She nodded to me as I turned and left the room, hoping everything was okay. I still didn’t quite believe Mammon, but she’d assured me that if Sam woke up, she’d be okay. I had to believe her because the alternative was unthinkable, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to have Sally check on her, anyway.
I shut my eyes for a second, briefly recalling the exchange I’d had with Mammon.
She’d saved Sam only because if I’d died, it would have injured her power. Or at least that was what she’d said, but the exchange between her and the Empress bugged me. It was like they knew each other. No, more than that, they seemed familiar with each other. Mammon hadn’t elaborated on it further, and Gabriella hadn’t seemed to know anything either.
I scratched my neck, running my nails over the silver mark on my neck. That had been how Mammon had gotten there so quickly. Now that I was marked she could appear to me anywhere, anytime. It was a bit disconcerting, but there was nothing for that. One bridge to burn at a time and all that.
A few minutes later, I walked into Sally’s shop and saw her chatting with Buffy. The diminutive goblin was standing beside the chunk of coti I’d summoned earlier, and when they saw me, Sally’s face brightened.
“Is she awake?” Sally asked, already sliding off her chair and coming toward me. “Because you actually look happy for a change.”
“She is, would you mind checking on her?” I asked, hugging her.
“Sure, I’ll get her some food and water too. She’s probably starved.” Sally gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Now, if you don’t mind.” She scurried off before I could even respond, leaving me there with Buffy.
“I’m glad Sam is okay,” Buffy said, but she couldn’t hide the anger in her words. Like Mammon, she’d thought it was dumb I’d been willing to sacrifice myself for Sam. She’d understood, but at the end of the day, Buffy mostly saw people in terms of value, and to her, I was more valuable than Sam. Then again, she also didn’t know about Clarent being broken. If she had, maybe Sam would have seemed more valuable.
“I know you are, and I’m sorry for fighting with you,” I said, meeting her eyes. “I know you care in your own weird way, Buffy.”
“I don’t want to start a fight with you, so I’m going to just move on,” she said, nodding once even though I could tell I’d hurt her. I hadn’t meant to do it, but if she wanted to move on, I was inclined to let her. I was just too tired, too drained after the last few days to think about arguing. I was willing to bet she felt the same way. If Buffy was anything, it was practical.
“Okay,” I said. “But I didn’t know we were going to talk about anything.”
“I want to talk about this.” She pointed to the coti. “I know you pulled it from the ground with those gauntlets Mammon gave you.”
“Yeah, so?” I shrugged. “I used them to pull the fragment of soul from Sam too. I’m not sure what that has to do with anything.”
“So, I was thinking,” Buffy said, pulling a stack of papers out of her satchel. “Look at this.” She handed them to me.
A quick glance revealed them to be mining contracts for different metals and ores and things I’d never heard of.
“You’re going to have to explain yourself, Buff,” I said, shaking the contracts at her. “I don’t quite think I’m in the same book as you, let alone on the same page.” I rubbed my temples. “Sorry, I’m just tired.”
“Each one of those is for something worth a lot of money,” Buffy said, taking the top sheet. “This is for red steel for instance. It’s incredibly rare and valuable, and nearly impossible to get out of the ground.” She pointed at me. “But you can literally pull it from the earth with your mind.”
“Maybe. It took a lot to pull that coti from the ground, and it was right there.” I shook my head. Doing what she said felt impossible. “I doubt I can pull red steel from the ground if it’s at all difficult.”
“Now,” she said, taking a deep breath. “But maybe not with practice.” She moved to the table Sally used and rolled out a map. “Come look.”
I moved closer. The map appeared to be of the Graveyard of Statues as well as the surrounding area. There were little icons all over it, and a key, but I couldn’t read it because it was in the demon language. Worse, since I didn’t have Clarent, I couldn’t read the tooltip for the map, which would normally translate things for me.
“What is this, Buffy?” I gestured at the map, I can’t make heads or tails of it.
“Really?” Buffy asked, a sly look in her eyes. “Is that because you broke Clarent and lost your abilities?”
