Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) (14 page)

Martin slipped
the oxygen mask over his face that Slater had given him. He knew that Slater,
Agamon, Darcy and Tommy were all still in the ship beneath him. None of them
could fly, so it was all down to Martin—if he failed, the Earth would be
completely destroyed.

Martin took a
deep breath.

I can do
this
, he thought.
I’ve done things like this
before. Last year I saved the world from Moonstone. I’m the reason everyone on
this planet is still alive.

 He glanced at
his indestructible watch. Five seconds to go. He took another breath. Five,
four, three, two, one—

Martin took off
into the sky; he travelled sharply upwards at the highest speed he could
manage. He had never flown so fast before. He felt the wind rushing past him;
even with the oxygen mask he was finding it harder to breathe, but he didn’t
have time to stop. He reached the blue missiles. They were hurtling towards
Earth at a remarkable speed. He remembered what Slater had told him.

“Whatever
you do, do not touch the front of the missile. If you do, it will detonate and
you will be blown into pieces. Approach the missiles from above and attach the
magnetic device to the top of one of the missiles.”

Martin followed
Slater’s instructions; he passed the missiles and flew above them. Then he
began to descend. The missiles were fast, and Martin struggled to catch them
up. But he managed it, and dropped down onto one of the missiles. Riding it
like a horse, Martin reached into his pocket and pulled out the magnetic
device.

Struggling to
keep hold of the missile, Martin placed the device on the missile. It stuck
firm, and Martin grinned. He jumped off the missile and began to fly higher. From
his vantage point, he could see the missiles heading for Earth, spreading out.
A few missiles were aimed at every continent.

Then,
amazingly, the missiles began to change direction. Martin climbed higher,
wanting to see their course more clearly. The missiles were all starting to
head in the same direction. It had worked. They were all heading towards the
City of Serenity! Breathing a sigh of relief into the oxygen mask, Martin began
to fly back towards
Valiant Star
. He landed on the roof of the ship and
climbed back inside.

“It worked!” he
said. “The missiles are heading into the city.”

“Then we’re
safe!” said Slater. “The explosion will be contained. Oh, well done, Martin.”

“Er… seems like
we’re not out of trouble yet,” said Tommy. “Look.”

He pointed at
the monitor. Martin had a horrible sinking feeling. All of the missiles had
changed course—except for one.

“The missile is
heading straight for
Valiant Star
,” said Slater. “They must have managed
to override my code.”

“Damn!” said
Agamon.

“What are we
going to do?” said Tommy, starting to panic.

“Leave it to me,”
said Darcy suddenly.

“Why, what are
you going to do?” said Martin.

“Don’t
argue—any of you. Just let me up, now!”

Slater flicked
a switch and the ladder leading up to the ship’s roof appeared. Darcy climbed
out onto the roof; Martin followed her. The missile was close. In less than a
minute they would all be obliterated.

“What are you
doing?” said Martin.

“Something
desperate,” said Darcy.

She raised both
arms and powerful streams of fire shot from her hands. Martin had never seen
her create such intense fire. The fire engulfed the missiles… and they
vanished. There wasn’t even an explosion. The fire had been so powerful that
the missiles had turned to dust.

“Nicely done!”
said Martin. Then he noticed the dust from the missiles falling towards them.
“We’d better go in.”

Darcy and
Martin dropped back inside the ship.

“Quickly,” said
Martin. “Darcy’s stopped the missiles but now radioactive dust is falling from
the sky.”

Michael Slater
leapt to his feet and activated a control on a keypad; there was a sound like a
huge fan from outside the ship.

“
Valiant
Star
is cleaning up the air,” Slater explained. “The humans below will be
perfectly safe.” He smiled at Darcy. “Well done!”

Martin sighed
and collapsed into one of the leather armchairs.

“So we’re safe
now?” said Tommy.

Agamon laughed.
“Hardly. The Axis Lords will not give up that easily. They will simply try
another tactic.”

Slater nodded.
“That’s true. I suggest we join Mulciber in raising support. We need as much
help as we can get if we are to stand against the Axis Lords.”

“So we’re
raising an army now?” said Darcy.

“Yes, Darcy,”
said Agamon. “We are.”

Martin switched on the
television. It was nearly time for the broadcast. He was sitting with Darcy and
Tommy in his apartment. The entire world was waiting to watch the broadcast; it
was going to be translated into every major language.

The people of
Earth had not forgotten about Moonstone, or the inexplicable storms. And then
the Axis spaceships had arrived. Martin glanced out of the window. There were
two ships suspended over London. They were silver-coloured and disc-shaped. The
Axis Lord ships were hovering over every major country in the world.

The humans had
finally realised how small their planet really was—and how defenceless they
really were.

And they were
terrified.

A broadcast to
every country on Earth had been organised, which was due to be shown in a few
seconds. Martin and his friends did not speak. The BBC 1 presenter looked at
the camera.

“And I hear
that the worldwide broadcast is about to start any second. Here we go.”

The picture cut
to a large room. It was the Prime Minister’s office at 10 Downing Street. Four
men were sitting in a row at a long table, facing the camera.

