Max Stone and the Lost Star of Zirdon

by Declan Clarke

  Just then, a distant noise caught his attention.

  It sounded like the clashing of blades and the roar of a fight. He stood up, careful to keep himself out of sight from the terror that circled him above and looked out across the landscape. There he saw a truly amazing sight.

  Two mighty warriors clashed. One was nearly eight foot tall, a huge green lizard creature with reptile skin and a jaw full of razor sharp teeth. The lizard man swung two curved blades at his attacker, who was even more amazing to see. He sat on top of a giant sabre-tooth tiger. This warrior was just a boy, older than Max but still too young-looking to be fighting such a foul beast. The young alien warrior had near perfect-looking brown skin, a high forehead that formed up into a peak and behind this flowed his long blood-red hair. His face was covered with tattoos. The young warrior was dressed in a black tunic and held a single sharp blade.

  Their steel blades met and clanged, the lizard creature screaming something that Max couldn’t understand. The young warrior took careful aim with his blade. The sabre-toothed tiger, with a huge mane of green and orange, roared loudly filling the sky with its battle cry.

  ‘RRRROOOAAARRR!!

  It swatted its giant claw at the lizard man and snapped its ferocious jaws around his left hand. But the lizard creature fought back; this was no ordinary enemy. Its two blades swirled and swung, flashing in the red light of this alien planet. But still the warrior boy and his tiger had the advantage. They pushed the lizard creature backwards. This was not good news for Max for the reptile alien took his steps backwards and towards the boulders Max hid in.

  Max closed up the box and tucked it under his arms and crouched low, trying to make himself as small as possible. As they fought outside they moved closer and closer to Max.

  The sounds of battle came even closer and Max dared to peek outside. He could see them much clearer and they made a terrifying sight.

  He saw the lizard man looking to the sky wondering what had the flying creature screeching so angrily.

  It seemed to be warning the fighting pair away from the boulders as though it owned something in there. Somehow the lizard man seemed to know this. And then Max’s blood turned to ice as the lizard warrior stared in his direction, sniffing the air with its huge alien nostrils, its long forked tongue flicking back and forth, searching for some sign.

  ‘Ruurrrarrrgh’ a guttural cackle came from its throat and Max knew he was done for. It sent shivers down his spine. The young warrior and his tiger took advantage of the lizard’s distraction and then moved in.

  Max could see the focus on the young warrior’s face. His eyes were most unusual, deep brown pupils that were surrounded by a flaming red circles. His blade made contact, making a cut under the lizard creature’s neck. It turned and screamed a throaty cry at the young warrior as sickening yellow liquid oozed from its wound. Max thought it looked like phlegm.

  The Lizard lost no time and swung both blades at the young warrior’s face, but it was a dodge. In mid-air and just as the young warrior was about to parry the strike, the lizard creature changed direction. It hit the warrior and his Fight-Cat, his sabre tooth tiger, full square on their jaws with the hilts of his swords. Max was sure the warrior would fall and he wanted to cry out to him to be careful.

  The lizard creature seized the opportunity and turned and ran full speed in Max’s direction, screeching and roaring as it ran. Its nostrils flared with the scent of its prey, its forked tongue flickering like lightening. Above, the flying creature swooped low daring to make an attack to deflect the lizard man away from its prize.

  The young warrior soon recovered, a thin line of blood trickling from his lip where the handle of the heavy sword had made contact. His Fight-Cat shook off the blow and they race forward.

  As the warrior and his sabre-tooth tiger gained ground on the lizard man, his intelligent eyes scanned the boulders to see what had held the interest of these two monsters. He spotted Max looking out from his shelter and their eyes locked for a moment. The young alien warrior looked at Max, not in horror or in amazement as you might expect, but almost as if he knew him. His strangely coloured eyes held Max for a moment, the flame red circles burning furiously around the deep brown centres and then he broke gaze and urged his tiger on. It bound forward on its enormous claws leaping twelve feet in the air, landing on the back of the lizard creature, scratching and dragging it to the ground.

