“Well, we just um…” Maribelle frowned and looked at Buffy for help. “We need cover for the shops so the equipment and whatnot doesn’t get ruined.”
“Can we get a tent or something?” I asked, looking around for Taylor, but when I didn’t see her in her shop, I figured she’d gone to Gwen for the selection. “Just for a short term solution?”
“I suppose we could erect tents or some such thing,” Buffy said, rubbing her chin. “It’s a stop gap.”
“We just need some time. Actually, that’s what I need to talk to you two about anyway.” I pointed to the gate. “That isn’t good enough. As I said, we fought a beholder, and if I had to guess, the next attack will be worse. We need to get better.” My shoulders slumped. “If not, we’re fucked. Buildings up to code or not.”
“What would you like us to do?” Maribelle said, looking at her feet embarrassed. “And sorry, I should have been more focused on defense.”
“The hell you should have been,” Buffy snorted before glaring at me. “We need money to do anything, and we have none. We won’t be getting better stuff until we do that.”
“There’s the Dark Blood Sally will refine and all the lumber,” I motioned toward the forest surrounding the town.
“And that will help, but it’s not going to be enough. I’m guessing that getting the mill up to the point where we could actually use the lumber effectively will take almost every penny we’ll make on this round of Dark Bloods. We either need a lot more of it or a lot better quality.” Buffy rubbed her face with one hand. “Look, we need at least twice the funds we have to buy the materials for the walls…”
“The problem is we can’t buy them. We’ll have to make them.” I turned to Maribelle. “What will it take to make the walls you talked about?”
“On average?” she mused before pulling out a piece of chalk from behind her ear. She moved toward a section of wall and began scribbling down notes. A few moments later, she took a step back and gestured at the scrawling on the wall. “That seems right, Buffy?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Buffy grumbled, “and if we did nothing else, we’d still only be able to afford ten percent of that.”
I leaned in closer to examine the numbers, and as I did, they began to glow, resolving themselves into a strange menu beside each recipe.
Wood Wall (currently in use)
Durability: 1,000
Option: Can be crafted with a window frame or a door frame.
Cost: 10 Wood, 5 Thatch, 5 Fiber
Spiked Wood Wall
Durability: 500
Bonus: Can damage opponents who attack it.
Cost: 10 Wood, 5 Thatch, 5 Fiber, 5 Stone
Stone Wall
Durability: 5,000
Option: Can be crafted with a window frame or a door frame.
Cost: 10 Stone, 5 Wood, 5 Thatch
Reinforced Stone Wall
Durability: 10,000
Option: Can be crafted with a window frame or a door frame.
Bonus: Cannot be damaged by most weapons.
Cost: 10 Metal, 10 Stone, 5 Wood
“Interesting,” I mused, turning back to the two of them. “Um, can you show me a piece of lumber?”
“Um,” Maribelle said, looking at me quizzically. “They’re just chunks of wood. Is this a Builder thing?” I nodded, and she shrugged. “We have some over here.”
We made our way toward a pile of wooden boards in a heap, and as I stared at them, an icon appeared beside them like it had with the Dark Blood.
Lumber
Material: Wood
Grade: D
Boards made from common trees.
“Okay, I think I understand the problem in numbers now,” I said, turning back to Buffy. “How many people can we support, by the way?”
“Maybe another fifteen. After that it gets dicey,” she said, motioning to her building. “This is why I’m trying to get the trading post set up. If we can get trade coming here, we’ll be richer.”
“That’s an excellent point, and I want you to focus on that and getting the mill ready. Tear down these buildings to use for materials and get some tents. Taylor can probably make what we need. As far as everything else?” I smiled. “I think I may have another idea.”
20
I found Gwen just as she was dismissing the others to get back to work, and as she turned toward me, she smiled so brightly, my knees shook a little. Damn, I was going to have to get used to her looking at me, otherwise, well…
“Hey, Arthur,” she called, waving at me. “I’ve got everyone rounded up and going to do their stuff.” She bit her lip and gestured at Crystal as she led four women off toward the blacksmith’s shop. “We’re probably going to have wood long before we have a mill.”
