by Otto Schafer
“It’s so big! And it looks so alive!” Breanne said.
“I’ve seen it all. My god, I’ve seen it all now,” Paul said, limping forward.
“James said something about a state of suspension. Some kind of spell is keeping it preserved,” Garrett said.
“Guys, um, I’m just going to hang back here by the door,” David said.
Garrett heard something in David’s voice. It didn’t sound like fear. It sounded like something else. “David, you okay?”
“Yeah, I feel weird that’s all. A little lightheaded maybe from skipping dinner. I’ll be okay. If it wakes up, might be best if I’m by the door. I am probably the slowest one here,” he said, leaning back on the wall.
“Don’t be so sure, kid,” Paul said.
Janis had the opposite reaction, suddenly running forward with reckless abandonment.
“Wait, Janis!” Pete said, giving chase.
The thing was covered in cobwebs. Janis picked a spot and quickly cleared the webs with a brush of her hand as if she were drawing back a curtain. Without hesitating, she reached out to touch its massive hand. “Guys, its skin is cold!”
“Janis, don’t do that!” Pete scolded. “What if it wakes up or something?!”
Garrett and the others fell in beside her.
The hand was even with Garrett’s shoulders as the body lay prone. In the reflected flames, he could see its black veins webbed under its greyish, opaque skin. “Have you ever seen a hand this big?”
“It must be as big around as a car tire!” Breanne said.
The giant wore some type of hide around its middle that seemed similar to the furry material of its boots; both were dried and decayed with age. A ragged tunic hung from its torso, riddled with tears that appeared singed along the edges. The front half of its head was completely bald. However, from the back half, beginning behind its disproportionately small ears, grew long, black hair. The coarse hair was woven into one long braid, as thick as a rope used to anchor a ship. The massive braid was adorned with stark white bones and stretched down over the giant’s shoulder, the end tucked between the giant’s arm and ribcage. Garrett wondered if the bones were human. “I’ve seen that hairstyle before on Kung Fu Theater,” Garrett said, pointing toward the thing’s head.
“Yeah,” Lenny said, nodding. “Jet Li wears his hair like that in a bunch of his movies. Well, minus the bones. It’s called a queue.”
“How in the hell would you know that?” Pete asked.
“You’re not the only one who knows stuff, asshat,” Lenny said, flipping Pete the finger.
“A while back I actually thought about rocking it, but let’s be honest my hair is just too amazing to shave half of it off.”
Janis rolled her eyes.
“Besides, what if I got tired of wearing it in a braid? Then I would have a half ’fro and who in the hell has ever heard of half a ’fro? Nobody does that… not on purpose anyway.”
Pete shrugged. “Maybe not nowadays, but I do know some Native Americans also wore their hair in this style. Perhaps we have old Stoneclad here to thank for ancient hairstyle similarities from one continent to another.”
“Wait, did you just refer to it as Stoneclad?” Breanne asked.
“Of course,” Pete responded as if the giant’s name were tattooed right across the back of its massive hand for everyone to see. “According to the Potawatomi boy from Lincoln’s journal, this must be Nuyunuwi, also known as the infamous Stoneclad. I was able to actually find a little info on this guy. He was a cannibalistic giant in Native American folklore who terrorized whole tribes. He killed by the dozens, stole their women for breeding, and if the natives couldn’t retrieve their dead after battles Stoneclad ate them. He was a baaaaad dude.”
Garrett shifted uncomfortably. He knew one thing. If half of what Pete was saying were true, he did not want this thing waking up. From the look on everyone else’s faces they were suddenly feeling just as apprehensive as he was.
“Stoneclad? Sounds pretty damn indestructible,” Lenny said, taking a step backward, his eyes never leaving the impossible creature.
“Yeah, according to my research, the tribes set aside their bickering to come together and defeat Stoneclad,” Pete said. “Supposedly, it took six witch doctors to finally kick his ass, but they could do it only after taking his talisman. They spiked him through the wrist and feet, pinning him to the earth before burning him in a great fire that took many trees and lasted for days. Of course, these were just stories told around campfires. I mean, look guys, I don’t know what I thought Lincoln really saw here, or what I expected to find, but this is… it’s insane!”
