“I don’t know.” Sheila shook her head. “I’ve never even seen something like that before. The gateway, I mean.”
“You’ve never seen one before?” I asked, considering the thought. It didn’t make sense because the Tooltip I’d seen made me think they were probably all over. If we could figure out a way to access them, we’d be able to fast travel across Hell and maybe into the Darkness itself.
“No,” Sheila shook her head, “but I’m not that old, barely five thousand. There was more magic in Nadine’s time. More technology. More, well, oomph.” She gestured back at Royal Centre. “That place may seem nice, but it’s nothing like the ancient cities we’ve lost to the Darkness.”
“Hmm…” I said, resolving to take a closer look at Sam’s Skill trees when we got back. I remembered seeing an Engineering Tree and a few others that were too expensive. So expensive, in fact, that not only had the costs been astronomical, but I had to unlock other trees just to be able to unlock that one. Still, it might be worth checking out. Then again, if it wasn’t technology, maybe it was magic?
I turned to look at Sally as she fluttered next to Crystal. The two of them were whispering to each other in hushed tones. “Sally, do you think the Nexus Gateway is magic, tech, or some combination?”
She looked over at me and shrugged. “I have no idea. I remember reading about them, but it’s ancient, from a time when technology and magic were so far advanced compared to what we have now that they’d be indistinguishable to me.” She gave me a brittle smile. “But I can try researching it.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said, giving her Skill trees a quick glance through, but even though I spent the remainder of the journey looking, I didn’t find anything in any of her magic trees even slightly related to Nexus Gateways.
28
When we landed, I was surprised to see the mill had been nearly constructed, and what’s more, there was a giant statue in the center of town. It stood about fifteen feet tall and at least as wide. It was still roughly hewn, but the general shape of a massive dragon tearing itself from the earth was there.
A menu appeared above it, and a quick glance let me know that even in its unfinished state, it doubled the Health and Mana of all the people who called this town home. It made me wonder just how powerful it would be when Annabeth was done. Either way, I was already proud of her.
Those weren’t the only changes, though because we had a bunch more Stained. The forested area that had once surrounded the town had been cleared back several meters, leaving a clear path around the walls. How had so much happened in the time we’d been gone? It had been a few hours at best.
“That’s a lot of construction,” I said as we landed inside the town.
“Finally,” Gwen exclaimed, rushing toward me. She threw her arms around me, pulling me against her body as she hugged me with nearly bone-crushing force. “When you didn’t come back after nearly a day, we got worried.” She bit her lip and looked away from me then.
“Nearly a day?” I said, totally confused. “How is that possible? It took a couple hours to get back from the Royal Centre, but there’s no way we were inside the Darkness for more than an hour or two tops.” I looked to the others, and they nodded.
As Gwen’s gaze swept across them, a strange look filled her features. “Where’s Agatha?”
“She didn’t make it,” I said, swallowing hard as I tried to ignore the guilt welling up inside me. She had been my responsibility, and because of my arrogance, had died protecting me during a battle we should never have fought. “She died a noble death. It’s not much, but it’s something, I suppose.” I sighed.
“I’d known her for a long time,” Gwen said, swallowing hard. “They always tell you not to get attached, that people die, but, well, you never quite listen, huh?”
“I don’t want to lose anyone else,” I said, gritting my teeth as I turned to the others. “If we’ve lost that much time, we need to hurry. Sally, can you get with Sam and work on refining those bloods? We won’t have long before the ravagers show up and then after that, I want to figure out a way to stomp a mud hole in Nadine.”
“On it,” Sally said, nodding furiously as she took off toward Sam’s shop.
Crystal shot me a strange look and shrugged. “I guess I’ll go find out what’s going on with the lumberjacks.”
As she left to go busy herself, the guards did as well, heading to the gates, probably to tell them what happened to Agatha. The pain of her loss hurt me bitterly, but I couldn’t let that drag me down. No. I had to use it as fuel to save us all. We had ravagers to face and Nadine to bring to justice. I couldn’t do either of those things by moping.
