Science and Sorcery Box Set

by Ryan Tang

  Gallant wasn't sure.

  "Well, you said they were Ransom battles. But I don't get the difference. In school, we just talk about battles."

  Gallant loved reading about battles. She loved learning about stuff like the Singer's victories or the Surgeon's techniques. Of course, trying to watch the Surgeon's techniques in person was what got their House in trouble with The Tooth Man, but that wasn't her fault. The Tooth Man was just butthurt that the Surgeon had beaten the crap out of him. He was just looking for someone to blame. She and Lonely were both certain of that, and Adrienne and her Intuition agreed.

  "What did they tell you there?"

  "They said battles were fought between the Heads of various Houses although the Heads were allowed to call on other House members or their allies. The battles are to train up for the Conquest. The winner is paid in prizes - Sinsworn and food for the pilot and Familiar. Sometimes we go over old warriors, like Thel Halfgod or Brea of the Faces. Sometimes we talk about people like the Singer or the Young Giant. We talk about The Tooth Man too, but I don't see what's so great about him. I could have killed him if my machine wasn't about to go away."

  Gallant suddenly remembered what Star Above said the other day and blushed. It was Star's fault she didn't remember. Her teacher was so stupid and boring.

  "Come to think of it, they did say we get in trouble for killing someone. Of course, deaths do happen on accident, but fighting in a way that endangers people will get you in a lot of trouble."

  Her Intuition persistently reminded her.

  "We can't get in trouble, remember?"

  Once again, Adrienne and Gallant told it to shut up. The Namer had said not to tell Lonely what happened. And they weren't sure if they could trust the Namer yet.

  "The Ransom battles are named after an Old Earth tradition. Back then, if they won a fight, people used to capture prisoners or armor to sell them back to the loser's family members. It's the same principle here. We don't get captured or lose our Paragons, but we do need to pay the winner back the amount he hypothetically would have been able to extract from us."

  "Did they tell you about the challenges?"

  Gallant nodded again.

  "A challenge against a lower-ranked Lord can be refused. A challenge from a higher-ranked Lord is an honor that must be accepted."

  The challenge system was why they were in so much trouble. Her brother was a lot stronger than most of the low-ranking Lords. His skill in a Paragon was enough to make up for their Familiars and Liquid-State Eternium. He'd even won some battles back when idiots thought they could challenge him. But without a Familiar, he would always be considered the lowest-ranking Lord. He couldn't make challenges of his own. And they'd always hate him and call him a Freak or an Ignorant.

  He just had to wait as The Tooth Man bled him dry. It was so unfair.

  "So a House battle is totally different. First off, anyone can challenge anyone to a House battle. And it's not just the Heads fighting. It's an all-out war with no restrictions. You're allowed to refuse someone's surrender and kill them. If you win, you can take everything they own - their Castlecraft, Paragon, Sinsworn, even their Familiar. Back in the old days, when the Constellation first formed, people even used their Sinsworn in battle."

  "What? The Sinsworn?! How?"

  Lonely stopped talking and stared at her. He wasn't looking at her with his "you're an idiot" face. He just looked completely surprised.

  She repeated herself.

  "What do you mean the Sinsworn fight as well?"

  "Why wouldn't they? It's an all-out war."

  "But how can they fight? They're only models! We learned they were just to keep score!"

  Lonely shook his head.

  "That's how it is now. But back in the old days, a single Noble could command an entire army. That's how the Constellation formed. Certain Nobles wanted to run away forever, but our ancestors eventually created the Sinsworn so we'd have a chance of winning. It was to make up for our biggest weakness on Old Earth. We were a hundred times stronger than the Ignorants, but there were thousands of them for every one of us."

  "Wait, so why don't people use the Sinsworn now?"

  Lonely shrugged.

  "Well, everyone is focusing on Ransom battles. Back in my day, I learned in school it's because individual skill is more important."

  "Wow! I thought they were just for keeping score!"

  Lonely shook his head again.

  "That might be how they are used now, but that wasn't their purpose in the past. And it won't be in the future either."

