by Bryan Davis
Book 3: Refiner’s Fire
Chapter 1
New Homes
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
(Malachi 3:2–3)
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
(Isaiah 43:2)
Circa AD 1924
Crouching low, Sapphira peeked into the open trapdoor. With her flaming cross in one hand and a coiled rope draped over her thighs, she shook her head and whispered to Acacia behind her, “I can’t see a thing.” She grimaced at her own voice. The secret tunnel above the spawns’ mobility room always seemed to be a sanctuary of quiet, but now even a shushed tone sounded like a rushing torrent.
“I found a thick stalagmite,” Acacia whispered back.
Sapphira tossed one end of the rope to her. “Make sure it doesn’t rub on anything sharp. I don’t want it to snap on my way down.” As the rope tightened, she reeled out another loop.
“It’s secure.” Acacia crawled toward her along the stony floor but bumped her head on the ceiling. “Ow!”
“Shhh!” Sapphira warned.
Acacia rubbed her scalp. “I don’t think anyone’s down there to hear us. It’s been quiet for months.”
“Silence worries me.” Sapphira unwound the remaining coils into the open hatch and breathed on her cross. “Lights out for now.” When the flames died away, she pushed the cross behind her belt buckle and grasped the rope. “I’ll see you at the bottom.”
As she slid through the cold pocket of darkness, a chorus of sounds arose from below the familiar hum of magneto bricks; a persistent tick, tick, tick from an unseen source; and the rapid thrumming of her own heart. She clenched the rope more tightly. The silence above now seemed a lot friendlier than the noises of the forbidden room.
The long slide stung her hands. The fibers were coarser than those on the rope in the elevation shaft, but this had been the only one she could find in the land of the living. Ever since she finally opened the portal in the mining shaft and began foraging for supplies in garbage heaps, she had to make do with whatever people had thrown away or would give her out of pity. This rope wasn’t the best, but it would hold. . she hoped.
When her toes finally reached the rocky bottom, she breathed a sigh of relief, and, pulling out her cross, she whispered for its light. “Just a little for now.” Low flames crawled along the wood like bright orange worms. Though set on fire hundreds of times over the years, not a grain was ever consumed or even scorched.
She raised the torch high, signaling her safe arrival. Waving it slowly back and forth, she tried to imagine what lay in the shadows beyond her light’s reach. Could the giants be sleeping somewhere? Might a sudden noise awaken them? And where was Mardon?
Acacia finally came into view, first her bare feet, then the skirt of her tunic, soiled and wrinkled from the crawl space above. When she settled to the floor, she pulled a scroll from her belt and whispered, “Give me light,” and a gentle flame sprouted at the top.
With their torches casting a flickering glow, Sapphira and Acacia tiptoed side by side. The rocky floor smoothed out into a flat, almost glass-like surface, and the hum of magneto bricks grew to a crescendo, like a million locusts buzzing their afternoon chants. As the shadows on the walls sharpened, the sisters slowed to a halt. Acacia’s mouth dropped open. “These growth chambers are enormous!”
Sapphira reached her torch close to the chamber’s inhabitant and shone the light in his gruesome face. “It’s a giant. I think he’s asleep.”
Acacia skulked alongside the wall, raising her voice as she called back. “They’re all over the place! Napping like little babies!”
Sapphira moved her light to the next giant and grimaced. “Like big, hairy, monkey-faced babies. I doubt if even a mother could love these freaks of ” She stopped and bit her lip hard.
“What did you say?” Acacia asked.
Sapphira slinked to Acacia’s side and kept pace with her. “Just that they don’t remind me of any babies I’d like to snuggle.” She joined her light with her sister’s, trying to see the face on each bowed head. “Yereq must be around here somewhere.”
“Do you think you’ll recognize him? They all look pretty much alike.”
“They do.” Sapphira firmed her chin. “But I’ll recognize him.”