  The lizard fought on; it desperately wanted to reach the group of rocks and the prize it had sensed.

  It had come close enough to have Max in its sight and it went wild trying to reach him. The lizard man made another frantic lunge, this time just a few short feet away from Max. Up close, this creature was terrifying. Its nostrils flared violently and its massive jaws hung open, snapping and snarling. Saliva dripped from its rows of huge teeth and the stench was sickening. Its forked tongue flickered, tasting the air. Max could smell its rotten breath and the yellow ooze that bled from its injury under its neck was vile and disgusting. It howled and shrieked in frustration. Being so close to Max, it desperately wanted to reach him more than his own life was worth.

  Max sensed that it was not just him the creature wanted and he held the box carefully to his chest.

  But the creature couldn’t move any further, it was pinned by the young warrior and his giant Fight-Cat. The warrior reached down from his mount and swung the handle of his blade hard against the lizard creature’s skull. Max heard a sickening thump, CRUUUUNCHH, as the handle met with the reptilian skull.

  The creature was dazed.

  The young alien warrior held out his hand to Max.

  ‘Come’ he said, roughly.

  Max hesitated.

  ‘Stay and you will die’ he said, leaving Max with no choice.

  Max took the offered hand and was hoisted high onto the back of the enormous sabre-tooth tiger. Max saw the young warrior look at the symbol on the box under his arm and for a brief moment looked as though he might say something. But the lizard man was getting up and starting to move in their direction.

  ‘HeeeAAAH’ the warrior shouted loudly at his Fight-Cat. The brave warrior, the sabre-toothed tiger and Max bound off in what Max hoped was the direction of safety.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE LOST STAR

  Max clung tightly to the young alien warrior.

  His heart beat furiously as they sped away from the demented cries of the furious lizard creature. The reptile had not stayed on the ground long after the blow to his head. No sooner had the young warrior pulled Max up onto the back of his Fight-Cat than the lizard man shook his thick skull. It knew it had been tricked and that its target had escaped. It ripped the air with an angry snarl.

  The sabre-toothed tiger ran at an incredible speed, as its huge paws powered ahead. It seemed to Max that this magical creature did not even touch the ground but glided on the air currents as it surged forward. Its long mane flowed behind. The young warrior kept his eyes forward, never looking back. At first the lizard creature put up a chase, dropping to all fours and running frantically, trying to catch the escaping pair. Max looked behind him, but it soon disappeared into the distance, snarling in anger.

  Part of Max was relieved. Another part, however, wondered what on earth he ran towards.

  As they fled, the countryside around them changed. They moved from the desert into lush open grasslands where shrubs and a few trees grew. Tall grass swayed in the breeze and Max’s eye caught sight of herds of animals that bolted once they saw the mighty sabre-toothed tiger. He had expected to see antelopes but instead he saw creatures from his dinosaur book. They had long necks and beaks, and ran on powerful legs.

  High in the sky their path was followed by the pterodactyl, squawking, as it tracked its disappearing meal.

  ‘Where am I?’ he asked himself. This place was becoming more and more alien by the minute.

  His leg ached from the jostling of their escape but he dared not say anything. The young warrior he clung to looked on
ly ahead, never once looking behind to check on him. He dared not say anything or complain about the throbbing pain. He simply did not know if he raced towards friend or foe.

  The tiger continued its incredible pace and they raced through the open plains and towards a dark forest of giant trees.

  The tiger never slowed its pace as they plunged into the tightly-packed branches and through the ancient trees. They looked to have been standing for hundreds of years. They never slowed or faltered. Somehow the tiger seemed to know how to find a way through the impossible path.

  Max clung on for dear life.

  After what seemed like an age to Max, the trees around them began to thin and they could see more of the alien sky. They came out of the forest to a very different landscape.

  Far off to the right a jagged mountain range pointed dangerously towards the sky. Max wondered if this could be the mountain range he had seen in the map he had found in the attic. However, he was too tired and hungry to think about it for too long.

