Pandora's Box: Land of Strife: Pandora's Box Series, Book 1

by S. Y. Lee

  Chapter 30

  Another flick of her wrist and the flame was gone. Eva couldn’t resist and she reached out to touch Elin’s open palm. It felt warm, but not scalding. It didn’t feel like a flame had been burning there just moments ago.

  Eva was about to withdraw her hand when Elin closed her fingers around it tightly. The wizard’s eyes closed and she appeared to be concentrating on something while her lips moved slightly, though nobody could hear what she was saying. Everyone around the table waited in suspense, until Elin opened her eyes and looked at Eva.

  “Child, do you understand how magic works?” she asked.

  “No. Can you tell me?” The conversation had taken a detour and Karine looked annoyed, but she remained silent. In the meantime, Leo and Themba had resumed eating slowly. The plate of meat buns was still half-finished, and neither knew when they would be able to have such a meal again.

  “Not everyone can use magic. In fact, only a small number of beings in this world can wield such power. It’s more common among elves and other magical creatures, but some humans have the ability as well. Dwarves are the least attuned, which is why they focus their efforts on weaponry and combat,” Elin explained. She seemed most comfortable when telling a story or explaining how things worked. In that sense, she reminded Leo of Caroline Baker. Always the professor, never too aware of the social setting.

  “Magic is drawn to magic. I’ve practiced for many years and I recognize it wherever I go. But even though some have a smidge of magic in them, it’s often not enough for any practical use. For example, at this table, this young man,” Elin pointed at Themba, “has some magic in him, but not strong enough to accomplish anything.”

  Themba nearly choked on the bun in his mouth and he had to grab his mug to wash down the food with some ale. He coughed as he cleared his windpipe and put down the bun. Being told that he had magic wasn’t something he had been expecting. Where he came from, being accused of knowing magic was either a really good thing that led to reverence and wealth, or a horrible rumor that got you stoned.

  “The mistress,” Elin pointed to Karine next, “is quite attuned to magic, particularly within this living tree.”

  Leo braced himself to hear the wizard’s verdict on him, but she skipped him entirely.

  “You, my dear,” she said to Eva, “are incredibly powerful. Perhaps more than I am, and I’ve been around for a long time.” Elin emphasized the words “long time,” while not giving away any hints of how old she really was. She looked to be possibly in her late thirties or early forties, but Leo doubted it. He bet she was much older and used some sort of spell to look as she did right now for decades or even centuries.

  “I can teach you how to harness your power, and you seem like a bright lady, so it wouldn’t take too much work,” Elin said. Eva pulled her hand back as she pondered the wizard’s offer.

  “What about me?” Leo asked, trying to bridge the conversation. He was dying to find out if he had any magical acumen.

  Elin sized him up for a long while as if she was trying to read something written on his face. She extended an open palm across the table and Leo reached out to hold her hand. The first thing he noticed was how soft and smooth her hand was, before he felt her skin turn ice cold. He looked into her eyes and for a second thought he had seen her irises change from brown to blue. He blinked. No, they were still brown.

  The wizard frowned. She stood and motioned for Themba to switch seats with her so that she could examine Leo closer. Leo shifted uneasily in his chair as Elin placed both hands on his face and held his gaze like she was conducting an eye examination. He wanted to avert his eyes, but somehow couldn’t. He wondered if she was using any magic on him. He could feel his cheeks getting warmer as Elin stared into his eyes.

  When she finally let go, Leo inhaled and realized that he had been holding his breath. Elin appeared perplexed with Leo and he had a dreadful feeling in his gut.

  “Elin? What’s wrong?” Eva asked.

  “I can’t read him. This is very strange. If he weren’t in front of me right now, I would have mistaken him for a rock or a statue,” Elin said.

  “Wizard,” Karine said. She sounded irritated. “Is he ill or in danger?”

  “No.”

  “Then let’s discuss what must be done to save my father of his madness. Evil is spreading and Silverbrick was just attacked. If nothing is done, all else will succumb to the darkness,” Karine said.

