Martin King and the Prison of Ice (Martin King Series) Read Free

Battle of Methven have changed to the new date. Ask any
historian, and they will now tell you that the date of the battle was the 19th
June 1306.”
    “So what’s
going on?” said Darcy.
    “History has
changed. You see, Axis Lords perceive time in a different way to humans, so the
change has not altered my memory. But, for all intents and purposes, the battle
now did take place on the 19 th June. The actual date for the
battle has been altered.” He smiled. “And I know who is responsible.”
    Darcy sipped
her tea. “Then who was it?”
    “You are
probably already aware that quite a few Axis Lords—including myself—are
currently living on Earth. Well, I have an old acquaintance called Alexander
Howell, who works as a vicar in a nearby village. Alexander Howell has a time
machine. He has evidently travelled back in time to alter the date of the
battle. Perhaps he dropped a little poison into Aymer de Valence’s cup—enough
to make him ill for a few days…” He paused. “The important thing is that Alexander
Howell changed a detail that he knew I would notice.”
    “Why?” said
Martin.
    Ackerman
sighed. “It’s a threat. Howell knows my love of British history. The Battle of
Methven was a relatively minor battle, but all Howell has to do is change a
slightly bigger event—at a slightly more pivotal moment—and the entire tapestry
of history could be unravelled.”
    “Why would he
want to threaten you?” said Martin.
    “Because I have
been protecting you.” Dr Ackerman sighed again. “Your old friend, Valdragor
Slater—you know him as Michael, I believe—asked me to do so.”
    Mr Slater had
been a teacher at Martin’s school; he was also an alien, and he had helped them
to save the world.
    “After your
defeat of Moonstone,” Dr Ackerman went on, “Slater knew that you would become
wanted—it was even possible that our own people would come after you. So I
shielded you. Up until now you have all been untraceable to members of my
race.”
    “But this
Alexander Howell wants to find us?” said Darcy. “And he’s threatening you so
you remove the protection and let him?”
    “Precisely,”
said Dr Ackerman.
    Martin paused
to think about what he had told them.
    “How do you
know he wants us?” said Martin. “I mean, how do you know that Alexander Howell
isn’t threatening you for some other reason?”
    Dr Ackerman put
on a pair of plastic gloves and removed a delicate yellow document from a box.
    “This is one of
the original copies of The Brus , a narrative poem published in 1375 that
chronicled the affairs of Robert the Bruce and the Scottish Wars of
Independence. It seems Howell has used his time machine to meddle with the
text. Read the last line.”
    Dr Ackerman
pointed at the last line of the text; Martin and Darcy peered at it.
     
    The
mighty Angel do command
    Bring
Martin King into his hand.
     
    “Oh,” said
Martin. “Yep, that seems pretty conclusive.”
    “So what do you
want us to do?” said Darcy.
    “I want you to
visit Alexander Howell—the so-called “mighty angel”—and find out what he
wants.”
    Martin looked
at Darcy. They were both thinking exactly the same thing. It was about time for
something exciting to happen. Martin grinned.
    “We’ll go,” he
said.
    “Excellent,”
said Dr Ackerman. “I don’t think you will be in any danger. Howell is a strange
man, but I don’t think he means you any harm. I expect that he needs your help
for something.” He paused. “Oh, before you go, I could do with a hand digging
something up.”
     
    *
     
    Dr Ackerman pointed to the
centre of the grass in Lincoln Quad.
    “It’s buried
under there. I thought it would be a safe place for it, but it has caused all
of those four-leaf clovers to grow and so it’s ended up being rather
conspicuous. The gardener dug up the turf and re-laid it, but the clovers just
grew back.” He smiled slightly. “Dr Jackson thinks that someone has been
planting genetically-modified seeds