  To his relief they slowed as they entered a small open space. The tiger came to a stop.

  The young warrior leapt from the back of the giant cat and turned to offer his hand to Max.

  ‘Come, earth-boy’, was all he said and Max took the offered hand, careful not to put any pressure on his leg.

  The warrior turned and patted the tiger on the head ‘You have done well, Mannuk. Go now and feed, go see your family. We have been away for many moons and I am sure they have missed you.’

  The sabre-toothed tiger took off with a bound and disappeared back into the forest.

  Max looked around ‘Where are we? What are you going to do to me?’

  ‘Be still earth boy, we must move quickly for you are in great danger.’

  The clearing they had stopped in was surrounded by giant slabs of stone. They looked as though they might have once tumbled from the jagged mountains in a fierce volcano, and behind them was a large hill topped with trees. It was peaceful here and somehow Max could hear the splash of a stream, which reminded him of how thirsty he was. To Max it didn’t feel like he was in much danger.

  The young warrior made his way quickly to the stones that surrounded the clearing and Max had a chance to study this strange boy more closely. His skin was a sort of orange-brown colour, perfect and flawless. His face, though alien, was handsome, and his eyes had changed colour as though his mood had changed. He still had the deep brown at the centre but the fiery red ring was now replaced by a pale blue that surrounded the brown pupil. He wore the sword across his back easily and Max saw he had a long blade knife tucked into his soft leather boots. He wore a short-sleeved tunic that seemed to be made from leather. Max thought that he must be in his late teens..

  The warrior stood in front of the stones and knocked a rhythm and Max realised there was a door. After a few moments the door slid open and before them stood an alien man. He was far shorter than the warrior and stood at eye level to Max. The first thing that crossed his mind was that he was furry. He had a kind face and a grey tufted beard. His ears sat high on his head, giving him the look of a forest creature, but there was no mistaking the intelligence in his eyes.

  Max had a sense that no harm would come to him here.

  The small furry alien’s old face opened wide in surprise at the sight of the warrior standing at his door with an earth boy.

  His surprise soon turned to action ‘Come, come, quickly before you are seen’ he guided them inside as he looked left and right to make sure they had not been followed. Once inside the door slid closed behind them.

  The small alien turned to the young warrior ‘Boctamus, you have done well. Great honour will fall upon you and your family. The Tribe will know that you have brought great honour to your people.’

  Boctamus bowed his head low ‘Thank you Mar-Hoc-Seia’

  ‘Mar-Hoc-Seia’ Max thought to himself, this was the name on his grandfather’s map, but how….? many questions filled Max’s head.

  They stood in a dimly lit stone corridor and the old man shuffled as fast as he could, going deeper and deeper into the underground shelter. ‘Come, come, we must go to where it is safe.’ Max limped painfully and the young warrior helped him walk.

  Max’s breath was taken away when they stopped and, instead of coming to some dark burrow, they opened out onto a small ledge. Below them was a vast underground cavern with trees, and birds, and a multi-coloured waterfall that seemed to come from the sky. It splashed joyfully into a lake where children played. Well, Max guessed they were children, since they were more of the furry creatures only smaller. This looked to Max to be an underground village of some sort.

  ‘Come, come, you must not be seen here’ the old man urged them ‘please be quick’. He led them along the ledge and up a small passage, with the rainbow waterfall beneath them and then slipped into a room. From the look of it, Max thought it must have been his private quarters.

  The young warrior closed the door behind them, making sure no one had followed them or seen them come in.

  Max stood in the room nervous at what might happen next. Under his arm he still clutched the box from the attic. The stone and the map were safely inside.

  ‘I am Mar-Hoc-Seia, you are welcome to Zirdon, and you must be Max?’

  Max’s mouth fell open ‘What? How do you know my name? Where did you say I was?’

  ‘One question at a time my young friend. My name is Mar-Hoc-Seia and this is Boctamus, I am sure you have met.’

  ‘No’ the young warrior answered ‘there was no time for small talk on our journey here. We met STRÄÄLUS of the Kaemon Klann while Mannuk and I were patrolling and I had to get him to shelter and fast’.

