by S A Shaffer
Mercy smiled behind her teacup. “It would only take a few days to search the oldest buildings, and most of them are vacant.”
“Working hours from 7:00-8:00, daily.” David quoted as he resumed his pacing. “What do you suppose that means?”
“Could mean that Inspector Winston will be waiting for us from seven to eight daily.”
“True,” David said. “Or it could mean that that the entrance is only open from seven to eight daily.”
“AM or PM?”
David frowned and hunched over the newspaper solicitation. “You know, it couldn’t have hurt to be a bit more specific. We’ll have to search at both times.”
It took David and Mercy five minutes to convince Johnson to give them a team to search the old city. They sent a group of sneaks to collect building permits from the city records so as to prevent any suspicion from one single person collecting all the records. David took a map of the old city and started marking the oldest buildings. It was lucky that Alönia, even before the formation of the Houselands, kept very detailed property records, and the city chose to organize them by date. About two dozen buildings fit David’s portfolio: pre house unification, original foundation, and located in old city. Two days later, David, Francisco, Mercy, and Bethany sored through the air in a skiff as the sun rose in front of them on their way to Capital City.
There were six teams, each to search 4 buildings from the hours of 7:00 to 8:00 in the morning, and then again during the same hours in the evening. Hopefully, one of them could find an entrance to the old lava tubes. For the obvious reasons, David and the rest of his team each wore disguises. He and Francisco wore outlander sand masks, while Mercy and Bethany colored their hair and concealed their features with makeup and contact lenses. Both selected black hair and brown eyes for this excursion. David wondered if there was any hair color that Mercy did not look good in, because thus far, she had dazzled him in three.
He landed their skiff at an old abandoned dock nearest their team’s grouping of buildings. As with many places on Capital Island, he had never been to the old city before, other than the police station. Most of it appeared dingy and broken down, especially the buildings primarily constructed of wood and plaster. The stone structures still stood, their solid surfaces untouched by time like the old Capital City police fortress. None of the old towers stood more than twenty stories tall, though most connected by grand arching walkways high enough for air traffic to fly beneath. All of the roofs were tiled with slate or clay or paneled in copper or lead. It felt romantic in a way, like the setting to an old love tale, and without even knowing it, David grasped Mercy’s hand as their party of four walked the ancient cobbled streets.
“Are we really going to have to watch you two ogle each other all day?” Bethany asked. She made a gagging face and covered her mouth. “You should tell Mercy about that time you and I hid in my bed together.”
David flushed and looked at Mercy with an expression of panic. Mercy’s eyes widened, but the corners of her mouth twitched, and then she burst out laughing.
“Mercy!” Bethany said before she groaned. “You’ve ruined it. We could have played that up all day if you’d kept it together.”
“I’m sorry.” Mercy said. “Here, let me try again.” Mercy looked away and then turned back to David with an expression of disgust. “David! How could you?” She gave him a noncommittal slap, placed her hands on her hips, and huffed.
“No,” Bethany said. “It’s no good anymore. He knows your joking.”
David looked back and forth between the women unsure what to say.
“I couldn’t bear to see him so upset,” Mercy said with a shy smile at David. “I know he’s too innocent to ever do anything naughty.”
“You are both equally no fun at all.” Bethany said as she looked away.
Mercy grabbed David’s arm and leaned her head against his shoulder as she snickered.
“I… I slept on her balcony.” David said, half smiling and half serious as he spoke.
“I know David,” Mercy said. “I heard about the whole thing. Bethany told me the story after you left to see your mother. She had the whole dining common of us rolling on the floor with laughter.”
“Oh.” David said, feeling relieved and embarrassed at the same time. “Did she tell you I threw her off my balcony in not but a robe and her sunbathing clothes?” David spoke loud enough for Bethany to hear.
“No,” Mercy said. “She must have forgot about that part.”
“Ha! I wish I could!” Bethany said with a snort. “I still have stickers in my feet from that maker forsaken swamp.” She wriggled as she walked, apparently shuddering with the memory.
But before she could complain any further, Francisco spoke up. “Here we are.”
All four of them stopped in front of a simple stone building with tall arched windows and a high-pitched lead roof with intricate metal spikes along the peaks. The inscription above the door read, Public Library. The four of them made a quick circuit around the outside to see if there was any drainage pipes or exterior cellars, but in five minutes, they were back where they started at the main entrance to the library.
“This building is still in use.” Francisco said, “And its operating hours are not until nine.”
David checked his pocket watch and saw that it was a few minutes before seven. The light from the sun that penetrated the haze was just high enough to reach over the rooftops.
“Luckily,” Francisco continued as he pulled a pick out of his pocket. “Someone lent me the key.” He stepped up to the front door and unlocked it with a pick as easily as if he had used the actual key. All four of them slipped inside, and Francisco locked the door after them.
The only light on the inside shown through the widows along the outside of the building. The light stabbed across the central expanse of the library in great shafts that sparked with dust particulates. David looked through an arch and saw a great domed central room with row upon row of bookshelves. It smelled like foul breath and moldy parchment. As the four of them moved through the foyer, the floor squeaked with their passing.
