevitably makes small boys grow to gangling youths into a deep and furious black mood. It was better by far, he dimly reasoned with himself, to be angry than to be sad. Passersby glowered as they walked by him, and Schuldig reached out to ruffle his hair. "Don't!" snapped Nagi.

"A little more control," whispered Schuldig, bending to speak privately in his ear. "What is wrong? You were so annoyed in the cab. You are making everyone unsettled." He smiled sympathetically as Nagi hastily told himself he was merely annoyed with his new clothes.

"I look stupid," said Nagi, feeling he would rather die than admit the truth.

"Hmm," said Schuldig, and with an obvious effort not to let Nagi's black mood creep into his own, observed more cheerfully, "Look! I do believe this house has electric lights, just as did the Servia! I do hope they don't become more popular; the light they emit has a terribly draining effect on one's complexion."

"They'll be everywhere, in time," Crawford said distantly. He shook his head, as if to clear away cobwebs. "What an inordinately stupid thing about which to have a vision," he grumbled. "Schuldig, get us past the footmen and into this damn ball."

"Jawohl," said Schuldig, and led the way up the steps. "Please, Nagi," whispered his voice in Nagi's mind, "You are unsettling even Crawford! Be a little boy who can pretend he is a mouse, or a man who can stay quiet, but not something in between!"

Nagi clenched his hands into fists, feeling that he would, as it were, keep tighter rein on his feelings thereby. The wash of fury and misery that came over him at Schuldig's words surprised him, and he found himself worried by the hurt look that crossed Schuldig's face in that black mood's wake. Taking a deep breath and expelling it once more, he followed his friends up the steps, unsurprised to see that no challenge was given and they walked into the house as known and expected guests. Once their hats and coats had been handed over to one of the footmen they were shown down a hallway to a room that made Nagi stop and stare, his unhappiness and anger momentarily forgotten in his wonder at the sight. It was brightly lit with the very electrical lights that Schuldig had spoken of, and was filled with men in elegant attire and ladies in bright and beautiful dresses. Music and conversation filled the air, and through the dancers who filled the floor, Nagi could see a long table well-stocked with refreshments. He was glad to see that there was something of interest to him in the room. The crowd of bright dressed dancers was but something to be ignored in his estimation. He had neither the knowledge of how to dance nor any desire to learn, and thought that the music he had found in both America and Europe was, at best, barely deserving of the name.

"What a grumpy lad you are tonight!" grinned Schuldig. "I thought you enjoyed the times you have heard me sing, at least? I know that Crawford has always enjoyed my repertoire."

"The quality always comes as a surprise to me," said Nagi. He blushed as Farfarello laughed, and was relieved to see Schuldig was smiling in amusement. Crawford too smiled, and squeezed the lad's shoulder. All at once overwhelmed by the presence of his friends, Nagi felt some of his black mood lift. "I didn't mean to be rude," he said meekly. "Outside or now."

"Come on, let's get you some punch," said Schuldig, beginning to tug him through the crowd.

"The one without spirits in it," said Crawford quickly.

"I'm not sure I heard that," said Schuldig conspiratorially. "You can have a very little, if you like, but then we had better be good and do as Crawford says." He led the way to the table and handed Nagi a little glass cup of punch, smiling as Nagi drank it eagerly. "Not so fast! I don't want you to become ill!"

"Another one, please," said Nagi, feeling quite warmed from the inside out.

"Crawford will skin me alive," muttered Schuldig, doing as he asked.

"He'll let Farfarello do it," said Nagi cheekily, gratefully taking the second cup. "It's very tasty."

"Drinks suitable for young ladies for the rest of the evening," said Schuldig sternly. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes," said Nagi, surprised it was true. Schuldig gathered him into a one armed embrace and stood by him, watching the dancers.

"It's all right if you become a strangely sullen lad," Schuldig said. "Many do, when growing up. Farfarello must have been a nightmare, and Crawford tells me he was always subject to sudden fits of weeping and pimples." He grinned at Nagi's scandalized laughter. "I myself was always the best natured of fellows, of course," he said. "With the very smoothest and fairest of skin."