  "Wow."

  Thinking about the Sinsworn made Gallant a little sad. Their House barely had any left, and it wasn't Lonely's fault. Nobody wanted to fight him, and The Tooth Man kept picking on them.

  Her Intuition cut in.

  "We could fix that... there are hundreds of Sinsworn lying around..."

  She told it to shut up.

  "Can people still move Sinsworn? If nobody's done it in so long?"

  "The highest-ranking Nobles are trained to do it."

  Lonely sighed again.

  "The Tooth Man probably could."

  Her brother shook his head.

  "I get discouraging them. Hot-headed Nobles have considered declaring them in the past but stopped when they were given time to reconsider. After all, people dying will hurt the Conquest. But it seems weird just not to talk about it. It's a big part of our history! It's how the Constellation united!"

  Gallant wanted to talk more, but the next time she opened her mouth, she let out a massive yawn.

  Her big brother laughed.

  "Alright. It's time for you to go to bed."

  Gallant didn't want to sleep, not while the conversation was getting so interesting.

  Adrienne nudged her.

  "Remind him about the ransoms!"

  Her Intuition agreed.

  "That might work!"

  "But I thought we were going to sort out ransoms after dinner! I wanted to put the Sinsworn together!"

  Most Nobles just gave the raw parts, but not Gallant. Even putting a Sinsworn together for another Noble was fun. She loved working with Eternium.

  Unfortunately, Lonely said no.

  "I'll save it for you tomorrow. I'll just gather up the meal and food. You need to go to sleep, so you're ready for class. Star Above keeps telling me you're not paying attention."

  Gallant stuck out her tongue.

  "She sucks!"

  Adrienne bobbled in agreement, but Lonely was unmoved. He turned away to his room.

  Gallant sighed and left to get ready for bed. Then she stopped.

  Her brother looked so sad, but it wasn't his fault that The Tooth Man was bullying them.

  "Hey, Big Bro. Once I graduate, we'll be able to take this all back."

  She just had to figure out how to stay in her Paragon.

  "With your plans and my piloting, we'll be unstoppable! Your plan today was so good! I can't believe those idiots ruined it! Of course, I was one of those idiots!"

  Her brother shook his head.

  "No. No. It's alright."

  "Man. I can't wait until I get to follow your plans myself."

  He smiled broadly.

  "Well, you'll just have to work hard. Don't get in trouble tomorrow. And stay calm!"

  That's all she had to do. Not even graduation mattered. Once she could stay calm, their House would have everything they ever wanted.

  ____

  Gallant stretched and sneaked through the wall of their Castlecraft. Lonely never let her pilot her Paragon to school, but it didn't matter. She knew a few things that he didn't.

  The first weird thing she knew was that she could breathe in space. Gallant didn't know why that happened, but it did. Her Intuition said it'd always been that way. One time, her Paragon had dissolved after she'd gotten too excited, and she was sent drifting away without a spacesuit. Adrienne had gotten really scared, but somehow, Gallant turned out fine.

  The s
econd secret was that she could gather Eternium from the dust in the air. After every fight, the Nobles did their best to gather up all the broken parts, but there was always a bit remaining. Every time weapons clashed, they brushed off each other, sending a bit more Eternium into the void of space.

  Just like how she could transform her Paragon in battle, Gallant could call the Eternium to her. The jellyfish machine formed around her as Adrienne and her Intuition applauded.

  "We should do this for the Sinsworn. We'll never have to pay any more Ransoms then."

  "Shut up. It's illegal."

  That was the first thing Gallant thought of once she discovered she could command the dust, but when she looked it up in the nursery library, the rules seemed clear. Scavenging and pilfering were illegal. At first, Gallant hadn't known what those words meant. That had been four years ago, when she, Adrienne, and her Intuition had only been seven years old. But they basically meant that you weren't allowed to steal leftover Eternium.

