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

by S. Y. Lee

  “What was—”

  David couldn’t hear the rest of what Caitlin said, as multiple explosions echoed around them. The city was under attack.

  Chapter 82

  They had to leave the donkey and the cart behind in a stable near the front gates. Themba thought it reassembled a modern parking complex, with its multiple levels that were connected by steep ramps. There had even been a valet, though Themba doubted that was the job title here, who took over the reins from him in exchange for a small numbered tile. After paying the man with a silver coin, Themba followed Alister into the city.

  He wasn’t accustomed to seeing so many people crammed into one place, and for a brief moment, Themba immersed himself in the wonder of such a thriving metropolis in this world he had been forcefully brought to against his will. He was struck by how diverse the population was, as people of all races and colors mingled as though they were all the same. He could picture himself living here, Themba thought, if only he didn’t have to go back to his sister.

  The setting sun lowered visibility as the tall buildings cast long shadows over the streets. Themba struggled to keep up with Alister, who was making his way through the busy streets like a dolphin in water. Even if he hadn’t needed to push his way past people while craning his neck to keep an eye on the tall man, Themba couldn’t match Alister’s pace and long strides, and was slowly falling behind.

  The eccentric man had all but ignored Themba after they left the stables and didn’t seem to care if Themba followed him or not. On the other hand, Themba was new to the city, which was frankly quite intimidating for him, and he was determined to remain tethered to the only person in the city he knew for the time being, although Alister gave no indication of where he was heading. Themba had told him about the group’s discussion of the grand library in Thelmont back when they first encountered the fire wielding wizard, which he assumed would have been Alister’s first stop. Instead, Themba could see that they were inching closer to the castle as Alister negotiated turn after turn with no hesitation. It was clear that these were streets that he knew well.

  Eventually, Alister stopped at an intersection where he stood rigidly still with both legs planted firmly together and Themba was able to catch up with him. As the young South African panted and tried to recover from the brisk walk, he noticed Alister’s head turning from side to side. To his right was the castle. To his left, were more shops and houses that looked like the ones they had passed on the way to this point, but something had caught the strange man’s eye.

  Themba’s eyesight wasn’t as keen, and he strained his eyes to see what Alister was fixated on. The focus of Alister’s attention to the left, even as he kept glancing back to the right, appeared to be two people not far away who were jogging towards a red building. Themba could only see them from behind. One was a blonde man, while the other was a rather tall woman with short brown hair that went down to just below her ears. It took a moment for the sight to register in Themba’s mind before he recognized the woman jogging away from them. It was his benefactor from Thermine.

  He looked up at Alister, whose eyebrows were furrowed. “Do you know her?” Themba asked.

  Alister didn’t answer. He was still contemplating which way to go. He seemed torn on whether to go after the woman or continue towards the castle.

  Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and Themba fell over in surprise. Sitting on the ground by Alister’s feet, he looked around to see what was going on. Everyone nearby was also turning their heads curiously in the direction of the loud blast, although Alister didn’t even appear to notice it. He was in his own state of mind and nodded to himself as he took a step to the left. Themba scrabbled to get up, tugging at Alister’s pants to pull himself up and off the ground. Then, several more explosions rang out and there was immediate pandemonium as people screamed and dispersed in all directions. In his shock, Themba narrowly avoided being trampled on as he hung on to Alister’s pelt and scampered after him.

  Chapter 83

  They grabbed the bags Leo and Jessica had packed for them and ran out of the room. They weren’t running for safety. Elin, Karine, and Qasper all agreed in the moments after the explosions that now was the most opportune time to head to the castle while the city’s forces focused on repelling the attackers. There was no telling how long the attack would last, or if it would be successful, but Qasper’s best laid plans would no doubt be thwarted by the morning.

  Elin led the way as they hurried out of the inn and into the open, where the streets were less crowded as people ran for cover indoors. They nearly ran past two people outside the entrance of the inn. One of them was a familiar face.

  “David!” Sarah exclaimed as she threw her arms around her brother.

  “Sarah! Thank god you’re still here!”

  “Who’s this? Is this the woman that the guards are looking for? Why did you run away with her?” Sarah pointed at the tall woman behind her brother.

  “This is Caitlin. She’s also one of us! She’s from Australia! Caitlin, this is my sister Sarah. That’s Leo, Karine, E—”

  “Enough!” Elin shouted at the group behind her, “There’s no time for this! We must go!” The wizard seethed with anger at the wasting of time. She was ready to continue towards the castle, when she saw Leo and Eva pointing behind her. Instinctively, she whirled around and conjured a ball of flame in her open palm, ready to throw it at an attacker, when she saw who they were alerting her to.

  “Alister! What are you doing here!” Elin pulled her hand back slightly, threatening the man they hadn’t seen in a while.

  At the same time, Caitlin was stunned to see him as well. “How are you still alive?” she asked out loud.

  “I came to get my daughter back. Sarah! Come with me! I won’t let the wizard harm you any longer,” Alister said. He held a small blade in each hand and was poised for a fight, even though he was vastly outnumbered, not to mention Elin had the clear advantage of magic.