"Of course," said Nagi, and let himself relax more fully against the support of Schuldig's warm side. "I just feel so awkward, as if every move I make will bring things crashing down, and will make people laugh at me."

"That passes," promised Schuldig. "You have us to guide you, what more do you need?"

"Another punch?" asked Nagi hopefully, and didn't mind in the slightest when Schuldig just laughed and tightened his arm. He watched Crawford sweep the room with a glance, standing then still in the manner of, as it were, a hunter who has seen the prey come unsuspectingly nearer to its doom. Following the direction of Crawford's gaze, Nagi saw a woman, attired in a gown of the deepest midnight blue, the brightness of the diamonds about her fair neck put to shame by the pale flaxen hair arranged so perfectly upon her head that it seemed held up by nature, not feminine art. She danced lightly within the embrace of a man who seemed both ennobled and made utterly forgettable by her splendour. For a brief moment, Nagi found himself wishing he knew any European dance, though he knew he was not worth even a second's glance from her.

"Huh," ejaculated Schuldig. "Not bad, if you like that sort of thing, I suppose." Looking slyly at Nagi,he continued, "She is making you feel that way. That is Karin Andersson, one must presume, whom we have come to meet." He snapped his fingers in a vulgar manner in front of Nagi's nose, saying, in the lad's native tongue, "Nagi! Come now, she is like you, although more skilled in the use of her ability to influence one. She can know what one is feeling, and can make one feel what she wishes. It seems," he said in a poisonous tone, "That she wishes men to see her as prettier than she is. What a vain and womanly use of one's abilities. Here, let me grant you some protection -"

Nagi blinked as he suddenly thought in a clearer manner, hearing Schuldig's voice within his mind murmuring, "That's right, picture a wall, as I have taught you – higher, Nagi, and without doors. Good lad." The woman was still very beautiful, he thought, but not as fascinating as he had at first considered her.

"We have spent too much time training you in the use of your power to move things," muttered Schuldig. "I will be spending time now training you to erect defences in your mind. You won't always be able to hide behind mine."

Crawford looked over at them, as if he had heard their conversation within his mind. He nodded, the very faintest of smiles upon his face at Schuldig's answering glance, then stepped out onto the dance floor as the music began to slow and die.

"Excuse me," he said, as the woman whom he sought turned, laughing, from her current companion. "Fräulein Andersson, Guten Abend." So saying, he bowed smartly, in the German manner.

Not the slightest hint of recognition crossed her face as she bent upon him a dazzling smile that took, for an instant, the breath from him. "Bon soir," she said, her manner gracious, yet leaving no doubt that it was a dismissal.

"Andersson," hissed Crawford as she turned away.

"That is no longer my name," she said, looking over her shoulder. "My name is Bouchard now."

"You married?" said Crawford.

"Many do," she said, as she turned about to face him. "Have you come to ask questions about my life, Mr. Crawford?"

"You have children?"

Her face betrayed something then, though he was unsure of what. "They are very young," she said. "You have no cause to know them."

"Do we not share a young relative in common, Madame Bouchard?"

She looked upon him in relieved dislike, flicking open her fan to banish the heat of the dance floor. "Was that not a long time ago, Mr. Crawford? There is nothing to be done about it now. Good evening." So saying, she fully turned her back to him.

"Karin," said Crawford, reaching out to seize her arm. "Let us talk - "

"Are we friends, Mr. Crawford?" she said. "Let me go, people are looking." As he released her arm the musicians struck up again. Looking swiftly about her, she took a breath and curtsied slightly, holding out a graceful hand to Crawford. "Well?" she said, smiling widely as he hastily erected what defences he could against her supernatural power. "Have you forgotten how to dance, Crawford? You best had follow my lead."

