Firestar (16 page)

Aberdeen, a busy city at the best of times, became a hundred times busier overnight as reporters from across the globe descended upon it in droves. The fantastic stone giants that were appearing all over Scotland had become international news and the roads and glens of the Grampian Mountains were soon full of reporters and camera crews
anxious
to catch a glimpse of the stone monsters. They weren’t disappointed, either, for the giants, who seemed to become taller and stronger with each day that passed, were springing up all over the Highlands. Television commentators had a field day as they discussed everything from the reasons for their sudden appearance to their inevitable
collapse
into landslides. Neither did it take them long to work out that they were all heading eastwards and making for the area around Morven.

“The press people are camping out in the fields near Hughie’s cottage,” Shona said worriedly as another satellite van rattled past their gates. “Dad’s shut the gates so that they don’t come and bother us.”

Inevitably, of course, a team of broadcasters did turn up at Glenmorven House, for news of the Sinclairs’ midnight flight from Glen Garchory was common knowledge in the area and the
reporters
were adept at sifting through local gossip for a story. Hearing the doorbell ring, Ian Ferguson shrugged. “Maybe if I tell them what I know they
might go away,” he said, looking at his wife
hopefully
.

The cameras were on him as he answered the door and soon he was telling them about their
midnight
visitors. “The Sinclairs’ farm is in the next glen,” he explained, looking into the camera. “The weather was stormy. A bit like it is today, actually,” he said, looking up the glen where black clouds were gathering.

Kate Cameron who was interviewing him,
followed
his glance and shivered suddenly. “And what made them realize that there were giants in the area?”

“Apparently, there was a sudden, tremendous noise,” Ian said. “It woke them up and when they looked out of the window, they saw the giants heaving themselves off the sides of the
mountains
.” He tailed off as an eerie growling noise roared through Glenmorven. “That’s the noise he described,” Ian continued, looking suddenly
apprehensive
. “The noise the giants make when they’re talking. It looks as though there must be more of them around.”

So strange and fearsome was the sound, that James, the cameraman, turned quite white and the world heard Kate’s terrified intake of breath as they all turned to look up the glen.

“We think the giants might be close by,” she said into the microphone in a voice that was half-scared and half-excited. What a scoop, she thought, to be around when the giants were actually forming. “We’ll leave this interview for the present and go further up the glen so that we can have a better
view of what’s happening. We think the giants are coming!”

She looked speculatively at the four children who had been standing quietly to one side as the interview had started.
Odd
, she thought.
They don’t look the least bit scared. I wonder why?

“Aren’t you scared?” she queried laughingly, holding out the microphone to a pretty, red-haired girl who was clutching a kitten. Great shot, she thought. Just what the viewers want to see. Children and animals always went down well.

Shona shot a cautious glance at Neil and didn’t quite know what to say. “I think we’re more excited than scared,” she said.

Kate’s eyes flickered. She hadn’t been a reporter for years not to sense that there was a story in the children. The parents seemed genuine enough but she’d bet her bottom dollar that the kids knew a lot more than they were letting on and, as they moved off, she gave Shona a friendly but shrewd look that told her exactly what she was thinking. The noise grew in volume as they all hurried into the garden. Ian Ferguson, after a quick glance up and down the glen, breathed a sigh of relief.

“The noise is being carried on the wind. They’re not in Glenmorven yet,” he announced, “they’re still on the other side of the ridge.” And he pointed between the hills to where the ridge loomed dark against the lowering sky. Then they saw them; the towering shapes of giant, stone men, crashing themselves against the protective shield that the Lords of the North had put in place.

One of the broadcasting team ran breathlessly
up to them. “Kate, Kate, come this way,” he gasped. “The press ’copter’s coming in. They’ve got Harvey Mason on board,” his voice sounded awed as he mentioned the name of the famous TV presenter. “They’re going into the next valley and want you with them: you ought to get some great shots.”

Everyone crowded across the road and scanned the sky as a clattering noise in the air announced the arrival of the helicopter. It landed more or less in front of the house on the rough ground beside the burn. Kate was talking into her microphone all the way as she ran towards it with her cameraman trailing her.

It was only when the helicopter took to the air that Clara grabbed Neil’s arm.

“Stop them,” she cried. “Stop them, Neil!”