The men were
the Prime Minister, Agamon, Mulciber and Slater.

“Good morning,”
said the Prime Minister. “As you are aware, this video feed is being broadcast
to every nation on Earth.” He paused. “First of all, I must apologise. When the
British and American governments first learned about aliens, we were determined
to hide their existence. But obviously that became impossible after the public
dealings of Moonstone. And now we are in even worse danger.” He turned to
Agamon. “Please.”

“My name is
Agamon.” He was not in disguise. His hair was white and his eyes were bright
purple. “And, yes, I am an alien.
This
is Valdragor Slater, and
this
is Mulciber King. We belong to a race known as the Axis Lords.”

“We are here to
give you a warning,” said Slater. “Our people—the Axis Lords—are seeking to
destroy the Earth. Their reasons are complicated, but I will try to simplify.
There used to be a prison on Earth, a secret Axis Lord prison. My people seek
to destroy the prison, along with the rest of the planet.”

“We hope to
stop them,” said Mulciber. “We are raising as much support as possible.” He
paused. “But we will not give you false hope. The Axis Lords are powerful. We
will try to defeat them, but it may not be possible.”

The Prime
Minister sighed. “You will have seen it reported on the news, recently, that
Britain and Russia were stockpiling arms for a future war. In truth, Britain
and Russia have been working together. We hoped to gather enough missiles
between both countries to use against the Axis Lords. But it emerged that the
missiles would not be adequate.”

“The Axis Lords
have excellent shields,” explained Agamon. “Even with my modifications, the
missiles could not harm them. The only way to defeat the Axis Lords is to
battle them according the ancient laws of the Axis Lords.”

“There is
certainly nothing any human can do to help,” said Slater. “So it is important
that all of you stay indoors until further notice for your own safety.”

“The human race
has never faced such a great danger,” said the Prime Minister. “Without these
Axis Lords sitting next to me, we certainly would not stand a chance. If we
do
survive this, it will be thanks to Agamon, Mulciber and Slater.”

“Like Mulciber
said,” Agamon went on, “the chances of defeating the Axis Lords are tiny. But
we will try. I promise that we will do our best to save you. The Axis Lord
ships will not harm you until the outcome of the battle has been decided. If we
win, the Axis Lords will leave you alone. All we can do now is pray to the
Wheelmaster that we will be victorious.”

Martin glanced
at Darcy and Tommy. Unlike the other humans, they couldn’t sit back and watch.
They had to fight.

*

The three teenagers were sitting
in
Valiant Star
. Slater was in the control room, and they were waiting
in silence.

“I’m scared,”
said Darcy.

Martin took
hold of her hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Then stay
behind,” he said. “Please stay behind.”

“The selfish
part of me really wants to stay,” said Darcy, “but I just can’t. I’m not going
to let you go into battle alone.”

Martin sighed. Before
the worldwide broadcast, Agamon had managed to contact the Axis Council again.
They had agreed to settle their dispute on the battlefield.

The battle was
due to take place on an artificial battle island created by the Axis Lords.
Axis Lord battles were quite different to human ones; the rules were very
strict and formal. Each side was only allowed 100 fighters, and the terrain was
carefully agreed in advance.

The battle
would decide the fate of the Earth. If the Axis Council’s forces won, the
planet would be destroyed. But if they lost, the Earth would be spared.

Tommy sighed.
He had been clenching his fists since climbing aboard the ship, and his
knuckles were white.

“We’ll get
through this,” said Martin, not feeling as brave as he sounded. “We’ve been
through difficult things before.”

“This is
different,” said Tommy. “When we defeated Moonstone that was just one Axis
Lady. But there are 100 Axis Lords coming for us.”

“But we’ll be
prepared!” said Martin. “We have 100 fighters on our side as well. And I’m sure
Slater will have a few tricks up his sleeve.”

Tommy shrugged.
“I hope so. It’s just… Fire Opal’s still in Italy. If I die in the battle I’ll
never see her again. I wish I’d spoken to her first.”

Martin put a
hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Come on, don’t talk like that. We will survive
this!”

“I hope so.”

Eventually, the
ship began to slow down. Martin glanced out of the window. He could see the
ocean beneath them.

Suddenly, the
water began to be disturbed. Something was rising up from the sea. It was land.
Martin watched as the green island pushed its way up out of the water.

Martin pointed.
“Look. That’s the island. That’s where the battle’s going to take place.”

Darcy and Tommy
stood up to look. As they watched, artificial clouds began to appear over the
island.

“Terraforming
clouds,” said Slater.        

They turned
around; nobody had heard him enter.

“The
battlefield is being prepared,” he said. “We must wait.”

Two more ships
were approaching from the north.

“Ah,” said
Slater. “Some more of the troops have arrived.”

“Who else is
fighting?” said Tommy.

“Agamon,
Mulciber and Aurora are all coming in the
Helios
, but they have not
arrived yet. I believe Mulciber’s friend, an Axis Lord pilot, is also coming.”
He pointed to one of the ships. “Fifty more Axis Lords from the City of
Serenity are on board that ship—we only picked the strongest.”

