With Euphrosynia gone her Jägers were shuffled back into the ranks alongside all the other Jägers. Maxim was sent back to the cavalry — it was what he was trained for even if the horses he was used to weren't carnivorous — while the other two went to the infantry. Right now, with peace still a thing and the Heterodynes not planning to be the first to break it, that meant very little beyond training and the three of them had plenty of time to seek each other out. It felt like something no one else could understand, none of the other Jägers around them had ever had their Heterodyne choose to leave them behind.

Euphrosynia sent letters to her family and, oddly, to the Castle — ones full of architectural drawings which caused it to spend hours rebuilding bits of itself and then soliciting passersby for opinions. Not to her bodyguards, but none of them would have expected it. It just felt as if they'd been cast off so easily.

But she was okay. No one looked worried after reading her letters and she'd call on her family if anything was wrong. Even if she wasn't in Mechanicsburg she was fine.

It was a few months before that changed. The Doom Bell rang out and, as always, they hurried to the square in front of the Castle to hear the announcement. An attack? No one had seen attackers approaching. A celebration?

The Castle's voice rang out. 'Euphrosynia is gone. Vanished from her bed.' Everyone fell silent, Jägers and humans alike stood with their faces turned towards the Castle. The doors ground open, revealing Clemethius clad in full armour.

'We are going to find her,' Clemethius bellowed. 'And we will make whoever has her pay.'

The roar of agreement echoed around the square.

The fury and anxiety Maxim felt was shared by the whole pack. One of their Heterodynes was missing and every one of them was ready to tear armies apart to reach her. It was comforting, in a way, to be surrounded by his own emotions reflected back at him — to throw themselves into this as pack and brothers. It seemed as if nothing could prevail against them.

They ran through the palace when they reached it, in groups and then splitting up to search singly, ignoring humans who screamed and fled or watched them with timid suspicion through open doors. The whole palace smelled of Euphrosynia. Not deeply, not a trail, but the way Castle Heterodyne did. The way some parts of Mechanicsburg did. She lived here, she walked around often enough to leave traces, under other circumstances it would be comforting. Right now it was driving Maxim frantic. Shaking with it, eyes blinking open and closed as he tried to shut out everything to follow a scent while still not running into walls. Her room smelled of her. He hadn't meant to go there, that had already been checked, but the trails lead there, of course, it was at the centre of the faint web of traces. Forcing most of his concentration into his nose already he could practically smell her outline on the bed, the stronger scent there, she'd slept sprawled out across the middle of it, he could almost see her arm flung out.

He was shaking again, only just managing not to whine like a frustrated dog. It wasn't that he couldn't imagine what had happened to her, it was that far too many things could have happened to her. Everyone had assassins and spies and Sparks. Maybe it was surprising they hadn't just left the body (it meant there was hope, they might have taken her alive) but the body could have shown things that would give them away. Shown a method.

He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the room, just…just once, to make sure no one had missed any scent trails. Even if he wasn't actually very good at this. Even if he was getting more and more distracted by the image of her on the bed, because he really wasn't very good at this and therefore not really good enough to differentiate between her scent on the sheets and her scent on her. With his eyes closed it was too easy to believe she was somehow lying there. He forced himself to blink his eyes open and scrubbed his wrist across them. This was doing no good at all.

Back to the corridors, crossing and recrossing his own trail as he checked rooms, the sharp scent of other Jägers everywhere around him. Searchers caught each others' eyes and looked away, eyes half closing as they followed their noses, trying to see into the past. Maxim pushed open door after door after door, until he pushed open one and, still following trails, smelled machine oil and metal before he looked up and saw who he was intruding upon.

The Muses were sitting on benches around the room, the two in dark and light coats had been reading books, as had one in purple. The dancer and the game player had been playing chess. Now all of them were looking at him.

'Did hyu keel her?' Maxim asked.

They looked at one another, uncertain, and the chess board closed itself away with a click. 'What did our sister do?' asked the one in the white coat.

'She tried,' Maxim answered. He could probably take them, if he had to, he thought. They weren't made to fight, as Otilia had been. If he wasn't stupid enough to close with them he could certainly do enough damage to get away.

'Where is she?' asked the dancer. The game player handed her a card. 'She —'

'Der Kestle has her. Vhere is Mistress Euphrosynia?'

'We do not know,' said the one in black.

