by Ryan Tang
By the time he finished, he could hear that Gallant had returned. His sister ran hooting and shouting down the halls.
"Big Bro! Big Bro! I'm back! I'm back!"
"I'm just wrapping up in the garden! I'll meet you in the crafting room."
Lonely closed the box tight. The hinges swung shut easily. He lifted the dented and badly worn box, straining with his arms. The box's overuse was an embarrassment in and of itself. The best Lords prized themselves on untouched ransom boxes. When Gallant graduated, he'd have to see about getting her a new box. They'd need a new box for a new start to their House.
____
"How was school?"
Gallant shrugged nonchalantly as they continued walking down to the hangar.
"Fine."
She walked silently for a moment, then raised a sly eyebrow.
"I asked about House battles today. It turned out that Star hadn't gone through them yet."
A self-satisfied note entered her voice.
"Turns out I was paying attention after all."
"Huh."
That was confusing. The difference between House battles and Ransom battles was one of the first lessons Lonely remembered.
"Did she teach them today?"
"No. She said we weren't there yet. Then she went back to talking about how Thel lay in bed."
Gallant laughed.
"The Halfgod pretended to be crippled for just less than eight years, and it sounds like she wants to deeply analyze every day of it."
"When do you think she'll get to House battles? That's a basic, you know."
Gallant shrugged.
"She sucks. Maybe we'll never get to them. Or maybe she doesn't know how to teach them, so she doesn't want to talk about them."
Lonely sighed. Gallant really didn't like Star Above, but there was nothing he could do about that. If he were a more reputable Noble, he'd be able to move his sister to a different class, but he was the lowest-ranked of them all.
"You should try to treat her with some more respect."
"What's she going to do? Challenge you to a battle? Maybe I should keep baiting her until she does."
Lonely just shook his head. Star Above wouldn't challenge him. None of the Nobles would risk a defeat like that, not after his initial victories. They'd just watch the Tooth Man bleed him and Gallant dry.
There was painfully little Eternium left in the hangar. The two siblings descended the stars and stepped across the bridge. When she redesigned the room, Gallant had shrewdly shrunken it so that their lack of Eternium hadn't seemed so obvious. Now it looked like she should probably shrink the place again. All the Eternium they had was clumped up in the corner. The jet black stuck out like a sore thumb against the shamefully empty white.
They were down to three blocks, and they'd be at about one and a quarter by the end of today. Although Lonely's machine hadn't been completely destroyed, it was a close enough thing. He'd need most of the next slab for repairs.
The sight did not bother Gallant in the slightest. She brimmed with even more confidence than normal.
"All right! It's time to get to work!"
Gallant had designed the crafting room so that their bridge ran in between the Eternium blocks. His sister took the leftmost Block, which was farthest from the wall.
When Lonely walked toward the Block next to it, Gallant shook her head.
"I got this. Want to try out a new technique I thought of today."
She smiled.
"Think I figured out a new way to thin your armor. And a better way to make Sinsworn too."
His eyes narrowed.
"You better not try to thin the armor on a Sinsworn."
Giving someone less than their deserved ransom was one of the gravest crimes a Noble could commit. But Gallant just laughed.
"I'm not dumb. I saw the Namers yesterday too."
That was another strange thing. Gallant should have been a lot more scared of the Namers. After they walked inside the Hall, it seemed like they hadn't bothered her much at all.
She giggled as she walked toward the Block. Her eyes bore lasers into the pitch-black metal. Eternium responded best to a strong will, and no matter what criticisms you could make of Gallant, there was no denying she had one of the strongest wills of them all.
"We're going to take it back. We're going to take it all back."
It was good to command Eternium with happiness. Lonely had been having a hard time with that lately, but his sister had no shortage of good thoughts. She plunged her hand straight through the metal, pushing forward so deeply her arm was instantly submerged up to her shoulder. The metal shifted and turned.
Then she stopped.
"Go away."
"Huh?"
"Go wait outside. I want to surprise you."
Lonely smiled. He felt like he was humoring her, but part of him also looked forward to her surprise. His sister could craft wonders. He stepped out of the hangar and paced around in the hall outside. Before long, a voice he didn't recognize called out from just outside their Gate.
"Hail! Hail to Lonely! Hail! Hail to Gallant the Familiar Blessed!"
Lonely frowned.
The voice didn't belong to The Tooth Man. The voice outside was high and curiously light-hearted. And he'd referred to Gallant by a term Lonely had never heard before.
Familiar Blessed? What did that mean? Almost everyone had a Familiar. It wasn't so much a blessing as it was a given.
"I come in The Tooth Man's stead. My dear friend is preoccupied today."
That was strange. The Tooth Man loved strutting after a victory. He would giggle and boast as he greedily stared at Lonely's dwindling Eternium. But the voice on the other end had to be honest. Lying about ransoms violated the laws of private property. Whoever the voice on the other end was, he wouldn't want to trifle with the Namers.
"Nobody...cheats...The...Namers..."
Lonely shuddered. That certainly had been an effective demonstration of their power. He still felt bad for the dead brothers.
Lonely knocked on the hangar.
"Hey. Someone's outside. Are you almost done?"
