Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) (4 page)

Fire Opal
smiled, and took Tommy’s hand. They began to walk, but Tommy suddenly stopped.

“That’s weird,”
he said.

“What?” said
Fire Opal.

“You said the
lights were flickering because someone was tracking me, right?”

“Yes—it must
have been Mulciber.”

“Well, if it
was Mulciber, the lights should have stopped flickering now?”

“Of course.”

Tommy pointed
up, his face ashen. The nearest streetlight was still flickering violently.
Fire Opal shuddered.

“Looks like
someone is still looking for me,” said Tommy.

“That’s a Time Sphere.”

The Reverend
Alexander Howell had black hair and grey eyes. He was wearing a black suit with
a dog-collar. Martin and Darcy were standing in his spacious study. The large
golden sphere was in the centre of the room.

“I built it
myself,” said the vicar. “I didn’t invent it, of course. A certain race has had
time travel technology for millions of years.”

“It’s pretty,”
said Darcy.

“No it isn’t,”
said Howell bluntly. “It’s just a machine. It is
functional
.”

Darcy scowled.
After leaving Xavier College, they had both caught a bus to Abingdon—Alexander Howell’s
village—to pay him a visit. The vicar had been delighted to see them, and had
taken them straight to his study.

“It’s
impressive,” said Martin. “But what’s this all about? Why did you want to see
us?”

“Come on, we’ll
find somewhere to sit and I’ll explain everything.”

The Reverend
led them out of the vicarage. They followed him across the freshly-cut lawn and
into the church. It was quite big for a village church, and it was empty apart
from Howell and themselves. The Axis Lord closed and locked the door and
pointed them towards a pew. They sat down.

The Reverend
walked towards the pulpit, his shoes clicking on stone, and removed his
Deceiving Necklace. He was instantly visible in his true form—his hair became
white and his eyes purple. The Axis Lord stood at the pulpit. He waved a hand
and the church ceiling was replaced by an image of space.

“This is the
region of space directly above Planet Earth,” said Howell, his voice echoing
through the church. “What do you see?”

Martin looked
up. He could see thousands of little golden dots.

“What are
they?” he said.

“Ships,” said
the Reverend. “Thousands of ships. They will be here very soon. The Earth is in
terrible danger, and we need to do something about it.” The Axis Lord paused.
“Have you ever heard of Abaddon?”

Martin shook
his head.  The vicar picked up a leather-bound Bible and opened it up.

“In the book of
Revelation, Abaddon was an angel, the bringer of destruction.” He lifted the
Bible to read. “
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the
bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon.
”

“I’ve never
been very religious,” said Darcy.

The Reverend
smiled. “Neither have I. But I’m on the run from my people. A vicarage is the
perfect place to hide. If you work for God you are not accountable to men.” He
paused. “Time for a little history lesson. How much do you know about my
people, the Axis Lords?”

Martin
shrugged. “Not much.”

The Reverend
took a deep breath, as if ready to begin a sermon.

“A long, long
time ago, the race of the Axis Lords was born. The actual circumstances of this
birth are shrouded in legend, but the thousand years following it came to be
known as the Dark Times. Axis Lords had great intelligence, cunning, and
physical strength. But their society was still in its infancy. Axis Lords did
not have any police or justice system. Crimes went unpunished, and the Axis
Lords cruelly dominated virtually every known species.”

The Reverend
clapped his hands, and a hologram of a golden statue appeared next to him
beside the pulpit.

“But the Axis
Lords also dominated one another. Every Axis Lord was perpetually terrified
that all the wealth he had amassed would be stolen by an even stronger Axis
Lord. So they created all manner of weapons to protect themselves. The most
famous of these was Abaddon.”

The Rev.
Alexander Howell pointed at the golden statue.

