Akiko in the Castle of Alia Rellapor by Mark Crilley Page A

was just a passing phase, but it seemed only to get worse.

    “One morning King Froptoppit awoke to find Alia gone. She left a note saying that she had gone off to build a castle of her own in the mountains, a dominion from which she would one day show us all the meaning of real power. For a time she had a large army of
    devoted followers, but one by one they defected and fell away. She was simply too cruel to inspire loyalty for very long. I suppose this Throck fellow is the only one left on her side now. Throck and an army of robots.”
    Beeba turned to look at me, the distant look in his eyes giving way to an expression of great seriousness.
    “Then, less than a year ago, a small battalion of Alia’s robots descended on King Froptoppit’s palace. The good people of Smoo battled tirelessly in the King’s defense, but it was no use. At the end of the day the Prince was cornered in the palace gardens, captured, and taken off to Alia’s castle. King Froptoppit sent rescue party after rescue party, but to no avail. That’s when he turned to you, Akiko.”
    I stared at Spuckler and Mr. Beeba, then at Gax and Poog. They were all looking at me anxiously, waiting to see how I’d react.
    I suppose I should have been shocked or angry or something. Oddly enough, I was just relieved. Relieved to have finally heard the truth. A lot of it still didn’t make any sense to me, but at least I felt pretty sure I wasn’t being lied to anymore.
    “Apology accepted,” I said.
    Mr. Beeba and Spuckler both sighed their relief. Poog also looked very pleased, though not at all surprised.
    “But let me make one thing clear,” I said, looking very sternly at Spuckler and Mr. Beeba. “I don’t ever want to catch you keeping secrets from me again. Do you understand me?
Never
.”
    “I hear ya, ’Kiko,” Spuckler said. “Loud an’ clear.”
    “Absolutely,” Mr. Beeba chimed in. “Spuckler and I have learned our lesson. Truly we have.”
    “Just one thing, Mr. Beeba.”
    “Yes, Akiko?”
    “Lend me your handkerchief, will you?” I said. “My nose is running like crazy.”

 Chapter 15 

    After a moment there was a strange rumbling sound. I felt the cage rattling beneath me as if we were in the midst of a minor earthquake.
    “ MY MOTION DETECTORS, SIR—” Gax began.
    “Yeah, I know, Gax,” Spuckler interrupted. “I feel it too.”
    “What’s going on?” I asked, staring nervously into the darkness.
    “This is it!” Mr. Beeba announced in a panicked voice. “Execution time!”
    “Beebs!” Spuckler cried. “Get ahold of yourself!”
    Just then I noticed that the temperature seemed to be rising. I thought it might have just been Gax’s torch, but eventually I could tell that it was coming from somewhere outside the cage.
    “A lava trap,” Spuckler muttered. “I mighta known.”
    “A lava trap?”
Mr. Beeba repeated, his voice loud and shrill.
    “Wh-what’s a lava trap?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t as self-explanatory as it sounded.
    “Well, basically,” Spuckler explained, “it’s a trap where they get ya in some place where ya can’t get back out—like this here pit, for instance—an’ then what they do is dump a buncha lava on ya. Hurts pretty bad, I ’magine.”
    “Hurts
pretty bad?”
Mr. Beeba repeated, sounding even more panicked than before. “You mean
kills
pretty bad!”
    “Well,” Spuckler answered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “yeah, Beebs, if ya wanna get technical.”
    I stared up in horror as I saw tiny streaks of glowing yellow-and-orange lava begin to trickle down the walls from somewhere high above. In seconds big puddles of the stuff began forming where the walls met the floor, slowly creeping in toward the cage, inch by inch.
    “We’re going to be buried alive!” Mr. Beeba shrieked. “We’re going to be
burned
alive!” He paused, then added, “We’re going to be buried alive
and
burned alive!”
    “Oh no we ain’t,” Spuckler announced confidently.

    He