  “Silverbrick?” Elin looked surprised. “I was just heading there to see Lord Bannor. Tell me what happened. Don’t leave out any details.”

  *

  When Leo, Eva, and Karine had each filled the wizard in with their own accounts on what had transpired in the past four days, everyone around the table had a better understanding of how they had all come to be there. For now, Leo and Eva had left out the part where they were from another world.

  Themba didn’t say a word as he listened to their accounts. He hadn’t gone ten feet outside of the inn’s perimeter after waking up there, and there was little he could contribute in terms of the events leading up to the fall of Silverbrick.

  Elin frowned as she learned about the details of the attack. She held Eva’s hand, squeezing tightly when she heard about the deaths of Lord Bannor and Lady Pereva.

  “The rider from Thelmont, the one your uncle spoke of, did you see him?” Elin asked Leo. He shook his head.

  “Silverbrick has fallen by force. This is bad. Evil is spreading faster than I thought. Something must have changed recently.”

  Eva and Leo exchanged looks, both wondering if their appearances in this world had anything to do with the chain of events. The timing was too convenient for them to show up just as the geopolitics here took a turn for the worse.

  “You must warn Thermine,” Elin said after pondering for a while.

  “That’s where we’re headed. My uncle said they might be able to help Silverbrick,” Leo said. It was starting to feel normal referring to some stranger as his uncle, and it bothered him.

  “Help? No. It’s too late for Silverbrick. It might even be too late for Thermine, if indeed those riders are part of the attackers that sacked the city. The walls of Silverbrick were tall and guarded. Thermine’s defenses are much less.”

  “What then? If what you say is true and evil is spreading, what must be done to stop it? How can my father be cured?” Karine pressed. She was getting tired of Elin not answering her questions directly and going off on multiple tangents.

  “Then… the person who sits on the throne of Gormore must be removed, by any means necessary,” Elin said. She looked over her shoulder as if she was suddenly aware of her surroundings and paranoid that someone might be eavesdropping.

  “So, we must raise an army?” the elf asked.

  “No. I don’t know. An army wouldn’t be able to trespass into the lands of Gormore. They would only be affected by its dark influence and made to serve the Blood Throne. Send an army forth, and they’ll come back marching on the side of the enemy.”

  “What then, wizard?” Karine pounded her fist on the table and everyone except Elin jumped in their seats. The singing in the background had stopped, though the flute music continued. A few of the other patrons were looking their way now at the mention of a wizard. Perhaps they hadn’t known. Leo could spy the skinny Alister sitting by the big blue door as he pretended not to be looking at them.

  “Calm yourself,” Elin growled at Karine and the two glared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time. The elf was still seething when Elin spoke again. “I was going to see Lord Bannor to warn him about the rising threat, but unfortunately I’m too late now. While you head to Thermine, I must travel to a place that might hold the knowledge we need to fight back against the darkness. Only then will your father and the elves had any chance.”

  Surprisingly, Karine held her tongue and didn’t ask a question to move things along. Even Leo was starting to get antsy by Elin’s long wind ups. He wished she wou
ld just get to the point.

  “If there’s a place that will illuminate the path forward, it’s the grand library in Thelmont. There are journals there that date back to the days of Jaxon. Until a way can be found to infiltrate Gormore, each city, town, and village, needs to be on their guard, but they cannot defend forever. Eventually the numbers of the enemy will grow to become an unstoppable, all-conquering force,” Elin said.

  “Thelmont is many suns away,” Karine said.

  “About twenty by horse from Thermine. The three of you should get going soon.”

  “Three?” Eva asked. Leo had noticed Elin’s choice of words too, while Themba looked uneasy, fearful that he was about to be left behind.

  “Child,” Elin said to her, “you should come with me. I can teach you how to use magic on the way to Thelmont. I won’t force you, but I think you should come with me. The others can meet us there. Learning how to use magic will better prepare you for what’s to come.” The wizard didn’t elaborate on what was to come.