"I'm not one to follow," he said, taking her hand within his own. The steps came to mind after only the shortest of time, though he had the strongest feeling Andersson was making allowances for him. "Let us discuss that which we have in common," he murmured under cover of the music.

"Let us let the past be the past," she said. "There is nothing either one of us can say that will change it."

"Do you not care?" asked Crawford.

"When," said Andersson evenly, "Did it matter what any of us cared?" She smiled brilliantly in a way that told to any who observed her that she was enjoying the evening without any worries pressing upon her, though Crawford saw the smile did not touch her eyes. "Come now, Crawford," she said. "Why are you here? I was not told of your arrival; are you here at short notice?"

"Would you normally be told such things?" he asked.

She did not answer, simply letting her gaze sweep across the room as they moved through the dance. "The red-haired man, and the one-eyed man with white hair," she said. "Which is your mind reader?"

Crawford smiled. "The red head."

"And the boy with him?"

"Is merely a boy travelling in our company."

Her expression stiffened and she stepped back, with the politest of curtsies. "It's so dreadfully hot," she said, distaste clear in the lineaments of her face. "I'm afraid I have a sick headache. Perhaps you can come to my house tomorrow? I assume you know where it is?"

"Shall you be there?" asked Crawford, foreseeing suddenly that she should be, but something within the vision unsettled him.

"Let us say ten o'clock," she said. "I shall be waiting." With that she turned away and hurried from the room.

"Well," thought Crawford, "At least she shall be there to hear me." He looked over at Schuldig, a querying expression upon his face. For his part, Schuldig was at that moment staring after Madame Bouchard as she departed, a moue of discontent upon his lips.

″"We should be all the family he needs," he muttered, shaking his head at the way in which she walled her mind off from prying. Nagi leaned against him, feeling he quite agreed. He staggered a little as Schuldig suddenly came alert, his sharp features appearing keen and wolfish rather than lazily bored as they had previously. "Was?" he said, looking more intently after the departed woman. Seizing Nagi's hand, he pulled him in his wake towards Crawford who was for his part, coming to meet them.

"Crawford!" said Schuldig, looking about him and then continuing purely within Crawford's mind, "You are going to lose any leverage you have over that woman; she hid her thought as best she could as she left – it was quite clear to me she knew there was a mind reader in the room."

"Yes, yes," thought Crawford in impatience. "What did you discern?"

"She did not know that I am not the common run of mind reader that's for sure – when she was out of my sight and lost, as she thought, within a greater press of unknown minds, she let down her guard to some extent. Crawford, she thinks you have come from the Schloß to take her children, and she has gone to make that impossible."

"She will take her children and flee?" asked Crawford in their silent communication.

"No. She means to put them beyond all mortal reach, and then wait for what she sees as the retribution of the Schloß."

Crawford clenched his fists. "Why would she not flee afterwards, in such a case?"

Schuldig shrugged. "She perhaps would consider there less reason to live on than she heretofore had – she won't be amenable to reason tomorrow, I should say."

Suppressing an oath, Crawford turned on his heel and walked swiftly for the exit, Schuldig behind him, still holding Nagi by the hand. "Farfarello!" he called out silently to their friend, "Schnell! We are leaving!"

They rushed out, but their quarry was nowhere to be seen. Seeing a footman returning from the cold and dark, Schuldig let go of Nagi and took the footman's shoulder to spin him round. "A woman," he said, holding his hand at a level between the crown of his head and his own shoulder, "Of such a height, with fair hair. Did you see her leave?"

The man blinked at the vehemence of the question and the manner in which Schuldig's supernatural power made it necessary to answer. "Yes," he said. "Madame Bouchard's carriage left not more than a few moments ago."

Abandoning this unfortunate, Schuldig ran to a carriage he saw waiting and bent his will upon the driver. "You will take us where I say," he said firmly.

"But this carriage belongs to Monsieur – yes,sir," finished the driver, his face growing somewhat slack and confused.

"Come on, come on!" cried Schuldig to the others, grinning as they leapt into the carriage. Giving the desired address to the driver, he joined them inside, landing half across Farfarello's lap.

