Kirjath and the Earth Warriors

By Roderick Graham

Brothers Michael and Gabe are magically transported across the universe to Kirjath where hundreds of aliens from all over the universe gather to fight an incoming space-fleet. The boys must live with, train with, and eventually overcome many of them to ensure their own safety. They quickly realise that someone, or something, on the planet is helping them. On this strange planet of monsters and magic, where Earth is is just a myth, they must find inner strength if they have any chance of getting home again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Feb 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781504324458

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Copyright © 2021 Roderick Graham.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-2444-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-2445-8 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 02/11/2021

This book is

dedicated to those who

believe in greater things.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 1

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L OOK AT IT, BREATHED MICHAEL.

It is absolutely awesome! exclaimed Gabriel. I can’t believe it!

The brothers stood for a few seconds, thrilled, drinking in the sight.

Come on!

It was their new house, which they were seeing for the first time. It was a timber double-storey affair set in landscaped gardens with a lawn that ran almost to the sea down behind the place. A big pine tree, one of many in the backyard, peeped over the roof. Their parents had allowed them to go on ahead while they finalised the paperwork with the local real estate agents.

The boys had been given a key by the agent, so they were going to be the first to enter the house as official owners. Their parents were still finishing the small necessary details, but the pair had no concern about that. They ran across the road, up the steps, and onto the wooden veranda, which gave out a hollow sound as they tore across it.

Michael put the key into the lock and, wanting to pick the best bedroom, bolted straight through the door, into the main living room, and towards the stairs, with Gabe hot on his heels. Gabe was two years younger than Michael and not quite as quick, so he was a bit behind when they reached the top. But he was not prepared for it when he ran into Michael’s back because Michael had come to a dead stop right on the creaky uppermost stair.

Hey, what are you doing? he yelled in surprise.

Shh, whispered his brother. Michael had spoken softly because something strange was standing at the end of the hall, past open doorways that led to the bedrooms and a bathroom. It was a lamp—but what a lamp! It was on a tall stand, which was unremarkable in itself. As was the lamp. It was the lampshade that caused the boys to stare. It was jet black with little points of white light like stars gleaming brilliantly all around it. And on its surface, as they watched, something that looked like a miniature comet streaked silently across the shade. The whole thing glowed and pulsed silently.

It looks like outer space! said Gabe as they crept nearer to it to get a better look.

Even as he spoke, the shade began to spin, and great ropes of the blackness were hurled outwards from the lamp and dropped over and around the boys. Instantly, they were lifted off the floor and drawn headfirst into the shade, followed by the lamp stand itself. Everything folded in on itself, and lamp, stand, shade, and boys were gone. The hall was bare, the top stair creaked once, and then the house stood in silence again.

One second Michael and Gabe had been standing in the hallway of their new house, and the next they found themselves in flight through inky star-studded blackness. They could move and breathe, but they had no control over the incredible speed at which they seemed to be travelling. Planets and brilliant suns passed by at a blur, and every now and then they experienced a kind of falling sensation and heard a ripping sound, even in that awesome silence. During those periods, they could see no light of any kind. They looked at each other in puzzled wonder, their faces alternatively in light and semi-darkness but found they couldn’t speak. Michael looked at his watch, which was the old analogue type—a gift from his grandfather—and saw that the second hand was moving back and forth in the one spot, as if time was somehow at a standstill. They passed, and sometimes even went through, constellations and dazzling patterns of stars that were never seen from Earth. Once they even passed a comet as if it was standing still.

At times they seemed to sense a living presence near them, but with everything that was happening—the speed, the sights—they couldn’t be sure.

On and on they went, with no idea of time; they might have slept, but nothing seemed entirely real.

At last they seemed to slow down slightly. Ahead they could see a bluish dot of light, and they knew that this was their destination. Suddenly, there was light all around them, they were falling through blue skies, and wind was rushing into their faces. Then with a huge splash, they were sinking through water—cold water. They were in a pool, and their legs touched the bottom lightly, as it wasn’t deep, and instinctively they pushed upwards to the surface. Coughing and spluttering, they broke into the sweet air above.

CHAPTER 2

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T HEY WERE QUITE CLOSE TO the edge of the pool, so it was no trouble to paddle over and pull themselves up to the bank, where they sat, looking around.

They seemed to be on the side of a small mountain; below them there were forests rolling away from them as far as they could see. Looking up, they saw snowy crags and rocky cliffs stretching into the darkening sky. It was early evening on this strange planet.

The boys looked at each other. I don’t think that lamp was made in Taiwan, said Gabe.

What? Are you serious? Michael exploded at him. We have just travelled untold trillions of miles, with nothing around us but bare space, and somehow we’re still alive; we land on some planet with who knows what sort of monsters on it, we’re in danger of freezing to death, and that’s all you can say?

This was just like Gabriel. A bit younger than Michael, everything just seemed to be a game to him. He cruised through school, doing well at the subjects he liked because he wasn’t short on brains, but he just wasn’t interested in the things he had to work harder on. When he was finished with something, he would just put it down anywhere and forget about it, expecting someone else to clean up for him.

Michael was school vice captain and a long-time member of the debating team, and he had a good idea where he wanted to be in life. So he was very worried about what had just happened to him and his brother; it was so outside of everything that he could ever have imagined, and to hear what Gabe had to say was just too much for him.

Well what do you want me to say? responded Gabe. Where are we? How did we get here? What do we do now?

Michael was never one to be upset for long, and he cooled down quickly. Well, you’re right, I s’pose, he said. We’ll find out sooner or later why we’re here maybe. But right now we have to get down from here or, we’ll be in the dark. Come on.

