The Cinnabar Box (Guardians of the Earth)

by ILIL ARBEL

  A small herd of dodo birds came up from the beach, and the girls fed them and stroked their smooth feathers. Two tiny, sleek creatures peeked at them with soft brown eyes from behind a tree. Donna recognized the eohippus, or four-toed horse, from a book about evolution. The creatures looked like living toys.

  “You must promise to visit me again soon,” said Donna.

  “Of course. I have the coordinates, it’s easy, and we are lucky that the realities coincide,” said Jessamine. “We can hop back and forth after doing homework.”

  “Or cheat and do our homework together,” said Donna. She groaned. “Double homework. Regular school and Witchcraft.”

  “It’s not too bad,” said Jessamine. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “At least I won’t have time to visit the country club … and I will never, ever, go to summer camp!”

  “What in the world are these?” said Jessamine. “Your reality sure sounds strange.”

  “You don’t want to know,” said Donna. “Even Wizards’ School Island is fun compared to a country club and a snooty girls’ camp.”

  “Well, you will be busy for other reasons,” said Jessamine, grinning.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you will invite somebody else to visit as well …” said Jessamine slyly.

  “Oh, you stop that!” said Donna, laughing. “Really, Taliesin and I are just friends.”

  “Yes, right. That’s why you never speak of anything else. Is he really as handsome as people say?”

  “He is awesome,” said Donna sadly. “Much too handsome for someone fat and ugly like me. But anyway, we are just friends, and he needs the medicine.”

  “You have lost weight during this adventure already,” said Jessamine. “And I think you are lovely, and I am sure he thinks so too, and that he appreciates the St. John’s Wort.”

  “Yes, Vainamoinen checked the medicine and told Aunt Yolanda that he liked the ingredients very much. He is really impressed, and now he wonders if it is ethical to use it in his reality, since it was invented in his future! I hope Aunt Yolanda will convince him to bend the rules a little. Eventually, I think Taliesin will be cured and wouldn’t even have to take it anymore. And then he can start writing what he calls Songs of Joy. Well, he is coming here tomorrow, so you will help me fix my hair a bit, won’t you? It’s a little longer already, I think. Jessamine, you just have to hear Taliesin sing … and will you stop laughing?”

  Donna found it hard to separate from the acacia park, even though Aunt Yolanda promised they would come back often to the zoo. To comfort herself, she thought that since she expected to specialize in Plant Wicca, she would come here to study the possibilities of these magnificent trees. Before leaving, the girls picked some flowers from the lower branches and put them in their hair. The acacia flowers looked like bunches of fuzzy, soft, yellow grapes and smelled like a mixture of roses, honey, and warm, drying grass. A strong, insistent fragrance, not subtle at all, demanding attention, and even a little disturbing at times. It followed them out of the park, calling them back. For Donna, it will forever be the scent of summer.

  GLOSSARY

  Baromez: This combined plant/animal belongs to the Tartars, by the Caspian Sea. The Baromez was a lamb. It had superb wool, silky and warm, much sought after. However, it wasn't born the usual way. In the faraway land where the Baromez lived, certain "gourd trees" produced large fruit. At night, the ripe fruit opened, and the cute, tiny lambs jumped out of the fruit. They were attached to the fruit by an umbilical cord, so they could not free themselves from the tree. This was the job of the enterprising sorcerer/shepherd, who released the lambs, reared them and sold their wool - no doubt for a large profit.

  Crystal Ball: A globe of quartz crystal, or glass, where images appear when a person gazes at it. The images can show events that are happening far away, or that will happen in the future.

  Dodo Birds: An extinct flightless bird, related to the pigeon. It was a bit larger than a modern turkey, and lived on the island of Mauritius.

  Duck tree: In an unspecified Pacific island, a tree grew with its roots in the water. Giant fruit hung limply over the waves. A sorcerer or witch would come to the tree, sing a strange song, and suddenly the fruit began to open. Inside was fluffy, silky material, attached to the bill of a duck. The duck hung on for a while, drying its feathers in the strong sun. Then it dropped with a thud into the sea and swam away. The sorcerer either let it go or took it home as a pet.