Garrett lowered his voice to a whisper as if afraid he might wake the sleeping giant. “Insane, yeah, but the story makes perfect sense when you compare it to what Mr. B told us. Six sages defeated the old ones and took a God Stone from each. God Stone equals magic talisman. Sages equal witch doctors. It even looks like this thing might have been in a fire of some sort, and there is some kind of old wound on its wrist,” he said, pointing.
“So, if this thing has skin like stone… how in the hell are you going to destroy it?” Paul asked.
Garrett turned to Paul, taking his eyes off Stoneclad for the first time. Paul looked bad – really bad. He must still be losing blood. Garrett needed to hurry. He swallowed, drawing his sword with a swish of metal across leather. “I’m going to cut the thing’s head off with this sword.”
“What?! You really think that sword is going to cut through that thing’s big-ass neck? Its skin is like stone,” Pete exclaimed, holding his hands palms up. “Hence the name!”
Janis turned to face Garrett and the others. “Maybe he’s right, Garrett. Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“Yeah, I mean what if you hack at it and it just wakes it up or something,” Pete said.
“Guys, Jesus Christ!” Garrett said in disbelief. “This is why we’re here! There is no other way! Do you want this thing waking up!? Apep is on his way here right now, and if we don’t do this, he will wake it up!”
No one answered.
“Now, if anyone wants to stand by me while I do this, let’s go.”
“I’ll be right beside you, bro,” Lenny said.
“You’re right. Sorry, Garrett.” Pete nodded, reluctantly stepping forward. “You know, Lincoln said he never actually went into the large chamber but only stood at the entryway, observing the giant by the light of his lantern. Once he was convinced of what he saw, he never returned to see it again.” Pete inhaled the musty air, drawing it deep into his lungs. “Guys, we’re further than any person has come since – well, since god knows when.”
Quietly, afraid they might wake him, they eased alongside the thing’s waist and past its chest. They couldn’t see over it due to the thickness of the giant combined with the thickness of the stone slab it rested on.
“How tall do you think this thing is?” Lenny asked.
“Twenty-five feet,” Pete guessed.
“No way, bro – I bet it’s at least thirty, maybe more,” Lenny said.
When they finally made their way to its head, Garrett sheathed his sword and climbed onto the stone slab. The giant’s face was the scariest thing he had ever seen. This creature was no gentle Gulliver. No, not at all. This thing was battle-worn and menacing. Rather than resting in a peaceful sleep, the giant looked frozen in a state of rage.
“Jesus Christ, it looks seriously pissed off,” Lenny said, joining Garrett.
Its lips were parted and curled in a contorted snarl. A glimmer of teeth shone beyond its parted lips, but what he could see looked wrong – more like they belonged to a shark than a – well, than a giant. But the most startling thing was that single eye, centered right in the middle of its forehead. Thankfully, it was closed. Nevertheless, Garrett couldn’t shake the feeling the eye was going to pop open at any second and catch him in the act. Its brow was frozen in angry wrinkles broken by vertical scars. Probably from ancient battles, he thought.
>
“We’re coming up there too,” Janis said, climbing up onto the slab and scrunching in close to Lenny.
“Watch it, Janis. There is plenty of room – no need to get all frisky with my booty,” Lenny said. “Better watch your girl, Petey!”
“Don’t you wish, Lenny!” Janis said, punching him in the shoulder. “You couldn’t get that lucky in your wettest dream!”
Pete and Breanne climbed up next.
“I’ll stay here,” Paul said pointing at his foot.
“I’ll keep him company,” David said, leaving his post by the doorway and coming closer to Paul.
Garrett caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see a large rat scurrying away on the opposite side of the slab. Wondering why the rats didn’t try and eat the giant, his eyes followed the rat until it disappeared into the shadows in the back half of the chamber. That’s when he noticed it – something else that didn’t belong – something impossible! The sight of it staggered him backward, nearly causing him to fall from the stone slab. He grabbed at Lenny’s dobok sleeve and yanked. “Look! Jesus Christ, guys! What the hell is that!?” Garrett pointed toward the back of the chamber.