  So far, all she'd done was secretly ride her newly formed Paragons to school. She'd go early, before even the bus, and then dismiss the dust once she got to class. She didn't like sitting on the bus. It was cramped, and a lot of the kids were jerks to her. They kept saying bad stuff about Lonely, but the pilot of the bus would get mad if Gallant fought the other kids over it.

  She'd thought about leaving some Sinsworn in the hangar and pretending they were gifts, but Lonely was way too smart for that. He'd figure it out without a problem.

  "You should just form the Sinsworn and give it to him. We can't get in trouble, no matter what we do. That's what the Namer said. Are you going to ignore the Namer? They make the laws!"

  Adrienne mused.

  "Intuition has a point."

  "Yeah, but we can't tell him we won't get in trouble. The Namer said we couldn't tell Lonely that we talked. So if we try to do the fake gift, we'll have to lie to him."

  She shook her head.

  "Don't think I'll be able to do that. He'd figure me out."

  Keeping things quiet from him was the best she could do.

  Then she got it. The answer popped into her head, and she didn't even need her Intuition to tell her.

  "When I repair his machine! He makes me thin out the armor because he says it won't survive a hit anyways, and we need to conserve our Eternium."

  She giggled.

  This was smart. Lonely wouldn't figure it out. He'd just think she got better at controlling Eternium.

  "I can just make it the usual thickness and also save some for the block."

  "Oh, I like that!"

  "Me too! Me too!"

  Gallant beamed with pride.

  Then her machine fizzled and left the three of them drifting through space. She sighed, stilled her heart, and then called her machine again. It was a good thing nobody saw that. She should wear a spacesuit just to be safe. If people saw her breathing in space, they wouldn't know what to think. By now, Gallant knew that when she did things other people couldn't, they'd get mad. All the Nobles except her big brother were like that.

  Gallant shook her head.

  They were all training to conquer Old Earth again, but how were they supposed to do that if they spent all their time envying each other? It made sense if your Aspect was Envy, but otherwise, it just seemed stupid.

  Her machine formed around her, and this time, Gallant created a spacesuit too.

  "Aw, why do you do that? We can breathe in the dark. We always could."

  "People will get mad if they find out."

  "Who cares, we'll let them know we're special."

  That's what her Intuition always said.

  "Shut up, that's what you said about fighting The Tooth Man."

  It paused for a moment before arguing back. That was good. At least her Intuition was thinking.

  "Fine. You're right about that. But then we met the Namer. He said we could never get in trouble, remember?"

  Adrienne cut in.

  "How do you even know the Namer is a guy?"

  That was a good point. The Namers disguised everything about them. They wore fake breasts just so that people couldn't tell if they looked like men or women.

  Intuition shrugged.

  "I just know."

  There were a lot of things Intuition knew. It didn't know how to create Eternium though. They could gather the scraps, but the secret of smelting it was only for the Namers.

  The jellyfish machine flew faster and faster, and the school came closer and closer. The Nursery was even uglier than the Hall. Lonely said it was because nobody wanted to pay to fix it. That sounded dumb too, but Gallant couldn't earn Eternium of her own yet. Once she did, she'd patch up the school. She'd help the teachers and workers she liked and ignore Star Above's room. Star Above was the worst teacher ever.

  She was always teaching them about stupid and useless things. They were reading about Thel Halfgod, who was one of the greatest Noble warriors during the Ignorants' rebellion. He'd spent half of his childhood in bed pretending to be injured so that he could escape the angry eyes of Zann the Hangman, the traitor who usurped his parent's throne. It was a cool story, but it seemed to Gallant like there wasn't much depth to it. He was just lying in bed.

  She'd read ahead and learned about his great exploits. He hadn't just slain Zann and taken back his parent's throne. He'd even killed Grand Commander Ray II, who was the heir to the first Grand Commander Ray, the man who'd started the rebellion. The ending was sad, though. His cowardly allies abandoned him, and he died alone on the battlefield. Thel's god - Ignorance - was one of the Abandoned Six.

