Science and Sorcery Box Set

by Ryan Tang

  Then the runty man sighed and visibly wilted.

  "This group here fought me, but they didn't know anything about the earlier plot. I'm only bringing them here to calculate ransoms."

  The Tooth Man took another terrified look at the Namer and shivered.

  "It's only these two. These two are here for the Namers!"

  Thank the Thirteen Gods - Lonely's enemy had chickened out at the last second.

  The judge nodded rapidly.

  Lonely and his three allies let out the loudest and longest collective sigh of relief that anyone had ever heard. It would have been funny, but nobody dared to laugh in the presence of the Namers.

  Lonely took a look around him. Now that he could think again, the court was shockingly empty. Only a single glance at the Namer had been enough to send the rubberneckers from before scurrying away.

  The judge turned towards the brothers. Deep Cuts and Strong Strokes were still smiling the same irritating smiles they'd worn since the day Lonely met them.

  Didn't they realize what was about to happen? There was a Namer in the room with them.

  "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

  To Lonely's shock, the brothers smirked at the judge. The disrespect was painfully obvious. Their lives were in this man's hands. If he sentenced them, the Namers would kill them at once.

  But it was what Deep Cuts said that shocked Lonely the most.

  He shrugged then pointed at the masked figure at the side.

  "We know what happens if we survive the Namer."

  ____

  "This was all planned out. If we survive the Namer, that means we're innocent. That means that The Tooth Man will be the one killed, and we'll get everything he owns!"

  They grinned together. Although The Tooth Man must have known that it was impossible, he still let out a surprised whimper. No matter how strong you were in a Paragon, you were helpless against a Namer.

  "Here's how we did it."

  The brothers, Deep Cuts especially, loved a good monologue.

  "We knew the Namers should have a record of everyone's names. But we were wondering how they got them. To protect them, everyone is made to forget their true name. Only your parents know it, during the moment they assign it to you. And then they are made to forget it too."

  Lonely's eyes narrowed in confusion. This was basic knowledge. Even Gallant knew this.

  "So I was thinking. What's the point of even having a true name to begin with? It's just to protect you from everyone else. But the only reason why it's registered is so the Namers can control you. But what if you pulled a double-fake? What if you gave your child one name but wrote a different name on the registration? Then when your kid picks their stage name, their true name is lost for good. They'll be protected forever!"

  By now, even the judge looked surprised. The Tooth Man leaped into the air. It almost seemed like he was going to run away, but the Namer stepped format, and he quailed.

  Gallant glanced up at him.

  "Could that work?"

  Lonely frowned.

  It made sense, but shouldn't someone have thought of something like this before? It sounded so simple, and the brothers weren't particularly bright.

  Strong Strokes and Deep Cuts smiled again.

  "All we had to do was find our parents. They confirmed the tale. Not even they knew our real name, but they knew what they'd done."

  What?

  Meeting your parents was supposed to be impossible.

  "They did not know who we were. We approached our parents in disguise. But we coaxed this tale out of them just the same."

  The two brothers pointed at the Namer.

  "You are powerless before us!"

  The Tooth Man wailed in fear and confusion.

  "No! No! This can't be! What do they mean? How does this work?"

  The Namer approached the grinning brothers, silent as death itself.

  Lonely stared.

  Could that work? A plan to cheat the Namers? Inevitably, there would be parents who would try something like this. Of course, Lonely had never met his parents before, but he liked to imagine that they'd do anything for him and Gallant. Of course parents wanted their kids to succeed. Lonely would feel the same way.

  The thirteen eyes flickered as The Namer stared into Deep Cuts face. For quite a long time, nothing happened. Deep Cuts's cocky smile grew wider and wider. Strong Strokes turned Lonely and beamed.

  "See? I told you so! We've done it! We've defeated the Namers!"

  He pointed at The Tooth Man.

  "He's the guilty one!"

  "No! It can't be! It can't be! How is this happening! How is this happening!"

