Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle

Agatha felt relief wash over her. Maybe things weren’t so hopeless after all. She took his hand and pulled herself to her feet. Her heart was pounding. She didn’t let go of his hand. Instead, she pulled him toward her and leaned in until their faces were only centimeters apart. “And later?” she told him, a hint of the Spark still in her voice, “We are going to have a long talk.”

Gil took her other hand in his. He leaned in even closer, glaring down into her eyes. “Yes,” he growled, “Yes we are.”

And then they stood there. He continued to hold her hands and gaze into her eyes. His expression softened. Agatha realized that her breathing was accelerating. “Well…um…good.” She couldn’t move. His eyes were so beautiful—deep and golden brown… “Uh… so that’s settled, then.”

“Um…yeah. That’s settled.” Gil spoke softly, pulling her toward him

Just as she was about to shut her eyes, Agatha glimpsed a sudden motion in her peripheral vision. Her mind’s rosy fog vanished in a flash and she thrust Gil away as hard as she could. They spun away in opposite directions as a burst of mechanical gunfire chewed into the wall next to where they’d been standing.

It was Professor Silas Merlot. He was looking down on them from behind the controls of a heavy walking transport which sported two arm-like guns. “Finally! It’s just too perfect! Now the both of you can die!” he cackled maniacally. Once again, a double stream of metal pounded into the wall, swinging toward Agatha.

“Everybody scatter!” Agatha screamed.

The guns stopped. Merlot deftly slapped a new ammo feed into the intake hopper. “Oh, I don’t care about the rest of them, Miss Clay! But you are going to die!”

Another spray of bullets chased her as she darted away, leaping over furniture and around debris until she slid, gasping, behind the relative safety of a thick stone wall.

Professor Diaz was already there, staring at her with wide eyes. “That was an amazing display of agility, señorita.”

“Thank you, Zeetha! Thank you, Zeetha!” Agatha panted. She looked around frantically. “Where is my stupid death ray?”

Merlot snapped another ammo belt in and then engaged the controls. The machine began to walk forward, Merlot laughing wickedly. “You can’t hide forever!” he called.

With a thump, Gilgamesh leapt onto the back of the walker—scrabbling toward its driver. “She doesn’t have to!” he shouted.

“Guh. How Romantic,” Merlot sneered. He smoothly pulled an efficient looking little zipgun from his pocket and fired a shot into Gil’s shoulder—knocking him back off the machine.

Then he spun and yanked the controls about, just in time to unload both gun barrels into the huge, clawed tiger-clank, which was leaping toward him. The bullets caught the mechanical beast at point-blank range, blew it back against the wall, and pinned it there while they ripped it apart.

At last, the guns ran dry, and the clank finally collapsed to the floor with a crash.

Gil’s groan filled the silence as he stirred on the floor. “Gil!” Agatha called—fear in her voice. “Get out of there!”

Merlot let out a giddy laugh as he reloaded. “Oh my, so many potentially interesting experiments present themselves! Is killing his only son and heir a fitting revenge upon the man who sent me here? Or is he too much of a coldhearted despot to care? We shall see!” He swung about to face Agatha. “But I do find it amusing that you care, Miss Clay. It would be fascinating to find out how much. But…it is the fascination one has when dealing with any monstrously dangerous creature. And if this place has taught me anything, it is caution—so I shall just have to satisfy myself with your immediate death!”

He slammed the controls forward, and the walker stumbled. Apparently the left leg had seized up. Merlot swore. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” He threw open a hatch cover and attacked the mechanism inside with a screwdriver and pliers.

Behind the wall, Diaz eyed Agatha. “Our Doctor Merlot is an intense and bitter little man, yes? But what is his grudge against you?”

Agatha shook her head. “I don’t know! I never knew! He was just one of my teachers at the University!”

Diaz held up a hand, his expression knowing. “Ah, say no more. I too, have had students.”

On the other side of the wall, Merlot was raging as he fussed with the machine. “It was all you! Everything that went wrong was because of you!

“Doctor Beetle’s notes were in some sort of fiendish code. The Baron assigned a team of the finest cryptographers to examine them. I never expected them to crack it—I never could!”

Agatha risked a look from behind the wall. Gil was still out in the open. She could see her weapon lying in the middle of the floor where she had left it. It was across the room but she would have to try to get to it while Merlot was working.

“But they did! They found everything! Beetle knew who you were! Knew who your construct guardians were! Knew who your real parents were! I had always wondered why he kept an incompetent fool like you around!”