“Not a horrible problem to have,” I said, shrugging. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“About the mill?” She raised a perfect eyebrow. “I don’t know how to make one or anything.”
“Not that.” I waved off her comment. “More about the people problem. We just don’t have enough, but I’ve been thinking about what you said.”
“What I said?” she asked, looking at me carefully. “What did I say?”
“That the demon dogs are more hostile because of a town falling.” I glanced toward the gate. “Sheila seems to think we’d be dead under normal circumstances.”
“I’m not quite following,” she said, taking a long look at me. “Can you go slower?” She smacked me lightly on the top of the head. “And you know, explain in words that make sense?”
“Yeah, I can,” I said, sighing and looking at the sky to collect my thoughts. “Well, what if we weren’t the only ones attacked? Hell, maybe people are getting attacked right now.” I turned my gaze to the horizon. “Maybe there are towns that need our help.”
“We can barely help ourselves right now, Arthur. We need to focus on us,” she said, and as she reached out to touch my arm, I shook her away.
“The best way to catch flies is with honey, not vinegar, and what we need are people. If we can ride in on white horses and save the day, we can probably get them to come back with us.” I nodded to her. “I just talked to Buffy and Maribelle. They both agree that if we can absorb other townships, even ones as bad as Lustnor, we’ll get a huge head start. Especially if they have equipment we can use.”
“So,” she said, and the word had a lot more venom behind it than I expected, “you’re saying Lustnor sucks?”
“That’s really what you took away from my point?” I waved off the comment as she bristled in anger. “That’s not what I meant. What I was trying to say was that I want Lustnor to be the greatest city ever, and to do that, we need lots of things we don’t have.” I rubbed my hands together. “We go out and offer the other towns worse off than us a chance to join up, and hey, you never know, right? Besides, maybe we can find some Stained from destroyed towns.”
“We can’t support that many people,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “You might cause us all to starve.”
“Just trust me,” I said, gesturing at the town. “It’s been what, a few hours and we’re fighting off beholders. Imagine what we could do in a few weeks.”
“It’s the getting a few weeks that worries me,” she said before throwing her hands in the air. “Fine, we’ll do it. It’s not a bad plan, per se.”
“Great,” I said, happy I’d swayed her to my way of thinking. Now I just had to make everything work out. “Buffy and Maribelle will be ready to go soon. I want to take Sheila and Crystal with us. Agatha can stay behind with the others.”
“What if there’s an attack while we’re gone?” Gwen asked, looking concerned. “The few guards we have left aren’t nearly good enough.”
“I’ll upgrade them to work for the interim. The last time it was only one beholder. I’ll make sure they’re skilled enough to take on a couple.”
“I just don’t like the idea of it.” As she shook her head, a scream tore
through the air from the back gate. Panic surged through me as I spun on my heel, and sprinted toward it. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but as the sounds of battle filled my ears, I knew it wouldn’t be good. Maybe Gwen was right. Maybe taking away our guards was foolish.
“Come on!” Gwen cried, grabbing me around the waist and leaping into the air. Her huge bat wings beat the air propelling us both forward and upward.
What I saw made my blood run cold. Our two gate guards, along with Crystal and her lumberjacks, were engaged in combat against a couple dozen demon dogs. More of the creatures were chasing a traveling caravan that was barreling toward us like a bat out of Hell.
I wasn’t sure where they’d come from but one thing was for certain, we had to save them. Fast. If we didn’t hurry, those dogs would tear the caravan to pieces.
“What’s going on?” I cried as fire began to radiate from Gwen’s free hand. “Where did all those people come from?”
“Those are the Stained. Somewhere nearby must have fallen if they’re fleeing this way,” Gwen said, flinging a fireball at the demon dogs. The blast hit one, knocking it aside, while Crystal and her contingent of lumberjacks engaged the demon dogs, picking them off as they nipped at the caravan.