  The Tooth Man screamed and bolted out of his chair, hoping to burst past the Namer before he killed him. The tiny man promptly tripped and fell to the floor. The masked man didn't even bother turning around. The thirteen eyes were fixed on Deep Cuts.

  The Namer continued staring, and the eyes continued flickering.

  Deep Cuts laughed again.

  Without warning, the mirthful sound morphed into an ear-piercing streak, so loud that Lonely's ears felt like they'd rupture. Strong Strokes whirled towards his brother, horror etched on his face.

  Deep Cuts screamed again. An eruption of blood gushed out of his mouth, flying high in the air as he collapsed onto his back. Blood seeped dejectedly out of his eyes and down his cheeks.

  "No! Brother!"

  Strong Strokes sounded so much like Gallant that Lonely froze in place.

  "No! No! No!"

  Strong Strokes did not think of running. He fell down to his knees by the only man Lonely had ever seen him care about. He shook his brother's corpse, his elation suddenly transformed into sobs.

  "No! Why! How did they know? How? It was perfect! We knew it was perfect!"

  Then he let out a choked cough.

  Strong Strokes whirled and stared up. He opened his mouth, but only more weak throaty sounds came out.

  The Namer stared down at him. The eyes were no longer flickering. The gold had become void black, furiously bright gems that somehow simultaneously absorbed and rejected all the light in the room.

  Strong Strokes retched, and his head jerked forwards.

  An identical gush of blood flew out, pouring all over his brother's body. Strong Strokes choked and choked, blood dripping out from his eyes and mouth. Then he collapsed.

  The Namer leaned over the two brothers. A slit appeared in the mask. There was a hacking noise, and then the masked Noble spit all over their corpses, thick gobs of white filled with black nougats of sin.

  "Nobody...cheats...The...Namers..."

  CHAPTER 4: THE LADY OF BRIGHTWALLS

  The Namer turned, and Gallant's Intuition echoed his message.

  "See? I told you everything would be alright."

  The voice was kind and gentle, nothing like the halting and harsh tones that emanated from the mask.

  "Now, don't forget what I told you. Don't be scared. Make them bow to your will. You are better than the rest."

  The voice disappeared just as soon as it'd come. Her Intuition purred. It knew the Namer, but it couldn't remember from where. Gallant turned back to Lonely, but then the Namer shook his head. His voice returned, abrupt and urgent. Her Intuition quavered.

  "Not yet. Don't tell him just yet. It'll be dangerous if he knows we spoke. The other Namers will be very angry."

  Gallant shuddered and didn't say anything. Like her big brother, the Namer was probably good at plans.

  Lonely always said she was charging ahead without thinking. She'd had a lot of time to think as The Tooth Man brought her brother and the three traitors to the Hall, and she'd come to realize that he was right.

  This was all her fault. It'd taken her a while to see it, but now the truth was obvious. She'd flown into battle because she was worried The Tooth Man would overpower her brother's plan, just like he'd done six times before. But if she hadn't been there, the three other pilots would have b
een too scared to betray Lonely. She would have to be more careful in the future. Her big brother was good at plans, and she had a lot of studying to do until she could rival him.

  She knew she could do it. She was a lot smarter than she thought she was. Lonely said so a few years ago, the time she'd finally gathered up the courage to ask her brother about her Intuition.

  "Hey, what's it called when a voice suddenly speaks in your mind?"

  He'd laughed and looked at her dubiously.

  "Do you mean thoughts? Have you finally started thinking?"

  She'd whacked him for that. Of course, she knew what thoughts were.

  "No, I mean a different voice. Like a voice that suddenly knows something you didn't know."

  That'd interested him more, and for a moment, it'd seemed like she'd stumbled on something that even her big brother didn't know about. Her Intuition was always telling her things. Sometimes she'd doze off in class, but her Intuition would know the answer to every question Star Above asked her, which always made the teacher very angry.