“What happened to Agatha?” Gwen said when we were alone. She put one delicate hand on my arm. “And what’s this about Nadine?”
“When we ventured into the Darkness, we came across Princess Nadine. Sheila says it’s the same Nadine who disappeared thousands of years ago.” I waved off the train of thought. “Anyway, she blindsided us with a massive army. Agatha sacrificed herself so we could escape. She detonated somehow.” I shook my head. “It’s all my fault. If we hadn’t ventured inside the Darkness, she’d still be here.”
Gwen nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of one hand. “Agatha is a big girl. She made the choice she thought was right.” She looked at me. “Did you get what we need to defeat the ravagers?”
“Yes, so it wasn’t a total loss. More than enough actually. We have nine of them. We only needed four.” I shrugged. “So at least one thing is coming up Millhouse.”
“I don’t follow,” Gwen said, still looking at me. “What’s a Millhouse?”
“It’s a character from the Simpsons. Look, never mind.” I took a deep breath. I needed to go check Sam’s Skill trees for information about the Nexus Gateways, but I had a question to ask Gwen. Especially since she hadn’t even flinched when I’d mentioned Princess Nadine. “I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.” She nodded to me and took my hand in hers. She was so warm, so safe feeling, that I immediately felt myself relax. “What do you want to ask me?”
“How did you find me?” I asked, meeting her eyes. They widened a bit before she looked away.
“What do you mean? I told you that the sword summoned me?” She gestured at where Clarent sat in the sheath at my waist. “Your blood activated the weapon and—”
“Yeah, I got that part, Gwen.” I shook my head and pulled my hand from hers. Then I stared at the sky, trying to orient my thoughts. “It’s just Nadine said she’s killed four Builders. That there have been lots of Builders. So, if that’s true, that means you wouldn’t have been surprised to find I was the Builder. Only you were and that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Oh.” She moved next to me. “I guess it’s time to come clean.” She gave me a look that reminded me of a kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“That would be nice, yes.” I met her eyes, and even though I knew I should be pissed at her for not telling me the whole truth, I wasn’t sure it mattered. Agatha was still dead, and me finding out now wouldn’t change that.
Gwen blinked her long lashes a few times. “There have been many Builders over the years, yes.” She nodded. “And even more potentials. What I meant to say is that few who have the potential to become the Builder ever actually do since it requires that sword.” She gestured toward Clarent. “Most of them never find it, and conversely, normal humans can find Clarent. It’s been coveted for ages. Sure, it will call to the Builder, call to its rightful wielder, but that doesn’t mean they’ll actually come into contact.”
“So, I was just one of the potentials?” I asked, remembering when I’d first seen the sword. It’d been the most beautiful weapon I’d ever laid eyes on, and I’d known I needed to have it. Hadn’t Merle told me that no one else had even looked at it?
“You were the only potential.” She smiled at me. “There’s only ever one at a time. If you died, there might be another or there
might not.” She took a deep breath. “There hasn’t been one in over a thousand years.”
“So, how did you find me?” I raised an eyebrow at her. “What you are saying makes it seem even less likely that you showed up just to give me a wish.”
“I was already in your world searching for the blade. Like the Builder, it had been lost, though for only a few centuries.” She touched her chest. “I belong to the Sacred Order. We are charged with protecting the blade. Do you want to know how I found you? I didn’t. I found the sword. I felt its power.” She shook her head. “I didn’t know who you were then. I thought you were just some guy who accidentally spilled blood on the weapon. I figured I could give you a wish, take your soul and the blade, and head back. Only, that’s not what happened.” She grabbed my arm then. “You turned out to be the Builder. After almost a millennium, you showed back up.” She swallowed hard. “You don’t know what that means.”