“What about the
second ship?” said Darcy, pointing at a red saucer.

“Pendulum
Officers. Mulciber managed to get hold of them somehow; he reprogrammed them to
make them fight for us.”

“So we’ve
managed to raise the full one hundred troops?” said Martin.

Slater nodded.
“I believe so. Oh, that reminds me.”

The Axis Lord
took his pocket watch from his waistcoat pocket and spoke into it.

“Now,” he said.
“The
Valiant Star
is hovering above the Battle Island.”

“What are you—”
Martin began, but with a loud pop, two people appeared on the ship.

Martin
recognised the man.

“Levanté!” he
said.

“Hello!” said
Levanté. He was holding hands with the young girl that had appeared next to
him. “This is Stone,” he said.

Slater smiled
at Levanté. “It’s good to see you!”

“Good to see
you too, uncle.” He paused, his eyes darkening. “I just wish we could have met
in more pleasant circumstances.”

“Well, thank
you for coming,” said Slater.

Slater shook
Stone’s hand. She was a young girl of about twenty. Her hair was tousled and
messy, but her eyes were bright blue.

Martin glanced
out of the window again. The Battle Island was now covered in snow. Slater
peered at the island.

“It’s time,” he
said.

Slater left the
room. Martin, Darcy, Tommy, Levanté and Stone stood in silence. A few seconds
later,
Valiant Star
began to slowly descend.

Then they
landed on the Battle Island.

*

They climbed out of
Valiant
Star
. The Battle Island was essentially a large snow-covered field. It
wasn’t snowing anymore; the terraforming clouds had vanished.

Martin looked
at the sky; it was white and overcast. Two more ships landed next to
Valiant
Star
. The first opened and fifty men marched out. They were tall, muscular
Axis Lords. The men stood to attention on the snowy field.

The second ship
opened, and fifteen Pendulum Officers climbed out.

Darcy turned to
Slater. “How long do we have?”

“About three
hours until the battle starts. I expect that Agamon will want to go over our
battle strategy when he arrives.”

The Battle
Island had been designed so there was nowhere to hide. There were no mountains,
no convenient rocks or wooded areas. It was just a wide stretch of barren
white. All they could do was stand, waiting, in the snow.

Eventually, the
sound of another engine filled the air. They all looked up. It was Mulciber’s
ship, the
Helios
. The craft landed; Mulciber stepped out first, followed
by Aurora.

Martin ran to
his grandfather and mother.

“Mum. I didn’t
know you were coming.”

“Of course,”
said Aurora. “I could not stand by and do nothing.” She stroked Martin’s head.
“Don’t worry—I’ll try not to get myself killed.”

Agamon and a
young man Martin didn’t recognise stepped out of the ship. Martin guessed he
was the pilot Slater had mentioned. The man shook Martin’s hand.

“Good to meet
you at last,” he said. “My name’s Jaspin Zegrak. I met Mulciber when I was
co-pilot on his prison ship.”

“Oh, right,”
said Martin.

Dr Peter
Ackerman also stepped out of the ship. He looked very pale, and his hands were
noticeably shaking. Martin smiled at him; Ackerman returned the smile
unconvincingly.

Martin greatly
respected Ackerman for turning up for the battle. Martin hadn’t thought him a
very brave man, but it had turned out that he was.

Another Axis
Lord stepped out of the
Helios
, along with a young girl. It was Laser
Wolf and Fire Opal.

“What the hell
are you doing here?” said Tommy, running over to the ship.

“Hello, Tommy,”
said Fire Opal.                              

“You shouldn’t
have come,” said Tommy. He looked like he was about to cry. “I didn’t even tell
you about the battle because I wanted to protect you.”

“She insisted
on coming,” said Laser Wolf. “I couldn’t stop her.”

“When we found
out about the battle I knew you’d fight,” explained Fire Opal. “I couldn’t
risk… risk anything happening to you before I had seen you again.”

Tommy kissed
Fire Opal, and she blushed.

“You still
shouldn’t have come,” said Tommy passionately.

“What else
could I do?” said Fire Opal.

Everyone looked
up as more men climbed out of the
Helios
. They were humans. There were
fifteen of them, and they were all wearing body armour.

“SAS men,”
explained Slater. “Those twenty men are the most highly-trained fighters on the
planet.”

Darcy glanced
around at the troops. She’d been counting. She turned to Slater, frowning.

“There are only
98,” she said. “We were supposed to have an army of 100.”

Slater smiled.
“Remember when I left you after we had visited Wormwood? I told you that I was
going to find an old friend.”

“Levanté?” said
Martin.

“Levanté got in
touch with me himself when he learned about the battle. No, I went looking for
someone else. And I found him.”

At that moment,
the sound of another engine filled the air. An enormous ship began to descend;
it was a bright golden colour, and it was so large that it cast a shadow over
the assembled troops. The ship landed a few metres away from
Valiant Star
.
And then an Axis Lord stepped out.

Martin could
hardly believe it. It was Falcon. Martin, Darcy and Tommy ran towards the
alien. He beamed when he saw them.