“Well, then I’m not going to do it,” I said, taking the sandwich from her and eyeing it suspiciously. The problem was, I knew from experience that if I unwrapped it, the juices from the meat would get all over my hands. I didn’t really want to have to clean up after lunch, so I just sighed and bit into it. The flavors of horseradish and onions hit my mouth like a roundhouse kick.
“Want half?” I asked after I’d chewed for a moment. “I know you don’t really eat the lettuce, but it’s not really so bad.”
“You just looked like someone stabbed you in the throat,” she said, shaking her head. “I have tea, I’ll be fine.” She patted the canteen at her hip. “I ate already anyway.”
“Fair enough,” I said, taking another bite before washing it down with a gulp of water from my own canteen. “So, what did you make me? You said you’d made me something or am I misremembering?”
“Oh, that’s right,” Annabeth said, reaching into her satchel and pulling out a small figure. She held it out to me allowing it to dangle between her fingers. “It’s a charm I made for mining. I’m not quite sure if it’ll help, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.”
“Thanks,” I said, wiping my left hand on my pants before taking the proffered necklace. The little man on it looked surprisingly similar to me, only he had a pick raised high overhead like he was about to bring it down on a bunch of rock.
“You like it? I couldn’t figure out how to sculpt magically removing rock from the ground, so I just went with the basics.” She looked at her feet sheepishly.
“I love that you made it for me, Annabeth. You really didn’t have to do that.” I smiled at her and slipped it over my head. The figure was heavy against my chest, and while I felt no effects from it, I sort of hoped it would work. Normally, I’d check with Clarent, but since I was without the sword, I couldn’t. Man, I had relied on Clarent so much without realizing it. Now that I was without it, I found even basic tasks difficult if not almost impossible, and this was one of them.
“I’m glad,” she said, nodding to me as I took another bite of my not-sandwich. “I could try to make some others if you want. I’m not sure if there’s a god of mining or anything.” She shrugged. “Maybe I should visit Ruby’s Gleam. I bet they have lots of mining sculptures.” She looked at the sky in thought. “I’d have to get Buffy to take me, and she and her goblin friends sort of hate doing things when I ask them.”
“What’s in Ruby’s Gleam?” I asked, sort of confused. I’d not heard of the towns in all the meetings about the status of trade routes and whatnot. Like we’d thought, most of the trade towns weren’t taking to the idea, but since we had the only mode of transportation that didn’t take days or weeks, we were making headway among most of the other small towns. The problem was the guild towns. They weren’t interested in helping since they sort of blamed us for the destruction of the Royal Centre.
It hadn’t really been our fault, but it was hard to change their minds. So far, the Carpenter’s Guild was the only one that had signed on, and the others weren’t looking like they were going to come around anytime soon.
Worse, there were a lot of refugees. Stained, those people who had been visibly marked by the guilds as unworthy, were coming in every day, and while the grunt labor was helpful, without Clarent, we couldn’t give them useful skills, nor see if they already possessed them. With most of the Stained too scared to tell us if they knew how to do anything, it was doubly upsetting.
“Ruby’s Gleam is the Miner’s Guild town. It’s not one of the major guilds really, more of a subsidiary of the Blacksmith’s guild.” She rolled her eyes, and I was inclined to agree.
“Yeah, they’re especially not happy since the head of their guild died in Royal Centre. Have they replaced her yet?” I asked, wishing that the lady hadn’t died. It sort of put a freeze on negotiations since there wasn’t a provision for making an alliance without a guild head. No, until they finished the new selection process, there was no use dealing with them.
“Not yet. They’re still trying to figure out the best way.” Annabeth shrugged. “You know, now that I’m thinking about it, while I’m not sure how much it’d help you, perhaps going to Ruby’s Gleam for a day or two would be a good idea. You don’t know anything about the materials here.” She gestured at the surroundings. “I know that sometimes when I got stuck trying to sculpt a material, learning about what made it tick helped me to get better.”