Only now from their perch on the slab could they behold what lay in the back half of the chamber. If they had set out to find anything more unbelievable than a giant in an underground pyramid in central Illinois, then they were looking at it.
“What do you guys see?” Paul asked.
“Well, the journal does mention it. I just didn’t realize it was literal, and Lincoln wouldn’t have known either if he didn’t go past the door,” Pete said.
“Um, hello, anybody? What the hell do you guys see?” Paul asked again.
“What did the journal say, Pete?” Garrett asked.
“It said the giant was guarded by the Thunderbird and that if the giant was disturbed, the Thunderbird would wake,” Pete said shakily.
“That sounds like a pretty important detail, Pete!” Lenny said. “So, I’m guessing that thing is the Thunderbird!?” Not waiting for the obvious answer, he turned to Paul and David and shouted in a raspy whisper, “We got a Thunderbird over here.”
“A what bird?” Paul asked.
“I don’t want to sound stupid, Pete,” Garrett said, “but that thing looks kinda like a pterodactyl, or wait a minute… is that a—”
“It’s a dragon,” Breanne interrupted.
“Balls! We got a dragon over here!” Lenny called down.
David began stepping backward toward the door again. “Did they say ‘dragon’? They didn’t…”
“I don’t think anyone could say anything that sounds stupid given the situation. Guys, honestly, I thought the Native American kid telling Lincoln the story was speaking metaphorically,” Pete said, heavy on the r words as all attempts at the persona of Mr. Cool slipped through the nervous cracks in his voice. “Like the Thunderbird god watches over the giant… not a freaking real-life dragon watching over a freaking real-life giant!”
They stood there for an awkward moment, gazing at the scaly beast as much in frozen terror as in awe. The dragon was huge, bigger than any animal Garrett had ever seen. Even in its current position, lying on the floor like a balled-up cat trying to keep warm, it still looked huge.
Light from the flames shimmered across its dinner plate–sized scales like sun on a mirrored glass building. Its wings ran from the base of its neck all the way down its back, but they were folded up in some strange way that made their true size impossible to judge. Knobby bones speared out from its wings and all along the dragon’s back on both sides. Its head was thin and long, resting on the end of an even longer neck. Its face resembled that of an iguana but with a more pronounced cartilage ridge that ran all the way down to the tip of its nose. In the flickering light, they couldn’t be sure of its true color, but Garrett guessed it was a metallic black. Its feet seemed more those of a bird than a lizard – like an eagle’s but much, much larger and ending in gleaming black talons.
“Do you see that?!” Pete pointed at the dragon.
Lenny stepped up close beside him, trying to see what he was seeing. “See what?”
“Its head.”
“Yeah, no shit. It’s right there – if its eyes were open it would be looking directly at us,” he said, pointing at the dragon’s head, which sat facing them on the floor of the chamber.
“Not that head. The other one,” Pete said, pointing again.
“Holy shit, it has more than one head!” Garrett had been too busy imagining the damage those massive talons could inflict to notice that it did, in fact, have two heads.
“I’m coming up – I got to get a look at this thing,” Paul said.
But before he could start up, David grabbed his sleeve. “Wait, did you guys hear that?” he asked, looking back toward the corridor beyond the entrance.
No one dared breathe.
In the absolute silence of the chamber Garrett heard it, a soft sound growing louder, as the distant sound of boots slapping stone grew closer.
David gazed up at them, fresh panic in his eyes. “Guys… someone’s coming.”
27
The Real Apep
Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1
Petersburg, Illinois
Paul pointed to the opening. “Incoming!”
Breanne, Pete, Janis, Lenny, and Garrett all stood on top of the slab, crowded around the giant’s head.
Breanne tensed. This is it, isn’t it?
Garrett reached back over his shoulder and drew his sword and again it slid free of the scabbard, the sound cutting the silence with a whoosh.
A dark silhouette appeared in the opening of the chamber.
