At the castle, Hitch was outnumbered two to one.
He grabbed the lasso from his shoulder, holding the loop in one hand. If he used the rope to trip up the knights, he could sprint past them and up the stairs. But he’d have to find Leonard fast. The Rivins would not take kindly to a stranger running through their castle.
Hitch sprinted across the hall, ready to whip the rope at whichever knight moved first. He drew close, but neither moved. Hitch’s hopes grew. It was going to be a total surprise! He was nearly on them, and still, neither so much as turned their head to look his way. Hitch cocked his arm, ready to fling the rope, but the knights still didn’t react.
Huh? He stopped running and stood a few feet from them, waiting for either to move.
Neither did. Hitch approached one cautiously. He walked right up to him. Still nothing. He tentatively reached out and poked the knight’s chest with his finger. No reaction.
“What’s your story, pardner?” Hitch said. “Are you a scarecrow?”
Hitch spotted a round knob attached to a small door built into the armor. He reached for it and pulled the door open.
“Well, I’ll be!” he exclaimed at the complex series of gears and cogs inside the knight’s chest. This guard was more clock than man.
“They’re up to their old tricks,” he said. The mechanical man was proof that he was right about the Rivins. They were building an army of robots on Tensor-4.
Hitch’s heart raced. He was sure Leonard was in the castle and had brought the Trinity. His mission had become more important than ever.
The Kid had to be stopped.
Hitch moved past the two frozen robots and ran up the grand staircase, taking two steps at a time. On the second level, he entered a wide corridor lined with ornate tapestries—and more robots.
Two rows of knights stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing each other. Hitch’s stomach twisted. The Rivins had created dozens of robots! How had they managed to build these complex machines while the Sky Marshals were supposedly keeping an eye on them? Hitch shook away the thought. He had more pressing problems to worry about.
These robots were also inactive, but Hitch walked past them cautiously, fearing they might spring to life at any moment. As he moved, he searched the corridors on either side, hoping to spot Leonard.
He hit another staircase and bounded up. Two more knights stood at the top. Like the robots below, they were no more of a threat than statues in a museum. At least for now. He ran down this corridor, scanning left and right. At the end, he rounded a corner and came upon an archway leading to the wide open-air courtyard they’d seen from the air.
In the center of the courtyard was a large marble throne.
Sitting on the throne was a woman.
And she moved.
She was no statue! As soon as she locked eyes with Hitch, she stood.
Now we’re getting somewhere, Hitch thought. He ran into the courtyard.
He’d only gone a few steps when he jolted back. It felt as if someone were grabbing him. But no one was there.
“Wha—?” Hitch gasped with confusion.
He fought to move his arms and legs, but he was held tight. Hitch looked around, desperate to understand what was happening. A spotlight perched on a tower high above sprang to life—and he suddenly understood the fix he was in.
The light reflected off a giant spiderweb. The ropelike webbing stretched from one end of the courtyard to the other and reached three stories above him. The web was coated in a sticky substance, and he couldn’t pull away from its grip. He was stuck…and then he heard a mechanical sound.
A spider crawled out from a dark alcove.
A mechanical spider.
A huge mechanical spider. It was five feet long with eight metal legs and sharp pincers that looked big enough and powerful enough to cut a man in half.
And it was headed toward Hitch.
Back on the ship, Dale hit the control that closed the hatch. She started to press the communicator to contact Hitch, then stopped. Was it the right thing to do? Hitch was trying to sneak into the castle, unnoticed. Her voice blasting from the band on his wrist would give him away for sure. No, that would be a mistake.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
It sounded as though the Rivins were pounding on the hull with hammers. Were they trying to break in? What were Hitch’s instructions? If the Rivins showed up, she was supposed to take off. They couldn’t get hold of the ship. That was her mission. She jumped into the pilot’s seat and began the process of powering up.
“Greetings,” called an eerie, muffled voice from outside.
Three Rivins stood in front of the ship. They wore all black, which made their bald heads appear to float in space, lit only by starlight.
“A word of warning,” the Rivin in the middle said calmly. “We’ve attached powerful mines to your ship. If you take off, as soon as you gain altitude and the pressure changes, they will explode. Your ship will be destroyed, and you along with it. My advice is to open the hatch and come out. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
Dale froze. Was he telling the truth? Were the clanging noises the sounds of them attaching explosives to the hull? Or was he bluffing to get her to come out so they could steal the ship?
