Maclins

Chapter 1

More than a thousand people – men, women and children – watched the two boys, now far away on a huge rock, four or five hundred feet above their eyes. Mac and Lin.

“Where are they climbing to so early this morning? Don’t they know that the cruel wizard of Coorg lives there?” the village chieftain barked. “You know what he will do if any of us dared to climb? He will burn them with his magical eyes. Ask them to come back.”

“They are climbing to meet the wizard to get a magical power, chieftain.” A woman said. “They are my sons. They will surely return with magical powers to save us all from the giants. Look, the giants will soon start eating us one by one.”

Everyone turned to their right. Yes, the giants were very close! The man-eater giants!

Chapter 2

The chieftain fell silent for a while and then turned to the woman.

“You shouldn’t have allowed your children to run this risk,” he said. “Mac and Lin are neither brave nor strong. Last month they ran from a pack of jackals. One of your sons was beaten up by a girl three months ago. What good is sending them to meet the wizard who hates cowards?”

Mac and Lin’s mother did not speak this time. She bent her head down and looked for her husband, a very tall man.

“They will meet the wizard, Chief,” he said proudly. “There are no better climbers in Lower Coorg than my sons. Also, nobody has agreed to climb the mountain.”

“I know, Karen,” the chieftain said. “They are good at climbing. Only climbing. The wizard will not give them any super human powers.”

Chapter 3

As the crowd spoke to the chieftain of the village, Mac and Lin were still climbing. The rocks were slippery and their edges were knife-sharp. The real danger was the venomous snakes – mostly pythons and rattle snakes – that didn’t like men and women climb the cliff. “We will not be able to reach the wizard’s cave, Lin,” Mac said, scaring another snake away with his long stick. “Look, the chieftain is questioning our parents. I think we should stop climbing any more.”

“We are not stopping, Mac,” Lin spoke with the authority of an elder brother. “The giants are inching to the the village. They will reach the bottom in a week or two. They will eat our cows and goats. They will not spare our dogs and sheep. They may even eat our own people. We have to climb, climb, climb!”

To be continued: