Empire Builder 2
Page 26
“Beef stew and vegetables, fresh bread, and plenty of butter,” she said. “And a tall mug of ale to wash it all down.”
The words brought a joy to Ben that was hard to contain. She set the tray on the small table near one of the towering windows.
“Now, eat up—but don’t eat too fast. When you’re done, meet me in the bathroom.”
“Thank you, Sybil.”
“Thank me by not forgetting to take care of yourself when you fly across half the continent.” With one last smile, she left him alone.
Ben didn’t waste any time hurrying over to the table and sitting down. The stew looked amazing, the broth thick and dark, succulent chunks of meat floating in it. Sliced carrots and cubed potatoes joined meat, and Ben could detect fresh herbs mixed into the stew. The butter was golden yellow and creamy, steam rising from the half-loaf of bread.
He grabbed his fork and jabbed a hunk of meat, bringing it to his mouth and biting down. The meat was as tender and flavorful as it looked, and Ben’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as the juices rushed over his palate. He chewed and swallowed before turning his attention to the bread. He ripped off a ragged chunk and smeared it with a dollop of butter before dunking it in the broth. Once it was saturated, he took a bite and chewed eagerly.
Ben felt himself become more and more restored with each bite and swallow. When he was done, the last drop of broth soaked up by the last chunk of bread, he sat back, folded his hands over his belly, and sighed.
“How was it?” asked Sybil, who stood at the entrance to the bathroom.
“I don’t know how you do it,” he said, shaking his head. “It was incredible—the best meal I’ve had in a long time.”
“Hunger is the best spice,” she said. “And as confident as I am in my cooking skills, I’m sure the fact that you’ve come back from risking your life and freeing slaves had something to do with it. Come—the bath is ready.”
“Bath?”
“Of course. You think I’m going to let you subject the council to your stench?” she offered a sly smile as she turned and went back into the bathroom.
Ben chuckled before rising and following Sybil. Once in the bathroom, he saw that she’d filled the tub for him with inviting, steaming water.
“I added a little herbal mixture to the water—something to help your muscles.” She looked him up and down. “Now, strip.”
She didn’t need to tell Ben twice. He removed the rest of his clothes and stepped over to the bath. Once there, he carefully dabbed one toe into the water, followed by the rest of his body.
“Oh… wow,” he said as he submerged himself to the shoulders, his arms hanging over the sides of the tub. Once he was in the water, Sybil placed her hands on his shoulders and began working the tension out of his muscles.
“Just relax,” she said. “The world’s out there waiting for you. But for now, all you need to think about is recharging.”
He closed his eyes and focused on the sensation of her hands on his body. Sybil worked with expert precision, undoing each knot one by one. When she’d finished with his arms and shoulders, she reached into the tub and took his legs out, draping them over the side and starting to work on them. She traveled from his quads down to his calves then to his feet.
“Now,” she said. “Let’s wash that adventuring grime off you.”
Sybil lifted a pitcher of water and poured it over his head, his hair soaking and the warm water streaming down his body.
“It was a good thing, what you did,” she said. “With those slaves. You saved their lives and gave them a fresh start.”
“Where are they now?”
“Resting—like you should be doing. When they’re awake in the morning, I’ll assign them some tasks around the tower. Don’t worry, I’ll have it all figured out. But I’ve known enough slaves to understand that way they’ll feel in the morning when they awaken and remember that they’re free… they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives. And you were responsible for it.”
“It’s a damn shame that someone needs to tell others not to enslave.”
“So it is. But you’re here to make things right.”
She continued to wash and massage Ben. And by the time she was done, Ben’s eyelids felt heavy.
“Come,” she said.
Sybil helped him out of the tub, wrapping a warm, thick towel around him when he was up.
“I could suggest some other ways to relax,” she said with a smile. “But I don’t want to risk wearing you out even further.”
Ben was so groggy and warm-headed that all he could do was offer a half-grin in response. When he was dried, Sybil led him back into the bedroom and took the towel, replacing it with a green and gold robe of fine, cool silk. She slipped his arms through it and tied the sash.
“Now,” she said. “Rest.”
“I don’t…I don’t need to rest. I need to…”
Instead of saying anything, Sybil guided him to the bed and placed her hand on the small of his back, helping him sit down.
“Just lay back and close your eyes. Whatever happens, happens, right? And if you do happen to drift off, there will be more good food waiting for you in the morning.”
Once Ben was on his back, the tingle of sleep moved over his body. He could hardly keep a thought in his head. Within minutes, he was out.
* * *
Ben awoke to the warmth of morning sunlight on his face. His sleep had been so deep and restful that he was certain he’d been under for days, if not longer. But when he turned to see the plates and bowl from his stew and bread gone, replaced by a pitcher and empty mug, he realized that he’d only slept through the night.
He stood up and stretched, his muscles singing out in pleasure as blood flowed to his limbs. When he felt ready, Ben stepped over to the pitcher and saw a small note tucked under its base.
