“You’ve worked hard,” I said, taking my eyes off her numbers and looking at her. “So why are you worried?”
“You’re counting on me to win, and I’m not sure I can. No. It’s not that, I know I can’t.” She pointed at the red booths across the way where they sat empty. “Those were full of rank three sculptors this morning, but ever since Damore showed up, people have been forfeiting.”
“That means less work for you then,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Look, you have two penultimate skills. If you infuse them into your final creation, you’ll win. I’m sure of it.”
“I hope you’re right,” Annabeth said, nodding to me. “I’ve been working on something special for the competition.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “And before you go peeking, don’t. I want you to be surprised.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling a bit sheepish because I’d been about to look through her skill windows to see what new thing she’d been learning. “Care to give me a hint.”
“Yeah, sure.” She smiled as Gabriella bounced back into the booth with three dripping ice cream cones. “It involves water.”
“I didn’t know what kind you guys liked, so I got one of each. Don’t worry, they’re all good. I tried all of them to be sure.” She held them out. “But the pink one is my favorite.” She gave it a tentative lick and practically squealed with joy.
18
“I can’t wait for it to start!” Gabriella said, wrapping her arms around me excitedly and hugging me like she was trying to shatter my ribs. “I’ve never seen a sculpting competition before!”
“Truth be told, neither have I,” I said, trying to push her away, but it was no use. She was too strong, and what the archangel wanted, the archangel got.
We were seated in the section reserved for guests of the participants which was placed lower down in the arena just in front of the stands. As I glanced around though, I couldn’t help but be in awe. There had to be thousands of people in the stands, and the sounds of them chattering amongst each other was almost too much to bear.
It was a striking contrast to where Gabriella and I sat. There were only a few dozen others near us, and while the guest area wasn’t that big, I’d expected more people to show up.
“Does it seem empty to you?” I asked, glancing at Gabriella as she shoved a mouthful of caramel corn into her mouth and chewed. I wasn’t even sure where she’d gotten the giant bag of the stuff, only that she’d disappeared a few minutes ago and returned with it. Part of me had wanted to ask, but most of me didn’t want to know.
“Mmm?” she asked before swallowing hard. “What do you mean? There are lots of people here.” She gestured at the stands. “So many people.”
“Yeah, but not down here.” I pointed at the row we were on. Only one other person sat on it, and they were more than a dozen feet away. “These should be packed, no?”
“I don’t know.” She flushed, embarrassed. “Sorry, I haven’t been to one of these before.”
“Yeah, I know.” I rubbed my face with my hand. I had a bad feeling about this. This spot should have been occupied by the guests of more contestants, and it wasn’t. Was that because there weren’t many contestants?
“Honored patrons,” a voice boomed from overhead, and as I turned my way toward it, I saw a woman shrouded in snow white robes. Her crystalline, dragonfly wings beat the air, causing sparkles of color to flit across the arena. “We have an unfortunate announcement to make.” She took a deep breath as she descended to the floor of the arena. As her red-sandaled feet touched the ground, she gestured outward. “I am Koshuda, and in addition to announcing today’s contest, I will also be a judge. Today’s competition will take place over three rounds instead of the normal ten rounds.”
The crowd exploded into a chorus of hisses and boos, which, I’ll be honest, sort of surprised me. I mean, I totally got being disappointed by having a shorter show, but at the same time, this was a sculpting contest. I wasn’t quite sure I could handle ten rounds of that. Hell, I wouldn’t have come at all if I didn’t care about Annabeth.
Only, I did, so I was here. Still, the way she said it concerned me. Why were they shortening the contest so drastically? That didn’t make a lot of sense.
“The reason is simple,” the woman added, moving toward the judges’ station. “We have a new entrant, who I’m sure you’ll all love to see compete, but because of her presence a bunch of others have dropped out.” She snuffled. “Those cowards won’t be participating which means we’ve decided to just give you the biggest bang for your buck. Unlike normal where we face ten elimination rounds that slowly whittle down our opponents, we have decided to let the remaining participants compete in the final three rounds.” She clenched her fist. “Trust me when I say, you’re not going to be disappointed.”
