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

by Gaudet, Christina G.

  Rilla’s footsteps warn us of her approach and I make my way back across the room to meet her.

  “Find what you were looking for?” I ask.

  “I did.”

  She hands me something which I automatically take. Only after I have the object in my hand do I realize my mistake. Magic hits me like a slap in the face. The pain of the cuts I earned earlier is nothing compared to the beating my brain takes now. I fight the pain and attempt to force the magic right back out, but only manage to make everything so much worse. When it becomes intense enough to push me to the edge of consciousness, I give up and let the magic take over my body.

  There’s no voice in my head and Rilla never says a word, but I somehow receive a message in my mind. An order really. I’m to take the scroll Rilla has given me to the wizard Victor, headmaster of the University. In exchange, he will grant this town asylum.

  I want to laugh and tell her there’s no way a wizard would do anything so kind for a piece of paper, but there’s more to the message. And knowing it makes my stomach turn.

  He will give the town asylum because the scroll I’ll be giving him is a map with the most important locations to not only this world, but mine as well. The map marks the location of every portal in existence.

  I try to shake my head and tell Rilla there’s no way in hell I’m handing this important of information over to wizards, but instead, all I can manage is to clutch my temples in agony as the pain smashes through me again.

  “Do you understand?” There’s no sympathy in Rilla’s voice despite my obvious pain. “You will do this, or you will die. Your choice.”

  Unfortunately, I don’t doubt her for a second. “Why me?”

  “What is it?” Rose asks. “What’s going on?

  “You’re the only one I can send,” Rilla says. “Only a witch will be able to get close to Victor, and people would be suspicious if I send one from the coven. I need people to trust me right now. This reminds me.” Another blast of magic sears through me. “You won’t tell anyone what I’ve given you, and you won’t waste time trying to think of ways out of doing what I’ve ordered.”

  Even thinking about telling her to shove her orders up her ass causes pain to explode within my skull. The only safe thing for me to do is grunt. “Fine.”

  “Leave now.”

  “Now?” Rose points to the door. “But you’re the one who ordered everyone to stay inside tonight. You said no one will be allowed to leave.”

  Rilla shows no signs of having heard Rose. “I’ll find you horses and a cart with some supplies, including a change of clothes. I suggest you change into them before attempting to follow through with my orders. Does either of you know how to drive a cart?”

  I’ve never met a horse before, and from the looks of it, Rose hasn’t spent much time around them either.

  “Of course not.” Rilla rubs her temple as though she’s the one with a spell splitting her skull open from the inside out. “I’ll find you a driver as well, then. Go. I’ll have everything sent to the south entrance of town.”

  Normally I’d be happy to let Rose argue as I can tell she wants to, but I’ve had enough of this headache for one evening. I grab her arm and drag her away before she’s able to say a word.

  “I’ll explain what I can later,” I say once we’re out of earshot of Rilla. “For now, do as she says and everything will be fine. I hope.”

  Chapter Eleven

  There’s no talking as we wait by the south entrance for the cart. Two of Rilla’s people man the gate and one of them won’t stop staring at us. I’d love to flip him off, but I’m too busy trying to keep my brains inside my head. It’s impossible not to think of ways to break Rilla’s spell, especially since an entire world is on the line.

  My world.

  It would be awesome if I could shut my mind down. At least then it might not hurt so much.

  Farah is, of course, the first of us to notice the cart. She starts licking her lips and eyeing the horses with a little too much interest.

  “Farah, no.” I tap both of her noses once as she strains her necks to reach her perceived meal. “Not food. Behave yourself.”

  The driver shoves back his straw hat he’s been using to cover his face, and eyes the guards.

  “Paul?” Rose presses her fingers against her lips as though trying to shove the word back into her mouth. Her eyes nervously dart over to the guards who haven’t noticed she’s said anything before they lock with mine.

  So this is Paul. He doesn’t seem like anything special. He’s all legs and arms and is too skinny for my taste. Looks like Rose will ride to the stone city with him after all.

