Hamish X and the Hollow Mountain (28 page)

“Yes,” Aidan said, calmer now. “Close the pods.”

“Close pods!” Cara shouted the order. Each Guard echoed the order in turn as they stepped into the pods and pulled the hatches closed. As each one thudded shut there was a hiss and the pod slid out of its socket. The pods fell away, down stone tubes into darkness, carrying their precious cargo to safety.

At last, the only pod remaining was the one containing Mr. Kipling, Mrs. Francis, and ten frightened children.

Aidan came over to the open hatch where Mimi and Cara waited. “In you go, girls.”

“You first,” Mimi said, scowling.

Aidan looked into her eyes. “It's bad enough that my King has sent me away. Let me be the last to leave, at least.”

Cara looked at her brother for a long moment and then nodded. “You did everything you could.” Impulsively, she kissed his cheek before stepping into the pod.

“We'll git 'em back fer this,” Mimi swore. She stepped into the pod after Cara. The girls settled onto the bench beside Mrs. Francis. They fastened their belts. Cara held out a hand to Aidan.

“Come on, little brother,” she said softly.

Aidan stood in the hatchway and smiled sadly. “I love you, big sister. Goodbye.” He slammed the hatch shut.

“Aidan!” Cara screamed but it was too late. The pod dropped away and fell into darkness.

THE TEDDY
shambled in a headlong rush at the King, razor-sharp claws extended. Raccoons leapt at the beast, clinging to its metal limbs and attempting to slow its progress, but without any real effect. The King waited until the Teddy was only a few steps away before leaping up, directing both feet at its furry face.

The creature reached out mid-stride and swatted the King like a fly, sending him tumbling through the air to crash into the stone wall of the cavern. The Teddy skidded to a stop. Swarming with raccoons, it shook itself like a dog, sending furry tormentors scattering like drops of water. Then it swung its massive head until it locked onto the King's prone body. Liam stirred painfully.

The King was having trouble rising. His left arm was useless, crushed in the impact with the wall. He pushed himself into a sitting position with his right arm. His legs were sluggish but he managed to force himself upright. He looked at the floor beside him and saw a raccoon twitching, its mechanical back broken but its eyes still aware.

“Oh George, it pains me to see you like this.”

“Don't worry about me, my King. One of us is even now making its way out. I will live on.”

The King smiled and reached out, scratching the twitching creature on the top of its flat skull. “Old friend,” Liam rasped. “I will miss you. Even if you are only a machine.”

“My … King,” the raccoon croaked, its vocal projection systems badly damaged. “I will hold you in my hard drive, forever.”

“That will have to do. Goodbye, George.”

The raccoon, and all the raccoons in the chamber, went still. The King turned to the Teddy and waited.

The Teddy seemed to sense that its prey was wounded. It made a leisurely approach, traversing the flagstones with slow, heavy steps. The paving shattered under its ponderous clawed feet. The King waited until it was less than five metres away—and then leapt with all his strength, his one good arm extended.

The King's leap carried him between the monster's mighty paws. King Liam latched his legs around the creature's neck. He immediately began punching the glossy surface of an eye lens with his right arm. Glass shattered. Half-blinded, the Teddy roared in fury, grabbed hold of the King's legs, and ripped the annoying pest from its head. It threw the King with all its strength.

The King sailed through the air again. Slamming into the doors of the elevator, the armour shattered. The King tried to rise but couldn't. He lay with his back to the doors. He watched the Teddy approach.

The creature took its time to close the distance. Cautiously, it nudged the King with its massive toe. The King tried to move away but now the armour was a dead weight, shattered and broken, holding him in place.

“My you are an ugly thing,” King Liam coughed. A trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, dribbling down his pale cheek. “They've escaped. They're beyond your reach.” He smiled grimly into the eye that remained intact, knowing that his image was being conveyed back to Mr. Candy and Mr. Sweet. “Hamish X is gone.”

The Teddy reached down and lifted the King in its mighty paw. Liam was helpless in his ruined armour, his limbs dangling uselessly. With one claw, the Teddy flicked off the King's helmet, letting it fall to the stone floor
where it clattered like an empty can. King Liam closed his eyes and waited for the end.

