Upworld

by Ian Woodhead

  “He does have a point, Bradley.” Dane stopped walking and gazed steadily at the bodyguard, hoping the man would pick up the hint. “Best we try to behave ourselves, just in case. After all, we could be here for a few hours.”

  “You’re shitting me!” gasped Nelson. “We can’t stay inside this vile place!”

  Bradley coughed. “Why not? It’s protected from the elements. It’s warm, and the creatures outside don’t come in here.”

  “How can you possibly know that?

  “Obvious,” replied Bradley. “Those corpses wouldn’t be hanging on the walls, that’s how I know.”

  He listened to the pair of them having a go at each other. It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but at least Bradley’s wind-up routine kept Nelson’s mind away from the threat of death. Dane moved past them, his footsteps crunching over the tiny pieces of bone.

  Bradley’s idea had paid off. None of the giants followed them, and thankfully, they didn’t run into any more of those evil birds.

  He caught up with the giant who hadn’t moved away from what appeared to be some kind of altar. She looked worse than Nelson. “How are you holding up?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Sorry. This must be so hard for you.”

  The giant lifted a thick book from the surface of a triangular-shaped altar and dropped it on the floor. Clouds of dust catapulted into the air. “Such a vile distortion of everything,” she spat. “This building, everything inside it is devoted to the worship of death and yet…” she lifted the cover with her toe, “and yet, although I expected to find this, it isn’t as monstrous as I believed it would be.”

  Dane wasn’t too sure that he heard that right. “It can’t get any worse, can it? I mean, look around you. This is just horrible, like something out of a maniac’s nightmare.”

  “That I agree with, Dane, but it is not recent. None of this is new.” She pushed the book to the side. “From what I can make out, that is some kind of log, a record of who they have sacrificed in this place. None of these poor souls are in here.”

  “Forgive me for being sceptical here, but how could you possibly know that?

  “As fantastic as it is, the marking of time is still the same as the old way, Dane. They might not have become sloppy with their record keeping but not with marking down the dates. According to that book, in human terms, several years have passed since they last sacrificed an unbeliever to their God.”

  “So this is, or at least was, a church of some kind. You give me the impression that this place isn’t frequented too often then?”

  “We can only hope.”

  “Then let’s see if we can find somewhere to hole up that isn’t so unpleasant.”

  The giant smiled at him. “That would be nice, Dane.”

  He walked back over to the others and found, to his annoyance, that they were still in a heated debate. “Guys can we lessen the noise now? Let’s see if this church has a room with beds, a kettle, and perhaps even a TV?”

  “Dane, will you please explain to this meathead why we can’t stay in this filthy place?”

  “Can you believe that he wants us all to leave and sleep somewhere else?”

  He closed his eyes for a second. “Come on, man. This is the safest place we’ve found. You saw those huge birds. Who knows what else could be hiding in the dark.”

  “This is an evil place. Can’t you feel it?”

  “Seriously.” Bradley turned away, looking disgusted.

  “Do you remember the lost catacombs we found in Crete? Remember how both of us needed to get the hell out of there because of the atmosphere?”

  “A maze in Crete?” said Bradley. “You mean the one with the bull?”

  “It was a Minotaur, actually.”

  Dane knew exactly what he meant. They were the first humans down in that cold place for over three thousand years, and yet they still felt the evil clinging to the very stones. He too was aware of the amount of suffering and death that had happened in here. Dane also knew that the knowledge that more victims would finish their existence tortured to death, made the experience even more difficult to comprehend. In Nelson’s overactive imagination, he saw that long-dead Minotaur stalking him through that maze, one more step bringing certain doom.

  “That’s just a stupid story,” said Bradley. “It didn’t really happen.”

  “We found its bones.”

  Dane nodded. “Yeah, we did.” He glanced over at the giant and frowned. She looked drunk. That wasn’t a good sign.

  “Right, head of a bull, body of a human? You’re pulling my leg. Stuff like that never existed.”

  Nelson’s overactive imagination was liable to get all of them killed. “I feel it too, Nelson. Of course I do, but there’s nothing else we can do. We are out of options here.”

  The bodyguard nodded. He bent down and picked up another bone piece. “Listen to the man, Nelson. We are stuck here. At least for the moment.”

  He looked down at where Bradley had moved the bones. “That’s weird,” he said, dropping down to the floor. He picked up a couple of the larger pieces and threw them to the side, then used the edge of his hand to push away the small pieces. Dane lowered his head and blew away the dust to reveal part of a thick red line painted over the stone floor. “Can you see that, Nelson? There’s a pattern under here. I wonder what it means.”

  Dane looked over at the giant, meaning to ask if she knew, but one look at the woman told him they had more important things to worry about. She was in real trouble now. He got to his feet only for Bradley to knock him back down.

  “We’re no longer alone. We have to hide!”

  His heart raced at the sight of the new shadows forming in front of the door which they first entered. They had seconds to find some cover. The female looked as though she was having a seizure. What the hell was wrong with her? “We can’t leave her!” Dane ran over to the woman, gratified to see the other men had joined him. He grabbed her left arm while Bradley took hold of the woman’s other arm. They managed to pull her twitching body between a row of wooden seats. Thankfully, the noise the intruders made walking on those bone shards disguised the noise they created while pulling the woman into a corner.