  Only after Rose speaks does he seem to notice us. He shakes his head in denial as he jumps from the cart and pulls Rose toward him as though he’s shielding her from anyone who might be watching.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” he says. “You need to go.”

  She pulls away and backs up until she’s only inches from me. “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean you can’t? Of course you can.” He takes off his cloak and tries to hand her both it and his hat. “Put these on. No one will recognize you. Now get out of here.”

  She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Paul. I didn’t mean for you to be involved. At least, not like this.”

  It takes a few more seconds of offering his clothes for him to realize she’s serious about not leaving. His eyes close as though he’s afraid to meet her gaze.

  “This is about Aldric, isn’t it?”

  He may as well have hit her for the way she reacts to the mention of Al. Any sympathy she showed for him is gone as she straightens herself.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she says, which Paul rightfully takes as a ‘yes.’

  “Rose, please,” he says, oblivious to how annoyed she is. “You have no idea the kind of trouble you’re running into. You need to go home. He’s not worth dying for.”

  Her arms cross over her chest and she looks about ready to stab him. “He is to me.”

  This is slowing us down and it looks like Paul has no intention of letting the subject drop. I’m sure he’s about to earn himself a slap so I interrupt the moment he opens his mouth again.

  “I hate to break up this touching reunion,” I say, “But I need to move before my head explodes. Are you going to help us or not?”

  All it takes is one glance at Rose for him to see there’s no chance he’ll be able to change her mind. He places the hat back on his head, covering his eyes.

  “I’ll help,” he says. “Of course I will. Even if the sorceress hadn’t already ordered me to, I’d help.”

  We climb onto the cart, Rose and I squeezing into the back along with Farah and a decent pile of loose straw. I’m a little worried about Farah starting a fire with so much dry fuel for her, but as soon as the cart starts moving, she jumps off again and starts following behind.

  I don’t blame her. I can feel every hole and rock we bounce over, and I’m sure my bones are going to turn to jelly from shaking. I’d love to jump out myself if walking wasn’t so much slower, at least for a human.

  A few minutes after we leave village, Rose clutches at her mouth and I notice for the first time how green she looks. Before I can ask if she’s okay, she leans over the side of the cart and retches.

  The moment Paul realizes what’s happening he stops the horses and climbs over his seat and into the back with us. One of his hands sweeps Rose’s hair from her face while the other rubs her back.

  “You should have known better,” he says in a soothing voice. “You never could deal with cart rides. Mad or not, you’ll have to sit up front with me.”

  Although it’s easy to see how embarrassed she is, she doesn’t fight him as he helps her out of the back of the cart and into a seat next to his own.

  Once she’s settled and Paul has the horses moving again, I lean forward to whisper in her ear. “How cozy.”

  She swats at me, but she’s still too sick to put much force
behind the attack. “Shut up,” she says, “or the next time I’m sick, it will be all over you.”

  Paul gives me a look as though to ask what’s going on and I respond with a wink. His face flushes and he quickly returns his attention to the horses.

  If Rilla’s crazy spell wasn’t bothering me so much, I would have loved to taunt them some more. As it is I have to concentrate on not being sick myself, though not from the motion of the cart. I need to stop thinking about the spell, and the best way to do that is to meditate and clear my mind of everything.

  I only wish I had some materials to turn into more dust at the same time. I don’t like being out of magic, especially while literally heading into a dragon’s den.

  Without a clock around, I’m not sure how long I manage to clear my mind. It feels like no time at all because the bouncing of the cart keeps jarring me out, but when I open my eyes, the sun has already begun to set.

  “We’ll be stopping for the night soon,” Paul says, though I’m not sure if he’s talking to me or Rose. “The sorceress gave us some food and other supplies. We can set up camp and have a decent meal if you’re up for it.”