'We knew the Empire would fall because of her, but this is not the ending we predicted,' said the one in white. 'We cannot help you. Nor can we help our Master.'

The game player looked up, the joints of her hands moving smoothly as she shuffled the cards, and then held one up. A wheel, like a cart wheel, with a vine wrapped around it, budding in one quarter, blooming in another, red in a third and bare in the fourth. It was not enlightening.

'Vot is dot supposed to mean?'

The dancer leant over. 'The Wheel. Things returning to their roots, history repeating, or possibly travel by caravan.'

'Euphrosynia iz in a caravan?'

'Unlikely,' said the dancer.

The game player pulled out another card, the figure of a young woman in a white dress and a silver crown.

'The Princess,' said the dancer.

'Euphrosynia?' Maxim interrupted, looking at the game player. She held the card up between her fingers and then suddenly it was gone, vanished as inexplicably as Euphrosynia herself. She reached into the deck again and pulled out an identical card, laying it down beside the wheel. Maxim growled in frustration. 'Iz she coming beck? Hy don't understand.'

'Not your Princess,' said the muse in black. 'A second one.'

'Vhy should I care about a second vun? Hy iz looking for Euphrosynia!'

The game player looked up at him, expression unreadable, and pulled out a third card. A tower struck by lightning, almost split in half by it.

'The Tower,' said the dancer. 'Disaster, or catastrophic change.'

Maxim took a deep breath and looked around the room. All the muses were watching now, and he had the feeling that they were seeing some significance in this that he wasn't. He didn't care. Whatever they were trying to tell him it wasn't about Euphrosynia. 'Vell. Tenk hyu for de help, but Hy iz dealing vit one catastrophe already. Try tellink somevun else about de other vun.'

He strode out of the room and slammed the door behind him, but could still hear someone inside the room say, 'It will not work like that.' The mechanical voice sounded oddly sad.

When someone grabbed him from behind Maxim jumped, even as his nose told him, Jäger. Ognian. Ognian was looking at him with wide eyes, claws tugging at Maxim's collar. 'Ve haff to get outside.'

'Vhy?' Maxim shoved him off, looking around at the corridor wildly, as if it might give up the secret of where Euphrosynia was in the few seconds before he had to stop searching it.

Ognian tugged at him again. 'Ve iz at var.'

Maxim stopped resisting, running alongside him as they headed to rejoin the pack. 'Dey found her? Found who took her? Ve iz fighting dem?'

'No.'

'Den vhy? Who vit?'

'Valois. He iz attacking —'

'But he doesn't haff her, he vould not haff let us here —'

'He tinks Ogglespoon does.'

Maxim stopped and Ognian turned, looking at him in frustration. 'He iz wrong,' Maxim said.

'Hy know dot,' said Ognian.

'Den ve haff to stay. Ve ken't go und fight…Ogglespoon does not haff her, Valois does not haff her, ve ken't find her by going und getting involved.'

Ognian huffed. 'Ve ken't refuse either.'

'Ve haff to search,' Maxim protested, glancing at a door. He hadn't been through that one. Had he? He was losing track.

'Ve haff searched. Valois didn't tink ve vas helping to begin vit, he's not gun let us stay here now he und Clemethius iz fighting. He vas goink on about it, "all dese Jägers overrunning my palace iz not really helping, blah blah blah". Und dot vas before Clemethius took Ogglespoon's side.'

'Zo ve iz giffing op on her?'

'Hyu tink she'd vant Ogglespoon dead?'

The strange harmonics of the Heterodyne Bugle rang from outside, sounding an order to gather. Maxim's head turned towards it instinctively and Ognian took advantage to tug him along again.

'Iz not safe in here now,' Ognian said. 'Come on.'

Maxim followed him, thinking of Euphrosynia and Ogglespoon in her garden. He knew she wouldn't want him dead, but they needed to find her. It was no use, either way, though. If Valois was going to fight them then whether it was here or on Ogglespoon's land they couldn't search at the same time. It was tempting to stay, though. On his own he might have pretended he hadn't heard the bugle, because finding her now, immediately, before they had to leave was the only chance of averting any of this. No matter how unlikely it was to happen.

