“The Lord Protector!” exclaimed Alfred.
“The very same!” declared Nanny.
This was a complete surprise to Alfred, as it would be to everybody else in Buckingham Palace. Over forty years, the evil pair had never betrayed for a moment that they were mother and son.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“It’s true. I brought him into the palace as a young man. He worked as a librarian at first. Devoured every book in the palace library. Found ancient magic books and all sorts. Dark arts. Discovered that the blood of the King might just raise a beast from the dead. My boy is clever. Cleverer than any of you. He is a genius! My son yearned for power, and I encouraged him every step of the way. Soon he will be supreme ruler of this country, if not the world, with me, his mother, at his side!”
“Never!” shouted Alfred. “This country belongs to all of us, not just you!”
“He will. Trust me. He will. All we need is some of your royal blood!”
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“NO!” snapped Alfred. “I have seen what your evil son has done to my father! You are not having a drop!”
“Oh yes I am,” she purred. “And I will take it! Your blood is ours!”
With that, Nanny took out a jewel-handled dagger! She raised it high above her head, ready to bring it down upon the boy.
Alfred put his hands up to stop her, and at once they were engaged in a deadly arm wrestle.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Nanny edged the knife nearer and nearer to the boy’s heart.
“NO!” cried Alfred, and he used all his strength to repel her.
Then the strangest thing happened.
In an instant, the light in Nanny’s eyes went out.
She dropped the dagger…
CLANK!
…and slumped down on to the stone floor beside him.
THUD!
Dead.
Now Alfred could see that Nanny had a sabre sticking out of her back.
Looking up, he saw that standing over her body was the Queen.
“Don’t you dare hurt my son!” she said.
“Thank you, Mama,” said Alfred.
“Anything for you, Lionheart.”
Mite scuttled over to join them. “I never did like that woman,” she remarked.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
There was the sound of a scream.
“ARGH!”
It was Enid! She’d been hit.
“ENID!” cried Alfred as he crawled over to her.
“You go, boy,” replied the old dear. “Defeat this monster. We ladies-in-waiting will do our best to hold the guards down here in the vault!”
“But what about you?” asked Alfred.
“Don’t you worry about me. What was it the Old Queen said? ‘You are never too old for adventure!’ I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”
Alfred nodded to Mite and the Queen, and together the three scuttled off on their hands and knees out of the line of fire.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Just then the Octobut appeared through the door of the vault, holding a tennis racquet. It still had only two of its eight arms left.
“Anyone for tennis?” it asked.
One of the royal guards turned round sharply and blasted another one of its arms clean off.
ZAP!
CLANK!
The arm holding the tennis racquet was twitching on the floor.
The robot butler only had one lonely arm left. It was now really a Unibut.
“Thank you, Octobut!” called out Alfred.
Brilliantly, the accident-prone robot had created the perfect distraction for the royal guards, and the three of them escaped through the door.
“We made it!” said Alfred.
However, in the corridor, something terrifying was waiting for them.
From out of the shadows it floated towards him.
The three froze.
It was the All-Seeing Eye!
