Julie Dawson: Water is Thicker than Blood

“Jephthah went out to face the Ammonites, and swore to God that if He saw him victorious in battle, he would sacrifice to God whoever met him first when he got home.”

“And it was his only daughter that met him first, and he kept his word to God, ‘cause God had given him victory over his enemies.”

“What are you asking of me?”

“The Archmage don’t understand why the generator don’t work. But I performed a ritual and received a vision. And in that vision, I learned that God is still angry with us ‘cause mankind done blew up what He had created for us. We destroyed what God had built, and He is angry.”

“You…you had a vision? And what did the Archmage say?”

“The Archmage is a good man, but he is not a man of faith. He believes that our talents are our own. But I have come to believe that our talents are a gift bestowed upon us. He wouldn’t hear more of what I had to say.”

“So what does this have to do with me?”

“I have convinced the alchemists working on the generator of the righteousness of my vision, and they are willing to do what must be done. But I need someone of faith also willing to do what must be done. Just as Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, and God Himself sacrificed his only Son, we need someone willing to offer for sacrifice someone they love.”

“Wait, you want me to let you kill Hank!?”

“I am asking you to release him as an offering to God, so that the generator will work.”

Rue raised her hands to her mouth to hold back a scream. She shook her head violently.

“Ms. Rue, the truth is he has already sacrificed his marriage to the demons of sloth and gluttony. He offends God by forgetting his vows to you. He takes from you and drowns his soul in alcohol. You know as well as I that it is only a matter of time before he drinks himself to death, and you know what will happen to his soul them.”

“Stop it! Stop!” Rue put her hands over her ears.

“Ms. Rue, you still love him, but he is not the man he was. But you can save his soul before the Devil takes it. Offer him to God so that he can wait for you in Heaven.”

Rue’s hands went over her heart. “Do you understand what you have asked me to do?”

“Ms. Rue. I am not asking you to do the deed. We will make the offering for you. But it must be made willingly as a righteous sacrifice. His blood will show God that we accept his punishment for our sins, and he will forgive us and grant the grace of His power to the generator. And then the waters of life will flow.”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Ms. Rue, you walk the streets of Bywater. You see children growing sick. Babies are dying. Your neighbors struggle just to get water to drink. Innocent children die while your husband sells your belongings to buy liquor. He just as well be spitting in the eye of God.”

“But… what do you need me to do?”

“All you have to do, is tell me you offer him as a sacrifice. I can take care of everything else. Just tell me that you wish to offer him as the sacrifice, and then go to my mama’s house. Tell her you don’t want to be home with Mr. Hank tonight. You won’t be lying. Because you don’t want to be there this evening. Stay there with mama. In the morning, it will all be over.”

Joseph’s eyes were red from holding back tears. His face glowed with a strength of conviction that reminded her of the Baron when he talked about the restoration of Nola. Her body shook. The Lord was calling her to do His work. Joseph was her burning bush.

She took his hands in hers and clenched them tightly. “I give you my husband as an offering. Bring the light, child. Make the waters flow.”

Joseph hugged her. “Thank you, Ms. Rue. You are a righteous woman.”

Rue went to Lula’s house. She told Lula she didn’t want to go home. Lula didn’t ask why as it wasn’t her way to pry. They drank luke warm tea and played checkers by candlelight on Lula’s back porch beneath the mosquito net Joseph had bough her.

Just before they went back into the house to go to sleep, the area became awash in a soft light. It stunned them both and even caused Lula to drop the box with the checkers in it. Neither Rue or Lula paid any mind to the checkers scattered all over the porch. Instead, they both went around the front of the building and walked down the street toward the Circle of Magi.

They weren’t the only locals that noticed the light. A bunch of folks were converging on the building and staring up in amazement at the giant glass ball that was glowing with light. Then all of the windows of the building lit up with light. Rue likened it to a Christmas tree, even though she had ever only seen old and dirty pictures of them.

“I think that is called a spot light,” said someone in the crowd. “They got some of those at the Engineering commission.”

“But ain’t no power in Bywater yet,” said someone else.

“They got something in there,” said another.

They heard the hum of motors as someone inside the building must have been plugging in other items.

“What they doing in there?” asked someone with both suspicion and fear.

“The Lord’s work,” said Rue as she started to cry.

Archmage Hex came out the front door looking uncharacteristically disheveled, as if he had just been woken up without warning just like the rest of Bywater. He took a deep breath as he surveyed the gathering masses and looked over his shoulder at the lighted building. He did a poor job of hiding his annoyance.

“Neighbors, I apologize for this sudden demonstration. I had hoped that when we got it working it would be under more…controlled circumstances,” he said as he looked up at the spotlight.

“What you do in there, wizard?” asked someone in the crowd.

“The Circle of Magi has been working on a self-contained electrical generator.”

“Baron said it would be years before we got power,” said someone else in the crowd.

“This was an independent project from the Engineering Commission. We have been working on this for the self-sufficiency of Bywater.”

There was a muffled sound like an explosion inside the building. The crowd jumped back. Archmage Hex rubbed his temples and shook his head.

“What was that?” screamed someone.

“It’s fine,” he said. Rue thought she heard him mutter “If it wasn’t the building would be gone.” But she figured she might have heard wrong. “They are just testing the power output and stability of the unit. Again, I am sorry. I had hoped that once they got it working they would schedule a better time for testing. But they seem to have gotten excited with their breakthrough and against better judgement are testing it now.”

People started throwing out questions.

“You’re their boss. Tell them quit it. People trying to sleep.”

“Wait, you gonna share that power?”

“How we get some?”

“What you need all that light for, anyway?”

Archmage Hex held his hands up in front of him. “Please! I…fine…I..we had hoped to make an official announcement once we were sure of the generator’s stability. But you deserve answers now, considering the circumstances. The purpose of the generator is to power a water purification system for Bywater. But the power output needs to be stable first before we can connect it to the system. And then once we are sure that the output can support the needs of the purification system, we can consider additional ways to utilize any excess output.”

“So this is for a big water purifier? Damn mages can’t do nothing simple, can you?” said someone. The crowd chuckled.

“Mr. Thompson, it is Thompson, yes? Sir, you misunderstand. This system isn’t designed to purify water put into it. It’s designed to purify water ground and surface water.”