Chapter 2
1860 Words
2
We sat in the parlor of Tristan’s wonderful home, Tristan and I on one side and our young guest on the other. Between us sitting on the coffee table was the decorated box.
Chloe came in with a tray of sweets and warm tea. She set the tray on the table beside the box and offered the cup and a bright smile to our guest. “Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”
She accepted it with a nod and took a sip as Chloe handed the other two cups to Tristan and me. Tristan accepted his cup, but set the drink on the arm of his chair as he studied the young girl. “Why do you believe the box is cursed?”
Her hands shook the cup, so she set it down on the table in front of her. “First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elia Mazareth. My family has owned the box for several generations. Each generation has had great success and grown richer every year, but every year the bad luck has ruined our lives.”
“What kind of bad luck?” I asked her.
She shuddered. “Their spouses died young, or their children took ill and passed away very quickly. Some were even driven to suicide, but not before they killed their whole family.”
My jaw hit the floor. “That’s terrible!”
Elia nodded. “Yes, and now the box has come into my possession. My parents. . .they died when I was very young, so I had lived with an old aunt of mine, but now she, too, has passed on.” She grasped her long dress in her lap and whipped her head up to look Tristan in the eyes. “Please! You must save me from the curse!”
“Do you know the origins of the box?” he inquired.
She nodded. “My aunt knew the tale that had been passed down through our family for two hundred years. She told me that my great-great grandfather was given the box by an athrylis who lived in a cave not far from my family’s estate.”
I arched an eyebrow. “An athrylis who lived in a cave?”
“Yes. You see, the cave was rumored to be filled with magic, and for a thousand years many athrylis have ventured there to absorb the natural elements which congregate within its walls,” she explained. “The box was filled with gold that my ancestor used to build our fortune, but at a great price. I am the last of my line, and I fear that the box will-” She shut her eyes and shivered. “That the box will take me and complete the curse.”
“Have you tried to sell it?” I suggested.
Elia nodded. “Yes. My grandparents tried to sell it in Laethion some fifty years ago, but the buyer broke his arm when trying to lift the box. It was announced cursed on the spot and no one would take it, even for a penny. This attempt to sell it must have angered the curse very much, for when they returned they gave the box to one of their sons who was the unfortunate man to murder his own family before taking his life.” She searched Tristan’s face. “Can you give me hope? Is there anything you can do for me? I have heard your powers with magic are unmatched, and so I beg of you to save me from this curse.”
Tristan studied the box for a long moment before he looked to Chloe who stood near the doorway. “Prepare a room for our guest.” Chloe nodded and slipped out. Tristan returned his attention to the young girl. “I will see what can be done, but if what you say about your great-uncle’s family is true, any attempt to break the curse may lead to the fate you are trying to avoid.”
Elia gave a nod. “I know, and I understand the risk, but if it means some little hope than I’m willing to try.”
“Then let us see what might be done of this curse,” Tristan suggested as he slid to the end of his chair. He set the full tea cup on top of the lid and studied the strange markings. “Has the box always looked like this?”
The young woman’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No, but how did you know that?”
“What did it look like before?” he asked her.
She furrowed her brow in thought. “My aunt told me the box was less adorned when she was a little girl, but that as the wood aged the strands came out.”
“These are not merely strands,” Tristan informed her as he reached out one hand to one of the wooden strands. I noticed the tea in his cup trembled as though something had shook the cup. He paused and frowned at the cup. “This is a very alert curse. Any danger and it reacts.”
My eyes widened. “You mean the curse moved the tea?”
He drew his hand back and nodded. “I do. Curses are not merely some incantations placed over objects and people. They are living creatures brought out of the darkness to do the bidding of the sender.”
“But you said something about the strands,” Elia spoke up as she looked from the box to Tristan. “What are they if not a warping of the old wood?”
Tristan shook his head. “I cannot be certain because I cannot touch them, but one appears more fresh than the others.” He gestured to a strand that was paler than the others. “That led me to believe the box had a different appearance at one point.”
Elia bowed her head and shut her eyes. “I’m sorry. This isn’t easy for you, I know.” She raised her shimmering eyes to him and her voice cracked with tears. “But please save me! If not for me then for the life that resides within me.” Her hand settled on her stomach.
My eyes widened. “You’re pregnant?”
She blushed and nodded. “Yes. This will be the first child I bear my husband, and I can’t bear to think they will be passed this curse.”
