THE WOODS GIANT

It was the silliest thing I had ever done.

Unbeknown to my family, my three friends had snuck me in several times to watch dance hall girls perform the Can-Can during those times I was visiting my family in Londinium, so I knew how it went. Goro began belting out the melody in a ‘da-da-da-’ manner, which we repeated, all the while kicking our legs into the air like dance hall girls.

Except we were horribly out of step and off key. Goro and I in the middle were doing it together, more or less, but Drog was a half-step behind, while Baroda was seeing how high he could kick while belting out the melody like a bull in rut. Behind us I could hear laughter, while the giant, who had stepped out into the clearing, stopped and smiled as it stared at us, pointing with its free hand as we continued.

Goro called out, “Spin the line,” and he and I began turning, Baroda getting the idea a couple beats later while Drog needed a head thump from Goro before he realized what we were doing. We continued kicking our legs out as we spun like a top, the giant shaking as it continued to point. Ripper bounded away from Rainbow and began his deep woofing at us, running around us as he continued to bark, the giant shaking even more as he took a step closer. We were almost facing away from it when Goro called out, “Skirt flip.” Our backs to the giant, we flipped them up.

The masks with faces in an O of surprise were attached to our arses. A sound like booming thunder began behind us and Rainbow called out, “It’s laughing! Keep it up.”

Ripper took her at her word, grabbing Drog’s mask in his teeth and shaking him as the line wobbled and broke apart, Drog falling flat on his face. Ripper let go as the three of us staggered apart and tried to reform. Baroda tripped, took Goro with him, and the thunderous sound boomed out again as I spun forward once more. Ripper let go of Drog’s mask and leaped in front of me.

Then he rose up, put his paws on my shoulders, and pulled me forward as if we had decided to dance. Cheek to furry jowl, we staggered about like drunken sots as the giant stepped forward, but then stopped, its eyes on us as Ripper bounced against me, making me stagger before I regained my balance. Then he licked my face. His breath almost gagged me, and my ‘da-da-da’, turned into, ‘Eww, Eww’, as we continued. Glancing up, we were closer to the monster, who now looked down at us with a ghastly smile as it continued to laugh.

Ripper lurched into me and I lost my balance. I let go of him as I windmilled my arms, Ripper keeping one paw on my shoulder as he grabbed the front of my tunic with his teeth, keeping me on my feet as we lurched about like a pair of East-end gin sots. “Jonathan,” Rainbow shrieked, “you’re too close. Run!”

I looked up to see the giant right above me, its chest heaving as booming laughter issued from its mouth, the giant letting go of its walking tree as it held its side with one hand. It pointed a misshapen finger at my face with the other, its mirth like a roiling gale as it threw its head back and howled, taking a step backwards.

And got its toes caught in the deep rut. Its booming laughter turned into a bellow as it lost its balance, its arms windmilling like mine had as it smashed the forest behind it going down. Ripper dropped back to the ground and bolted for our end of the clearing as I followed, joining my friends all scrambling towards the other side. The giant landed with such force it shook the ground.

We reached the edge of the clearing as it began to flail about. It ripped a tree out, roots and all, and began smashing everything around it, including the wooden enclosure, bellowing like a child throwing a tantrum as its club hit the makeshift gate and tore it apart. People inside were screaming as logs scattered like enormous matchsticks. Then it whipped its tree in our direction.

The tree passed overhead and smashed into the treetops. The branches above us began cracking and we all burst into the clearing as the tree came crashing down. A Maya woman in a stained white dress ran between the logs and out into the clearing, holding onto a young girl child who clung to her with a death grip. Through the gaps in the broken gate, I saw a Maya man desperately pulling something with him. I yelled, “Come on,” and motioned for him to join us.

He wildly shook his head and motioned at something near his feet, the man yelling back in their language in between the giant’s bellowing. “He killed a deer trapped in there with them,” Rainbow said, clearly irritated. “He will not give it up.”

The Maya woman and child took off down the path towards the village while the young boy went to help his father. Before he could take two steps, Jack scooped him up with one hand. “We’ve need to hightail it out of here,” he said, pointing at the giant with his free hand. My heart lurched. The giant had stopped thrashing about and was now using one of its backward feet to propel itself in a circle. “Maybe it can’t stand up, but it can still follow us.”

Rainbow yelled at the man, most likely warning him of the danger, but he ignored her, managing to pull the deer through the gap between the logs. The giant spun itself around just far enough for its hand to shoot out and grab the man and the deer both. Jack held the child in his arms, the boy’s face pressed against his chest as the man’s screams turned to gurgling cries, the stone teeth snapping bones as they bit down. Rainbow shook her head and began running toward the path the Maya woman had taken.

Jack and I ran after her with the rest of us following, Ripper loping along beside us as I glanced back. The man had stopped moving, swallowed whole except for his bare legs sticking out of the giant’s mouth, which disappeared as I watched. One enormous eye fixed me with its baleful glare.

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Then, still on its back, it dug its toes into the dirt and began propelling itself toward us. I turned my head forward and followed Jack down the trail, rutted from rain and treacherous from large stones, some of them flat as if they had once been chiseled. Ripper put on a burst of speed and ran past Rainbow, almost catching up to the Maya woman beginning to tire, until he reached a spot where another trail met ours. He stopped and looked back at us. When he realized he had caught my eye, Ripper started down the new trail, stopped, and looked back at me again. “Jack,” I panted, “Ripper wants us to follow him.”