  “Stopping?” He’s startled by my question, making it obvious he’d been talking to Rose. “Why are we stopping? We need to be there as soon as possible. As in now. Do you have any idea what will happen to me if we don’t arrive as quickly as possible? Death. Painful, bloody, exploding brain kind, with lots of screaming. There’s no stopping.”

  “The roads aren’t safe at night,” Paul says. “If we keep going, all of us will be killed.”

  Paul pulls at the reins to turn the horses off the main road and into a clearing. There’s a pile of wood and a fire pit ready for us or any other travelers who might need to stop. It’s like this world’s version of a truck stop, but without any chocolate or caffeine available for sale.

  “Sitting her in the open, waiting for creatures to attack us, doesn’t seem better than being on the road.” I wait for a reply, but instead of giving one Paul busies himself with taking care of the horses. “This plan sounds foolproof. I feel safer already.”

  “It does seem a little unprotected here,” Rose says.

  “The fire will keep most animals away.” Of course he gives her an answer. “Besides, the horses need to rest.”

  I jump off the cart when Rose does, though if he hadn’t already detached one of the horses, I might have tried to drive the thing on my own. She sets to work starting the fire while I leave them alone to check out the area.

  ‘Most.’ I hope his calculations are better than Rilla’s.

  “Here.” Paul tosses me some green material which I unfold to discover is a dress. “You’re supposed to change into this before we arrive at the city.”

  I don’t like the idea of taking off Gran’s outfit, but I don’t have much choice. I’ve seen what the outfit does to people who aren’t even loyal to the wizards and I’d hate to see what would happen in a city controlled by The Sword.

  I find a place not far from camp that seems secluded enough to change. The dress is heavy and doesn’t fit me very well. It puckers around my hips and is too loose around my chest. Once my bandoleer is strapped over it, the fit doesn’t seem as bad, though the color is still unflattering.

  I haven’t seen Farah for a while. I better find her before it’s too dark. I’m sure she’s safe and won’t have wandered too far from the cart, but having her nearby will help me feel safer.

  Instead of shouting her name, I decide to stick to whistling. Maybe the other beasties won’t notice me if I whistle.

  Farah bursts out of a bunch of bushes and nearly gives me a heart attack. I lean over to both catch my breath and pet her when she bounds over to me.

  “All right. I see you.” I scratch behind her ear. The second I stop, she tries to leap on me, and I have to move quickly to dodge out of her way. “No girl. Stay down. I’ve enough injuries from you already today, thanks.”

  With her tongue hanging out of her goat head, she bounces off in the direction she’d come from.

  “Hey.” I chase after her a few feet so I won’t have to shout as loud. “Wrong way you brat. Come back here.”

  She pops one head above the bushes to peer at me, but doesn’t turn around. After I take several steps in her direction, I stop myself. What am I doing? Had I not been told there are dangerous creatures around? Hadn’t Rose and I been attacked on the road in broad daylight earlier today? Stumbling around in the dark while chasing a chimera is a bad idea.

  Then again, I’ve never been one for caution. Besides, obviously Farah’s found something and I’m way too curious a person to walk away.

  She leads me through some long grass, past a few trees, down a hill and to a lake about the size of a football field. It takes me a gut wrenching minute to figure out the shadowy figures in the water are actually tree stumps. Ah well. Hopefully next time I’ll see an awesome lake monster.

  The more I look around, the more normal the area seems. The last of the sun glistens off the water as it ripples around skeletal branches from trees long since fallen. A light breeze causes the patches of tall grass to bend and twist as though it’s alive. It’s all so boring.

  Farah’s tail lashes me in the leg as she sticks her butt in the air and wiggles as though she’s about to pounce on something. Before I can see what she’s going to attack, she’s already on top of it. She bats the thing around with her front paws a few times before grabbing it with her sharp lion’s teeth and shaking it violently.

  It’s only then I’m able to see a flash of scarlet and gold. Farah flings the thing in the air and as it falls back to the ground, it makes a lonely sad cry which sounds a lot like several notes in a song.