“You knew?” I asked, somewhat shocked.
“Yes,” she said, meeting my eyes. “We all knew. It was obvious when you went into battle with a different sword. That blade you carry may look similar to Clarent, but Clarent feels different when it’s unsheathed.” She shrugged. “I can’t quite explain it.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling my face heat up. “Sorry for keeping it a secret.”
“Relax, I know why you did.” She pointed to the map. “That’s the other reason I came up with this. I’m willing to bet Clarent can be fixed with something expensive. Am I right?”
“Stygian Iron,” I said, remembering Sam’s words.
“Yeah, I thought it might be. The metal has the look of that.” Buffy glanced at her papers and pulled one out. She handed it to me. “That’s a contract for Stygian Iron. It’ll be damned near impossible to pull out of the heart of a volcano in the snow lands, but we do what we can, right?”
“How did you get that?” I asked, confused. Part of me was excited that she’d found the stuff, but most of me was concerned. This contract had to have been expensive, and while the town wasn’t being crushed with taxes anymore, we still didn’t have a lot of funds.
“These contracts are impossible.” She pointed to a spot on the contract where a ten was written. “That’s the highest difficulty, meaning the price is cheap. I paid pennies for this because it’s worthless, essentially. Like buying land a mile beneath the ocean or on the moon.” She pointed at me. “But not for you. Not if you can call the metal to the surface.”
“I think I see where you’re going with this,” I replied, feeling a slight glimmer of confidence. “But I probably can’t do that.”
“And here we come full circle, Arthur.” She tapped the map with one green finger. “This is a resource map of the surrounding area. Since we have the mineral rights for the land anyway, I went ahead and pulled it from the archives.” She waved her hand. “That’s all technical, what does matter is that all these spots.” She pointed at one of the red triangles littering the map. “Those are minerals. None are particularly valuable, but I reckon that if you pull all of them from the dirt, you’ll get better at it.”
“You mean for me to level up by doing a bunch of grunt work?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Well, it works for everyone else, why not you?” she tapped the map again. “Elsewise, you ain’t getting Stygian Iron. Even Mammon can’t afford that. So your honey bunny is out too. This is the only way.”
“She’s not my honey bunny,” I said, rubbing my neck uncomfortably.
“Right, okay.” Buffy put her hands on her hips. “I don’t really care who you fuck so long as you do me once in a while too, but I’m surprised she doesn’t have teeth in her pussy.”
“I don’t really want to have this conversation with you,” I said, recalling a similar one I’d had with Gwen. Not fun, the definition of awkward to be honest, but we’d come to some kind of understanding I still couldn’t put words to. I would probably need to read one of those women’s magazines to really get it, but for now, I knew the succubus at least understood. Agreed with it, not so much, but understood. That was good because it meant she was talking to me again. Baby steps.
“I figured as much.” Buffy shrugged. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.” She smacked the map with one hand. “Once you finish with those, we can try some harder stuff.” She picked up the
pile of contracts. “I’ll arrange them in order of difficulty.”
“Thanks,” I said, offering her my hand as she came toward me. “You’re a good friend.”
“Friend, pssha.” She shook my hand. “We’re partners, Arthur. That’s better because it means I get paid. Now move along. You’ve been sitting for three days. I expect a whole pile of rock on my doorstep for processing before the day is done.”
“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath and looking at the map. “I’ll do it once I check in with Sam. I should probably let Gwen know too.”
“It’s nice to see you’re learning.” Buffy winked at me. “Gwen’ll appreciate it, but don’t let her appreciate it too much if you catch my drift. We need Clarent back as soon as possible.”
“Arthur!” Sally’s voice cried, cutting off Buffy as she pushed back inside. “Come quick. Something’s wrong with Sam!”
37
I sprinted out after Sally, tearing across the grounds as fast as I could. I hit the door of the makeshift hospital a second later, my chest heaving. Gwen and Gabriella were both already there. They stood over Sam, glowing hands outstretched toward her, and I realized they were feeding energy into her.
