The Little Alien and the Fire The Little Alien Trilogy Book 1 Copyright 2018 Joe Corcoran Published by Joe Corcoran This edition produced for www.freekidsbooks.org Page 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: In Trouble … Again Chapter 2: The City Chapter 3: Under Attack Chapter 4: Who’s the Bravest? Chapter 5: Consequences Chapter 6: The Council of Elders Chapter 7: The Historian’s Tale Chapter 8: The Poet’s Tale Chapter 9: The General’s Tale Chapter 10: The Pilot Chapter 11: Welcome Guests Chapter 12: Overload Chapter 13: Journey’s Beginning Chapter 14: A Mountain to Climb Preview: The Twelve Labours of Hercules About the Author Other Books by the Author Page 2 Chapter 1: In Trouble … Again He stood at the top of a very tall cliff. When he was just a hatchling, they wouldn’t let him play here in case he fell. Maybe that was why he now liked this place so much, or maybe it was just because of the fantastic view. From here you could see everything. Starting at the base of the cliffs and stretching out - like a sea - almost to the horizon, was a huge forest of tongue trees. Their big, broad leaves were unrolled in the afternoon sunshine, and a strong breeze chased countless ripples across the canopy. Only the desolate Garrick Mountains finally stemmed the tide. These emerged, grey and sullen, from the endless greenery, and their peaks were lost in the clouds. One day, thought the Little Alien, I’ll climb those. Although, he had heard that they went so high you needed to wear a spacesuit at the top, and he wasn’t sure where he would find one of those nowadays. Then, away to the left, there was the city. It must have been very beautiful once, and it was still impressive, even though it had been half overgrown by the forest. A sparkling river picked its way between the buildings. The elders said that, in ancient times, people used rivers for transportation, and that was why the city was built where it was. Now, however, the river was more of a barrier than a highway. While one bank was overgrown with trees, the other was clear and so was the rest of the city beyond. The Little Alien liked to explore both sides – fortunately, the old bridges were still standing. In fact, a lot of things in that ancient place were still working, and others could be coaxed into life with some simple repairs. “I’m bored,” said Squidge, and the Little Alien realised that he had been standing staring at the view for a long time. He scratched his chin with his claw and turned to his odd-looking friend. “What shall we do?” he asked. Squidge always had good ideas about what to do. The elders had made him especially for the Little Alien so that he would have someone to play with. There weren’t any other children – everyone else was old. What was puzzling, however, was why they had made Squidge look so crazy. Why only two arms, rather than three, and why two hands but no claw or tentacle? It was totally impractical. Then there was his squidgy, pink body, his lack of scales and his spindly legs. Every time the Little Alien looked at Squidge he wanted to giggle. “Let’s ride stiltbirds,” said Squidge, “Let’s see if we can ride them all the way down to the city!” “But, Squidge,” protested the Little Alien, “you know what happened last time we rode stiltbirds. You fell and broke, and I had to fix you, and it took ages.” Squidge seemed to break a lot. When he was younger, the Little Alien would take him to one of the elders to be fixed, but the elders were always cross about him ‘not looking after his toys’, so the Little Alien had learnt how to mend Squidge himself. If he were honest, it was also that word toy that he didn’t want to hear. He knew that Squidge was something that had been built - a thing and not a person - but he was also the only friend that the Little Alien had ever known. He and Squidge would always look after each other. Always. “This time it’ll be different,” said Squidge, “This time I’ll be able to hold on because I’ve been exercising and building up my muscles.” He then struck a series of ridiculous poses, trying to show off the tiny bulges in his arms and making his friend giggle helplessly. Page 3 “Okay, okay,” said the Little Alien when he had got his breath back, “Let me see if I can call some.” He took out of his pocket a simple instrument - a small, flat whistle - which he began to blow through. No sound could be heard, but it must have been doing something because, before long, there was a squawking and flapping. A flock of huge birds came flying towards the edge of the cliff, their long legs almost touching the ground. As the birds went past, the Little Alien jumped up and grabbed one by the leg, whipping his tentacle around the other leg so that he had a good grip. The bird lurched and dropped down over the cliff, making the Little Alien’s stomach clench. Then it got used to the weight of its new passenger and continued to descend at a more gentle pace until it was skimming the tops of the trees. Turning his head, the Little Alien saw Squidge flying along beside him, clinging onto the bird’s legs with his funny pink hands and grinning madly. He waved to his friend with his claw. Of course, Squidge couldn’t wave back because he only had two arms, so instead, he stuck out his tongue. Both Squidge and the Little Alien loved this game, even though it was very dangerous. It felt just like you were running across the tops of the trees. With a bit of practice, they had found that they could steer the birds, although it was somewhat hit and miss. Now the Little Alien started to turn his bird away from the flock. He was heading back to the village because it would soon be time for dinner and he didn’t want to be left with miles to walk. Squidge pulled in alongside him, making whooping noises and pumping his legs up and down in the air. Then the village came in sight in the distance, and the Little Alien started to prepare himself. Although steering was hard, landing was even harder. The trick was to fly your bird over the top of a tongue tree and then to let go at just the right moment. If you were lucky, you would slide right down one of the long leaves of the tree and land on the ground with no more than a little bump. If you got it wrong … well, it was a long way down. It would mean some nasty bruises for the Little Alien and worse for Squidge, who was more fragile. The other thing was that you must not be seen by an elder because they did not approve of stiltbird riding. There would be a lecture about the abuse of nature, and it would include long words like ‘frivolous’ and ‘irresponsible’. Finally, there would be the sad shake of the head and the prediction that it would still be a long time before he was ready to take his proper place in the community. The Little Alien knew that, one day, he would become an elder himself, but he didn’t relish the idea – there was too much playing still to be done. Right now, however, such thoughts could wait. They were coming up fast on the village, and the Little Alien needed to concentrate on landing. He looked over at Squidge and pointed down with his claw. Squidge nodded to show that he understood and steered his bird into formation behind his friend. Next, the Little Alien started to look for a suitable landing tree: too short; too tall; leaves rolled up. Aha – just right! He steered towards this one, knowing that Squidge would follow at a safe distance. As he approached the tree, he did a countdown in his head, 3-2-1, and when it got to zero, he let go. The bird squawked, happy to be free of the heavy load, and for a few seconds, the Little Alien was falling through air, wondering if he had got his timing right. Just as he was beginning to worry, his bottom touched down on one of the big leaves of the tree, and he was sliding towards the ground. His relief, however, was short-lived. The leaf was wet from some recent rain, and he wasn’t slowing down like he usually would. He went ‘whoosh’ down the slippery surface, and ‘whoosh’ up came the ground to meet him. The next thing he knew, he was tumbling and skidding along the forest floor until he came to a stop, shaken but unhurt, right in front of an elder. Not just any elder, Page 4 the Little Alien realised as he squinted up, but Bodger – possibly the dullest and grumpiest of them all. What was Bodger doing this far from the village? Now he was going to be in trouble but maybe not too much trouble - if he was polite. He was just opening his mouth to apologise when there was a cry from behind.