by JB Rowley
“It might be a real giant,” said Charli, “like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Nellie shuddered at the thought.
“Follow Kikka to the walking wood,” said Kikka. She ran down the trunk of the tree effortlessly, as Nellie had seen her do once before.
“Wait, Kikka, we have to get down Meg’s ladder,” said Nellie.
Kikka was already on the ground. “Kikka waits,” she said.
One by one they made their way down Meg’s ladder to the ground and joined Kikka. She led them away from the ferny forest near Meg’s home until they came to an area of red rocks with plants growing all over them. Rocky steps led down into a valley.
“Look,” said Hamish when they reached the bottom of the steps. “These are the palms I was telling you about; the Walking Palms.”
“Wow,” said Charli. “They do look like they are growing on stilts.”
“This valley seems to be full of them,” said Nellie. “I can really imagine these plants walking. It would look funny if they all started to walk at once.”
As she spoke they heard a rustling sound among the palms.
“It sounds like they are walking,” said Charli.
“Anything is possible in Gondwana, friend Charli.”
“It really is a walking wood, Kikka,” said Nellie. But Kikka was not there.
Nellie shrugged. “Kikka has disappeared like she always does.”
“Disappeared?” said Charli.
“Yes, she just seems to be able to disappear and appear whenever she wants to.”
“If she is hiding in here, her white form will be easy to spot,” said Hamish.
“I am not sure she is hiding. I think she sort of melts into the mist.”
“There isn’t much mist in here,” said Charli.
“No, but probably enough for Kikka. She will just suddenly appear when we least expect her.”
“We have her instructions,” said Charli. “The first thing is to go through the walking wood until we find the giant and the flow. Maybe it’s a waterfall with a giant column of rock standing beside it. You know, like a guard. Maybe that’s what she means.”
“I hope so, Charli. I’d rather a giant rock than a giant creature.”
“Come,” said Meg. “Through the walking wood we must go.”
With Pari on his shoulder, Meg advanced by taking light dancing steps. He grinned back at Nellie. Nellie grinned in return, used to his cheeky ways after spending a Gondwana day with him during her adventure.
“Meg’s nice, isn’t he?” said Charli.
Before Nellie could answer, Hamish called to them. “Look at this.” He was beside one of the walking palms. “Look. You can see how it has moved. See how it has grown a new stilt from where it was before.”
He pointed to a root stilt about a metre away that was still attached to the ground. It went all the way to the new palm to create a new stilt.
“Wow, they really do move positions,” said Charli. She called to Meg. “Meg, come and have a look at this.”
But Meg was no longer there. All they could see were palms on stilts.
“The palms have moved! They’ve surrounded us and cut us off from Meg,” said Charli. The rustling sound they had heard earlier happened again and seemed to confirm what Charli said.
“Nonsense,” said Hamish. “They can’t move that quickly.”
“But there was a clear path up there where Meg was walking. Now it’s packed with palms.”
“You must be looking in the wrong direction, that’s all,” said Hamish. They glanced around. Hamish pointed.
“There’s a clear path through there,” he said. “That’s probably the way Meg went.”
Nellie pointed to another path. “There’s a clear path over here, too,” she said.
“Well, one of them must be the way Meg went,” said Hamish. “Obviously we have not been surrounded by palms so we can stop that nonsense.”
Behind him, Charli poked her tongue out. “So which path is it, Mr Know-it-all?” she said.
Hamish pointed to the nearest one. “It’s probably that one.”
“Probably?” said Charli.
“Well, let’s check them both,” said Nellie. “I’ll try this path and you two try that one.”
“We might lose each other like we did in Fairytale Realm. Remember?”
“This is different. Even though we’ll be on different tracks we’ll still be fairly close together.”
“Yes,” said Hamish. “And we have soft ground so we should be able to see marks on the track if Meg has walked along it. I suggest we go a short distance along each path and look for any evidence that someone has recently walked there. Then we make our way back here and compare notes.”
“Good idea,” said Nellie.
“In that case,” said Charli. “I will stay here and be the signpost for you two to come back to.”
“Won’t you be afraid of all these walking palms?” said Hamish.
Charli ignored him.
Nellie set off on the path she had chosen, searching the ground carefully for signs that might indicate Meg had walked that way. She was some way along the path when she heard loud rustling sounds followed by thumping. Perhaps the plants are walking, she thought. She looked along the path but could no longer see Charli.
She soon discovered it was not plants on the move but troll-monsters. Rashboo’s two brothers, enemies from her first adventure, charged at her. One of them held an uprooted palm which he pointed toward her like a knight’s lance. Remembering her martial arts lessons Nellie stood still until the palm trunk had almost touched her before ducking down and stepping aside. The creature lost his balance at her unexpected moves and ran headlong forward before stumbling and crashing to the ground.
The other troll charged at her. He looked just like his brother Rashboo, with brown hair all over his blob-like body and huge flipper-like feet. Lightning sparks shot from his curled yellow horns and, just like Rashboo, lights flickered in his hairy face where eyes should be. Nellie positioned herself, feet apart, ready for his attack. The creature let out an angry roar, revealing his tusk-like fangs. He reached toward Nellie with his long two-fingered hands. Nellie was ready.
