Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) (9 page)

Agamon smiled.
“No, just a simple heat sensor; that’s how it works in the dark.”

“Brilliant,”
said Laser Wolf, “I will definitely have to make one of those when I get home.”

Fire Opal
glanced at Tommy and rolled her eyes. Her father was obsessed with his
inventions.

“If you think
the gravity globe is impressive, take a look at
this
.”

The globe
caught them up as they stopped. Agamon was pointing at a large silver machine.
It looked immensely complex.

“I keep it in
here so it can be in the dark,” said Agamon, “even the tiniest bit of direct
sunlight would play havoc with its circuits. Do you know what it is?”

“I do. I
actually tried to make one before, but it was too difficult.” Laser Wolf looked
a little jealous.

“I can’t take
too much credit for it,” said Agamon. “It was an old friend of mine who
originally came up with the design.” He paused, his eyes darkening for a
moment. “Actually, you’ve met him, Tommy. Mulciber invented this machine.”

Tommy stared at
the silver contraption. “What does it do?”

“It’s a Time
Breaker. It sounds a lot more violent than it is. To put it simply…” Agamon
sighed; it was clear that he wasn’t used to putting things simply. “It is
designed to create splits, or
fractures
, in time and space. One can then
walk through these fractures and end up—well—somewhere else.”

“Cool,” said
Tommy.

“Yes, it is.
The trouble is, however, the damn thing won’t do what I want it to. I built the
machine so I could open a portal to allow all of the Axis Lords on Earth to
escape. But the machine is too erratic—remember that portal that opened up on
the beach?” He paused. “I brought the machine here in the hope that it would be
more reliable. But it’s hopeless. I can open portals, but only to other times
in Earth’s history, and only to times
after
the City of Serenity was
built. I can only assume that after building the city the Axis Lords created
some sort of disturbance field around the entire planet.”

Suddenly, with
a hissing sound, another portal appeared. But it looked different this time; it
was blue, and crackling like electricity; it seemed somehow unstable.

“Tommy, step
back,” said Agamon slowly.

The portal was
moving closer to Tommy. He edged slowly away from the fizzing fracture but it
too increased its speed.

Suddenly, Tommy
made a run for it—but the portal was fast too. He ran towards the statue of the
Wheelmaster and hid behind it.

The portal
stopped for a second. Then, it turned orange. Tommy felt his legs rise into the
air; he was being sucked into the portal. He grabbed hold of the Wheelmaster’s
waist, tightly, but he could feel his hands beginning to slip.

“Hold on!”
shouted Fire Opal.

Tommy darted a
glance at her. She looked terrified. For some reason, Fire Opal, Laser Wolf and
Agamon were not being affected by the portal. For some reason, it only wanted
him
.

“Hang in
there!” shouted Laser Wolf.

“I’m trying!”
yelled Tommy, not sure if he could hold on much longer. His grip began to
slip—he was going to fall, he was going to be pulled inside the fracture.
Suddenly, the pull stopped, and the portal vanished.

“There!” said
Agamon. “I have closed it.”

Tommy stood
dazed for a second, before he turned on Agamon.

“What do you
think you’re playing at? Where did that thing come from?”

Agamon shook
his head. “I really don’t know, Tommy. I’m sorry. Either way—” Agamon pulled a
lever, and the lights on the machine went dead. “It won’t be happening again.”

Tommy breathed
out slowly.

*

Tommy and Fire
Opal stood before the crystal dome, which glinted like ice in the sun. Tommy
took his girlfriend’s hand, and looked into her purple eyes. He felt like the
luckiest person in the world. So this was it. He was actually going to marry
her. Of course, it was a bit different to when two humans got married. For one
thing, he was so young. He would still have to go back to school almost
straight after the wedding. But he would still be married. He would still have
made an enduring bond between himself and the girl he wanted to spend the rest
of his life with.

Laser Wolf
smiled at them both. Agamon was standing outside the Marriage Dome, too. Weddings
in the City of Serenity rarely involved more than two participants, but if
there were any guests, there always had to be an even number. Tommy and Fire
Opal had happily agreed to let Laser Wolf and Agamon observe the ceremony.

“Well, shall we
go in?” said Laser Wolf.

Tommy held Fire
Opal’s hand as they entered the crystal dome. It felt strange to be seeing the
bride before the wedding. The simplicity of Axis Lord marriage customs almost
made him embarrassed of the complicated English ones.