The excitement that Dale was looking for had finally arrived.
And she had no idea what to do.
The monster mechanical spider crept slowly toward Hitch. Its hairy legs moved easily across the sticky web. Hitch struggled to reach the pickax tucked into his belt, but the gooey web held him back.
“For a smart marshal, you sure are easy to fool.” A voice came from the shadows of the courtyard.
Hitch’s stomach fell. He knew that voice. Any hope that he’d been wrong about the Trinity and the Rivins was gone.
The Camarillo Kid stepped out from behind one of the many pillars that ringed the courtyard. The fourteen-year-old boy who’d run into the Mine Car Hotel, desperately looking for help, was no more. Now he stood tall with his hands on his hips, his white cowboy hat tipped back casually, and a smug smile on his face.
“Evenin’, Leonard,” Hitch said casually. He made sure to show no sign that he was surprised or upset by his own impending doom.
The Kid’s smile dropped. “I ain’t Leonard no more.”
“Aww, you’ll always be Little Leonard to me.”
The Kid looked as though he’d erupt with anger, but he stayed in control and his conceited smile returned. “Maybe so, but it don’t matter. Pretty soon I won’t be the Camarillo Kid, either. I’m getting a new title. Sir Camarillo, Captain of the Guard.”
“Is that so? How’d you get such a fancy title?” Hitch asked while keeping an eye on the monster spider. It had stopped moving.
“I joined up with the Rivins,” the Kid said proudly. “Lady Tell’s putting me in charge of a whole regiment of knights. We’re going to march all over this planet, and I’m getting me my own town to run. Think I’ll call it Camarillo City. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“And who might Lady Tell be?” Hitch asked.
“That would be me.” A woman stepped out of the shadows behind the Kid.
Lady Tell was the woman Hitch had seen on the throne. She was dressed in a black leather cloak with silver trim, looking every bit the warrior-queen. She had black hair that fell to her waist and a small silver tiara. Her intense, emotionless gaze fell on Hitch, as if she, too, were a spider sizing up its prey.
“You’ve entered my home without an invitation,” Lady Tell said coldly. “For that alone I should let my pet devour you.”
Hitch tried not to look at the spider that rested only a few feet away.
“My apologies,” Hitch said. “Just lookin’ for the boy here. He’s been a might naughty.”
“Ha!” The Kid laughed. “Naughty? That what you call it? I pulled off three impossible robberies, then took your flight cycle and all your gear. I am way past naughty.”
“Can’t argue with you there, Leonard,” Hitch said.
“The Camarillo Kid has been very helpful to me,” Lady Tell said. “He should be rewarded.”
“See?” the Kid said with a smirk. “And stop callin’ me Leonard.”
Hitch ignored him and focused on the woman. “Lady Tell? Like the Tell Diamond?”
The woman offered a small smile. “You know of it?”
“A little,” Hitch replied. “I know it’s a special diamond that turns gold and silver into something powerful. You used that power to make trouble on your home planet. But it didn’t work out and you got sent here to this prison.”
“You think Rivindale is a prison?” She waved her arm around as if showing off the majestic castle. “Does this look like a prison to you?”
“Don’t matter how fancy a place is. If you can’t leave, it’s a prison.”
“Then you don’t know anything at all,” Lady Tell said with an evil smile that made the hair on the back of Hitch’s neck go up.
“What we started on Rivin we’ll finish here on Tensor-4,” she said. “Our clan has the means to overrun every last one of the colonies on this strange little planet. We’ll unite them under one banner—ours—and then turn our attention to the sky and Alterra. We will rule this planet and then return to Rivin and stake our rightful claim.”
Hitch whistled. “That’s some seriously strange plan you got going on there.”
“You doubt our abilities?” Lady Tell asked.
“Can’t speak to that one way or the other,” Hitch said. “But there’s something I don’t get. How did you build all the robot knights I saw downstairs? Especially when the Sky Marshals were keeping watch?”
“I believe I can answer that.” Mayor Wilder stepped out of the shadows. “The Rivins have a friend on Alterra.”