Book of Names (Casters of Syndrial 1)

by Rain Oxford

  “Tekriyar.” The bone shot out of his hand and bashed into his head exactly how he had tried to do to me. He passed out. “Painter, Painter, Painter.”

  The man appeared, grinning. “I was sure it would take you longer than that to change your tune. He then sneered at Keeper. “I see you started the party without me.”

  “I didn’t call you here to make jokes.”

  “I know why you called me here better than you do. You need me, just as I need you.” He motioned to the door. “Ketmeek.” The door opened. “You should know how to unlock a door.”

  “Keeper said it had to be opened with a key.”

  “Originally, it did, because it was protected against magic. Such magic has to be maintained, though, and none of these priests are smart enough to do so. I can teach you magic so that you can protect anything and anyone, even the gods. Or you can walk through that door.”

  “I have to save Luca,” I said, starting for the door.

  “You’ll never find him without me, but it’s your choice,” he said casually. He wasn’t lying. He was trying to manipulate me, but he wasn’t lying. When I stopped, he continued. “Our end goals are still the same; to go home. The circumstances, however, have changed. You need to save your brother and I need to get the Book of Names. The way we can both get everything we want is to kill the priests.”

  “You don’t have the Book of Names?”

  “No.”

  “You lost it?”

  “I never got my hands on it in the first place.”

  “Why do the gods think you do?”

  “I should be the only one who could have gotten it. I know better, though. I know one of the priests has it. I just can’t figure out who. They’re concealed even from the gods.”

  “How do you know a priest has it and not one of the gods?”

  “If a god had it, we’d already be dead.”

  “You kill children.”

  “Says who?”

  “You took one of them right in front of Luca.”

  “Took or killed? There’s a difference.”

  “Fine. If you’re not killing them, what are you doing with them?”

  He frowned at me. “You’re smarter than that. Why are you asking questions you already know the answers to?”

  I considered the two people I knew he took: Satka and the little girl. The little girl would have been killed by the priests. Satka was about to take his trials. “Would they have killed Satka if he didn’t pass his trials?”

  “The gods would have. Satka was a good caster, but not good enough. The gods don’t care if he has talents other than magic. They want certain types of people; people they can use.”

  “And they couldn’t use Satka?”

  “No.”

  “So you’ve been saving children. Where did you take them?”

  “To a world where magic is accepted for all.”

  “You’re just a regular hero then?”

  The Painter laughed. “Hero? No. I would never be so dull. I would happily kill anyone who angers me.”

  “Every villain is a hero in his own mind.”

  “Your world must be so black and white. I thought you would understand better than that. There are no heroes or villains; there are only ambitions. I don’t care about the greater good. That doesn’t make me a villain any more than it makes you a hero to bleed for them. We all do what we do for selfish gains.”

  “How is self-sacrifice selfish?”

  “You do it to feel good about yourself or make people love you. I know what people want and none of them know what I want. That is why I have power over them; they have no idea what I’m going to do next. That’s why you couldn’t figure me out; you don’t know what my motive is.”

  “You want power.”

  “I have all the power I need.”

  “You want the book.”

  “You believed me? How can you know I don’t already have the book and I’m using you for some other purpose?”

  “What purpose?”

  “I’m not ready to give you that power yet.”

  “Then I shouldn’t work with you.”

  “No, you shouldn’t, but you will because you believe me. The best way to make someone believe me is to tell the truth. At least the parts of the truth that I want them to know. Because I know what you want most and how you think, I know what you’re going to do with the truth that I give you.”

  We were wasting time. Whether he was telling the truth or lying, a psychopath or a genius, it wasn’t him who had captured Luca. “Fine. We’ll take down the priests together.”

  He smiled triumphantly. “I knew you would get on board. We’ll kill the priests, get my---”

  “No.”

  His eyes widened. “No, what?”

  “No, we’re not killing all of the priests.”

  “But… I want to kill them.”

  “You want my help more. I don’t know why you do, but you do, and I’m not going to work with you if you kill them all. We’ll do this my way. We’ll figure out which ones have been killing children, kill them, find the Book of Names, and decide what we do with it from there.”

  “That is a lot less simple than killing them all.”

  “No innocent priest dies.”

  “No one is innocent.”

  * * *

  We spent the next hour plotting and arguing. He didn’t see a problem with killing every priest and searching for the book afterwards. I refused to take part in that. Instead of insisting or threatening to do it alone, he let it go. He said the most difficult part of the plan was separating the guilty from the innocent. I agreed to kill the priests who willingly murdered children, but not those who were coerced. The Painter had to find out where the book was before he could kill the priest who was responsible for taking it, and we didn’t even know for sure it was one of the priests of the High Kingdom.

  Then the Painter surprised me. “You should complete your trials.”

  “Wouldn’t that give one of the gods power over me?”

  “Right now, they all have power over you. They’re gods. When you pass your trials, you will gain a unique power.”

  “I don’t have time to go to all of the kingdoms and talk to the gods.”