  But after a few more questions, Lonely said the voice was called Intuition, and it'd turned out that he had Intuition too. He said that Intuition was a part of your mind that gave you sudden insights. That didn't quite sound like her Intuition, but it was probably different for everybody. Lonely said that his Intuition was why he was so good at plans. After that, he told Gallant that she was a lot smarter than she thought, and that if she studied hard, she'd become the greatest of the Nobles, the woman who'd lead the Lost Lords back to Old Earth in the Conquest. She'd started studying very hard after that, but Star Above didn't like it when her students read ahead.

  Star Above was a jerk. Gallant and her Intuition agreed on that, and so did her Familiar, Adrienne.

  Her brother turned.

  "What are you laughing about?"

  Gallant shook her head. She hadn't realized she was laughing. That sometimes happened when she was talking to her Intuition too much.

  Lonely's face was as pale as a ghost, and the rest of the courtroom had already escaped. It was only the two of them, the dead bodies, and the Namer in the corner. Even though The Tooth Man had just been awarded a Castlecraft, he hadn't stayed for his usual cruel boasts.

  The Namer stood. He turned at Gallant one last time before leaving, and her Intuition told her that he was smiling behind the mask. Adrienne wrapped protectively around Gallant's shoulders like an enormous cloak. The jellyfish Familiar whispered to Gallant's Intuition.

  "I didn't like the Namer. He seemed mean."

  "Are you sure? He said all the right things."

  "He's lying. He wants to hurt us."

  Gallant wanted to join into the conversation, but she wasn't sure what to think.

  "Well, it could have been worse. The Tooth Man could have tried to squeeze more out of us."

  Lonely shrugged and shook his head.

  By now, Gallant was an unfortunate veteran at calculating ransoms. Their House owed The Tooth Man a standard ransom - a single Sinsworn and two crates of food. In addition, as the coalition leader, they had to pay for the damage done to The Tooth Man's machine. When they factored in the costs of repairing Lonely's broken machine, the cost would be difficult to bear. As heir to their House, Lonely had received a reserve of twenty-five Sinsworn after his graduation from the Nursery. But ever since the incident with The Tooth Man, the angry jerk had been doing his best to bleed them dry.

  Gallant shook her head. It'd been such a stupid argument too. He thought that she and Lonely hadn't been respectful enough after he lost to the Surgeon. Now that she knew she wasn't allowed to kill The Tooth Man, she'd need to come up with a better plan to get revenge. Bleeding him out in return was too slow, but the House battles sounded promising.

  Lonely sighed when he returned to the hangar.

  "Do you mind dragging me back?"

  "Yeah, no problem!"

  Her brother was always embarrassed to get dragged back, but his defeat had clearly been Gallant's fault. Gallant, her Intuition, and Adrienne all agreed on that one.

  She egged her Paragon on, pushing it with casual thoughts. She couldn't get too excited. Then her machine would vaporize, just like it did when she tried to kill The Tooth Man.

  "Faster, please."

  "Don't hit anyone, please."

  As always, Eternium obeyed her. The other Nobles needed controls to move their machines, but not Gallant.

  She smiled as Brightwalls eventually appeared in front of them. The glowing white Castlecraft, which shone brighter than any star in the sea of space, was her own design. Before she'd moved home, her brother's fortress had been a plain and dull thing. He said it was good to be nondescript. But Gallant's Aspect was Vanity, so she had no choice but to make their home as showy as possible.

  Their Gate was different from the others. Just like the cockpit of her Paragon, there was no need for the Gate to open. The shining white Eternium rippled as her machine dashed through the rounded hull like a fish leaping back into the sea.

  The jellyfish machine docked on a stark white port on a stark white wall. Then Gallant reached out and placed Lonely's cockpit in its rightful place in the front. Lonely was the heir, so his machine should always launch before Gallant's.

  Gallant shook her head.

  If only she hadn't launched at all. Then they'd be celebrating tonight instead of standing around and counting down their dwindling supply of Eternium.

  Gallant climbed out of her machine and stretched. Brightwalls smiled warmly back at her, and Adrienne burbled happily. She was glad to be back. She hadn't wanted to leave. She'd known that interfering in the fight was a bad idea. Gallant and her Intuition had ignored the jellyfish Familiar's sound advice.

