[img]http://edwardpicot.com/puzzlebox/pithos.jpg[/img]

"All of yesterday I feared for my husband's life," said the Queen. "I carried him to my palace beneath the earth, and gave him food and drink. Ice-cold water from the well beneath the world-tree, and manna from the deserts of the moon. Tonight he stood up and asked what time of year it was. Then he went roaming out into the world, as he used to in the old days. I went up to the moon, to keep watch, and it seemed to me that the world already looked different. Then I remembered the puzzle that you had shown me, Dora, and I guessed the answer."

The secret of the box is revealed, the children see Father Christmas, and Dora learns what she has to do to get her Dad back.

"The Puzzle Box has all the magical numinous quality of Lewis, Tolkien,
and L'Engle." - Millie Niss, writer and new media artist, http://www.sporkworld.org .

Chapter eleven is online now: please note that chapter twelve will be uploaded on Christmas Eve. I shan't be posting any notices about it, so please remember to check back.

http://www.edwardpicot.com/puzzlebox/
(If you don't see links to all the chapters when you get to the Puzzle Box index-page, click CTRL + Refresh to update the page.)

- Edward Picot
http://hyperex.co.uk - The Hyperliterature Exchange
http://edwardpicot.com - personal website