The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  Before I realized what I was doing, I’d crammed the entire donut in my mouth, and as it slid down my throat and into my belly, a strange sense of satisfaction overcame me.

  “Best donut ever?” Gwen asked, offering me one hand as I sat there on the dirt beside the donut shop. Several other patrons were looking at me in the “How embarrassing” sort of way I’d gotten from chicks in high school, but I couldn’t even focus on it because as I stared up at Gwen, I could tell she didn’t feel that way at all. No, she was just happy I’d enjoyed the treat she’d bought me.

  “Best. Donut. Ever,” I responded, taking her hand and getting to my feet. “Now, um, I think we’re supposed to do more than eat donuts.”

  “I know, it saddens me too.” She brushed a lock of dark hair behind a perfect ear. “Royal Centre is such a food city, and I’m always here on business. It’d be nice to just come here and chill.” She touched her belly. “But then I’d get fat.”

  “I don’t think I’d ever think you were fat, so you shouldn’t think that either.” I smiled, and then before our conversation could move into dangerous territory, I glanced around the bustling streets. Vendors were everywhere, and I wasn’t quite sure where to go. “But we should get a move on to the Guild house.”

  “Okay,” Gwen said, nodding. “It’s this way.” She took a step forward, moving through the crowd toward the corner. I followed along behind her, careful not to get too far away and get cut off by strangers.

  After a few minutes of walking, Gwen stopped in front of a large red brick building. It wasn’t as tall as the skyscrapers all around us, but it was certainly wide and large, taking up nearly the entire city block. It made the place seem out of place because most of the shops we’d passed had gone up three levels. This one on the other hand was sprawling and single story.

  “Is this it?” I asked, gesturing at the building. Red spruce trees decorated the front, casting a shadow across the doorway.

  “Yeah, you can tell it’s a government building because they waste so much space.” Gwen snorted. “No one else would waste it like this. They’d go straight up and rent the rest out for profit, but what does the government care about that?” She grimaced. “They just raise taxes when they need more money.”

  “It doesn’t seem like you guys like the government much. Buffy and Sam were both bent about it too.” I shrugged. “After all, our government is kinda terrible back home too.”

  “You don’t even know. We’re demons from Hell. Trust me, ours is worse.”

  “Fair point. Guess I’ll take your word for it.” I glanced back toward the building and noted the black plaque above the huge stone doors. I couldn’t read the language though. It was weird because everything else had seemed to be in English, but then again, what I knew about Hell couldn’t fill a thimble.

  “Let’s get a move on. The longer we’re out here, the less time we’ll have to find people before we have to meet up with Buffy.” She took my hand and moved forward, mounting the first red brick step and pulling me along like an errant toddler.

  “Well, we could always make Buffy wait,” I said as she pushed open the doors to reveal a hall made of polished marble. Gold filigree covered every inch of the place, and paintings displaying what looked like archangels getting ROFL stomped by the demonic version of Amazons filled my vision.

  The hallway led straight to the back with more corridors forking off in every direction. More signs were displayed next to the arch for each corridor, but like the sign outside, I couldn’t read it either.

  “Say, what language is that?” I pointed at the signs. “I could read the stuff outside, so I’d just assumed everything was in my language.”

  “It’s written normally, but you couldn’t read it if you wanted to. Your human mind cannot comprehend it thanks to the wards on the place to keep out the unwelcome. That’s why it looks like scribbles to you.” She smiled at me. “You probably couldn’t come in if you weren’t with me, actually.” She patted my head.

  “Maybe you should have mentioned that before,” I said, looking around. “Probably doesn’t matter though.” I turned to look at her. “So, what’s first up?”

  “Alchemist,” she said, looking at her list. I had no idea where she’d kept it and part of me wanted to ask her about it. I didn’t but only because I thought she might tell me to search her and then things would be awkward. “That’s in hall 7B.” She pointed to the left. “We’re in hall A, so we need to go this way.”