  “You don’t have to. That’s tradition to make the gods feel important, but not necessary. When you begin your trials, they will all become aware of you.”

  “What are the trials like? No one has given me a straight answer.”

  “That is because they’re different for everyone depending on their strengths, weaknesses, and what gods are interested. You will gain or lose interest with every test. The more they like you, the more tests they will throw at you. Now, that being said, any one of them could claim you at any time. If you impress them enough, one may try to stop a trial and say they want you. You then have the opportunity to accept him or continue the trials to get a different god.”

  “That sounds ungrateful.”

  “It usually means that he really wants you and doesn’t want others to have a chance to get you, but it’s also very likely that another god is interested as well and he doesn’t want them to have you. If you choose to continue your trials and don’t get selected by another god, that really sucks. You’re taking a risk.”

  “Did your father stop the trials for you?”

  “Oh, no. He wasn’t like that. Four other gods tried to stop them and I turned them all down. My father made me fight to the very end.”

  “You sound confident that I’ll pass the trials.”

  “I have no doubt of it.”

  “Why?”

  “You’ll understand after you pass them.”

  “And what if I don’t want to serve the god who chooses me?”

  He shrugged. “Then don’t serve him. These boys don’t take their trials and become priests because they want to serve a god. It’s because they’re told to do so or die.”

  “And I can choose a god, get a power, and not serve him?”
>
  “He might force your hand if you’re not powerful enough to prevent him from doing so. My father didn’t want me after I failed him.”

  “Failed him how?”

  “I was supposed to steal the book from your mother. Instead, I helped her save you. Whatever you do, don’t choose Set as your god. You’ll hate him.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “I don’t know the gods all that well. I haven’t met Bast, but I’ve heard nice things about her. Isis, you have already met. Apophis is another bad fit for you, though. I’m not saying any god is bad or good. There is no such thing. All I’m saying is that they’re not right for you. Nebthwt should be good. Ra is too much for you. The more powerful they are, the more powerful the ability they give you will be, but the harder you’ll find it to disobey them.”

  “What will they ask of me?”

  “Loyalty, mostly. Some want you to represent them. Some will want you to carry out their commands, if you’re powerful enough. You can ask them when you see them.”

  “Thank you for the advice.”

  “I have one more helpful hint. If a goddess stops your trials to offer you her power, take it. Women and goddesses do not take rejection well.”

  “And men do?”

  “I have experience with pissing off goddesses. Trust me.”

  “I will trust you if you make a promise to me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Promise that if I don’t survive my trials, you’ll protect Luca and get him home safe.”

  Painter nodded. “I will.”

  After that, I grabbed the lamp out of the prophecy chamber and made my way to the courtyard. No one knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. Several of the apprentices even nodded politely to me as I passed. When I reached the pyramid, there was no Keeper to guard the door.

  To my surprise, all of the flowers were back, good as new. Their botanist probably used magic. Nevertheless, I knew where the door was and uncovered it. Then I wondered for a good ten minutes how to get the door open, before pushing against it halfheartedly. To my shock, it opened easily.

  It hadn’t been locked.

  Chapter 14

  The door closed behind me with a loud creak. I held the lamp out in front of me and slowly made my way through the halls. They resembled the underground halls in the temple; with sandy blocks covered in artwork. For some reason, I had been expecting low ceilings, tight squeezes, and possibly some collapsed tunnels. Fortunately, I was wrong; there was plenty of room. Since vessels were mortal and lived in the pyramids, I wasn’t too worried about air.

  I was a little worried about giant rats, mummies, and cursed jewelry, though. I play way too many PC games.

  Ten minutes in, an ominous rumbling filled the chamber and I had just enough time to panic that it was an earthquake before the ground dropped out from beneath me. My lamp was knocked from my hand as I fell.

  The first thing that came to mind was that I was falling into a pit of snakes. It wasn’t really a conscious effort to save myself when I said the spell. “Kredje.” My mind instantly calmed and my descent slowed.

  When I slowly touched down on a snake-free floor, I was in a new, round room with seven identical doors. My lamp was gone, probably still on the floor above me, but a wooden stake sticking out of the ground in the center of the room had a crystal at the top of it, and the crystal was emitting bright light.

  The doors were each at least twelve feet tall and six feet wide, made of dark wood with metal brackets. The tops were rounded. They didn’t have knobs or handles. Instead, each door had the burned mark of an animal. I considered them for a long time. Eventually, I decided the best thing to do was follow my gut.

  I approached the door of the cat simply because I liked cats better than frogs or bulls. I would have chosen the jackal, but I didn’t want to become like the Painter. Unfortunately, the door didn’t open when I pushed against it. “Open,” I said. Nothing happened. “I choose the cat.” Still nothing. “Ketmeek.”

  “To begin your trials, you must answer three questions,” said a deep, commanding voice.

  I didn’t bother to ask who the voice was or why I couldn’t see him. That wasn’t the worst of my problems at the moment, nor was it my natural response. “If I guess wrong, do I get cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril?” There was no answer, so I sighed. “Fine. Ask me the questions, bridge-keeper. I’m not afraid.”

