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