Fire Opal’s
entire body was shaking, but her eyes were gleaming with happiness. Tommy
squeezed her hand.

Tommy was very
surprised by the interior of the dome. It was about the size of a football
pitch, and it was simply a white, empty space. Laser Wolf led them towards the
centre of the dome. The couple stood directly in the middle. Then Laser Wolf
and Agamon began to make their way towards the side of the dome.

“Wait,” said
Tommy. “What do I do? I’ve never been to one of these weddings before.”

“Just do what
feels right,” replied Laser Wolf.

“Thanks, that’s
a lot of help,” Tommy muttered.

His girlfriend
smiled at him. “Trust me,” she said, “It’ll make sense for you when the
ceremony begins.”

Tommy glanced
at the other two Axis Lords; they were now watching from a long way away. He
looked back into Fire Opal’s eyes, and the music started. It was the most
beautiful music he had ever heard—far superior to anything composed by a human.
Within the music, he could feel love, compassion, kindness, passion…

“It’s our
song,” whispered Fire Opal. “The dome creates music to reflect our feelings for
one another.”

Tommy held Fire
Opal in his arms. They didn’t do anything. They simply stood still, absorbed in
the music of their own souls. The colour of the walls began to change—white to
blue to red to gold.

A tear fell
down Fire Opal’s cheek like a silver raindrop. Tommy wiped it away. And then he
kissed her.

They had
already done an awful lot of kissing before the wedding, but it was the best
kiss he had ever had. The dome, the music, the colours all seemed to reflect
and amplify their passion. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity. And
then the music came to a perfect end, and the dome returned to white.

“That’s it,”
said Fire Opal, her voice trembling a little with emotion.

Tommy felt so
peaceful, so
complete
. He took Fire Opal’s hand. She really was so
beautiful. There were no wedding vows in an Axis Lord wedding, but Tommy made a
secret vow.

I love you,
Fire Opal. Whatever happens—ever—I swear to always love you, unreservedly and
unconditionally, and protect you with every last breath in my body. I will
always be there for you. Always.

It’s not every day that a
fire-breathing dragon appears at your school to wreak havoc.

Martin and
Tommy were getting nearer the school when Martin heard strange sounds coming
from the inside of the building.

“Can you hear
screaming?” said Martin.

Tommy shook his
head. “I can’t hear anything,” he said glumly.

Martin turned
to him. He was still looking very miserable. After the wedding, he’d had to
travel back to England almost straight away for the start of his school term.
He hadn’t wanted to risk the anger of his parents.

“Cheer up,
mate,” said Martin. “It won’t be long till you see her again.”

“You’re right,”
said Tommy. “Well, I’m going to Skype her tonight, actually. It’s just hard,
you know? Especially so soon after the wedding.”

“I know,” said
Martin.

He knew how
miserable
he
would feel if he had to spend a significant period of time
away from Darcy.

As they
approached the entrance, Martin turned to his cousin.

“I can
definitely hear shouting,” he said.

They entered
the school. The reception area was strangely empty—the receptionists were
nowhere to be seen, and there were no teachers or students in sight.

There was a din
coming from somewhere. It was the sounds of hundreds of kids shouting. Martin
and Tommy followed the direction of the noise until they realised that it was
coming from near the Sports Hall.

When they
turned a corner, they saw hundreds of kids gathered outside the entrance to the
hall. It was chaos. They were shouting, screaming, waving their hands about. Mr
Chapman and Miss Wight were trying to calm the crowd, but nobody was listening
to them. Martin and Tommy started to push their way through the crowd, heading
towards the obvious source of the confusion—the Sports Hall.

“What’s going
on?” said Martin, spotting one of his friends.

“We all want to
see it!” said Mark, grinning. “But the teachers are blocking off the doors.”

“See it? See
what?”

“The dragon!”

“The
dragon
?”

“Yeah! It was
flying all over the school, breathing fire, burning things, but the teachers
managed to lock it in the Sports Hall.”

Martin glanced
at Tommy. “Why does this kind of thing always happen around us?” he muttered.

Martin wanted
to ask Mark more questions but he had already disappeared into the crowd.

“Come on,” said
Martin. “If there’s a dragon I want to see it.”

The cousins
pushed through the mass of sweaty, laughing people until they were near the
entrance to the Sports Hall.

