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

by S. Y. Lee

  It wasn’t clear why the elf was in such a hurry. Alister was nowhere to be seen. Neither were the people who had attacked Silverbrick. By midday, Themba was struggling to keep up and they found themselves having to stop more frequently to afford him time to rest.

  “Why are we rushing? Ilena said Thermine was five days away. We still have one more day to go,” Themba asked. What he was really asking was if they could slow down. He wasn’t used to the amount of physical exertion and while he did a fair amount of walking every day back in Johannesburg, trekking through the dense forest was a whole different challenge and test of endurance.

  “We’ve made good time. If we keep it up, we should be able to make it there before dark. Thermine is a place best visited in the light,” Karine said as she started walking again. Leo and Sarah had to help Themba up as they hurried behind her.

  After a while, Leo noticed that they were slowly but surely converging towards the main road that they had been avoiding for days. He could see the openness to their right as a wagon drawn by two horses passed by. Karine was still being cautious and it was only until she saw more travelers on the road that she finally made a sharp turn to lead the group out of the trees.

  Sarah had to shield her eyes from the sun when they emerged, though she was glad for the open air. Instantly, it had seemed easier to breathe once they were free of the foliage. There were some other people on the road in front of them and they followed at a distance until they saw several plumes of smoke in the distance and what looked like some sort of town on the horizon.

  To Leo, the approach to Thermine was a lot different than what he remembered about Silverbrick. Silverbrick had been surrounded by tall walls and the four towers in its epicenter were visible from afar. In comparison, Thermine seemed abysmally smaller. It was also encased by a low wall that allowed people to see beyond it easily. Leo doubted it offered much defense at all. The attackers who had taken Silverbrick would have scaled the walls of Thermine in no time. The buildings inside also looked tinier while being more sparsely spread out. There was no parity between the populations and traffic of the two cities. Silverbrick had been bustling with activity; Thermine resembled a quiet rural village.

  As they got closer, Leo could see that there was a larger building, though not by much, that stood out near the back of the city. It was elevated on a small hill and stood separately from the other buildings. It was slightly domed and its exterior was dark, almost black, yet it glimmered under the sunlight. It looked like it was made of marble. It was clearly an important building given its prominence, but Leo thought its placement within the city was peculiar or ill-planned. The wall that encompassed the city was not far behind the building, and it could be easily accessed by intruders.

  There were no grand gates that awaited them, just a wide opening in the wall that everyone walked through freely to enter or exit the city. Unlike Silverbrick, no guards tended to the entrance or questioned people as they arrived. In fact, Leo couldn’t see any guards anywhere. Walking past the threshold of the city, he wondered how Thermine would react to the news of Silverbrick’s fall.

  *

  The interior of Thermine didn’t look any better than it did from the outside. The poorly cobbled and uneven streets were filthy and there was a persistent, pungent odor that lingered in the air. They all noticed it, and Sarah kept searching for the source of the smell until Karine told her it was in the water that ran through the city. They hadn’t seen it from their approach, but there was a small stream that came through Thermine from the back, near the dark marble building, and it went around the city like a circulatory system before looping out the same direction from which it originated.

  In theory, the stream should be a constant source of clean water, but the people of Thermine disposed all kinds of garbage into the water. It was a convenient means of getting rid of trash, but extraordinarily unhygienic and disgusting.

  They came to a small bridge and they saw what Karine was talking about. It was indeed a small stream, and although it gushed rapidly along, the water was a dark hue of blue or green. She could feel the hairs on her back stand as Sarah imagined what the water contained. It was a very public and communal sewage system.

  The people of the grim city looked sickly and grave. Nobody smiled and they hardly saw any children. Those that they did see, were lethargic and sat around on the front steps of houses as they watched the group pass.

  The sun was setting, but instead of looking for an inn to seek refuge for the night, Karine led them towards the dark building at the rear of the city. Judging from the turns and side streets she was leading them through, she was no stranger to Thermine.

  It took a while to get there because the streets and houses were poorly arranged, as though there had been no planning involved in the designing of the city. There was even one road that led straight into a building and came out the back. It was hard to discern which came first, the building or the road.

  There were two guards standing at attention outside their destination. They wore dark armors that matched the color of the building behind them. Each held a spear in their right hand while resting their left hand on the handle of a sword. Sarah immediately thought about the guards outside Buckingham Palace and their silly hats. She wondered if these guards weren’t supposed to move as well, no matter how much someone attempted to goad them.

  Karine stopped in the middle of the road when they were a short distance away. She huddled her companions around to prepare them for what was about to unfold.

  “Rylance Green, Lord of Thermine, resides in the Marble Keep ahead.” She pointed at the building in front of them. “I’ll lead us in, but once we’re before him, Leo, you’ll need to speak for us. Elves are, not warmly received in Thermine. He’ll hear more reason from you.”

  Leo hadn’t expected to play a role in asking the Lord of Thermine for help. The original plan had been to have Eva make the plea as the presumptive daughter of Lord Bannor. However, that was abandoned when she had ridden off with the wizard to find a way to get them back home. He had assumed Karine would take the lead in her stead, but it appeared he would have to step up to the plate. It wouldn’t be the first time since waking up in this strange place that he was thrust into the spotlight against his choosing.

