The Box Omnibus #1 (The Box, The Journal, The Sword)

by Gaudet, Christina G.

  “Idiot thing,” I shout at her as she disappears in the long grass. “Go get killed by a dragon or something, why don’t you?”

  Only after I’ve taken a few steps do I notice Rose hasn’t moved an inch. Her eyes are wide as she stares at the empty space where Farah had just been.

  “Don’t worry,” I say. “She does this. She’ll run around for a bit and use up some of her energy and then she’ll come back on her own.”

  “It…” Rose stops and turns to me, her jaw still hanging open. “It shot fire.”

  “That’s what chimera’s do. Isn’t it?” From her reaction, I’m starting to think I’m wrong. But if Farah’s not a chimera, then what kind of creature could she be? No, she has to be one. Doesn’t she? “It is what they do right? Because otherwise I’m going to be so embarrassed.”

  “Chimera?” Rose’s jaw drops in horror. “You have a chimera? You brought a chimera into my village? Why?”

  Right. The spell is still hiding her true form.

  I start walking again since I don’t see any reason why we need to slow down to talk about this.

  “Relax,” I say with a dismissive wave of her hand. “She’s housebroken.” I think back to her many nests. “Generally.”

  Both of Rose’s hands go over her face and she starts muttering under her breath about something I can’t quite hear. Her freak out is totally overly dramatic. After all, it’s not like Farah’s doing anything wrong. She’s going for a run to chase some mice and snakes and whatever else she can find. Any dog would do the same in her position. Besides, if Rose is so worried about being attacked by random people, shouldn’t she be happy to have something as big and threatening as Farah around to protect us?

  Whatever. Better change the subject before she pulls a Lou and starts flipping out at me.

  “So, no giant riding birds?” I don’t bother masking my disappointment at the idea. “What about flying horses? Or unicorns! We should totally ride some unicorns. They’re supposed to be crazy fast, aren’t they?”

  Rose frowns in Farah’s direction, but doesn’t make any more comments. She actually seems content to change the subject. Maybe she’s not as bad as Lou after all.

  “If we run into a couple of tamed unicorns who don’t try to bite off our limbs or stab us in the heart with their horns,” she says, “we can ride them.”

  “Fine.” I watch Farah flip a rat in the air with one head to catch it and swallow it in one gulp with the other. “Make fun of me. But so you know walking isn’t a plan. It’s what a person does when they don’t have a plan.”

  “You want to ride something?” Rose says. “Go jump on your pet chimera’s back. See what happens then. And I’ll tell you now, out of everything you’ve suggested so far, she’s by far the safest option.”

  We both watch as one of Farah’s heads tries to chase her tail, while the other notices another rat or something similar and tries to go after it. She ends up caught up in her own feet and rolling in a ball of too many limbs and a few flames. After fighting to untangle herself, she finally gets back to her feet where her tail whips back and forth while her two heads snap at each other to show the other who’s boss.

  It only takes a few seconds of watching for both of us to burst out laughing. We laugh until it’s hard to keep walking, and then we laugh a little more. I wonder when was the last time Rose laughed so hard. I’m betting it’s been at least the same amount of time since Al’s been gone.

  When I can finally breathe again, I wipe a tear from my eye and nod.

  “All right, I hear you,” I say. “But you’ve been planning this forever. You must have an idea of how to arrive there faster. You can’t have always planned to walk the whole way, especially when you were younger.”

  “I have an idea,” she admits, “but I’m not sure how well it will work. I was always alone in my plans, and it requires a certain level of innocence, which I don’t know if you’ll be able to manage.”

  A challenge. I love it already. “I can do innocent. I’m just not sure why anyone would want to.”

  She glances around as though she’s checking to make sure no one’s listening, though I don’t know who she thinks would be able to sneak up on us here. We’re in the middle of an open field with nothing growing higher than our knees. And if somehow we didn’t notice someone sneaking up on us, Farah definitely would.