“We’ll take the left side,” David said. “You and Bethany take the right.”
Francisco grunted, and the party split apart. David and Mercy started by walking the exterior of the room, and then moving inward to the center. David felt a little disappointed at finding nothing, but the chances of finding a forgotten entrance to ancient lava tubes in the first building he searched were extremely remote.
A moment after he and Mercy returned to the foyer, Francisco and Bethany joined them.
Francisco shook his head at David’s questioning look. “We found a basement, but nothing inside.” He said.
The next building they searched was an old abandoned residence and David found himself missing the scent of foul breath and moldy parchment in comparison to pigeon poop and human urine. Users had evidently frequented the old residence in their desperate states of addiction. Again, other than one sleeping homeless man, they found nothing of interest. It was the same result for remaining two buildings. By nine ‘o’clock, and after meeting with the other team leaders, they learned their mornings work was a complete bust. Nobody found so much as a sewage drain larger than 4 inches across.
“Perhaps you’re right and the entrance will only open at 7:00 to 8:00 PM.” Mercy said with a hopeful tone.
David smiled, but as he sat in the old café poring over their map as he had been all afternoon, he knew that was incorrect.
“Even if that were true,” He said, “They would have at least found some sort of evidence of an entrance.” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He’d removed his mask sometime earlier, choosing instead to conceal himself in the corner. “No, I’m becoming increasingly concerned that we are either looking in the wrong place or chasing after ghost stories.”
“Perhaps there is something we are missing in the message.” Mercy said. “Help wanted from former legendary aide in restor
ing IKW from the old city tubes. Sanctuary faith required. Working hours: 7:00 to 8:00 daily. See site for details.” She recited.
“It’s that part at the end that bothers me.” David said. “7:00 to 8:00 daily. It means something more than just a time, but what?”
Mercy shook her head.
As the 7:00 pm approached and the clouds above faded with the setting sun, David and Mercy met up with Francisco and Bethany to search the buildings again for good measure, despite none of them even hoping to find something. As they approached their first building, the one they’d searched last in the morning shift, David heard the toll of bells from a nearby sanctuary. He never used to notice them before he’d spoken with his mother. Now, they were an ever-constant reminder of his duty and the hope that awaited him.
This time, the sound gave him another thought. He paused as his party walked up the stairs, cocking his head to listen to the bells. Then he pulled out his map of the old city and looked searched its contents.
“What is it, David?” Mercy asked.
“Um, a thought. Could be nothing, but still.” He ran a finger down the map, and Bethany and Francisco paused at the door.
“We need to hurry,” Francisco said with an anxious look. “We’ll need the full hour if we are to search all the buildings.”
“You go ahead.” David replied. “I want to check something else.”
Bethany and Francisco disappeared through the door, and Mercy stepped up to David’s side.
“The sanctuary,” He said. “The old city sanctuary is really old.” He tapped a finger on the map where it sat.
“Yes, but it’s not on our map of oldest buildings.” Mercy said.
“I know.” David replied. “That’s because it’s too old. It predates building permits. And,” he said with some excitement, “I’ve been thinking of the end of the message, the part about sanctuary faith is required. I thought before that Winston was trying to tell us to trust him, but now, I think he means the actual sanctuary.”
“The sanctuary is on the other side of the sector.” Mercy said and the bells stopped tolling as she did. “Do you think we could make it in an hour?”
“We can try.” David said as he took her hand and led her down the street at a brisk trot.
They reached the other end of the city in forty-five minutes, brows slick with sweat. It was indeed a very old sanctuary. High stone walls stood with the aid of great aching buttresses blossoming from their sides. Spires and columns reached higher than most of the surrounding buildings, and a great copper dome covered the center of the great basilica. David slipped inside and was relieved to find it empty. The old city enclosed sparse population and very few of those attended sanctuary. They walked through the candle-lit rooms surrounding the great circular sanctuary in the middle. The marble floor felt smooth as polished glass to David’s shod feet, most likely due to the millions of people who had walked it smooth over hundreds of cycles. As they finished their search of the outer rooms on one side, they entered the central sanctuary to pass to the other side of the building. It glowed with the light candles. They passed through the middle of the room and David looked up at the dome and gasped.
He pulled Mercy’s arm and pointed up. “Look at that!” he said.
Above them was a spectacular mosaic on the walls that trimmed the base of the dome. It depicted a map of the old city and the original buildings within the ancient walls. At one end sat the Capital City police station, though, at the time the mosaic was made, it was the main fortress of the old city. There were half a dozen other buildings that must have been destroyed because he didn’t recognize them, all except for the sanctuary on the opposite end of the map.
“So the sanctuary was here since the beginning of the city.” Mercy said.
“Exactly!” David felt giddy with the realization. “And, those other buildings must have been the other entrances to the ancient lava tubes. Probably a secret method of travel in the event the city was taken. Look there.” he pointed to the old fortress. “That’s the Capital City police station. That must be how Inspector Winston knew about the tubes. Somehow he found the entrance and fled into the tubes when Blythe took office.”
