Beanstalked: Chapter 1

***Part 1 of 6. Mac and his layabout friends make a terrific discovery and climb to the clouds. But terrific could quickly become terrifying...***

Mac and Leah lived in moderate poverty in a shabby house on the shabbiest street of Cheasing, a nowhere town in the English countryside. Through hustling and help from the state, they and their housemates survived on cheap food and occasional drugs forays. Once, maybe twice a week, if they pooled their pennies and got some weed and pills, then who cared how little they ate?

Well, sometimes Mac cared. He wanted more than to just exist, and, when he felt brave enough to face Leah’s insults, he dreamed of doing something more. That had been the case when he went into town to get ecstasy and came back with capsules that looked very much not like ecstasy. The guy had been persuasive, saying it was experimental and would be all the rage in a few years – just you wait – offering a totally new kind of high. Unfortunately, when Mac tried to recite the pitch to Leah, she focused on the negatives, as usual. She’d been waiting in her leather jacket and jeans, short hair spiked up, ready to go out, and the reveal made her mad.

“We’re doing drugs, moron!” she shouted, as Mac stood on the doorstep of their barely furnished home. “No one’s swallowing anything experimental or going after a new high!”

She slapped the capsules from his hand and they scattered into the street. Mac bleated complaint and went to gather them but Leah pulled him back, snarling, “You leave that shit there. We’re going out and you’re gonna get our money back.”

They went into town together and found no sign of the man who’d sold Mac the drugs, so were forced into another night of cheap booze and short tempers. Fed up, Leah insisted they go home early, then sat angrily on the broken sofa complaining about what an idiot her boyfriend was and how the hell were they gonna pay rent now.

Mac kept grumpily quiet, not pointing out that they wouldn’t have been able to pay rent anyway, if he’d bought the regular pills. That would only get him in more trouble. But he silently plotted – he’d go back outside later and retrieve those capsules, then sell them himself, at a profit. He’d buy real drugs, pay rent, and get some good food in. A pizza, at least.

Only, after Leah finished her rant and Mac settled down with thoughts of all the things he’d do tomorrow, sleep overtook him, and they collapsed into snores together. When Mac next opened his eyes, and morning had come, he immediately sensed something was wrong. Sunlight crept in through the windows, but something was blocking the bulk of it.

Mac looked outside, scratching his head and yawning. A great shadow was cast across the road. His eyes widened and he craned his neck up as he saw what had emerged in the night. The street was cracked, with roots and vines stretching over the pavements and up the walls, coming together in a collection of huge green stalks that wound together, rising up.

“Leah!” Mac shouted. “Get out here, come look at this!”

“Quit yelling!” Leah snapped. “I’ll kick your arse!” She came out dressed as she had been the night before, looking like she might hit him, until she saw the roots for herself. She gasped and bumped into the door, fully awakened by the sight.

They marvelled at it together: a stalk so massive it towered into the sky, well beyond the buildings of their small town, all the way into the clouds.

“What’s all the shouting?” their housemate, Taylor, asked, blearily following Leah outside. He’d just got up too, a skinny, long-haired guy in a loose white vest, stained shorts and flip flops. He shrieked and jumped on the spot. “Oh hell no – that’s some beanstalk shit!”

“It’s amazing!” Mac cried happily, jumping down the steps and out into the road. The other slowly followed as he danced about the roots. “I knew those drugs were special! It’s just like in the fairy tales – we have to climb it, we’ll get rich up there!”

“Dee, Brian, get out here!” Taylor yelled back into the house.

The rest of their household came out into the road: Dee, a pretty blond girl in shorts and Converse trainers, hair a mess, and Brian, fat but better dressed than any of them, in a shirt and trousers. As they all gawked at the impossible sight, Mac bounced around the base, pulling at the roots to test their strength. Then he ran back inside to get supplies, returning moments later with a backpack and a roll of rope.

“Where’d you find rope?” Taylor exclaimed.

Mac ignored him, charging for the beanstalk. He climbed a few roots, quickly bringing himself ten feet up, and paused to throw a grin back to Leah. “You wait right here – when I come back, we’re gonna be sorted for life.”

“Ah, no chance,” Leah said, approaching. “If you’re going, so am I. Knowing you, you’d drop a golden egg and smash it.”

“Count me in!” Taylor cried, enthusiastically following.

