Things were starting to look up for Martha Porter and her merry little band. After their first encounter with the giants of the island, Martha force marched the group for hours without rest. No one dared to complain about the situation and besides their brief discussion immediately following the giant’s appearance; no one dared talk about what they had seen. Despite being the strangest and most outlandish thing they had seen, no one could muster the courage to talk about it. For Martha Porter, Josh Chambers, Lily Isford and Doug Smith, the topic of roving giants was unofficially taboo.
Getting back to ‘things looking up’ for Martha’s group, things were indeed looking better once the group found a clean stream and associated fruits. Though their stop was brief, all four of the hikers had filled themselves on clear refreshing water and tasty multi colored fruits. Even Lily, who had become shut in since their encounter with Angela and Stacy was able to sit down with the group and share in their mutual meal. The four sat around in a small circle eating and drinking; generally enjoying themselves on what would have otherwise been a picture perfect day. Only when Josh noticing something in the corner of his eye, stood up and walked a few short steps from the group did the mood start to die out. Soon enough the other three sauntered over and saw what Josh was looking at; a massive depression in the ground that was like looking at a smaller Grand Canyon. The depression while beautiful on inspection was clearly the underside of a boot.
The group continued walking making sure to not follow the path of footsteps.
It was sometime in the early morning, when the sun had just begun to shine that Martha made the next discovery. Starting with the sound of animals, Martha motioned for her group to be silent; something out of an action movie she had seen, the kind where the team leader makes a series of hand motions telling everyone to ‘shut up’. Everyone slowly backed off the path and into nearby greenery. The sound grew louder and louder, until it seemed almost feet away. Martha took charge and without even thinking she jumped out from her hiding place and into the main path.
Moving aside just in time, the horse and its rider stopped no more than a foot in front of Martha Porter. To her credit, Martha barely flinched and instead looked with shocked eyes at the mysterious horse rider who gazed down at her in awe. The man was somewhere in his early twenties with unkempt brown hair that had not been washed in days and garbed entirely in loose fitting brown leathers. In truth the man looked like a peasant out of a fairy tale story, or a fantasy movie. Martha was too shocked to speak, and her party members were no better at formulating any kind of coherent question. As the horse paced in place, the rider finally broke the odd silence that filled the path.
“Greetings… you... you look very different.”
Perhaps it was her own arrogance taking charge, but Martha was suddenly very quick to respond. “And what exactly does that mean?” Her voice cut like a knife, and despite any differences she may have had with the rider, her annoyance was clear. The audio queue was enough for the rider to understand, and in a very strange fashion the man dropped his eyes from looking at Martha. Continuing on her relentless offensive, Martha pursued the matter further, heedless of the situation around her. “Well? I asked you a question.”
“Well, you dress similarly to the goddess. Forgive my insolence, I did not realize it at first… but you must be angels!” The audacious statement brought the rest of the merry band out from the bushes, and the rider soon locked eyes on all three of the newcomers. Even Lily managed to clamber out of the foliage and stand beside Josh as they group finally met up in front of the horseman. The shock was evident on the man’s eyes as he looked over the newly reassembled group in front of him. Without heed, the nameless rider bowed his head in immediate respect as Martha and her group looked quizzically at one another. “I did not think she would send her heralds to watch after us so soon!”
The following silence was deafening. Martha eventually broke it.
“Oh you have got to be kidding!”
›
The name of the rider was William, William Kendrick to be precise. Martha and her gang were able to gather this information as they followed the horse rider back to his home village. The village from which William resided was called Delargo and apparently had no more than two hundred inhabitants living there. The village was a fairly simple town made up of wooden buildings and using horse drawn carriages for most of their difficult labor. The true shock came to the group when William seemed quite familiar with modern terms like ‘telephones’ or ‘computers’. Indeed there was more to this quaint little village than met the eye, and William was more than willing to explain.
William’s grand-parents as well as several like-minded individuals decided to depart from known civilization and return to more basic means of living. The group all got onboard a boat with the simplest of supplies and left for the island. Though he had never left the island before, William had been educated on the intricacies of the real world, and through some soft spoken questioning, Martha was able to gather that the man was quite intelligent. The group went silent when William tried to switch topics back to the Goddess that had come to visit the village of Delargo. With no other reasoning, the villagers had immediately assumed the gigantic being overhead was something divine come to be with them after their long years of self-imposed exile. It seemed like a fairy tale, but none of the group dared explain that the Goddess was one of their classmates.
Any attempt by Martha to get a description of the supposed Goddess was met with elaborate stories of divine halos and bright light. While it certainly did not match the true ‘playful’ nature of the Goddess’ first visit, Martha was almost certain that the descriptions did not match Angela or Stacy; which meant there were possibly more giant classmates roaming the island not realizing fellow students were underfoot. The thought of one of her peers ‘playing God’ was frightful enough, but the possibility they didn’t realize that their own classmates were below was more horrific than words could describe. It never even entered Martha’s mind to ask more about this apparent Goddess and who she might be. It certainly never crept into her mind to ask if it was her sister.
By the time conversation started to die down, the group finally came to a halt in an open clearing and all the assembled men and women took time to appreciate the beautiful tapestries of stars above them. It was clear that the group would not reach Delargo before resting, so it was decided that the clearing was as good a spot as any to rest. William attested to the safety of the clearing; stating he had rested in it on many nights all by himself. Though the words did reassure the group, Martha decided to set up a watch rotation just in case any giants came roaming through the woods. In most cases it would have been an unreasonable request, but in a place where giants did indeed roam the lands, one could not be too safe. First on watch was Doug, since he had not really spoken or done much since the beginning of their journey, Martha figured it was a good opportunity to give the older man some responsibility and make him feel as though he were contributing to the group.