“I hear what you’re saying, but I’m not so sure.” I looked out at the fields. Maybe she had a point though. I’d pulled several of the higher difficulty Coti out of the area, and it’d barely made a blip, making me think that either the grinding was truly insane, and going to get worse, or that I was going about it incorrectly. Maybe a trip to the miner’s guild would be a good idea.
“Well, if you change your mind, let me know,” Annabeth said, getting to her feet as I finished my sandwich. “I’d be happy to go along with you.”
“Are you heading back to town already?” I asked, sighing as she turned to go. “I was really enjoying your company.”
“You were?” she asked, turning back to regard me like I was playing a trick on her. “Why is that?”
“I don’t know. I just like you.” I shrugged. It was true. Ever since we’d gone through the crafting contest, I’d found myself enjoying her company. “I enjoy spending time with you. It makes me happy.” I scratched my head. “Can’t really explain it more than that.”
“I should really get back to work.” She looked at the sky, and I could see the wheels in her brain turning. “We both should.”
“I know,” I said, getting to my feet. I resolved to finish the rice later. The sandwich was already sitting heavily in my stomach, and I was worried I might be sick if I ate more before going back to work. Besides, it’d keep for a snack later. “Maybe we can have dinner together though? You know, catch up?”
“I would like that a lot,” she said, stepping toward me and giving me a peck on the cheek. “I’ll let Gabriella know to schedule us some time for dinner.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling ridiculous that I had to schedule dinner with Annabeth with Gabriella, but if we didn’t, the time slot would be used for something else, probably a boring meeting. “Actually, after you see her, can you send her my way? I want to have the whole Ruby’s Gleam thing arranged.” I sighed, looking at the fields. “Because what I’m doing now isn’t working.”
“I’ll send your secretary over,” Annabeth said, smirking at me. “Now back to work. I don’t want to hear you’re behind and have to miss our date.”
8
I was halfway through clearing the second farm plot when Gabriella called to me. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I looked up to see her coming toward me with both Buffy and Annabeth in tow.
“Arthur!” Gabriella cried, waving one hand frantically.
“I see you. What’s up?” I called back, taking a swig from my canteen. The water had warmed in the hot, humid air, but it felt good to drink something anyway. Still, a nice break in the shade with a frozen lemonade would be great.
I was pretty sure that was out of the question though. I’d barely started this second field, and according to the schedule Gwen had provided me, I needed to be working on the third section by the end of the day. Already, I could see the few Stained who had come to our town for refuge tilling the dirt with hand plows under Crystal’s careful supervision.
It was probably better that they were doing it by hand. If they had some kind of rototiller, I’d have never stayed ahead of them. Even still, I knew if I didn’t finish this plot soon, that’d happen anyway.
“So, we have a bit of a dilemma,” Buffy said as the three of them stopped next to me. The goblin took one look at me and scrunched up her nose. “You need a shower.”
“That’s the dilemma?” I asked, confused. Part of me wanted to sniff myself to see if she was right, but I opted not to. I’d been working in the fields all day and had been sweating like a pig. I probably did smell.
“No,” Buffy said, shaking her head and causing the gold hoops in her ears to jingle. “The dilemma is that while I can spare the time to take you to Ruby’s Gleam, I can’t stay there and show you around. The commodities market is going well enough, but transporting all this stuff?” She sighed. “On one hand it’s lucrative because we can sell some super speedy deliveries for extra, but at the same time, that means we need to deliver them, and we still only have one Nexus Gateway.”
“Oh. So how am I supposed to get around there?” I asked before stopping. “Is that the dilemma?”
“Bingo,” Buffy said, nodding once. “The only option is to let Annabeth go with you. She knows the area well and has contacts there. Plus, she knows about these materials better than I do. At least intrinsically. I just see them in dollars and sense, she is like some kind of stone hippie.”
“I am not a stone hippie,” Annabeth said, stepping past Buffy and meeting my eyes. “I’d be happy to go with you, but if I do, I won’t be able to work on the pieces to make more Nexus Gateway Conduits. As it stands, I've only completed enough to try two times.”