  “What do I say? John said relations between the two cities have been tense. I’m not familiar with the politics, what if I screw up?” Leo asked.

  “Then we hope for the best. It’s not too late if you don’t want to go in. We can find some horses and head for Thelmont to join the wizard and the girl,” Karine offered. She didn’t seem too committed to helping Silverbrick, though Leo couldn’t think of any reason to counter that. He was still puzzled about why she had entered the sword fighting tournament.

  “Why did you enter the tournament? It doesn’t seem like you wanted to become a captain of the guard there,” Leo asked abruptly. Neither Sarah nor Themba were following his train of thought, so they didn’t say anything.

  “I have my own reasons. Just know that I’ll aid in the fight against evil as long as it serves my people and eventually frees my father from its grip. I can’t fight all the battles in this war. Neither can you.” Karine let those words hang in the air as she waited for Leo’s response. He looked to his other companions, but they were eagerly content to follow his lead.

  “Fine. Let’s do this. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  Themba and Sarah cringed.

  *

  The guards didn’t move when they approached the Marble Keep. Karine walked straight past them and pushed on the door. The rest of the group scampered in behind her. It was unclear what purpose the guards served if not to bar or screen visitors.

  The inside of the keep was cool and clean. The dark marble formed the basis of everything, from the smooth floors to the tall walls. It wasn’t obvious from the outside, but the ceilings were high and lined with several holes that served as skylights, though there was no glass. There was almost
no more sunlight coming in from the outside since the sun was setting and the halls were lit with small torches that hung precariously on the walls.

  Elaborate carvings of different animals could be seen on every pillar. Leo shivered when he saw a glint in the eye of an eagle and he thought for a second that it was somehow alive. It was just the reflection of a flame. There was an eerie sense about the place, and it was more reminiscent of a mausoleum than a keep where the ruler of the city presided.

  They entered a large room with marble seats on either side that looked like they were contiguous with the building. At the far end of the room was an elevated seat. A throne. The seats were all empty except for one, in the middle of the row to their right, where a pale man sat. He wore dark robes that seemed to melt into his surroundings and they might have missed him if not for his ghastly white skin. His gaunt face turned to the visitors and they could see his big green eyes that sparkled with an exuberance that offset his entire demeanor. Before they had entered the room, he must have just been sitting there, staring into blank space.

  “What,” the man said slowly, “brings you here?” His deep voice echoed throughout the room. It felt like he was speaking into a microphone and projecting his words through loudspeakers located in the corners of the room.

  “We’re here to see the Lord of Thermine. We have urgent news about Silverbrick that he needs to be made aware of,” Karine replied and she put a hand on Leo’s back and prodded him forward. “This is Leo Spellnar, a captain of the Silverbrick Guard.”

  The man stared at Leo and the latter found himself being unable to look away from the man’s emerald pupils. Everything seemed to fade into darkness until all that was left were his green eyes peering into Leo’s soul. After a long while, the man pushed himself off the marble seat with great effort and walked off at an agonizingly slow pace towards the back of the hall. He disappeared to the right into an unseen doorway.

  “That was weird,” Sarah remarked.

  “Is it wise to say I’m a captain of the guard?” Leo whispered. There was still a faint echo.

  Karine said nothing. She was keenly aware of how sound traveled within the room. The four of them stood there, unmoving as they waited. Outside, the sun had set and Leo could see a couple of stars through a skylight. At least there were stars here. He wondered if this world they were in was a round planet, or if it was flat like in most fantasy stories where nobody knew what was beyond the edges of the map. He enjoyed the maps in novels that told him where the fictional places were, but they always only showed part of the picture. There was always something off to the borders that was unseen. And what were the stars in the sky? Did they have other planets and solar systems here? If he was stuck here, maybe he could study astronomy.

  When the pale man returned, he made a beeline to his seat. He sat back down without looking at them and closed his eyes while sitting upright. Leo looked to Karine, but all she did was hold up a hand to indicate that they should continue waiting.

  They didn’t have to wait long. Soon, they heard the sound of a periodic clicking against the floor and it was getting progressively louder. A tall and sturdy looking man walked in through the unseen corridor. Unlike the person currently seated to the side, this man was dressed entirely in white linens and carried a mace-like weapon around his waist. He wasn’t too old, likely in his forties, and his forearms were thicker than Leo’s thighs. His skin was also not pale like the other man. In fact, he was rather tanned. He walked with a slight limp in his left leg, the man leaned on a cane that seemed to be made of the same marble around them.

  The man in white sat down on the throne and set his cane aside, casting his gaze at the four visitors before him. This had to be Rylance Green, Lord of Thermine.

  “Approach,” he said and gestured them to come forward. Karine let Leo go ahead and fell in line behind him. Sarah and Themba went on either side of the elf and they proceeded towards the throne until they were about ten feet away.

  Not quite sure what to do, Leo bowed his head just a little, while looking back at Karine for some guidance. The stone-faced elf stood straight and looked forward, though not directly at the Lord of Thermine. He was studying them and his attention seemed to now focus on Leo.