  14

  “You’re out of your goddamned mind if you think I’m going to send any of my apprentices off with you,” Saramana, the three-hundred-pound head of the Carpenter’s Guild snapped before pointing at the exit. “Now, I’ll bid you good day,” she added with artificial formality.

  “Look,” I said, resisting the urge to shout at her as best as I could because this was the exact same result we’d gotten at every single guild house. No one wanted to work for us. It was really starting to piss me off. “Please. We just need one—”

  “I said good day, sir.” She crossed her arms over her rather large chest. “Please don’t make a scene.” She dropped her arms, and her hand danced toward the small bell on her desk that I knew from experience would summon a team of jackbooted thugs to escort us out. “I’d hate to have to call the guards to escort you out.”

  “You don’t need to call the guards,” Gwen said, scowling at the older woman. “I just don’t understand why you’re refusing. You haven’t even heard us out.”

  “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Saramana snorted and turned pointedly away from us before examining her nail-bitten fingers.

  “This is bullshit,” I said, barely able to keep my anger in check as I spun on my heel and exited the office.

  “I just don’t get it,” Gwen fumed and stomped one foot on the tile. “I get that maybe we couldn’t have afforded their people, but at the same time, they should have at least asked us about a budget.”

  “We should have brought Buffy. I bet that Sweet Talk Skill would have come in handy,” I mused, trying to think of what we’d done wrong. We’d gone to the main desk and made the appropriate appointments and then waited for our number. Only, every time we got inside, we were shut down without so much as a backward glance. It was infuriating.

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Gwen said before grumbling. “As a head of a town, I can only call a meeting once a month. We’d have to come back next month.”

  “For one, that’s bullshit and a waste of time, and for two, I don’t want to waste a month. We need to start doing things now.” I shook my head. “I saw the way that barrier buckled, and while Agatha and Sheila are better, we can’t afford for things to keep being as they are. We need money, and that means we need an alchemist. Even if we become awesome at farming Dark Blood, it won’t matter if we don’t have one.”

  “Excuse me, sir,” squeaked a voice to my left. “Are you who they say you are?”

  “Eh?” I said, turning to glance at the demon who emerged from the hallway we were passing. She was tall and thin with blue skin, yellow eyes, and red hair. It would have made me think of the comic book version of Mystique from X-men where her skin was flawless and smooth. She was dressed in a simple brown tunic and pants, with heavy leather work boots, and her hair had been put into a tight ponytail.

  “They say you’re the Legendary Builder.” She swallowed and took a step toward me. “Is it true?”

  “Yeah, who is saying that?” I asked, glancing at Gwen who just shrugged at me as we exited the Guild Hall.

  “Is it really true?” She leaned in close to peer at me. “Really, really?” Her voice dripped with over-eagerness as she nearly skipped while trailing behind us.

  “Yes, it is.” I turned briefly and patted my still sheathed sword, so she could see. “You didn’t answer my question though.”

  “Oh,” she squeaked and took a step backward, flummoxed. “What question?”

  “I asked who was saying that,” I
said, glancing around but finding the surrounding area empty. I stopped, faced her, and became a bit more insistent. “I haven’t exactly heard anyone gabbing about it, and no one’s been talking to me—”

  “That’s because a notice went out from the Heads of Guilds. It said that your power perverts the fruits of hard work and labor, and it warned us not to work with you.” The smooth-skinned Mystique glanced back at the door, and then stepped closer, lowering her voice. “Can you really do what they say?”

  “Why would what I do be a perversion? All I do is let people learn Skills they already have the knowhow to learn.” I ignored her question and glanced demandingly at Gwen. “Are you following?” I wondered how much she knew, what she hadn’t mentioned, and what she’d kept to herself.

  “Unfortunately, yes.” She blew out an angry breath. “Basically, they’re worried you’ll take away their monopolies.”

  As I mulled over what she’d said, I nearly went ballistic. So I was a threat to the bureaucracies. That’s what this was about. The Darkness was literally eating away the horizon and killing towns and these people were more concerned about their pocketbooks? Seriously?