Some coffee to start your day. We’ll have breakfast ready for you soon, and I’ve already passed word that you’d like a council meeting—that will be at nine. Oh, and Sir Gallant the Younger insisted that you meet with him as soon as you could. I told him to relax and wait, but he said that you’d want to know what he’s discovered as soon as possible. He’s in the dungeons presently.
- Sybil.
Ben lifted the pitcher and poured himself a cup of steaming, black coffee, adding in a small splash of cream from the ramekin next to it. The smell alone was enough to wake him up. By the time he’d thrown a few sips back, Ben was ready for the day.
He slipped out of his robe and stepped over to his dresser, opening it and leafing through the clothes inside. He quite liked the gold and forest green combination of his robe, so he chose that palette but in pants, a shirt, and a cloak over top. After putting on a pair of black leather slippers, he took the elevator down to the dungeon.
What could the Younger possibly want this early? Ben wondered. I swear, he’s planning on showing some obscene torture tool he found in storage I’ll have to give him a piece of my mind about wasting my time.
The doors opened and he stepped out into the dungeon.
“Eureka!” Sir Gallant the Younger’s tinny but determined voice carried down the stone-walled halls of the dungeon. Ben followed it, expecting to find the small knight in one of the torture chambers.
“Ben!” called out the knight. “Come to the leftmost crafting room!”
Crafting room? thought Ben. Weren’t those all sealed off?
He took the hall down in the direction of Sir Gallant’s voice, his excited cheers growing louder as Ben drew closer.
Ben soon reached the crafting rooms. And to his surprise, the magical wall that had prevented him from accessing them was gone. Ben found the one where Sir Gallant the Younger was, a large room with wooden tables, scales, measures, and glass bottles. It reminded Ben of a science lab, but more medieval.
The tiny knight was atop a table in the middle of the room, a pile of mana crystals to his side, a smaller pile of what appeared to be gold nearby.
Ben entered the crafting room through the open door. The space was cool, and the air crackled with magical energy.
“What the hell is going on in here, Younger?” Ben asked as he approached the table. “And how did you get in here?”
The small knight raised his palms, as if giving himself a moment to catch his breath before explaining.
“It all started last night, shortly after you arrived,” he said. “I was down here in the basement, going over the, ah, inventory and coming up with some creative uses of our torture implements—should you want me to make use of them, of course.”
“Naturally.”
“Ahem. Well, around when you arrived, like I said, I heard a strange noise down the hall. It was like…an electrical charge had been turned off. I went to investigate, and that’s when I found that the crafting rooms had opened.”
“Just like that?” Ben asked.
“Just like that. So, being curious and diligent as I am, I checked out the crafting rooms and saw that they all contained texts filled with magical recipes. Some are for mana potions, some for healing, and some for ingredient lists. But it was this text that caught my eye.”
He jumped onto the open pages of the massive tome in front of him. Ben glanced down to see long, densely written paragraphs of information, the words Transmutation and Alchemy at the top in flowery handwriting.
Ben flicked his eyes over at the mana crystals, then the gold. And then he put it together.
“This…this is alchemy?”
“That’s precisely what it is!” said the small knight, his expression eager. “It was thought to be a lost art, but here it is!”
“You’re making gold out of… what, nothing at all?”
“It’s a complicated process, and what you’re seeing here is the result of hours and hours of studying and practice—ever since last night when the crafting rooms opened. There’s much to it, but in short, with the power of mana crystals, it’s possible to turn steel into gold!”
“I thought it was lead into gold.”
He shook his head. “If only it were so simple. Unfortunately, the process requires the most refined steel possible. And with that, it also requires ample mana crystals.”
“Just how much is ample?”
The small knight appeared sheepish, as if he didn’t want to say.
“Quite…quite a bit. Ten pounds of mana crystals for one ounce of gold.”
“And where did you get all the mana?”
“I… may have gone into Melody’s room and borrowed the mana she’d been preparing over the last few days.”
“You stole it.”
“It was for a good cause! And look…” He picked up one of the misshapen hunks of gold on the other side of the book. “This is gold! It worked! Sure, at the moment it costs an enormous amount of mana to make a small amount of gold, but the more I practice, the better that ratio will become. All I need is time and mana.”
Ben glanced down at the gold. He picked one piece up and held it in his hand, flipping it over his fingers. It was warm and soft, as if it had come right out of an oven.
“With enough gold we could hire mercenaries, equip our soldiers with the finest gear. We could even use it to bribe enemy armies who might otherwise fight us! And not to mention buy a few nice things for ourselves in the process, of course.”
Ben set down the piece of gold. “Keep at it—we’ll figure out how to get more mana for you to work with.”
The small knight’s eyes flashed with excitement. “You won’t regret this. With my help, you’ll soon be the wealthiest ruler in the world!”
“Focus on the practical side of having a treasury to work with,” Ben said. “And tell Melody that you took her mana—no more stealing from here on out.”
A tense expression flashed across his face. The knight clearly wasn’t looking forward to coming clean to Melody.
“Oh!” said Sir Gallant as Ben turned to leave. “One more thing. Come, come.”
He hopped up onto Ben’s shoulder and pointed ahead.
“What’s going on?” asked Ben.