“Don’t worry, Clara,” Shona’s mother said, “I’m sure they’ll keep well out of the way of the giants.”

Lewis was the first to realize what she meant and ran down the slope to the banks of the burn with the others streaming behind him, shouting and waving their arms at the helicopter.

They were too late, however, and as it banked away and headed for Glen Garchory, Kate Cameron saw them and waved back. Maybe she had been mistaken, she thought. They were just kids, after all, excited and a bit overawed by the television crew. She looked away and they slipped from her mind as the helicopter soared over the peaks of the mountains and headed for The Valley of the Giants.

“We’re too late,” Clara almost wept.

“Too late for what,” Shona asked, panting and out of breath as she followed the others in their mad dash.

“Look at it,” Neil said pointing to the whirling rotors of the helicopter. “Just look at it! Don’t you
see
, Shona?” He put an arm round her shoulder and squeezed her. “It’s too awful to think about,” he said, his eyes following the ever decreasing shape of the sky ’copter, “but the giants don’t know what helicopters are, do they? They’ll think it’s a dragon. And … well, you know what they did to Arthur!”

“Good Lord! Just look at the size of them!” The helicopter circled high over a valley that seemed chock full of giants.

“We’re now flying over what I think I might call ‘The Valley of the Giants,’” Kate said into the microphone. “Down below I can see dozens of them; huge, giant figures of stone. We’re going to fly a little lower so that we can give you a better view of them. Can we do that, Bill?” she asked the pilot.

“No problem,” was the answer as they circled lower and lower.

“The giants are making a terrific racket,” Kate informed viewers. “You might be able to hear their voices above the noise of the helicopter.”

It was a strange sound, for the giants talked in an unearthly, growling roar. They could hear it over the whirr of the rotors. It was an eerie sound that jarred their tense nerves but although they shivered apprehensively, they knew they had to go on.

The story came first, and what a story it was turning out to be! Nevertheless, they were wary and more than a little scared for instinct told them that for the first time in their lives they were in totally uncharted territory. The giants had a
tremendous
presence and were more than things to be gawped at on a TV screen. It was with a great effort that Kate managed to keep her voice steady and speak calmly.

“The giants have gathered at the end of the
valley
but although they seem to be pushing forward, they are making no move to enter Glenmorven. Not yet, anyway.”

It was then that viewers around the world had a stunning shot of the huge stone figures looking towards a sunlit mountain that lay bathed in
glorious
light while the sky around was black with cloud.

The roars of the giants increased as they milled around on the ridge, growing more and more
frustrated
at the invisible shield that blocked their way into Glenmorven. Again they turned and vented their anger on the mountains, tearing rocks and boulders from their slopes.

“Shall we go down closer and get a better look,” Kate suggested breathlessly, knowing that her viewers would expect it. “That’s better. Now that we’re closer to them, I can tell you that they’re pretty huge. The size of a block of flats at least, wouldn’t you say, Harvey?”

“At least,” he agreed, “enormous things! They seem to be made of a mixture of rock, stone and earth but what
is
amazing is that they can walk and move their arms.”

“They seem to be throwing stones about,” Kate said as they swooped down. “Not at one another, though. Just chucking bits of the
mountain
around.”

“They seem to be able to see,” Harvey said,
peering
downwards, “but I can’t see their eyes …”

The pilot obligingly flew even lower and as he did so the noise of the rotors sounded loud above
the voices of the giants. There was a sudden hush as all the giants stopped dead, turned their heads upwards and looked at the helicopter.

“Dragon! Dragon!” they roared in their
growling
tongue and as the wave of angry sound hit the helicopter, those inside it very quickly decided that it really was time to move out.

“Whoops!” Harvey said. “Bad move! Get us out of here, Bill!”

The pilot didn’t need to be told. He went up almost vertically and it was just when they were breathing a sigh of relief at having got out of a sticky situation that the first slab of rock flew past them.

The cameraman, to give him his due, kept his camera rolling and audiences around the world sat up, suddenly horrified, as they saw roaring hordes of furious giants lobbing huge rocks at the helicopter.

“We’re in a bit of a difficult situation here,” Kate tried to keep her voice calm. “Get us out of here, for goodness sake, Bill! They’re chucking rocks at us!”

