Hamish X and the Hollow Mountain (24 page)

The two agents watched with satisfaction as the machines passed by, and then rose themselves on plumes of blue-green fire.

MIMI TUGGED at the black combat tunic. It was too tight around the neck. She had grabbed an outfit that looked to be the right size, but in her haste she'd managed to find one that was just a little too small.

“Dang, but this monkey suit itches.”

“Well, scratch and be quiet,” Cara snapped.

They were gathered around the elevator shaft waiting for the invaders to show themselves. Guards were ranged in a loose circle, hiding behind rocks and statues or whatever cover was available. A third of the Guards had been detailed to help Mrs. Francis in the retreat up the stairs, leaving roughly one hundred to repel the attack.

The wedding decorations in their midst seemed absurd given the seriousness of what was happening. Balloons and streamers fluttered in the wind. Hakon's Fountain bubbled on around the foot of the stairs and the elevator, its laughing gurgle in stark contrast to the tension in the air. Children were still making their way up to the higher levels on the stairs. They were crying and shouting, urging each other along. Mrs. Francis was still at the bottom of the stairs and vowing she would not start up until the last child had begun to climb. Hundreds of raccoons helped her in her labours.

King Stephen's Stair was blocked off at the floor of Frieda's Cavern by a sheet of steel that completely covered the opening around the elevator shaft. The Guards listened tensely to the clangs and scratching sounds that echoed off the metal plate as the intruders prepared to break through.

Mimi and Cara hunkered down behind a carving of Queen Helga, taking cover behind the stone folds of her elaborate gown. The King, Aidan, and Mr. Kipling crouched behind the wall of the fountain on the opposite side of the stairs. The King was sweating from the strain of holding such a cramped position.

“You should go, Sire,” Aidan said gently. “This is our job. The others will need your leadership.”

King Liam wiped his brow with a shaking hand and shook his head. “No, I must stay. This is my proper place. George will take care of the children.”

“I just wish they'd get on with it,” Aidan said impatiently. “The waiting is the hardest part.”

Mr. Kipling laid a restraining hand on the boy's arm. “Don't ask for trouble. It will find us soon enough.”

As if in response to his words, a sudden, massive explosion sent chunks of shattered steel rocketing all over the cavern. The Guards ducked to avoid flying shards. Black smoke billowed up from the twisted metal plate that had blocked the opening. Screams of panic and fear erupted on the stairs as children tried to push the climbers ahead faster. Several George raccoons took up stations in a line at the bottom of the stairs, forming a furry line of defence.

“Children! Children! Remain calm!” Mrs. Francis called.

The Guards clutched their weapons tighter and waited for the invaders to surge through the hole and attack. A minute passed, then another. Just as they slightly relaxed their grip there came a soft roaring sound and two figures dressed all in grey rose through the blasted opening on plumes of blue-green flame, hovering in the air above the hole.

“Grey Agents!” Mimi spat, peeking out around the carving.

The two figures were indeed Mr. Candy and Mr. Sweet. They swivelled their birdlike heads back and forth, their goggled eyes surveying the cavern around them. All the Guards trained their pistols steadily on the two intruders. Finally, one of the agents spoke.

“We come to offer terms. I am Mr. Sweet. This is my colleague, Mr. Candy.”

“How do you do?” The other agent ducked his head once in greeting. “Which one of you is the so-called King of Switzerland?”

Aidan made to stand up but King Liam pushed him back and rose to his feet. He threw aside his crutches and hobbled forward a few steps until he was a few metres away from the Grey Agents.

“I am Liam, seventy-seventh King of Switzerland. This is my realm. These are my people. You are trespassing here.”

Mr. Candy took over. “Forgive my rudeness, King Liam, but you do not seem well. Surely, a battle is the last thing you want right now. How can you hope to stand against the might of the ODA? It is folly. You will all be destroyed. Let me offer you a deal. If you surrender now, we'll be gentle. The children will be distributed to our clients worldwide, you will survive, and no one will be hurt.”

King Liam laughed. “Your concerns for my health are laughable, Mr. Candy. Don't you remember me? It was you and your experiments that made me this way.”

Mr. Candy and Mr. Sweet tilted their heads to one side in unison and stared at the King. “You don't seem familiar,” Mr. Candy said after a moment.

“But we have had so many children through our laboratories over the years,” Mr. Sweet added.

King Liam smiled grimly. “I assure you, I am well enough to defy you and repel your invasion of our home. There will be no terms. There will be no surrender. You must leave immediately or face the consequences.”

The Guards roared their approval. Mimi roared along with them. Mr. Kipling merely drew his saber and held it loosely at his side.

Mr. Candy held up a hand for silence. When the jeering stopped he spoke. “All this ugliness may be avoided. We will pack up and leave, never to return. You can live in peace. All we ask is that you give us Hamish X.”

There was silence. Mimi suddenly realized that Hamish X was nowhere in sight. She looked all around at the Guards gathered on the field and she didn't see him anywhere. In fact, she hadn't seen him since the reception started. She was about to say something but held her tongue, not wanting to give anything away to the Grey Agents.

“I'm sorry to disappoint you, but he isn't here. I'm afraid you are out of luck.” The King smiled sweetly.

“You're lying.”

“No, Mr. Candy, I am not. I know that for someone such as you, for whom lying is a matter of habit and necessity, you imagine that others are equally deceitful. No, I am not lying. But know that, if he
were
here, I wouldn't hand him over to you. You will never let us live in peace. As long as the ODA exists the world is not safe for children anywhere. If you seek to come any further we will resist with all our strength to the last boy and girl … and raccoon.”

“Raccoon?” Mr. Candy cocked his head and frowned. “How ridiculous.”

As one, each of the George raccoons on the stairs made a rude noise. The Grey Agents blinked in surprise.