Dee wandered lazily behind him, yawning and saying, “I want a golden egg.”

“You guys are crazy!” Brian called after them as all four started climbing. “It’s a thousand feet high! Everyone in town must’ve seen it, there’ll be a media circus – planes might hit it!”

No one was listening, unwilling to be dragged down by his logic as they scrambled higher and higher. Brian moved about unhappily in the road, staring up at the incredible beanstalk. He looked over a shoulder, expecting carloads of people to come and interfere, but the road was empty. It was early, perhaps no one else had seen it yet. Was it possible they could actually have a chance of exploring this thing’s magical wonders before the rest of the world interfered?

There could be golden eggs up there.

“Wait up guys!” Brian shouted, and ran after them. He slipped on the first stalks and scraped his leg, but pushed on. Huffing, he pleaded with the others to slow down, but they were well ahead.

Mac barely heard the shouts, focused on surmounting this monstrous plant. He was moving faster and with more determination than he had had in years, and before he knew it he was well above the roofs of town. Cheasing stretched beneath them, a miserable, boring little place with no opportunities besides local shops and commuting into the city. Until now. He could barely stop smiling as he continued into the sky, adrenaline making the journey fly.

Eventually, the group reached the clouds, clambering over branches that took them through a dense mist. They emerged through the other side to a great expanse of rolling white hillocks, the sky a brilliant blue above, and there, in the distance, stood an inconceivably vast castle, exactly as they might have dreamed.

Mac led the group off the final tendrils of the beanstalk onto the cloud surface, finding the rolling mist contained a hard surface underneath. Convinced it was safe to walk on, they continued towards the castle, staring with awe. Mac’s excitement grew as he assured the others there had to be treasure inside. They would be set for life. Taylor hopped about, equally eager, while Leah murmured that she was not quite convinced she was even awake.

The closer they got, the larger, and more real, the castle appeared – an enormous stone structure with a wooden door bigger than most buildings and turrets at each corner. It was big enough to hold an entire town, and up close they could scarcely see up the height of its walls, but it was notable that the scale of the door itself took up a large part of the front wall; for someone of the size to use it, this immense castle would form a very small home.

Brian fell back, wringing his hands nervously. “I’m not sure this is a good idea, guys.”

“Of course it is,” Mac laughed. “Remember the stories – bunch of poor bastards given a unique opportunity. We deserve this!”

His eyes rested on Leah and her hard face finally softened, buying into his hope. She smiled, at last. “Yeah. Let’s get what life owes us, huh?”

Taking her by the hand, Mac helped her up a doorstep which came to their waists, and they crawled under the crack at the base of the door. They cooed in amazement at what they found on the other side. The entrance hall was taller than any cathedral, though spartan, all square angles and simple stone pillars – but even more impressive was the furniture. A tremendous oak table stood to one side, taller than their house and long as a football field. It had huge matching chairs, two on each side, and a bowl on top, with fruit as big as themselves. On the opposite side of the room was a cavernous fireplace stacked with massive logs, with a black pot beside it, too tall for a person to climb.

“Giants,” Dee gasped, as the full group reassembled by the door.

“It was nothing but cloud out there,” Leah pointed out. “Where do they get the logs? Or their food?”

“Must be more to see beyond the castle,” Mac said, breezily, and walked further into the room. The floor was formed of massive flagstones and the area was lit by gently burning candles in high sconces, the whole atmosphere a leap right back in time.

“Guys,” Brian hissed, “do you think this is a good idea? Whoever lives here must be huge – they’re not gonna be happy if we wander in uninvited.”

“We’ll be in and out in minutes,” Mac said. “Just look out for something worth a few quid. They won’t even notice it’s gone, I bet. Taylor, you reckon you can get on that table?”

“Reckon I can try,” Taylor said, and headed towards the closest chair.

Dee trailed along behind him, pointing out, “There’s a cloth hanging down there, we can climb that.”

Mac continued through the room with Leah, and Brian trotted to keep up. There was a doorway on the far side, leading into a corridor that dipped into darkness. There was a door on either side of the corridor, one shut and one sat slightly ajar with a flicker of candlelight beyond. Mac stepped softly towards it and edged into the next room, where a gust of wind rose and fell.