  “Rance says you bring news from Silverbrick,” the man said. He was leaning back into his seat while placing his hands on the armrests of the throne. Rylance also had green eyes, though they were a much darker hue and barely noticeable.

  “Yes, Lord… my Lord,” Leo stuttered. He cursed at Karine mentally. She could have at least told him how to address the man before him.

  “Well?”

  “Silverbrick was attacked by men in dark cloaks four days ago during the festival. Lord Bannor is dead and the city has fallen.” Leo waited for a reaction, but Rylance offered none. “They were killing civilians in the streets and we barely escaped. We also saw riders on the road here who were cutting down people fleeing the city. You need to—”

  Rylance pounded his cane sharply on the floor twice and Leo stopped talking.

  “I need not do anything,” the Lord of Thermine said. “Silverbrick and Thermine are not bound by any pacts and if it is as you claim, then Silverbrick no longer stands. Thermine will prosper now.”

  “But there could be people in need! My uncle and father were still there when we left, they might be in danger, please, you have to send help,” Leo begged.

  “The elf,” Rance, the pale man, suddenly said. His eyes were open now and he pointed at Karine with a white, bony finger. “She could be useful.”

  Rylance looked at him, then Karine. His gaze fell to the blades by her sides and the ring on her finger. This wasn’t good, Leo thought. He wanted to run, but his legs were reluctant to move. Then, Rylance tapped his cane on the floor three times, this time pausing for a brief interval between each tap. It had to be some sort of signal because Leo saw Karine’s ears twitch, and soon, out of many more unseen corridors, guards like the two posted outside appeared with their spears in hand and held diagonally across their bodies.

  Leo and his companions backed into each other as the guards slowly converged on them from all directions. The spears formed a fence or wall that made it impossible to get past the guards.

  Interestingly, Karine hadn’t drawn her swords. Based on past encounters, Leo had expected her to be striking out at the guards by now or even trying to take the Lord of Thermine hostage. But this wasn’t like the chaos of Silverbrick where the attackers had been disorganized and unfocused. These guards were well-trained to fight together.

  “I’ll come back for you three,” Karine said, and before Leo could ask what she meant, the elf leaped onto a nearby pillar and pulled herself up by the grooves of the carvings on it. In the blink of an eye, she was on the top of the pillar and high above the ground. There was an opening of a skylight next to the pillar and she swayed her body back and forth as she prepared to jump for it. All eyes were on her. The guards had stopped advancing on Leo, Sarah, and Themba as they looked up too, although nobody attempted to follow Karine up the pillar. Maybe without the heavy armor and weapons, someone would have been able to give chase.

  As Karine jumped and grabbed hold onto the edge of the opening above them, Themba did something that surprised even himself. He lunged between two guards in the direction of the entrance to the Marble Keep and almost made his way past them. Unfortunately, he tripped on one of their spears and another guard tackled him to the ground as he fell forward. He didn’t put up much of a struggle after that.

  When Themba had been subdued, Leo looked up. Karine was gone.

  Chapter 34

  The cell was dark and cold. The only source of illumination came from the moon over their heads through a small opening in the ceiling. It wasn’t as big as the hole that Karine had escaped through, leaving her companions behind. Even if they could climb up there, which they couldn’t, the opening wasn’t big enough to fit a person.

  Leo and Themba shared the plain cell tha
t didn’t even have a bed. Sarah had been put in a separate cell down the hallway where they couldn’t see her, but they could still talk to each other. The cell across from them was empty and it didn’t appear as though there were any other prisoners besides the three of them. After Leo made sure Sarah was unharmed, he stopped shouting out to her, not knowing who else might be listening in. They couldn’t see any of the guards from the confines of their cells.

  The metal bars on the cell wouldn’t budge when Leo pulled on them, not that he had expected otherwise. It must be something that anyone ever thrown into a prison cell for the first time does, he thought. Themba sat in a corner and massaged his right shoulder. The guard who wrestled him to the ground hadn’t been gentle.

  After Karine escaped, they had surrendered to the guards and were taken directly to these cells, without any further questions, located somewhere near the rear of the Marble Keep. There had been no explanation why they were being detained and there was no indication when or if they would be released. Leo’s sword had been taken away from him, as had their belongings.

  Leo continued his hopeless struggle against the cell bars for a few more moments, before giving up and slumping against the wall. Their only hope was for Karine to return and rescue them, so he closed his eyes and slept.

  *

  When he woke up, Leo felt a warm ray of sunlight on his face. He groaned, shielding his eyes from the glare with his hands as he moved to the side and out of the sun. Across the cell, Themba was eating a fruit that looked like an orange, except it was almost twice as big as any orange Leo had seen. There was another one of the fruits and two cups of water on the floor by the bars. At least their captors intended to keep them alive for now.

  “Sarah, you okay?” Leo asked aloud.

  “Yup,” came the short response. It was all he needed to know for now. There was still no sign of Karine. No doubt the guards were still searching for her, but Leo was starting to wonder if she would ever come back for them.