"Sit on Crawford's knee, not mine," grumbled Farfarello.

"Well then, I shall," said Schuldig lightly, matching his actions to his words. He smiled in triumph as Crawford held on to him tightly. He then had to swallow a little gasp as the carriage took a corner too sharply, and he was almost thrown back into Farfarello's embrace.

"I did not think you would have relished the indignity," said Crawford dryly, not relinquishing his grip. "This fellow's driving skills leave somewhat to be desired."

"I did tell him to hurry and not to spare the horses," admitted Schuldig. "Perhaps I will sit beside you – move up, Nagi."

"I am smaller and should sit between you for safety," said Nagi, ending this statement with a squeak as another corner was rounded and he was the one to fly across the carriage.

"Sit tight," said Farfarello, hauling him back and holding on to the lad. "Schuldig, did you quite melt the driver's common sense when you took his mind?"

"At least we'll get there quickly," retorted Schuldig, adding as a private aside to Crawford in his queer, silent communication, "Have you seen us arrive with our necks unbroken?"

"Our necks, yes," answered Crawford aloud. "One need not have oracular powers to tell our dignity shall take a beating." He braced himself firmly, all the others following his lead, just as they took a bridge and all the carriage's wheels left the cobbles, coming down again with a great crash.

"I feel ill," moaned Nagi.

"No, no, no!" said Schuldig hurriedly, regretting allowing the lad any food at all that day. "Quick, I'll send you to sleep!"

"I don't want to sleep!" rejoined Nagi, who then turned a most peculiar colour and flung open the door of the carriage, leaning out precariously. Both Farfarello and Schuldig leapt for him, holding him tight and drawing him back.

"No dignity at all, I should say," muttered Farfarello, as Schuldig wiped Nagi's little face with a new handkerchief before looking at it in disgust and flinging it from the carriage.

At last the carriage halted, and they emerged into a dark street, Nagi clinging weakly to Schuldig who petted him and encouraged him to stand up straight.

"Why, what am I doing here?" asked the driver, rousing as it were from a deep sleep.

"Oh, go away!" snapped Schuldig, not bothering to look as the man obediently urged the exhausted horses to a sedate walk. "Nagichen, be a good boy and take a deep breath. Good lad." He stroked the lad's hair back from his brow, murmuring words of encouragement to him. As he did so, another carriage entered the street at a more conventional pace, coming to a halt outside the house they had sought. "There she is," said Schuldig. "She did not wish to hurry to this task, it seems."

"Andersson!" cried Crawford, striding forward. "We must talk!"

Andersson gave him one quick glance as she descended from her carriage, then ran up the steps to her house. She stopped as a figure rose from the shadows where it had sat, looking between this newcomer and Crawford.

"Karin!" cried the figure, running down to seize her arms, "Get into the house, I'll keep them back!"

"Quite the reunion," said Farfarello as Andersson freed herself and ran past the person now revealed as Williams to hammer on the door.

"Open the door!" she cried in French, "It is Madame Bouchard!"

Williams took a deep breath and clapped her hands together, drawing them apart to reveal a glowing arc of flame. Crawford leapt aside before the bolt of fire hit the pavement. Another figure, a girl with a pale, scared face, stepped from the shadows as a maid opened the front door a crack　before shutting it again in haste when she saw the scene outside.

"Put down your weapons and don't resist," the girl said in a trembling voice. "You do not wish to resist."

"I am," said Schuldig, "Professionally insulted. This is embarrassing." So saying, he directed a glare at the girl, which by itself seemed enough to daunt her　but, accompanied by a supernatural assault as it was, was more than enough to cause her to sink insensible to the ground. "Nagi!" continued Schuldig, "Knock the other two down!"

Ashamed that he had appeared weak in the carriage, and furious at the sight of his friends under attack, Nagi did not hold his temper a moment longer, and smiled as the force of his anger flung Williams back against the other woman, causing them both to crash to the ground. He pressed them down, so they could not move, hard enough to hurt a great deal, he hoped.