  "Ah, sorry Adrienne. We should have known better."

  Her Intuition hastened to apologize too.

  Lonely frowned at her when he stepped out of his pod. He still didn't believe that Adrienne could talk back to her, and it wasn't just because he didn't have a Familiar. It seemed like the other Nobles didn't talk to their Familiars either. Star Above always got mad at her for talking to Adrienne during class. Most of the Familiars, including Star Above's amiable catfish, didn't even have names.

  That was dumb.

  The Familiars were your partners for life. Why wouldn't you talk to them?

  Gallant fell to her knees, and Adrienne bowed down with her. In her mind, her Intuition was also begging for forgiveness, but of course, Lonely couldn't see or hear it.

  "I'm sorry! That was all my fault! You would have won if it wasn't for me!"

  Lonely smiled and shook his head.

  "It's not your fault. You just wanted to help."

  Her big brother was very forgiving, even when she was obviously in the wrong. Her Intuition still didn't understand that. It always told Gallant and Adrienne that people usually were harsh and unforgiving.

  He sighed.

  "Next time..."

  He tsked.

  "Next time, I'll have to figure out a different plan. Just make sure you work hard at controlling yourself so you can be in it."

  "Yes! Yes! I'll work very hard!"

  It was challenging, though. When she was inside her Paragon, she could make the Eternium do whatever she wanted, which was apparently highly unusual. The other pilots, even famous ones like The Tooth Man or the Surgeon, had to lock in their weapons beforehand. The only problem was that if she got too excited, her machine would vaporize. After the Namers tested her, they said she had a level beyond even Liquid State Eternium. She could turn the holy metal into a gaseous form. That sounded cool, but it really meant her machine always disappeared on her, which wasn't cool at all.

  Gallant shook her head.

  "It's so hard! How am I supposed to battle without being excited? It's so exciting!"

  Lonely shook his head.

  "Yeah. It is."

  They learned in school every day that Nobles were supposed to love the battlefield. But if Gallant loved it too m
uch, she wouldn't be able to participate. It was maddening.

  Lonely shook his head.

  "Let's get some food before we sort this ransom stuff out. And then we can talk about how you don't know the difference between ransom battles and House battles."

  Lonely wagged his finger in an overly dramatic fashion.

  "You are such an idiot!"

  Gallant giggled and followed him to the kitchen. Maybe it was a good thing her machine almost dissolved. She would have gotten in a lot of trouble if she killed The Tooth Man.

  Adrienne wrapped tightly around her.

  "I would have protected you!"

  She smiled and hugged the jellyfish through its shifting tank.

  Her Intuition just shrugged.

  "You wouldn't have gotten in trouble. Remember what the Namer said? He said you couldn't get in trouble. That was the first thing he said when you walked in. And the Namers are the ones who make the laws."

  Gallant frowned. As always, her Intuition had some good points. It didn't always tell her new things like Lonely's did, but it was good at summarizing things they already knew.

  ____

  Lonely made a delicious meal for her, sizzling pork fried with rice and eggs. He set aside a plate full of raw meat for Adrienne, too. Gallant's stomach tightened a little. The food was delicious, and there was still a lot of it, but she didn't know how long that would last.

  There were two years until she became a woman. That was when she could start challenging people to battles. And even then, Gallant didn't know if she'd be able to control her Paragon in time.

  They might have to start tearing down Brightwalls soon, just to have enough Eternium. The Castle had shrunken rapidly, but at least it still kept its form. At least they still had all the rooms. Gallant shivered. The thought of losing her lovely home was too much to bear. Her Intuition reminded her about the easy solution, but Gallant and Adrienne told it to shut up. Her Intuition had already gotten them in enough trouble for one day.

  "But the Namers said we'll never get in trouble!"

  After Lonely finished half of his first bowl, he set his food aside.

  "Alright. So what kind of battles do you think we've been fighting so far?"