The way was all downhill but quite rough. They followed what seemed to be a faint trail between large boulders. Their clothes hung wetly on them, making the journey very uncomfortable. To add to their discomfort, a cold wind began to blow. They began to jog to keep warm.

Just then, the moon rose. And what a moon! It was stark white and huge. The surface was perfectly smooth, with no signs of meteor damage, and it looked close enough to almost touch. It shed a brilliant light across the rocky landscape and made their path a lot easier to see. They ran around a slight bend in the trail and immediately were hit by a blast of warm air. It felt wonderful. Just ahead was a pool of bubbling hot mud that gave off wispy tendrils of steam. Gladly letting the welcome hot air rise up into their faces, they tested the temperature of the mud. Finding it acceptable, they quickly ripped off their footwear and eased themselves into the gluggy goo.

It was hot all right, but their bodies quickly adjusted to their new surroundings. Moving about, they found that the pool was about waist height, and they soon found rocks on the bottom that they could sit on, leaving just their heads above the mud. It was so relaxing. They sat there quietly for a while, looking out over the forest below and the mountain above and thinking about what had happened to them.

Where could we possibly be, I wonder? mused Michael. We can’t be anywhere that we’ve even heard of; we travelled too far.

And too fast! exclaimed Gabe. Did you see us leave that comet behind? And the way we went past some of those suns!

Yes, agreed Michael. I reckon we were going faster than the speed of light. He paused for a second. Can you remember seeing that river of stars?

Kinda, replied Gabe. My memory is a bit foggy about some of that journey; tell me about it.

Well, I could see its brightness from a long, long way off. And as we got nearer, we seemed to turn so that we flew above it and along it. It was stars, all jumbled up and flowing like they were in a current, and then they seemed to go over like a waterfall, down and down and down. We followed it down too, for ages and ages, and at the bottom, it was really weird.

What did you see?

A hand.

Huh?

It was a hand, a huge ghostly yellowy kind of neon see-through hand, just kind of hanging there in space, catching all the stars. There were millions of them pouring into it, but it was only a little bit filled, not even enough to cover the palm. And where the arm should have been, it was kinda cloudy and dusty and hazy, so I couldn’t see anything else. Then we went into one of those ripping sound thingies, and everything disappeared. Of all the things I saw, that was the most amazing. Everything else was made of real stuff, but that hand? Spooky.

Look up there! yelled Gabe suddenly.

A giant winged shadow flickered across the face of the moon and dipped down towards the pool they were in. It was an enormous beast, all scaly and black and green, and it glowed from within, as if it was on fire. It landed across the pool from them with an earth-shaking thud and stood there looking at them with large red eyes that seemed to dance and waver like a fire in a wind.

The boys scrunched down as far as they could into the mud, but the beast never took its eyes off them. It just stood there, and gazed across at them, not moving. It had folded its wings onto its back, and they reached about halfway along it. The night grew darker, and it seemed as if they could look inside its body, which glowed more fiercely as the minutes passed. It made no sound.

At last, Gabe could stand it no longer. Well!? he yelled at it.

Michael grabbed his arm and squeezed it hard, but Gabe shook his hand away.

What? What do you want?

Michael thought they would be toast any second. Indeed, the dragon took a deep breath, tilted its head upwards, and spouted huge streams of fire high into the sky. The boys could feel the heat even from where they sat in the hot mud. They cringed, trying to get even further down, until only their faces were above the surface. Then the monster stopped its amazing display of pyrotechnics, and looked at them again—and took another deep breath. This time, the fire came out in a great ball, which seemed to slowly roll across the top of the mud straight at them.

Down! yelled Michael, and they both took a lungful of air and ducked under the surface. They had their eyes shut but the mud got into their ears, and they felt the awesome heat of the fireball as it passed over the top of them.

They stayed under as long as they could, but within a minute, Michael had to come up gasping for breath. Gabe could’ve stayed under twice as long, because he was the school champion at holding your breath, but when he heard his brother break the surface, he did as well.

The dragon was still crouching there in the same spot, looking at them. Then they thought they heard a chuckle from a very deep throat, and it unfolded its wings and leapt into the sky above them, creating a downwards blast of air onto their faces. Higher and higher it went, spouting fire into the night as it flew, until it disappeared.

Michael and Gabe stared at each other, and for once, even Gabe seemed unsure what to say. At last Michael whispered, I hope that’s the only one of those things on this planet.

Yes, I hope it doesn’t have kids, replied Gabe. But what should we do now? Get out of here and go into the forest?

No way, answered Michael. We don’t know what’s in there—more monsters or deep holes in the ground or what.

Yeah, but maybe that dragon thinks it has cooked us and has gone to get the family for a snack?

No, I don’t think so. We wouldn’t even be a mouthful for a thing that size, let alone a meal for a few of them. And besides, I reckon I heard it laugh.

So you’re saying it was having a little joke with us? exploded Gabe, who was pretty shaken by what had happened. That it can think?

I don’t know, continued Michael, but we don’t even know anything about this place. So we’re just going to have to guess what to do until we find out something about … well, about anything I suppose. And in the meantime, at least we’re warm where we are, and that fire would’ve scared any animals away for miles.

So there they sat, in a big mud pool on a strange planet that they had no idea of how they had got onto, and looked at stars and comets and constellations they had never seen before, until the sun began to show itself above the planet’s rim many hours later. Both of them had managed a few hours sleep, on and off. So they didn’t feel too bad as they clambered out of the pool and began to walk down the side of the slope towards the forest.

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It was quite a nice walk really, if