"Yeah! I can let them in too."
The Gate opened from the front and slowly twisted open. When the infrequent guest arrived, they usually didn't like flying through the permeable layer, so Gallant always made a fake Gate for them. The pilot shot Lonely a cheery thank you as his machine soared inside.
Lonely grabbed the box then hurried over to the next room to meet him. Gallant stayed inside the crafting room. She was not the Heir, and it wouldn't do for her to stand by her elder brother's side.
The high-voiced man's machine was the plainest thing Lonely had ever seen. The Paragon's armor was the black of unforged Eternium, and the only distinguishing trait was a cartoon face drawn in messy white paint. The face looked very surprised - two dots over a massive O.
He took a closer look and frowned. The irreverent artwork was strange enough, but the O-shaped mouth looked like an actual mouth. He could see the indentation in the metal. The Paragons were war machines. What would they do with a human-like mouth?
The latch opened, and the pilot descended. His keen and intelligent eyes took in the hangar around him.
Like his machine, the pilot was painfully ordinary. He was of middle height and middle age. His face was neither ugly nor handsome. If anything, it was almost perfectly forgettable. He was clean-shaven with thinly cropped hair. And he was smiling just as brightly as his voice suggested.
When he reached Lonely at the end of the hall, he gave a respectful bow before reaching out to shake his hand.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm sure The Tooth Man was looking forwards to coming here today, but an emergency occurred, and he had no choice but to pass."
Lonely was curious as to what kind of emergency would keep his loathed enemy away, but he was too polite to ask. He took the plain-faced man's hand. His grip was warm and strong.
The man looked around again.
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"You have a beautiful home."
"Thank you."
Lonely knelt to take the box so he could hand it over, but the high voiced man stopped him. His dull brown eyes glistened with a strange mixture of hunger and amusement.
"To be honest, I'm glad I got to make the trip in his place. I have no interest in ransoms. I can get them any time I want. Instead, I was wondering what sort of home would cause an impressionable young girl to ask about House battles in the middle of her Nursery class."
____
Lonely frowned. There was something strange and dangerous here, but he didn't know what it was.
Who was this man?
Why was he here?
They couldn't afford to make another enemy. That would just bleed them dry twice as quickly.
He took a deep breath.
"Everyone knows about House battles."
"Do they? Your sister didn't."
"She's just a kid. Her teacher said she hadn't gotten to it yet."
"When did you learn about House battles?"
Lonely paused.
"Five. Maybe six."
"Your sister is eleven."
He smirked.
"She's five-maybe-six added up together, and she still didn't know. Didn't you wonder how that could be the case? It doesn't seem like such a prominent future warrior would slack off when it comes to learning about battles."
"I..."
Lonely did think it was weird, but he'd only found out about this hole in Gallant's education yesterday.
"I do think it's weird. That's why I told her about them last night. I didn't realize she'd ask about it in school today, but I figured something like that would happen. I've heard that Star Above is a very diligent teacher."
The plain-faced man laughed.
"You mean a cowardly one?"
Gallant had said the same thing, but Lonely didn't want to be rude. They couldn't afford to make another enemy. Star Above was weak, but perhaps she had a powerful friend.
"So why did you tell your sister about House battles?"
"I mean, she asked about them."
The other man shot him a bright look.
"Is that it? Nothing strange led to that coming up?"
Lonely frowned again. The man's jocular tone was getting annoying. He was here to take advantage of Lonely and Gallant, but the young Noble couldn't quite put his finger on how yet. The strange man had just said that he wasn't here for ransoms. Lonely reminded himself again not to be too aggressive. They couldn't afford to make another enemy, especially not one who claimed to be friends with The Tooth Man.
The plain-faced man kept smiling and speaking.
"Knowing about House battles and thinking about them are two different things. The only battles currently fought are Ransom battles. Any pilot worth their salt and rot would be thinking about how to win them. They wouldn't have time to think up of something like House battles. House battles only come up if you think about them, you see what I mean? So why are you thinking about them?"
Lonely didn't quite see what he meant. He hadn't been thinking about House battles. Now that he thought of it, he wasn't sure why they'd come up. It was probably a stray comment Gallant made. He couldn't quite remember. He'd been thinking only of the terrifying Namers.
The man just laughed as the Lonely stood there awkwardly. He wondered if he should hurry things along. Most ransom ceremonies were very short. The defeated had no interest in conversing with the man who was taking his possessions.
The plain-faced man suddenly pivoted, changing subjects as suddenly as if he'd gone from clashing swords to wrestling in the dirt.
"What kind of battles will be fought in the Conquest? House battles or Ransom battles?"
"The Ignorants don't have Houses."
The other man chuckled amiably.
"That was a good one. You know what I mean, though. If the Constellation is focused on the Conquest, if they are focused on training the greatest warriors in history, why are they focused on Ransom battles? There's no need for ransom on Old Earth. We intend to take it all."
His eyes gleamed again. The way the light passed through his eyes was strange, and now that Lonely thought about it, a little eerie. It was like the beacon of a lighthouse. Lighthouses were one of the most popular designs for a Castlecraft, even though they were useless in space. In the days of Old Earth, all the Nobles had dwelled in lighthouses. The infinite sea had been the domain of the Nobles and their sinful gods and Familiars.