“I have a pretty good idea.” Anger flared inside me. “It means I can manipulate the forces of Hell to fight against the Darkness. I also get why you didn’t tell me the whole story, but still, you probably should have.”
“I’m sorry, Arthur,” Gwen said, leaning her head on my shoulder. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Trust me. I didn’t actually expect to find you.”
“So, why are you protecting the sword?” I asked, trying to wrap my mind around it. If I fell in battle, there might not be another Builder for a thousand years. No wonder Agatha had sacrificed herself to save me.
“Why do you think?” Gwen frowned. “We can’t have the agents of the Darkness get a hold of it. If they did, they might destroy the blade or worse, corrupt it. For while Clarent has the power to uplift, it could also destroy. They cannot get their hands on that power.”
“Then we won’t let them get Clarent,” I said, nodding because that made sense. Even if the Darkness could use the sword to bring about destruction, just having it might be enough to keep the next potential from turning into the Builder. It almost made the sword more valuable than me.
“Anything else you want to know?” Gwen asked, squeezing my arm once more. “Because if there isn’t, I have some things I want to show you.” She gestured toward the town. “The supplies Buffy requisitioned came in, and what’s more, we’ve received some more Stained. They know about the ravagers, but they think you can protect them.”
“Well, I don’t want to prove them wrong.” I nodded to her. “Are the preparations made?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Sam has most of the bugs worked out because she used the Dark Blood we got from the first beholder. Once Sally refines the others, we’ll be good to go. Assuming, of course, your plan doesn’t get us all eaten.”
“Good,” I said as she pulled me toward where the mill was under construction. Even from here, I could see several women working under the tutelage of Maribelle. The girl was a damned slave driver. “Oh, one more thing, Gwen.”
“What’s that?” the succubus said, stopping to look at me as she brushed her hair behind her ear.
“You didn’t bat an eye when we talked about Nadine. The others seemed surprised, so why is that?” I asked, watching her closely.
She shrugged. “Everyone in the order knows Nadine is alive because we can still feel her through the sacred bond we share. She was one of us after all. We didn’t know where she was or what she was doing, but we assumed she’d been corrupted. It was the only thing that made sense. You just gave me confirmation.”
“That’s the other thing. If there’s a whole order, where are they?” I gestured at the town. “We could use the help.”
“They are forbidden to come now that I have found you. If I am corrupted, they will seek to kill me, but otherwise, they will stay away.” She took a deep breath. “I alone from the order am responsible. In the past, we tried having more of the order around when a Builder was found, but it just led to more casualties. There are so few of us now that we can’t risk it.”
“Even though it might mean the end?” I asked as she finger-combed her hair again and shifted from foot to foot.
“That’s the thing, Arthur.” She pointed at Clarent. “As long as one of us finds you, we can always rebuild.”
29
The ground rumbled again, letting me know the ravagers were getting closer. It had started an hour ago, and with each passing minute, the tremors seemed to grow. I wasn’t sure when they’d arrive, but we were as ready as we were going to be since Sam had finished building the helmets, and we were pretty much betting the farm on them working. Our walls had been fortified, even though it’d cost us nearly every penny we had. Now they were nearly twenty feet tall.
We had even managed to make a few watch towers so we could attack over the sides if necessary. While I was fairly sure none of it would matter versus the giant ravagers, I wasn’t sure what else would be coming along with them. They could be alone or with lizardmen, but it almost didn’t matter. We’d need these defenses in the event we got sieged.
The only thing that worried me was the battlefront. Judging by the way the tremors were hitting the town, the ravagers weren’t going to hit us at one of the gates. No, they’d hit us along the left wall, which was a problem because we wouldn’t be able to deploy ground troops. Sure, my girls could fly, but I still didn’t like it.
“Arthur, you have a minute?” Sam asked, coming toward me. She was covered in soot, and her clothing stuck to her body with sweat. Her hair was matted against her face, and as she wiped her eyes with the back of one hand, she succeeded only in smearing more grime around her face.