  By now, Gallant had finished with Thel's story entirely. She was reading about Zann now. Even though he turned traitorous, he'd been a skilled warrior. There was much to learn from him. Star Above would be mad if she found out that Gallant read ahead. That was what all her petty reports to Lonely were really about.

  Intuition chuckled.

  "She's just dumb. The reason she doesn't want to talk about battles is because then we'll find out how weak she is."

  Adrienne laughed

  "That's probably true. Why else would she spend a whole month talking about lying around in bed? She's just teaching what she knows about."

  Gallant smiled as she landed. The school's motto glowed high above her as she stepped inside.

  "The greatest and the freest."

  It was the motto of all the Nobles, but even Gallant could see that it wasn't true. If things really were free, she'd be free to kill bullies like The Tooth Man. Intuition, Adrienne, and herself all thought that the House battles sounded very interesting.

  They just had to get stronger. They had to master the holy metal. Only then would they be free – and Gallant would be free too.

  She waved her hand, and her machine vanished into the mist.

  Eternium was freedom. All three of them knew that for sure.

  CHAPTER 5: THE DEBTOR

  When Lonely woke up the next day, he didn't know if he should feel happy or sad.

  He'd failed, and now their small stash of Eternium would dwindle even further. It wouldn't be long before they'd have to start taking Brightwalls apart. At the rate The Tooth Man was going, he would soon leave Lonely and Gallant homeless and starving. Lonely had checked with the Nursery, and they were clear that Gallant wouldn't be allowed to live there again, not after moving out early.

  But on the other hand, his sister believed in him.

  She said she wanted to follow his plans. And now, Lonely knew for a certainty that his plans were good. Standing alongside three gutter Nobles, he'd nearly overwhelmed The Tooth Man. If only those idiots had listened.

  Gallant was already at school, so their Castlecraft was quiet and boring. Lonely stretched and got out of bed, walking through empty hall after empty hall.

  It wasn't supposed to be this way. Lonely didn't know of any other siblings with such an age difference between them. He'd checked all the other Castlecraft data just to be sure. Siblings were s
upposed to go through the Nursery together and then form their House afterward. The farthest age difference he knew of was two years, and that was already unusual. Lonely had only found out about Gallant when he was six. Lonely was sixteen now - a fully grown man for three years - but Gallant still had another two years at the Nursery.

  Lonely was glad he had Gallant, but he had no idea why they were allowed to be together. It wasn't like he could ask his parents. Unlike Deep Cuts, he didn't even know where he'd begin finding them.

  Lonely pulled aside the sliding door that led to his closet. He'd have to dress in his best today. You always had to look your best when you delivered a ransom. The young Noble shook his head. It was weird. You looked your best to feel your worst.

  He put on the traditional black suit and tie along with a stiff white-collared shirt. That was how the Lords had dressed on Old Earth before the rebels deposed them through treachery. He would wait for Gallant to forge the Sinsworn and repair his Paragon, but he still had to collect food for The Tooth Man's stupid Familiar.

  Lonely pushed the thought aside and went to the garden.

  "I can't wait to follow your plans."

  If they lasted for two more years, their House would be very strong. It might not even take two years. They needed Gallant to come of age to make challenges, but if Gallant learned how to control her abilities, nobody would dare to attack them.

  Lonely gathered up his worn-out ransom crate and climbed to the garden. Back in the days of Old Earth, farmers had actually raised and slaughtered live creatures. Now, all meat was grown from cell cultures. The delicious flesh bloomed almost like they were plants. Lonely harvested a full row of meat and then added vegetables and grains, which were only for the Noble.

  The young Noble frowned. Gallant's jellyfish had enough to eat, but it'd be better if she could eat more. Maybe then it'd grow as big as The Tooth Man's shark.

  At the very end of the row was the human flesh. Lonely shivered. No matter what way you sliced it, picking human meat was a grisly task.

  Goosebumps ran up Lonely's arms as he grasped the detached hands and dropped them into the box. They clattered and clattered. The skin was very much like his own. Once upon a time, the sinful gods and their children, the Familiars, had hunted men.