  “There’s another village not far from here,” Rose says. “We often do a lot of trading with them, and I know some of the young men who come to town with the supplies.” A hint of guilt in Rose’s eye makes the story much more intriguing. “I’m sure I can probably convince one of them to give me a lift.”

  “Convince them how?” I say with an elbow to her rib. When she turns to glare at me, I give her an exaggerated wink.

  Her face turns the same color as her hair and she frowns. “It’s not exactly… I don’t…” She clamps her mouth shut and starts walking faster.

  “Ooh,” I say, in a sing-song voice. “Someone has a crush.”

  “I don’t have feelings for Paul, all right? He’s always sweet to me, which can be a nice change from dealing with my family. It’s not like anything has ever happened.”

  “His name is Paul?” As soon as I say his name, she realizes her mistake and her blush intensifies. “Paul and Rose, up in a tree. K-I-S-S-I—”

  A sharp, cold object presses against my throat, cutting off my taunt. When I turn to see what’s happening, a deep voice rumbles in my ear.

  “That’s right,” he says. “No more talking. Now start handing over your coins before I’m forced to slit your pretty little throat.”

  Chapter Five

  Call me crazy, but something about having my life threatened makes me feel so alive. My heart starts pounding and my body hums with nerves and anticipation. The best part is my mind starts working faster than it manages to in any other situation.

  For instance, if there wasn’t a knife to my throat, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the three other people shifting in their hiding spots crouched in the grass, nor would I have been able to figure out the reason why he’s using a knife and the other three have crossbows is because they probably can’t use magic. An advantage I will happily exploit.

  I wonder if Rose also loves the adrenaline of a fight because she reacts in a calculating and cool manner as well. She blinks three times at me and then glances toward one of the closest shooters. I can’t help but smile. Good, she’s caught up and still isn’t shaking in her boots. I’m starting to like this girl.

  “Are you listening to me?” the knife wielder says when I take too long to reply. “All of your coins and anything valuable you have. Give them to me. Now.”

  “Wait,” I say, feigning confusion. “All of our valuables? But you said coins last time. You can’t keep upping the stakes.”

  “What?” He shakes me out of annoyance, enough to prick my neck, but not so much I’m actually worried he’s going to kill me. “Quiet. Give me your money and valuables. Or I will slit your throat.”

  “I’m confused,” Rose says with her eyes wide and her body language giving the attacker every signal she can manage of being a scared young woman. “Our valuables? But what do you consider valuable? Because my mother tells me my hair is the most precious thing in all of the land, and I should be proud to have it. Do you want me to cut it off and give it to you?”

  As she’s talking, I reach my hand into my pouch of dust. For now all I do is cup it in the palm of my hand and wait for the opportune moment. I’ll need Farah to be paying more attention since her help will be needed. Right now she’s too busy chasing her own tail to notice we’re in danger.

  “Just…” Clearly my attacker has never dealt with two girls who don’t immediately do everything he says. “Drop everything you have. On the ground. Right now.”

  “O—okay,” Rose stutters while unlatching the broaches holding her cloak on. She gives me a look as though I should do the same and I wink back. Yup, I love her. One
step ahead of me at all times. Or at least equal to me. Maybe a step behind. We’ll say a step behind.

  I reach for the green rope holding my cloak on and manage to loosen the knot before he presses the knife unnecessarily hard against my neck.

  “Are you girls insane?” he says. “I don’t want your clothes. Money, jewelry, that kind of thing. Hand them over, and stop messing around.”

  Keep shouting. Make a scene so Farah will finally notice something’s wrong.

  Finally her lion head checks to see what all of the noise is about while the goat one tries to eat an entire bush in one bite.

  As soon as she sees the knife at my throat, she lets out a growl that makes even my knees feel weak, and then she leaps into action.