Once the campfire was set, Martha and William both set off to sleep almost immediately. Josh and Lily sat silently and awkwardly on the opposite end of the fire watching as their two compatriots slept. Off in the distance, Doug made long circles around the campfire, waiting for the group to fall asleep, and to have some personal time. It took a few minutes of further awkward silence, but after she was sure the others were asleep, Lily softly spoke to Josh.
“So Josh… what do you think about all this?” Lily’s words were quavering, a combination of both the cold and her own personal anxieties at the news they had heard today. “I mean, it’s our own classmates who are suddenly so… so… so big!” The depth of the word big took Lily some time to get forward, but eventually she was able to speak it from her own lips.
“Yes, it’s kind of hard to get over that. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure it’s happening for a reason.” Josh once again reaffirmed his own faith to Lily and tried to calm her at the same time. From Lily’s mesmerized look at Josh’s faithful sermon, he quickly realized that if he stopped she might once again fall into complete despair of their situation. Just as speaking his thoughts gave him strength, Josh could only watch as his words gave Lily faith in their dismal situation. “Really, I’m certain there’s a rational explanation for everything, and once we find it out everything will be better. I doubt God would simply make someone like Stacy into a giant for his own amusement. No I think there’s something more going on here than meets the eye, and whatever that is, it’s a test to see how we act.”
Lily continued to ingest the words that Josh spoke, but her mind was afire with her own counter thoughts and ideas. Eventually one of her thoughts manifested to the point where she was able to speak it. “So… do you think that whatever happened to Stacy was some kind of gift from God?”
The question caught Josh off guard; it was as direct as it was unintentionally harsh. Josh didn’t have time to think over what was said and in a rash moment made an immediate response. “Well, yes. I believe many things are a gift from God, and it’s entirely possible that whatever change Stacy has undergone is such a gift. We can only pray that she uses this newfound stature for good and not evil…” Josh trailed off as he finished his immediate thought. It was slightly more ‘gussied up’ then he could have made it, but the embellishment seemed to help Lily cope, and he could see the intent look in her eyes as she listened to the statement that spoke of power and God.
“But what’s good and what’s evil?”
Yet another question from Lily caught Josh flat-footed, but this time the question was merely a follow-up and he had a moment to think of a response before blindly trying to tackle the subject at hand. “I would think that good would be using that… power if that’s the correct term; to help the smaller people. Obviously if there are giants lurking around this island, the smaller populace would need protection. I suppose a good use of that power would be to care for us smaller people. I’m certain some independent people like Martha would not like the idea, but there’s really no other way; we need to come together on this island.” Josh’s statement finished and the crackling fire picked up the end of it, continuing on in the silence that followed between Lily and him.
“What about evil?” Lily responded. The question was once again a very direct and to the point reply, but for some reason she felt it needed saying.
Josh soon found himself lost in the honest twinkle of Lily’s eyes as she looked at him once more for guidance and reassurance. There was childishness in her face, and despite how impressionable she seemed to be, Josh did not have the heart to stop with his replies. “Hmmm, evil would be abuse of that power. Take for example the supposed Goddess of William’s village. Obviously this person is not a Goddess, but instead simply a girl who’s decided to abuse her new position of power on this island. One should not look at the gift of God in such a manner; instead one in her position should consider herself more of a messenger of God than anything else. After all, look at angels; they are simply extensions of God’s will on earth.”
Another pause divided the conversation and Josh stopped to stare at Lily who sat open jawed as he finished speaking. He figured somehow he had set some trigger off in her mind, and a flood of new thoughts was quickly opening up. Despite the situation, Josh was thinking that Lily would make an excellent addition to his own bible studies group should the two of them ever escape this island. The thought brought Josh a moment of happiness before he realized that Lily seemed to be waiting for some sort of continuation. “Obviously we could all be considered…”
“Hey.” Doug interrupted Josh midsentence as he appeared behind the two, his words low enough not to startle either, but to break Josh’s concentration and prevent him from finishing his speech. “You two should really get some sleep. Don’t forget Lily; you’re next up on watch duty.” Both Josh and Lily looked at each other once and gave the other a quick smile before Josh turned to Doug and nodded. “Thanks Doug.”
›
“Lily.” Doug gave Lily a slight push, and within seconds her eyes opened and she looked up at him. “Lily, it’s your turn to stand watch.”
Lily turned and stood up shortly thereafter, giving Doug a small innocent smile. “Oh, I’m sorry about that Doug. Don’t worry though; I’ll keep an eye out for anything.” Her reply and smile made even Doug smile, and in response the meek man brought up a small cup which Lily looked at quizzically. “What’s that?”
With a smile Doug thrust the cup forward; small droplets of the water inside splashing against Lily’s upper chest. “Oh, I had some water saved from the last stream we passed. I figured you might want some.” Lily hesitantly took the cup, and slowly raised it to her mouth and began the process of taking large gulps from the crisp and clear liquid. Within seconds the whole cup was gone and Lily gave her head a quick shake as the water worked its way through her system. “Wow, that was fast.”
“Thanks Doug!” With a quick hug, Lily looked around. Now eager for her shift of watch over the group, Doug only nodded and proceeded to sit himself by the fire any lay down for some well deserved rest. Lily watched for several minutes before she knew the man had fallen asleep, and then she began a nice walk around the wide clearing. With the perfect weather that the night offered she felt better than ever before.
An hour later when the stomach cramps began, Lily would not remember the night as being so perfect.