“Probably. If I just stay here watching everyone scurry around to prepare, I’ll go insane,” I replied, moving toward me. “What’s up?”
“I want to show you something.” She stopped and spun on her heel. She gestured for me to follow. “Come on.”
“Am I going to like this something?” I asked, jogging to catch up with her.
“I damned well hope so. If not, I wasted the last twelve hours or so.” She shot me a look. “So, you had better tell me you like it even if it’s a lie.” Her pink eyes met mine, and there was a small tremor of uncertainty in them.
“I’m sure I’ll like it,” I said, shrugging. “I was more trying to make a joke. Guess it didn’t work very well.”
“Oh,” she said, letting out a slow breath. “Okay then.” She bit her lip nervously as we approached the entrance to her shop. “There’s just one thing I need you to do first.”
“What’s that?” I asked as she fidgeted with her fingers before holding one hand out palm up.
“I need you to give me Clarent and wait outside.” She let out a slow breath. “I know you probably don’t want to, but it will only be for a few minutes, okay?”
“Um… I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that,” I said, and she dropped her eyes to the floor.
“Please. I promise it’ll be okay.” Her hand shook a little. “Trust me. You always ask us to trust you, but this time, well, you need to trust me.” She smiled at me then and reached out to brush the hair from my face. “Trust me, Arthur.”
I took a deep breath and searched her face for any sign of duplicity, but finding none, I relented. Reaching to the sheath at my belt, I pulled out Clarent. The rusted blade glowed in my hand as I held it out to her. “How long do you need? I’m worthless without the weapon.”
“Not true,” she said, taking it from me. As she did, the orb above her head vanished. It was weird because I’d gotten so used to seeing the menus and whatnot everywhere that it was suddenly like finding myself blind. “The most important thing about you is in here.” She touched my chest with one stubby finger. Then her face flushed and she took a step backward. Then another. “I’ll, um, just be a second, okay?”
“Okay,” I said as she disappeared inside the shop with the most valuable thing I owned. Without that sword, I was nothing. Still, while I didn’t know why, I felt like I could trust her. Not just that. I had confidence in everyone around me
. And what was a leader who couldn’t rely on his people?
Another rumble shook the ground beneath my feet. As I turned my gaze toward the direction of it, I saw Sally approaching with Crystal in tow. They both had crossbows slung over their backs like many of the other guards. It was another thing Buffy and Elizabeth had managed to acquire. Only these bows had special arrow heads made of explosive Dark Blood. All the better to take out beholders with.
“Hey, Arthur.” Sally waved to me. “I found something about the Nexus Gateways you might be interested in.”
“How?” I said, moving toward her. That’s when I realized she had a book tucked up under one arm.
“I was looking back through one of my old alchemy books.” She held it up to me and showed me a page written in a language I couldn’t read. “I found this.”
“I can’t read that,” I replied, gesturing at the book. “What’s it say?”
“Oh.” Sally stopped and glanced at the page. Her eyes flicked over the words a couple of times. “This is the section where it talks about Etheric Flame.” She tapped a symbol I couldn’t read because it was in that strange demonic language I’d seen in the Royal Centre.
“I don’t know what Etheric Flame is,” I said, smiling at her. “Can you pretend I’m dumb when you explain? It shouldn’t be that hard.”
“Oh, right. Of course.” Sally shook her head. “Etheric Flame is a resource we get from dragons. It’s incredibly rare.” She pointed at a particularly strange squiggle on the page. “It says here that Etheric Flame is the primary ingredient for creating a Nexus Gateway. Of course, it doesn’t say anything about actually crafting the gateway, but it’s a start.” She shut the book and looked at me triumphantly. “Now that we know it exists, we can just get the recipe from the guild.”
“Assuming they even have it.” I rubbed my face with one hand. “And that might be difficult since you’re blacklisted. Then there’s the whole slaying the dragon thing.”
The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1) Page 17