She said more, but I couldn’t hear her over roar of the crowd. The lack of contestants was because of Damore, and I knew it. That meant so many people had dropped out just because she was competing they couldn’t proceed normally. While it meant Annabeth would have to face fewer contestants overall, it meant the deck had gotten stacked against us.
The thing was, I couldn’t figure out why Damore was here. From the way Annabeth had talked about the woman, she had won these competitions so many times in the past, she almost never left her studio to participate in them anymore. So why was she here? Why had she decided to participate in this one?
“Oh, who do you think the special contestant is?” Gabriella asked, grabbing my arm and jerking on me roughly.
“I think it’s Damore,” I said, trying to steal a piece of popcorn and failing. “You know, the girl Annabeth was worried about.”
“Boo Damore!” Gabriella cried, shaking her bag of popcorn menacingly.
“That’s the spirit,” I said, right before the announcer began to speak again.
“First, I would like to introduce our other two judges,” the dragonfly woman said, gesturing to the seat on her left. “Now, we all know our first judge. She’s the head of the Sculptor’s Guild and needs no further introduction. The one, the only, Freya!”
As the dragonfly spoke, rock music exploded across the amphitheater, and the lights began to strobe with red and black. A puff of violet smoke appeared in the center of the arena, and then everything went dark for a split second.
I sucked in a breath that tasted of sage, honey, and lavender and tried to see through the penetrating darkness, and as I involuntarily leaned forward to peer closer, the lights came on.
Standing amid the dissipating cloud of lavender was a tall woman with purple hair done in pigtails. She had purple lips and purple eyes and was dressed from head to toe in pink leather. A silver hoop in her left earring completed the ensemble as she gave a low bow before retreating to her station.
“Thank you,” Freya said, giving the crowd a head bob before seating herself.
The dragonfly nodded once at her, and for a moment it looked like she was going to say something. Only Freya just shook her head.
“Okay, well, I guess we’ll move on to our other judge. This is her first time, but I’m sure she needs no introduction either.” The dragonfly smacked her hands together. “The Princess of Greed herself, Mammon.”
And, as the arena filled with silver light, and Mammon appeared at the judge’s booth in a hail of trumpets, I immediately knew what had happened. Somehow, someway, Mammon had gotten Damore to compete, and while I wasn’t sure the exact reasoning for it, as the princess looked across the arena and met my eyes, I knew it to be true deep down in my bones. This was definitely part of her plan.
Well, fuck her.
19
“It’s Greed!” Gabriella hissed, one hand whipping out to point at Mammon. “Why is she here?”
“To win the prize,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and fixing the princess with a glare. That only caused her to lick her lips and smile at me like a shark. God damn how I hated her. Worse, I needed this win. I needed it so much I could scream.
/> If we didn’t win the Heart of the Storm, we’d never be able to craft the gauntlets. Mammon likely knew that, or at least knew I wanted to win. This had to be another one of her plays to beat me. Only I was sick of it. I was sick of being toyed with by this woman. No. This time she could fucking suck it.
“This is bad.” Gabriella frowned. “I think maybe she’s behind that new girl. The one everyone seems scared of.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I said, tapping my temple with one finger. “Great minds.”
“You think I have a great mind? Oh, that’s why you’re the best, Arthur,” Gabriella squealed before wrapping her arms around me and crushing my body against her voluptuous chest.
“So, uh, how do we beat her?” I pointed directly at Mammon, and when I did, she opened her mouth and slowly dragged her tongue across her teeth.
“Us? We can’t beat her, Annabeth needs to do that.” Gabriella frowned and looked at me. “She’s really good. It might be okay.”
“Do you really believe that?” I asked, meeting the angel’s gaze. “I love Annabeth and think she’s a great sculptor, probably one of the best sculptors in all of Hell, but can she beat Mammon’s champion?”