"She's like Micah," he said angrily. "Will I break her neck?"

"Hush," said Schuldig. "Not yet. Wait till Crawford sees sense, he'll be upset otherwise." He patted Nagi's cheek, adding silently, "You are a good, reasonable boy. But let me do it, if it comes to that, all right?"

"All right," sighed Nagi. "I'm not a baby. I helped you on Mars, did I not?" He carefully walked closer to Crawford, keeping his prisoners immobile as he did so, leaving them barely the power to draw breath, and none to voice any complaint.

"We did not come to fight," said Crawford, looking about him as windows began to open in other houses. "We wish only to talk, I swear it." He stepped out of Williams' line of sight, batting at a flame that had appeared upon his person. "We are going into your house," he said evenly, in a tone his friends knew hid great annoyance, "And we are going to talk. If either of you try to fight us again, I shall tell Nagi to break your bones until you are prepared to listen to reason."

"You are an example in how to talk to women," said Farfarello jovially, bending to pick up the unconscious girl and slinging her over his shoulder. "Good evening!" he said politely to a woman who stared out of her window at them, grinning as she withdrew hurriedly.

"Into the house, quickly," said Crawford, nodding his approval as Nagi bent his will upon the door, which opened at once. They entered quickly, Schuldig stepping forward to meet the alarmed footmen the maid had summoned.

"Quiet, now," he said in a comforting voice. "Shh, that's it, no need to worry -"

When the servants had been sent, confused but docile, back to their beds, and Crawford had installed both his friends and their prisoners in a sitting room more decorative than comfortable, he beckoned Nagi to his side, murmuring, "Let Andersson move a little, but keep a close control on Williams; we do not want the house in flames about us." Turning back to the women, he continued, "Andersson- or Bouchard if you wish - truly, we did not come to fight. Neither you nor anyone you value need fear us."

"I will do," she said, "Anything you please. Just leave my children be."

"Aren't you a loyal servant?" said Schuldig in cheerful malice, his composure fully assured once more. "Don't you want to further the great cause?"

Ignoring him, Andersson looked only at Crawford, her lovely face sorrowful and pitiable. "Do not take them there. Crawford, please - they are girls!"

"Don't beg!" snapped Crawford. "And don't try your tricks on me! You used to have more pride. In the Schloß I spoke my mind, and kept my word, did I not? And I say we are not here to collect children for that place."

"What of that boy?" said Andersson, her glance darting to Nagi. "Why else would you have him with you?"

"We wouldn't give him to them," said Crawford. "Nagi is one of us, and we do not turn our friends over to the Schloß. Be reasonable, Andersson," he said. "I could kill you with ease - I could have killed Williams in London, and yet you both live. I do not want to kill my allies - we considered ourselves such once and can do so again."

With a great effort, Williams drew breath to say, "You can see the marks of their love on my face, Karin."

"You should not have preferred fighting to speech," said Crawford. "That has not changed since you were a girl. Really, such female impetuousness! You should be glad to be visited by someone who has proven he can think as well as act. You should have remained as meek as we last saw you."

Schuldig laughed at Crawford's tone of irritation, saying, "What were you thinking, to have an untrained mind reader face me? When you were so desperate to protect her, before! She hasn't so much of a skill at defence as even a child would have in the Schloß!"

"Is she dead?" asked Williams in a thin and strained voice.

"No," said Schuldig. "Don't insult me further; I know my business. Be a good girl, Fräulein Williams, and you can see that for yourself." Receiving a nod of permission from Crawford, he whispered to Nagi, "Let her breathe more easily." As Williams drew a deep breath and coughed as if her lungs had become unused to the easy flow of air, Schuldig picked up the unconscious girl and laid her across Williams' lap. "Wake up," he said, giving a flourishing gesture that ended in an imperious snap of the fingers. The girl moaned and stirred, Williams clutching at her so she would not fall. "Always put on a show," murmured Schuldig to Nagi, who grinned up at him in appreciation.