  Flatbread: simple bread that can be made from flour, water, and salt and does not require yeast. Some other ingredients can be added for taste, such as olive oil or peppers. It is rolled into a flat shape and baked.

  Grimoire: A book containing instructions and records of magic and magical spells. The best ones are personal books, handwritten by the Witch herself, and based on her own experience on top of her studies of other Witches’ work. The name is based on the very old French word “grammaire” which used to describe any book written in Latin.

  Haroun-al-Rashid: The fifth Caliph of the Abbasid Empire. He started his rule at a very early age, and is well known for his opulent and exciting court, and his love of art and learning. He features in many of the stories of The Thousand and One Nights.

  Herbarium: A collection of plants that had been dried and mounted on paper, though sometimes it also refers to plants preserved in alcohol. It is used for the study of plants. The term is also used to describe the scientific institution where large herbariums are kept.

  Jaafar: The historic Jaafar was the son of Yahya Barmaki, a member of the powerful Barmakids family. He was a patron of the sciences and had many important books translated into Arabic. He featured in many of the stories of The Thousand and One Nights.

  Lemur: A small primate from the island of Madagascar. There are many kinds, but Gilbert, in this book, is a Ring-Tailed Lemur. A very clever animal who can use its paws like hands, communicates with other lemurs, and when raised in captivity, even understands many human words. Despite living in dry conditions, there is evidence that lemurs can swim.

  Luna Moth: A huge green moth with a wingspan of up to four and a half inches.

  Saber-Toothed Tiger: A large, powerful, tiger-like cat, a bit smaller than the modern lion, with two sharp canine teeth. There were several types of these cats. They became extinct about 11,000 years ago.

  Sound Magic and Naming: The power of the word, the sound, and the song is not lost. Every religion has words that are forbidden, that should never be pronounced. Many have the notion that naming things brings power over them. In modern Witchcraft, every magic spell is the legacy of those old magicians and their control of sound.

  Taliesin: A Welsh musician who lived in the 6th century. He left The Book of Taliesin, a collection of sad songs of battles and loss. He was the subject of many legends and myths, but some his real work has survived.

  Toad: Toads are strongly associated with witchcraft, and there are myths about how they became favorites among witches. They were dressed in velvet, given bells to decorate their legs, and were expected to dance to music (though it's doubtful they ever did.) The little horns on their head suggested the devil, and the witches used toad's spittle in their ointments. Toads could predict storms by rushing quickly and suddenly into the water; they could hear the thunder long before humans could. In addition to all these marvelous qualities, old toads had precious jewels growing inside their heads, so it was worthwhile protecting a toad until it reached old age. Of course no one ever saw one - there's never any jewel in a real toad's head - but people believed it was incredibly beautiful and protected the lucky wearer from poison.

  Vainamoinen: The central character in the Finnish folklore and the main character in the national epic Kalevala. Like many other northern wizards, his power hid in sounds. He invented the harp, and sang magical melodies. Born of air and water, he controlled these elements, as well as the land. His song drove the icy oceans to storms, moved earth, and grew plants. Vainamoin
en could sing objects that were not there into being, and make other objects disappear. He once sang an entire forest to the ground so that his people could grow barley.

  Wicca: In its purest form, Wicca, or the Old Religion, is nature worship. It is also called The Way of the Wise People, and the followers see themselves as guardians of the earth and servants of a nature goddess. They are connected with the seasons, the plants, the animals and the planet, and seek a balanced life. They have much in common with ecologists.

  Wizards’ School Island: Legends tell that some of the Northern magicians learned their craft in the "Black School," owned by the Devil. The instruction was given directly from books without teachers, with the print appearing and disappearing magically. The students did not pay for the schooling with money. However, the last person to leave each class had to give his soul to the Devil. The students did not object, since they knew in advance that studying there led to a partnership with Satan.