“Hah!” she yelled. At the same time, she grabbed one of the creature’s arms, ducked under its other one and, with a quick twist, brought the creature thundering to the ground.
Before either of the dazed creatures had a chance to get up again, Nellie raced past them, back the way she had just come. She ran until she reached Charli.
“Charli, quick,” she yelled. “Rashboo’s brothers are after me.”
“Who?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Nellie grabbed Charli by the arm and dragged her toward the path Hamish had taken. They ran through the stilted palms, calling out to Hamish. The thumping of the clumsy trolls followed them. Finally, they heard an answering call from Hamish and saw him up ahead.
“The trolls are after us,” yelled Nellie.
Catching a glimpse of the creatures behind Nellie and Charli, Hamish called out.
“Quick, around here.”
They followed him around a bend in the path and ran in among the palms.
“Hide in the stilts,” he said as he ducked under a palm and slipped into its stilted roots. Nellie and Charli each chose a palm and did the same.
“Curl up and make yourselves as small as possible,” hissed Hamish.
A few minutes later the trolls lumbered noisily past them.
“Don’t get out yet,” said Hamish. “Wait for a few minutes.”
When the sounds of the creatures crashing through the palms faded into the distance, they crawled out of their hiding places.
“Which way should we go?” asked Nellie. “Do you think Meg came this way, Hamish?”
Hamish shook his head. “I couldn’t see any footprints or marks. What about the way you went?”
“Same,” said Nellie.
“Listen,”
said Charli. “The creatures are coming back.”
“Damn,” said Hamish. “How are we going to catch up to Meg if we spend the whole time hiding and running away from those things. What are they anyway?”
Nellie explained how, in her adventure, she had been attacked by Rashboo, the brother of the two trolls they had just seen. “He tried to kill me and he almost killed Meg but in the end we killed him.”
“Look,” said Charli. “Look at what the palms are doing.”
13: The Giant
The three children stood and watched in awe as the palms began to move, lining up in rows to form a barricade that blocked the trolls.
“Wow,” said Hamish. “Wait till I tell my teacher about this.”
They could hear the trolls shaking the palms and grunting as they tried to get past.
“Come on,” said Nellie. “The plants have given us a chance to escape.”
They hurried away, not knowing what path they were following now that the palms had all moved.
“I hope we find Meg,” said Charli.
“Maybe he’s already at the place we have to go to; the place Kikka said – where the giant guards the flow.”
“We have to get through these woods before we get there,” said Hamish.
“Yes, and look,” said Nellie, “there is only one path now. It’s as though the plants are showing us the way.”
They hurried along the path. They were at the edge of the palm forest when Meg dropped down from an overhanging tree branch in front of them.
“Meg! You frightened me,” said Nellie.
Meg grinned and gestured up to Pari who was still on the branch. Pari used his tail to swing down. He landed on Meg’s shoulder as easily as a cat landing on four paws.
“At least we can see the sun now,” said Nellie, looking up toward the sky. “Thank goodness it’s still morning.”
“That’s right,” said Charli. “We have to get to the centre of Gondwana before sunset. I wonder how long it will take us to get there.”
“We’d better make it or I’ll do something to that blue creature,” said Hamish. “I’ll...”
Nellie interrupted him. “What’s that?”
She pointed. Ahead of them was a river. Beside the river was a large animal.
“Looks like a hairy hippo,” said Charli.
“No,” said Hamish. “It’s too small to be a hippopotamus.”
“I wouldn’t call that small.”
“It’s smaller than a hippo. That’s all I’m saying.”
The creature moved its head so that they were now looking at it face-on.
“It’s got a sort of koala nose,” said Nellie. “A jumbo koala nose.”
“I know what it is,” said Hamish. “It’s an extinct marsupial called a diprotodon. Some scientists call it a giant wombat.”
“How do you know all this stuff about extinct animals, Hamish?”
“He’s an encyclopaedia,” said Charli. “Parkour is the only outdoor thing he does. Otherwise he just reads weird books; science books and that stuff. His friends call him Wacky Wiki.”
Hamish glared at his sister.
“The point is,” he said. “This is the giant the white creature told us about; the giant that guards the flow. This is obviously the place where we have to cross.”
“There’s no way we’re going to be able to get across this river without that giant wombat seeing us,” said Nellie.
“I do not wish to become lunch for a giant wombat,” said Meg.
“It won’t eat you. It’s a herbivore.”
“It might not want to eat us,” said Charli, “but I bet it could crush one of us easily if it wanted to.”
“It could crush all of us,” said Nellie.
Meg shuddered. Pari snuggled into his neck. The diprotodon did not seem to notice them. It turned its head away and gave its attention to pulling a plant out of the ground by the roots.
“It might go into its burrow when it’s had enough to eat,” said Charli.
“I don’t think this creature has a burrow, Charli.”
“Wombats have burrows, don’t they?”
“This is not actually a wombat,” said Hamish. “People just call it that because it is similar to a wombat in some ways.”