“Fixing Clarent is more important than creating the conduits, so we’ll just have to be delayed on the conduits. Besides, Sally and Sam have to do their parts, and last I checked, Sam was still in bed,” I said, waving off her comment before turning to Buffy. “Or am I missing something?”
“Nope.” Buffy shook her head. “That’s the only reason I’m even contemplating this. Both Sally and Annabeth are ahead, especially since you were able to sort out which Etheric Fire would most likely turn into S Grade, but Sam is still out of the picture. It’s not even like we can get someone else to do it because she’s the only one who knows the recipe.” Buffy tapped her foot, clearly annoyed with how reality was putting a damper on her grand plans to buy the whole world.
“Right, so when do we leave?” I wiped my forehead again. “I do need to finish this field and shower…”
“We don’t have time for either of those things.” Buffy smacked the place on her wrist between her two gold watches. “You have another six minutes in the window before I’m busy for the rest of the day. Unless you want to fuck up the whole schedule, but keep in mind, I may not be here for you to force to break the schedule. You’d probably have to wait until I got back. That could be either tomorrow or the next day depending on how things go.”
“I guess that will have to do.” I finished the water my canteen. “Gabriella, can you have Crystal instruct some of the Stained to move the rocks they can by hand? I think I’ve gotten most of the hard stuff removed from this plot.”
The archangel looked up surprised, and I got the impression she hadn’t been paying attention to our conversation. Her cheeks flushed. “Sorry, I missed that, Arthur. What do you need?” She smiled nervously.
“Have Crystal get rid of the rocks with some of her team. She can repurpose the Goblin Extractor to help with the really bad ones if need be,” I said, gesturing to the plot. “I’m going with Annabeth to Ruby’s Gleam. Also, please tell Gwen even though I assume Buffy already has.”
“I have,” Buffy confirmed.
“Will do!” Gabriella squeaked before marching off determinedly toward Crystal.
“Well, come on. Time’s money, and it’s flowing down the drain while we stand here yapping.” Buffy let out an explosive breath and without waiting for us to follow headed toward the Nexus Gateway.
“Well, sorry about dinner,” I said, holding my hand out to Annabeth. “Raincheck?”
“Raincheck?” Annabeth said, taking my hand as we followed the goblin toward the portal. Buffy had already flicked it on, and the portal gleamed in the distance like the shimmering tear in reality it was. “You’re not buying me dinner in Ruby’s Gleam?” She cocked an eyebrow at me.
“That’s a good point,” I said, turning to Buffy as she waved at us frantically, gesturing for us to go through. “Say, Buff, what’s my per diem?”
“Your per diem?” she asked, confused. “You don’t have one.”
“What about food and lodging?” I asked, meeting her eyes. “How much do I get for those things?”
“Nothing,” she said, shrugging. “Or less than that, actually. We don’t have it to spare.” She rummaged around in her pocket for a moment and produced a piece of paper with scribbles I couldn’t read on it. “Give this to the innkeeper at the Bloated Barnacle, and he’ll give you food and lodging. Don’t go anywhere else. We have a deal worked out with them for lower prices as long as we don’t patronize other establishments.”
“Okay,” I said, taking the paper and pocketing it. “Sounds great.”
“Also, you’ll have to sign some autographs and take a picture. You know, ‘The Builder eats here,’ sort of thing.” Buffy gestured toward the portal. “Now get going. I need to be in Blade’s End to pick up more Etheric Blood in the next ten minutes.”
With that, the goblin hustled us through the gateway. The familiar sensation of being torn down to the subatomic level by mystic forces filled every ounce of my being to the brim with pain, but I tried my best to man through it. As we appeared on the other side of the portal, I found myself looking at a rocky expanse that looked to have quite literally been carved into a mountain. We stood in a small section that was gated off with massive stone doors.
“We were told to expect you,” said the large-breasted dwarven woman at the gate as she came forward, a beer in one hand and an axe in the other. She took a huge gulp of the frosty black brew and looked us up and down. “You’re so tiny.”