  Eva looked down at the wizard’s hand on hers and considered the proposition. If they were going to the same eventual destination, the opportunity to learn magic was one that she should seize. She even considered the possibility of Elin having a spell to get them back to Chicago. It was a long shot, given that Elin hadn’t picked up on the fact that they weren’t of this world, but Eva couldn’t see any other way back right now. On the other hand, going with Elin meant being separated from Leo, her only tether to the other world. She turned to him. He was looking at her but hadn’t said a word in a while.

  “I need to discuss this with Leo,” Eva said. She got up and pulled Leo aside to a part of the tree that was unoccupied.

  *

  Away from the group, Eva and Leo waited until they were sure nobody was listening in on their conversation, and even then, they spoke in hushed voices.

  “I think I should go with her. She could know how to get us back. Or maybe there will be something in the library that can help us,” Eva said.

  “Can we trust her? What if she’s lying to us and works for the you-know-who?”

  “The you-know-who?”

  “You know, the bad guy that she doesn’t even have a name for. This all seems so bizarre, like we’ve been dropped into a fairy tale. But you’re right. We need to do something apart from just wandering around this strange land and sleeping in forests where dangerous animals lurk. Otherwise, we’ll never get back. I’ve been away from a screen for so long I think it might hurt my eyes if I saw my phone again.”

  “I miss pizza,” Eva deadpanned and they both chuckled. “So, that’s settled? You’ll go with Karine and Themba to Thermine, then meet us in Thelmont?” she asked.

  “I could go with you and the wizard. I’m not sure if splitting up is a good idea.”

  “We need to explore all our options, I think. Maybe you might find a way in Thermine for us to get back.”

  Leo sighed. “I guess there’s no better option. Even if she can’t get us back, she could maybe teach you some cool stuff like that trick with the fire. At least you have magic in you. I’m just a rock according to her,” Leo said as he looked back at the table. He didn’t notice the blonde girl making her way over to him and Eva from the other side of the room.

  “Hey, you still have your sword, and you seem pretty good at it. Okay, let’s go tell—” Eva was already starting to walk back to their table when someone practically jumped into her way.

  “Excuse me?” the blonde girl asked tentatively. She had a distinctly British accent. “Are you guys Americans by any chance?”

  Eva and Leo froze in their steps, not knowing whether they should be happy or terrified for their lives.

  “Please. Please tell me you know what I mean. I’m Sarah, from London,” the girl pleaded.

  “Yes!” Eva responded in a loud gasp. “Yes! I’m Eva. From Chicago. This is Leo. He’s from Houston. How did you get here?”

  The trio found a vacant table nearby and huddled around it. “I don’t know! I was with my brother, David, on vacation in Greece and we came upon this dig site. There was this box that—”

  “A wooden box? With strange symbols carved into the sides?” Eva interjected excitedly.

  “Yes! And it glowed a bright red. My brother was touching it and I was holding onto him. The next thing I knew, I woke up in this place and I apparently have a whole life here. That strange man, Alister, is my guardian, if you can believe it,” Sarah said with a derisive snort.

  “Actually, yes. We’ve had similar experiences here as well. We each have, or had, parents here that we’ve never met before too.”

  “How did you two get here?” the young Englishwoman asked. Her eyes were radiant blue and they sparkled like crystal globes, and Leo had to force himself to stop staring at them. He glanced back at the others, where Elin was looking in their direction. It was hard to decipher her current expression.

  “We had the same box. Or a similar one. We bought it at an antiques store and I was going to use it as a gift for my mother’s birthday, but we couldn’t figure out how to open it. Then, a few days ago, Leo was examining the box when it started glowing red. I must have touched it too, and I woke up in a tower by myself. It took a while for Leo and me to be reunited.” Eva was talking fast, eager to exchange information with their newfound friend who appeared to have been transported to this world under similar circumstances.

  “Was that four days ago?”

  Eva and Leo both nodded.

  “That’s when it happened to me. It must have been the same time. Where are we? Have you seen my twin brother? He looks just like me. Do you know how we can get home?”

  It was the same question Eva and Leo had asked themselves repeatedly in the past few days.