Creeping past each chamber and peering at each hideous expression took several minutes, but Sapphira finally stopped and studied one face more carefully, a much more pleasant face. The giant’s brow arched over his closed eyes, and his firm, square jaws supported a smooth, rounded chin. His thin lips carried the delicate smile of a contented sleeper.
Sapphira pointed at the giant with her cross. “This is Yereq. I’m sure of it.”
Acacia propped a hand on her hip and gazed at the sleeping giant. “Okay. Now that we’ve found him, what do we do?”
“Figure out what’s going on.” Sapphira pivoted and reached her light toward the center of the chamber. “If I know Mardon, he has a worktable around here and probably a scroll for recording what he’s been up to.”
Sapphira ventured ahead, slower now as she passed over a rougher part of the floor. A shadow loomed in front of her, and as the cross’s glow shifted toward it, the dark form sloughed its shroud, revealing a high, square table. Sapphira laid her hand on the smooth surface. There were no glass jars with struggling embryos, only a large scroll perched at one corner.
She swung her head around. “I found it!”
“I’ll be right there.”
Sapphira rolled open one side of the scroll and held it in place. Since most of the revealed portion was blank, the data entry that led up to the empty space likely represented Mardon’s last work. She squinted at the smudged cacography. It had been many years since she had read Mardon’s data, and now his handwriting was worse than ever.
Acacia joined her and held the scroll open. “You found the record?”
“Uh-huh, but it’s a mess.” She pointed at the top of one entry. “I think he’s complaining about hitting bedrock while digging for the surface.” Sliding her finger down the parchment, she read on. “The giants don’t have enough food, and they’re getting tired and cranky, so instead of continuing the dig, he makes them carve out growth chambers for themselves.”
Acacia pulled the scroll open a few more inches. “Hunger is a good incentive, I suppose.”
Sapphira pointed again. “He says that right here. In fact, they don’t have room to make chambers for all of them, so he poisons the least productive ones and leaves them outside of the mobility room to rot.”
Acacia nodded. “That explains the bones in front of the door.”
“But after they finish digging the chambers” Sapphira moved her finger to the top of the next section “he invents a new kind of magneto brick, something about a timer built inside it, a counter of some kind. It’s supposed to wake them up when it counts down to zero, but there’s a way to wake them up earlier in case he figures out how to get them out of here.”
“Well, not that I want to wake them up, but does he tell how?”
Sapphira tapped her finger on the paper. “There are seven lines of numbers. It must be some kind of code, but I have no idea how to break it.”
“Any clue where Mardon is now?”
“This is the messiest part of all, but I think he found an air shaft through the bedrock that’s too small for the giants.” Sapphira slid her finger to the bottom of the entry and shrugged her shoulders. “And that’s the end.”
“But he’s not really alive. How can he get out?”
Sapphira r
aised her cross as high as she could, but the glow still wouldn’t reach the ceiling. “The land above us is still in the dimension of the dead, so if he made it out, he should be fine, but he’d probably need help to open a way big enough for the giants to escape.”
The girls locked gazes and nodded at each other. “Morgan,” they said together.
Sapphira rolled up the scroll and tucked it under her arm. “Let’s take this back to the museum.”
“What about the counters he mentioned?” Acacia stooped and looked under the table. “Should we be able to see them?” she asked, rising again.
Sapphira nodded toward the scroll. “Mardon said they were built into the bricks.”
“Then how could he tell how far they’ve counted down? Wouldn’t he want to keep track of that?”
“Good point.” Sapphira strode toward the wall, much more confident than before. Mardon was likely nowhere around, at least for now. “If he has external counters, they’re probably near the bricks.”
Arriving at Yereq’s chamber, she squatted and set her torch near the magneto’s control lever. “There is something here. It looks like a candy bar with numbers on it.”
Acacia’s light flickered on the meter. “It says, ‘9856.’ What do you think it means?”
“Like Mardon wrote. When it counts down to zero, they’ll wake up.”