Mercy nodded, but then they heard a door shut, and both of them dropped to their hands and knees and crouched behind some long benches. David peered over the bench and saw a round little man clad in the traditional garb of the priests of the maker, walk all the way down the sanctuary and out a door in the back of the immense, domed room. A moment later, the sanctuary bells started ringing.
David had never been so close to the bells before, and the sound reverberated around the domed room and buzzed in his ears. That’s when he had another thought.
“Mercy!” he said over the top of the buzz. “The evening and morning sanctuary is from 7:00 to 8:00 AM and PM. The bells sound it off.” He grabbed her hand as her eyes lit up with comprehension. Together they raced across the sanctuary toward the door that the man had disappeared through. They stepped inside a dimly lit room echoing with the sound of the bells. A circular stairway wound up and down. David stepped to the edge and leaned out over the railing. He saw the same priest operating a system of levers on a platform above him. Above the priest shown the last light of the day through the windows of the bell tower. Chains extended all the way down the tower past where David stood and down into a circular cellar where they attached to massive square stones that rose and fell with the chime of the bells.
David led Mercy down the spiral staircase to the base of the bell tower. Darkness cast so much shadow that he could barely make out Mercy’s face, but he could still feel more than see the movement of the great stone counterweights around him. He reached into his coat and pulled out his electric torch. Switching it on he scanned the bell towers interworking’s. He let go of Mercy’s hand and walked out into the center of the circular tower.
“David, be careful!” Mercy said over the sound of the bells. She didn’t have to warn him why.
The stones rose and fell in a circle around him, and each one was large enough to squish him flat without even slowing down. There was barely enough space for his square shoulders. He turned in a circle and shone his light at each of the stones and the space behind them. All were the same, save one. He paused at that one and held his light at an angle. As the stone raised the height of five feet, it paused for the space of a second before sliding back down into its trough. In that second of time, David’s light illuminated a cave with steps leading down into darkness. He turned to Mercy and smiled.
THE FORGOTTEN
David waved his arm at Mercy and called out, “Come on! Before the bells stop ringing!” He could just make out Mercy’s troubled face in the dim light. He shined his torch at the narrow path leading to the center of the massive counterweights, where they stood, so she could step with assurance. Mercy reached down and grabbed her skirts. She bundled them around her knees and shuffled down the narrow passage with hindered steps. David knew her concern. If her billowing skirts got caught under one of the counterweights, it would probably pull her dress and the girl within into the heaving stones. David felt his heart pumping with anxiety, knowing that any second the bells would stop ringing and their entrance would be sealed shut behind several feet of solid stone. As soon as Mercy reached the center space directly behind him, David turned and shone the torch at the stone with an entrance behind it. He heard Mercy gasp.
David listened to the stone rise and fall in time with the bells. He watched the tunnel behind flash in an out of view. He handed his torch to Mercy, then he bent his knees, took a couple quick gulps of air and dove under the stone as it rose to its zenith.
He flew through the air for a split second of misery before his feet stumbled and tripped down a few of the stone steps on the other side of the counterweight. He had barely found his footing when everything went black. He put his hands against the cave walls and held his breath. Then, light flooded the tunnel again as the huge counterweight drew back up.
David turned and saw Mercy on the other side, shining the torch through the opening before the stone dropped again.
When it rose again, he put out his arms in a gesture he hoped communicated his readiness to catch her. It was well he did, for as soon as the stone reached its zenith, the light from the torch shook and a bundle of fabric flew through the space. David felt the weight of Mercy’s body thump into his chest and her arms wrap around his neck. He cradled her in his arms and found the burden scarcely twenty pounds more than Bethany, despite Mercy’s taller stature. Three clangs of the bells later, the stones stopped moving and the passage sealed shut.
“David, you can put me down now.” Mercy said in a whisper from beside his ear.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
David sighed dramatically as he lowered Mercy to the ground.
“Probably for the best,” He said once her feet rested on solid stone. “My back was about to give out.”
Mercy gasped. “Rude!” She said and slapped his arm. David chuckled as he took the torch from her and pointed it down the stairway, which wound around in a circular descent.
He started down the stairway and heard Mercy following close behind. He did his best to split the light of the torch between the two of them so that both could see where they trod. After about twenty to thirty steps, the stairs came to an end beside a long narrow tunnel about ten feet high. Its sides glimmered in odd ways as they caught the light from the torch and threw it back. David illuminated one wall with his torch. It looked gilded as though someone had plated it with polished silver, though it shown in different colors along different levels of the wall. He lengthened the light down the side of the passage and saw that the metallic surface continued as far as he could see. He ran his hand along the wall. But for a few bubbles here and there that pocked its surface, the wall felt smooth as glass. He took a step and almost tripped on the uneven floor. Shining his light down, he saw why. The floor rippled, though, not in a jagged way. It looked like the surface of a pond frozen in time after someone tossed a rock into its center. He tapped a foot down and felt solid rock, his leg jarring with every impact. He looked up at Mercy with a puzzled face. She stood a few feet away, her outline clear in the darkness.