“No, Mammon will cheat.” Gabriella stopped herself and shook her head. “No, not cheat, but she won’t play by the rules.” Gabriella took a deep breath. “That’s why the rules are changing, and they’ll continue to change until only she can win.”
“She may not even need to do that. She’s a judge,” I said, rubbing my chin. “She can always vote for her own person.”
“There are two other judges though,” Gabriella said, smiling brightly. “Mammon can’t sway them, and Annabeth really is good. She can get them to like her stuff, I’m sure of it.”
“Can she?” I asked, and as I said the words, I had an epiphany. I had no idea what to think of Damore, or if she was better at Annabeth, but I did know one thing. People mattered. Their feelings and wants mattered. Playing to the correct audience mattered.
“Of course she can!” Gabriella said, shaking a determined fist. “Go Annabeth!”
“Right, okay.” I took a deep breath as I got to my feet and peered over at the judges. There was the dragonfly lady, Koshuda, and Freya. Assuming Mammon would cast her vote for her champion, we’d have to win both of their votes in the final round. I wasn’t sure it was possible, but I resolved to watch carefully to see if there was anything we could do.
“Well, now that the introductions are finished, it is time to begin. Will the remaining contestants please enter the arena?” As Koshuda’s words rang throughout the amphitheater four contestants filed out from an area that had been obscured by a large red curtain.
I immediately recognized Annabeth as the third person in line. While I didn’t recognize the women in front of her, a mousy haired blonde wearing a bikini top and tiny shorts and a brunette dressed in what looked like a black chef’s outfit, my mouth fell open when I saw the last person.
It was that blue-haired girl with the nose ring I’d bumped into earlier. She was in the contest, and as I saw her look around the crowd with disdain, a bad feeling filled me.
“Our first contestant hails to us from the sculptor capital of Boar’s Tongue, she is known as the Master of Clay and has reached the rank of two in the sculptor’s guild. Let’s give it up for Lante,” Koshuda said, gesturing to the blonde in the bikini top. As she finished, the crowd exploded in cheers, and I got the immediate impression Lante was something of a fan favorite.
Worse, she, like Annabeth, was a rank two sculptor, which meant that while I couldn’t see her stats, she had to be at least as good as our girl on paper.
“Our second contestant is from right here in the Royal Centre. You’ve seen her work decorating the guild hall, and she is the direct apprentice to Freya herself.” The dragonfly gestured at the chef. “Madane!”
“Wow, she’s the apprentice?” Gabriela squealed next to me while the crowd once again clapped and cheered. “I heard people talking about her. They say that Freya won’t even admit sculptors to the guild unless they can meet Madane’s expectations. They say she can spot even the tiniest imperfection in a work. They call her the God-Eye!”
“The God-Eye?” I asked, rolling that over. It didn’t make me feel good, but part of me was hoping her skill didn’t match her abilities as a critic. After all, it was one thing to be able to tell a work was trash and another to use that knowledge to make a good work yourself. That said, I doubted she’d have risen to be Freya’s apprentice if she wasn’t amazingly talented. Worse, it meant Freya might feel more inclined to vote for her if it came down to a tough choice.
Everywhere we looked, we were in trouble. Annabeth was going to be facing Lante who was clearly the fan favorite, Freya’s apprentice Madane, and the only rank one sculptor Damore? No wonder the girl was terrified.
“I’m starting to get worried,” I said as the crowd died down and the dragonfly moved to introduce Annabeth.
“Next we have the rank two sculptor, Annabeth. Known as the wandering bard of stone, her work is of particular renowned, especially since she was instrumental in aiding the Builder with his victory over the Darkness.”
“Go, Annabeth! Woo!” Gabriella shouted, but not many other joined her. To say Annabeth’s welcome was less than the other two would be like comparing the sound system in my phone to a full blown rock band.
“Finally, we have a sculptor who truly—” Koshuda’s words were cut off as Damore stepped forward and fixed her eyes on the crowd.
