The namer of spirits, p.21
The Namer of Spirits, page 21
“The dao fora,” said Ash.
“For a time, but they were too easily contained. I needed something more terrible and unpredictable. Something people could fear but never defeat. Something,” he waved his hand in the air, “dramatic.”
“The illwen! That’s why you want the illwen to attack cities and villages!”
Lord Ocras nodded. “Now you’re getting it. The illwen are the perfect enemy. The more people fear the illwen, the harder they’ll work to buy crystal cloth for protection from an enemy they can never defeat. Keep people afraid, and keep them wanting, and they’re easy to control. It’s the perfect system. Even you have fallen under its spell.”
“That’s not true,” said Ash.
“Your actions suggest otherwise.” He glanced at the crystal cloth spectacles in her hand. When had she pulled them from her pocket?
Ash's stomach fell as she realized that the want and fear woven into the cloth had influenced her too. She recalled how she’d refused to leave the spectacles behind earlier. She’d even lied to Puppy about them, and she’d gotten angry at Fen because of them.
“There’s no need to hide it,” continued Lord Ocras. “You’re afraid and you want control. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it’s something I understand quite well. As I said before, we have much in common. I can teach you how to use your abilities to harness the power of the illwen so that you can shape the world into exactly what you want it to be. In time, if you prove yourself, you might even take over some of what I’ve begun.”
She started to say no, but Lord Ocras cut her off.
“Before you speak, think about what I’m offering you. Once I’ve trained you, things can be arranged any way you like. You’ll have the power to make the world a better place. You could even create your own House of Ten Thousand Rooms and fill it with all that you desire. You’ll never have to lose anything again. With your illwen and mine, we’ll have an empire like none in history. All you have to do, Young Namer, is say yes.”
Young Namer. He kept calling her that. Each time he did, the name sank a little further into her, molding her into what he wanted her to be. Not Ash, but someone young and impressionable. Someone who’d become exactly like him.
“I won’t let you tell me who I am,” she said.
Lord Ocras shrugged. “Those who want control never like to submit to control themselves. Are you sure you don’t want to rethink your answer?”
“I’m not like you. I’ll never be like you.”
“We’ll see.” All the friendliness fell from Lord Ocras’s face, revealing a cold, cruel expression. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a white feather. Then he held the feather close to his lips and whispered a quick name.
“Poison seta!”
Chains
In a blink, the feather changed into a poison-tipped dart. Even while Ash saw this, she sensed another name beneath the one Lord Ocras had spoken. Another possibility that could still be taken. The image of a quill pen flashed in her head.
Lord Ocras threw the dart at her.
“Quill,” she said, focusing all her will on making the name fit the dart.
Something in the dart pushed back, but Ash kept willing the name to be true. Like pressing a needle through thick cloth, she felt resistance until the new name pierced through the name Lord Ocras had spoken and took hold.
The dart became a harmless feather quill. It drifted to the ground, landing at Ash’s feet.
Ash sucked in a breath, amazed.
“You learn fast, Young Namer,” said Lord Ocras. “That’s good.”
He uttered another word, one that Ash didn’t hear. Chunks of rock fell from the ceiling, big enough to crush her. Luckily, Puppy nudged her out of the way. He dodged the falling stones and shook the dust off his fur.
Ash glanced at the hole in the ceiling, wondering how Lord Ocras could have made the ceiling crumble like that. The whole room, from floor to ceiling, must have absorbed traces of spirit energy from the illwen that had been kept here. She focused on the clay tiles Lord Ocras stood upon and sensed spirit energy humming within them. Ash searched for another name to shape their essence.
“Sand!” she said, levering the word into the tiles with a surge of her will.
The floor beneath Lord Ocras’s feet fell like grains of sand through an hourglass. Lord Ocras plummeted downward. He grabbed the leg of one of the wolves.
Eagla tensed but didn’t move. With a spat word, Lord Ocras made the tiles stop crumbling. As he heaved himself out of the sandy hole, Ash caught sight of the skeleton key around his neck. In a flash, she knew—it wasn’t a key to the room like she’d first thought. It was the key to the padlocks that held the illwen’s silver chain collars shut. To free the illwen she had to get the key from him.