“One of the doors to another section of the dungeon. It opened!”
“What?” asked Ben, shocked.
“Come with me—you’ll see!”
The tiny knight directed Ben through the dungeons, leading him to one of the doors that had been sealed.
“When I was down here, I felt something. I asked one of the aurochkin, and they had let me know you’d arrived. That’s what led me to believe that whatever happened here, it had to do with your return.”
Ben approached the tall, stone door, noticing that unlike before, he could approach it. Like with the crafting room, there was no barrier preventing him from stepping closely. When he was near, he wrapped his fingers around the stone handle and pulled.
It opened, almost as if on its own. The door revealed a winding, stone staircase that led into the deep dark below.
“Incredible,” said the tiny knight. “And I don’t know about you, but it’s practically calling out to be explored. What do you say?”
“I say it’s not a good idea for us to go down into a dungeon alone without letting the others know.”
“Oh, come on,” said Sir Gallant the Younger. “It’ll be fun, just the two of us. And we could have some quality male bonding time. I think it’d be a great idea.”
Ben couldn’t help but smirk at the knight’s enthusiasm.
“And,” added the knight, “if we were to find anyone or anything down there to keep in the dungeons, then so much the better.”
“Very low on the priority list, Gallant,” Ben said as he turned away from the door and allowed it to shut on its own.
“Just making mere suggestions,” Gallant said. “You have to admit, it’s a shame to have all this wonderful torture gear and no one to test it on. It’s even worse with that mage just begging to be put through the wringer.”
Ben started back to the elevator, the small knight on his shoulder. “Speaking of which, how is he?”
Gallant scoffed. “A royal pain. Every time I go near him it’s, ‘let me out of here’ this, ‘fix my hand’ that.”
“Let’s keep it that way. I haven’t decided what I want to do with him yet.”
“Well, if you need any suggestions, I’ve been doing quite a bit of brainstorming.”
“I have no doubt about it.”
Ben took the elevator up to the kitchen floor, the doors opening and revealing the council already there and in the middle of their breakfast. All eyes turned to Ben as he entered.
“Eat up and join me in the council room in a half-hour,” he said, making his way over to the table. He extended his arm and let Gallant run down and onto the table. “And Melody, the knight has something he wishes to speak to you about.”
“Now?” Gallant asked, his eyes wide and surprise in his voice. “I was hoping for a bit of time to, you know, ease her into it.”
“Is this about my mana?” she asked, rising from her seat. “Gallant!”
Ben smirked, taking an apple from a nearby fruit bowl and filling a mug of coffee on the way out.
“It was for something important!” shouted Gallant. “I swear!”
“Maybe I should test out the dungeon downstairs,” she said. “On you.”
The doors to the elevator shut, and Ben took it to the council room level. The doors opened and stepped into the vast space, taking a bite from his apple and letting the silence wash over him. Sybil had been right, he realized, he felt much more prepared to take on the day after a good meal and solid night’s sleep.
Ben stepped out onto the balcony, the view sweeping over his realm. The land was his, he knew, but it would take a lot of work to bring it under his control. And he knew the ruins he’d found would play a key role.
He finished his apple, tossing the core off
the balcony and watching it fall hundreds of feet to the ground below. The elevator doors opened as he threw back the last few sips of his coffee. His council entered the room and took their seats.
It was time to begin.
Ben left the balcony and went back into the council room. Everyone was already seated and speaking amongst themselves in excited tones, and Ben could sense that everyone was eager to hear about what Ben had seen on his trip.
“Thank you all for coming,” Ben said as he slid into his seat and placed his palms on the table.
“What happened?” Melody asked. “We wanted to ask the slaves, but they’re still sleeping.”
“Former slaves,” corrected Ben. “There are no slaves in my empire, remember.”
“Of course,” Melody said, a happy smile on her face. “It’s so hard to believe that there’s a place in this realm where slavery is forbidden.”
Ben nodded. I’ll make the whole realm such a place, he resolved.
“I planned on taking a brief flight to scout out the other tower. But I ended up finding much more than I was expecting.”
Ben took a deep breath and went into it. He told them about the flight west, over the endless forest, the branches of the trees below twisted and ancient. He told them about the tower, how a massive army of slaves and soldiers fed trees into the mouths of enormous beast-machines, extracting precious metals from the ground.
“That’s awful,” Vinata said, her eyes wide and sorrowful as she listened to Ben speak of the harvested trees. “I know the forest you’re speaking of. Some of those trees are thousands of years old.”
Imogen’s eyes flashed. “And the region out west is not only known for its precious gems, but for the strange, energy-packed black rocks that are so easy to come by under the ground.”
“Coal,” Ben said. “They’re using coal.”
“Coal?” Melody asked. “What is that?”
Ben gave himself a moment to try to figure out how to explain coal without having to go into the entire process of a combustible engine.
“Those black rocks are the remains of animals and plants that lived a long, long time ago. After they died, their remains were compressed by time and pressure until they were so tightly packed that they formed this substance called ‘coal.’ It has all the energy those plants and animals possessed, and if you know how, you can tap into it.”