Jack was looking over his shoulder. “I hope he knows where he’s going,” Jack said, his voice sounding worried, “since I don’t think we’re gonna outrun this thing.”

I glanced back. Brush and small trees were snapping as the giant pushed itself after us, its body slithering in an unnatural way as it flowed around large trees instead of trying to knock them down. As I watched, it stopped to look in our direction a moment, adjusted its direction slightly, then pushed itself off again. I stumbled on a rock, almost falling as I looked forward once again. “I am afraid you are right.”

“We need to draw it away,” Rainbow yelled as she reached the new trail. “Or this poor woman and her children will never make it.”

“Then follow Ripper,” I yelled back, “and pray he knows what he is doing.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Jack said as Rainbow followed after Ripper, who bounded down the trail a short ways before looking back once more. We reached the new trail and Jack let the boy go, pointing at his mother’s back as she continued down the main trail. The boy took off like an arrow after her. Acorn stopped as well as Drog and Goro got their rifles back from her while Baroda and I retrieved ours from Rainbow, the four of us ripping off our skirts and masks while the young Eldarion glanced at us, and then at the woman, as if deciding which way to go. The fear on her face changed to determination as she followed Rainbow.

Jack started down the new trail and I followed with the others at my heels, looking over my shoulder as the giant’s head reached the trail we were following. It stopped as if trying to make a decision and I stopped as well while the rest of the group ran past me. “Hey, over here,” I yelled, picking up a rock and flinging it at the creature’s head.

It bounced off one of its gore encrusted teeth, making the giant flinch. It fixed its eye on me and I waved my arms over my head. “If you want revenge, here I am.”

It roared like thunder and started pushing with one foot to change its direction. Jack grabbed my shoulder and pulled me with him. “Reckon that did it. Now run like hell.”

We took off, the sound of the giant crashing through brush as it pursued us growing louder and louder still. It stopped, and a moment later the ground shook. I glanced back. It had raised its hand over its head and smashed it down, sweeping it back and forth a few moments while it turned its head to see where we were. I turned my own head forward again as the sound of its pursuit started up again.

We puffed as we headed up a slight incline, sweat dripping off my nose as I used my shoulders to wipe it. Then we crested the hill and started down. “I hear water,” Rainbow called out, and a moment later the undergrowth gave way as the trail ended at the bank of a river.

It was not the widest river I had ever seen, not nearly as wide as the Thames. Yet the moment I laid eyes on it, I was back in the cenote, struggling for air as I watched the light fade. “I cannot do this. There has to be another way.”

On the hill above us I heard wood snap, and whirling around saw the top of the giant’s head crest the hill. It moved enough so the dark pit of its eye could spot us, and a moment later I heard the sound like a dozen men with shovels as it dug its backwards feet into the dirt and pushed off. Rainbow grabbed my arm. “Jonathan, I know you’re afraid, but there’s nowhere else to go.”

Baroda waded out into the river. “It’s not that deep,” he called out, the current pushing against him but not knocking him down as he continued across.

I waved my arm towards the opposite bank. “Everyone get across,” I yelled. “I am not moving until all of you are safe.”

The rest of the group except Jack and Rainbow splashed into the water, looking back at me as they began fighting the current. Goro gave a hand to Acorn as Drog let Je’kyll hang onto his shoulder, Baroda close to the other side as Jack grabbed my arm. “Old Hoss, I didn’t let you drown the last time and I’m not letting it happen now.” The sounds of smashing brush grew louder.

I took a deep breath. “Alright, I am ready.” The three of us entered the water. It was cold, the current swifter than I would have liked, but as we waded into it, the water rose first to my knees, then up my thighs as I heard a thunderous bellow behind us. “Does anyone know if this thing can swim?”

“I know it can cross rivers on foot,” Rainbow answered, “but only shallow ones.” Fear crept into her voice as the current tugged at my legs. “I have never heard of it doing anything like this before.”

“Reckon you’ll have new stories to tell,” Jack replied. I began shivering as the water rose to my waist, the three of us pushing forward as the current did its best to knock me off my feet. It only rose a little higher, though, and when Rainbow tripped on a stone, I braced my legs and held on to her as she regained her balance. She smiled as Jack glanced over his shoulder. “Old Hoss, looks like you’ve got your answer.”

Looking over my shoulder, I saw that the giant had stopped well before it reached the riverbank as it bellowed again in rage, its fists pummeling the ground to either side. Then it ripped out a small tree and flung it into the river. Its aim was off, the tree landing in the water downstream from us with a loud splash, and we pushed harder to make it to the other side as it worked on tearing out an even larger tree. We had only a third of the distance to go when it ripped out that tree and flung it upstream.

“Shite,” Jack snarled as the tree landed with a large splash. “Run as fast as you can.” We let go of each other as the tree swept toward us, rotating in the current as if letting the giant get in one last swing before we escaped.

Rainbow slipped and went to one knee. My fear changed to terror as I grabbed her by the waist and hauled her to her feet, the tree roots like grasping tentacles rushing right at us as we fought the current, now tugging on my lower thighs, and pushed as hard as we could toward the shore.

Rainbow screamed as the passing roots tore her from my hand and pulled her downstream.

How many good people die in vain because they refuse to give up some possession they feel they cannot be without? Foolishness! And by possessions, I am not only speaking about material goods. I once knew a man on Londinium’s East-end who worked selling newspapers, regardless of the weather. He caught a bad cold with a racking cough, but refused to take time off, saying his family would starve if he did not continue.

He died a week later, and his family was thrown out onto the streets.