“I guessed that, but is it 9856 years, months, days?”
Sapphira shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe if we come and check every once in a while, we’ll figure it out.”
Acacia rubbed her arm with her free hand. “Okay, but let’s get out of here. It’s cold and creepy, and Paili’s bound to wake up soon. She’ll need more herbal tea and a cold compress.”
“Okay. Awven’s going to need it, too.” Sapphira swung her torch to the side. “The main door should be over there. I don’t think we’ll need a combination to get out.”
Acacia pointed toward the center of the room. “What about the rope?”
“I’ll go up the back way and reel it in. We might as well make it look like we weren’t here. You never know when Mardon might return.”
Acacia tapped the scroll under Sapphira’s arm. “Then you’d better leave that here.”
“But how am I going to study the code?”
“Come back with your own scroll and copy it.”
“Of course!” Sapphira rapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. “How dumb of me!”
Acacia grinned. “I didn’t say that!”
Sapphira lifted her torch close to Acacia, catching the mirthful glimmer in her sister’s flashing blue eyes. As the flames warmed her skin, Sapphira winked. “I know. I said it. Sometimes I can’t see the answer to my question even if it’s staring me right in the face.”
Circa AD 1929
With the dusk of evening just beginning to fade to darkness, Sapphira stopped at the doorstep and crouched in front of Paili. Combing through silky strands of dark hair with her fingers, Sapphira whispered, “We want to make a good first impression.” After several more sweeps, Sapphira lowered her hands and smiled. Though tossed and tangled from walking two miles in a stiff breeze, the bedraggled mop of tresses wasn’t as bad as usual.
After retying a scarf over Paili’s head, Sapphira lifted the little girl’s chin. “Are you ready?”
Paili just nodded, a tear forming in her eye.
Sapphira pointed at the growing tear. “Don’t cry. We want them to like you. Don’t you want a comfortable bed and good food, maybe even fig cakes?”
“I don’t want fig cakes.” Paili threw her arms around Sapphira. “I want you!”
Sapphira patted her lightly on the back. “We’ve been over this. I’ll visit you whenever I can. I promise.”
Paili looked up at Sapphira, her eyes glistening. “Tomorrow?”
“I’ll check on your progress in a couple of days. Everything will be fine.”
Paili squeezed more tightly. “But what if they don’t like me?”
“How can anyone not like you? You’re loving, you work hard, your speech is normal now, and you’ll probably age right along with the other girls here in Glastonbury.” Sapphira pushed her gently away. “Trust me. The local gypsies told me these people take in hungry strangers all the time, so I’m sure you’ll be all right. But you must never, never tell anyone about where you’re from, even if you think they might already know. Got that?”
Paili nodded meekly and turned toward the modest home, a noticeable tremble in her hands. Sapphira pulled the wooden cross from her belt and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, the door swung open revealing a stout, red-haired woman holding a lantern. With soft, round cheeks and chin and bright shining eyes, she seemed just as friendly as she had been during the evenings Sapphira had spied on her.
“Well, who have we here?” the woman asked, probing the darkness with her lantern. “Another pair of lost gypsy girls?”
Sapphira backed away a step into the darkest shadows and lifted her cross. “We are not gypsies, dear lady, nor are we lost.”
The woman waved toward the inside of the house. “Well, lost or found, you are welcome to our supper. My husband’s not home yet, but he won’t mind.”
Sapphira whispered to the cross. “Give me light.” Fire sprang forth, illuminating everyone on the porch.
The woman staggered but caught the door frame before falling. She seemed ready to drop to one knee, but she hesitated and stared, wide-eyed. “Are you. . an angel?”
Sapphira deepened her voice and added a solemn cadence. “What I am is not important. You have been watched from afar, and because of your goodness and mercy, both to your fine husband and to your fellow citizens in this village, your childless state has come to an end.”
The woman covered her mouth but made no sound.