“You know who I am,” she said in a quiet, resolved voice before turning to look at her competitors. “You should all just quit now. You won’t be able to beat me.” It looked like she was about to say more but then just smiled sadly at the crowd. “You will see. None of them are my equal. That much will be clear.”
She turned and strode away, heading to the farthest of the four sculpting stations. The other three girls looked at each other before all breaking apart and heading to their own. Annabeth’s was the closest to us, but even before she reached it, I could tell Damore’s words had touched her, and not in a good way.
“Are you okay?” I asked, projecting my voice toward Annabeth and she looked up at me and nodded.
“I will be fine,” she mouthed, and as she settled herself, I almost believed her. Almost.
“This isn’t good,” Gabriella said, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “I don’t even want this anymore, but I’m so nervous I can’t help it.”
“Well, erm, thanks for that, Damore,” Koshuda said, looking over the crowd as everyone watched Damore calmly sit down at her station. “Anyway, let’s get on with things. As we said before, there will be three rounds. The first round will be realism. During this round, the sculptors will strive to create the most lifelike sculpture they can. At the end, the judges will eliminate the lowest scoring competitor. After which, we will have a short break before beginning our second round. In the event of a tie, both participants will be eliminated.” She smiled brightly before spinning on her heel and slamming one open palm into a gong. “Begin!”
The sound of it resounded across the arena, and as it did, I breathed a sigh of relief. Annabeth was really good at making realistic sculptures. While I was sure the others were as well, this was one area where I seriously doubted she’d be the worst of the bunch. No. It was the next round that had me worried.
Still, we had to get through this one for it to matter. I turned my eyes to Annabeth intent on rooting for her as hard as I could while making sure Mammon didn’t try any funny business.
Annabeth stood in front of her station, eyes closed. She had her hands outstretched in front of her as she carefully ran her hands over different mediums. The first was a brownish hunk of clay, and as she caressed it with her fingertips, she paused considering it for a moment.
Next, she went to a hunk of gray stone. Again her fingers roamed over it, examining every crevice.
“Wow! I didn’t
think I’d get to see this!” Koshuda exclaimed, her wings beating the air excitedly as she zoomed across the arena to hover over Damore’s station. “Is that the mythical red rock of Otuburu Mountains?”
“It is,” Damore said, not bothering to look up as she placed a huge hunk of blood red stone onto her station. I wasn’t quite sure where it’d come from, but I did remember Annabeth saying something about needing to provide her own crafting materials and then Buffy grumbling about it.
“For those of you who do not know, the red rock of Otuburu Mountains is notoriously difficult to carve. Even making so much as a scratch upon its surface takes the utmost strength and skill, not to mention the best tools. It is truly a material fit for a master.” Koshuda dropped down to the arena floor and examined it carefully. “Are you truly going to use it here?”
“Yes,” Damore replied, reaching into her pouch and pulling out a small worn knife. Then she looked up as Koshuda. “As I said before, none of these people are on my level.”
With that, her knife flicked out, slashing into the rock with such speed that I could feel the wind coming off her movement even across the arena. Her hands moved in a blur, slicing off slivers with painstaking precision.
My gaze flitted to the other two contestants, and I found that both of them had chosen the clay. Lante had constructed some sort of metal skeleton and was busy attaching pieces of clay to the frame and smoothing them out. Madane, on the other hand, had attacked her block of clay in much the same way Damore had, only since it was soft and wet, it seemed much easier to work with.
“What is this?!” Koshuda screeched, and as I turned toward the sound of her voice, I realized she was standing just in front of Annabeth. “You can’t seriously be using ice.”
“Why not?” Annabeth asked as she cut the rest of the refrigerator-sized box away from her hunk of ice and stared at it.
“But it will melt in this heat,” Koshuda said, panic filling her voice. “Are you trying to lose?”
The Builder's Greed (The Legendary Builder Book 2) Page 12