  Everything happens at once as all three of the crossbow users’ leap from their hiding spots for a better aim at Farah. The bits of the grass and brush they’d been using as disguise scatter everywhere, and not one of them are able to land a shot on Farah who’s too quick. I use the distraction to turn on the guy behind me, knocking his hand with the knife away while spinning to blow dust in his eyes.

  He drops to his knees, clawing at the air in front of his face and screaming in fear. I have no idea what the dust has made him see, but it’s definitely doing its job of scaring the crap out of him. Though hopefully not literally, because things would become smelly fast.

  With the knife guy down, my attention goes back to the crossbow people. They’ve scattered in three different directions, though I’m not sure if they split up as part of a clever strategy or reacted in blind terror. I grab for the closest to try to take her weapon from her, but she’s too fast. She sweeps around and kicks the inside of my hand, forcing me to drop all of the dust I’d grabbed.

  I put some space between us and rip off my cloak for easier access to my bandoleer, hoping somehow I can manage to reach it before she takes a shot with her already reloaded crossbow. Before I have a chance to blow the dust she pauses, give me a once over, and then spins around and drops her weapon in order to run away faster.

  Well, that was easier than I expected.

  I expect to find another person ready to attack me when I turn, but Rose already has her down with a knee on her chest and two slim blades crossed over her neck. The final attacker made it a decent distance before being pinned under Farah’s huge, clawed paws.

  “Got her?” I ask Rose as I dip down to grab the dropped crossbow.

  “She’s not going anywhere.”

  The girl grunts and struggles against the weight and blades, until her eyes fall on me and she instantly falls still.

  What is this? Did I accidently cast some an illusion on myself without realizing it? If so, go me. I did a sexy job of it apparently. Let’s see if it scares the guy Farah caught as much as the others.

  Even though I have no idea how to use the crossbow, though there’s a trigger so I’m assuming it’s not too complicated, I walk up to the guy under Farah and point it at him.

  “Are you going to behave?” I ask while I point the bolt at his head, Farah letting out another only slightly less frightening growl.

  “Get it off,” the guy says between sobs. “Please. Please get this thing off me.”

  Pathetic. For a bunch of bandits, you’d think these people would have dealt with their share of large creatures and people who could fight back. The fight’s over before I had a chance to enjoy it.

  I sigh my disappointment. “Farah, off.”

  She whimpers, would clearly prefer me to tell her to rip the guy to shreds, but sadly for her I’m not as sadistic as her last owner.

  “Farah,” I say in my no nonsense voice. “No. Off.”

  For a second I think she’s going to disobey, and I’m going to have to do something drastic, but luckily when I bark her name one last time, she takes the hint and steps back.

  Only once Farah is off the guy am I able to see how young he is. He can’t be much more then thirteen, and Farah has done more of a number on him then I’d first thought. His clothes are torn and quickly soaking with blood as he weeps on the ground, unwilling or unable to move.

  I shift my crossbow away so he’ll maybe stop crying, but it’s too little too late. The kid only weeps harder.

  I’m not sure what to do. I’ve never taken first aid, and besides, it’s not like I have a whole lot of extra material around to wrap up his wounds with. Plus, should I be feeling sorry for this guy? These people attacked us first after all.

  As I start to turn around to ask Rose what she thinks, she shouts out, “Sin! Watch out,” which is followed by a growl turned into a yelp.

  By the time I’m able to move around and see what she’s shouting about, she’s already been grabbed by the knife wielder. He doesn’t seem to be at all affected by the dust anymore.

  But it’s only when I see Farah do I fully understand how much trouble we’re in. She’s twisted in an awkward angle and about ten feet in the air. She tries to struggle, but something happens, making her yelp in pain and causing her entire body to go limp.

  She seems to be...dead.

  Chapter Six

  “No!” I know I scream the word, but part of me doesn’t believe the sound is coming from my mouth. “No, please, no.”

  “Interesting,” a woman says from somewhere near Rose. “Not a single tear when a fellow human is hurt, but for this monster you can barely hold them back.”