“Noooo!”
The cry was filled with rage. Liam opened his eyes in time to see Aidan leap from the stairs above the Teddy. The Guard Captain landed on the monster's shaggy shoulder, a stun pistol in his hand.

“How's this for a pain in the neck?” Aidan growled. He jammed the pistol into a joint between the shoulder and the humongous head. He fired and kept firing until the pistol's energy was drained.

Sometimes luck is fickle. Sometimes it is kind. Sometimes every particle of the world aligns to give you the best of all possible results. This was one of those rare times. Though the monstrous teddy bear was overwhelmingly huge and powerful, the pistol managed to strike it in the most vulnerable spot, the central power conduit that ran from its brain to its spine. The creature went completely rigid and then fell with all the grace of a small building, crashing headlong to the cobbles and sending pieces of shattered stone flying in the air.

Aidan leapt to the ground as the Teddy fell, rolling and ending up at the side of his King. He looked down at King Liam and his heart was wrenched by what he saw. Liam was still trapped in the massive paw of the lifeless beast, his face pale, his eyes closed. The unruly red hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat and soot. A trickle of red threaded its way from the corner of his mouth and across his white skin.

“Majesty,” he said with a choked sob, desperately pulling on the massive claws, trying to loosen the Teddy's death grip.

The King opened his pale eyes. He blinked, coughed, and winced at the pain. Looking up into Aidan's tearful
face, he smiled. “Captain,” Liam said, his voice a raspy whisper. “I gave you an order.”

“I'm sorry, Sire. The rest are safely away. I couldn't leave you alone.”

The King smiled and coughed again, blood dribbling down his chin. When he was finally able to speak again he said, “I must admit, I'm glad you are here.”

“I'm where I belong, Sire.”

“I hate you seeing me like this … So helpless.”

“My King, you are many things, but you have never been helpless.” Aidan took the King's hand in his own. “Rest now.”

“Yes,” Liam whispered, his breath uneven. “I could do with a little sleep. So tired.” The blue eyes fluttered closed. The King took a ragged breath and then another … then was still. And so, King Liam, seventy-seventh King of Switzerland, Master of the Hollow Mountain, was no more.

“So sad,” said a voice. A shadow fell across the Guard Captain and his King. Aidan looked up to see Mr. Candy and Mr. Sweet standing over him. “Still, it's what he deserved.”

Aidan raised his pistol, aimed at Mr. Sweet, and thumbed the trigger. Nothing happened. The charge was gone, expended on the Teddy. Mr. Candy tilted his head to one side. Holding out a closed fist, he opened his gloved fingers to reveal a butterfly. The colourful insect darted across the empty space between the agent and the boy and stung Aidan's exposed neck. The Lieutenant of the Royal Guards fell across the body of his King.

Chapter 27

The door to the laboratory swung open. Two Grey Agents stormed into the room, rifles poised to deal with any stray children. They were part of a detail that was sweeping the entire mountain, gathering up any children who might be hiding and taking them into custody. They were surprised to discover that one of their number was already there.

A Grey Agent stood in the middle of the room holding a small, dark-skinned boy in his arms. The agent wore a jetpack on his back. The boy was unconscious, hanging loosely in the agent's grasp.

“How did you get in here ahead of us?” one of the agents, a Mr. Toffee, demanded. “We were the first ones in this quadrant.”

The strange agent shrugged. He took a couple of steps towards the newcomers but still didn't speak.

“What's your name and unit number?” the second newcomer, who was called Miss Nougat, demanded. “Why don't you speak? Are you damaged?”

The strange agent walked straight up to them. When he was less than a metre away the little boy he was holding came to life, tossing two orange objects at Mr. Toffee and Miss Nougat. The agents had no time to react: the hamsters latched onto them, skittered up to their skulls, and delivered their lethal charge. Toffee and Nougat fell in a heap on the laboratory floor.

Parveen eased back into the robot's arms and thumbed the small black remote control box. The jetpack flared to
life. The robot hovered out of the laboratory door and floated down the corridor into the courtyard.