“What does he think of your coming here?” Tristan asked our guest.
Elia’s face paled a little and she bit her lower lip. “He doesn’t know I’m here, nor that I carry his child. I wouldn’t want him to be burdened by the fear that I feel.”
“We will see what we can do, but no promises can be made,” Tristan warned her.
She smiled and shook her head. “I expect nothing, but I hope that you will save my child from this terrible curse.”
Chloe reappeared with a cheery face that quickly vanished with the sight of the sobbing woman. “The room is ready.”
“Chloe, please take Elia to her room,” Tristan requested as he studied the box.
Chloe nodded and helped Elia out of the room. Elia paused on the threshold and half-turned to us. Her cheeks were stained red from crying, but a glimmer of a smile lay on her lips. “Thank you for trying. Most wouldn’t even dare.”
“We will see what can be done, but for now, rest,” Tristan commanded her. She nodded, and Chloe led her away.
I looked across the box at Tristan’s furrowed brow. “Have you handled something like this before?”
He shook his head. “No, at least, not a curse so long affixed to a family. Many curses are powerful enough to wipe out all involved in a decade.”
“So does that mean this curse is weak?” I guessed.
“The curse no doubt was when it was uttered by the miser,” Tristan mused as he grabbed his tea cup from the top. He walked over to a window and opened one of the wide frames. Tristan stretched out his arm and poured the tea into the flower beds below. He watched the drink pour and frowned at the ground. “Now it is something else entirely.”
I hurried over and looked out. The tea had poured on a few petals and onto the grass. All were blackened by death. My mouth opened and I looked up at him with wide eyes. “Did the curse do that to the tea?”
He nodded. “Yes, and it will do the same to anyone who touches it.”
“But Elia just carried it inside!” I reminded him.
“The curse is meant to prolong the suffering of the victims, but will react immediately to anyone else,” he surmised as he turned to the box.
“So what are we going to do?” I asked him.
“Get rid of it and the girl,” a mischievous voice spoke up, and Gwill appeared floating over the box. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. “This is a nasty business. Best just to chuck it all out, girl and all.”
“But she needs our help,” I insisted.
He crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. “People come to us all the time begging for our help. We’ve turned away a dozen helpless fools just this year.”
I furrowed my brow and looked up at Tristan. “Is this true?”
Tristan turned his face away and pursed his lips. “There are many things with which I could not help them.”
Gwill laughed. “Couldn’t or wouldn’t, oh great dierth?”
Tristan’s golden eyes flashed with anger at the household spook. “That is enough.”
Gwill sighed as he floated up toward the ceiling. “I’m just trying to get at the truth, but I see that’s not welcome.” He faded away until he vanished.
I returned my attention to Tristan and reached out to him, but he had turned back to the window. “You don’t help everyone who comes?”
He shook his head without turning to me. “No.”
I sidled up to him and tried to catch his steely gaze. “But you’ll help Elia, won’t you?”
Tristan turned and looked down at me. His eyes searched my face for a moment before he nodded. “I will.”
I smiled and clasped one of his gloved hands. “Thank you. You won’t regret it. Now-” I tugged him over to the table and we stood before the cursed item. “What can we do to get rid of this curse?”
“We will seal off the room and go for a walk,” he announced.
I blinked at him. “A walk?”
He nodded. “Yes. There are some rather unique herbs that may help us in this endeavor, and you are in need of a magicum.”
I tilted my head to one side. “A what?”
“Do you recall how I promised you an improvement on your athrylis skills?” I nodded. “A magicum is a focus for your powers. It helps you draw in the elfennau so that you might use their gifts.”
“So what does a magicum look like?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “The varieties are endless, but we shall see what Harry has in his vast stock. Come.” He walked toward the doorway.
“Who’s Harry?” I wondered as I hurried out of the room with him.
Tristan turned and securely shut the door before he looked up. “Gwill. Seal this room.”
Gwill’s disembodied voice grumbled back a few quick words. “It’s sealed! Now run off and play with your toy while I do all the work around here!”
Tristan frowned at the ceiling. “Gwill.”
The front door swung open and a soft breeze blew over us along with Gwill’s voice. “Go on! Out with you! Harry won’t wait forever!”
Tristan sighed, but looked down at me. “Allow me a moment with Chloe and we will be off to Harlipren.”
- Writer
