Maclins

Chapter 1: The Crater Village

Lower Coorg was a hidden village, cradled inside a giant crater surrounded by towering cliffs and thick green forests. The people of the village lived simple lives, farming the fertile land and raising livestock. The children often played by the crystal-clear river, while the adults worked hard in their fields and workshops. Every evening, everyone would gather under the old Banyan tree to share stories of courage, magic, and adventure. Among the children were two brothers, Mac and Parmer, who were curious and adventurous. Life in Lower Coorg was peaceful, but one day, everything started to change.

Chapter 2: The Signs of Trouble

Strange events began to trouble the village. The earth started shaking, ever so slightly at first, then more often. Farmers noticed deep cracks forming in the riverbanks. Hunters returned from the forest with tales of enormous footprints pressed into the ground, each one larger than a man’s body. The animals fled, leaving the woods eerily quiet. “Something big is coming,” the villagers whispered to each other in fear. Despite the comforting words of the village elders, a sense of unease spread like wildfire. Mac and Parmer, however, were intrigued. “What could it be?” Mac wondered aloud. Parmer, ever the braver one, said, “Maybe we’ll find out soon.”

Chapter 3: The Arrival of the Giants

One fateful morning, the giants arrived. They stood at the edge of the crater, towering over the village like living mountains. Their rough, stone-like skin reflected the sunlight, and their fiery eyes seemed to glow with a terrible hunger. They moved slowly, their footsteps shaking the ground with every step, causing trees to fall and rocks to tumble. The villagers stood frozen in terror, unable to comprehend what they were seeing. The giants began descending the cliffs, crushing everything in their path as they made their way toward the village.

Chapter 4: Preparing for the Giants

The village was in chaos. Some people screamed, others cried, and many ran to gather their belongings to flee. But the wiser villagers knew they could not outrun the giants. “We must protect our home!” an elder shouted. The people began preparing defenses: gathering wood to build barriers and sharpening tools to use as weapons. Meanwhile, Mac and Parmer listened quietly to the village elders and their parents discussing what to do. The brothers had an idea that they had not shared with anyone yet. They had heard the stories of the wizard who lived high up in the cliffs, someone who might have the power to stop the giants. “We have to find him,” Parmer whispered to Mac. Mac’s eyes widened, but he nodded, knowing deep down that Parmer was right.

Chapter 5: Who are they?

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 6

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 7

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!”

Chapter 8

The chieftain stood in front of the worried villagers. “We need to build a fence to protect ourselves from the giants,” he said firmly. “Use strong wooden posts and iron chains. Make the fence tall, with sharp spikes on top to stop the giants from climbing. Nobody will wait for the two boys who will never return with super powers. The wizard is real only in stories. The boys will find his bones in the cave. Hurry, men and women!”

The villagers nodded, running to gather tools and supplies. Some began digging holes for the posts, while others carried heavy chains. Children helped by collecting vines to strengthen the fence.
“We will also dig deep trenches and place sharpened stakes,” the chieftain added. “Hurry! The boys will bring nothing but a curse.”

Chapter 09

More than five hundred villagers were working hard to build the fence while around three hundred men and women dug the trenches around the chieftain’s castle. Children ran here and there, carrying ropes, spades, pieces of wood and iron. Some boys and girls dragged the broken pieces of an air plane that had crashed into the village a few years ago but the chieftain scolded them for wasting time. “That’s not iron. That cannot stop the giants!”

The boys and girls pulled the massive plane away and then returned with more ropes. Watching this from a height of 800 feet above the village, Mac smiled. “I am sure it was Parmer’s idea. Only he can think of stopping the giants with a broken air plane.”

Chapter 10

The chieftain looked up and saw the two boys still climb the cliff. The most dangerous trail. The Wizard’s Trail. The trail that the wizard made three hundred years ago when the villagers punished him for practicing black magic. He climbed the cliff like a lizard and disappeared, without a word. Three hundred years ago.

No one had seen him after that for sure but there have always been romours of sighting him like a bright star, walking on the ledge near his cave. Can he be alive? The chieftain asked to himself, now watching the villagers digging the trenches and errecting the wooden poles. He shouted at everyone, especially the boys and girls who were watching the Maclins. “Don’t be foolish!” the chieftain shouted. “Hurry! We have to fortify the castle before it is too late. The giants will surely be here in a week or two. They are very slow but they are not going back.”

Chapter 11

When it was midnight, the chieftain asked the men and women to go home with their children to sleep and take rest. When they were gone, more than fifty strong soldiers walked through the streets the whole night, watching every movement of the giants who were descending the cliff along the waterfall. The commander-in-chief asked two of his soldiers to keep their eyes looking for the boys too.

“Brad, I think the boys will find the wizard,” said one of the two soldiers who were asked to watch for Mac and Lin. “I have never seen anyone climb so quickly and steadily. In less than a day’s time they have covered one thousand feet.” “Anyone can climb the first thousand feet, Monk,” said the second soldier, looking up. “When they reach the Parrot’s Gate, they will have to fight the giant eagles that eat men alive. The boys will not climb any further from there. They will either descend or fall down before early morning. I pity them!”

Chapter 12

“There is the Parrot’s Gate!” Mac said, looking up with fear in his eyes. “People say that the eagles are so big that they can lift an adult man.”
“We have to be careful now,” Lin said. “Sit down on that rock and make no sound. Speak as low as you can and get your bow and arrow ready to shoot them. You need to shoot two arrows to kill one eagle. Do not waste your arrows. We do not have too many weapons.”

Mac didn’t speak. He looked around for the eagles. He was even afraid of mosquitoes and bees back at home. How was he going to fight the eagles? When he was very small, his mother used to keep him in a mosquito net. Mother! Mac looked down at the huts at the foot of the cliff and spotted his own house with a a red roof. His mother and father! His brave parents who allowed their only two sons to win or die for their village. “There is one,” he heard Lin shout. “Get ready, Mac!”

To be continued: