Beyond the Fire
BEYOND
the FIRE
A TRILOGY
Dewayne A Jackson
Copyright © 2017 Dewayne A Jackson.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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ISBN: 978-1-5127-9557-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-5127-9559-2 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-5127-9558-5 (e)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017911232
WestBow Press rev. date: 09/28/2017
DEDICATION
This story is dedicated to both my heavenly Father, who gives hope to a troubled world, and to my wife, who has endured me for a long time.
I want to thank everyone who has encouraged me along this journey, but special thanks go to the staff at Westbow Press for including this story in their labors.
I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude to David and to those like him who are willing to step into harm’s way to keep us safe.
To my children, grandchildren, and readers of every age: let us do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. Incredible things can happen when we yield completely to our Creator’s plan and purpose.
CONTENTS
Preface
Book 1 A World in Conflict: Sparks in the Tinderbox
Prologue
Chapter 1 A Test of Faith
Chapter 2 Trial by Fire
Chapter 3 Walking by Faith
Chapter 4 Judgment
Chapter 5 Turmoil in Amity
Chapter 6 Problems at Home
Chapter 7 A Gathering of Leaders
Chapter 8 The Council
Chapter 9 Decisions
Chapter 10 Call to Arms
Chapter 11 The Road to War
Chapter 12 No Place to Hide
Book 2 Facing the Defiler: Enduring the Flames
Chapter 13 Christmas Morning at the Cottons’
Chapter 14 The Plot Thickens
Chapter 15 Breaking Point
Chapter 16 Realization
Chapter 17 One Final Mission
Chapter 18 Last Rites
Chapter 19 A Quest Begins
Chapter 20 Perilous Choices
Chapter 21 Into the Unknown
Chapter 22 Captivity
Chapter 23 The Interview
Chapter 24 Condemned
Chapter 25 Detour
Chapter 26 Enemy Territory
Chapter 27 Regrouping
Chapter 28 Into the Jaws
Chapter 29 Escape
Chapter 30 Deliverance
Chapter 31 Healing
Chapter 32 Evil Spreads
Chapter 33 The Doors of Endor Open
Chapter 34 Making Plans
Chapter 35 The Road to Freedom
Chapter 36 Plans Unravel
Chapter 37 Quelling the Rebellion
Chapter 38 Dispelling the Darkness
Chapter 39 Change of Regime
Book 3 Restoration: Beyond the Fire
Chapter 40 Nighttime at the Cottons
Chapter 41 Reunion
Chapter 42 Unsettling News
Chapter 43 Amity
Chapter 44 Jennifer’s Hospital
Chapter 45 The Cotton Household
Chapter 46 Dark Days in Capri
Chapter 47 A New Beginning
Chapter 48 A Daring Escape
Chapter 49 Stonewall
Chapter 50 New Faith
Chapter 51 Choices
Chapter 52 Taking a Stand
Chapter 53 A Different Battlefield
Chapter 54 Mercy
Chapter 55 New Revelations
Chapter 56 The Tide Turns
Chapter 57 Darkness Covers Green Meadow
Chapter 58 A New Day
Chapter 59 New Challenges
Chapter 60 Starting Over
Chapter 61 Change
Chapter 62 Journey Home
Chapter 63 Stonewall
Chapter 64 Bill Cotton’s House
Chapter 65 Life beyond the Fire
PREFACE
In John 16:33 (King James Version), Jesus tells His disciples, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
This story began back in the early 1990s when our nephew was called to serve in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. I wanted to write him on a regular basis while he was deployed, but our quiet farm life didn’t yield much interesting news. I tried instead writing him chapters of a story, much as J. R. R. Tolkien had done with his son during WWII. At the time, we did not know the actual fighting to free Kuwait would take four days.
Our nephew was home long before the story was completed, but my sister-in-law read the chapters sent to her son, and her comments triggered thoughts in my mind that would shape much of the rest of the story.
We live in a world that is polarized and angry. Everywhere we look, embers of turmoil smolder around us, and we do not know if it will be a choice we make or the belief of someone else that will set our world on fire. Though the characters in this story are fictional, many of the circumstances they face are very real. We, like the characters in this book, tend to underestimate the power of prayer and the unusual things that can happen when the Word of God mingles with the world of mankind. I hope Beyond the Fire will strengthen your faith and encourage your walk with God.
BOOK ONE
A World in Conflict: Sparks in the Tinderbox
PROLOGUE
An icy wind nipped her cheeks, and snow cascaded from the towering trees. A swirl of white encircled the sleigh. Destry peered anxiously over her shoulder to see if Robbie was still covered.
Why must we make this trip? she fumed inwardly. Robbie should not be out in weather like this. Besides, we’ve survived this long without spending Christmas with Philip’s family.
She stole a glance at the handsome man beside her and wondered why he had been so moody of late. Why should he have this sudden urge to see his family after so many years? Destry bit her lip. She resented this trip, and doubly so at this time of year. But she had said too much already; Philip was barely speaking to her. Staring straight ahead, she thought, All right, we will have Christmas with his family, but I don’t have to like it!
Angry thoughts melted as the walls and gates of Amity suddenly appeared between the trees. Philip slowed the team and brought the sleigh to a halt.
“I’ll have to get clearance,” Philip said stiffly. Clambering from the seat, he plodded heavily through the snow.
“Formalities,” Destr
y whispered, wishing they could hurry to the warm lodgings of the Stafford House Inn. She loved the great stone cathedral that served as a refuge for travelers, rich and poor alike. Mentally, she compared her own headstrong husband with the friendly old man by the same name in Stafford House Inn. Why was Philip acting like this? Checking behind the seat again, Destry noted with satisfaction that Robbie was still asleep beneath the bundle of blankets. She was grateful the stop had not awakened him.
“Oh, good,” she sighed. Philip was returning. There would be a hot meal and warm lodging on the other side of this wall, and she was more than ready.
Christmas Eve at the Cottons’
“I want to be Stafford!”
“No fair! You were last time! You have to be Jabin this time!”
“No, I don’t!”
“Yes, you do!”
“Boys, boys!”
Destry watched her sister-in-law corral the larger of two boys and soundly twist his ear.
“Ouch!” the lad yelled. “Mom, you’re hurting me!”
“Not as bad as I’m going to if you don’t stop fighting.”
“But he started it!”
“Did not!”
“This fighting has to stop!” Kelsey’s voice carried a no-nonsense tone. “Why don’t you go ask Grandpa for a story?”
“Will he tell us about the origin of Amity, Mom?”
“Not if you don’t ask him.”
Just then, more children dashed into the dining room. The first in line collided with the table and immediately set up a howl.
Destry was the first to reach the injured child. “Kelsey,” she said timidly, “could you bring a cold cloth? Joshua bumped his nose pretty hard.”
“Sure,” Kelsey said, giving her son a motherly shove toward the parlor where the men were stoking the fire and telling stories.
A slender woman with snow-white hair stepped from the kitchen. In her hand was a damp cloth. Promptly she knelt beside the whimpering boy. “What happened this time?”
“Just running, Mom,” Kelsey explained. “Boys!” she called, leaving her mother-in-law, Mary Cotton, in charge of the whimpering child. “Grandpa is about to tell a story. Better go to the parlor quick.”
The wounded child suddenly squirmed from his grandmother’s arms and raced into the parlor, shouting, “Oh, boy!”
Mary smiled at Kelsey. “That was a quick cure! Does Grandpa know he is about to tell the children a story?”
Kelsey grinned. “He’s about to find out.”
Both women laughed and returned to the kitchen to finish washing dishes. Destry sat bewildered on the floor, wondering what had just happened. Philip’s family was so strange. Looking about, Destry spied her own son still sitting quietly at the table, drawing pictures on a scrap of paper. He was such an obedient boy. Her heart twisted within her breast.
“Robbie,” she called, “all the other children are going to the parlor with Grandpa and Daddy. Would you like to go too?”
A smile brightened the tiny boy’s face. “Oh, may I, Mama?”
“Yes,” Destry said, stooping to hug her son as he hurried past, his cast bumping clumsily on the floor. “But don’t run,” she warned.
“Yes, Mama,” the lad said, wiggling from his mother’s embrace and noisily scraping his cast across the floor.
Destry’s heart swelled as he passed. How fortunate she felt to still have him.
Kelsey soon had all the children corralled, sending each to the parlor where the men had gathered. The noise level lessened for the first time since the children had been excused from the Christmas Eve meal.
Bill Cotton grinned at the children dancing around their fathers in the parlor. “So, you want to hear a story?” he asked.
“Yes, Grandpa! Will you tell us the story of how Amity came into being?”
“Please, oh, please!” chimed a chorus from the rug before the fireplace.
The old man quietly surveyed the little mops of blond, brown, and red hair before him. I am blessed, he thought. He glanced at the others who had drawn near the pleasant crackle of the flames. Ned, his only son-in-law, was nearly asleep in an oversized chair, while Thomas and Philip appeared as eager as the children for the story to begin. James was not present. It was snowing heavily, and he had slipped outside to check the livestock and make sure everything was all right.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the ladies?” The long ends of Grandpa’s mustache danced as he spoke.
“Oh, Grandpa, they know the story anyway! They won’t mind if they miss the first part.”
“Well, you might be right about that.” Grandpa laughed. “Where should we begin?”
“With Josiah Stafford!” was the overwhelming response.
“Very well. Here we go.”
The clink of dishes and soft laughter of women’s voices drifted in from the kitchen. The fire crackled pleasantly in the hearth, and every child was stretched out on the floor at Grandpa’s feet—all except Robbie. He had crawled into his grandpa’s lap and was nestled against his broad chest. Grandpa’s arms cradled Robbie gently, wrapping him in love. Everyone watched Grandpa expectantly as he stared into the flames on the hearth.
“Long ago when I was a child,” Bill Cotton began, “my grandfather told me of a land beyond the mountains. If you would climb to the top of the Guardian Range today, all you would see is a great body of water. But long ago, there was a land of wealth and power to our north. Protected on the south and west by mountains, on the east by the sea, and to the north by a great desert, Shingmar was a land blessed by heaven. Its people lived in peace and prosperity, for rain fell abundantly upon the deep, fertile soil of that wondrous land.
“But time passed, and the people of Shingmar forgot the Creator of heaven and earth. They began to believe in the sun, the moon, and their own sense of power. They became futile in their thinking and exchanged the wonder of heaven for a figment of their own imagination. Slowly, Shingmar slipped into idolatry and they began to worship creation rather than the Creator. This was true of many people, but not everyone. One man stood against the growing tide of popular idolatry. His name was Josiah Stafford.”
CHAPTER 1
A Test of Faith
King Shinar looked at the man standing before him. His eye was swollen, and his lips were split and bleeding. A deep cut on his scalp sent blood dripping down his face. The king wrinkled his nose at the smell; sweat and blood mingled in a most disagreeable way. “What are the charges against this man?”
A man stepped forward, his shoes clicking on the marble floor. “Treason, Your Majesty.”
“What has he done?” King Shinar asked.
“He refuses to worship in the Temple of the Moon.”
Shinar scratched his fat chin. That isn’t treason, he thought. That’s foolishness. People should enjoy life. Turning to the man before him, he asked, “What have you to say for your actions?”
The battered man looked straight at King Shinar. “Sire, I cannot worship a woman who pretends to be God!”
King Shinar heard a murmur spread through the men in his court. They believed that the goddess of the moon was, in fact, divine. She was the source of all fertility, and she could bless the nation with prosperity. Without her, rain would not fall in its proper season, and famine would ravage the land.
“These are the words of a traitor!” shouted one councillor.
“He deserves to die!” screamed another.
“He leads people into rebellion! He should be stoned!”
Others took up the cry as the council sought the man’s life.
“Silence!” Shinar roared. He seldom raised his voice, but his council was getting out of hand. He turned again to the man before him. “What is your name?”
“Josiah Stafford,” the man answered.
King Shinar noted that the man was humble. The
re was no belligerence in his tone or action. “Stafford, do you lead a rebellion as these men say?”
“No, sire. I merely speak the truth. Others might listen, but we are not rebelling against your kingdom.”
“We? So you are a leader.”
There was no reply.
“If you are not rebelling against my house, why do you not worship the goddess of the moon? Are you aware that the law decrees that you must worship her?”
“I honor you as my king, O Shinar, but I will not worship anyone but the Creator of heaven and earth.”
“Kill the traitor!” shouted one of the men in Shinar’s court.
“He would have us starve!” Shouts began again to fill the hall of judgment.
Shinar signaled for silence. When order was restored, he spoke to the bold man. “Do you not realize how much we honor the queen of heaven?”
“I do, Your Majesty. But to worship her is to deny my allegiance to the Creator of heaven. If I honor Him and Him alone, I will in no way bring disaster upon the land.”
Shinar pursed his lips. He didn’t believe that the goddess could bring rain, but he did like the worship services. Why wouldn’t anyone want his fill of pleasure with the most sensual women in the land? he thought. This man is a fool.
King Shinar remembered many years earlier when a drought had come upon the kingdom. Some people had thought that mandatory worship of the goddess would break the drought. Shinar had passed a law, and rain had soon fallen on the land. Shinar didn’t believe the goddess had brought rain, but many people did. However, since Shinar enjoyed the worship services, he had kept the law in place.
Today, King Shinar was troubled by the man before him. He seemed like an honest man with no trace of treachery. Yet he had defied Shinar’s law.
“By what authority do you defy this court?” Shinar demanded. “Why will you not worship our deity?”
“It is written in the Book of the Almighty,” Josiah Stafford declared. “The Lord our God is One. You shall have no other gods before Him. The Lord is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Him and keep His commandments. I dare not worship any other but the Creator of heaven and earth.”