  As Farah prepares to play with the injured creature a little more, I rush over and put all of my weight into shoving her away.

  “What are you doing, you evil thing?”

  She barely budges from my weight and continues to concentrate on the animal, which I can now see is a large bird about the size of one of Farah’s heads. Its feathers are ripped and soaked with Farah’s saliva, and if it didn’t continue to move its beak to sing, I would assume it was already dead.

  Farah wiggles as though she’s going to pounce again, but I manage to move faster. Without thinking, I grab the bird and hold it cuddled in my arms like an infant.

  I’m about to scold Farah about torturing animals when I notice my arms and chest are starting to heat up. The warmth becomes an uncomfortable heat quickly as it begins to feel like I’ve grabbed a log directly out of a fire and am now clutching it to my chest.

  Farah must have breathed flames on the poor thing as well as everything else she’d done. Horrible. It would be better if the creature would just die. At least then it would be out of its misery.

  I hurry over to the lake and am about to place the bird into the water to cool it off when a voice stops me.

  “That won’t help.”

  Rose watches me from several feet away, her arms crossed over her chest as though she’s hugging herself.

  “It’s on fire. I have to do something.”

  I twist around to keep Farah from being able to reach the dying bird, but by this point it’s too hot to continue holding. I have to set it down, but I’m afraid if I do, Farah will attack again.

  “Set it on the ground,” Rose says. “Not in the water. Trust me.”

  “But...”

  Rose shakes her head. “Quickly. Before it starts. And you might want to keep your chimera away.”

  Obviously. She’s what I’m worried about after all.

  I try not to let the bird hit the ground too hard as I set it down, though my reaction to the growing heat is to let it drop out of my hands. Farah’s ready to play with it some more, but when I whistle her over to me, she gives the bird a final sniff before slinking to my side. Like a sulking kid, she sits with a huff, though her eyes never leave the creature.

  “You know picking up wild creatures is dangerous, ri
ght?” Rose says as we stand side by side watching the dying creature. “You’re lucky it didn’t attack you.”

  “It didn’t have the strength.”

  As I say the words, the bird’s song grows louder and stronger, making me question if I’d been wrong about how hurt it is. It shifts its body as though attempting to sit up and I lurch forward to help.

  Rose’s fingers dig into my arm, forcing me to stay back.

  “What did I say?” she says. “It’s not safe. Besides, it’s almost over now.”

  “How do you know?” I grab Farah’s mane with my free hand both for comfort and to keep her from reaching toward the bird with her eager teeth and tongue. “The poor thing is obviously in pain, and you want to stand here and watch. Have a heart.”

  “See the smoke.” She points to a tendril of smoke rising from the bird. No wonder it felt so hot. “That’s how I can tell. Now be quiet and watch.”

  Before I can say anything about how we should try to cool it down, the tendril explodes into a flame as tall as either of us. Too fast for me to do anything more than gawk, the bird’s entire body is engulfed in the fire and burns until there’s nothing left but ash.

  Chapter Twelve

  I expect Farah to grow bored once the bird is dead, but she’s as eager as ever to mess with the pile of ash. Chimeras are sick creatures.

  “Amazing.” Rose breathes out a long sigh and grins. “Do you know how rare a sighting is? Let alone witnessing a death. Researchers have dedicated their lives to having one glimpse of a phoenix, and you found one your first day in this world. Incredible.”

  Farah pulls harder towards the ash as I stare at Rose. “Phoenix?” I must have heard wrong. Or she called the bird the wrong name. “You’re kidding.”

  “It should have been in a nest.” She drops her head back and examines the branches of the few trees around us. “Maybe it was too weak and fell out. Or something attacked it before it’s time. Farah can’t climb trees, can she?”

  “Phoenix?” I know I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is a world of magic where anything can happen, but a bird that kills itself by bursting into flames is weird even for me. “Wait, but then shouldn’t it come back to life?”