Pandora's Box, part 5

The soothsayer sat by the window, her face hidden in a black hood, seemingly gazing out to the gardens beyond. When Pandora entered the room, an old woman turned, her unseeing eyes white as snow.

“Your Majesty,” she said, standing and bowing low.

Pandora gestured her to sit and then flushed as she realised that the woman could not see her. “Be seated,” she said. “You may go,” she called imperiously to the two guards lurking by the door.

The guards seemed uneasy, yet obeyed instantly.

The soothsayer cocked her head on one side. “There is someone else here,” she said.

Pandora looked around and caught sight of a shadow at the top of the stairs. Aurora or Epimetheus, she thought angrily, or perhaps both. Bile gathered in her throat as she imagined them pressed close together.

“Leave us alone!” she called out imperiously.

The shadow retreated and Pandora approached the woman, who had found a wooden stool to perch on.

“I need to feel your hand, your Majesty,” the soothsayer said, reaching out her own long, gnarled fingers.

Pandora shuddered, almost withdrawing from the room itself, yet something made her approach the woman and display her palms for examination.

The soothsayer sucked in her breath as she ran her insistent fingers over Pandora’s smooth palms. Then she exhaled, gazing blindly at Pandora.

“You have received a gift from the Gods,” she stated.

Pandora clutched her hands tightly around the soothsayer’s fingers. “Truly? The Gods. They sought to bless me in some way?”

“Blessing or curse is yet to be revealed, yet what lies concealed within is powerful and strong.”

“I knew it!” Pandora said, licking her lips. “I must get inside that box. Tell me, how can I do it?”

The soothsayer chuckled. “Am I a locksmith? I can not tell you how. I can merely tell you what may come to pass in your future if you do.”

“So tell me!” Pandora ordered, her eyes blazing. “Should I open the box?”

The Soothsayer rubbed her own hands together, and then opened them slowly to reveal a wispy white cloud. She poked it with one finger and the cloud floated upwards, expanding and gathering itself around Pandora’s expectant face.

The Soothsayer spoke again, her voice low and slow. “Look in the mirror and within and the truth will be revealed. The path must be cleared of rivals. The tower must be overcome before the true end can be reached. The younger will seek to outdo the older. One half will seek to destroy the other half. Hope may remain if all else is lost.”

Pandora repeated the words to herself, frowning deeply. “Mirror … truth … rivals, tower younger…outdo older. One half – destroy other half… …hope…lost.” She paced back and forth, muttering the words over and over, as if they were an incantation.

“But what does all that mean?” she asked.

The soothsayer shook her head. “I cannot say, your Majesty. I am merely the messenger, and now I must leave you to the fates.”

Pandora whisked round to find she was utterly alone.

***

Pandora watched from her window as Epimetheus mounted a black stallion. The horse reared up, snorting with anger, yet Epimetheus held on tightly, his thighs gripping firmly to the creature’s chest until the horse conceded and hooves clattered once more on the stones.

Epimetheus looked up to Pandora’s window and waved, his arrogance and nonchalance on full display. She raised a hand, in spite of herself, wishing to grip tight to his energy, yet he had already gone, leaving her alone.

“Pandora.” The box whispered her name again, tugging her to its side.

“I will be granted entrance,” she vowed.

A flicker of movement caught her attention, and she swivelled round to find Aurora staring back at her, her beautiful, youthful face full of soft pity. A white-hot flame of rage ignited within Pandora, whipping into a scorching furnace.

“Leave me!” she roared.

Aurora leapt out of view like a startled deer.

Bitterness lodged in Pandora’s throat as she gazed at her sagging cheeks and sallow skin in the mirror.

“Am I not the queen? How dare that child flaunt her youth in front of me.”

Yet Aurora was no child now, as Pandora knew full well.

“Pandora,” whispered the box. “Eternal beauty lies within my bounds. Only open my locks and you will have all you desire.”

Pandora sighed and stared once more at her own aging image. Desire, she thought, melancholy piercing her heart. It had been a long time since she had felt truly desired. Epimetheus desires me, she argued, yet knew in her heart that her new husband desired her wealth and lifestyle, not her body or company.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” she murmured. “Who is the most beautiful of them all?”

The voice that replied was a low whisper.

“Oh, Queen, you are beautiful, it is true.

Yet, there is one in the land who outshines you.”

Pandora clutched the dressing table, her long nails leaving deep indentations in the wood. Aurora’s fresh face shone before her, light shimmering from the mirror’s surface, momentarily blinding Pandora.

The Soothsayer’s words echoed around her mind in continuous waves. “Look in the mirror and within and the truth will be revealed. The path must be cleared of rivals. The younger will seek to outdo the older.

Look in the mirror and within and the truth will be revealed.

The younger will seek to outdo the older.

The path must be cleared of rivals.”

“It must and it will,” Pandora vowed, spitting the words from clenched teeth. A drop of scarlet blood fell from her lip, staining her white nightgown. As the bloodstain spread, black hatred wrapped around her heart, tighter than a wasp’s nest.