  She has to be alive. She has to. Even if she isn’t moving. “Please... let her go.”

  “That thing nearly killed my scout,” the woman says in a dry tone.

  I finally manage to drag my eyes away from Farah and to the woman. Her light brown hair is tied tightly in a bun at the back of her head with small braids leading back to the rest, keeping any shorter pieces out of her face. Her slim frame is covered in an outfit almost exactly the same as mine, with a blood red corset covering a black short sleeved lace shirt and skin tight black pants tucked into tall black boots. The real difference is the sword and crossbow strapped to her hips.

  One of her arms reaches toward Farah and I’m betting if I had Lou’s power, I’d be able to see magic flowing from her fingers to the chimera.

  Standing behind her with an expression only slightly less terrified than when she ran, is the girl whose crossbow I’m holding.

  “She was protecting me,” I say with more confidence now that I know what I’m dealing with. “Your people attacked us first.”

  “You care about the creature?” the sorceress says without showing any signs of sympathy. “Then prove it. Help her.”

  I instantly raise my crossbow to point at her chest. She wants to goad me? Fine. I’ll play her way.

  Problem is, all it takes is a swipe of her hand and the weapon is magically torn from my grip to fall on the ground several feet from me.

  I’d expected something similar to happen, so while I’d been making a fuss of raising a weapon to her, my other hand was pulling a handful of dust from a pouch. I know better than to attack someone as powerful as the sorceress obviously is, so instead, I blow the dust toward the two people guarding Rose. Sadly, Rose is too close not to be caught in the magic too, but hopefully she can hold herself together until the fear fades.

  She does better than I expect. The second the dust hits her captives, she twists to elbow the knife wielder in the gut and head-butts the girl as they both start to freak out, not sure what to attack first; Rose, myself or the wind.

  As they do their thing, I drop to my knees and pull the injured boy up to use as a human shield. I take the sharp end of one of his dropped arrows and press it to his neck. By the time the sorceress is able to calm the other two, Rose has already freed herself and has two knives held out in a defensive stance while she slowly backs toward me.

  The sorceress starts to throw a direct blast of magic at me, but stops herself when she sees the hold I have on the kid.

  “Let my chimera go,” I say when I’m sure she’s not going to do anything more.

&nbs
p; Everyone freezes in place, waiting for a cue from their leader. She in turn examines first me and then Rose with a shrewd gaze.

  If it weren’t for a slight twitch in Rose’s shoulders, I would have guessed my magic hadn’t affected her at all. As it is, I’m impressed she hasn’t curled up in ball on the ground and started crying.

  Finally the woman looks up at Farah and her expression shifts from anger to puzzlement.

  “I don’t understand,” she says. “There’s no magic on the beast but my own, so it can’t be a shape shifted person. Why then do you care about it so much?”

  I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of an answer, but she still holds Farah with her power, and I know Rose isn’t going to be able to hold her own against my magic for much longer.

  “She saved my life,” I say. “She turned on her master to protect my mother and myself. I owe her everything.”

  I can feel my eyes burn with unshed tears when I notice Farah still hasn’t moved an inch. She has to be alive. She has to.

  The sorceress watches me for another moment. Too long. This needs to end now. But I don’t know how to force her to act any faster.

  As I lose the last bit of hope things are going to go my way, the sorceress’s stance shifts and there’s a thud as Farah drops to the ground. Without any thought, I let go of the kid and push him away so I can crawl over to her.

  Her goat head lifts as I move close and her tail twitches in the way it does when she’s happy to see me. The rest of her seems weak and shaky, but she’s alive. I fling myself over her back and hug her furiously as she starts to regain her strength and attitude. She growls a warning for me to get off before she stands up and shakes herself out.

  While I’m busy checking on Farah, the others have gone to the boy and are checking his wounds. Although I’m curious to know how he is, I know it’s more important for me to pay attention to the sorceress.