"May we now talk?" said Crawford.

"What do you want?" asked Andersson.

"I want to know that others do not take the benefits of my labour. I want to know I am my own man. I do not want to toil endlessly for a great and endless plan that serves often simply to keep people such as you and I the mere placid servants of others. I want what you want," he said, a little smile touching his lips. "I want to live my life as I please, with people who please me. I do not want others to take anything that's mine, whether wealth or people. That's what you want, isn't it? Freedom? I plan on taking mine no matter what stands arrayed against me."

"They were on Mars," said Williams, laughing briefly. "The sun has driven him mad."

"Come now, Andersson - Karin," said Crawford in a gentle voice, "And you too, Ellen, I presume - when you were seventeen if you had had a choice of undertaking the special duties laid upon girls or simply walking out of that place, which would you have chosen? Why are you choosing otherwise now?"

There was a deep silence before Williams said coldly, "You are a piece of filth, Bradley Crawford."

"Not I," said Crawford easily. "I believe it was said of me that I was not as bad as I might have been." He pulled a straight backed chair to him, sitting down. "Let us not talk of such old matters, if you wish- though there are questions about that I will have answered - let me say simply that I would not want my allies to suffer future hurt in that regard. Listen to me, both of you; when I'd been out of their reach long enough, I had to query what they want of us. Will we all be rulers and beneficiaries of their new order for the world, or will not a few- the oldest, the most politically adroit - grow fat on the fruit of the labours of all others? Will not their loyal servants remain servants, while the masters laugh? I was not made for that - what man is? Do not tell me you have submitted yourselves to the views of the world that women are naturally fitted for such subordinate rôles!"

"If we do what they want, we're left alone," said Andersson.

"How weak that sounds! How compliant! Were you taught to comply with the demands of those weaker than you? How did it feel, Andersson, to be told to become a submissive wife? You must love your husband very much, I take it?"

"D--n you," said Andersson. "Get out of here. Take your "freedom" and leave me be. You cannot understand my position - "

"I cannot? I have people whom I love and would not lose - look at them! I wouldn't lose them for the world! The Schloß sent my own brother against me, and it is because of my friends that I still live. I want their freedom as much as my own, I want them not to be the servants of that place. I understand what they have done to you better than you know."

"A pretty speech," murmured Schuldig's voice in his mind, sounding not at all displeased.

"I mean it," answered Crawford in like manner. "It is the only way, with a person such as her; she would know false feelings at once." Looking between Andersson and Williams he said aloud, "We had an alliance as children, cannot we even discuss the possibilities of the same as men and women? I kept my word to you in the Schloß, let me show I will keep it now. Williams, are you not tired of skulking round, needing to know when those such as us come to your city? Would it not be better to be free of the worry that someone will notice you are already a traitor, and have kept a prize from them? Andersson, would you not like to take your children and go where you would never be found? The worlds are large, ladies, all any of us need is to ensure we are not actively hunted down." He shook his head as Williams held her friend more tightly to herself. "I told you in London - we are like you, we have someone whom the Schloß would want, and have not reported him. We each hold that information over each other. And Andersson, you would have defied a presumed order to give up your children. We are all alike, we need not fear one another."

Seeing a brief instance of hesitation upon Andersson's face, Nagi thought of how he might help, that he could spread his feelings of trust and good-will in his friends to her and Williams. Accordingly, he thought very hard of how much he liked Crawford and Schuldig, and how pleased he was that Farfarello was his friend rather than his enemy, all but screwing his face up in his concentration upon his feelings. It was with some disconcertion that he saw a sharp look come into Andersson's eyes, and her gaze fix firmly upon his face.

"You, what is it you can do?"

"I can move things with my mind," said Nagi meekly, wishing now that he had never tried to intrude upon her.

"What else, child?" she said, so very kindly that Nagi felt tears come to his eyes as all at once he could not stop himself from thinking of how it had been when he had been a very little boy, and his mother had held him, making him feel he needed no one else.