  Subsequently, the group saw Themba trailing behind Alister, and Leo and Sarah called out to him. The latter had wanted to go forth to hug the man she thought was doomed back in Thermine, but her brother held her back and stepped in front of her defensively.

  “Is that the man who claims to be your guardian here? Don’t go near him,” David said to his sister.

  Even with all the chaos unfolding around them, they all waited while Elin and Alister engaged in a standoff, neither willing to back down. Eva, who had been quietly observing, was trying to figure out the confusing scenario that was playing out in front of her. Everyone present appeared to have some tangible relation to someone else.

  “Guys, calm down!” Eva shouted and stepped forward from behind Elin. “We’re all on the same team!”

  “She kidnapped my daughter,” Alister stated.

  “I did no such thing Alister! She came with us because she wanted to. Get out of the way.” Elin had conjured up a second ball of flame onto her other hand and Eva got the sense that the wizard was only holding back on Sarah’s account.

  The Englishwoman was flustered and unsure of how to diffuse the dicey conflict that was about to happen because of her. “I’m not your dau—”

  “Not your doll!” Eva chimed in to interrupt her. She shook her head at Sarah and motioned for her to stop talking. “She’s not your doll! She’s a grown woman who can make decisions for herself. Elin and all of us have been with her all this time and she’s fine, but we need to get to the castle right now. It’s important, Alister,” she said, adding “the wonderful” quickly to appeal to his ego.

  More explosions rang out in the distance.

  “Ask him to join us,” Leo whispered into Sarah’s ear.

  “But…”

  “Ask him. He thinks he’s your guardian or father. In this world, it might be true. He won’t harm you,” Leo insisted.

  “Fa… father?” Sarah said tentatively and Alister took his eyes off Elin to look at her. “I’m fine. Really. These are my friends a
nd we need to get to the castle right now. I can explain later, but please, put away your knives and come with us,” Sarah pleaded.

  Alister didn’t react to her words immediately. He was studying the young man standing in front of her who possessed the same blonde hair and blue eyes as she did. He turned his attention back to Elin, who said, “It’s a long story Alister. But if you value her safety, we need to go now.”

  Alister looked around at the faces staring back at him, then closed his fingers around the blades in his hands. When he opened them again, the blades were gone, like an act of a stage magician. “Let’s go then,” he said. Elin’s fiery hands soon reverted to normal as she nodded and started to run past him. The others followed and Leo and Eva greeted Themba as he started jogging beside them, while Sarah awkwardly hugged Alister under the wary supervision of her brother.

  “Good. Good. You’re safe,” Alister said. He let go of her and patted her on the head before joining Karine at the rear, as the group made towards the castle.

  *

  As expected, the castle’s security was lacking in the aftermath of the explosions and the guards who tended to it were either too busy rushing out to help defend the city or fleeing for their own lives. Having a member of the council with them in Qasper also aided their entry into the fortress. The goblin was instantly recognizable and all the castle guards knew who he was as they all waved him and his companions through at each checkpoint. For now, as long as they weren’t the people attacking the city, there was no time to stop them for questions.

  Once they were inside, Qasper took over the lead from Elin and guided the group through the bowels of the castle until they reached a stairwell that went deep down. Torches burned dimly along the wall and the stairwell has just illuminated enough that they could see up two steps ahead as they descended. Karine and Alister continued to hold up the rear in case anyone was alerted to their transgression. Additionally, the two prodded the slower people in the group to move faster, namely Sarah and Themba.

  Their descent didn’t take long as they soon started to hear the sound of running water underground, a confirmation that they were on the right course. At the bottom of the stairwell, a large metal door stopped them from going further. There was no guard posted here, likely because nobody thought the metal door was penetrable. There was keyhole in the center of the door, though it was unclear how the locking mechanism worked.

  Qasper grabbed the last torch off the wall and put his ear to the door. “Yes, the river runs behind this door,” he said and backed away, motioning for Elin to step forward. “I’m sure this door can’t hold you back, wizard.”

  Elin approached it as everyone else waited in anticipation. For those who had witnessed Elin’s powers previously, they braced themselves for what was to come, while the others wondered what she was going to do. However, instead of summoning fire like she usually did, Elin touched the door with both hands and leaned in close. It wasn’t obvious in the relative darkness, but there were inscriptions engraved on it that blended in with the metal and were almost unseen. Leo strained his eyes from the steps, but he couldn’t make out the inscriptions and Elin wasn’t keen on sharing her findings with the group.

  After a while, Elin backed away from the door and surprisingly retrieved a waterskin from her bag, the one that was already filled. She opened it and splashed the water all over the door until it was dripping wet.

  “Eva,” the wizard beckoned. “Come, you know what to do.”

  Leo looked at Eva curiously as she stepped forward, wondering what the wizard meant. The Chicagoan smiled at him and winked as she approached the door and raised her hands. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

  Leo was about to ask what she was doing, when he saw it happening. The water Elin had splashed onto the metal door was starting to become visible by freezing. At first, he thought his eyes were mistaken, but the state of the water gradually changed from liquid to black ice, then it frosted into an opaque whiteness and spread until it covered the entire door.