  “What is the most important trait in friendship?”

  My first instinct was to say trust, but I took a minute to think it over. Loyalty was just as important. Honesty was a double-edged blade. Finally, I said, “Respect.” I respected Luca, so I would never be disloyal to him. I would trust his word as he could mine.

  “What is the most important trait in defeating your enemies?”

  This too, I considered carefully. Patience was vital, as was adaptability, but neither of those were any use without being able to predict my enemy’s actions. “Empathy.”

  “What do you offer if a god chooses you?”

  I couldn’t offer loyalty without knowing what the god wanted me to do. I couldn’t offer respect, either. It was impossible to know their motives without humanizing them. After a tense silence, I said, “That depends on what he has to offer me.”

  The voice did not respond. A minute later, a door creaked open, but it wasn’t the cat door. It took me a moment to remember the name of the bird. The Ibis had long, thin legs, a long, thin, curved bill, and a wide body.

  Through the door, I found a dark hallway made of sand-colored blocks. Every ten feet, there was a torch on either side of me, but none of them were lit and when the door closed behind me, there wasn’t even a hint of light. I put my hand on the wall about the height where I could remember the first torch being and felt my way along. When I reached it, I visualized it based on what I could feel and said, “Kitmas.”

  The torch lit. I didn’t bother to light any of the others, as I didn’t want to burn up the oxygen. The hallway was fifty feet long, ten feet high, and six feet wide. There wasn’t any dust or cobwebs. The air was dry and cool. At the end of the hall was another door. Like the previous doors, it had no handle, and when I pushed against it, it didn’t open. Instead of an animal, there was a series of numbers and blanks etched into it.

  1 _ 2 _ 5 8 _ _ 34 55 _ 144 _

  “Great.” I was glad that I could read Common Syndrial.

  I pulled on the nearest four torches, hoping one of them would open the door. Although they did snap down like a secret trigger, they didn’t actually seem to do anything. However, I noticed a small number etched into the base of the torches. Each one was numbered, and they weren’t in order. I looked back at the door.

  I recognized the pattern, so I spent ten minutes wondering if it was something I had seen on Syndrial. That was my mistake. Not finding any answers there, I checked the numbers on the torches again, and when I saw a three, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

  “I’m an idiot.” I didn’t recognize it from Syndrial; I recognized it from home. It was the Fibonacci sequence, which was Luca’s favorite number pattern. I quickly found the torches with the numbers that corresponded with the blanks. One, three, thirteen, eighty-nine, and two hundred thirty-three. When putting them in the low position didn’t work, I lit them. Unfortunately, that required returning my torch. As soon as I lit the last torch, the door opened. That wasn’t so hard.

  The next hallway was identical to the first, except when the door shut, the torches all lit themselves. I took that to mean I had proven that I could make fire.

  At the end of the hall was a black panther, wearing gold ear cuffs and gold bands around her front paws. She was smaller than the jaguar who had been helping me. I studied the cat while she retained a look of disinterest. “I was half expecting a sphinx,” I said out loud to myself.

  “You were fortunate not to,” she said, also out loud.

  I tried very hard not to freak out. Many laws of physics had been broken on this worl
d, but I could get over it because it was a different world. A talking cat hit a little too close to home.

  “You must answer my question to pass through my door.” Her voice was smoother than I thought a cat’s voice would be.

  “Of course I do.” I was beginning to think the trials were merely hype.

  “One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it?”

  I had to think about it for a while, but I liked riddles and most of them followed a pattern. As such, I knew “blind” didn’t mean that in the same sense as I was used to. By coming out seeing, it had to mean that the person’s eyes or mind were opened, or that what blinded them was removed.

  When I had an answer, I didn’t give it to the cat immediately. I wanted to see what she would do.

  Eventually, she said, “I grow impatient, mortal.”

  “Do you get to eat me if I don’t answer?”

  “Not until you die of suffocation.”

  “From lack of oxygen?”

  “No; from me pinning you to the ground and suffocating you.”

  “A school.”

  She stood, slowly, and flexed her paws. I worried I had phrased it wrong or pissed her off altogether. Then she stepped aside and the door opened. I decided not to push my luck.

  The next hallway was already lit. Guarding the opposite door was a huge black dog. Like the ones guarding the city, he wore iron armor. “You must answer my two questions to pass through my door,” the dog said. His voice wasn’t any more dog-like than the cat’s had been cat-like.

  “I figured.”

  “Who are you closest to?”

  I hesitated, not because I had to think about it but because I didn’t want to tell them. “My brother,” I answered, leaving out his name.

  “If you knew that you would be responsible for his undoing, would you choose to stay here, where you could not hurt him?”

  “No. I know that people I care about get hurt and I’m willing to learn magic to stop it, but I still trust myself more than the gods or prophecies. I trust that I can protect him better than someone who doesn’t care about him.”