  He stood formally before Max ‘I am Boctamus of the Tigral Tribe, welcome to Zirdon’ and then offered a hand to Max who shook it.

  ‘I was a great friend of your grandfather,’ Mar-Hoc-Seia continued. ‘That is how I know who you are; he often spoke fondly of you when he travelled here. I can only guess that since you are here that he was too unwell to travel himself?’

  ‘How could you know my Granddad, he died two years ago, and well I doubt that he was ever here!’

  Boctamus and Mar-Hoc-Seia passed a look of sorrow between them.’ I am sorry to hear of your grandfather’s death Max, he was a great friend to us on Zirdon.’

  ‘May I ask how he passed away?’

  Still stunned Max answered, ‘He came back from a hunting trip with a jagged wound to his side.’ Max paused ‘he caught an infection and he died soon after he returned. My Gran was very upset.’

  ‘KRÄÄXOR!’ Boctamus nearly spat the words out. ‘He has done this. He and the Kaemon Klann have much to answer for.’

  Max could see that the warrior was upset; his hand went to his sword as though he was prepared to fight KRÄÄXOR right there and then.

  ‘Easy, Boctamus, easy, our time will come,’ Mar-Hoc-Seia said. He turned to Max.

  ‘We give to you our deep grief for the loss of such a heroic man. He fought many a battle at our side and in the end he gave his own life to save ours.’

  ‘What, what do you mean, I don’t understand any of this?’

  ‘Your grandfather, Max is what is known among our people as a Traveller; he travelled to many worlds in the universe and always brought hope. I think that the jagged cut you speak of was not from a hunting trip as he would have you believe. When he fled our world he took with him the precious Star of Zirdon to bring it to safe keeping. The wound he suffered was caused by KRÄÄXOR, leader of the Kaemon Klann. He and the hated DRÄÄGNOS, his side-kick and general to his army, stole it from our world. Your grandfather won it back and to keep it from them he fled back to your world. As he left, KRÄÄXOR sliced his side with his sword. I can see that this is hard for you,’ Mar-Hoc-Seia said kindly.

  ‘Here let me show you, he left something here for you, in case he could not return himself.’

  Mar-Hoc-Seia went to a drawer in a large desk at the back of the room and took out a
handwritten note. Max instantly recognised to be the handwriting of his Granddad.

  ‘Please read it’ the old man urged.

  Max took the note, his hands trembling, and read…

  Dear Max

  That you are reading this means you have found your way to Zirdon -, what a brave boy you are! You will also know that the star you hold is one of the most precious things on this planet. I took it back with me to earth for safe keeping but alas if you are reading this I did not make it back.

  These people need your help Max, and you will need to be braver than you have ever been in your whole life.

  My good friend Mar-Hoc-Seia will explain the rest.

  Goodbye for now and know that I will always be proud of you

  Love

  Granddad Arthur

  Ps I hope you liked your penknife

  Max reached into his pocket where he had put the penknife from the attic.

  ‘But how is this possible?’ Max asked. ‘I don’t understand.’ His head swam with questions.

  Suddenly a sharp pain reminded him how sore his leg was. He was also so hungry and tired that he felt faint.

  ‘Oh please where are my manners,’ Mar-Hoc-Seia said as he saw the pale look come over Max. ‘Please have a seat, you must be hungry and tired after your journey, and I must do something for that leg. It looks painful’ Mar-Hoc-Seia, who Max couldn’t help but think of as furry, slipped into a door at the back of the large room.

  When he was gone, Boctamus looked at Max, his eyes a dark rich brown with a ring of pure blue surrounding them against the white of his eyes.

  ‘You have done well Max Stone. To have returned the Lost Star to Zirdon is a great service to our people.’ Max didn’t know what to say and just nodded to the warrior who had saved him from the reptile creature.

  Moments later Mar-Hoc-Seia returned to the room with a long silver box in his hands. He placed it on the ground and directed Max to sit in the chair next to it.