  The woman’s eyelids fluttered before snapping open. Dane could tell straight away that she still wasn’t with them. “Come on, sweetheart! Come back home.” The giant opened her mouth wide. Dane slammed both his hands over that huge mouth. “Please, don’t scream. You get us all killed.” Finally, her eyes focussed. She blinked once before managing to nod slightly.

  The giant removed Dane’s hand but kept hold of one of them. “I’m okay now,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I am not sure what just happened.”

  “It’s okay.” Dane heard Nelson gasp. He shifted his head to the left. “Bloody hell!” Giant warriors were entering the building from three different entrances. The type which ended Benedict’s life had walked through the same large open doorway as they did. These weren’t the kids described to him by Bradley and Nelson.

  The sheer size of these men took some getting used to. The female amongst them was big enough, but the three giants now approaching that alter were at least another two feet taller. He truly felt like a gazelle hiding from a pride of lions. They were anatomically similar to them. The exceptions being their arms were a little out of proportion to their bodies, and they still retained a slight brow, a possible throwback from their early hominid ancestors. It was a puzzle as to how the female looked more human than they did.

  The three giants, painted like zebras, were not the only group to enter this unholy building. From two different doorways, Dane watched another group of painted warriors approach the first group. It was obvious from the outset that the new group was from a different tribe; they chose a selection of greens and brown to cover their huge bodies. He would have chuckled at their posturing if it hadn’t been for the painful reminder that their hands were large enough to cover his head and probably possessed the strength
to crush it like an over-ripe pear.

  The last group was the only one not painted, they also wore clothing fashioned from bird pelt. The other two quietened down once the last group reached their side of that alter. It then occurred to Dane that those floor lines had to be territory markers, and this place was a neutral meeting place. Whether or not this was its original purpose was another question entirely.

  When the giants began to converse, the female released his hand. She started to shake. “Are you okay?” he hissed.

  She nodded again. “Yes. Sorry, just hearing them brought back painful memories. I will be okay.”

  He turned back and strained his ears, trying to listen to their language. It was unlike anything that he had ever heard before. He looked back at Nelson, who shrugged back. Dane was about to ask the female when all their voices silenced. The atmosphere grew heavy. The giants looked at each other before they gazed at the doorways.

  Another group of giants were framed in the doorways. The first group fell to their knees and began to hum, while the new arrivals slowly made their way towards the alter. Each group contained three giants. They were all smaller, about the same size as the female, and none of them wore body paint. Deep red material covered their torsos. Were these some kind of priest or shaman? All nine of them met in the middle. They linked hands, then thrust their hands back and let loose a series of ear-deafening howls.

  It was the most frightening sound that he had ever heard. Looking at the others, he saw it hadn’t just affected him. Both men now looked uncomfortable, but not as bad as the female. While they howled, she twisted and bucked. She looked to be in real pain. She was going to give them away!

  He put his hands over her ears. It calmed her down a little, but she wouldn’t stop trembling. “We have to get her out of here,” he said above the noise.

  Bradley nodded. He turned around and ran along the edge of the wall for a couple of metres. He stopped beside a break in the stone before returning. “There’s a narrow tunnel just over there. If she breathes in, she might just fit through.”

  “What if she doesn’t?”

  Dane so wanted to slap Nelson. “We have no choice. Come on, let’s get out of here!”

  They managed to pull the woman up to the wall when their howling suddenly changed to match the humming coming from the other giants. He lifted his head a little higher to see if he could tell what had changed. As soon as he saw the arrival of two more figures, Dane now wished that he’d kept his head down. He knew exactly what was going to happen next. There was a single priest stood on the threshold, and he held the end of a thick rope. The priest gave it a savage pull. From behind the outer wall, Dane watched in horror as a smaller figure stumbled into the doorway and fell in front of the laughing priest.

  The giant casually pulled on the rope, lifting the struggling man onto his feet. From where he lay, it looked like the priest had captured a human, and Dane guessed that’s exactly what this ceremony must symbolise. Although the priest towered over the prisoner, the bound man was still well over seven foot.

  One of the nine original priests approached the newcomer and forced the rusted head gear belonging to a Spanish conquistador onto the prisoner’s head. The room went deathly silent. The new priest released a single howl before all priests took out short curved blades and fell on the prisoner.

  Nelson moaned loudly. Dane’s heart raced when the largest giant in the feathered group jerked his head in their direction. Dane threw himself down, but it wasn’t good enough. Through a crack in the wood, while his companions fed, he slowly made his way through his feasting companions, towards them.

  “Go!” he urged. “Get out of here!” He waited until Nelson and Bradley had left before helping the giant up. “Can you do this?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I think so.” The female glanced behind her. “Go, Dane. Run. I’m right behind you.”

  He followed the other two into the tunnel, fully aware that the giant must have seen their escape, and after witnessing what these savages did to people of their kind, Dane didn’t want to hang around. The tunnel stunk of death. He held his nose while splashing through the black water, eager to catch up to the other two. He just hoped that this foul-smelling tunnel wouldn’t lead them to a dead end.