“Very well,” Mr. Sweet said, regaining his composure. “We will destroy you utterly.”

As he finished speaking, a stone ricocheted off his jetpack with a loud clang.

“Go stick that in yer
utterly,
ya creep!” Mimi held a bigger rock and cocked back her arm for another throw. Her second rock sailed through empty space as the agents dropped quickly down through the hole.

“Prepare yourselves,” the King shouted. He tried to hurry back to the cover of the fountain but stumbled and
fell. Aidan and another Guard ran to his aid, pulling him to safety as the first Firebird's menacing snout poked through the hole. The Guards opened up with their pistols, firing blue stun bolts at the flat head of the mechanical beast, but they had little effect. The creature sprayed a tongue of liquid fire in a deadly arc around the hole. The Guards were forced to drop behind their meagre cover. A few unlucky ones had their hair singed or set alight. Fortunately, their fellows patted out the flames before any real injury occurred.

The wedding tent and all the flowers withered and caught fire. The wedding cake slumped in the sudden heat, dissolving into a pool of marzipan and molten sugar. The mechanical bird rose up out of the hole, to be followed by another and another.

The Battle for the Hollow Mountain had begun.

Chapter 22

When the alert had sounded Parveen and Noor set off at breakneck speed, forcing their way up the stairs to get to the workshop. They burst into their workroom and looked around at all the projects they had been tinkering with.

“If only we had more time,” Parveen panted. “So many things have not been tested satisfactorily.”

“Just grab everything we can,” Noor cried, twisting the end of her ponytail in her fingers. “It'll have to do.”

They gathered up all the gadgets they could carry, hanging them on belts and stuffing them into backpacks. Thus equipped, they took off as fast as their legs could carry them back against the flow of panicked children being herded by raccoons.

When they returned to the stairs, they looked down to the floor of Frieda's Cavern two hundred metres below and were dismayed.

Fires raged everywhere. At least a dozen Firebirds were marauding through the Royal Park. The Guards were trying to contain the mechanical beasts, but their stun guns had no effect at all. They were forced back, reduced to serving as distractions as they tried to draw the things away from the children retreating up the stairs.

The children were on the verge of hysteria. A solid wall of terrified faces looked up at the brother and sister. As desperate children reached the top they flooded past, tumbling out into the safety of the open courtyard that was
the Workshop level. Going against the flood of orphans seemed impossible.

“There's no way for us to get past them,” Noor shouted over the chaos. “The elevator's tied up. What do we do?”

“Watch,” Parveen shouted.

He reached into his pack and pulled out a remote control. He raised the aerial and pointed it out into the cavern. Out of the corner of the ceiling the
Orphan Queen
emerged into the light. Under Parveen's guidance it cruised towards the top of the stairs. In such dire circumstances its decorations seemed totally inappropriate, but Parveen had no time to worry about appearances. The children began to shout and point, afraid that this was some new element of the assault.

“George!” Parveen shouted. One of the raccoons nearby turned to him, eyes glittering. “We need room to board the airship.” The raccoon nodded, and soon a dozen of the little creatures were forming a cordon by linking arms and pushing gently but firmly against the flow of children.

Parveen and Noor stepped into the space the raccoons had created and waited for agonizing seconds for the airship to approach. Parveen cast a worried eye below, but the bird things hadn't noticed its passage. The two children held their breath and waited.

MIMI PULLED CARA
behind the statue of Queen Gerta just in time to rescue her from a gout of flaming liquid. The Texan girl covered the Guard with her own body as the searing heat scorched her back. Cara rolled Mimi away from her.

“Just get off, will you?” Cara snarled. Then she saw Mimi's smoking uniform and felt ashamed of her anger. “Are you all right?”

“Ain't nuthin',” Mimi said curtly. “Them fire things are gonna bake us all like chimichangas, make no mistake.”
⁶²

Cara nodded. “What can we do? The pistols are useless.”

Mimi scowled. She looked around. Everywhere, the birds were pushing them back. There had been some injuries but nothing serious yet. Mrs. Francis was still hurrying kids up the stairs. She wasn't at the bottom any more but she was a long way from the top. Just one of those mechanical creatures could wreak havoc. Mimi had to do something.

She looked at her belt and saw the loop of climbing rope that was standard equipment for the Guards. The rope was terrifically strong, reinforced with synthetic fibres to make it less prone to fraying and breakage. She smiled. Taking the rope from her belt, she tossed one end to Cara. The other, she began tying into a noose.

“Tie that around the base o' that statue but good, got me?”

Cara nodded and did as she was told, doubling the knot and tugging to make sure it was secure. Satisfied, she asked, “What's the plan?”

“Watch!” Mimi ran out into the open, into the path of the nearest Firebird.

“Hey! Over here, ya big stupid thing.” The creature's head swung around, following the sound of Mimi's voice. The deadly funnels dripped liquid fire. “Yeah, you. I'm right here, you big ugly turkey.”

“You're insane!” Cara shouted. Mimi ignored her.

The creature started towards her, its long neck straining in her direction. Mimi raised the rope and spun it around her head. As the creature prepared to spout flame, Mimi hurled her makeshift lasso around its neck and pulled. The head of the metal monster was yanked sideways and the flames sprayed wide of Mimi to fall harmlessly across the lawn.

Mimi let go of the rope and ran. The beast took off after her, its metal talons sending clods of earth flying. When the creature reached the end of the rope, secured to the statue, its head was jerked violently back. The cord was so strong and the force of the creature's movement so great that the head of the mechanical bird was severed neatly by the tightening noose. The head went spinning through
the air to land with a sizzling splash in the fountain pool. The rest of the machine fell flat on the grass, carving a furrow in the soil, liquid fire dribbling out into a pool at the top of its neck.