“This girl needs a home,” Sapphira continued, laying a hand on Paili’s shoulder. “If you are pleased to take her in, she will become your daughter.”
The woman set her lantern down and gathered Paili into her arms. “Oh!” she cried. “Oh, yes! Yes! Yes!” She hugged Paili close, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Very well.” Sapphira stepped back a few more paces. Then, wrapping her arms around herself, she whispered, “Give me light.” Her entire body exploded into a human torch. The woman lifted Paili into her arms and lurched back through the doorway. Sapphira commanded the fire to cease and dashed into the dark road.
The gloom of a cloudy night draped the outskirts of Glastonbury. Sapphira shuffled toward the city’s famous towering hill and the monument that had replaced the church of Michael, the same portal location where she had left Elam years before. Another descent into the dismal world below lay ahead, then another reemergence at the ghostly mining level. Finally, she would climb up the elevation shaft and wind through the corridors leading to the museum room where Acacia would be waiting. . alone.
Sapphira plodded forward, hoping to delay her return to the lower realms. She took a well-trodden path that promised no obstacles to a traveler who knew its twists and turns. With tears flowing, she counted her slow, careful steps out loud while struggling to conquer her tortured thoughts.
“Nine. . ten. . eleven. Seven more until I turn. . Of course Paili will be fine. Thirteen. . fourteen. . after all, now she can eat good food instead of old cabbages and dried beans. . sixteen. . seventeen. . and that woman is so sweet. . eighteen. . Turn here.” She pivoted to the left and continued. “One. . two. . All my other sisters are happy now. Four. . five. . six. . so Paili will be happy, too. . seven. . eight. And Acacia and I won’t have to worry about her getting so sick again. . nine. . ten. . That fever nearly killed Paili and Awven, and now that Penicillin’s been discovered, it doesn’t make sense to risk their lives. . twelve. . thirteen. . so now Acacia and I can concentrate on. .” She halted and tapped her finger on her chin. “Concentrate on what? Staring at each other for several more centuries?”
She turned back toward the little cottage in the distance, b
arely able to see two lanterns now glowing brightly at the front door. A man and woman stooped together, embracing Paili warmly.
A tear trickled down Sapphira’s cheek, but she didn’t bother to wipe it off. It didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered. Even if she and Acacia had to live under a billion tons of rocks forever, giving such a glorious new life to someone so precious was worth it all. Her sweet little sister finally had a home. . and people who loved her.
Sapphira ignited her cross and ran the rest of the way to the portal.
April, 1935
Elam slung his knapsack over his shoulder and slid a silver coin across the counter. “Will that cover it?” he asked.
“Quite well, laddie.” The innkeeper tipped his beret. “Come back again.”
Elam nodded at the floppy-eared old man, then pushed open a heavy oaken door and strode out into the misty dawn. Glasgow smelled worse than usual, oilier somehow, certainly more sulfurous than the day before. He pulled a beret from his trousers pocket and pressed it over his head. Or maybe he just noticed the odors more. When he worked in the Clydebank shipyards, the stench of tar and sweaty men masked everything else, and now that he had been out of a job for a couple of months, his sense of smell was probably more sensitive.
Elam turned back toward the one-story flat he had called home for the past two years. Although he had shared his ratty suite with a family of eight, this hostel was more than adequate in such tough times, and the innkeeper was fair and friendly. He laid his hand on the lintel, and, using the Scottish accent he had picked up over the years, whispered, “May the Lord bless the keeper of this house, and may he and his wife live long and well on the earth.”
He dug into his pocket again and felt his leather purse, fingering the few coins that still weighed it down, enough for a brick of soap now and then, but not enough for lodging. He pulled his beret low over his brow and marched toward the road leading out of town. It was best to go back to camping in the woods, at least until hard times lifted. Ever since they finished building the Queen Mary, jobs had dropped off at the docks like ailing old men in the TB sanitariums.