"And here's another problem. Right now, the Lords are a disjointed and treacherous lot. The Lords only pursue their self-interest. Any Lord will betray another at a mere moment's notice, as you've found out to your sorrow many times before. How will that go on Old Earth? It sounds to me like it'll go poorly!"
Lonely shrugged noncommittally. He didn't think much about the Conquest. His only focus was on making sure his House survived. It was on making sure Brightwalls wouldn't fall before Gallant became of age. There was no place in the Conquest for the first Noble born since the Exile without a Familiar.
"Our current focus on ransoms and self-interest can even hurt our war effort."
The plain-faced man gestured widely around him.
"A beautiful Castlecraft built by a beautiful mind with beautiful skills. Your sister is the future of the Lost Lords; anyone with even half an eye could see it. But you would agree that her talents aren't being nurtured, right? Men like The Tooth Man view her as a threat. They want to crush her while she's still a girl so that she can never rise to challenge them. But if our goal was the Conquest...if our goal were to select the strongest warriors...we would not condone dirty tricks such as that."
Lonely nodded.
"We would not."
He knelt and picked up the box, which was perhaps the politest way he could think of to indicate that the overly friendly man should leave soon. Lonely did not find his sympathy genuine, and Gallant would start wondering if he was gone for too long. And besides, the plain-faced man was friends with The Tooth Man. That meant he could never be Lonely's friend.
"Speaking of my sister, we have arranged some entertainment for tonight. I'm sorry, but she's been looking forward to it for a while."
That seemed like a polite way to ask this man to leave. It was hard to take offense to that.
Lonely had no idea what Gallant wanted to do. Probably watch Old Earth movies. The scenery of the planet, the animals, and the way people used to live. Any aspect of any era could capture Gallant's interest. Most Nobles with Vanity Aspect were snobby and exclusive, but Gallant saw the beauty in all things.
The plain-faced man smirked.
"Why are you trying to get rid of me? I have so much more to tell you."
Lonely kept his voice calm. Perhaps this man would get offended. Perhaps he'd haunt them like his friend The Tooth Man. He hoped he hadn't just made a mistake.
"I'm happy to talk! I just didn't want to worry my sister, that's all. She's very young, and she always looks forward to our time together."
He took on a self-deprecating tone.
"And besides. Nobody likes paying out ransoms. It is a humiliating process, and I've lost to The Tooth Man many times before."
The friendly man did not take the box. Instead, he looked at Lonely right in the eye. His eyes gleamed again, but this time Lonely recognized that gleam for what it was. His eyes had taken a faint and sickly green hue. Scry True's eyes shifted colors during his visions too.
No Familiar was the exact same, but this man's abilities must have been similar.
"I see you only have a block and a half left. I wonder what would happen if I challenged you to a Ransom battle right now?"
____
Lonely's hand flew to his pocket, and he drew his Paragon's key. Anxiety tightened in his stomach. The smiling man had grabbed his key as well. The glow pierced the fabric of his dress pants.
Because he had no Familiar, Lonely's key was a simple white square. Normally the key took the s
hape of your companion. The plain-faced man's was a tiny little hook. What kind of Familiar looked like that?
The key seemed small. Perhaps the man's Familiar was weak. And if his Aspect was some sort of sight, Lonely could probably beat him. Including their days at the Nursery together, he'd smashed Scry True three times before. Seeing was no good when your opponent attached you head-on.
His reforged Paragon burst through the wall of their crafting room. Lonely snarled in triumph. The man with the false friendly demeanor probably hadn't accounted for Lonely's willpower. He didn't have a Familiar, but he could summon his Paragon from almost half a mile away. A hot metal hand reached out and brought him into the comforting cockpit.
The black machine with the cartoon face and gaping mouth instantly stepped in between Lonely's Paragon and the plain-faced man.
"You have no chance of winning."
By now, his tiny twisted key was glowing so brightly that Lonely had to shade his eyes. They used to do that at the Nursery to show off their affinity with Eternium. It was just a child's competition, but this time the shine was so bright Lonely could barely see. Spots appeared in Lonely's vision.
He stared down at the dashboard.
"Are you going to get into your machine?"
He couldn't attack him while standing there. That would violate the rules.
"I didn't actually challenge you to a fight, you know. That was just a hypothetical. And besides, you have no chance of winning."
"We'll have to see about that."
If Lonely won here, he'd have three blocks. Although he was worried that this man had some hidden ability, it was likely that Lonely would win. Lonely didn't know who the smiling man was, and that meant he wasn't a particularly reputable fighter. For all Lonely knew, this man might just be another bully who thought he could take advantage of him because he didn't have a Familiar.
He'd show him.
The other man smiled pleasantly.
"I exaggerated a little when I said The Tooth Man was my friend and he was sending me in his place. What happened was that I intercepted him on his way to meet you. I challenged him to a battle that ended in his total defeat."
The plain-faced man sighed.
"The poor man had been desperately looking forward to picking up your ransom. But now it seems like he'll be out of commission for quite a while."