  “So, you can do it?!” the blue demon squealed as her eyes traveled from Gwen to me, and then she reached out and took my hand, shaking it and pulling me closer to her so that only I could hear her. “I want to join you, sir, um, Builder.”

  “Wait, what?” I asked, her words displacing my anger and leaving me to sort them out.

  Maribelle has requested to join your party. Do you accept?

  “I’m a low-rank carpenter, but I want to be the best.” She gestured back at the guild halls. “If I can be your main girl, I’ll get better than that old hag. Then I can make lots of money and pay off my parents’ debts. Even if I get blacklisted, it’ll still be worth it because I’ll be so much better than the guildies,” she said so quickly that the words all sort of tumbled together and with a touch of spunk and bravado that surprised me. “They’re ass hats to me, anyway. Well, the leaders. The rest are nice. But it’s so cutthroat—”

  “You’re a carpenter?” I asked, accepting her request, which caused a blue orb to appear over her head.

  “I am. Finished top of my class. I should actually be intermediate, but they won’t let me take the tests. Say it’s too soon, and I need to pay my dues, and well, that’s not fair, so I thought I could go with you…” More words gushed out of her, but I was too busy looking at her Stats to hear them.

  Name: Maribelle

  Experience: 17,200

  Health: 78/78

  Mana: 121/121

  Primary Power: Carpentry

  Secondary Power: None selected

  Strength: 35/100

  Agility: 43/100

  Charisma: 27/100

  Intelligence: 53/100

  Special: 66/100

  Perk: Rank 10 Carpenter

  “Holy crap,” I exclaimed, unable to keep the shock from filling my voice. “You have a ton of Experience. That’s insane. You could learn a ton of stuff.” I stared at her Skill Trees totally flummoxed. “I like don’t even know what to teach you because you only have the general tree, but you can learn so much.”

  “That’s what I’ve been saying!” Maribelle said, glaring back at the closed door of the guild hall. “They won’t let me learn stuff because they’re just jealous of my skill.”

  “Normally when people say that, I think they’re lying, but you’re just not,” I said, gesturing toward the menus before I realized she couldn’t see me. “You have every basic Skill maxed. I bet you could frame an entire house in seconds.”

  “Not quite that quick, but yeah, everything they’ve taught me, I have the Rank lead in.” She handed me a sheet of paper, and sure enough, it listed her name along with scores in various studies. I didn’t quite understand what it meant, though, so I handed it off to Gwen.

  “Well, that’s not your concern now because you’re definitely coming with us,” I said, offering her my hand. “That is if you want to come with us?”

  “I do, thank you so much. You won’t regret this. I can’t believe I’m going to work for the Builder of Legend. That’s so awesome. I won’t let you down.” She let out a squee of delight as she violently shook my hand.

  “I’m glad you’re excited,” I said, pulling my hand away perhaps a little too roughly. “Gwen can help you get settled back in town. She sort of runs the day to day. I just take care of the upgrades.” Maribelle’s shoulders sagged slightly, and Gwen let out a short chuckle.

  “He’s kind of dumb sometimes, but it’s sort of charming.” Gwen rolled her eyes and put a hand on Maribelle’s shoulder. I felt like I was on the outside of an inside joke. “You said something very interesting, though.”

  “Oh, what’s that?” she asked, smiling brightly at Gwen. It was like we’d just given Maribelle Christmas presents, only I was fairly sure she was totally going to get in trouble for coming with us. She had to know that, but at the same time, she obviously didn’t care. Part of me wanted to ask her about it, but she was grown and could make her own decisions.

  “We need an alchemist. Any alchemist. Do you know one who will come?” Gwen said, leaning in close to the girl.