“You distract
him,” said Martin, pointing at Mr Michaels, who was standing in front of the
Sports Hall with his arms outstretched.

“Er… right.”

Tommy slipped
around the corner and through the door leading to the north stairwell. Then he
ran out into the corridor again, panting, as if he had just been running.

“Sir!” he
shouted. “Sir! Mr Michaels! There’s another one of those things—through there!”
Tommy gestured wildly towards the north stairwell.

Mr Michaels
left his post without a second thought, and followed Tommy into the stairwell.
Taking his chance, Martin ran through the doors into the Sports Hall.

It wasn’t a
dragon. Martin stared at the strange creature, which was flying in a wide
circle. It was a golden clockwork bird, about the size of a parrot. The bird
opened its mouth; a laser beam shot out from its metal beak.

“That’s not
fire,” Martin muttered.

The bird fired
another laser beam from its mouth, which burned a hole in the floor.

“It’s funny,
isn’t it?” said a voice.

The hairs on
Martin’s neck bristled. He turned around. It was a young-looking Axis Lord, but
one that he didn’t recognise. The man’s hair was slicked back, and he was
wearing an emerald-green waistcoat. The clockwork bird flew towards the Axis
Lord, who had apparently appeared from nowhere, and landed on his shoulder.

“The bird is
called Softie,” said the Axis Lord. “It’s a stupid name, but I can’t take any
blame for that. I won him in a card game with a bank robber on the planet
Melyzza. He won’t answer to any other name. Fantastic woman, though.”

The clockwork
bird chirped, and the man smiled.

“It is
wonderful to meet you again after all these years, Martin.”

“We’ve met
before?”

“I don’t expect
you to remember. You were only a baby then. Forgive me.” The Axis Lord stepped
over to Martin and held his hand out. “My name is Mulciber.”

Martin shook
his hand. “So I’m assuming that all this havoc was designed to get my
attention?”

Mulciber
smiled. “You always were going to be exceptionally clever. You’re right. I knew
you wouldn’t be able to resist coming here.”

“Tommy told me
about you,” said Martin. “He said you spoke to him and Fire Opal in Italy.”

The Axis Lord
nodded. “I placed an invisible tracking device on Tommy’s arm. That’s how I
managed to find you so easily.”

“So what do you
want with me?”

“A couple of
things, actually,” said Mulciber. “I suppose you already know about the ships
heading towards Earth?”

Martin nodded.
“Axis Lord ships.”

“That’s right.”
Mulciber grinned. “The question is: what are
you
doing in preparation
for the arrival of the ships?”

Martin paused.
“What gives you the right to start asking me questions? I don’t even know who
you are.”

“Mulciber.”

“Well, that’s
your name—but who
are
you?”

“Don’t you see
it?” Mulciber grinned again. “Don’t you see the resemblance?”

Martin looked
carefully at Mulciber. He didn’t think that he recognised his face. The alien
shook his head.

“Well, never
mind that. The important thing is that we save your planet.”

Martin paused
again. He didn’t know how much to tell Mulciber. He didn’t know whether he
could trust him.

“I’ve sent a
message to Abaddon,” said Martin, “asking him to come to Earth to help us fight
the Axis Lords.”

“Really?”
Mulciber looked genuinely impressed. “Well, that is certainly a start. I’m
proud of you.”

“What do you
mean,
proud
?”

At that moment,
the doors of the Sports Hall opened and the crowd of kids came streaming in.
Martin turned to look back at Mulciber. But the man had vanished—along with
Softie.

*

Martin got to his maths lesson
about five minutes before the lesson started. A few people from his class had
also arrived early. He realised that Darcy was standing outside the classroom
too, with a group of people that she didn’t usually hang out with. Martin was
surprised. Darcy wasn’t an unsociable person, but she wasn’t what you would
call a “girly girl” either. But she seemed to be talking to the girls about
lipstick.

Martin stood
quietly behind a group of boys, a part of him trying to hear her conversation,
and another part angry with himself for doing such a thing.

“…Martin would
like it…” one of the girls was saying.

“No,” said
Darcy, “he wouldn’t even notice.”

“I don’t know
why you even go out with that loser,” said Laura O’Carolan.

“Yeah, well, he
needs me,” sighed Darcy. “But I suppose I will have to break up with him soon.
He gets more irritating every day. I don’t think I can stand him for much
longer.”