“Great. We don’t even need to go anywhere!” I said as Gwen set me down just inside the walled area before bursting into the melee. “Hey, open the gates and let these people in,” I said, grabbing hold of one of the doors and shoving it open.
“But sir,” Polly said, turning her eyes to me, “the dogs might get inside!”
I’d thought of that, but there wasn’t another option. If we left the Stained outside, they’d die. If a few dogs got inside our gates, we’d deal with them.
“Then keep them out,” I hollered, putting my back into it as I shoved the doors open enough to allow the Stained to start pouring in. As they rushed by me in a terror-fueled mass, I turned my attention toward my team. “Get them inside!”
“On it!” Crystal called, unloading her revolvers into the nearest demon dog before pulling a small, thin rapier from the sheath on her belt and stabbing the next creature to death. She swung her arm in a motion that sent her lumberjacks running to help the Stained through.
To be honest, the problem wasn’t those on foot so much as it was the pair of large lumbering wagons. There were a few women dressed like our guards surrounding the wagons, but since the wagons were being attacked by dozens of demon dogs, they were having a tough time.
“Gwen, focus on getting the wagons through!” I called before spinning on my heel and making my way toward the main gate. I reached it only a couple seconds later, my chest heaving with effort as I clambered back over it.
“Sheila!” I called breathlessly, causing the guard to turn toward me. Her eyes had been fixed on the horizon while her weapons had been held in a white-knuckled grip.
“Yes?” she said as she along with the other guards turned quick, furtive gazes on me.
“I need you to go to the other gate and pull the demon dogs off the Stained!” I said, and when she nodded, I let myself fall back to the ground. I stood there for a moment, trying to catch my breath as Sheila’s winged form rocketed through the air toward the other gate.
She landed on the other side before I had even started to move. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself into action, forcing myself to sprint back across the battlefield. I needn’t have bothered.
I arrived just in time to see the first wagon move through the gate, and as I peered past it out onto the road, I saw that most of the demon dogs had been killed. Those that hadn’t were running for cover.
As I watched the creatures go, Gwen landed on the ground next to me.
“Who do you think they are?” I asked.
“By my grandmother’s golden tooth, Elizabeth, is that you?” Buffy called, sprinting toward us as a diminutive goblin on the last cart rumbled through the gate.
“Why I’ll be a horse’s ass,” the goblin on the cart said, right before Buffy picked up a rock and flung it at her.
21
I watched in horror and confusion as the rock struck the goblin on the side of the head, sending her tumbling to the ground. As she crashed to the black earth, Buffy jumped on her, one fist raised to pound her face into putty.
“Stop!” I cried, grabbing Buffy by the back of her shirt and trying to haul her off. It was no use because, despite being much smaller than me, the goblin was practically immovable. Thankfully, she relented and stood up before glaring at me.
“That’s Elizabeth, head of the damned Merchant’s guild in Tricolm!” Buffy snarled with barely contained anger. “They won’t let me trade there on account of the place not being big enough for the both of us.” She said the last part in a sort of dumb, mocking voice.
“It’s a moot point now,” Elizabeth said from the ground. She wiped her mouth with one hand before pushing herself to a sitting position. “Tricolm just fell to ravagers.” She got to her feet and brushed herself off.
“Ravagers?” Gwen asked, taking a deep breath. “That’s…”
“Not possible, I know,” Elizabeth said, glancing back at the caravan as the doors shut. There were three wagons in total and one buggy like Buffy’s. There were maybe twenty or so people including five guards who looked like they hadn’t slept in over a week.
“How could ravagers get into Tricolm?” Gwen asked, shaking her head.
“How about you help us with some food and drink in a nice safe spot, and we tell you about it? Then we’ll be moving on. We have to get to Goldheim before they start missing this.” She smacked the side of the buggy she’d been riding. “Not that it will matter much. Damned ravagers will be following us. We’ve got a day at most.”
Her words chilled me because that wasn’t a lot of time. Not by a longshot. Especially since I had no idea what a ravager was or how to deal with it. Worse, from the look on everyone’s faces, they didn’t think we had a chance.