"I can make people feel things," he said, even as Schuldig snapped, "Nagi, shh!" Nagi hung his head, feeling more and more as if he were a small infant, and wanting nothing more than to curl up upon Andersson's lap and have her stroke and comfort him. He walked slowly towards her, and blinked in shock as Schuldig seized his shoulders. The sensation of his mind, as it were, being plunged into cold water suffused the lad's being, and his ears all but rang with the silent report of unseen and impenetrable walls closing tight about him.

"Keep your wits about you," said Schuldig, shaking him lightly. "Leave him alone," he added to Andersson.

"When I am pushed," said Andersson, "I push back. What an interesting child." She turned her attention once more to Crawford, her expression more easy. "How long have you kept him from the Schloß?"

"Four years," said Crawford. "Almost five."

"Well, now," said Andersson. "Perhaps we may discuss possibilities after all. You must give me time to think - and you must give me Williams as well. We have a lot we need to speak of. Let us set each other a test of trust."

"What test?" said Crawford, seeking quickly to attempt the future to reveal itself to him.

"Your mind reader was right," said Andersson. "Williams was foolish to use someone untrained against him - no, Williams,　you were; why your friend is still all but insensible! So I propose we each prove our goodwill to the other by increasing the value of each other's assets. Let us both think very carefully what it is we wish to say to the other, and let us keep the customs of our youth. We will exchange hostages," she said, even as Schuldig's eyes widened and he said, "Crawford, no!" "We shall take this boy, and you shall take Williams' mind reader."

"Absolutely not!" cried Williams.

"People untrained in the supernatural powers they possess are a danger both to themselves and others; you train our mind reader, and I will train this child," said Andersson, reaching out and holding Nagi's fingers lightly in her own. She smiled as a fearful expression crept across his face. "Dear child," she said softly, "Don't be afraid, you'll like what I can teach you."

"Crawford, we are not letting this harpy sink her claws into Nagi - " started Schuldig.

"Give them Maria? As well give a lamb into the care of wolves!" cried Williams.

"Done," said Crawford, eliciting a howl of protest from Schuldig and a furious glare from Farfarello.

"Brad!"

"I will not!" yelled Williams.

"Williams, you shall!" said Andersson, in sharp tones well-used to command. She leapt up and strode over, pulling the half-insensible girl from Williams’ grasp and thrusting her towards Schuldig. "The slightest damage, and we shall know how to take your offer of alliance," she said over her shoulder to Crawford.

"We likewise," said Crawford.

"Crawford - " said Farfarello, to be drowned out as Schuldig cried, "Brad, don't be so stupid -" "You fool," said Farfarello, as Crawford's face set in obstinacy at having been so publicly challenged.

"I shall be back in two days time," said Crawford, giving Nagi a push even closer to Andersson and away from the safety of his friends. "You had better be ready to talk sense."

"Crawford?" said Nagi, feeling that things moved about him far more quickly than he liked. "Schuldig?" He turned about to watch Crawford step back, his face closed and angry. Nagi took a little step towards him and stopped as Crawford held up his hand in silent commend to halt.

"We will be back for you," said Crawford. "Schuldig, take that girl and let's go."

As Williams swore at Andersson, Nagi watched Schuldig, his face set in fury, fling their hostage into Farfarello's grasp, then stalk from the room. Farfarello nodded, once, at Nagi, and followed, Crawford leaving last of all. Nagi swallowed hard, not looking behind him as Williams' imprecations ran down to a more quiet and desperate noise that stilled, as it seemed by sheer force of will. "I must be brave," thought Nagi, wishing with all his heart that he were on the other side of the door. "If this is what Crawford wants, it must be the right thing. I mustn't weep. They would tell me to be brave." With this thought in his mind,　he slowly turned and raised his eyes to meet the cold gaze of his captors, feeling in truth that never in his life had he been less brave than at that lonely moment.