“Tiny?” I asked, glancing at Annabeth who was busily ignoring the dwarf. I don’t mean to say that she looked like a midget either. This guard looked exactly like a dwarf straight out of Lord of the Rings, beard and all. To be honest, the beard combined with her overly large bosom made some very strange thoughts rattle around in my head.
“You’re so scrawny.” The dwarf circled me and smacked me on the ass. “Just skin and bones. Don’t they feed you?”
“I eat okay,” I said, rubbing my ass. It stung from where she’d smacked me. “So, um, are you going to let us inside?”
“That depends, dearie,” the dwarf said, moving back toward the gate with a wicked gleam in her eye. Then she paused meeting my gaze as she took a long sip of her giant beer, nearly draining half of it. I expected her to continue when she had finished, but instead, she just kept staring at me.
“On what?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable. Beside me, Annabeth fidgeted.
“On what exactly you’re doing here,” she said, smacking her axe against her shoulder before draining her beer. Instead of putting it down, she turned to a barrel just beside the gate and stared at it contemplatively. “Little help?”
“Are you just going to stand here and get drunk?” I asked, wishing Annabeth would help me out because I was totally lost. “We need to go inside and learn about mining.” I shrugged.
“Little help?” the dwarf repeated, shaking her empty glass at me. “Only have two hands, and I can’t put down my axe or my beer. You understand, right, dearie?”
“Jesus tap-dancing Christ,” I said, getting annoyed with how little they seemed to care about helping me, but before I could say more, Annabeth hurried forward.
“I’d be glad to help,” she said, giving the dwarf an apologetic look. “But yes, as we said before, we’re here to learn the secret of rocks and metal, and as we all know, the dwarves are the best at both.”
“I can’t hear you, dearie,” the dwarf said, holding her empty glass out as Annabeth approached. “I’m much too thirsty.”
Annabeth gave me a helpless shrug before turning to the barrel. She put one hand on the spigot and gestured to the dwarf. “Put your glass under?”
“Much obliged,” the dwarf replied, smiling so broadly I could see her white teeth despite the red expanse of her beard. “I work up a mighty powerful thirst talking to people while I’m guarding.”
“I can see how that’d be frust
rating,” Annabeth replied, turning the spigot on. Dark bubbly liquid flowed into the dwarf’s glass, and as it did, the dwarf gave a delighted squeal.
“You’re a princess and a scholar,” the dwarf said when the glass was full. Then she took a huge swallow, practically draining it again. “So, yes, what is your business here?”
“We want to learn about mining,” I said, touching my chest while making an effort not to get pissed off. “That’s why we came. I was told we were expected.”
“You are expected, but that doesn’t mean I can just let you in. If I did, what would they say to me? Why they’d say, that’s Mina Bloodbeard, the dwarf who let a man into our henhouse without even asking the right proper questions.” She peered closely at me, green eyes flashing as she took another sip of her beer. “Though now that I look at you, I don’t think our women will have much to worry about. I think even the children could break you over their knee if you got handsy.” She watched me for a long moment. “But hear me when I say this: By my great grandmother’s black beard, if you do anything untoward, I will chop off your dick, mix it into my momma’s famous chili and then feed it to you.” She finished her beer. “Are we quite clear, Builder?”
“Yeah, I’ll keep my hands to myself,” I said, shaking my head. “Promise.”
“Now, I didn’t say that,” the dwarf replied, setting her beer on the small table beside the gate and ambling toward me with swaying steps. She stopped in front of me and gave me another once-over. “You’re a bit scrawny, but I’d be willing to give you a toss. Probably have to have you on top though. Otherwise, ye’d break.” She gave me a wink. “Yer tall, so maybe yer tall down there too.”
“That’s a very kind offer…” I said, taking a deep breath and looking to Annabeth for help. Only she was very pointedly ignoring me while pretending to study the impressive carvings on the door. I hadn’t quite noticed them before, but as I saw her looking, I realized they depicted a giant dragon sleeping on a horde of gold.
The Builder's Pride (The Legendary Builder Book 3) Page 5