“What’s going on?” I asked, rushing to Sam’s side and gripping her hand.
“I-I’m s-so cold,” Sam said, in a burst of white mist. She shivered violently as Sally rushed over to her.
“Someone do something!” I said, and as I said the words, I realized everyone was looking at me.
“Arthur, you’re the only one who can do something.” Sally met my eyes. “Only you. We can merely delay the inevitable. Try to buy you time to fix it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, gripping Sam’s hand and trying to will strength into her. Only as I did, I saw light shining through her shirt. I reached forward, grabbing her shirt and pulling it away. The physical manifestation of her mark had changed, only I didn’t know why. Where before, the stitches had been held in place by silver thread, they were starting to unravel.
“You need to get Mammon. Something about the binding isn’t working,” Sally said, pointing at the broken, fraying threads. “Call her.”
“Okay!” I put one hand on the cold spot on my neck, and as I did, I realized how cold I was. Frost covered my flesh, and my own breath was mirroring Sam’s, coming out in bursts of white fog. Something was definitely wrong. I could tell instantly. As I reached through the mark toward the Princess of Greed, I realized I could barely feel her at all. What the hell had happened?
I wasn’t sure, but either way, I didn’t have time to find out. Grabbing hold of what I could feel of her, I pulled. “Mammon, can you come to me?”
“Arthur, let go now!” Mammon cried. “It’s not—”
Before she could say more a trumpet blast exploded outside, breaking my concentration. The link fell away in a pulse of frost as I spun toward the door.
“What now?” Gwen growled, moving past me. “What can the guilds possibly want now?”
I took one last glance at Sally. “Can you hold her for a bit longer? I’m going to go to Mammon’s hotel room. I need to figure out what’s going on.”
“She will be able to hold Samael here,” Gabriella said, meeting my eyes. “I will not let my sister go.” She extended her hand to Sally. “Can you stitch her with my power?”
“I can’t. I don’t know how.” Sally swallowed. “Maybe the guild head could, but I’d never seen anyone do that before.”
“Right, got it,” I snarled moving to the door. “I’ll get someone to do it!”
I burst out the door but didn’t have to go far because this wasn’t just the herald. No, standing a few feet away from me and Gwen was Saramana herself.
She was covered from head to toe in blood, and her eyes were far off and distant, but as I moved next to Gwen, her eyes snapped back into focus.
“Arthur,” Saramana said, meeting my gaze. “I need you to augment my stats right now.” She took a deep breath and lowered her head. “I submit to you. All I have is yours. Just do it. Do all you can? Quickly.”
“Wait, what the fuck is going on?” I asked, confusion filling me. I didn’t have time for this. Not with Sam how she was. “No. Whatever this is, I don’t have time for it. I need a healer. The best healer.”
“That is impossible.” Saramana looked at me. “The Royal Centre is gone. Only we escaped.”
“What?” Gwen cried, fear filling her voice. “How is that possible?”
Panic surged up inside me. Not because I particularly cared about the Royal Centre, but because Sam was dying and I could barely feel Mammon now.
“Where is Mammon?” I asked, moving forward and grabbing Saramana by the neck. “What have you done with her?”
“I have done nothing with her.” Saramana met my eyes. “She is the only reason I still breathe. Why others may still breathe.”
“I don’t understand?” Gwen said, but I didn’t care. If the guilds were destroyed, if Royal Centre was destroyed, the only person who could save Sam was Mammon.
“Mammon!” I screamed, grabbing my neck while sprinting to the Nexus Gateway. “What’s going on?”
“Arthur, I said to run—”
Her words ended in a ragged scream that tore through my mind like a gunshot. Overhead the sky itself ripped asunder, spilling gilded tears across the whole of Hell.
“Fuck it,” I cried, opening the Nexus Gateway. I might not have Clarent, but I still had a weapon, and I had the gauntlets. That would have to be enough. If it wasn’t, well, I wasn’t sure I wanted to live in a world where it wasn’t. I had to do something, had to save them. There was only one way to do that. Find Mammon.