Lord Ocras regained his footing, and the wolves crouched by his sides. “You’re clever, but don’t get cocky. Telling elemental objects what to be is just the beginning.” He tore a handful of fur off of each wolf. “Let’s see how you handle this.” Lord Ocras whispered to the fur he’d grabbed, then threw it at Ash.
Giant claws from an enormous vulture slashed through the air toward her. Ash yelped and dove, hitting the ground so hard she skinned her knees.
“Ash! It’s okay. I’ve got you,” said her mother.
Essa was here! Her mother had come to save her. Ash’s heart soared.
A soft hand grabbed her arm and helped her up. Ash looked at the hand, only to find it covered in rotting skin. Her mother’s bones showed beneath her dress sleeve, and a skull lurked behind her dirty veil.
Ash jerked her arm back, causing the skeleton to collapse beside her.
She tried to scream, but she had no breath. The vulture lunged at her again, its hooked beak opening to pluck out her eyes.
Ash clenched her eyes shut, but no vulture struck. It was just fear, causing her to see things. Fear and despair.
Eagla and Anobaith, thought Ash. Lord Ocras had changed their fur into terrifying visions of fear and despair.
“Illusions,” said Ash, renaming what she’d seen. “Harmless illusions.”
The attacking vulture and her skeletal mother vanished.
Lord Ocras clapped. “Well done. Are you sure you don’t want to become my student?”
“Never.”
“Such stubbornness.” Lord Ocras’s brow knotted. “It’s a shame to destroy someone as gifted as yourself, but you leave me little choice. Eagla, Anobaith, kill her.”
The wolves charged. Unlike the illusions that had been made from their fur, Ash couldn’t make them disappear. Nor could she change them. Their forms were bound to the names Lord Ocras had given them by the chain collars locked around their necks.
Puppy darted ahead of her. Although he was pitifully small compared to the wolves, he was faster. He nipped at Anobaith’s paws, tripping the huge wolf. Then he jumped and grabbed Eagla by her ear. The wolf shook her head, but Puppy had already moved on, leaping from Eagla’s head to Anobaith’s back. He moved faster than Ash had ever seen him go—jumping, dodging, and nipping to keep the wolves distracted.
While the wolves lunged and snapped at Puppy, Ash fended off Lord Ocras. He changed a handful of stones into knives that he threw at her. Ash barely managed to duck behind a table, which she changed into a shield to protect her. A moment later, Ocras commanded the wooden shield to ignite into flames, and she had to drop it.
Ocras grabbed a pair of scissors from his workbench and whispered a command. The scissors stretched and gleamed, becoming a deadly sword. Then he turned the tile she stood upon into muddy clay. Her feet sank up to her ankles.
Ash couldn’t think fast enough to keep up with the changes. Lord Ocras had only been playing with her before—testing her. Now he didn’t hold back. Her heart pounded as he strode toward her with the sword.
Ash sensed traces of spirit energy in the ornate plaster work on the ceiling. She focused on it, hearing faint whispers. “Dust!” she said, renaming the plaster.
Pieces of plaster fell onto Lord Ocras’s head, but this only appeared to enrage him further. He spat and brushed the dust from his eyes while Ash struggled to pull her feet out of the floor. The clay had hardened around one foot, holding her there.
Lord Ocras’s eyes narrowed as he raised the sword above him.
“Puddle! Dirt!” gasped Ash, desperately trying to rename the clay that held her foot stuck. None of the names worked. She had to listen more deeply. At the edge of her vision, she saw the sword swinging down.
Puppy streaked toward her—a blur of black-and-white fur. He slammed into Lord Ocras and knocked the sword from his hand. Then Puppy skidded across the tile floor, losing his footing.
Eagla darted in to take advantage of Puppy’s bad landing.
“Look out!” cried Ash, but it was too late. The wolf pounced and caught Puppy beneath his paw. Everything else faded from Ash’s awareness as the wolf’s jaws snapped around Puppy’s tiny body.