  “Um… not that I know…,” Maribelle looked at her shoes like a guilty child hiding a secret she knew she was inevitably going to blurt out. “The guilds were pretty clear about not working with you. Normally, I’d get blacklisted for joining you…which for a carpenter is a big deal.” She swallowed and leaned in close so only we could hear her. “But Guildmistress Saramana doesn’t agree that we should be cutting you off… she thinks you might be the only thing that can keep the Darkness at bay … so she told me I could go with you.” She flushed bright red then, sucked in a gulp of air, and let it out in a large whoosh. “You won’t tell, right? If anyone finds out Saramana is letting me go, no, sending me, I probably will get blacklisted, if I’m lucky. Saramana’s no fool. She’ll deny any involvement, and I’ll be branded a liar … maybe even …Stained …” Her voice dropped to an almost inaudible whisper with the last word.

  “That explains a lot,” I said, turning to look back at the closed door. Was that why Saramana had brushed us out so quickly? Because she wanted to send one of her best students with us but had to make it look like Maribelle was acting alone? I wasn’t sure, but at the same time, I had a pretty good bet Saramana just wanted plausible deniability. Interesting. All the Heads of the Guilds weren’t in agreement. Maybe, given some time, I could sway others to my cause.

  Gwen grabbed Maribelle’s wrist and pulled her away from the door. Her eyes said to follow and she led us further from the Guild Hall before ducking around a corner. Releasing Maribelle from her grip, Gwen leaned in close to Maribelle, nearly talking into her shock of red hair. “So, why don’t you think we can find an Alchemist then? Does their guild leader not agree with Saramana?” Gwen asked, careful to keep her voice low. “I remember them being good friends.”

  “They are, but on this point, they disagree. Alchemists make a lot more money at low levels than all but the master carpenters. They’ll want to stick to taking guild jobs because that’s where the money is, and they especially want to keep others out of it.” Maribelle shrugged.

  “That’s what I thought.” Only, instead of sounding despondent, Gwen smiled devilishly and took a step back. “You talked about people who got blacklisted. Surely there’s got to be a blacklisted alchemist somewhere.”

  Maribelle started to shake her head before stopping suddenly. “I may know someone, but she’s—well—strange would be kind.” She shoved her hands in her pockets. “But she’s always at Mac’s Tavern, so I guess you could see for yourself.” Maribelle took an anxious step forward. “Most of the blacklisted hang out there actually, so if you don’t care about guild status, it’s not a bad place to go. Quality can be shoddy though.”

  “Isn’t that the same tavern Buffy said to meet her at?” I asked, following behind Maribelle as she led the wa
y.

  “It is, and I bet I know why. She probably deals with the blacklisted. They probably pay a bit more and sell for a bit less,” Gwen affirmed, stepping next to me. “We should have just gone there.”

  “Yeah, that would have saved us three hours,” I grumbled.

  15

  “There’s a fucking dragon’s head over the door,” I exclaimed, stopping dead in my tracks and pointing at the building. It was a short, squat structure made of emerald stone sandwiched between two skyscrapers. Only, instead of a door, a yawning green dragon’s head sat gaping open.

  “Yeah, they say that when old Mac killed the last green dragon living on the land where the Royal Centre stands, she put its head on a pike to ward off others.” Gwen pointed at the huge silver spear that jutted through the brainpan of the dragon and out the other side. “It can’t hurt you though, all the venom in those teeth has long since drained away.”

  “That is literally the last of my worries because I just learned dragons are real,” I said, swallowing back my sudden terror. Succubae, goblins, and demon dogs were one thing, but dragons? A whole different kettle of fish.

  “Of course they’re real,” Maribelle clucked, glancing back at me as she stepped between the spear-like front fangs and approached the door embedded in the throat of the monster. “How else would we get Ember Flame?” she shook her head. “It’s only the most valuable crafting material out there besides Angel Feathers.”

  “Angel Feathers aren’t really rare,” Gwen said dismissively. “You just go find an angel and pluck her like a chicken.”

  “Easier said than done,” Maribelle said, knocking out a strange rhythm on the door. “And don’t act like you’ve done it before. You may be with the Builder, but you wouldn’t be running Lustnor if you could take down an angel. You’d be in Hog’s Bend or Demon Fire, somewhere like that.”