“If you’re going to do it, bro, you better do it now,” Lenny said in an urgent whisper.
The silhouette stepped forward and spoke. “Garrett, I wouldn’t do that.”
Garret gasped. “Oh, please, god, don’t let it be him!”
“Garrett how – how can he be here?” Lenny asked, his face twitching as he tried to puzzle it out. “Unless – unless he’s Apep?”
“Listen to me,” the familiar voice said. “If you do it, if you cut off its head, that dragon will wake up, and if it does… it’s going to kill us all.”
Garrett’s face contorted as though he had been gut-punched. “I trusted you! You were my friend!”
“I’m still your friend, and I’m telling you, put down that sword before you get us all killed.”
Breanne could see the pain of betrayal in Garrett’s eyes. She leaned in close to Lenny and whispered, “Who is he, Lenny?”
Lenny gulped hard, trying to find his voice. “Eugene.”
Garrett looked like he was going to be sick. “My whole goddamn life’s a lie? Nothing is real?!” he shouted, his voice echoing off the walls.
Pete flinched, then looked at the giant, the dragon, and finally back at the giant, before letting out a relieved sigh. “Well, at least we know loud noise won’t wake them up.”
“So, how long have you known we’ve had the book, Eugene?” Garrett asked. “My god, you’re the one who tried to trick Lincoln. You pretended to be his friend. He wrote the journal for you, didn’t he? Then something happened – he was going to give it to you, but he found you out, and hid it in… in your basement.”
To Breanne, Garrett seemed to be just as surprised by his own accusations as everyone else. She watched the wheels of his mind spin behind his glistening eyes, the pain on his face as evident as the giant sprawled out before them.
“So, you bought the house to look for the book, or have you always owned it? My god – all that work, you weren’t remodeling, were you, Eugene? You were searching for Lincoln’s book!”
Breanne stared at Eugene. Could this be Apep? He didn’t look like much with his thin arms and narrow shoulders. He was bald except for two patches of dark hair resting above his ears. Could this really be the guy who killed Jerry? Who tried to kill her family in the pit? The crazed maniac re
sponsible for her father’s coma?
Eugene began to walk forward.
“Stop right there!” Garrett shouted. He drew his sword back like a lumberjack cocking an axe. “I’ll hack this thing’s head off if you take one more step!”
Eugene stopped and put up his hands in surrender. “Garrett, you have to listen to me. I’m your friend, here to help keep you from making a horrible mistake. I’m not Apep.”
“Really? Then who is?”
As if on cue, the sound of hurried footfalls in a dead run came echoing down the corridor.
“Well now, I think we are about to find out,” Eugene said.
Breanne spun to face the opening in time to see a combat-booted man burst into the chamber, holding an assault rifle to his right shoulder. The soldier swung the rifle back and forth, frantically searching. With only a quick glance she recognized the weapon as an M4 carbine. She had shot that weapon plenty with her brothers. She didn’t particularly like guns, but her brothers had insisted she know how to use them.
The man with the M4 slid to a stop. He was wearing military-issue camo BDU pants and a regulation khaki undershirt. But it was his eyes that drew her attention. His eyes looked wild in the light from the flames, like there was an untethering in them, an insanity. Breanne felt a sudden and frightening fear coalesce inside her gut as the man continued forward, searching the room.
“Coach Dagrun?” Lenny breathed.
Eugene pressed his lips together tightly and pointed a contemptuous finger. “He’s your Apep.”
Finding Eugene, Dagrun raised the weapon, aimed, and pulled the trigger all in one fluid motion.
Click!
Everyone flinched – even Eugene. But the gun failed to fire.
Coach Dagrun sneered at Eugene before turning to Garrett. “Goddammit, brick, what are you waiting for? An invitation? Sever that sum-bitch’s head, and I mean now!”
Breanne blinked. “Lenny?”
“That’s our cross-country coach,” Lenny said, his eyebrows all bunched up in confusion.
Garrett tensed at the direct order, but he hesitated. He looked at Lenny then Breanne. “Something feels wrong. I… I don’t know.”