“Abaddon was
designed to be the perfect bodyguard. He had virtually unlimited strength, and
was immortal. Abaddon accompanied his Axis Lord master on dozens of trips to
Earth. A few times, Abaddon and his master time-travelled to various points in
Earth’s history to plunder gold and other resources. That is why Abaddon, in
several different forms, appears in many human myths.”

“This is all
very interesting,” said Martin, “but what does it have to do with us?”

“I’m getting
there. Please be patient. You see, Abaddon was powerful, but he was also
unpredictable. Once, on his last visit to Earth around 3,000 years ago, he took
a shine to the humans. Abaddon left a recall device with the High Priest of the
Hebrews, and promised to return to Earth if they ever needed his help.”

Martin frowned.
The vicar smiled.

“Well, don’t
you see? We do need Abaddon’s help!” He pointed to the star projection. “When
those ships arrive, the humans will be powerless to resist them. But Abaddon
could easily defeat them.”

“So where is
this Abaddon?” said Darcy.

“Well, his
creator finally decided that Abaddon was too unstable, and freed him as a last
act of kindness. Abaddon built his own spaceship and disappeared. No-one has
ever seen him since.”

“So how are we
supposed to find him?”

“By activating
the recall device, of course. You must find it. The trouble is, it doesn’t
exist anymore. The recall device was destroyed. And that’s where my time
machine comes in…”

*

Martin’s dad was
putting on a stripy tie when Martin sat down at the breakfast table the next
morning. He was wearing his grey work suit.

“Oh, morning,
Martin,” said Charlie.

For years, Charlie
had been an unemployed alcoholic. However, after the near-destruction of the
Earth he had stopped drinking—eventually—and had managed to find himself an
office job.

“Running late,
as usual,” he said.

Martin smiled.
He would never say it to his face, but he was so proud of his dad. He had achieved
so much in the last few months.

“I wish I had
your power, Martin. Then I could just fly to work! Anyway, see you.”

His dad grabbed
a slice of toast and left the flat. Martin frowned. When he had told his dad
about his special power, and about how he had saved the world, he had expected
not to be believed. But, strangely, his dad had accepted every word, even
before he had seen Martin use his power… Martin shook his head. It was nothing.
His dad just trusted him, that’s all.

He heard the
doorbell ring twice, and he knew that it was Darcy. He left the flat and took
the stairs. Darcy was standing outside the door of the apartment building,
chatting to a boy that Martin didn’t recognise. The boy had dark eyebrows and a
deep tan. He was tall, muscular, and standing very close to Darcy. When he saw
Martin, he smiled.

“Well, I’d
better be off,” he said. “Nice talking.”

Darcy smiled at
the strange boy. “Yeah, yeah it was. See you.”

The boy
sauntered off.

“Who was that?”
said Martin.

“Tyler.”

“How do you
know him?”

“He goes to our
school,” said Darcy. “He started a few weeks before we broke up, remember?”

Martin shook
his head. “I don’t remember. But I don’t like the look of him.”

Darcy grinned.
“You’re not jealous, are you?”

“No, no, not
jealous.”

“Good.”

Martin sighed.
“Sorry. I know you wouldn’t… I mean… I just don’t want to lose you.”

“Don’t be
silly,” said Darcy. “Tyler’s just a good laugh, that’s all. It’s not like I
fancy him or anything.”

No
, thought Martin,
I can’t imagine why any girl would fancy a guy
like that—tall, well-built, and tanned.

No, he was
being stupid. He trusted Darcy completely. Martin smiled.

“Come on. We’ve
got an alien planet to go to.”

*

The dim lights flickered in the
gloomy cellar, and an irregular trickle of water was dripping somewhere. They
were standing in the basement of Martin’s apartment building—the area was
hardly ever in use so it was a safe place to keep the time machine. Martin had
bribed the site caretaker so he wouldn’t ask any questions.

The Time Sphere
was tucked away in a corner of the basement; a tungsten bulb bathed the golden
sphere in yellow light.
The Rev. Alexander Howell had
rigged Martin up to a speed-learning device to give him a full working
knowledge of time machine operation.