“Can you imagine how big its burrow would have to be?” said Nellie.
“Yes, that’s true,” said Charli. “I guess it just lies on the ground like a rhinoceros does. Anyway, it might go away when it’s finished eating.”
They watched from a safe distance and waited. The animal continued to graze and munch on the plants close to the water.
“We can’t stay here all day,” said Nellie. “We have to reach the centre of Gondwana before sunset.”
“You’re right, Nellie,” said Charli. “We need to do something.”
“The river is not very wide and it looks shallow. We should be able to get across it quickly,” said Hamish. “That is, if we can get to it without alerting the diprotodon.”
“Okay. Let’s keep over this side away from the diprotodon and see if we can sneak into the water,” said Nellie.
Meg, with Pari on his shoulder, waited while the others removed their shoes and socks and rolled up their trouser legs. Then they began to move slowly and quietly toward the water. The animal raised its head. It looked straight at them and charged. The four children scattered back into the palm forest, taking cover between the palms. The giant wombat stopped, swerved to avoid crashing into the trees, snorted then returned to the water’s edge.
“So much for that idea,” said Nellie.
“Perhaps we can frighten the animal away,” said Hamish.
“How?”
Hamish scratched his head. “We could all make as much noise as possible so that we sound like a stampede of animals or something.”
“Somehow I don’t think we could make enough noise to frighten this animal,” said Nellie.
“Perhaps this animal needs a distraction, friend Nellie.”
Nellie grinned. “Yes, Meg, you are good at distracting creatures.”
“It is a good job for me,” said Meg, flashing his white teeth in a quick grin.
Charli was looking thoughtfully at the creature. “What is your plan, Meg,” she said.
“I will get a long palm from the forest and hold it in front of me and walk around the giant creature with it. If it charges, it will charge at the palm. I believe it will not notice if you all creep across the water while I am playing with it.”
“And how will you get across the water?” said Hamish.
“When you are all on the other side, I will drop the palm and run fast through the water.”
“It’s too risky,” said Nellie. “You could get hurt, Meg, and you might not make it to the other side.”
“Let me try something,” said Charli, handing her shoes and socks to Nellie to hold. “You have to promise to be absolutely quiet,” she whispered.
They others looked at each other, wondering what Charli’s plan was. Something in her face told them she knew what she was doing so they nodded their agreement. Charli gestured to the others to stay back and took a few steps toward the creature. The diprotodon turned its head in her direction but did not move. Charli took several more slow, careful steps and stopped again. The animal moved an ear and seemed to be watching Charli. Nellie held her breath. She wanted to call out to Charli to come back but she knew that might frighten the diprotodon.
Charli kept moving in this way until she was almost within touching distance of the animal. Nellie could hardly believe her eyes. Charli stood absolutely still for a few minutes. The animal moved its head but stayed where it was. Charli slowly lowered herself to the ground. As she did so, the diprotodon did the same. Nellie’s mouth dropped open as she watched Charli edge herself closer to the giant wild creature until she was sitting next to it. After a few moments, Charli reached out and stroked the animal’s body. From the safety of the palm forest the others watched as the diprotodon
snuggled closer to Charli. Nellie looked at Hamish. He was staring in disbelief at his sister.
Meg nudged Nellie. “Let us go across the water, friend Nellie.”
Nellie, Hamish and Meg moved slowly to the water. As quietly as they could, they crossed the shallow river. Once on the opposite bank, they stopped and turned to watch Charli. She caressed the animal one last time, stood up and strolled into the water. When she reached them, she put her fingers to her lips.
“Shhh,” she said. “It’s asleep.”
“Charli! That was incredible. How did you do that?” whispered Nellie.
Charli blushed and shrugged. “Sometimes I can do this with animals,” she said. “I sort of send them pictures with my mind and they send me pictures. Sometimes it’s just feelings they send me.”
Hamish stared at her as if he were seeing her for the first time.
The blush on Charli’s face deepened. “I have never told anybody. No one would believe me and people would just laugh at me.”
Meg touched her arm gently. It seemed to Nellie that Charli’s crimson face turned a soft pink when Meg touched her.
“I would not laugh at you, friend Charli,” said Meg.
Charli looked up at him gratefully. Meg continued.
“That is what I do with Pari. We communicate very well with pictures in our minds.”
Pari bobbed his head up and down.
“I wouldn’t laugh at you either, Charli,” said Nellie. “Who taught you to communicate with animals like that?”
Charli shrugged. “My mother,” she said. “My mother is Maori. She told me that animals have their own language. She said humans can learn to communicate with animals if they stop being humans and become like the animals.”
“Oh, you mean like the lady who lived with the chimpanzees?”
“Yes, sort of. It’s just a matter of understanding animals and knowing them well. Anyway, when I was little I used to practise on my pet rabbit and it seemed to work. Then I began to do it with the wild animals that I took home to help. After a while I got quite good at it.”
“You certainly are quite good at it,” said Nellie. “You’ve just got a giant, wild, extinct creature to lie down and have a nap!”