He paused and clicked his tongue at Leah and Brain, waving a hand to slow them down behind him. They’d entered a bedroom, with an immense wooden cot against one wall. Occupied. Mac swallowed curses at the sight, gritting his teeth to avoid making a sound, and Leah quickly smothered Brian with hand over his mouth as he almost bleated in fright. Completely still, they watched as the giant shape under the blanket rise and fell with intakes of breath.

Mac edged further in as Leah tried to pull him back. He slipped free, needing a better look. The giant was too big for the bed, with a bare leg poking out over the side closest to them, the sole of a huge foot facing their way. Dauntingly enormous, but also smooth-skinned, relatively slender. Following the leg up to the hips, to the shape under the thick blanket, the giant had curves, tall hips and a rounded torso. Long hair spread in a great field of auburn, down over the side of the bed, and an arm hung to the floor, with an open hand big enough to climb into. It was a huge beast, with muscular, sturdy limbs, yet it wasn’t a giant, Mac realised, but a giantess. A woman of immense beauty.

“It must be his wife,” Mac whispered to Leah, who gave him a sceptical glower. “You know the stories: however mean the giant is, his wife helpsintruders. To spite him.”

“I don’t care what gender it is,” Brian whispered. “Anything that big is dangerous.”

The giantess grunted and shifted under the cover, with a snore that rumbled through the room. Mac grinned again, unable to believe his luck. He said, “No way, look at her – she’s gorgeous, we’ll be fine.”

“Oi.” Leah gave him a dutifully offended shove, but it was half-serious, as her eyes stayed on the giantess, equally enamoured.

“Just the truth, isn’t it?” Mac said. “Tell me you wouldn’t like a ride on that!”

Leah bit her lower lip. “You’re a prick, but yeah. She’s nothing like in the storybooks.” She pointed across the room, to where a set of drawers the size of their home stood by the bed, crooked and partly open. “She’s got some bling, too.”

On top of the drawers, a candle the size of a street light was gently burning, its light glinting off a pile of jewellery. Necklaces that could wrap around a truck and rings big enough to hula-hoop.

“That’s it,” Mac said. “Wait here.” He took a step forward but Leah caught his wrist.

“I’ll go,” she said. “You’re clumsy as hell and gawky to boot, bound to wake her.”

“Leah, I really don’t think –” Brian started, but she cut in, “Good, keep it that way.”

Then she was off, skipping across the room, keeping one eye on the slumbering giantess at all times. The men watched from the door as she slowed down near the bed, captivated by the woman’s size up close. Leah stopped next to the giant hand, staring into the palm with mixed trepidation and wonder. She swallowed and continued to the drawers.

Leah climbed the drawers, finding easy nooks for her hands and feet. She paused occasionally to check the giantess was still sleeping, and reached the top without incident. There, she quickly assessed the valuables, then lifted a gold ring and slung it over her shoulder like a bag strap. She paused to study the giantess’s face, pressed into the pillow: an incredible, beautiful woman, as Mac had said, with a straight but slightly up-turned nose, long eyelashes and soft lips. Indeed, the huge creature was more alluring than frightening in her great size.

Snapping herself out of staring, Leah climbed back down the way she’d come, even slower and more carefully now that she had the ring to hold. It was heavy, and immaculate, surely worth a fortune. She reached the floor and padded quickly back over to Mac and Brain, who were bouncing on their heels with suppressed excitement.

Mac took the ring off Leah and weighed it in his hands, nodding happily. “We’re rich – we’re rich! Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

Leah stood in his path as he tried to leave, face stern. She said, “We can get more. We can carry one each, at least.”

“Seriously?” Mac replied. “You want to go back up there?”

“It’s your turn.” Leah shrugged.

“Leah, we need to go,” Brian murmured uncomfortably, but under Leah’s expectant stare Mac found himself softening. He looked longingly back at the stack of massive jewellery.

“One more, at least?” he said. “We might never get this chance again.”

“Dammit guys, why’ve you always gotta be such –” Brian started, voice rising in frustration, but he was cut off by a grumble from the giantess.

The bed creaked and the dormant arm stirred to life, fingers twitching. With a moan, the giantess pushed her torso up, her head facing the wall as she sniffed loudly. The blanket fell away from bare, muscular shoulders and her fingers squeezed the mattress with unmistakable power. She murmured sleepily, with a voice that was at once silky and tremulously bold, “What’s that smell?”