Martin touched
an invisible panel on the machine; it scanned his handprint and opened. It was
actually fairly spacious inside the sphere. They sat quite comfortably before
closing the top. Martin turned to Darcy.

“Are you
ready?” he asked.

She kissed him.
“Yes.”

He smiled. “OK,
hold tight.”

Martin set the
time and space coordinates and activated a button. There was a humming sound 
for a moment. Then the noise stopped.

“Are we there?”
said Darcy.

Martin nodded.
“I think so.”

He took a deep
breath and opened the capsule; immediately, he felt the sunlight on his skin.
They stepped out of the capsule into the city of Florence.

“That was
quick,” said Darcy.

Martin had
piloted the Time Sphere very accurately; it had appeared near the back entrance
of the
St. Regis Florence
, the hotel at which Tommy was staying. Darcy
stayed with the machine as Martin went around to the front entrance of the
hotel. The entrance hall was extremely luxurious.

“
Buongiorno
.
Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.

“Er… hello. I’m
looking for Tommy Walker.”

“I can try to
call him, if you like, sir.”

“Ok, thanks.”

The
receptionist picked up the phone and dialled a number. She looked at Martin.

“What’s your
name, sir?”

“Martin King.”

“OK.” The
receptionist paused. “Good morning, Mr Walker. I have a gentleman here to see
you—a Mr Martin King.”

The
receptionist put the phone down. “He hung up,” she explained.

A few seconds
later, Tommy came climbing down the main stairs, wearing a bath robe. His hair
was soaking wet.

“Martin!” Tommy
looked bewildered. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“It’s good to
see you, too!” Martin smiled. “Darcy’s waiting around the back. We need you.”

“I’m on
holiday, Martin. How did you even get here so fast?”

“Well, to tell
you the truth, an Axis Lord gave us a time machine.”

Tommy couldn’t
resist a smile. “Yeah, that figures.” He paused. “But I’m still on holiday.”

“The Earth’s in
danger, Tommy. There’s a fleet of ships coming our way.”

Tommy frowned.
“That’s funny. He said that.”

“He? Who’s he?”

Martin glanced
at the receptionist. She was looking a little confused by their conversation.

“Come on,” said
Martin. “I’ll explain everything.”

Tommy sighed.
“OK—just wait for me to get dressed.”

“It’s a nice
hotel,” Martin shouted.

“Yeah,” Tommy
shouted back. “Designed by Brunelleschi, apparently. But then again everything
here seems to be…”

*

Tommy and Fire Opal stood with
Martin and Darcy beside the Time Sphere.

“I’m supposed
to be on holiday…” muttered Tommy. “How did you find me, anyway?”

“The Time
Sphere has tracing technology built into it; it helped me pinpoint your
location. We were going to pick you up last night but you were moving about and
we couldn’t home in on you.”

“Oh,” said
Tommy, “so that’s why the lights were flickering everywhere near me last
night…”

Fire Opal ran a
hand along the sphere. “This is astonishing technology,” she said. “Who built
it?”

“An Axis Lord
called Alexander Howell,” said Darcy. “He’s a vicar in Abingdon. He warned us
about a fleet of ships heading to Earth. We have to stop them.”

“Another Axis
Lord warned us about the ships last night,” said Fire Opal. “It was a man
called Mulciber.”

“Now I come to
think of it,” said Tommy, “he wanted to see you in particular, Martin.”

“Who was he?”
said Martin.

Tommy shrugged.
“I don’t really know.”

“But why did he
want to see me?”

“Dunno.”

Martin frowned.
Something strange was going on.

“Anyway,” said
Darcy. “Howell gave us the Time Sphere so we could travel to a planet called
Pyridos to find some sort of recall device. There’s a warrior called Abaddon
that we need to call for help.”

“But I’m on
holiday!” Tommy turned to Fire Opal. “I promised you I’d be here for another 5
days.”