  “Eva, did you do that?” Leo heard himself asking, as if he was having an out of body experience. In this world, Elin being able to do magic was expected and ordinary. Seeing Eva, the daughter of his parents’ good friends in Chicago, freeze a door through her sheer will, was surreal.

  “Uh huh,” she uttered and she took two steps towards the door with one hand still outstretched. Eva’s fingers touched the frozen door and it shattered upon contact. Everyone was either stunned or in awe, and all that remained where the metal door had once stood were tiny specks of dust and ice on the ground. The sound of the river was now louder as they could now see into the room where the water flowed.

  Leo gave Eva a quick hug from the side as the group entered the room, where they saw what they had come to find. The underground river could be more accurately described as a fast-moving stream that anyone could easily hop over. On the other side of the room was a hole in the wall that was covered by metal bars. It looked like an ordinary hallway, but it was so dark that they could only see a few feet into it. This was the tunnel they were looking for to gain passage into Gormore.

  Leo was the first to notice something wrong. “Wait,” he said, looking around him. The room was big and spacious, with ceilings that went up to the ground level above them. Qasper had stuck the torch on a ledge and it lit the entire room.

  “What is it, Leo?” Eva asked. Jessica, who was standing beside her, understood Leo’s concern.

  “There’s no waterfall,” the descendant of Pandora stated.

  “No,” Leo drew his sword and pointed it accusingly at Elin, who looked more bemused than threatened. “Did you know that?”

  *

  “Everyone, take out your empty waterskins and fill them with the river’s water,” Elin said. She did so herself, ignoring Leo’s sword that was still pointed at her.

  “Elin, what aren’t you telling us?” Leo demanded. He always tried to temper his tone when speaking to the wizard for fear of any repercussions, but her deception this time had crossed a line. Looking around the room, he knew the broad consensus was on his side. Elin had spoken of an underground waterfall that obscured the tunnel entrance and prevented those from Gormore from passing through, which was evidently not true.

  The wizard calmly waited for the stream to fill her waterskin and stood up, walking around the room until she came to David, and she handed him the waterskin. The sharp end of Leo’s sword followed her around like a compass needle pointing north, but she paid no attention to it.

  “The way into Gormore is not so simple. Water from the First River is a vital part of it,” Elin said while pacing around the room. Nearly everyone was viewing her with suspicion as she explained herself, and Karine even had her hands on her twin blades, ready to unsheathe them at a moment’s notice.

  “But it doesn’t prevent anyone from Gormore from entering,” Leo stated. It was an easy conclusion to draw based on the room’s setup.

  “No. The door and those bars are the only things standing between Gormore and Thelmont. The door should have been heavily guarded at all times and I suspect the only reason nobody has infiltrated Thelmont using the tunnel yet is because this Blood King doesn’t know about it. That would be highly probable if he is indeed from your world. But that’s not important right now,” she paused and looked at Qasper, who hadn’t spoken in a while. “Water from the First River is important for your mission. If combined with another ingredient and consumed, it will protect the drinker from the harmful effects of Gormore once we’re within its realm.”

  “And what is that other ingredient?” Eva asked. She was disappointed that her mentor, whom she had trusted and come to know, had lied to all of them. Inwardly, she reprimanded herself for letting her guard down and placing too much faith in Elin. Perhaps it was because she had been separated from Leo for too long, and had grown to rely on the wizard, that she hadn’t questioned Elin. Maybe if she had asked to see the tome from which Elin claimed to have gleaned the
information about the tunnel, she would have been able to verify the fidelity of the facts as told to them.

  “The blood of someone tainted by the darkness of Gormore. Just a drop of it mixed with the pure water of the First River, and you will be unaffected by the ill influence that drives others to madness and violence at the command of the one who sits on the Blood Throne,” Elin said and she gently nudged David towards the stream of water. “Fill your waterskin. And then everyone else’s,” she commanded. He reluctantly did as he was told, going around to take the empty waterskins from everyone.

  “And where do we find the blood of someone tainted at this moment?” Jessica asked. Elin’s eyes returned to the goblin, who was standing close to the rubble of ice shards that was once a door.

  “Me?” Qasper pointed a bony finger at his own chest.

  “No. But you know who,” Elin responded.

  “I do? Do you mean someone on the council? I suspect a couple of them, but I can’t be certain. I don’t know if any of them are in the castle right now.”

  “No. Someone else,” the wizard said, and the Qasper’s eyes grew wide as he understood who she was referring to.

  “Care to let us in on who it is?” Leo took a step closer to Elin, who turned to look at the tip of his sword. She was positioned between him and Karine, and he knew he didn’t need to land a strike on her should a confrontation be necessary. All he had to do was make her dodge his attack in either direction and the elf would be on hand to cut her down with ease.

  Elin waited until David had filled all the waterskins before she barked out more orders. “He’s upstairs. Eva, you can remove the bars on the tunnel the same way you did with the door. Mistress,” referring to Karine, “please protect everyone while we go get the blood of the tainted. David, carry the waterskins you just filled and come with me. Qasper, Leo, and… Sarah, come too.” She then turned to the entrance of the room where Alister stepped into her path.