  Something resembling a severed torso floated past his ankles. He stopped and choked back a scream. Dane then realised that he could only hear the feet of Nelson and Bradley splashing through the water. He turned around and saw the giant at the beginning of the tunnel. “Come on!”

  She shook her head. “No, I can’t leave.” She quickly looked behind before turning back. “You need to listen to me,” she said urgently. “Head east. Oh Dane, there’s so much I wanted to tell you. I’m so sorry. There is a way out of here. Look for a forest of dark red leaves. Now go!”

  He watched her pull something from inside her clothing. She unfolded the object. It was a mask made from what looked like skin. The other giant was now visible. Dane waited until the female placed the mask over her face and went over to the giant before Dane turned around and ran towards the others. Dane hated himself for leaving her, but he knew that he had no other choice. If any of those giants saw him or the others, they wouldn’t last another five minutes.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Marlon wasn’t sure if he’d ever been more disappointed. He had now seen his first group of giants, and they weren’t that much larger than her slave. What upset him more than anything was they cringed when they passed the group. They actually cringed! The phrase gentle giants sprang to mind. They were farmers, not warriors.

  This even beat the current record of when his father and brother gave him an Action Man for a Christmas present. Only when he opened the box, the bastards had forced an old Barbie doll inside. To make the moment complete, they had only dressed the doll in miniature versions of his favourite clothes. They had thought their prank to be hilarious.

  He could feel his temper rising again. That bloody freak had lied to him yet again, and this had to be the biggest lie of all. Not only were the giants punier than he expected, it was obvious from the amount of acknowledgements she’d been getting from these farmers, Branch had been here recently. In fact, Marlon believed the freak was a frequent visitor to this place.

  They were travelling along a dirt road, heading towards a collection of scruffy-looking buildings. It wasn’t exactly a thriving metropolis or a fortified town full of huge, angry armour-plated warriors that Branch had promised him. More giant farmers worked in the fields at either side. It wasn’t the same stuff that they’d fallen in. He guessed that this stuff was their equivalent to wheat or barley, only this stuff was bright yellow and smelled similar to cinnamon.

  Branch looked up. He stopped and bowed his head. “We have company heading towards us, fellas! For my example, get your eyes looking at the bloody dirt.”

  The freak was spot on; there were some more giants heading down the path. Perhaps he had been a bit too premature in his first assessment of these giants as these new ones were significantly larger than the farmers. He didn’t bow his head. Marlon wouldn’t submit for anyone, no matter who they were.

  Branch muttered to himself while rifling through his pockets. He pulled out a number of random objects, like a can of coke, a small bottle of vodka, and a tiger ornament. It then hit Marlon that this guy was a trader. He even took off his boots. Why had Marlon not worked this out before? This is how the freak had managed to stay alive for all this time.

  This looked more promising. These four guys actually did look intimidating. Three of them were painted in black-and-white stripes, while the giant at the back wore a red outfit which looked like a T-shirt and shorts combination. Marlon sniggered. Did this clown know how stupid he looked? The freak must have heard the noise as he turned his head, and saw that Marlon hadn’t obeyed his command. He spun around, covered the distance between them in one stride, and slapped Marlon around the back of the head. The blow threw him into the dust.

  “I
told you to bow for your masters,” he thundered.

  Marlon stayed where he lay while listening to Branch converse with the giant dressed in red in some strange language. He interspersed lots of bowing with the dialogue. He had no clue to the content, but from the body language coming from the pair of them, the giant in red was the master here.

  There was more a great deal more shouting before they shook hands. The silence didn’t last longer than a couple of moments. The ground under his cheek rumbled. Marlon dared a quick peek and saw a pig-like animal the size of a horse pulling a crudely assembled four-wheeled wooden cart holding two metal oblong cages. Branch pointed at one of the other associates. He grinned then pointed at Marlon before shaking his head and pointed at the remaining associate. The other giants picked up the sobbing men and threw them into the cages.

  Another giant, one who looked more like one of the farmers, patted the animal’s shoulder. It turned around and headed back towards the village, with the others following on. Branch grabbed Marlon’s shoulder and dragged him to his feet. “I’ve just saved your life, Marlon. You can thank me later.” He chuckled again. “If there is a later.” The freak shook him. “You listen to me, human. Where we are going, tame humans are not allowed in the settlement without a collar. You just better be good.”

  Marlon managed to nod without punching the arrogant goon right in the nose.

  They reached the outskirts of the village minutes later. Two giants of the larger variety opened the gates to let the inside the compound. Marlon stopped wondering how to start convincing the more fearsome giants to join his new army when he saw just how many humans were wandering around the village. Branch was correct: all the tame humans did wear collars. He also saw that every one of them had limbs missing. They were all very thin and dirty. He got the feeling that the giants treated them worse than animals.

  Branch grabbed his shoulder again and pulled Marlon through the compound. He tried to attract the attention of the other humans, but every one acted like he wasn’t even there. Marlon only stopped when Branch dug his fingers into Marlon’s flesh.