Eagla thrashed his head and tossed Puppy across the room. The small black-and-white body thumped the wall.
“Mud!” said Ash, finally hearing a name that fit. The hard clay that held her foot became soft and slippery. Ash yanked her foot free and scrambled to where Puppy lay motionless by the wall.
“Puppy, get up! Please, get up.”
He was still breathing, but his legs collapsed when he tried to stand.
He gazed at her and whimpered, unable to make his borrowed body do what he wanted it to.
Were we playing a game? he asked, sounding dazed.
“Yes,” said Ash. “You were protecting me.”
Eagla and Anobaith stalked closer. Their fur bristled and teeth glistened as they spread out to cut off her escape. Ash didn’t care. All that mattered was Puppy.
Was it a good game?
“The best,” said Ash. She stroked the soft, fluffy spot behind his black-and-white ears.
Good. Puppy tried to lick her hand, but he was too weak. Is the game over now? I’m sleepy.
“Please don’t sleep. Stay with me.”
But I’m tired. Puppy’s eyes fluttered. Something’s wrong with me.
“You can fix him,” said Lord Ocras. “It’s only his borrowed body that’s broken. You can make the illwen take on another form. Tell him what to become and bind him to his new name. Make him be your fierce protector.”
Ash heard the eagerness in his voice. This was what he’d wanted all along. By making her fight him, he was getting her to become like him. Another Shadow Namer. She looked at the two giant wolves pacing around her with their chain collars.
“Do it! You’re running out of time,” said Lord Ocras. “It’s the only way to save him.”
Ash? Are you still there?
Ash pressed her face against Puppy’s head and smelled his warm fur. “I’m right here.”
I can’t keep my eyes open. They’re not working anymore.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Was I a good Puppy?
“The best,” she whispered. “I’m glad you found me.”
She stroked the soft fur behind his ears one last time. Then she slipped her fingers under the ribbon collar. Before she lost her nerve, she tugged the collar over his ears and released him.
Whispers poured out of his body, speaking new possibilities for what the illwen could be. Among the excited whispers, Ash heard one that sounded clearer than the others. It was a name that reflected the other side of the tame puppy she’d known.
“Be free, Wildness,” she said, speaking the whispered name aloud.
The Trouble with Names
Puppy let out his last breath.
Only his breath kept coming, like a storm rushing from his mouth. The sudden gust knocked Ash back and slammed her into the approaching wolves.
The wind darkened, taking on the shape of a six-legged illwen with a sharp, slashing tail. All that pent-up wildness was eager to be free. It raced about the room, kicking up sand and rubble.
“Foolish child! Freeing that illwen won’t help you,” shouted Lord Ocras. “Unbound illwen don’t serve anyone. They don’t care about people. They’re primal spirits that must be controlled. Eagla, Anobaith, finish her!”
The wolves struggled against the wind in the room. Anobaith slid back while Eagla kept advancing, cornering Ash.
Eagla lunged. Ash barely managed to block his snapping jaws with Kiki.
The wolf bit the ironwood and tugged, but Ash didn’t let go. Eagla tossed Ash onto her back.
Wayfarer broke her fall, only now the wolf loomed over her, jaws widening. Ash jammed the end of Kiki into his mouth.
Eagla snarled and snapped at the ironwood twigs. Slobber dripped from his teeth onto her cheeks while the silver padlock dangled from the chain around his neck. Ash wished she could rename the chain and turn it into something else, but she couldn’t hear any names for it other than Unbreakable. Somehow, Lord Ocras had bound it to that name, just as he’d bound Eagla and Anobaith to theirs.
If only I had the key.
She glanced at Lord Ocras. He still wore the key around his neck, but he was far across the room. Ash gripped Kiki tighter. It took all her strength to keep Eagla from devouring her.
Kiki! The ironwood stick chanted its name in her head. Kiki, Ki—!
One of the twigs snapped off and fell onto her chest. Even Kiki was breaking.
No. Not breaking, thought Ash. Changing.
She grabbed the fallen twig with one hand and felt it hum with potential.
“Skeleton Key!” said Ash, renaming the twig. As she spoke, she envisioned the skeleton key she’d seen hanging from Lord Ocras’s necklace.