Parveen peered through slitted lids as he guided the robot agent through the maze of wreckage from the battle between the Teddy and the King. His heart ached when he saw the fallen body of King Liam looking tiny and frail in the metal frame of his armour. He saw Aidan tossed onto a cart. The Guard Captain still breathed, so Parveen knew he was alive. An agent rolled the cart towards the elevator that was now functioning.

I can't do anything for him yet,
Parveen thought.
I must find Noor
. Everywhere, the bodies of raccoons lay smouldering and inert on the stone paving. He felt some satisfaction seeing the fallen agents sprawled out like tumbled scarecrows here and there.

No time to mourn now,
Parveen said to himself.
Must find Noor
.

He floated on past agents who were searching the wreckage. Above, in the Nurtury and residences, he heard explosions. He hoped the other children had gotten safely away.

Gliding to the stairs, he floated down the stone steps through the wreckage of the doughty
Orphan Queen,
feeling a pang of sorrow for the craft that had brought them through so much. He stopped short when he saw what had become of the green wonderland of Frieda's Cavern.

Everywhere fires burned. What had once been beautiful gardens were now torn and charred wastelands, ravaged by the attack of the Firebirds and the treads of the CCTVs. The ungainly tracked vehicles were moving around the cavern, loading the bodies of stunned children into their large, gaping cargo holds.

“You there!”

An agent stood on the stairs below. Parveen touched a knob on the hidden remote and the robot tilted its head.

“Get moving!”

The robot, guided by Parveen, nodded and started down the stairs. Parveen sent the robot floating in a straight line out into the open air, heading as fast as he could for the ruined gateway to Heinrich's Cavern. He did his best to avoid crossing paths with any more agents. The risk of finally having someone figure out that the robot wasn't actually an agent became greater with each encounter. He reached the gate without further incident and headed down into the lowest cavern.

He sailed towards the loading platform. On the stone apron a long row of CCTVs idled, the noise like a herd of huge beasts grumbling. Agents were supervising the loading of more unconscious children into the cargo pods. Parveen floated down for a closer look.

The back walls of the pods were lowered to form ramps. Agents carried children up the ramps and laid them in little compartments like letters in little cubbyholes at the post office. Mr. Candy and Mr. Sweet stood together deep in conversation. Parveen steered well clear of them.

She must be in one of these,
Parveen thought. He floated along the line of vehicles, getting as close as he dared, scanning the interior of each vehicle for a sign of his sister, Noor. He had gone down the entire line without success and was just starting back up when the farthest of the CCTVs raised the ramp of its cargo pod and slammed it shut. The CCTV started forward, heading for the exit tunnel.

Parveen knew he didn't have much time. He had to find his sister soon. He continued back up the line,
scanning the pods as quickly as he dared. At last, his heart leaped. He saw a head of glossy black hair done up in a ponytail that dangled almost to the floor of the pod. Parveen turned the robot and headed up the ramp of the vehicle.

Floating into the cargo pod, he came to the cubby holding Noor. She looked to be sleeping deeply, breathing slow and even. Her face was peaceful. Was there any lasting damage? He didn't know. He could only hope the effect would wear off if he got her away.

He made the robot lower him into the cubby alongside her. He crawled in, unhooking his bag from the belt of the robot. He had food and some essential tools in the bag, packed in haste while the battle raged in the Workshop courtyard.

When he was safely stowed he guided the robot out of the cargo pod and down the ramp. Using the remote, he directed the robot in a straight line, far away from the cargo vehicles, and then pressed a button. The robot reached into its coat pocket, pulled out a hamster, and slapped it against the side of its head. The effect was instantaneous: the robot agent convulsed and then collapsed on the platform. Agents gathered around, looking down at the heap of grey clothing.

Mr. Candy and Mr. Sweet jerked their heads towards the fallen robot. “Leave him. There's no time,” Mr. Sweet instructed. The agents dispersed, returning to their individual tasks.

“We've lost another agent, Mr. Sweet.”

“Indeed, Mr. Candy. Those hamsters are disturbingly effective. We must develop a countermeasure.”

“Not a pressing need. Once the integration is achieved and the portal opened, it will all be moot.”