Laura O’Carolan
laughed, and Martin felt a horrible falling sensation. Without thinking, he
turned and began to walk in the opposite direction.

Darcy noticed
him leaving. “Martin!” she called.

But he didn’t
turn around. He broke into a run, and headed straight out of the nearest fire
escape. He made his way towards the school playing court and slipped through a
gap in the metal fence. He sat down in one of the bare rows of spectator seats
and watched the pitch.

The sunlight
that had seemed so golden and perfect this morning now seemed hot and hateful.
Martin began to cry. He didn’t understand what was going on.

Darcy loves
me… doesn’t she? She always says she does…

Martin was
perplexed. He knew that he loved Darcy. He had been dating her for two years
now and—despite a couple of minor arguments—they had been the happiest two
years of his life. What if she had simply been
pretending
to love him?
Martin couldn’t bear the thought. Why would she do such a thing?

Either way, it
was too late. All of the strange things she had done recently—bringing that boy
Tyler to the flat, kissing the guard on Pyridos—he had quickly made excuses
for.

But now… this.
It was obvious. Darcy didn’t love him anymore. It was almost too painful to
think about, but there was no point deluding himself. His mind became suddenly
clear at this new revelation, and he knew exactly what he had to do.

He had to end
it—before she ended it with him.

Martin looked
out at the empty playing court as the sun baked the ground and his head. He
wiped his tears away and headed back towards the school.

*

Martin stepped into the
classroom and glanced at the teacher.

“Sorry I’m
late,” he mumbled.

It seemed
ridiculous. Two years ago, he had saved the world from Moonstone and XO5. He
had visited an alien planet in a time machine over the summer holidays. And
here he was apologising for being late.

“Never mind,”
said Mrs Stevens. “Just don’t let it happen again, OK? We’ve just been looking
over the work from last lesson…”

Martin stopped
listening. Darcy was sitting alone, but Martin walked to sit in a chair at the
back of the classroom. Darcy turned around, and looked at Martin. She mouthed “sorry”
at him, but he looked down at his desk.

I wish I had
become the Wheelmaster
, thought Martin.
I wish I
was living in another dimension, watching over everything. Anything would be
better than this pain.

Darcy tried to
catch his eye several times during the lesson, but Martin ignored her. He
was
going to break up with her, but he would wait until he was completely calm.
That way, his words couldn’t be mistaken for an outburst of emotion. She would
know that he really meant it.

Martin felt
sick and his head was beginning to throb. It was the first and worst day of
term. What had started off as a fun morning had turned into the most
heart-breaking morning of his life. And it
had
broken. Darcy had broken
his heart. The rest of the lesson passed in a strange daze. As soon as the
clock hit 9:30, Martin leapt up from his seat and left the classroom first.

*

Martin was pacing quickly
towards the science corridor for his next lesson when he heard shouting.

What this
time?
he thought.
That damn clockwork bird
again?

He turned the
corner and looked through the doors into the corridor. It was snowing. It was
snowing in the corridor. Dozens of kids were playing in the snow—cheering and
throwing snowballs.

Martin walked
into the corridor and the snow began to fall onto him. It was real snow.
Despite himself, Martin was curious. He looked up; white misty objects were
hanging above the corridor. They were some kind of artificial clouds, Martin
realised. Snow was falling from them. He grinned. It had to be Axis Lord
technology.

A door opened,
and a white-haired face appeared. It was Mulciber.

“In here!” he
said.

Martin stepped
inside the classroom. In the corridor, the snow carried on falling; it was
particularly focussed just outside the classroom. Within a few seconds, the
door had been blocked off with snow.

“We’re snowed
in,” said Mulciber. “That should keep the teachers out for a while. We need to
talk.”

“I’m not really
in the mood to talk,” said Martin gloomily. “That was really impressive—the
thing you did with the snow—but I’d be grateful if you could put things right
and let me go.”

Mulciber put a
hand on Martin’s shoulder. “And why are you in a bad mood?”

“A girl,” said
Martin, shrugging.

“Well, it’s
exactly that girl that I want to talk to you about.”

“What? You want
to talk to me about Darcy?”

Mulciber
nodded. Martin sat down in a school chair next to the alien.

“Well, what?”
he said.

“You’re about
to do something very foolish,” said the alien. “Something that you will greatly
regret.”