“What’s a ravager?” I asked, worry threatening to leak into my voice. “Because let me just say they sound really bad.”
“They are. A ravager is a twenty-foot tall monstrosity of tentacles and spikes. Its skin is practically impenetrable, and its legs are like tree trunks. It wanders through a battlefield grabbing things with its tentacles and shoving them into its immense maw.” Gwen turned to look at me. “The only time I’ve even seen one die was when it tried to eat a guard who triggered her internal core, causing it to explode right as the creature swallowed her.” She shook her head. “And we can’t risk our people on a chance like that.”
“Then I suggest you get a move on too because they are heading this way,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head dismally. “There were two at Tricolm, and they’re all after us. Me and mine were just there as an envoy from the merchant’s guild and barely made it out of there. I’m not sure if there are other survivors.”
“Just so we’re clear,” I said, glancing at Buffy who was still seething in rage, “you are leading a bunch of giant fucking monsters here to kill us?”
“That’s about the size of it, yes,” Elizabeth replied, taking a deep breath. Her nostrils flared, and then she stopped and looked at me. Her eyes filled with recognition and I got the impression she was seeing me for the first time. “Wait, you’re him.”
“I, er, what?” I asked, suddenly confused.
“The Legendary Builder. We’ve been looking for you since you left the Royal Centre. That’s why I was in Tricolm because we’d heard you were in a border town.” She rubbed her hands together. “I never expected to find you here though. Maybe Sword’s Deep, but not here.”
“What’s wrong with Lustnor?” Gwen asked, taking a step forward.
“It’s a craphole with no resources and no economy?” Elizabeth offered, shrugging. She turned to look at me. “Come with me to Goldheim, and not only will I make you rich beyond your wildest dreams, you’ll be swimming in girls.” She glanced at Gwen. “You can’t stay here anyway, so your friend
s are welcome to come.”
“No,” I said, waving off the offer. “I’m not leaving. I made a promise to Gwen and this town to make it the best city. I will do that, and I will stop the Darkness. Even if it has ravagers.”
“Newsflash, kid, they aren’t called ravagers because they’re misunderstood and really need a hug,” Elizabeth spat. “Nothing you have here will be able to stop them.”
“That’s what you think,” I said, annoyed now. “Look, we’ll get you whatever you want, and you can go, but anyone who stays will get a job and a profession.” I touched my chest with one hand. “I am the Builder after all, and I’m staying.”
“You don’t want her help, anyway. My sister is a total bitch,” Buffy snapped, already walking back toward her shop. Well, her sort of shop because it was mostly just sheets of canvas on legs.
“Your sister?” I asked right before Elizabeth grabbed Buffy’s arm.
“You can’t stay here, Buffy. If you do, you’ll die,” Elizabeth hissed before looking around. “It’s not safe here on the border, there have been rumors of beholder attacks.”
“We just killed one,” Buffy said, shrugging off her sister. “And I believe in Arthur. If he says we can win, I believe him.” She turned and looked at her sister. “He can do what he says. You’d be wise to stay here and have your people join him because, to be honest, he’s going to win. You can either help now, or wish you did when you had the chance.”
“Why Buffy, I’d almost think you like the meat bag,” Elizabeth said, glancing over her shoulder at me and giving me a once over. “Fine. Even though it seems silly, I’ll stay. For now. Someone has to make sure you get out alive, after all.”
“You’re being wise. For once,” Buffy said, heading toward her shop as Elizabeth came waltzing back.
“Would you mind if my people join you, Builder? You’ll find us well worth the trouble,” she nodded toward the wagon. “And besides, we have an extractor.”
“An extractor?” Gwen asked, shock in her voice. “How?”
“Tricolm bought it but they aren’t there anymore, so I guess it’s ownerless.” With that, Elizabeth smacked the buggy’s side, causing it to open up like a flower until all the panels were laying in the dirt. Sitting there in the middle was a machine that sort of reminded me of a mech only with saw blade arms, pick arms, scythe arms and normal grabbing arms.
The Builder's Sword (The Legendary Builder Book 1) Page 13