Outside the Jägers were lining up in their units and Maxim left Ognian to go and join his. His gaze flicked over the infantry as he did, Fane was there but Vali wasn't. He stopped, not sure whether to worry about Vali or hope he'd found something, and Fane caught his eye and waved him on to his own regiment. He looked worried though.

Maxim took his place and turned, along with everyone else, towards Clemethius. Bludtharst was standing a little behind his father, scowling. 'We are at war,' Clemethius announced, the square going silent as soon as he spoke. 'Valois has given us safe passage from his land since we came here invited, but as soon as we leave it we are enemies.' Again, he didn't say. 'He is marching on Ogglespoon's land under the belief Ogglespoon has Euphrosynia. We must defend our ally.' The Heterodynes defended allies as and when they felt like it. He meant they must defend someone Euphrosynia had loved — did love, Maxim corrected himself — and who certainly didn't have her. Ogglespoon might have carried her off if he could, but he could never have gone against her wishes long enough to conceal her from her family or her people. 'Cavalry, fetch your mounts. We ride at noon.'

Maxim wasn't terribly surprised when both Fane and Ognian, neither of whom had mounts, converged on him while he was getting his. 'Vhere is Vali?' he asked Fane quickly.

Fane grimaced. 'Hy don't know. Ve all split up, looking.'

'Jenka's gone in to find de stragglers,' said Ognian.

'Ve haff safe passage,' Maxim said, aware he didn't sound very hopeful about it even as he said it. Valois wouldn't openly start anything here and now when he wanted to attack Ogglespoon instead, but he wouldn't be acting out of honour. Not against Jägers.

The sound of snarling from the courtyard had them all hurrying out, Maxim's horse with bared teeth and pinned back ears as it picked up on the uneasiness. Someone was fighitng a Jäger. Or, as it turned out, two Jägers were fighting each other. Vali was on the ground, at the end of eight claw marks which had dragged furrows in the palace flooring and also the flagstones of the courtyard itself. Jenka was dragging him and looking furious.

As soon as they were far enough from the palace door it was obvious that he had lost the battle to remain inside Vali twisted over and lunged up at Jenka's throat. She pulled back and slammed a foot down on his chest while he clawed bloody streaks down her arms. Other Jägers were converging on them and Maxim was reminded of Vali's first night in Mamma Gkika's. No one wanted to hurt him but they couldn't let him do this, either. This time, though, Maxim stayed still. He had to stay with his horse, he told himself, but more than that he wasn't sure whose side he'd be on if he went over there. Alone he'd let himself be herded out, even when his instincts were screaming at him to search, but if it was the two of them…

A hand on his shoulder surprised him and he turned to see Dimo, with one hand on his shoulder and one on Fane's. 'Hyu two stay put,' he said firmly.

Jenka managed to get Vali pinned, kneeling on his legs and holding both his wrists with one hand. Her face was hidden behind her hair and her everpresent cloth. 'Hyu behave,' she said with a snarl in her voice. 'Ve dun't have time for this. Stay behind vhen ve go und they'll kill hyu.'

Vali snarled up at her, but he sounded defeated.

'This is why I didn't want those things to have the run of my palace,' someone said, not loudly, but in the square of nearly silent Jägers it was heard and everyone turned towards Clemethius. Valois had joined him. Despite indignation at his words and a deeper anger at having the search interrupted Maxim's first thought was that he looked wrecked. He was still dressed fashionably, but his clothes were rumpled as if he hadn't changed them for a while, his eyes were red and his face was pale.

'Be quiet,' snapped Clemethius. 'Or this war will happen sooner than either of us want it.' He strode forward and reached down towards Vali who snapped at his hand instinctively and then froze. 'Get up,' he said icily. Jenka pulled back and Vali climbed to his feet. 'Take your place in the ranks.' Vali walked away, head down, and Clemethius turned to Jenka. 'Was that everyone?'

'Yes, sir,' she said, climbing to her own feet and saluting.

'Good.' Clemethius eyes swept the courtyard and the Jägers scrambled to get into their units before his gaze reached them. Maxim pulled his suddenly reluctant horse into place just in time. 'Mount,' Clemethius said and then, as everyone obeyed, 'Bring me my horse.' Valois was staring, apparently stunned that the so far chaotic Jägers were now responding with silent and efficient obedience. Clemethius and Bludtharst mounted their own horses and the bugler blew another call. Clemethius raised his voice again, the sound of it like a whip, 'And now we ride.'