  In the meantime, Karine and Elin were now standing as someone who worked in the giant tree cleared their table. Themba was busy wrapping a rag around some meat buns and stuffing them into his cloth sack.

  “We’re in another world. I don’t quite know how to explain it,” Eva said and looked at Leo. “Listen, it looks like our friends are coming over here right now. I don’t think they’ll understand, so just roll with it, okay?”

  “Take me with you!” Sarah implored and grabbed their arms. She was desperate to get away from this tree that was apparently both her home and prison. She had just uttered those words when Karine, Elin, and Themba joined them.

  “Who is this?” the elf asked. As usual, one of her hands was resting on the hilt of a sword.

  “This is Sarah,” Leo explained. “She’s a friend of ours. She’ll be coming to Thermine with us.”

  “She’s not dressed for travel. She’ll slow us down,” Karine noted. She wasn’t wrong. While Sarah was wearing a pair of leather boots, her dress wasn’t suited for hiking through the woods.

  “She can have my clothes.” Eva took her sack from Themba, who had carried it over, and shoved it into Sarah’s arms.

  “Where are you going, Sarah?”

  It was Alister. Somehow, he had managed to creep up to the table without them noticing. He curled the right side of his mustache up with two long fingers that resembled chopsticks, and stood behind his ward with a menacing smile.

  “I’m just going for a walk with my friends here,” Sarah said meekly as she retreated away from him.

  “Friends? Alister the Wonderful has never seen you with these people before.” His voice was becoming shriller and louder as he continued to speak. “Elin, you owe me a considerable amount for all the food and drink over the years and I’ve always looked the other way. And now you conspire to steal my daughter away from me?”

  The other patrons were now turning their attention towards the group and Alister. He was clearly held in high regard by them and they hung on his every word. “You will not leave with her!” Alister exclaimed, and as if on cue, two stocky men stepped in front of the blue door to block the exit.

  Chapter 31

  The axe split the block of wood into
two in one clean chop. The edge of the axe was freshly honed and sharp, but it was also the strength of its wielder that made the wood split apart so easily. She picked up the two pieces and threw them on the pile behind her as she placed another block on the tree stump. It wasn’t the adventure Caitlin had expected, or wanted.

  She had no idea how she had ended up here in the wilderness from her bedroom after the red glow enveloped her. Before she blacked out, she had been exhausted from working all night and was about to collapse onto her bed. The next thing she knew, Caitlin was waking up rejuvenated in a relatively small room of a log cabin.

  Eggs and bacon were waiting for her on a table outside the room, together with a brown-haired woman who looked a few years older than her, and a young boy. In the days since, Caitlin had come to know them as her sister Keela and her nephew Edan. It had taken her a while to piece things together from strange and blurry memories that shouldn’t exist, and through probing conversations with Keela.

  Initially, Caitlin tried as far as possible to avoid speaking and focused on learning more about her current situation. She followed Keela around and did whatever she was told, which wasn’t much out there in the woods. There were no other houses nearby and together they picked wild fruits in the morning to load up a cart, which Caitlin would help push for about half an hour to get to a dirt road where Keela operated a roadside stand. None of the fruits looked familiar to Caitlin and they were definitely not native to Australia.

  Traffic was scarce along the road and it would be a long time before Caitlin finally saw someone else who wasn’t apparently related to her. It had been a middle-aged man who rode by on a dark brown horse. He handed some copper coins to Keela in exchange for some round fruit, then was on his way before Caitlin could ask him where he was going.

  The days that followed adhered to the same routine. Every morning, they woke up early to pick fruit, then Keela and her son would go off to sell them while Caitlin was given a list of chores that included chopping firewood and starting a fire for the outdoor stove that Keela used to cook for them. Whenever she had free time, the tall Australian woman wandered around to see if she could find any landmarks or indicators of where she was. Once, she had even gone to the road, away from the fruit stand, and started walking in one direction for an hour before turning back. She had no idea where the road led, and the few travelers on horseback she encountered refused to talk to her or answer any of her questions, so she eventually turned back and returned to the cabin.