I jumped through the gateway.
I hit the ground hard on the other side, and my mouth fell open. Saramana was right, but if anything, she’d understated the state of things. Royal Centre wasn’t just gone. It had been obliterated. A massive crater seemed to fill the space for miles and miles, only that didn’t seem quite right. No, it seemed more like the ground had been blown outward, like a giant nuke had been detonated below the surface of the earth.
The wind howled around me, and as I reached for my sword, I saw Mammon. She hovered about a hundred meters in the air on silver dragon’s wings. Her hands glowed with power, and lightning crackled all around her.
“What’s going on?” I cried, and my voice seemed to echo across the glass filled crater.
Mammon turned to look at me, and her face was a mask of silver blood. The cold spot on my neck pulsed, and as it did, she darted toward me like a blur. She hit the ground beside me a second later and held out her hand to me.
“You came,” she said, nodding once. “I somehow knew you would.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, taking a deep breath and meeting her eyes. “Never mind. We have to go. Sam’s stitches are unraveling.”
“Dammit!” Mammon cursed, looking at me. “Fine!” she grabbed my arm. “Let’s go.” Only as she touched me, I felt how weak she was. “Let’s save Samael. Maybe I can at least do that.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, allowing her to throw one arm over my shoulder as we turned toward the gateway. It was still flickering in the distance, only now there was a completely naked woman standing in front of it.
Her hair was as dark as soot and done in a thick braid that hung to her ankles. Her bone white face was twisted into a frown as she looked me up and down with eyes like swirling voids of purple fire.
“I do not approve what you have done with the place,” she said, and her voice rolled over me like rich cream and wine, making me both lust after the richness of it, and dizzy from trying to actually comprehend it.
She shook her head and took a step forward all long legs and death. It was crazy because she was the most perfect, most attractive woman I’d ever seen, and yet, as she moved, the only thing I felt was absolute fucking terror.
“Let him go,” Mammon said, pushing me behind herself and taking a tentative step forward
. Her knees shook as she raised one hand toward the woman. “He just means to save Samael.”
The woman cocked her head to the side, lips twisting into a half-curious smile. “Why Mammon, does this mean you’ve finally learned to share?” She touched her lips. “Or do you own Samael now?” She sucked in a breath. “Or is it a little of both?”
“Arthur, you need to augment my stats right now,” Mammon turned to look me in the eyes, and for the first time, the only thing I saw there was fear. Mammon had always been so self-assured, so unstoppable. Even in the face of that creature from the void she’d been confident. Now though, now it looked like all she wanted to do was hide under her blankets.
“I can’t. Clarent is broken. Sam can fix it, but not if she dies. That’s why I came to get you.” I pulled my sword free. “This is just a copy.”
“Then we’re fucked,” Mammon said, turning to point at the woman. “Because I can’t beat her otherwise.”
“You couldn’t beat me anyway,” the woman said, and the truth of those words hit me like a punch in the stomach. “You know it to be true.”
“You always were a prideful bitch,” Mammon said, and as she spoke, lightning exploded from her hand. As it slammed into the ground, the woman was suddenly in front of us. She shoved Mammon away from me like she was yesterday’s garbage.
“Go Mammon, save Samael. I may have use of her. I will not repeat myself,” the woman sneered, turning her eyes on me. “Oh, you’re interesting.” She licked her lips before baring set of too-white teeth.
“Mammon?” I asked, only the Princess of Greed looked away from me.
“I am sorry,” Mammon said, “I cannot make her repeat herself.” She stood then, pulling herself to her feet and heading toward the gateway. “I will save Samael.”
“Good. I’m glad you’ve learned your place,” the woman said, not even bothering to look as Mammon stepped through the gateway and vanished.
A few moments of silence passed as I tried to wrap my head around what had happened. At first, I thought maybe Dred had come, that he’d done something to Sam, but that hadn’t happened. No, this woman had happened.
The Builder's Greed (The Legendary Builder Book 2) Page 23