Fortunately for those inside the helicopter, the giants’ aim hadn’t improved with practice. They were still rotten shots. Indeed, they had as much success with the helicopter as they’d had with the dragon and, if the truth be told, a cross-eyed, three-legged camel could have done a lot better.

“It just needs one of these rocks to hit the rotors and we’re goners,” Bill shouted above the roar of the engine.

It wasn’t a lucky shot that hit the helicopter,
however. It was a new giant emerging from the mountainside. It rose up, tearing itself from the slopes in a flurry of stones and earth and got to its feet just in time to meet the helicopter as it dashed for safety. They met face to face.

It was so sudden that there wasn’t a lot the pilot could do — and he could see from the look of
surprise
on the giant’s face that it was just as taken aback as he was. Bill threw the helicopter
frantically
to one side and would have made it to safety if the edge of one of the rotors hadn’t clipped the giant’s shoulder.

That did it. Kate screamed and shut her eyes as the crippled helicopter fell out of the sky.
White-faced
newscasters in London could only watch in horror as the camera revealed a whirling
kaleidoscope
of sky, mountain and glen.

The headlines, needless to say, were immediate and predictable:

The expected crash, however, didn’t come and she opened her eyes as Harvey shook her. “The giant’s caught us,” he said urgently. And,
looking
through the perspex bubble of the cabin, they saw that the giant had one hand underneath the skids and the other on the rotor blades above their heads.

Shaking like a leaf, James picked his camera up and, in a trembling voice, Kate started to speak. “We don’t quite know what the giant plans to do
with us,” she said, hanging onto a strap as they slipped haphazardly from side to side as the giant walked across the glen. “Perhaps he thinks we’re some sort of new toy …”

The giants in the valley spoke excitedly in their growling voices and parted to let the new giant through. Still holding the helicopter, it walked to the end of the valley and stopped when it came to the magic shield that prevented it from entering Glenmorven. There was an evil leer on its face as it held the helicopter high, knowing that the Lords of the North would be watching.

Inside Morven, the Lords of the North
were
watching. They looked at one another, their faces appalled. This was a side to the Cri’achan that they’d never witnessed before … nor would ever have suspected.

“Break the shield,” Lord Alarid said, looking grimly at the crystal. “Break it or he’ll drop the helicopter.”

The giants gave a roar of triumph as the
invisible
shield disappeared and Kate hung on grimly as the helicopter jerked backwards and forwards as the giant carried it to the side of the mountain and placed it carefully on a jutting bluff of rock that looked down onto the ridge.

“The giant seems to have put the helicopter down,” Kate said in relief. “Has … has he gone, Harvey?”

“Hang on and I’ll check,” he replied, scrambling out of the machine. With a jaunty wave, he walked to the edge of the rocky outcrop, his legs shaking and his heart beating fast. Knowing that James’s
camera was focused on his back, he daren’t show his nerves but nevertheless, he took a very deep breath before looking downwards into the glen. The giants were still there, milling about on the slopes of the ridge, but although they looked his way, they made no move towards him. In fact, they totally ignored him and it was with a feeling of acute relief that he backed away from the cliff edge and returned to the helicopter. “I think it’s quite safe now,” he said, popping his head inside the door. “We seem to have lost their interest!” Holding out a hand, he helped them down onto the heather and as the pilot looked ruefully at the bent rotors of the helicopter, James moved forward and focused his camera on the ridge.

“What’s happening now, do you think?”

“They seem to be lining up, as though they’re waiting for somebody,” James said, filming the giants that crowded the glen below.

“Look,” Kate grabbed Harvey’s arm. “Get that shot, James. There, over to your left. Another giant’s rising out of the mountains!”

“Gosh, he’s huge, isn’t he? Much taller than the others.”

“It’s some kind of ceremony, Harvey. I’m sure of it.”

The new giant was something else. Taller, bigger, more regal and more threatening than all the others put together, he walked with steady steps through the serried ranks of giants that lined the ridge.

“He’s their king,” Harvey whispered.

“The Old Man of the Mountains,” agreed Kate, not knowing where the words came from.

“Cri’achan Mòr!” the giants cried. “Cri’achan Mòr!”

Cri’achan Mòr stopped at the head of the glen and as he came within sight of Morven, he halted and with a mighty roar of triumph, raised his great, stone arms to the heavens. All of the giants did the same and crowded in behind him as he stepped down into Glenmorven.