Читать книгу The Icicle Imps - Linda Chapman - Страница 5

King Ug, the leader of the Ink Cap Goblins, sat on his rotting tree-stump throne, an icicle hanging from the end of his knobbly nose. His three guards, Potato Nose, Flaky Face and Big Feet stood around him. They were all looking at a small fluffy white creature in front of the throne. Standing on its hind legs, it bowed with a flourish.

“Greetings, King Ug.”

“Aw,” Potato Nose sniggered. “Isn’t it sweet?”

The Icicle Imp bounded over to him, its left hand reaching up to its chest. “Sweet?” it spat. “Shall I remind you what I can do, Goblin?”

Potato Face turned pale. “Er…”

The Icicle Imp jumped on to Potato Face’s foot. “Those who know us fear us! Do you fear me, Goblin?”

“I fear you! I fear you!” gasped Potato Face. “I’m sorry I said anything, sir!”

The Icicle Imp stared at him for a moment longer and then marched back over to King Ug who was chuckling. “So you want the Icicle Imps to help you find a shadow gem, King Ug?” it said.

King Ug nodded, pulling out an iron key that hung about his neck on a rope. “I have the key to the gateway here, but I need to put a shadow gem in the handle for it to work. The Guardian has already found four shadow gems. There are two left hidden around the town. Find me any single gem and the Icicle Imps shall be well rewarded!”

“It shall be done, King Ug!” declared the Icicle Imp. “We’ll listen to the Guardian’s conversations, we’ll follow her footsteps, track her every move. As soon as we see her with a gem, we’ll overpower her. After all, she’s just a girl.”

King Ug snorted sourly. “A girl who’s beaten not only the Ink Cap Goblins, but also the Spider Gnomes, the Swamp Boggles and the Fog Boggarts.”

“She shall not beat the Icicle Imps.” The little creature drew his lips back.

The goblins caught their breath at what they saw.

“Excellent!” Ug chortled. “This time the Guardian shall be beaten. This time we will triumph!”

The other goblins joined in with his chortling, their laughter echoing up through the dark trees.

Sophie stood in her bedroom. She was still wearing her white tae kwon do uniform, and she had her long blonde hair tied back in a high ponytail. “Hands up… push off… bring knee around… kick,” she muttered, going through one of the moves she had just been practising in class. Balancing lightly on the balls of her feet, she tried it at full speed. Bringing her knee around her body, she kicked out fast, but then she lost her balance and almost fell over.

She sighed and pushed her heavy fringe back. If there had been a shadow creature nearby she was sure she could have done the move properly. Being the Guardian of the Gateway meant that whenever Sophie was close to a shadow creature her superpowers kicked in – she became super-fast and super-strong and could do all the difficult tae kwon do moves that she could normally only just watch.

Which was a good thing, because ever since Sophie’s grandfather had told her she was the new Guardian, she’d met all sorts of horrible shadow creatures. So far, she and her best friend, Sam, had managed to always defeat them and now she had four shadow gems safely hidden in a purse belt that she wore around her waist. She and Sam were determined to find the two remaining gems before the shadow creatures did.

She readied herself in a fighting stance. “Watch out, flaky butt, here I come!” she muttered, picturing King Ug, leader of the Ink Cap Goblins.

Pushing off, she brought her leg around and kicked her foot out hard, imagining it knocking the king over. This time she did the move perfectly, landing without a single wobble, her fists up by her face.

“Yay!” she whooped, punching the air.

“You know, you are seriously weird!”

Sophie swung round. Her twin brother, Anthony was standing in the doorway. He looked like Sophie, with thick blonde hair and a tall, slim build, but his eyes were blue and cold, not green and friendly like Sophie’s. He mimicked her, putting on a high silly voice. “Yay!”

Sophie frowned. “Go away.”

Anthony rolled his eyes. “How did I end up with such a loser for a sister?”

“Get out of my room.” Sophie spoke through gritted teeth.

Anthony deliberately took a step further into her bedroom. “No.”

Sophie’s temper snapped and she leapt at him, but as she did so she felt a familiar tingling surge through her. Her Guardian powers – there must be a shadow creature nearby! She didn’t have time to stop herself. Her superstrength made her leap further than she had intended and she barrelled into Anthony. He flew backwards and crashed into the wall opposite.

Sophie scrambled to her feet. “I’m… I’m sorry, Anthony! Are you OK? Here.” She tried to help him up, but he pushed her away, his face bright red with humiliation.

“Leave me alone, you freak!” he howled. Going to his bedroom, he slammed the door.

Sophie looked all around her. There was only one reason why she could be feeling like this. There had to be a shadow creature close by. But where?

Then she caught her breath. There, peering in at her bedroom window, was the small squashed-up face of what must be a shadow creature!