The twig straightened, and the bumps and knots on the end took on the shape of the key she’d seen.
Eagla tore Kiki from her grasp. While the wolf tossed the stick aside, Ash seized the padlock dangling from the wolf’s chain collar. She shoved the key into the keyhole and gave it a twist.
The lock snapped open.
The chain fell free.
Whispers rushed into the silence surrounding the wolf. Several of the whispers called to Ash, but one name sounded a clear, familiar tone.
“Be free, Sinach!” said Ash.
It was a dao fora word—one that Caihay had taught her. Keep sinach here, he’d told her, pointing to his heart. Even if he’d never told her the word’s meaning, she would have known it from the way it made her feel. Courage.
Eagla instantly changed, becoming a larger, brighter creature. Instead of attacking Ash, the illwen galloped about the room. Unbound, Sinach’s form was less fixed and more fluid. He moved in graceful leaps, his once dark coat shining silver. The six-legged illwen that had been Puppy ran with him and the two playfully chased each other, tearing things up like a tornado trapped in a house.
The rollicking illwen barreled into Anobaith, knocking her onto her belly. Sinach clamped his jaws around the metal chain on his sister’s neck and dragged Anobaith toward Ash. The padlock that held the illwen’s collar shut jutted to the side. Sinach looked at Ash, making it clear what he wanted her to do.
“Don’t!” shouted Lord Ocras. “She’ll turn on you. She’ll destroy you. Illwen must be controlled!”
Lord Ocras kept yelling, but his voice sounded hollow. Empty. Ash slid the key she’d created into the lock on Anobaith’s chain and turned it. The lock clicked open. Ash pulled the lock off the chain and Anobaith burst free.
Only the illwen wasn’t simply Anobaith anymore. As had happened with Sinach, Ash heard other whispers for the unbound wolf—other possibilities she could call forth.
“Be free, Va-Tay!” she said, speaking the dao fora word Suma had taught her. Va-tay. Last Hope. Where despair had been, hope now surged. You couldn’t have one without the other.
Va-Tay raced about the room with Sinach and Wildness.
In their raucous, exuberant celebration, they shattered pots, smashed open the balcony doors, and broke parts of the balcony railing. They were destructive, but they were also beautiful.
“Eagla! Anobaith!” snapped Lord Ocras.
The running wolves stopped and turned toward him, becoming what he’d called them. Sinach darkened, growing fearful again, and Vay-Tay became as heavy and menacing as despair.
Lord Ocras’s face paled when he realized his mistake. Although he could name the illwen, now that they were free of their unbreakable chain collars, he couldn’t command them. Both wolves growled as they stalked toward him. Lord Ocras’s eyes widened. He shuffled back onto the balcony, terrified.
Ash didn’t know what he saw. He’d called the wolves Eagla and Anobaith—fear and despair—so perhaps he saw his worst nightmares stalking toward him, along with a complete loss of hope.
She wanted to tell him to name the wolves differently. That’s what she’d done, and there were plenty of other names for the illwen that would bring out other possibilities in their spirits.
But before she could say a word, the wolves charged. Lord Ocras scrambled back, tripped over the broken balcony railing, and tumbled through the air toward the plaza far below.
Transformations
The six-legged illwen that had once been Puppy kept bounding about the room. It seemed too shifting and complex to fix to any one name now. It was wind, claws, and smoke—at once playful, fierce, and wild.
It tossed the table into the cabinet that held the illwen’s stolen objects. The cabinet shattered and splinters of wood, shelves, and crystal cloth scattered in various directions. The illwen snapped up the stolen objects in its jaws. Then it galloped to the balcony and leapt into the air.
Instead of falling, it changed shape and soared on enormous wings. The two wolves leapt off the balcony after it, becoming as light and fluid as gusts of wind. The darkness that Lord Ocras had called forth in the illwen when he’d named them Eagla and Anobaith receded into the silver and gold they’d become when Ash had renamed them Sinach and Va-Tay. But there were other colors in them as well, along with other names. They looked far more magnificent than they’d ever been while bound.
